Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 193

Zheng Xu asked casually, thinking that if it worked out, he would get a commission, and if it didn't, that would be normal.

After getting off work, Xu Damao was walking back when he saw Jia Dongxu and Zheng Xu talking about something. Xu Damao quickened his pace and then saw Jia Dongxu take out several flour purchase books and hand them to Zheng Xu.

Zheng Xu took out some money, counted out a few bills, and handed them to Jia Dongxu.

Xu Damao was very surprised. The purchase books that Jia Dongxu took out were not just one or two, indicating that he had also become a dealer and wanted to make a profit from it.

He Yuzhu also welcomed a guest, Sun Laowu, a local hoodlum who usually associated with street thugs and tomb raiders. He also had a stall on Yandaixie Street, where he sold genuine and fake antiques. The two had dealt with each other many times.

The man invited him in and offered him tea, saying, "Fifth Brother, what brings you here today?"

Sun Laowu took a sip of tea, praised it as good tea, and then said:

"Brother He, what's your quota for flour?"

"You gain 100 pounds a day, so what?"

Sun Laowu asked, "Is there anything left?"

He Yuzhu said with some worry, "This is not enough. Give me another hundred jin and I can sell them all."

Food coupons are not used yet. When you buy noodles at these restaurants, you only need to pay with money, not coupons, just like when you buy dried noodles at a grain store. Items weighing less than one jin (500 grams) are not counted in the flour purchase certificate.

The current policy is very crude and has too many loopholes.

Upon hearing He Yuzhu's words, Sun Laowu smiled wryly and said, "I thought you had some flour left over. Recently, someone has been buying it, and I wanted to earn some pocket money."

"Is someone buying flour?"

After Sun Laowu explained, He Yuzhu finally understood. There were many old men and their descendants who had a lot of money but no jobs. Right now, they were being cut off, with each person only receiving 8 jin of flour.

This group of people went around looking for people to buy flour, which gave rise to a new business: some people would use other people's grain ration coupons to buy flour, and then return the coupons later, or they would directly buy flour at a high price.

Each pound costs an extra 10 cents, and the middleman also gets a 5-cent commission. In other words, if you want to buy an extra pound of flour now, you need to add 15 cents.

Keep in mind that flour previously cost only about 18 cents, so this is almost double the price.

However, He Yuzhu does not plan to sell the flour he has now. After this, there will be no channel to buy flour in large quantities. It is better to keep the flour until 2008, when the price of a pound of flour will be more than one yuan, so that he can make a lot of profit.

Sun Laowu explained for a while, and then said, "I thought you could still have some credit left."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said, "If I don't sell it to you, you can sell it to me!"

Although the grain sold now is all high-priced, there will be a shortage of grain for the next few decades, and the grain coupon system was not completely abolished until the 90s.

From now on, if you want to buy flour, you'll only be able to buy it at a high price. While you can still buy it, you should still buy some.

Sun Laowu was surprised. He Yuzhu's shop had a daily quota of 100 jin (50 catties), and with his own quota, he was not short of anything. He didn't expect that He Yuzhu would want to buy flour.

"Sure, I'll bring it to you later."

He Yuzhu said, "Then I'll trouble you."

After discussing some details and seeing Sun Laowu off, the next day, he brought a bag of flour through the back door.

Several days later, He Yuzhu received a message that he was notified to attend a meeting at the neighborhood committee.

He Yuzhu arrived at the neighborhood committee's courtyard, where everyone in the meeting was a local business owner, someone whose business was related to grain.

Most of them were acquaintances. He Yuzhu was now certain that this meeting was related to grain, and it seemed that the matter of reselling flour had alarmed the higher-ups.

This time the response was quite fast; in just a few days, they managed to convene a meeting with the people from these restaurants and food stalls.

Not long after, several leaders from the neighborhood committee came out. Although Tian Zao was young, she was already the director of the neighborhood committee for this area, and she had several older women assisting her.

Tian Zao said, "I invited everyone here today because there is something I need to report. Recently, a group of saboteurs have been buying and selling flour. Many of you have probably seen them. The leaders of the Ministry of Grain were shocked and issued a new notice that all vendors and restaurants selling flour and food are not allowed to sell their quota of flour privately."

Chapter 142 Jia Dongxu, aren't you afraid I'll report you to the police station?

Upon hearing this, many people shrank back, and many who had extra flour sold it at a high price.

After all, you can make a dime by reselling a pound of food directly, which is already quite a profit, even more than making food from it and then selling it.

Tian Zao said, "We will not pursue the previous cases, but starting today, anyone who sells flour to private individuals or engages in reselling will have their flour sales license revoked."

This is the truly ruthless tactic: the main ingredient in the food they sell is flour, and if you don't have the qualifications, you can't do business.

Tian Zao only mentioned the punishment for selling flour, but didn't say what the crime was for buying flour at a high price, so it seems that this is not illegal.

Come to think of it, there are still quite a few wealthy people in society. Although the public-private partnership has begun, it is only a pilot program this year. More than 90% of industrial and mining enterprises, shops and stalls in society are privately owned. To be precise, these bosses are capitalists.

