Chen Lan sorted the national food coupons, stacking them in piles of fifty jin each. She then ordered a batch of envelopes and stationery from the system, planning to go to the post office the next day after sending Er Zhuang off to the train station, to mail these national food coupons and money to Xu Mingxuan's several comrades facing financial difficulties.
As Xu Mingxuan took out his fountain pen and began writing the addresses of his comrades on the envelopes, he instructed, "Lan'er, we've exchanged a lot of food coupons this time, so let's send them a bit more."
Chen Lan softly agreed, and as she stuffed the national food coupons and money into the envelopes, she asked, "Mingxuan Ge, is it okay to send three months' worth of money and coupons at once?"
Xu Mingxuan paused his writing, looked up, and also hummed in agreement. He saw Chen Lan putting the same amount into each envelope: fifty jin of national food coupons, plus three hundred-yuan banknotes.
Xu Mingxuan then specifically instructed, "Lan'er, Baozi and a few others will be sent to Harbin for treatment. They'll definitely need to take leave from their units. This round trip alone will delay them for at least a month, not to mention travel expenses and daily costs along the way. You should prepare three more sets accordingly."
Chen Lan looked up and replied, "Mingxuan Ge, how much do you plan to send? We don't have many national food coupons left. Let's send 150 jin of national food coupons to each family first, and 200 yuan in cash. Will that be enough? If not, when we trade with Brother Hu next time, we can exchange more national food coupons with him, and then send them more."
Xu Mingxuan repeatedly said, "Enough, enough! Lan'er, this is more than enough! We're just subsidizing them a little each month so their families can get by. They all have jobs and earn salaries; they don't have to rely on us to support their entire families."
By the time the couple had everything ready, it was almost midnight. They planned to go to bed quickly. Fearing she might oversleep, Chen Lan took out the small alarm clock she had used in the mountain cave in Suifenhe from the system's warehouse, set the alarm, and then the couple went to sleep.
They slept soundly. In the morning, before dawn, and before the alarm even rang, Xu Mingxuan was already awake. His biological clock was always very punctual, waking him up at the designated time regardless of the season.
The family still ate breakfast at the state-run restaurant. Er Zhuang was preparing to leave for the train station. Seeing that his parents also intended to escort him, Er Zhuang vehemently refused.
Chen Lan didn't want to make a fuss on the street. She handed Er Zhuang the money, coupons, and food she had specially prepared for him, and then insisted that Jia Yao take his two younger brothers on their bicycles to send Er Zhuang to the train station.
The couple waved goodbye to Er Zhuang. Watching their receding figures as they rode away, the couple, carrying breakfast for Old Zhang and the others working at home, got on Jia Hui's bicycle and headed towards the nearby post and telecommunications office.
This post and telecommunications office was also a two-story building, a typical example of eclectic European-style brick and stone architecture. After locking their bicycles at the entrance, the three of them walked into the office. The first thing they saw on the wall was the five red characters "Serve the People."
Early in the morning, there weren't many people conducting business at the post office. Only two or three people were queuing at the letter-mailing window. The telegram window was empty, and only one person was at the telephone window, paying to make a call.
Telephones at this time were still the "crank" type. There was an "L"-shaped crank on the right side of the machine, so people habitually called them "crank" telephones. The telephone body was black.
Chen Lan wanted to see how telephones were operated during this period, so she stood still, letting Xu Mingxuan and Jia Hui go ahead to queue.
After a short while, they saw the telephone operator press the receiver with one hand, grasp the crank with the other, turn it clockwise a half-turn, then pick up the handset to tell the switchboard operator the destination for the connection. After a longer wait, the call was finally connected.
By then, it was Xu Mingxuan and his daughter's turn at the letter-mailing and stamp-selling window. Chen Lan quickly walked over.
In her previous life, although Chen Lan hadn't collected stamps, she knew that some stamps from this period and earlier ones would be very valuable later on.
For instance, the "Whole Country is Red" stamp issued in 1968 was very valuable in her past life. It was said that a stamp with a face value of only eight fen could fetch an astronomical price later.
Thinking of this, Chen Lan walked to the stamp-selling window and asked the young man inside with a smile, "Comrade, does your post office sell full sheets of stamps?"
To her surprise, the young man enthusiastically asked, "Comrade, are you also a stamp collector?"
Chen Lan quickly nodded and replied, "Yes, yes! Comrade, they are for stamp collecting! Do you have any? The earlier the better! I'll take as many as you have!"
The young man enthusiastically replied, "Yes, yes, but there aren't many early ones left. There are quite a few from recent years. The stamps are in the warehouse. Please wait a moment, and I'll go get them for you. You can pick and choose."
Chen Lan waited patiently for a while. The young man then came out with a green bag, used by postmen to deliver newspapers, cradled in his arms.
He carefully opened the bag and took out sets of stamps, including those with the great leader's inscriptions and quotations, as well as stamps of the great leader's poems and operas from that period. However, the "Whole Country is Red" stamp was nowhere to be seen.
So Chen Lan asked, "Comrade, do you still have the 'Whole Country is Red' stamp issued in 1968 at your post office?"
The young man quickly shook his head and said, "No. I've been working at this post office for almost two years, and I've never seen the stamp you're talking about."
It's fine if he hasn't seen it, Chen Lan thought, not dwelling on it. She then bought twenty sets of each type of these stamps from the Cultural Revolution era, and generously bought out all the complete sets of stamps from before the Cultural Revolution that were in good condition.
This time, Chen Lan spent nearly five hundred yuan, astonishing the young man who asked several times, "Comrade, are you sure you want to buy so much?"
Chen Lan nodded throughout. Finally, without batting an eye, she took out five stacks of hundred-yuan banknotes from her cloth bag. After taking out four banknotes from one stack, she handed the five stacks to the young man.
Then Chen Lan said, "Comrade, please don't give me any change. Just give me stamps! I'll need them for mailing letters in the future anyway, so it will save me buying stamps later."