CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 59: PREPARING FOR THE NEW YEAR

"Xiao Xue, great job! People like that should be kicked out! Mouthful of nonsense!" Aunt Sun Hong applauded and cheered.

The two still hadn’t gotten up, but the ox cart had already gone over a hundred meters away.

"Big sis is so awesome! I want to learn from her!" Bai Ruyue gazed at Bai Ruxue with admiration, eyes sparkling.

"Will they be okay?" Wu Zhaodi asked worriedly, "What if something happens?"

"What could happen? The ox cart moves so slowly, falling off just hurts a bit!" Quanzi, driving the cart in the front, chimed in.

He was upset earlier too, but as a grown man, he couldn’t stoop to argue with young girls. Xiao Xue’s kick was truly satisfying.

"No problem, no problem! Don’t worry!" Sun Hong patted Wu Zhaodi’s shoulder, looking completely relaxed.

The ox cart wasn’t much faster than walking, so by the time Bai Ruxue and the others arrived at the supply and demand cooperative, it was already past ten in the morning.

"Big sis, is this how the supply and demand cooperative is?" Bai Ruxia got off the ox cart and started looking around excitedly.

"Hurry up, it’s the end of the year, there must be a lot of people! We have a lot of things to buy later!" Bai Ruxue pulled her sister inside.

Aunt Sun and Bai Ruyue followed them inside.

Entering the cooperative, they found it was extremely crowded, with each counter packed with people.

"Xiao Xia, let’s buy bowls and chopsticks first! Take the stuff outside to put on the ox cart and then come back!" Bai Ruxue told Bai Ruxia, pulling her sister toward the bowls and chopsticks section.

Relatively speaking, these places requiring industrial coupons had fewer people, so Bai Ruxue went to check them out.

"Big sis, I want ten small coarse porcelain bowls, ten large sea bowls, ten pairs of chopsticks, ten plates, and four of those aluminum basins!" Bai Ruxue pointed at the stacked basins in the counter.

"These all require industrial coupons!" the sales clerk said blandly and turned away to attend to a well-dressed woman.

Bai Ruxue boldly took out a stack of money tickets and placed them on the counter. "Big sis, is this enough?"

The clerk glanced, whoa, several ten-yuan bills and several industrial coupons, suddenly her attitude improved a lot.

"Do you only want these things? You don’t need that much money!" She cheerfully brought Bai Ruxue’s items to the counter.

"I also want a thermos, a kettle, a small iron pot! And a kitchen knife!" Bai Ruxue listed them one by one.

The sales clerk’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. This little girl really has money. Since the steel-making exercise just passed, these iron items aren’t cheap; they’re pricey and all require industrial coupons.

"Alright, I’ll get them for you! Wait!" The sales clerk said, turning to fetch the items, while Bai Ruxue casually glanced around and suddenly saw enamel mugs on the counter, buying eight more.

Bai Ruxia, seeing her big sis buying so many enamel mugs, asked confusedly, "Big sis, isn’t two enough? Why buy so many?"

Bai Ruxia was already incredulous; other families couldn’t even buy one, yet her big sis bought so many good things and still bought a bunch of enamel mugs, isn’t she just waiting for Grandma to snatch them?

"One for each member of our family, just right, so everyone uses their own!" Bai Ruxue’s cleanliness compulsion was kicking in, wanting a mug for each person to use individually. She even bought one for Zhang Yuan.

After hearing this, Bai Ruxia didn’t say anything; anyway, her big sis had money and tickets, might as well buy them, later she would protect them well, preventing Grandma from taking them.

Finally, the sisters bought a huge pile of items and moved everything to the waiting ox cart outside.

Uncle Quanzi had been waiting outside all along because there was nowhere to store the ox cart, he could only keep watch. Seeing the sisters coming out, he asked, "Done shopping? Why so quickly?"

"No, we bought some things first, sending them out, then going back to buy more!" Bai Ruxue replied, placing the stuff on the cart, and pulled her sister back into the cooperative.

Only now did they have the chance to browse other counters. They didn’t need to buy food; chicken, duck, fish, meat, candies, cookies, sunflower seeds, and peanuts were already prepared. The meat was frozen in an outside urn and covered with firewood.

The rest was locked in the kang cabinet. Fortunately, the cotton and cloth were stored, and the kang cabinet could fit them.

The grain was brought home ten jin by ten jin, not only was there no space, but also fearing Grandma would suddenly come over and take them.

They ate solely rice, white flour, coarse grains were no longer consumed.

Oddly, Grandma Bai managed to hold off from causing trouble for two days. Bai Ruxue couldn’t believe this without Mr. Bai’s intervention.

I wonder what Mr. Bai is planning.

"Big sis, there’s a crowd over there! What’s happening?" Bai Ruxia pointed to the fabric counter, curious.

"Let’s go have a look!"

Bai Ruxue led her sister into the crowd.

Today, the cooperative was selling autumn clothes and pants, all requiring fabric coupons, but there was still a large crowd gathered round.

Townsfolk who worked in factories had fabric coupons, unlike rural folks, for whom fabric coupons were scarce. They mostly wore self-woven coarse linen.

Wu Yuxia was busy and dizzy, not noticing Bai Ruxue’s presence, nor intending to greet her, and thus didn’t proactively reach out to her.

Just as the sisters were eyeing the autumn clothes and pants, a sarcastic voice rang out beside them.

"Don’t just touch the clothes, they require coupons! If you can’t afford them, keep your distance, beware your fleas crawl onto them, making it hard for others to buy them!" Upon hearing this, Bai Ruxue knew who spoke without granting her a look, directly replying.

"Sister Wu, give me eight sets of these autumn clothes and pants!"

"Ah, Xiao Xue! You’ve come too! I was just saying these autumn clothes are pretty good, the lining is warm! Perfect for wearing under coats and pants! I feared you might miss out!" Wu Yuxia heard the voice and instantly knew it was Bai Ruxue, hurriedly abandoning the person she was calculating bills for.

"Eight sets? Surely you’re joking, can you afford them?" Zhao Hongmei snorted.

"Joking, of course I can’t... afford them!" Bai Ruxue assertively said, "But what can I do? I have a wealthy partner, who loves spending money on me! So no choice!"

She spoke with the intent to infuriate Zhao Hongmei.

Despite the weird glances from onlookers, she didn’t care.

However, Wu Yuxia knew this girl had money, managing so many good things, wouldn’t be lacking funds?

"Eight sets, right? Tell me the sizes, I’ll get them for you!" Wu Yuxia said.

But the people nearby were unhappy, seeing clothes run out, fearful of being deprived.

"Hey, how come she can cut the line? We’ve been waiting here for so long!" protested a middle-aged lady.

Once someone took the lead, others chimed in, voices of discontent arose.

"What’s all the noise about? She reserved them early with me! Got issues? If you don’t want to buy, leave!" Wu Yuxia shouted loudly, and the dissenters fell silent. Clerks in this era were quite formidable.

Bai Ruxia looked at her domineering big sis in awe; she even knew people at the cooperative, how amazing!

In the end, Bai Ruxue and her sister left with eight sets of autumn clothes and pants, swaying proudly, leaving Zhao Hongmei and Liu Lili looking constipated.