Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

After leaving the department store, Wang An and his group of five drove to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Compared to supply and marketing cooperatives in county towns, supply and marketing cooperatives in Bingcheng offer a much wider variety and greater quantity of goods. Many items that are not available in county towns can be found here.

Most importantly, while the same product would be cheaper, perhaps much cheaper, if purchased from a state-run store, it could be bought without a ration coupon from a supply and marketing cooperative.

However, if you buy tickets or coupons from scalpers and then buy them from state-run stores, the final price won't be much cheaper.

Besides, it's almost Chinese New Year, a time when people are buying New Year's goods in bulk, and the prices of various tickets and coupons will definitely rise accordingly, so it's not worth going around trying to find tickets and coupons.

And so, Wang An and his four companions made another large purchase at the supply and marketing cooperative.

However, the items that everyone bought were all foods that were hard to find or even never appeared in the DJ County Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Examples include Harbin red sausage, Russian ham sausage, rye bread, steamed bread, shrimp candy, White Rabbit milk candy, ice cream, Big Head Doll chocolate, liqueur chocolate, condensed milk and cheese, etc.

Apart from White Rabbit milk candy and shrimp candy occasionally appearing in the DJ County Supply and Marketing Cooperative, nothing else has ever appeared there.

Of course, even if these things appeared, they would probably be snapped up very quickly, and wouldn't even have a chance to reach the supply and marketing cooperative before Wang An and the others did.

After buying these, the group planned to buy a few more boxes of Madier cream popsicles, as well as cream cakes and cream bread—three things their families had never eaten before—when they went home the next day.

The reason I'm not buying them today is because the cream popsicles can't be kept in a warm room; they can only be kept in the truck bed outside. But if they're kept in the truck bed, I'm afraid they'll be stolen in the middle of the night.

In those days, cream cakes were made to order and sold fresh, without any additives or preservatives. If left in a warm room overnight, they could easily spoil.

Therefore, it's wisest to wait until tomorrow to buy it.

Wang An mainly discovered that even in a developed city like Harbin, relatively expensive items like cream popsicles and cream cakes didn't sell quickly at all; they were available whenever you wanted to buy them, and there was never a shortage.

After buying almost everything needed for the New Year, Wang An and his group of five drove to the Gong'an Guesthouse.

They arrived at the guesthouse, booked a large room, and carried all the things they had bought that day into the room. The car was parked in the guesthouse's courtyard, and the five of them left the guesthouse and strolled around the streets of Harbin.

Despite the cold weather, there were still quite a few vendors setting up stalls. Some were selling frozen persimmons and pears, others were selling roasted melon seeds, peanuts, chestnuts, and other roasted snacks, as well as roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes, and popcorn.

Other frozen products such as frozen sticky rice cakes, frozen tofu, frozen fish, frozen shrimp, and various other frozen goods are now also available for sale.

It must be admitted that even compared to a year ago, the everyday life in Harbin is noticeably more vibrant now.

Of course, most importantly, nowadays, people no longer chase after these vendors like thieves when they openly set up stalls on the street.

Wang An spent 5 cents to buy 5 skewers of candied hawthorns covered with a thick layer of sesame seeds, and gave one skewer to each of Mu Xueli, Wang Li, and the other two.

Mu Xueli bit into a hawthorn berry and said as she ate:

"The candied hawthorns in this big city are so much better than the ones back home."

Wang Li echoed, saying:

"Mmm, look at how well they make these candied hawthorns! They're sweet and sour, and they don't stick to your teeth. The more you chew, the more fragrant they become. They're really delicious," Wang An said irritably while chewing on a hawthorn.
"Candied hawthorn berries taste best when they're dipped in syrup made from rock sugar and hawthorn berries. Where I'm from, we dip them in maltose or syrup made from beets. The sugar alone is a difference of several steps, so how can the candied hawthorn berries taste the same?"

After a pause, Wang An continued:
"Besides, the hawthorns we use to make candied hawthorns are no good either. They're all wild hawthorns from the mountains, or they just use crabapples instead. Each little fruit is about the size of a fingertip, with hardly any flesh except for the seeds. No wonder they're not tasty, damn it."

Wang An gestured with his eyes to the candied hawthorn in his hand, and then said:
"Look at this hawthorn again, the flesh is so thick, how can it be the same?"

Due to the difficulty in transporting fresh fruit, it is extremely difficult to find large, red hawthorns in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains at this time of year.

Of course, it's not just hawthorns; fruits like apples and oranges, which are common in later generations, are also hard to find in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains region.

At the very least, it's very difficult for ordinary people to see them.

Mu Xueli nodded as she spoke:
"That's true. We don't have anything where we're from. We even need sugar coupons to buy rock sugar, so there's no way we can make candied hawthorns."

Wang An ignored Mu Xueli and turned to Wang Yi, saying:
"Remember, Xiao Yi, buy more of these candied hawthorns before we go home tomorrow. Our dad, mom, and two sisters haven't had any yet. Oh, and also remember to remind me to get some frozen persimmons and frozen pears."

Wang Yi ate a candied hawthorn and mumbled something indistinctly:
"Yes, brother, I promise I won't forget."

In the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains region at this time of year, the most scarce commodity in winter is fruit. Items like frozen persimmons and frozen pears are so scarce that you have to scramble to buy them at the supply and marketing cooperatives, and even then, they're usually impossible to get your hands on.

So, given such a good opportunity, Wang An had to buy more.

After buying them, put them in a large jar. When you want to eat them, take a few inside to thaw in advance. Just soak the frozen pears in cold water, and when a layer of ice forms on the surface of the pears, they are basically thawed.

When you eat it, break the ice, take a bite, and then squeeze in the juice from the frozen pear. It's cool, sweet, and has a slightly sour taste. Oh my god, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

All those fruit juices and sodas are simply no match for the broth from a big frozen pear.

After eating candied hawthorns, they also had some roasted sweet potatoes and roasted chestnuts. The five of them strolled around until almost 6 p.m., when Wang An took his four younger brothers to a restaurant again.

The next morning, after practicing martial arts in the courtyard of the guesthouse and having breakfast in the guesthouse canteen, the five of them drove their Jinbei double-cab van to the motorcycle shop.

That's right, it was five people practicing together, because Wang Yi had also taken the initiative to say he wanted to practice martial arts with Wang An since the winter vacation started.

Wang An naturally agreed with his younger brother's desire to learn martial arts. Having martial arts skills would make him more reassuring wherever he went, at least he wouldn't be bullied.

If it weren't for the fact that Miss Wang Xiaomei and Miss Wang Xiaoli had absolutely no interest in martial arts, Wang An would have been very happy to teach them.

As a girl, Wang An felt it would be good to know some martial arts, at least to better protect herself.

Wang An tried to talk to them several times, but they wouldn't respond, so he had no choice but to give up.

On the way, Mu Xueli, Wang Li, and Wang Yi were all very excited because they were about to own their own motorcycle, and their smiles never stopped.

Huang Zhong, though laughing along with the other three, couldn't hide the loneliness and envy in his eyes. (End of Chapter)