The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 57: Shock! The strongest man is actually with a sheep...

The bicycle was pedaled very fast.

A few egret chickens flapped their wings and fled, and the fragrance of new peanut vines wafted through the production team's fields.

Qian Jin is running like a teenager.

Then several children suddenly emerged from behind and inside the temporary piles of vines on both sides of the ground.

"Don't move! Stop!"

"Where are you going, fat translator?"

"Leave me alone, comrades—charge!"

The boy who said the last sentence rolled down from the pile of peanut vines.

Qian Jin slammed on the brakes.

The children in front of me have green hair, and they are wearing straw hats woven with vines.

Qian Jin laughed heartily and took out a handful of hard candies and distributed them to the children:
"Comrades, I'm not a fat translator, I'm an underground courier. Today I'm here to deliver military pay for your strategic transfer."

He bought retro candy blocks, which were very cheap, less than eight yuan per pound.

In terms of packaging, this candy is similar to the fruit candies sold in the current supply and marketing cooperatives, but the contents are different.

The main ingredient is maltose syrup, but the quality is different.

Maltose is a hot seller nowadays, and the quality of the syrup has not been improved. However, what we used in 27 years was high-quality maltose syrup that had gone through three screenings and five selections.

In addition, the current fruit hard candies are made purely of maltose as the main ingredient. The 27-year-old sugar is also added with refined white sugar, which increases the hardness and sweetness of the sugar grains. The sweetness is very "positive" when held in the mouth.

Having tasted the sweetness, the children collectively defected and directly promoted him to the position of commander of the children's corps.

The leading youth carefully gathered up the candy and held up the corn stalks as a token of authority: "Everyone! Escort Commander Qian to inspect the threshing ground!"

Children ran ahead, their patched trouser legs sweeping up clouds of dust:

"Uncle Qianjin is here!"

The old captain was drying peanuts in his old cloth shoes.

His sweaty homespun shirt was open, revealing his sun-tanned chest.

Liu Laoshuan, a warehouse keeper who was taking a break on the side of the road, asked curiously, "Boss, what's in your back seat?"

Qian Jin didn't keep the secret and directly untied the rope, took down a urea bag and opened it: "I prepared some work gloves for the team!"

Liu Wangcai knew that he would bring something, but he didn't expect it to be so many work gloves.

This surprised him and he quickly went over to take a look.

The nearby members of the commune were curious and followed to see: "Are these the kind of labor protection gloves given to workers in the city?"

Qian Jin nodded and took out a few pairs of gloves and distributed them to them: "These are for you. Wear them when you work in the future. They will be comfortable."

Rough hands stroked the rough texture of the gloves.

Liu Wangcai's prominent Adam's apple rolled up and down: "Xiao Qian, you say, hi!"

The members were excited when they heard the news.

A woman said loudly, "That's good, Captain! Last year, when we were working on the river, the hands of our seventeen members were frozen like steamed buns."

"Now that I have these gloves, I can put them on on cold days and I won't be frozen like that anymore!"

Liu Wangcai couldn't help but hold Qian Jin's hand and shook it vigorously: "Look at you, look at you! You are so thoughtful!"

"Where did you get so many labor protection gloves? Will they be suitable for our production team?"

Qian Jin winked at him and whispered:

"Why not? A factory leader made some and sold them at a low price. I bought them and gave them to our members."

"So you can use it as you please, but don't show it off outside, and definitely don't show it off in the city!"

Liu Wangcai nodded: "I understand, I understand everything. I have always been in charge of the members."

"Don't show off anything! Anyone who does will be criticized at the members' meeting and have their work points deducted!"

He then said to the women's director, "Go tell the breeding team to pick out a pig. The weather is cold recently, so kill a pig and give Xiao Qian a little money to keep the cold away!"

Qian Jin waved his hand to refuse.

He knew that the production team had been doing poorly in recent years and that the pigs raised in the team were not for eating meat, but were fattened up at the end of the year and sold to agricultural purchasing stations in exchange for work points to be given to the members.

Liu Wangcai pressed down his hand and said, "The team had been planning to slaughter pigs these days. Every autumn we slaughter three or five pigs."

"Once the pig grass dries up, how can we feed so many pigs in winter? But if we don't feed them enough, the pigs will immediately become so thin that it'll make you feel bad!"

"So we slaughtered a bunch of pigs in the fall, waited for the big market at the commune, and sold them in the name of the team to make some money!"

Qian Jin's heart moved, and he asked, "What's the situation like at the country fair now? What was it like in the past?"

Liu Wangcai said: "The situation is similar to before, but the supervision is more relaxed."

Qian Jin asked with interest: "What was the situation before?"

Liu Wangcai took a puff of cigarette and recalled:
"In 60 or 61, we were facing economic difficulties. To alleviate this difficulty, the government implemented the "Three Selfs and One Contract" policy. At that time, the market was opened up, and farmers no longer needed coupons to trade."

Qian Jin nodded: "That's good."

Liu Wangcai disagreed: "What's good about it? Back then, people couldn't even get enough to eat. It wouldn't make much difference whether the market was open or not."

"Take peanuts for example. At that time, peanuts were sold by the piece, eight for ten cents."

"How do they sell it? The vendors carry a military satchel, or simply put the peanuts in their pockets, and hawk them at the market."

