Chapter 73 Bicycle Fish Balls

Looking at the watch, I saw that it was still more than four hours before my sister's train arrived in Rongcheng.

Li Duoyu simply walked around the square for a while.

There are many dry goods stores in the square, and these stores did very well in this era.

The most popular items sold in dry goods stores are dried mushrooms and bamboo shoots, as well as a large amount of dried squid. Small sizes are in bulk, while large sizes over 30 centimeters are wrapped in plastic bags with the words "Fresh Squid King" printed on them. A big red letter.

In addition to dried squid, the store also sells a lot of dried salted fish and dried oysters.

Most of the people who buy dried seafood in places like train stations are mainlanders who are rushing back to their hometowns. Especially this kind of dried squid is very delicious when used to make salty pork rib porridge.

Li Duoyu looked around and found that there was no dried kelp. As long as there were no problems, the stall owner might be selling his dried kelp this time next year.

Seeing how seriously he looked at it, the boss quickly greeted him warmly: "What do you want to buy? Things here are very cheap."

Li Duoyu smiled, thinking that the things sold at the train station were cheap, but he still asked:

"Boss, how do you sell this squid?"

The boss had a smile on his face: "Brother, you are really discerning. This big squid is a top quality product. The fishermen on the beach may not be able to catch such a big one in half a month. Look at how you look when you come here for the first time." , I’ll sell it to you cheaper, just think it’s nine yuan, and I’ll sell the others for ten yuan.”

Seeing the boss opening his mouth to come, Li Duoyu smiled awkwardly.

Giant squids are not common, but when Uncle San and his fishing boat go trawling in the deep sea, they can sometimes catch dozens of these big ones in one net.

There are also fishermen in their village who often dry this kind of squid. After drying a large one like this, the price is less than one yuan. Unexpectedly, it doubled almost ten times.

This one-time business done by this boss seems to be able to kill one person after another.

"How much does this dried oyster cost?"

"This one is cheaper, six yuan a pound."

Li Duoyu knew that the prices at this place were not cheap, but he didn't expect them to be so expensive. If Lao Li came to set up a stall here, he would probably make a fortune.

However, it is not easy to open a shop and stall in such a mixed place. It is estimated that most of the money earned will have to be handed over to the people above.

"It's too expensive, I can't afford it."

"Well, little brother, let's do this. Don't tell anyone else that I'll sell you this big squid for eight yuan."

“It’s still expensive.”

"Seven yuan, really the lowest price."

Li Duoyu shook his head and left. He found that most of the merchants and vendors in the square were scammers, and those with slightly normal prices were all fairy scales.

But it’s okay to think about it. If you do serious business in a place like this, you might be shut down by your peers the next day.

What Li Duoyu didn't expect was that the scams of marbles and chess had already existed in this era.

He watched it for less than half an hour.

I found that many people were tricked.

After walking around, Li Duoyu checked the time and went to the station exit to wait for someone. In this era, it was common for trains to be delayed. If he wanted to pick someone up at the train station, it all depended on patience and good eyesight.

Not far from the station exit, a large group of passengers carrying large and small bags, tied with quilts, and enamel teacups hung around their waists were queuing up to buy tickets.

At this time, the tickets sold at the train station were still hard tickets. The tickets were pre-printed and the date on them had to be punched with a needle.

Even a skilled conductor takes three to four minutes to issue a ticket. Perhaps because of the inefficiency, the queue to buy tickets is very long.

It's really hard to get a ticket. Some passengers stayed at the train station in order to buy a ticket home. As soon as the quilt was opened, they found a place to sleep directly.

You also have to fight wits and courage with scalpers. After all, in this era before ID cards, there are not many scalpers among the people waiting in line.

Especially when the New Year is approaching, the scalpers directly go out as a family, and their division of labor is very clear. Some people are responsible for queuing up to buy tickets, while others are selling train tickets everywhere.

As for his father, Lao Li, how did he know that his little sister was coming back in this era without the Internet?

One is that they have been exchanging letters and know the holiday time of Xiaorong's school. In addition, Lao Li has repeatedly asked Xiaorong to send a telegram to his family as soon as possible after grabbing the tickets.

In the 1980s, telegraphy could be said to be the fastest way to communicate, but it was also the most expensive, and the price was calculated per word.

Each word costs about 7 cents, so when sending a telegram, everyone will not be wordy and try to use the fewest words to explain things clearly.

The content of the telegram Li Xiaorong sent to his father was very simple, with only a few words and not even a single punctuation mark.

"The ticket has been purchased (72) and it's twenty-five."

It means: After buying the ticket, it will take 72 hours by train and it will arrive on the 25th day of the lunar calendar.

In addition, the receiving address also costs money, and it is charged by the word, so Li Xiaorong tries to write nine characters every time, because the telegram has a guaranteed minimum consumption, and if the telegram is less than ten characters, it will be counted as ten characters.

When the telegram is sent out, the telegraph clerk at the Rongcheng Post Office will translate the contents of the telegram, write it into a letter, and hand it over to the postman at the post office.

Even on an inaccessible island like Dandan Island, the telegram can be received within almost three days. This is why Lao Li knew that Xiao Rong was coming back.

However, except for a piece of overseas land, the rest of their province is full of mountains. It takes three days to get back by green car from the province where Xiaorong studied.

After waiting at the train station for five hours, Li Duoyu waited for several groups of people to leave the station, but still did not see Li Xiaorong leaving the station.

Li Duoyu looked at his watch and saw that he was already more than an hour late, but he was not in a hurry. If he remembered correctly, he was late for a whole day last time.

It was almost evening when an old man rode a modified 28-inch bicycle with two rectangular iron boxes hanging on both sides.

There was also a place for burning charcoal below. The old man rode his bicycle and walked through the square, holding a bowl and a spoon, knocking out the sound of ceramics, and shouting in a unique tone:

"Fish balls~Fish balls~"

"Delicious fish balls~"

Li Duoyu, who was already a little hungry, couldn't help swallowing his saliva after smelling this fragrance.

"Uncle, how much are you selling these for?"

"Ten fish balls for three cents."

Li Duoyu bargained: "Fifteen for three cents."

"Then I'll give you twelve."

"Okay, give me one."

Then Li Duoyu took out three one-cent bills from the inner pocket of his pants.

In fact, he has two inner pockets, one for change and the other for a few big unity notes.

These two inner pockets were sewn for him by his mother last night after she knew that Li Duoyu was going to the train station to pick up Li Xiaorong.

They are located just below the waistband. If you want to steal money here, you can't steal it unless you put your hand in.

After receiving the money, the old man took out a washed bamboo tube and put the fish balls and soup in it respectively.

Li Duoyu said: "Uncle, add more white vinegar, pepper and chopped green onion."

The uncle smiled and said: "Your way of eating is very authentic, we are locals, right?"

"More or less, I'm from Lianjiang."

"The fish balls there are good."

Li Duoyu smiled: "It's OK, but I still like your taste the most."

"You are right, the fish balls there are too authentic, the fishy smell is relatively strong, most people are not used to it, it's really hard to sell here at the train station, my taste is lighter, but it sells better."

The uncle felt that this young man was very much to his taste, so he said to him: "Don't throw away this bamboo tube later, if you meet me again, I will give you two cents back."

"Okay."

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