Chapter 3: Collecting Toothpaste Tubes

Clutching the two "huge" bills in her pocket, Li Manjun left Ma Street and spent the entire afternoon wandering around Shinan Town, which, even in the early nineties, already boasted three main streets.

People were setting up stalls to run small businesses, selling clothes, shoes, and snacks—anything that could be sold, they were selling.

Having just emerged from the era of Reform and Opening-up, people’s enthusiasm for consumption was soaring; as long as there was something to buy, they would buy it.

Watching those bustling stalls, Li Manjun unconsciously swallowed her saliva; she was tempted.

Afterward, she ducked into the town’s only department store building.

The building was two stories high. The first floor sold daily necessities—pots, bowls, basins, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea; everything was available.

The second floor sold clothing, shoes, hats, electronic watches, and all sorts of trendy little accessories.

Since it was market day, the foot traffic was much heavier than usual, and every counter was doing great business.

"Manjun, you're here. What would you like to buy?"

The middle-aged saleswoman at the seasoning counter knew the town residents like the back of her hand. As soon as she saw Li Manjun, she recognized her as the eldest daughter of Accountant Li from the town office and greeted her warmly.

Li Manjun called out "Auntie," scanned the tall display cabinet, and smiled. "Auntie, give me two jin of white sugar."

As she spoke, she handed over the two yuan.

White sugar was one yuan per jin, so two jin came to exactly two yuan.

The saleswoman weighed the pre-packaged sugar and showed it to Li Manjun—exactly two jin—before handing it over. "Buying so much sugar, are you visiting relatives?"

Li Manjun just smiled and hummed in agreement, then hurried off with the sugar toward the home of her original self's best friend, Liu Yan.

The saleswoman could only regretfully withdraw her gossiping gaze.

Liu Yan lived in a courtyard behind the meat processing plant, where dozens of households resided in a five-story tenement building.

The meat plant had moved to the county seat in the late eighties, and the factory buildings had since been turned into a slaughterhouse for chickens and ducks. As soon as one entered, the sound of chickens was everywhere, and chicken and duck feathers flew through the air.

The air was filled with a fishy, foul stench, which only dissipated once one crossed the courtyard and entered the tenement building.

Liu Yan’s home was on the first floor, and unlike the residents upstairs, she had a kitchen built from a shed, so she didn't have to fight neighbors for the communal kitchen.

This was the reason Li Manjun chose to come to Liu Yan.

One reason was that their relationship was good and she was trustworthy.

The other was that for what she wanted to do next, only the private kitchen at Liu Yan’s place would suffice.

Of course, the kitchen conditions at Li Manjun’s own home were better, but she didn't want her mother to know she had secret savings.

With the adults and children out, the kitchen belonged solely to the two of them.

Liu Yan looked at the two jin of sugar Li Manjun had brought, puzzled. "What are you buying sugar for?"

"Open the coal stove vent and turn the fire up." Following the original owner's memories, Li Manjun skillfully took an iron pot and a spoon from the shelf in Liu Yan’s kitchen and placed them on the coal stove.

As she worked, she explained, "I'm making syrup to trade for toothpaste tubes."

"Toothpaste tubes?" Liu Yan was confused. "Why do you want to trade for toothpaste tubes? Are you collecting scrap?"

Li Manjun raised an eyebrow. "You could say that."

Then, she gave a mysterious smile. "I was walking around the street earlier and discovered a business opportunity, but whether it works or not depends on the syrup we boil today."

Liu Yan’s eyes lit up immediately. She actively opened the stove door and said to Li Manjun, "Take me with you, take me with you!"

The coal fire licked the bottom of the iron pot, and it soon heated up.

Li Manjun poured the opened white sugar into the pot and stirred it at a steady speed, adding a tiny bit of water as she stirred. Soon, half a pot of syrup was ready.

"Where are your peanuts? Get me some," Li Manjun asked.

Liu Yan’s grandmother grew a lot of peanuts in their hometown, and the ones that couldn't be sold were dried and sent to Liu Yan’s home as snacks for the children.

Liu Yan ran into the room and handed Li Manjun half a bowl of crushed peanuts. As the peanuts were sprinkled in, the syrup in the pot boiled down into peanut brittle.