"The flour biscuits produced by the food factory were only 50 or 60 cents a pack, and farmers could hardly afford them. What did farmers buy? At that time, there were thatched grass biscuits, which were only 20 cents a pack. They were available."

An elderly man narrowed his eyes, a look of nostalgia on his face. "Let me tell you, in 62, a farmer could go to the city with just a big radish, and even take a bath in the bathhouse. Now you understand how scarce supplies were back then, right?"

Qian Jin nodded and asked again: "What about now?"

“It’s more open this year, but not everything can be bought or sold.”

"The goods at the market are divided into two categories: first-class goods and second-class goods. First-class goods are grain, oil, and cotton. You can't buy or sell them yourself; you have to sell them to the state."

"Category 2 includes chicken, duck, meat, eggs, vegetables, fish, shrimp, crabs, and the like. These are fine. After completing the purchase task, ordinary people will be allowed to sell them."

Qian Jin asked with interest, "When is the market in your commune? I'm thinking of finding time to go and experience it."

Wang Xiulan, the women's director who was counting gloves, looked up and said, "What's so good about going to the market? Let's go to the commune and experience it one day when they have a movie."

Liu Wangcai said disdainfully: "People in the city have movie theaters, why do they need to come to our countryside to watch open-air movies?"

Qian Jin smiled and said, "Open-air movies are also great."

"To be honest, uncle and aunt, when I was working in the countryside at the Qiongzhou Fishery, I was a film projectionist there."

Everyone present looked at him in surprise, and several teenagers were envious: "Uncle Qianjin is actually a movie projectionist?"

"Then can't he watch movies anytime? He must have seen enough!"

Wang Xiulan asked bluntly, "Leader, can you show a movie for our team?"

Children only listen half way.

He immediately asked, "Let's play 'The Golden Goose'. It's an animated film, the best!"

The old man said, "Kids, go away. Why are you showing an animated film? Let's show 'Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea,' a film performed by the Shanghai Theatre Troupe. That's really exciting!"

Someone else said: "If you ask me, 'The Great Wall of the South China Sea' is the best. The shooting of guns and cannons is exciting!"

Qian Jin was about to explain when his ears suddenly caught a key word: "Wait? What are you doing? Oh, shooting guns and setting off fireworks, that's fine."

More people gathered around and asked hopefully, "Leader, when will you come to show the movie?"

Qian Jin said helplessly: "I was talking about the time when I went to the countryside and was a film projectionist. I am no longer a projectionist now."

"There are no projectors or film tapes now!"

Liu Wangcai took a puff of his cigarette and asked, "If you had a projector and a film tape, could you show me the movie?"

Qian Jin's heart was lifted.

Liu Wangcai continued, "The commune had just set up a projection station in 74, and they borrowed a projector from the county cinema."

"I figured with my good looks, I should be able to borrow the machine and put on a couple of shows while the projection team was on vacation."

Qian Jin was at a loss and said, "That's not a big problem. Let's try to study it."

It shouldn't be that difficult to show a movie.

He secretly thought, if he gave gifts to learn, he wouldn't be unable to learn it, right?

Even if you can't learn it, it's okay. At worst, you can just give gifts to the projectionist to help.

After getting the answer, the members, regardless of gender, age or status, jumped up and cheered.

There is such a lack of entertainment these days!

At this time, Liu Youyu's voice rang out: "Why aren't you working? What are you all doing here? Could it be Comrade Qian Jin?"

Qian Jin would come to support agriculture whenever he had a day off, and this had become a tacit understanding between him and the production team.

He showed up to say hello.

Liu Youyu stopped his bicycle and was surprised: "Wow, where did all these labor protection gloves come from?"

Wang Xiulan laughed out loud: "Where else could it come from? It must have grown in the ground."

Liu Youyu also laughed: "I did say something stupid. I saw our leader, so what else is there to ask?"

Liu Wangcai told the details of how Qian Jin bought gloves and sent them to the production team.

Liu Youyu also shook Qian Jin's hand and said, "You only solve our most pressing problems!"

"That's great! Our members have labor insurance benefits just like the workers!"

Qian Jin was polite and changed the subject, asking him, "Accountant, where are you riding your bike to?"

"I went to the commune to do some things. Oh, by the way, I encountered a lot of things in the commune." Liu Youyu wanted to laugh but held it back.

Wang Xiulan asked, "What's wrong?"

Liu Youyu pushed her away: "It has nothing to do with you, I can't tell you about this!"

He winked at Liu Wangcai and Qian Jin and led them behind the pile of peanut vines.

"What's so mysterious?" Liu Wangcai is an upright person and doesn't like such sneaky operations.

Liu Youyu lowered his voice and said, "Something happened to Zhang Aijun!"

"This bachelor was too unruly, and he got caught!"

Liu Wangcai gasped, his eyes widened, his mouth opened wide, and Qian Jin could see his tonsils when he leaned over.
"What's wrong? Is Zhang Aijun the brave man who went with you to the city to rescue me last time?"

"What is he doing with the ewe?"

Liu Wangcai and Liu Youyu nodded and waved their hands:
"it's him."

However, Qian Jin just cursed.

Liu Youyu continued, "The Public Security Bureau has arrested him. I'm afraid they'll charge him with hooliganism!"

(End of this chapter)