Reborn in 1977

Chapter 196 Solidifying the Market

“Reopen the market?”

Chen Fan looked up, his face full of astonishment. “Again in two days? With no preparation time at all?”

Today is the fourteenth day of the first month, and the market will open on the seventeenth, which means there are only two days in between. This isn't enough time for him to make preparations.

Secretary Yang looked at him and laughed, amused. “Are you building a car or a ship? Counting today, isn't three days enough for you to prepare?”

Chen Fan thought about it, and it was true. Nowadays, rural markets generally only trade in agricultural products, with almost no industrial goods. At most, some town residents bring out old goods to sell. So, for the farmers, they only need to prepare agricultural products and cash, and they really don't need too much preparation time.

But he pouted, “I was planning to fire a few kilns of pottery to sell. One less day means one less kiln of pottery.”

Secretary Yang was immediately dumbfounded, pointing at him and saying, “Who are you going to sell so much pottery to? I heard that you've been selling pottery a lot in the past half month, from charcoal stoves and water tanks to bowls and basins. I can see smoke coming from behind your house every day in the brigade. Half of the families in the entire brigade have bought pottery from you.”

After a pause, he deliberately lowered his voice, leaned closer to Chen Fan, and said with a mischievous smile, “You've made quite a bit, haven't you?”

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, denying it with a serious face. “No way. You're not allowed to collect money these days, and you won't give me a letter of introduction to sell them in the commune. I can only collect some old sesame seeds and rotten grains to barely make a living.”

As soon as he said this, Chen Fan suddenly felt a strong wind coming from behind him. He immediately supported himself on the desk, jumped up, and landed on the other side.

Turning around, he saw Xiao Liewen retracting his leg, pointing at him, and laughing and scolding, “You have more than a dozen bags of rice and paddy piled up in your room, each bag weighing two hundred catties. And you call that barely making a living? The production team's warehouse doesn't even have as much grain as your house!”

“No way, no way.”

Chen Fan repeatedly denied, “A sack of rice weighs two hundred catties, but a sack of paddy only weighs a little over one hundred and eighty catties. That's a big difference.”

It's not that there is too much grain, but that the price of grain is too cheap these days.

Newly harvested rice is only 1 mao 4 per catty, old rice is 1 mao 3, and paddy is even less, only 1 mao 1. A charcoal stove costs 10 yuan, which is equivalent to 71 and a half catties of rice or 90 catties of paddy.

In other words, two charcoal stoves can be exchanged for a bag of paddy, or three charcoal stoves plus some small bowls and basins can be exchanged for a bag of rice.

A dozen bags of paddy and rice are only twenty or thirty charcoal stoves, which can be fired in two earth kilns, and those are the ones without glaze.

Therefore, the price difference between industrial and agricultural products these days is really huge!

Hearing Chen Fan's words, Secretary Yang couldn't help it anymore and suddenly pulled out his smoking pipe.

Chen Fan was so scared that he took a step back. “Why are you using a weapon?”

Secretary Yang glared at him, filled the pipe with tobacco, lit it, took a puff, and then said, “Usually, when a family breaks a bowl, they have to find a bowl repairman to fix it. It's just that the pottery bowls you make can have words written on the bottom and then fired, and the price is cheap, so everyone has bought a lot from you.

But if you really want to make this a business, then you're thinking too much. The supply and marketing cooperative doesn't lack bowls and plates to sell, and they don't even require coupons. At most, they are a little more expensive than what you sell, but aren't those better looking than what you make?

There is also a family in the Victory Brigade that specializes in making pottery, the one you bought the jar from at the last market. Their craftsmanship is much better than yours. The bowls you make aren't even round…”

Chen Fan was unhappy when he heard this. “You can praise people, but why do you have to compare me? It's just that I don't have a pottery wheel. If I had a pottery wheel, mine would definitely be rounder than his.”

Xiao Liewen laughed from the side, “Old Yang means that every household has enough pottery, so if you want to make money from this, don't have too high expectations.

Just burn two or three kilns and try to sell some. Don't really plan to burn kilns every day and become a kiln owner, right? If you really burn too much, you won't be able to transport it all.”

Chen Fan clicked his tongue regretfully. “Alright.”

After a pause, he said, “See when there's another opportunity next time.”

Since there was a second time, there will definitely be a third and fourth time. He has to prepare more pottery.

Anyway, this stuff doesn't have an expiration date, so he can just sell it slowly.

Secretary Yang smoked his pipe and pointed at him with it. “Don't mention it, I heard that the commune is discussing whether to solidify the rural market, just like before, with markets on the first and fifteenth of every month.”

Xiao Liewen was stunned when he heard this, looking at him and saying, “Oh, that's a good thing.”

If the rural market can be solidified, the commune members will have another channel to turn things into cash in the future. Whether it's exchanging surplus agricultural products for money or buying other things, it will be much more convenient.

Chen Fan was also a little surprised. He thought it would take half a year or a year before the agricultural trade market would become a fixed market. He didn't expect the actions below to be so fast.

Since his mental strength increased to 9.5, his memory has become better and better, and he can remember many things he learned in school before.

He vaguely remembered that around the end of 1978 to the beginning of 1979, all parts of the country began to reopen “free markets” one after another.

The so-called free market is actually an agricultural trade market that is open every day and does not require coupons. It was very common before 1965, and almost everywhere had them.

After reopening the free market, at the beginning, all the transactions inside were agricultural products, but before long, some unplanned industrial products entered the agricultural trade market.

By the time it entered the 1980s, in the free market, it was easy to buy daily necessities such as cloth, ready-made clothes, shoes, washbasins, and thermos bottles without coupons. Therefore, more and more people liked to go to the free market to buy things at that time.

But now it's only 1977, and the commune leaders have the idea of restoring fixed transactions in the agricultural trade market, which is quite bold.

Chen Fan was distracted by his thoughts, while on the other side, Secretary Yang said to Xiao Liewen, “A good thing is of course a good thing, but it hasn't been determined yet, especially the location for holding the market. We can't always favor Ganjiacun, right? I guess there will be some arguments, and it definitely won't be settled in a month or two.”

Xiao Liewen laughed, “No matter what, having hope is always better than having no hope.”

Secretary Yang also echoed with a smile.

He took a puff of smoke and suddenly remembered another thing. He immediately turned his head and pointed at Chen Fan. “The opening date for the commune's veterinary class has been set. It will be on the eighteenth day of the first month. That day is Monday, and classes will officially begin. Class time is from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM for theory classes, and from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM for practical classes. Later, you can go find Stationmaster Zhou and ask about the specific details.”

Chen Fan immediately nodded, “Okay.”

Then he looked at the two of them and said with a chuckle, “Why don't I just go over on the day of the market and give him a charcoal stove? That shouldn't be considered impolite, right?”

Does anyone have monthly passes left? If you don't have a place to throw them, just throw them to me. I don't mind ( ω )