When Li Long walked over, the man was sitting on a concrete railing beside the Palace of Culture, watching him too.
Not many people could afford to watch movies at the time. Few people came and went, and none of them were this man's potential customers.
The man visibly grew more wary as Li Long approached. His hair was somewhat long and unparted, curling slightly on either side of his face. There were no television or film programs setting trends yet, so most people had fairly individual styles.
But most still kept some length to their hair. Few had a crew cut like Li Long's. After all, people subconsciously associated hair that short with reform-through-labor prisoners.
"Buddy, got any coupons?" Li Long walked over, pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from his bag, and offered them to him, speaking with easy familiarity.
"Which kind? Regional or national?"
"Regional. You have national ones too?"
"Sure." The man cracked sunflower seeds, visibly relaxing his guard. "They're cheap now too."
"How much?" Li Long asked curiously.
"Eight fen per jin for regional grain coupons, nine fen for national ones."
"That cheap?" Li Long truly hadn't expected them to be so cheap.
"Heh, I won't be doing this much longer. Once I unload these coupons, I'm quitting." Cracking sunflower seeds, the man poured out his complaints to Li Long. "Now that the morning market stalls are up, you can buy plenty of things without coupons. Who still wants them? The authorities aren't doing anything about those stalls either. The way I see it, sooner or later, nobody will need these coupons."
Li Long hadn't expected the man to be so far ahead of the times!
Coupons certainly wouldn't be needed in the future, but that time hadn't come yet. They would remain in use