Chapter 1688 - 1088: Heroine of the Republic 62 (3000+)_2

Chapter 1688: Chapter 1088: Heroine of the Republic 62 (3000+)_2

She never had any earnings left over each day; she would rush to various sales points and, before they closed, buy those discounted breads and meats. Anything baked that day rarely lasted to be sold the next, so by catching the shops right before closing, she could pick up cheap goods. Ten thousand Rubles was a huge amount of money, after all. In the 1950s and 1960s, the average wage in Su Country’s Moscow area for an ordinary worker was only 800–3000 Rubles, and the highest wages went to Stakhanovite miners and steel workers, whose pay sometimes reached 8000 Rubles.

So An Yi making ten thousand in a single day really wasn’t a small figure, mainly thanks to the fact that the fruit she sold was fresh enough that people liked it at first glance.

With these ten thousand Rubles, she could buy a lot of things, because at the prices of that time, 1 Ruble bought 1 kilogram of black bread, 3 Rubles bought 1 kilogram of white bread, beef was 12.5 Rubles per kilogram, fish 7.1 Rubles per kilogram, milk 2.24 Rubles per kilogram, butter 27.8 Rubles per kilogram, eggs 8.35 Rubles for 10...

Calculating based on these prices, ten eggs were equivalent to 0.74 RMB, while she was selling ten eggs for ten Rubles here. The price was high, but not only was she delivering to the door, she was also throwing in one salted duck egg, so overall it wasn’t outrageously expensive.

Of course, within the same time window, she couldn’t possibly go to every discount store, and the ingredients she could buy were quite limited. Being able to spend two to three thousand out of ten thousand Rubles in one evening was already pretty good.

The baked bread here was truly delicious and very affordable, so she planned to buy in bulk. The money she made mainly went into buying useful items: meat, fish, butter, bread, sugar, vodka, printed cloth shoes, yarn, and so on.

It was mentioned earlier that Su Country took bread as the staple food.

Their bread came in many varieties. By raw materials, there was white bread, black bread, bread made with rye Barley Essence flour, and bread mixed with cornmeal.

White bread consumption was huge. But they also loved black bread, even more than white bread.

The main ingredient of black bread was rye flour, which was rich in vitamins and had high nutritional value.

It had a natural grain fragrance, slightly sour when it first entered the mouth, and after chewing for a while, a hint of sweetness would come out.

By shape, it could be divided into large round loaves, bread rings, padlock-shaped loaves, small round loaves, rusks, and so on.

The sight alone was dazzling; just smelling that rich grain aroma made An Yi feel that this trip had been worthwhile.

There was another kind of food here, called Su Country’s "second bread"—potato.

It was only after coming here that she realized how much Su Country People loved potatoes.

Among countries where the annual per capita consumption of potatoes exceeded 100 kilograms, its demand roughly matched that of grain.

And there were many ways to eat it: boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, small flat cakes made with potato, potatoes used to make steaks, and as side dishes for roast chicken and other dishes, and so on.

She had quite a lot of potatoes in her space, but she didn’t take them out to sell, mainly because potatoes were also a staple food ingredient for her, so there was no need to trade them away.

While in Su Country, An Yi wasn’t confined to Moscow; she also went to Leningrad, close to the Arctic, where every year they experienced the special phenomena of polar night and polar day (white nights).

There, even at midnight, the Sky didn’t get dark; it only looked vaguely gray, with the sun not yet set.

Sometimes it was clearly already midnight, but after a brief spell of dimness, it would light up again. Truly a magical city.

The more she saw, the more An Yi felt her time wasn’t enough, so she immediately planned that in the future she would come here every year to wander around, and that it would be best to come as soon as the holiday started in November, leaving Anna and the other two at home by themselves.

With a fixed schedule, the food supplies in their household could be turned over to the greatest extent.

However, even though the price of salt reached ten Rubles per one tael, An Yi still didn’t take it out to sell, because that was also part of their daily necessities. At the very least, for the next six, seven, and eight decades, they wouldn’t need to buy any.

The snowfall in Su Country was in no way less than in the Northeast. It snowed at the drop of a hat, so the weather here felt even colder than in the Northeast. With snow accumulation or ice on the roads, for the sake of walking safety and keeping interiors clean, people would put rubber overshoes over their shoes when going out. This not only prevented slipping, but also protected leather shoes. Only before entering a room, in the cloakroom, would they take off these overshoes.

What amazed An Yi most was that even when the temperature dropped to more than 40 degrees below zero, Su Country women still wore skirts, because local customs held that only women of questionable conduct dressed in pants like men. Poor An Yi didn’t know at first; later she noticed everyone looking at her strangely. After learning what they were thinking inside, she realized this was a custom and hurried to a shop to buy several sets of their traditional clothing, which finally dispelled their doubts about her.

It was precisely because of such a cold climate that they, like Mongolians, had developed a bold and straightforward character.

At the same time, to ward off the cold and keep warm, Su Country People had a habit of drinking strong liquor.

As for vodka, An Yi took one sip and set it down right away; the stuff was just too strong—spicy and fierce!

If you weren’t someone who drank regularly, you really couldn’t drink it casually.

But after drinking this liquor, the body did indeed warm up. No wonder we Northeastern people also like to knock back a shot whenever there’s something or even when there’s nothing going on.

We Hua Country people like to drink baijiu, and this vodka of Su Country People is also very traditional. In times without purchase limits, buying more to take home and store seems like a pretty good idea; who knows, it might be worth a lot in the future.

So in these twenty days, An Yi spent more than half her time on the road. Su Country’s territory was unbelievably vast, but their population was small, so more of the time was taken up in transit. And in these twenty days, she earned One hundred and fifty thousand, but only bought one hundred thousand worth of supplies.

Note: All descriptions of prices and customs are compiled from online sources and are not original.