Back to my 1980s

"I ate the mosquitoes."

Zhao Hua pursed his lips, turned over, and clamped the bed sheet between his legs, ignoring her. The night breeze was getting a little chilly in the latter half of the night.

"Brother, give me a match, I want to light the cattail."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hua rummaged through his pockets for a moment, found some matches, and handed them to her, saying, "I think I heard about mosquito coils in the county town. They say they can repel mosquitoes. Does your supply and marketing cooperative sell them?"

Zhao Ru took the matches, turned on the flashlight and shone it on the cattail stalks, then struck a match and held it to the stalks, saying, "I haven't seen it. Maybe our village hasn't received any yet. If you saw it in the county town, then the town should have it."

Zhao Hua put his hands behind his head, stared at the starry sky, and smiled. There are still so many things that haven't reached the countryside yet, and there are even so many things that haven't been built yet.

Leaving aside mosquito coils, which require some technical expertise, let's talk about the simplest food. "Silly Melon Seeds" became a national star as soon as it was released, followed by "Tianfu Cola" and Jianlibao, which became an overnight sensation in 84.

"Hey! Zhao Ru, can I ask you something?" Zhao Hua turned to the side and looked at Zhao Ru, who was burning a flax stick on the ground.

"Why don't you just ask me what it is?" Zhao Ru paused in her hand, which was pointing at the cattail stick. She turned to look at Zhao Hua, and she was most afraid of this kind of opening line, especially since Zhao Hua looked a little serious.

"Is catching fish tiring?" Zhao Hua's gaze fell on Zhao Ru's hand, which was holding a cattail stick.

She breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Thankfully, it wasn't a difficult question. She stretched her cheeks and smiled, "Not tired at all. What's tiring about it? I feel it's much easier than working in the fields, and it pays more than that. Why did you suddenly ask this?"

Zhao Hua smiled and said, "Everyone says that the gap between the rich and the poor is huge in later generations, but in reality, it's just that the internet is more developed in later generations, and more rich people have been exposed."

To truly see the widening gap between the rich and poor, we have to look to the 1980s and 90s.

This time, a large number of educated youth returned to the city, and many of them secretly started their own businesses. In 79, the concept of "ten-thousand-yuan households" was publicly reported, and now everyone knows about it.

While the villagers of Shuanghuai Village were hesitant and even afraid to catch fish to sell, many others were already using the equivalent of 10,000 yuan to travel to big cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Those people were the initial grassroots profiteers, and they even had the beginnings of official profiteers.

However, opportunities come with risks. There are hardly any surveillance cameras now, so some people specifically target individual business owners. At best, they lose money but get away with it.

Encountering ruthless armed thugs is a real problem. Those thugs specifically target people with big names and a lot of money. They spend half a month or a month scouting the place beforehand, and after scouting, they break into the house and rob people in the middle of the night. Anyone who dares to resist will be wiped out.

Especially for those self-employed individuals in county towns, when they encounter strangers in the countryside, all the villagers will be on guard, but when a stranger comes to the city to scout out a place, no one will pay attention. It is perfectly normal to have unfamiliar faces in the city.

Pale white smoke drifted in the night breeze. Zhao Ru lit a cattail stick, inserted it under Zhao Hua's bed, and started lighting another one.

"Damn it! Don't waste my matches! Just use the lit one to mix them up." Zhao Hua felt a little sorry for Zhao Ru when she lit another match.

It wasn't that he was heartbroken about the few matches; the main problem was that if they were all wasted, and the supply and marketing cooperative wasn't open in the middle of the night, he wouldn't have anywhere to buy more.

"Oh, I didn't think of it for a moment. I was just thinking that the wind was too strong to light it." Zhao Ru shielded her eyes from the wind with one hand and carefully brought the flame close to the new cattail stick, but it was clear that she couldn't light a single match.

Zhao Hua thought for a moment, and decided not to waste it, so he simply took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and brought it over.

"Hey sis, can you help me think of something that will sell well in our village?" Zhao Hua lit a cigarette and lay back down on the bed.

"I feel like everything will sell well. Flashlights might be okay, since there have been people shining flashlights all over the riverbank these days. Are you thinking of bringing some things from the county town to sell in our village?"

"A flashlight would be nice; we really need one. But we can't make one ourselves. I mean, is there any we can make ourselves?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ru immediately became interested. She stuck the cattail stick in her hand into the ground, dragged another bamboo bed over a bit, turned over and sat on it, saying, "You can make things that you can sell? There are so many! Bamboo baskets, bamboo crates, straw mats, palm-leaf fans, tofu, hemp rope, there are so many."

Zhao Hua smiled and was about to speak when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in the distance out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw it was Meng Qinghe, who must have gotten up to use the restroom. He lay back down and said, "These things you mentioned can indeed be sold in our countryside, but I reckon they don't earn as much as catching fish."

Zhao Ru didn't speak, because when Zhao Hua looked up, she also turned her head and saw Meng Qinghe. She nodded and said, "Brother, wait for me." Then she got up, grabbed a flashlight, and walked towards Meng Qinghe.

Zhao Hua glanced at the stars and ignored her. It was just little girls going to the toilet together; it was normal. Back in his school days, the girls in his class often went to the toilet together, sometimes three times during the three breaks…

A moment later, Zhao Ru returned, accompanied by Meng Qinghe. Zhao Hua glanced at them, unsure of what to say...

"Brother, do you think we should let Qinghe open a convenience store?" Zhao Ru asked before Zhao Hua could react.

Zhao Hua breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. It turned out that he had come over because he had something to do. In the evening, when everyone was outside enjoying the cool air, it was understandable that he would bring a girlfriend over for a chat.

It was almost bedtime, and suddenly she pulled her girlfriends over, which Zhao Hua found a little strange. He nodded and said, "Yeah, what's up?"

Zhao Ru pulled Meng Qinghe to sit on the bamboo bed next to her and said, "If you let her open a small shop, how will she sell fish later? Am I supposed to go by myself?"

Zhao Hua curled his lip and said, "You expect to catch fish for the rest of your life? In a few days, we'll be delivering fish to the commune restaurant. We don't even know if we'll catch enough for them. At that point, we won't need to sell fish anymore. Otherwise, why would I have asked you earlier what you could do to make money?"

"Oh, I knew it! Why did you suddenly ask me that? Are we selling something else?"

Zhao Hua glanced at her and surprisingly didn't notice her disappointment or sadness. What if she stopped selling fish and lost two or three yuan a day? She didn't seem to care at all.

However, Zhao Hua didn't ask her if she was feeling unwell, lest he tease her and make her cry, which would be asking for trouble in the middle of the night.

He smiled and said, "Yes, that's what I'm thinking about. It'll be perfect when Meng Qinghe has time to open a convenience store. By the way, do you want to open a convenience store? Our location seems pretty suitable."