Reborn in 1977

Chapter 127: No Freebies Here Either

Chen Fan parked the donkey cart steadily. Before he could even speak, a middle-aged woman inside shouted, "No parking at the entrance! Pull it further away."

Hearing this, Chen Fan didn't argue with her. He obediently pulled the donkey cart to the front of a nearby residential building with its doors closed. Only then did he walk to the storefront and ask politely, "Excuse me, can you tell me who Wang Xiaoling is?"

He didn't dare to argue with the people's service personnel. Before he transmigrated, there were jokes all over the internet about "No arbitrary beating or scolding of customers."

Look, the slogans even say "No arbitrary beating or scolding of customers."

So, as long as there's a legitimate reason, you can beat and scold customers?!

Therefore, Chen Fan would never give them a chance to beat him up!

When the middle-aged woman heard him call her "elder sister," her expression softened a lot. Then, looking at Chen Fan's handsome face, her mood instantly turned from cloudy to sunny. She said with a smile, "Oh, you're looking for Wang Xiaoling? Who are you to her?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Her sister, Wang Xiaofang, asked me to come find her."

The middle-aged woman said "Oh," turned around, and shouted, "Xiaoling, someone's looking for you. Says your sister Xiaofang sent him."

A woman in her thirties stood up from behind the counter. If he wasn't mistaken, the half-white, half-red face showed that she had been sleeping on her desk.

Chen Fan silently complained in his heart. It's so cold, yet she sleeps on her desk. Isn't she afraid of catching a cold?

Wang Xiaoling didn't come out from behind the counter either. She walked along the passage inside the counter to the end, sized Chen Fan up, then looked at Jiang Lili, who was standing behind Chen Fan, wrapped up tightly, and asked, "What's the matter? How do you know her?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I'm acquainted with Master Zhu from the food station. Sister Fang knew I was coming to buy things, so she asked me to find you."

Before Wang Xiaoling could speak, the middle-aged woman who was sitting at the entrance like a door god's eyes lit up. "You're acquainted with Master Zhu? Master Zhu is very picky. Ordinary people don't catch his eye. How did you two meet?"

Chen Fan gently gritted his teeth.

Damn it, I just came to buy some things. Why are you all popping out questions one after another? Is this 'Ten Thousand Whys'?

But there was no choice. Right now, only the supply and marketing cooperative had the things he needed to buy. He couldn't have a bad attitude if they had a bad attitude, otherwise not being able to buy things was a small matter, but getting beaten up wasn't worth it.

So he said softly, "I'm Chen Fan, the broadcaster from the Lujiawan Production Team. Master Zhu went to our team to slaughter pigs, and that's how we met."

Today, he was recognized everywhere he went. Even those who hadn't met him had heard of him. It was clear that he had a certain degree of fame in the Nanhua Commune. Now that shopping wasn't going smoothly, he could only bring out his own name to see if it would work.

Not bad, the facts proved that his reputation was indeed very popular in the Nanhua Commune.

As soon as they heard that he was Chen Fan from Lujiawan, the middle-aged woman and Wang Xiaoling instantly became ten times more enthusiastic.

"Oh my, you're Master Chen! You should have said so earlier."

"You can come directly in the future. You don't need to mention my sister's name. She's always doing good deeds, bringing people to me, which gives me a headache. You're different. Come directly if you need anything. You want to buy things, right? What do you want to buy? I'll pick them out for you!"

Then, in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere, Chen Fan bought all the things he could buy.

16 jin of Fuqiang flour, 1 jin of white sugar, 2 jin of rapeseed oil, 10 chi of blue industrial cloth, 1 pack of Peony cigarettes, 1 bar of soap, 2 liang of salt.

Flour was 1 mao 5 per jin, white sugar was 7 mao 8 per jin, rapeseed oil was 8 mao 8 per jin, industrial cloth was 3 mao 8 per chi, Peony cigarettes were 4 yuan 9 per pack, soap was 3 mao per bar, and salt was 1 mao 6 per jin.

In total, it cost 13 yuan, 9 mao, and 7 fen. The biggest expense was actually the cigarettes.

