I've Seen the Light! I've Seen the Light!
One egg cost four or five fen and earned him three experience points. It was hard to say whether that was a good deal.
But eating one less egg wouldn't cost him a pound of flesh.
So what if he ate a couple of bites less?
Right now, nothing was more important than leveling up!
Brother Li, come on, give me another three experience points!
But Liang Xin waited and waited, and even after Li Haiyang had eaten both eggs, he still hadn't heard a notification.
Liang Xin was dumbfounded.
Brother Li, you're going too far!
I clearly gave you eggs twice. Do you think being grateful once is enough?
I wonder if it would be too much to ask him to give me an egg back now?
Forget it. It's just an egg. I really can't bring myself to do that.
Wait!
Liang Xin suddenly remembered that the same thing had happened when he gave that girl Jiang Xinxin food before.
It seems one person can only contribute experience once a day!
Oh, I've lost out big time! How could I have forgotten about that?
I need to remember this in the future, or how much more will I lose?
Didn't I just lose an egg today?
If I'd known the second one wouldn't give me experience, wouldn't it have been great to eat it myself?
What a regret!
After the meal, they had to continue loading the carts.
There was more stuff today than yesterday, so they hadn't finished loading it all by the end of the morning.
Seeing that there was still work to do, Liang Xin really felt as if he were going to die.
Li Haiyang seemed to have seen what was on his mind, so he said with a smile:
"Xiao Liang, we've only worked half a day, and you already look exhausted. Seems you still need more exercise."
"How about this? You rest here for a while. There isn't much left, and the rest of us will finish it in no time."
"I'll come get you when it's time to leave."
Liang Xin was stunned when he heard Brother Li's words.
He could do that?
It seemed his two eggs hadn't been given away for nothing.
Not only had he gained three experience points, but he'd also gotten an unexpected bonus?
Of course, what did two eggs represent in this day and age?
Just ten fen?
Wrong!
In this era, eggs were precious to ordinary people. They represented nourishment!
Workers in the city who received commercial grain rations only got egg coupons for one or two jin a month.
And most of the time, even with coupons in hand, they couldn't buy any!
How many families had elderly people and children who needed eggs to supplement their nutrition?
Besides, even by price alone, ten fen was no small sum.
It was almost enough to buy a jin of rice.
An adult's daily ration was only one jin of grain, and only a small portion of that was refined grain.
Oh, grain had been scarce lately, so adults only got eight liang!
Not even a jin.
This wasn't the later age before Liang Xin transmigrated, when people had all kinds of food in balanced and ample quantities, so they needed very little staple food.
Half a jin of grain a day was enough.
That was because they ate so much oil, eggs, and meat.
Forget malnutrition—they had so much nutrition it was practically spilling out of them.
But at this time, most people ate nothing but grain every day. Honestly, with basically no side dishes, they could eat even two jin of grain in a day.
So the two eggs Liang Xin had given Li Haiyang were already quite a valuable gift!
Li Haiyang was returning a peach for a plum by letting him rest a while longer. It really wasn't much.
Liang Xin felt a little embarrassed resting while watching others work.
But that was fine.
If he was too embarrassed to watch, he could just hide in the cafeteria and not look!
If they couldn't see each other, wouldn't that be much more comfortable? Then he wouldn't have to feel embarrassed.
Sure enough, resting was comfortable.
Liang Xin rested in the cafeteria for a while, feeling delighted at the thought of the others working while he sat there!
Before long, Li Haiyang came over after they had finished loading the carts. It was time to return to the city.
And that wasn't all.
Li Haiyang also took the initiative to speak with the cart driver, saying Liang Xin was in poor health and asking whether he could rest on the ox cart!
Li Haiyang was a veteran employee. He had worked at the work unit for over ten years and was already a graded worker.
Well, a grade-one worker, earning thirty-three yuan a month.
So the ungraded cart driver gave Li Haiyang face.
And just like that, Liang Xin lay down on the ox cart piled full of agricultural and sideline products.
His first thought was, What must the old ox be thinking right now?
He figured the old ox was grumbling to itself too: Very good, just great. You earn favors and make me do the heavy lifting?
Haha.
But this whole affair also made Liang Xin suddenly realize something.
No matter the era, human relationships and social obligations mattered!
The people of this era looked honest and simple, but that didn't mean they were stupid!
He had only given up two eggs, and how much work had he avoided in return!
And he didn't have to walk back, either!
It was such a long way. Walking it without having worked wouldn't have been much, but having to walk so far after working was especially hard to bear!
At that moment, Liang Xin saw the light!
A complete and thorough enlightenment!
After returning to the work unit, Liang Xin didn't help everyone unload the carts. He ran straight to the supply and marketing cooperative next door.
He came to the counter that specialized in cigarettes.
There wasn't the dazzling array of cigarettes here that there would be in later years.
There were only five kinds in total.
The cheapest was eight fen a pack, called Economy.
Its main selling point was affordability!
Then there was Warrior for thirteen fen and Seabird for seventeen fen.
Broadsword was twenty-two fen.
The most expensive was a brand called Lotus, at forty-five fen.
What, you're named after a flower, so you get to sell for that much?
Liang Xin said grandly, "Aunt He, get me a pack of Lotus!"
"You brat, what's gotten into you? Why are you buying Lotus?!"