The young nurse, upon hearing there was so much grain, didn't care whether it was fine or coarse grain, and quickly spoke up:
"Little sister, why don't you sell the grain to me? I'll give you double the money! The supply and marketing agency sells cornmeal for twelve cents per pound but I'll give you twenty-five cents. Sorghum rice sells for twenty cents a pound, I'll give you fifty cents. How about that?"
Bai Xue knew the young nurse was talking about the price with ration coupons at the supply and marketing agency. Without the coupons, buying grain on the black market would be at a high price, or even unavailable.
But now she urgently needed money, so she had no choice but to agree with the nurse.
"Okay, I'll bring the grain to you in a while! Get the money ready!" Bai Xue said as she turned away. But she calculated, ten pounds of cornmeal was only two and a half yuan, ten pounds of sorghum rice was only five yuan, still not enough for the medical fees! Even waiting for her second uncle to bring money wouldn't be guaranteed, so she decided to sell something else to the young nurse! She immediately took action, turned back around, and looked at the nurse mysteriously:
"Sister, I also have a bottle of fragrance sent by a relative from the big city. It's a good thing you can't buy here. Do you want it?"
She sold it like those old brands of Wan Zi Qian Hong moisturizing cream, which costs more than ten yuan per box.
Although at this time, this stuff was indeed precious and unavailable in small places.
The young nurse saw it was a rare find and immediately nodded in agreement.
"Sister, my fragrance is hard to come by, my relatives said when they sent it, it's difficult to buy, and it can't be sold for less than five yuan!" Bai Xue demanded boldly.
Five yuan was indeed quite expensive, considering she only spent seven and a half yuan on twenty pounds of grain.
The nurse underwent an inner conflict for a while. Her monthly salary was only twenty-eight yuan, not as much as a doctor's wage of forty-eight yuan per month.
If she spent five yuan on fragrance, her salary wouldn't be enough for the month. Buying grain was justifiable, but spending so much on fragrance, her mother might scold her, maybe even hit her.
This young nurse named Chen Qiyue, already twenty years old, hadn't married yet, lived with her parents, and had to hand over her monthly salary for her mother to manage, and only kept two or three yuan for herself. She decided to use a net wage this month because she just got paid and hadn't handed the money over to her mother.
"Sister, if you don't buy it, I'll go ask someone else. My fragrance hasn't been used at all!" Bai Xue immediately added, sensing Chen Qiyue's hesitation.
"I'll buy it! Bring all the things here, I'll prepare the money!" Chen Qiyue resolved.
"Alright, I'll go get the stuff now!" Bai Xue said, and then ran off.
She had to act fast, hoping to get everything done before her father came out of the operating room. As for Uncle Quanzi who went to the cafeteria for hot water, she couldn't worry about him now; he should return to the operating room entrance after finding the hot water.
Bai Xue dashed out of the clinic, glancing around for a while, spotted a small alley across the way, and darted over. With the freezing weather, not many people were about. She entered the alley, walked a bit, and hid behind a corner to start sorting her things.
Both the cornmeal and sorghum rice were sold loose from large wooden barrels, but could she use plastic bags at this time? Not daring to risk it, she found small cloth bags usually used for down jackets and packed the rice and flour well. Each small bag could only hold five pounds, so she packed four bags, then went to the cosmetics area to retrieve the fragrance, carefully checked the box to ensure nothing inappropriate for the era appeared, and cautiously brought the items out only after ensuring all was fine.
After just a short while, her recently warmed body began trembling with cold again.
She quickly carried everything back to the clinic. The old man at the entrance was still sitting there and, seeing Bai Xue return with items shortly after leaving, just glanced at her before returning his attention without further acknowledgment.
She smoothly reached the cashier's area; no one was paying at that time, so she easily handed the items to Chen Qiyue.
"Sister, check to see if everything's correct! The weights are definitely accurate!" Bai Xue said as she handed the four bags of grain over to Chen Qiyue.
"All good, all good!" Chen Qiyue carefully took the grain inside, hid it in her cabinet, and then came out, afraid of being seen by others.
"Here you go! This is the fragrance!" Bai Xue handed her the fragrance from her hand.
Chen Qiyue opened the box, and sure enough, it hadn't been used. She sniffed it, and a wave of fragrance wafted over, and she liked it immensely, as it was much more fragrant than the white cream.
"Great, great! Sister, I'll give you the money now!" She said, taking out twelve yuan and fifty cents from her clothes pocket and handed it to Bai Xue.
"Sister, I'm paying ten yuan for medical fees, just give me two yuan and fifty cents! Don't forget to add that ten yuan to Bai Daliang's name!" She finished, taking the two yuan and fifty cents from Chen Qiyue's hand.
"Sure! By the way, my name is Chen Qiyue! If you have good things in the future, don't forget about me!" The young nurse Chen Qiyue, having obtained good items, didn't forget to mention her name, hoping Bai Xue would have more good things to bring over to sell in the future.
She liked the fragrance so much that being scolded by her mom for it was worth it.
"Alright! I'm Bai Ruxue! I'll bring good things to you when I have the chance!" Bai Xue smiled mysteriously, introduced herself sincerely, and then turned and walked away.
She had spent quite a bit of time, estimating her dad was about to come out.
Sure enough, upon reaching the operating room, she was informed her dad had been moved back to the ward.
It was just stitches after all, so it was definitely quick!
When she found the ward, her father was already hooked up to an IV, with Uncle Quanzi accompanying him.
"Dad, Uncle Quanzi!" Bai Xue called out to them as she went in. The ward had four beds, but the other three were unoccupied.
"Xiao Xue, there you are finally, where did you go? Your dad was urging me to go find you, I was just about to go!" An Quanzi looked up upon hearing Bai Xue's voice, saw she had returned, and quickly expressed.
"I went to pay the fees, couldn't find them for a while, it took a bit of time!" Bai Xue said apologetically, which convinced the two.
She approached, and looked at Bai Daliang's pale face "Dad, are you feeling better?"
"I'm fine, it doesn't hurt anymore! Xiao Xue, your uncle Quanzi brought you hot water, drink some to warm up!" Bai Daliang didn't forget to care for his daughter's well-being.
"Okay! Rest well, dad! I'll go buy you food shortly!" Bai Xue took the enamel cup placed on the bedside table and drank a few sips of hot water.
Initially, she had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, but in this era, such things no longer mattered, avoiding starvation was the priority.
"Xiao Xue, can you accompany your dad alone? Uncle has to return the team's ox cart, as the oxen are treasure to the team, if they get sick it wouldn't be good to explain!" An Quanzi spoke up after she drank some water.
"No problem Uncle, I can manage alone! But don't leave yet! I'll buy lunch and you can eat before you go!" Bai Xue urgently turned around to head out.