Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 40 Can I afford the cloth? (Add more, please give me a monthly ticket)
In the past few years, people needed cloth coupons to buy cloth. Without cloth coupons, the mountain people could not buy cloth woven by the government, and instead had to weave their own cloth using old looms.

In terms of quality, the public cloth is woven on an automatic loom, and has better density and smoothness, so it is also more durable.

But there is nothing you can do if you can't afford it.

Therefore, the best-selling cloth on the market is the cloth woven by ordinary people themselves, also known as private cloth.

With the development of the economy and society, cloth coupons have been cancelled. As long as you have money, you can buy cloth as you want. Gradually, private cloth has been abandoned because its quality is not as good as public cloth. Most of the cloth sold on the market is public cloth.

The materials of cloth at that time were mainly face cloth and gauze, and the colors were also very monotonous, mainly basic colors such as blue, black, red, yellow and green. But even so, there were still few people who could afford new cloth.

There was a huge crowd of people surrounding the stall, but most of them were just staring, asking about the prices, touching the corners of the cloth with their rough hands, and finally leaving with regret.

In an age when people could not even get enough to eat, people had very low requirements for clothes; as long as they could cover the body, they were basically fine.

Even in very poor areas, a family only has one or two pairs of pants. If the adults wear them, the children can only hide under the quilt.

Many girls are in their teens and still don't have a decent pair of pants to wear, so when guests come to their home, they can only cover their heads with quilts and ignore them.

It sounds exaggerated, but it is the real reality.

Just as the three were about to approach, Yu Xiaoyun pulled Yu Qiutang's hand and said, "Uncle, my uncle is here too."

Only then did Yu Qiutang realize that Yu Qiushi and Wang Chunhua were standing next to the cloth stall, and in front of them was Chen Meidi, who was holding a piece of cloth and bargaining with the boss.

It was a stack of dark blue cloth. The color was not evenly blended, and it was obviously the cheapest "cylinder head goods".

After the cloth is woven, it needs to be dyed, but the dyeing concentration, temperature and added ingredients need to be adjusted according to the previous dyeing effect of the cloth.

The cloth that has just started to be dyed is called "head goods".

There is no major problem with the textile quality of this cloth, but the color is uneven. If you are not sensitive to colors or cannot see the difference in dim light, you will not be able to see the difference. However, if you have sharp eyes or see it in strong light, you can immediately tell the color difference.

Therefore, this kind of cloth is a processed product and the price will be relatively cheap.

Having said that, even such cheap goods are not affordable for ordinary people. If Chen Meidi's husband was not a carpenter, she would never have come here to join in the fun. At most, she would go to the village to see which old man had privately woven cloth.

"Two cents a foot, that's the lowest price. Look at this fine cloth, I get more than that. I'm only giving it to you at a low price because it's all I have left. If you still think it's too expensive, put it down. There are others waiting to buy it."

The boss was a man in his forties. He might have been annoyed by Chen Meidi and wanted to take the cloth back impatiently, but Chen Meidi held on to it and refused to let go.

"18 cents, I won't tell you 15 or 16 cents, just 18 cents, that's fine, just sell it to me, you don't care about these two cents, right?"

"I don't care about two cents," the boss was very angry and said impatiently, "I can't get rich with two cents more from you, and I can still do business with two cents less from you, but two cents is my bottom line. If you really don't want to buy it, put it down and let others see it!"

"Hey, boss, you set up a stall to do business, it's only natural for me to come and buy things, why are you chasing me away?" Chen Meidi felt that her boss looked down on her and couldn't hold back her face. "Who sells things at a fixed price? Isn't buying and selling just you calling the price and I paying the money? Don't you agree?"

The onlookers laughed along.

There are people standing on both sides. The poor people are on Chen Meidi's side and regard all the bosses who sell things as bad people.

Those who could afford it thought that Chen Meidi was being unreasonable. The boss had already offered it at a very low price because it was first-tier goods and it happened to be the last batch, but she still refused to give up.

The boss was also a little annoyed by Chen Meidi and shook his head helplessly, "Okay, okay, I'm afraid of you. I'll give you 1.8 cents. If everyone is like you, I won't have to do this small business." "Look at what you said, can I make a loss?" Chen Meidi smiled and asked the boss to help her measure the size.

"Two feet and one centimeter." The boss said casually.

"How do you know it's 2.1 inches? You haven't even measured it. You can't lie to me." Chen Meidi held the ruler worriedly.

"Someone asked for it before, so I measured it."

"That won't do. I didn't see it when you were measuring for others. Now it's me who wants to buy it, not others. You have to measure it again for me, otherwise I won't feel at ease. Any difference will cost money."

"Okay, okay, I'll measure it for you, I'll measure it for you!"

The boss was completely frightened by Chen Meidi. He quickly measured with a ruler and handed it to Chen Meidi, "Look, is it two feet and one? Would I cheat you?"

Chen Meidi leaned over to look at the number on the ruler, then looked at the scale carefully. After making sure there was no problem, she smiled and said, "The size is correct."

"I said I wouldn't cheat you," the boss calculated the price unhappily, "18 cents for one foot, 36 cents for two feet, 38 cents for two feet and one foot."

"What do you mean by 38 cents? How can I give you money? 37 cents, I won't give you a cent more!"

However, Chen Meidi directly took out the small wallet wrapped in a handkerchief, counted out 37 cents, and put the rest of the money back into the wallet, as if it would be snatched away if she was a little slower.

In the end, she was satisfied with getting the cloth she wanted and prepared to leave with contentment.

After walking a little further, Yu Qiushi next to him suddenly said, "My brother and his friends bought a lot of things."

Chen Meidi was stunned. "Did you see him there?"

"Just now when you were buying cloth, he and Weiwei and Yunyun were right beside you. Didn't you see them?"

"I'm looking at the cloth, who has time to look at them?" Chen Meidi said unhappily.

"Look now," Yu Qiushi turned around and pointed at a cloth stall not far away, "Look, they are right there. They probably want to buy cloth just like you."

Buy cloth?

Chen Meidi laughed secretly. The last bit of cheap cloth was bought by her. How could he afford the cloth? The remaining high-end cloth was more than three cents per foot. How could he afford it?

She stood there and looked at Yu Qiutang for a while, and found that he seemed to be holding a piece of pink cloth in his hand and saying something to the boss, which made her laugh even more.

If you can't afford it, don't ask. After all this time, you will still leave empty-handed. It's a waste of time.

"Mom, let's go. My legs are sore from standing." Wang Chunhua urged.

"Go for a walk."

Chen Meidi turned around and left with the child, with a hint of sarcasm on her lips. She believed that Yu Qiutang would not go to buy cloth. Their rations could only last for three days, so they had to solve the problem of food first!

(End of this chapter)