If they have connections to buy flour and rice at high prices, people will just turn a blind eye and won't punish them.

The purpose of this meeting is to warn these vendors not to resell the allocated quotas. After all, allowing these shops to continue operating is to maintain social stability and ensure the livelihoods of ordinary residents.

After giving the warning, Tian Zao adjourned the meeting, saying that the matter had nothing to do with He Yuzhu, and then carried some flour back to the courtyard house.

Wen Yuping is pregnant again, which is a great achievement for the He family. He Yuzhu wants to ensure that she and Yushui get enough nutrition, so they need to eat more flour and rice. He Yuzhu can only send them more of these foods.

While other families mainly eat mixed flour or even cornmeal, the He family primarily eats rice and wheat flour, with other grains as a supplement.

He Yuzhu brought the food into the kitchen, then helped He Yushui with her homework, when he saw Xu Damao walking over.

"Zhu Zi, I have something I want to tell you."

He Yuzhu got up and followed them to the Xu family's house in the backyard.

Xu Zhaodi was also there, which surprised He Yuzhu, who thought no one was home. However, Xu Damao was also there, so He Yuzhu felt at ease and came in.

Xu Zhaodi poured him a glass of water and said, "Zhuzi, I'm sorry, it was my fault before."

He Yuzhu reached out and took it, saying, "The past is the past, I don't care, so there's no need to mention it."

Thinking to himself, this apology is too late. He had already made Xu Wude look bad, and now he's in jail.

Then he asked, "Da Mao, this isn't what you wanted to talk to me about, is it?"

Xu Damao said, "No, there's something I want to tell you."

"whats the matter?"

“There are quite a few people in our factory who resell flour and rice, and Jia Dongxu is one of them.”

Since Xu Damao discovered that Jia Dongxu was also involved in reselling, he has not made a fuss. He has been carefully observing these people, and it is not easy to find out what they are up to.

Since they were from the same factory and knew each other, Xu Damao quickly extracted all the information.

He told He Yuzhu all the information he knew.

He Yuzhu was very surprised. According to Xu Damao, Jia Dongxu was one of the small leaders who had been working with people at all levels to make the flour resale business very successful.

He Yuzhu asked with a hint of amusement, "Why are you telling me these things?"

Xu Damao smiled awkwardly, embarrassed, and opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

Xu Zhaodi, who was standing next to him, interjected, "Zhuzi, this is what happened. My brother is, after all, an apprentice at the steel rolling mill. This is a matter within the factory. If Da Mao exposes this, he might lose his job. Even if he keeps his job, he will be ostracized."

After discussing it, Xu Damao and Xu Zhaodi decided that although they wanted to report Jia Dongxu, they couldn't do it themselves, otherwise the consequences would be too severe.

He Yuzhu then realized that Xu Damao and his sister were using him as a pawn, making him report Jia Dongxu so they could sit back and watch the two fight.

"You two are quite cunning, aren't you? You want me to report you?"

Xu Zhaodi and Xu Damao were both embarrassed by He Yuzhu's directness. Xu Damao said:

"Zhu Zi, don't put it so harshly. Jia Dongxu plotted against your family's braised meat recipe before. That's a dead end."

"Alright, your attempts to sow discord are still very naive, so stop showing off."

Xu Damao's face became even more embarrassed. Yes, he had said before that this method of sowing discord was rather low-level, but Xu Zhaodi still insisted on doing it this way.

Xu Damao quickly said, "Zhuzi, it's really not appropriate for me to get involved in this matter, otherwise I'll be isolated at the steel rolling mill in the future."

He Yuzhu said, "Alright, I'm too lazy to bother with your messy affairs."

He got up and left, leaving Xu Zhaodi and Xu Damao speechless. Was He Yuzhu unwilling or willing?

Xu Damao glanced at her, and Xu Zhaodi gritted her teeth and chased after her.

He Yuzhu left the courtyard, took his bicycle a few steps, and was about to ride it when Xu Zhaodi chased after him.

"Pillar, wait a minute."

He Yuzhu turned around and saw that it was her, so he stopped and waited for her to walk up to him before saying, "What are you doing here?"

“Zhu Zi, I have something to tell you.” Then he pointed to the alley next to him and said, “Let’s talk there.”

"You're not trying to harm me again, are you?" He Yuzhu said.

"Who hurt you?" Xu Zhaodi blushed as she recalled He Yuzhu's mischievous hands and passionate kisses that night, and gave him a charmingly disdainful look.

"This little girl, is she trying to outsmart me?"

He Yuzhu confirmed that there was no ambush in the alley before following them in.

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

Although Xu Zhaodi had a lot to say, she didn't know how to start. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said, "He Yuzhu, I wanted to..."

"Trying to harm me again?" He Yuzhu asked with a grin.

"No, who hurt you?" Xu Zhaodi said reproachfully.

"Hehe, last time you pinned me down..."

"Silly Zhu, stop talking." Xu Zhaodi called out Silly Zhu's name in annoyance and embarrassment. How could she bring up that embarrassing thing from last time?