Li Manjun used a bamboo skewer to twist up a piece and licked it. It was a bit hot, but sweet and fragrant.

"Is it good?" Liu Yan asked anxiously, holding a clean, wide-mouthed pottery jar, waiting eagerly.

"Mm, it's about ready. Let's pack it up," Li Manjun nodded, handing the remaining twisted sugar on the skewer to Liu Yan.

She took a lick and smiled happily. "Sweet!"

Li Manjun looked at the skewer in Liu Yan’s hand and asked, "Do you know where we can get more of these?"

The one she had just used was something she had found by chance in Liu Yan’s cupboard; it was probably left over from buying fried skewers or similar snacks and hadn't been thrown away yet.

Liu Yan thought for a moment and said yes. She told Li Manjun to wait a moment, then turned and ran to the neighbor's house upstairs.

There was an old lady there who sold candied hawthorns; her house definitely had bamboo skewers.

Li Manjun waited a short while before Liu Yan rushed back. She ran into the room to grab the bag of peanuts her grandmother had sent, scooped a bowlful, went upstairs, and returned with a handful of clean, new bamboo skewers.

"There must be two hundred in this bunch. Is it enough, Manjun?" Liu Yan asked, panting.

Li Manjun nodded repeatedly. "Enough, enough. We can break one into two. Now we just need a bag."

Liu Yan immediately said, "I have an old school bag, a cloth one. Wait here, I'll go get it!"

Like a gust of wind, she rushed into the room again and returned with a cloth bag in her hand.

Liu Yan put the sugar jar and the bamboo skewers into a bamboo basket and carried it on her arm. Li Manjun grabbed the large cloth bag, and the two of them sealed the coal stove, locked the door, and excitedly darted into the nearby residential alleyways.

"How are we going to collect them?" Liu Yan asked with curiosity.

Li Manjun said, "We shout, of course."

Liu Yan immediately lost her nerve; she was too embarrassed to open her mouth.

Li Manjun smiled and didn't force her. Thinking of the money, she took a deep breath and, without any psychological burden, shouted loudly

"Trading toothpaste tubes for peanut brittle! Peanut brittle, fragrant and sweet peanut brittle!"

Liu Yan’s face turned bright red, and she followed behind Li Manjun, terrified that the neighbors would recognize her.

Fortunately, this residential area was quite far from her home, and there shouldn't be many people who knew her nearby. After listening to Li Manjun shout nonchalantly for a while, Liu Yan became more natural and started shouting along.

"Trading toothpaste tubes for peanut brittle! Trade for sugar! Trade for sugar!"

Soon, little kids who hadn't started school yet and were left at home poked their heads out from doors and windows.

"How do we trade?"

Li Manjun replied loudly, "Five small toothpaste tubes for one piece of sugar, three large ones for one piece!"

The children nodded, ran into their houses with a thud-thud-thud, grabbed the toothpaste tubes they had hidden away, and ran over to trade for sugar.

A five-year-old kid, sniffling, handed over the toothpaste tubes in his dirty little claws. Li Manjun counted them—they were all small tubes, only four.

"You're still one short."

With that, she twisted a piece of peanut brittle and handed it to another child who had enough tubes.

The five-year-old stared greedily at the peanut brittle, sniffed hard, and his eyes rolled around. Thinking of something, he told Li Manjun to wait for him and turned to run home.

He ran to his front door, lightened his footsteps, glanced at his grandmother napping in the room, and snuck under the windowsill. Standing on tiptoe, he grabbed the toothpaste that wasn't finished yet, unscrewed the cap, squeezed it clean, and happily brought the empty tube back to Li Manjun to trade for sugar.

"Good, this is yours." Li Manjun handed him the sugar. The child sniffled, licked the sugar, and was overjoyed.

"I want some too! I want some too!" the other children clamored.

In just this short moment, Li Manjun and Liu Yan were already surrounded by the local children.

Those whose parents were home wanted to make their children happy, so they also handed the remaining toothpaste tubes in their homes to the children, letting them go trade with Li Manjun and Liu Yan for sugar.