"That Gu Zhiqing is really something else. She can even make brown sugar."
Uncle Chen sighed with emotion. He'd lost count of how many times he'd said it.
A thresher.
A way to shell peanuts.
She could even make something as scarce as brown sugar. You can't find that stuff on the market, no matter the price!
Normally, if you wanted a little sugar, you had to find someone to trade for sugar ration tickets.
Farmers didn't have ration tickets. If they wanted anything, they had to trade for it with people who had things to offer.
And brown sugar was already a scarce item, so you couldn't trade for it even if you wanted to.
The only time was maybe when a wife or daughter was in her postpartum confinement month. You'd have to go to a family you were on good terms with and ask, and they might be able to trade you a ration ticket for a jin of brown sugar.
