Reborn in 1977

With his gains, Chen Fan instantly felt refreshed, not even hungry anymore, and strode forward.

But he felt hungry again when he saw the sweet potato stand.

"Master, give me two roasted sweet potatoes."

This was a roasted sweet potato stall, with two stoves, one for roasting and one for steaming. Roasted sweet potatoes cost 5 cents a pound. The large ones weighed almost seven or eight taels, and the small ones weighed two or three taels. People came to buy them in an endless stream.

Only the residents of the town could afford turtle meat at 10 cents a pound, but sweet potatoes at 5 cents a pound were within the reach of most commune members.

Sweet potatoes sold in the grain store also cost only 3 cents a pound. If you used grain coupons, one pound of grain coupons could buy 7 pounds of sweet potatoes. Spending 5 cents to buy a pound, both adults and children could eat, and it wouldn't cost much. Naturally, more people bought them.

Chen Fan weighed two large ones, which were just short of one and a half pounds, took out 10 cents to pay, and got 3 cents back in change.

He gave one to Jiang Lili, then slung the basket over his arm and ate as he walked.

After finishing the sweet potato, he saw a hawthorn candy seller.

This was a good thing, and Chen Fan immediately rushed over excitedly, "Old... Master, how much are the candied hawthorns selling for?"

That was close; he almost called him 'boss'.

The young man in his twenties looked up, "Just call me master, I'm not old yet."

Then he smiled and said, "50 cents a string, with 12 hawthorns on a string. If you think it's too expensive, you can buy them individually for 5 cents each."

They could even be sold individually?

Looking at his "Langya sticks", there was indeed a string with only five hawthorns left.

The young man thought he found it too expensive, so he smiled and said, "Little master, don't think it's expensive. A hard candy in the store costs 2 cents. Look at my candied hawthorns, they are all large hawthorns, and the sugar coating is very thick. 5 cents each is really not expensive, and if you buy a string, you get two extra, it's a great deal."

Chen Fan smacked his lips and took out a dollar, "Give me two strings."

Jiang Lili quickly waved her hand to the side, "I don't need it, I don't need it, you can eat it."

Eating a sweet potato only cost a few cents, but a string of candied hawthorns cost 50 cents, almost equivalent to her one day's work. The cost was too high, and she didn't want to accept it.

Chen Fan ignored her, picked two strings directly, handed one to her, and took a bite of his own, "Mmm, sweet and sour, so delicious."

Making a sale, the young boss was also very happy, "I told you, it's guaranteed to be delicious."

The two continued to walk forward.

Before long, Chen Fan saw a crowd of people gathered ahead. He walked over to take a look and saw someone holding a large bowl, using a small bow and arrow-like tool to drill into the bowl. He couldn't help but feel curious and asked softly, "What are they doing?"

Jiang Lili was holding the candied hawthorn, hesitating whether to eat it or not. Hearing Chen Fan's words, she reacted, tilted her head, and looked, "Oh, they're mending bowls."

Mending bowls?

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. This was a lost art. "Don't try to fix porcelain without a diamond drill," which referred to this skill.

Immediately, he held up the candied hawthorn and went to join the fun.

Jiang Lili had no choice but to follow him.

Chen Fan turned to look at her, then looked around, and whispered, "Are there any acquaintances here?"

Jiang Lili also looked around and then shook her head, "No."

Chen Fan switched places with her, "I'll block you inside, you eat first, and then cover your face."

Jiang Lili puffed out her cheeks, glanced around again, and found that no one was paying attention to her. She carefully lowered the homespun cloth covering her face and took a light bite. The sweet and sour taste filled her mouth, and the corners of her eyes couldn't help but curve down.

At this time, Chen Fan's attention was focused on the bowl-mending master.

The bowl-mending master was wearing gray homespun clothes, with a thick piece of leather padded on his leg. He held the bowl tightly with one hand and used a drill to make holes in the bowl. Before long, he drilled small holes on both sides of the crack in the broken porcelain bowl.

Then, he inserted copper nails, hammered them tight little by little with a small hammer, and smeared something on the crack. After a while, a large bowl covered with copper nails was handed to the customer.

The man held the bowl and looked at it, nodded in satisfaction, took out 5 cents and handed it over, "Master, you've worked hard."

The bowl-mending master smiled and accepted it, "Thank you."

Looking at the large bowl in someone else's hand, Chen Fan suddenly turned to Jiang Lili and said, "Do we have any broken bowls?"

Jiang Lili's eyes flickered slightly, and then she shook her head gently, "No."

Chen Fan smacked his lips, "What a pity."

After a pause, he said again, "What do you think if I go buy a bowl now, then accidentally break it, and then bring it to him to mend, how about that?"

Although Jiang Lili didn't know what 'speechless' meant, her expression at this time perfectly demonstrated what extreme speechlessness was.

Buy a new bowl, break it, and then have it mended. What kind of thinking was that?

Chen Fan laughed, "Just kidding."

Then he shook his head, "Let's go, let's continue browsing."

Jiang Lili quickly pulled up the cloth and followed behind him.

At this time, Chen Fan realized that in addition to selling agricultural products, there were also quite a few local artisans.

In comparison, the bowl-mending man just now could only be considered ordinary.

Not far from him, there was a "bowl engraver".

The so-called "bowl engraving" is to engrave words inside the bowl with a sharp steel needle.

Some are engraved on the bottom of the bowl, and some are engraved inside the bowl. The craftsman held the steel needle steady with one hand and held a small hammer with the other, carving on the bowl little by little. The hammer looked very forceful, but it fell extremely lightly. Each tap produced a white dot. The white dots connected together formed a word or a pattern.

Seeing this scene, Chen Fan turned to look at Jiang Lili again, "This is okay, right?"

Jiang Lili naturally knew that he was talking about buying a new bowl to engrave, although she didn't understand why Chen Fan seemed so interested in these things, she still nodded gently and said, "Okay."

Then she shook her head again, "But it's not necessary. They engrave words to distinguish them, because when eating at banquets in the countryside, they often need to borrow bowls from other people's homes. In order to distinguish whose bowl it is, they will engrave words as a mark, but in Team 6, no one comes to the educated youth spot to borrow bowls, so it's not necessary."

Chen Fan didn't stubbornly insist on engraving words, just smacked his lips and gave up regretfully.

Before long, the bowl engraver finished engraving a stack of bowls, and then used a piece of black cloth dipped in water to wipe each engraved word and pattern. The white engraved dots instantly turned black, and the pattern appeared clearly.

Then the bowl engraver looked up, his smile with a bit of flattery, "Two words for one cent, you have a total of 20 bowls here, exactly 10 cents."

The customer checked each bowl and found no problems before taking out money to pay.

Chen Fan watched from the side and couldn't help but grit his teeth and grimace.

Spending so much effort to earn 10 cents... Thinking about the bowl-mending craftsman on the other side, it seems to be about the same.

...