Reborn in 1977

This was a very serious problem.

It wasn't so much that electricity was expensive. While eating, he had heard from the technician Huang from the post and telecommunications office that the current electricity price was 16.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. This price wasn't cheap, but without high-power appliances, a normal family wouldn't use much electricity in a year.

Some families in town even used only two or three kilowatt-hours a year, meaning that for lighting alone, the annual electricity bill was less than 50 cents, which was more cost-effective than kerosene lamps.

But the problem was, Chen Fan had no money!

Despite the mountain of supplies in his room, he didn't have a single penny on him.

And don't even mention exchanging things for money. He had almost been framed today, so he wouldn't dare exchange anything for money. If he accidentally made a mistake and his things were confiscated, he would have no place to cry.

So, he had to figure this out. If the production team paid the electricity bill, he could use it. But if he had to pay himself, no way!

Hearing Chen Fan's words, Jiang Lili paused for two seconds before reacting, pursing her lips and smiling, "Of course, you have to pay yourself, but electricity isn't expensive. It's only 16.5 cents per kilowatt-hour."

Chen Fan's face fell. "Forget it, I can't afford it."

Jiang Lili blinked her big eyes. This price wasn't expensive. As long as you weren't wasteful, it would only be a few cents a year. How could he not afford it?

Besides, with so many supplies in his room, he could sell some at the commune's purchasing station and get a few dollars. He shouldn't be that stingy, right?

Then, she thought that he might have forgotten some things and might not even remember the purchasing station. She smiled softly and said, "Are you worried about not having money?"

Chen Fan didn't seem embarrassed. He patted his pockets casually and said with a proud expression, "A true proletarian, no one should be poorer than me."

Jiang Lili's eyes immediately turned into crescents. She had seen many boys who pretended to be generous, but this was the first time she had seen someone so frankly admit that he had no money. It didn't make him seem stingy at all, but rather a little cute.

Following behind him into the room, Jiang Lili turned to look at the fully stacked supplies and said with a smile, "If you're poor with all this, then there are no poor people."

Chen Fan turned to look at her, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes.

Not bad, she even knows how to joke.

Thinking back to when he first met her a few days ago, this girl would lower her head when she spoke, and her voice was so soft that you couldn't hear her unless you strained your ears. She was as introverted as could be. Now, she could even make small jokes. That's a big improvement.

That's right, she's just a 17 or 18-year-old girl after all, at the age when she's naturally lively. It's normal for her to reveal a bit of her true nature when she relaxes.

Chen Fan picked up the thermos to pour water, but found that the teapot already had tea in it, and it was still hot. He couldn't help but turn to look at her. "Did you make the tea for me?"

Jiang Lili nodded. "I calculated the time. You should be back around this time, so I poured it for you in advance. The temperature should be just right now."

Chen Fan poured two bowls of water and said with a smile, "The temperature is indeed just right. Come, you made tea for me, I'll treat you to tea."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled, sitting on the other side of the table, holding the teacup and taking a sip. Then, she looked at the supplies piled on the bamboo bed and said, "If you can't finish eating or using so much stuff, you can sell some of it."

"Sell?"

Chen Fan looked at her in surprise. "How do I sell it? Who do I sell it to?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "There's a purchasing station in the commune. They buy old clothes, old furniture, old appliances, and some agricultural products from the countryside."

"Purchasing station?"

Chen Fan blinked blankly. "Isn't that a place to collect scrap? Why do they also buy agricultural products?"

Jiang Lili put down her teacup, looked at him with a smile, and said, "Either you've forgotten, or you've never lived in a small place. The purchasing station, the consignment shop, and the supply and marketing cooperative are three units that every commune member can't live without. Everyone here knows that."

Then, she patiently explained, "Actually, the purchasing station and the consignment shop are the same as the supply and marketing cooperative. It's just that in order to make things easier for the people, two of them were separated.

In addition to selling things, the supply and marketing cooperative also has the task of purchasing some materials, so they have a purchasing department internally, which is a different department from the sales department.

On the one hand, in order to complete the purchasing task, and on the other hand, to facilitate the members of the production team, the commune's supply and marketing cooperative generally opens the purchasing department in the production team to facilitate the people to sell things. This is the purchasing station.

The scrap station you're talking about is different from the purchasing station. Although the purchasing station also buys old goods, they must still be usable. The purchasing station doesn't buy things like waste paper, scrap iron, and old equipment parts. You can only sell them to the scrap station.

Other old goods and agricultural products are the main objects purchased by the purchasing station. There was a time when eggs could only be sold to the food station. Later, when eggs were no longer scarce, the food station no longer managed eggs, and members could sell eggs to the purchasing station.

Especially some precious things, such as dried pagoda tree flowers. The first-grade can sell for 21 yuan per kilogram, and the second-grade can also sell for 19 yuan per kilogram. Many members rely on selling pagoda tree flowers to support their children's education."

Chen Fan, who was listening attentively, was surprised when he heard the price. "That's quite high."

One kilogram of pagoda tree flowers is almost equivalent to a month's salary for an apprentice worker. If he could get a few more kilograms of pagoda tree flowers, wouldn't that be better than working?

As a result, Jiang Lili smiled reproachfully. "What are you talking about? The high price is of course because they're precious. If they were like rice, it would be good if they could sell for one dime per kilogram."

Then, she explained, "Pagoda tree flowers can only be harvested once in a very short period of time each year, and they also need to be dried, so the harvest is even smaller. In addition, there are few pagoda trees, so harvesting pagoda tree flowers can only depend on luck, because it's not good to start too early, and if you're late, others will pick them."

After a pause, she looked at Chen Fan and said softly, "It's only now that members are not prohibited from hunting, fishing, and picking wild goods. If it were in the first few years, these things would have to be handed over, and individuals could not keep them. So, no one picked pagoda tree flowers at that time, and the purchasing station couldn't collect them either. Only after it was opened up could a little be collected every year."

Chen Fan nodded in realization. "I see."

He looked at Jiang Lili again. "You continue, what is a consignment shop?"

Jiang Lili, "Actually, a consignment shop is a small store. It's a cooperation between the supply and marketing cooperative and the production team. The production team provides the venue and supporting facilities, and even the salesperson, and then the supply and marketing cooperative provides the materials for a small store, mainly to facilitate production teams in remote areas, selling salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and small agricultural tools such as sickles and branch shears."

"So that's how it is."

Chen Fan felt like he had discovered a new world. Then, he felt a little strange again. "But I've been wandering around the production team for the past two days, how come I haven't seen it?"

Jiang Lili smiled slightly. "Coincidentally, the purchasing station and consignment shop in Lujiawan are both in the 10th production team, because it's close to the commune here. If you need to buy or sell anything, you can go directly to the commune. It's far away over there, so it's set up there."

Chen Fan was speechless. It was indeed a bit of a coincidence. The farthest he had gone was the 9th production team, just twenty minutes away.