The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 21 Salesperson Zhu Lan

Jiang Cheng also roughly understood the situation of some of the neighbors in the yard. Although at least one person in each household had a job, few families lived well. Nowadays, people valued having two or more sons as much as possible. One reason was to avoid accidents and the other was to have a brother to help them when they grew up. When they fought, they would fight together.

So if there is a daughter in the family, there are at least three children, and there are even four. There are also five children, but there is no family in this yard with five children.

With so many children, the burden can't be too heavy. However, although a person's salary is only about 30 yuan in this era, if you live frugally, you can still support a family of five.

Jiang Cheng didn't plan to go to his neighbor's house for dinner. It was not worth it to owe a favor for a meal. A bowl of noodles in a restaurant outside only cost 1.6 cents, and it was a big bowl. Of course, 1.6 cents was for plain noodles without anything added. Braised noodles with something added cost 2 cents.

But Jiang Cheng didn't expect that there was a person working in the supply and marketing cooperative in this yard. He still had a lot of fish and game in his space. Finding a salesperson who worked in the supply and marketing cooperative to cooperate with him saved him the trouble of thinking of other ways to deal with them.

Zhu Lan, a saleswoman working in the supply and marketing cooperative, learned that the new tenant was a young truck driver, so she came over to get to know him. After inviting him to dinner, Jiang Cheng agreed to the invitation after learning about the other party's identity.

Zhu Lan's husband is Wang Tao, who has a high school education. High schools have never been able to provide jobs, only technical secondary schools can provide jobs. But more than ten years ago, although they said they would not provide jobs, they were basically all arranged jobs. Wang Tao is a teacher at a primary school in a factory area. He looks very gentle and wears glasses.

Although the dual-income family also has seven members, their life is much better than that of Zhang Yang, the neighbor across the street from Jiang Cheng. At least Zhu Lan's family has three things: a bicycle, a sewing machine, a watch, and a radio.

But this is also the result of their savings over the years. There are two working people in the family, and their combined salary is only more than 60 yuan. In the past, when the children were young, they could save a lot of money every year, and it was not difficult to buy a big item every year. Now it is different. The half-grown kids eat their parents to death. Zhu Lan's family also has three children, two sons and a daughter.

The ration was not enough to eat, Zhu Lan had connections, so she didn't have to go to Pigeon Market to buy food. But for a family of seven, clothes, daily necessities and food had to be good, and two people with a salary of more than 60 yuan could not save much money.

"Jiang Cheng, please sit down. From now on, we are neighbors in the front and back yards. You should visit each other more often and take care of each other. I work at the supply and marketing cooperative. If you want to buy something at the supply and marketing cooperative in the future, just let me buy it for you. You don't have to make that trip."

"Sister Zhu, you are too polite. If you need my help in the future, just let me know."

Jiang Cheng was invited by Zhu Lan to her house in the backyard. After entering the house, he was warmly served with a glass of water. However, Zhu Lan's words were very direct, and Jiang Cheng had to take it in. It sounded like they were caring for each other, and it was a direct exchange of interests.

In fact, such a relationship is sometimes more reliable. If Jiang Cheng does not understand the ways of the world and entrusts Zhu Lan to buy something, but does not give her any advantage, you can only help Jiang Cheng once. If you ask for help again in the future, he will always have a reason to refuse you.

"Jiang Cheng, I just came back from get off work at the supply and marketing cooperative, and I heard from people in the yard that you are married. If you are not married, I can introduce you to a girl who works at the supply and marketing cooperative." Zhu Lan said. Jiang Cheng, who suddenly moved in today, became the object of gossip in the whole yard, and almost everyone was talking about him. Zhu Lan also heard from her mother-in-law that she immediately went to visit Jiang Cheng's house.

"I'm already 22 years old and my hometown is in the countryside. In the countryside, kids of my age can run around in the yard. It's normal to get married. By the way, Sister Zhu, I have a question for you. Is there anyone in our city who would buy the big yellow eels caught in the countryside?" Jiang Cheng replied.

