Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife-Chapter 1687: Teacher and Student Reunion 3

There are always many topics to talk about among women, even two people who didn’t know each other before can quickly become friends.

As Sister Lei was packing the dried goods into a cloth bag, Sister Liu said to Feng Qingxue, "Sister Qingxue, if you don’t like the food in the cafeteria, just buy your own ingredients and let the cook make it for you. Just give some oil tickets as a processing fee. My yellow croaker is very fresh. Besides yellow croaker, there’s bass and hairtail too, which are hard to find in the Great North."

Feng Qingxue was intrigued — could this really work? ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Seeing her interest, Sister Liu continued to promote her seafood.

"Sister Liu, not today. I have something to do in a bit. I’ll see if I can borrow some cookware, and if so, I’ll come to buy fish tomorrow." Feng Qingxue was preoccupied with the pearl purchase, and didn’t feel like going to the cafeteria to ask the cook for help.

Sister Liu finally gave up.

After buying the seafood she fancied, Feng Qingxue also bought some fruit, pastries, and candies as gifts for visiting Director Gu.

The old squad leader noticed after she bought them and kept saying, "Why buy these? Why buy these? We’re going to the purchasing station, not Director Gu’s house. Besides, even if we were going to Director Gu’s house, there’s no need to buy anything."

"It’s just a token of appreciation, old squad leader."

The old squad leader said helplessly, "You’re too polite."

The items were already bought, returning them wasn’t practical, so they took them along to the purchasing station.

The state operates on a unified purchase and sale policy, and country folks generally sell their fruits, vegetables, and crops to the supply and marketing cooperative. In the city, there are purchasing stations that buy various goods. The materials collected from the supply and marketing cooperatives are typically sent to food stations and purchasing stations and then distributed to various stores. Large cities like the Capital and Shanghai even have specialized cultural relics shops buying antiques.

After hearing the old squad leader and Feng Qingxue’s purpose, Director Gu pondered for a moment and said, "There’s nothing really unfeasible about it, just that it’s not the pearl harvesting season now. Last fall, the Yue Kingdom was bothering the border with impunity, and not many pearls were collected; most have been exported. The new pearls we have are usually brought in by fishermen and cooks."

"Old Gu, just give us whatever you can spare!"

Director Gu smiled at the old squad leader’s words, "Alright, come with me."

The purchasing station has a special room and cabinets for storing pearls. Director Gu unlocked them, bringing out a few boxes. The pearls inside were sorted by color, shape, and size, making everything clear at a glance.

"These are the export Hepu Pearls, not artificially cultured, very rare." Director Gu pointed out the finest pearls.

Each one was lustrous and round, crystal clear, with a diameter of over eight millimeters and very few flaws.

Feng Qingxue liked them very much and asked about the price. It’s priced by the pound — only fifty to sixty yuan a pound, and Director Gu offered her a price of fifty. The next tier was ten to twenty yuan, and irregularly shaped pearls were just a few yuan a pound — a real bargain.

No wonder the old squad leader just handed over that half-bottle of pearls.

Feng Qingxue’s eyes were fixed on those boxes of top-quality pearls. There were black pearls, white pearls, as well as pink and gold pearls. Sunlight slanted through the window, casting a multicolored halo, which was very brilliant.

"Director Gu, please weigh these and give me the total — I want them all."

Upon hearing Feng Qingxue’s words, the old squad leader’s mouth fell open.

Director Gu shook his head and said, "No way, the most I can give you is half — they still need to be exported for foreign exchange!"

"Half is fine." More might be less; half of these top-notch pearls already exceeded Feng Qingxue’s expectations. She thought she might get only thirty percent, considering the purchasing station is a state entity, and foreign exchange is especially important.

... The pearl prices are made up, so don’t fact-check them. But in the eighties, first-class Hetian Jade seed material was only a hundred yuan per kilogram.

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