Chapter 40 Old Classmate

Grain swapping was extremely fast: one catty traded for two. That was the unwritten rule.

In the past, as the New Year approached, flour prices would rise slightly. One catty of flour could fetch two and a half to three catties of coarse grains. But since last year, that was no longer the case.

The reason prices used to go up was that around the New Year, even the poorest families would grit their teeth and stamp their feet to wrap a batch of dumplings. Even if they were vegetarian dumplings, flour was required. With increased demand, prices naturally rose.

However, since last year, celebrating the New Year had changed. Some of the traditional customs were abolished, and the emphasis shifted to the new society and a new atmosphere.

Since people no longer made dumplings, prices naturally could not go up.

The single cloth bag in his hand had now become two, holding seven or eight catties of rice and over ten catties of flour respectively. Li Yancheng cast his gaze toward the other stalls.

Hm? Cooking oil? Good grief, are people giving up on living properly? Why else would someone bring cooking oil out to sell?

Noticing the oilcan—the kind usually used for storing oil at home—sitting in front of a certain person, Li Yancheng's gaze locked on it, and he walked over with a look of utter astonishment.

"What kind of oil is this?"

"Peanut oil. Two catties, including the oilcan, for five yuan."

The vendor was wrapped up tightly, revealing only a pair of eyes. Hearing Li Yancheng's question, the person answered crisply.

No wonder. It turned out to be peanut oil, which was only available in small quantities right before the New Year.

Peanut oil was expensive to begin with. State grain and oil stores sold it for eighty or ninety cents a catty, and you even needed special ration coupons for it. That price could buy about two catties of ordinary cottonseed oil.

Selling two catties of it along with the oilcan for five yuan right now seemed fair enough.

"Here."

Li Yancheng was even more straightforward, pulling a five-yuan bill straight from his pocket and handing it over.

His swiftness actually startled the vendor, who took a second or two to snap out of it before accepting the money.

As soon as the vendor took the money, Li Yancheng bent down, picked up the oilcan, and turned to leave without a single superfluous word.

The vendor watched that departing figure, then looked at the money in hand. A clear trace of a smile flickered in the vendor's eyes, and he lifted his feet to chase after him.

After leaving with the oilcan, Li Yancheng was just wondering if he should find a secluded spot to store the oilcan away in his warehouse when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw that the person who tapped him was none other than the heavily wrapped vendor.

Seeing that this person had tracked him down, Li Yancheng was slightly startled and asked in a low, puzzled voice, "What is it?"

"Dacheng?"

"Hm?"

"Heh, I didn't recognize the wrong person. It really is you. It's me, Xiao Yuan."

Seeing Li Yancheng's reaction, the oil vendor realized he hadn't made a mistake. With a light laugh, he reached up and pulled down the scarf wrapped around his face.

Though it was pitch black, the market had a fair number of flashlights turned on. Benefiting from that light, as long as one stood close and looked carefully, it was still possible to make out faces.

Seeing the face beneath the scarf, Li Yancheng froze, his brain racing to search his memories.

Found it. A junior high school classmate with whom he used to be quite close. Wasn't he supposed to have gone away for work?

"Xiao Yuan? How is it you? I remember you were drafted for the Third Front Construction?"

After graduating from junior high, Xiao Yuan directly took over his grandfather's job, entering the Beijing Heavy Machinery Plant.

The year before last, when Li Yancheng was demobilized and returned, other classmates mentioned that the Beijing Heavy Machinery Plant had aided in building a factory in a western province as a key national Third Front Construction project, and Xiao Yuan had been sent there by the factory.

Li Yancheng was quite familiar with the Third Front Construction. His parents in his previous life had worked in a Third Front factory located in the mountains. He was born right there in the factory and didn't move into the city with his parents until after he started elementary school.

"I just came back after the New Year," Xiao Yuan replied. He glanced around at the bustling crowd, patted Li Yancheng's arm, and said, "Let's go outside to talk. It's not convenient here."

That was true. Standing here talking felt like acting as thieves, keeping their voices extremely low; it really was inconvenient.

"Alright."

Li Yancheng nodded, signaling for Xiao Yuan to lead the way while he followed.

The two of them walked one after the other out of the vegetable market's large canopy, heading straight for a street lamp by the roadside, and sat down together on the curb.

"I was just about to ask you. Weren't you supposed to become an officer when you went to the military? How come you ended up demobilized? After I came back around New Year's, I ran into Mingxia once, and she told me you came back the year before last, right after I left."

"I couldn't stand staying there anymore."

How could Li Yancheng explain? He had rummaged through all the inherited memories and couldn't find why the original owner had left the military.

Putting the cloth bag and oilcan on the ground, he pulled a cigarette from his overcoat pocket and offered one.

Xiao Yuan waved his hand and declined. "You forgot? I've never smoked."

"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that."

After withdrawing the cigarette and lighting one for himself, Li Yancheng raised his chin to indicate the oilcan on the ground.

"What's going on with this? How did you end up selling peanut oil here?"

The Beijing Heavy Machinery Plant was a key national enterprise, and Xiao Yuan's entire family worked there. Their household conditions were quite good, so Li Yancheng simply couldn't fathom how this guy had been reduced to selling oil for cash.

"Heh, I'm just selling it for fun."

With that, he handed over the five-yuan bill he had been clutching the whole time.

"What are you doing?" Li Yancheng glanced at the money, then turned his head to look at Xiao Yuan sitting beside him.

Perhaps because they were right under the street lamp, creating a shadow of their own, even though Xiao Yuan had pulled down his scarf, Li Yancheng still felt things were a bit hazy—seemingly less clear than the faint light inside the market.

"Are you planning to take the oil back, or are you trying to give it to me for free?"

"Fine. A deal's a deal. Alright, I won't say anything more then."

Xiao Yuan smiled, pulled his hand back, and tucked the five-yuan bill into his pocket.

Seeing him put the money away, Li Yancheng asked, "Didn't you go support the Third Front Construction? How did you end up back here? Where is the factory your plant helped build?"

"A bit further west past Chang'an, not too far. Just like you, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I begged my dad to figure out a way to get me back."

Xiao Yuan's father was a workshop director at the heavy machinery plant, so he certainly had the ability to pull his son back from out there.

However, Li Yancheng could tell there was some glossing over in the guy's words and that there had to be other reasons. Since the other person didn't want to say, he didn't press further and instead shifted the topic.

The two of them sat by the roadside chatting for ten or twenty minutes until the cold became truly unbearable, at which point they prepared to head home.

"Oh, right, Dacheng."

The places they needed to go were in two completely different directions. After exchanging farewells, just as Li Yancheng picked up his cloth bag and oilcan to leave, he was called back.

"What is it?"

"Did the Zhu brothers stop you when you came in just now?"

"The Zhu brothers?" Li Yancheng looked completely blank; he didn't know any Zhu brothers at all.