The next day, Chen Lan and her husband did not go to the nearby farmsteads to exchange goods. Instead, after applying makeup, Xu Mingxuan rode his motorcycle with Chen Lan to the rural cooperative in the town of Pogranichny. The couple wanted to check on the sales of the goods they were selling on consignment and also find the buyer, Andrei, to confirm the departure time.
Before the couple reached the cooperative, they saw a long queue forming at the entrance from afar. When they rode their motorcycle to the cooperative entrance, they immediately attracted everyone's attention.
As soon as the couple dismounted, they saw Andrei speed out from the main entrance of the cooperative. Upon seeing Xu Mingxuan, he exaggeratedly rushed forward and gave him a bear hug.
Chen Lan did not expect that the plump Andrei was actually quite agile. Xu Mingxuan, who had good reflexes, was startled by his sudden enthusiasm.
Andrei exclaimed excitedly, "Nikolai, my friend, I've been wanting to find you these past two days! The goods you left with the cooperative for consignment are almost sold out. Did you two bring goods today?"
As Xu Mingxuan released his grip and was about to answer, "No," Chen Lan coughed at him, gave him a look, and then nodded her head.
Xu Mingxuan looked up at Chen Lan and instantly understood. He immediately replied, "We brought a large truckload, all sorts of goods. We didn't expect them to sell so quickly. Because there are so many people here, it's inconvenient to drive a large truck in, so we didn't bring it. Wait a moment, we'll go get the truck."
Without waiting for Andrei to react, the couple immediately rode their motorcycle away.
When the couple drove their Jiefang truck to the cooperative entrance, the queue had grown even longer, and everyone was eagerly waiting.
Andrei informed the queuing villagers that the cooperative was temporarily closed, and they did not object, continuing to wait. Andrei called out four salesclerks and one cashier from the cooperative to help move the goods. Chen Lan was responsible for distributing the goods designated by Andrei, Xu Mingxuan was responsible for counting and tallying the goods on a piece of paper, and Andrei was responsible for registering and verifying the quantity of goods, as well as marking the sales price of each item on the paper.
The group cooperated seamlessly, and soon the goods Andrei wanted were tallied. The salesclerks immediately carried them into the cooperative. While the salesclerks were stocking the goods, Andrei handed the paper with the price and quantity of each item to the cashier.
This time, Andrei requested thirty-five varieties of goods for consignment, with thirty of each variety.
After Andrei signed the delivery order on Xu Mingxuan's behalf and stamped his handprint, he handed the delivery order to the cashier to sign and stamp. While Xu Mingxuan was settling the previous payment with Andrei, Chen Lan, upon receiving the delivery order, went to the truck to retrieve the goods that were promised as six sold and one free.
Once the consignment matters were sorted out, Andrei purchased another batch of goods, including clothes, shoes, and hats, for the cooperative. This time, the payment was made in rubles! The couple did not insist on only exchanging for grain and sausages.
After all matters were handled, Xu Mingxuan and Andrei went to bask in the sun by the side wall outside the cooperative again. Chen Lan did not wait for Xu Mingxuan at the cooperative entrance this time; she returned directly to the truck and waited in the driver's seat.
While there was time, Chen Lan was not idle. She quickly used her mind to organize the system warehouse, checking for any missed good items, and then placed an order for some of the better-selling goods.
About half an hour later, Xu Mingxuan returned to the truck with a piece of paper in his hand. As soon as he got in the car, Xu Mingxuan excitedly said, "Lan'er, I've arranged with Andrei. He's already obtained our exit permit at the cooperative. Three days later, at ten in the morning, we'll set off together from the cooperative in Pogranichny. Our first stop will be Ussuriysk, and the second stop will be Vladivostok."
With that, he handed the paper to Chen Lan. Chen Lan opened it and saw that it was all in Russian and she couldn't understand it, but a small round stamp the size of a block of tofu was very prominent. Chen Lan carefully put the exit permit into the system warehouse for safekeeping.
Then she heard Xu Mingxuan say, "Lan'er, we've been out for several days now, and it's time to get some grain back. Otherwise, it'll be difficult to explain if we stay out too long. Let's go back today!"
Chen Lan had been living in a cave for several days, and she had been sleeping restlessly, full of unease. She also wanted to go back and get some good sleep, so she did not object.
She simply said, "Brother Mingxuan, the grain we exchanged this time isn't quite enough. I estimate that after providing enough grain for Honghualing Village for two years, there won't be much left. Besides, the camp shouldn't be short of grain right now, so let's give all the grain to Honghualing Village first. We can split the frozen fish and sausages between the two families. What do you think?"
Xu Mingxuan thought for a moment and then asked, "Lan'er, have you tallied it? How many jin of grain, how many jin of frozen fish, and how many sausages did we exchange these past few days?"
Chen Lan immediately replied, "Brother Mingxuan, I've roughly tallied it. We exchanged a total of 110,000 jin of corn, 4,000 jin of wheat, 250 jin of wheat flour, over 10,000 jin of frozen fish, and 2,600 sausages."
After listening, Xu Mingxuan thought for a moment and said, "Lan'er, I think it's better to split the grain equally between the two families."
Chen Lan asked in confusion, "Brother Mingxuan! But why must it be like this? Isn't it troublesome to deliver it twice?"
Xu Mingxuan smiled and replied, "Lan'er, have you thought about it? Honghualing Village only has a little over twenty households. When we were digging the well, you saw that there were only about twenty to thirty young and middle-aged men in the village. Most of them are elderly, women, and children. Eleven thousand jin of corn, how long will it take them to move it? The frozen fish and sausages can be helped by the children, but they can't move such heavy bags of grain."
As he spoke, Xu Mingxuan suddenly remembered something and stopped talking. Chen Lan looked up at him in confusion. Xu Mingxuan touched his head and said, "Look at my memory, I almost forgot such an important matter. Lan'er, the owners of several farmsteads told me to remember to return their corn sacks."
Chen Lan was stunned. Did they have to make another trip just to return the sacks? What was this about?
She then complained, "Brother Mingxuan, you're really something! The owners asked us to return the sacks, why didn't you tell me earlier! If you had told me earlier, I would have just given them new ones, which would have been much easier. Now! We have to make another trip."
Xu Mingxuan smiled and said, "Lan'er, listen to me. I found that their grain warehouses still have quite a bit of corn. All this corn is excess. Perhaps when we return the sacks, we can even exchange for some cornmeal."