As for Zhu Lan's suggestion to introduce someone to work at the supply and marketing cooperative, even if Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying are not in a relationship, he doesn't want someone with good conditions.

Good conditions are not a plus for Jiang Cheng. Just like in later generations, many women have good conditions and high requirements. Good education, high income, car and house. These are actually minus points for most men. They would rather find a young and beautiful girl, even if she only earns two or three thousand a month.

Jiang Cheng's mentality was the same. Even though he knew that women in this era were different, even if he had a job, he still had to focus on his family. But Jiang Cheng just wanted to find a beautiful woman whose status was completely unequal to his, so that he could enjoy the feeling of being the head of the family and having the final say. "Eel? This thing sells well in the city. If you have it, I can help you sell it." Zhu Lan replied when she heard Jiang Cheng asking about eels.

The eel may not be sold at a high price in the county town. After all, the county town is relatively close to the township. If you really want to eat it, you can just spend a few cents to take a bus to the countryside to catch some.

But the urban area is far from the towns, and there are many people who know how to eat. Zhu Lan knows many cadres and leaders. Although they are not high-ranking, they often ask her to buy some eggs and cakes. She thinks that Jiang Cheng can get yellow eels, and if she asks people, there will definitely be many people who want them. In this way, both buyers and sellers owe her a favor.

"There are a lot of eels in the rural fields now. If Sister Zhu can help, I will ask my family to catch some. We can catch dozens of kilograms a day." Jiang Cheng said.

"Several dozen catties a day, that's a lot." Zhu Lan was surprised. The yellow eel can be sold at a higher price than fish meat to those who are willing to eat it. It is easy to sell it for 60 or 80 cents per catty, especially for the elderly and women who have just given birth. Yellow eel replenishes qi and blood, and those who are willing to spend will buy it for one yuan per catty.

"They are only available when the fields are being plowed and rice seedlings are being planted. Even if you try hard to catch them now, you can't catch many." Jiang Cheng explained. This is the truth. People in rural areas nowadays don't know how to catch eels. Eels come out at night and can be caught by shining a flashlight on them and using tongs.

But during the day, there are many eels when people are plowing the fields and transplanting rice in the water. It is very difficult to catch them at other times.

Jiang Cheng can catch a lot, but he can't tell Zhu Lan too much. If he really catches hundreds of kilograms a day and sells them for dozens of yuan, which is higher than someone's monthly salary, it will easily make people jealous.

Zhu Lan nodded after hearing Jiang Cheng's explanation. She could understand that there were only a few dozen kilograms of rice a day during the rice planting season. Besides, this was not a product from the supply and marketing cooperative, so she could adjust the price according to the market and make some money.

The two talked for a while, and Zhu Lan said that she could help contact the people in need first, and then catch the eels and ask them to come over and pay for them.

Cooperation has to take place slowly. This is just a neighbor in the yard. Jiang Cheng wants to sell things, and with his identity as a car driver, many people will come to him and ask him to help bring goods and buy things in the future.

After chatting for a while, it was time for dinner. Jiang Cheng was the guest today, and Zhu Lan was the host. The meal was prepared by her mother-in-law. The food was ordinary in Jiang Cheng's eyes, but the three teenage children in their family enjoyed it very much.

This also shows that even if it is a dual-income family, one of them is a salesperson in the supply and marketing cooperative, it is not possible to eat rice every day. Jiang Cheng ate less than half full and stopped eating.

After dinner, Jiang Cheng exchanged a few pleasantries and went back home. When he got home, many neighbors came to visit and chatted with him. They knew that Jiang Cheng was a truck driver. Except for the children, almost everyone in the yard started to call Jiang Cheng "Master Jiang".

"Driver master" is a respectful title for car drivers in this era, just like the profession of teacher. When you become a teacher, even if you are under 20 years old, uncles and aunts will politely call you teacher.

Jiang Cheng felt the compliments from his neighbors, so he accepted them as compliments. Jiang Cheng originally wanted to get along with his neighbors as equals, but it is lonely at the top.

(End of this chapter)