Originally, Chen Fan wanted to spend all 20 jin of his charcoal coupons, but because it was already winter, charcoal was very scarce and had to be given priority to the big cities. Charcoal was actually out of stock in this small Nanhua Commune, so he could only give up.

Wang Xiaoling not only picked out the best goods for him, but also enthusiastically helped him deliver them to the cart before reluctantly waving goodbye.

Driving the donkey cart towards the veterinary station, Jiang Lili couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Chen Fan's face suddenly fall.

Chen Fan turned his head and glanced at her. "Don't think that just because you're covering your face, I don't know you're secretly laughing."

Jiang Lili lowered her head, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "N-no."

Chen Fan shook his head and chuckled. "It's okay, laugh if you want to. Anyway, I'm not at a disadvantage."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled. "You'll be a celebrity in the Nanhua Commune from now on."

Chen Fan curled his lips and said, "What's so good about being a celebrity? People fear fame like pigs fear getting fat…"

Speaking of this, he suddenly pulled the donkey cart to a stop and slapped his forehead. "Pigs!"

Then he looked at Jiang Lili. "Where can I buy piglets?"

He had said before that he wanted to raise pigs. The production team basically wouldn't issue meat coupons. If you wanted to eat meat, you could only raise pigs yourself. After completing the purchase quota, some meat coupons would be distributed proportionally.

So unless he frequently came to town to buy black market coupons, he could only raise them himself if he wanted to eat meat.

Jiang Lili pointed ahead and said, "Next to the veterinary station is the breeding station. You can buy piglets there. Occasionally, there are also lambs and rabbits, but they're only open for half a day in the morning. In the afternoon, they go to the production teams to collect piglets."

Chen Fan couldn't help but find it strange when he heard this. "There are lambs and rabbits too? Are the piglets also produced by the commune?"

Jiang Lili nodded. "They assign tasks to the production teams. When the time comes, they'll buy the piglets back and sell them to farmers who need them. Lambs and rabbits are collected along the way."

After a pause, she explained, "The food station has assigned purchase quotas to every household. If they don't complete them, there will be penalties. So they have to ensure that the commune members' families can smoothly buy piglets, otherwise they'll push the responsibility to the commune."

Chen Fan nodded slightly. "To complete the purchase task, they have to ensure the supply of piglets, with ins and outs. That's reasonable."

Then he couldn't help but laugh again. "So the breeding station doesn't breed them themselves? The tasks are all assigned to the production teams?"

Jiang Lili nodded, then shook her head. "There are also breeding stations that breed them themselves, but the Nanhua Commune is relatively small, and there aren't many suitable breeding masters, so they simply assign the tasks down. This way, the production teams can have more income, and the breeding station saves worry and effort."

After chatting for a while, they arrived at the entrance of the veterinary station.

Since the breeding station wasn't open in the afternoon, he could only wait until tomorrow morning to come and choose piglets.

He happened to have an appointment with Master Zhu for a drink tomorrow noon, so he could take care of things together.

Entering the backyard of the veterinary station, Little Ma had finished the IV drip and looked much more energetic. When it saw Chen Fan, it immediately struggled to get up.

Little Ma's movements alarmed Station Chief Zhou and the others on the other side. When they turned around, they saw Chen Fan.

Chen Fan parked the donkey cart steadily, hugged the little foal that had run over, rubbed its head, looked at the big pile of horse manure in the shed, and then looked at its body. Fortunately, it hadn't gotten dirty.

Station Chief Zhou walked over and said, "Your horse is fine now. I'll give you a few doses of Tongguan Powder and Digestion and Stomach Strengthening Powder to take back with you. If it doesn't get worse, you don't need to come back."

Chen Fan repeatedly thanked him.

Station Chief Zhou waved his hand with a smile. "You don't need to thank me. I should thank you. We have one more way to deal with this kind of severe gastroenteritis."

Chen Fan laughed.

Thanking him is useless, he's not giving a freebie.

But although he couldn't get a freebie, the books the veterinary station gave him were invaluable. This time, he made a huge profit.