When I was in elementary school, there must be several important units located on the busiest street in the center of the town: the post and telecommunications office, the credit union, the photo studio and the supply and marketing cooperative.

For a primary school student like me who only has less than a dime of pocket money in his pocket, the colorful candies and non-staple foods in the supply and marketing cooperative are out of reach. The mood is almost like a pilgrimage.

The supply and marketing cooperative is divided into many groups, including food group, tobacco and alcohol group, hardware group, electrical materials group, etc. All products are placed on the counter with a wooden frame and separated by large pieces of glass. . At that time, non-staple food was supplied by ticket. During the Chinese New Year, if you had an acquaintance at the supply and marketing cooperative, you could buy fatter pork or wider hairtail, so working in the supply and marketing cooperative was very respected.

With the continuous development of the market economy, non-staple food stores have separated from the supply and marketing cooperatives and become a unit that specializes in supplying tobacco, alcohol, sugar, tea, chicken, fish, meat and eggs. However, the employees of the unit generally do not have a formal establishment. Unemployed young people receive relatively low wages, so grocery stores are also called "youth spots."

The mother of my deskmate Ma Xiaoling is a salesperson in the youth food group, and her second aunt is the leader of the tobacco and alcohol group. So every Sunday when she had a holiday, Ma Xiaoling would go to her mother's work to play all day. As her senior deskmate, I was also lucky enough to follow her in and out of the counter of the supply and marketing cooperative. Occasionally, there would be gifts from the saleswoman. We have something delicious. At this time, both of us were filled with a proud sense of superiority. It was from that time on that I got into the bad habit of collecting cigarette boxes, wine labels and candy wrappers, and became a small collector.

In that era, there were not many varieties of tobacco, alcohol, sugar and tea. Let’s talk about cigarettes first. The cheapest ones are Sanshan and Amber Incense, both with black stems and no filters, priced at 35 cents per box; Tianqihua and Global 50 cents, Pegasus 65 cents, Jiqing 80 cents, and Shilin 8 cents. Hongmei cigarettes come in two colors: yellow and white. Guobin cigarettes come in three colors: red, blue and black. I can’t remember the exact price. As for Black Cat, which costs two yuan a box, and Ashima, which costs two yuan and a half, they are rare high-end products. Even the cigarette cases are hard-topped. But at that time, an ordinary worker's monthly salary was only thirty or forty yuan. Who could be willing to smoke such a good cigarette?

There are very few types of beer. There is no brewery in our town, so the supply and marketing cooperative went to Suibin County Brewery to buy Beiguo Beer, and went to Jiamusi Brewery to buy Jiafeng Beer, which is divided into two types: green and brown. Glass bottles are 25 cents each, and a box of beer is 24 bottles.

Liquor is available in bulk and in bottles. Bulk liquor is corn wine or sorghum wine, usually 60 degrees, and is stored in a large wine vat more than one meter high. The cylinder cover is made of wood. Because the salesperson moves it all year round, it turns into a glossy dark black color. When you open it, On the cylinder head, a strong smell of alcohol permeates everywhere. People often bring cans and bottles to weigh half a catty, then weigh two taels of peanuts, and go home for a delicious meal.

In my memory, bottled liquor is divided into three grades: high, medium and low. The lowest grade is Helibai produced by the winery in our town, which is 56 degrees and costs 50 cents a bottle. The label is printed with A crane that only spreads its wings and flies. Mid-range wines are Xifeng wine and Fenjiu, both priced at about two yuan. Xifeng wine is in a dark green bottle with a red label with two phoenixes printed on it; Fenjiu is in a white transparent glass bottle with an iron lid and a trademark. The painting depicts a boy riding a buffalo and playing a reed flute. It is as beautiful as a Tang poem. As for the most high-end liquor, it is Moutai. It costs a full five yuan a bottle. It is packed in a beautiful white porcelain bottle and has a layer of paper packaging on the outside. It is also the only liquor in the supply and marketing cooperative with an outer packaging. It is said that I couldn't sell a bottle for several years.

In addition to loose sugar balls, fruit hard candies look very beautiful. The candy pieces are wrapped in colorful plastic paper, and the orange-flavored candies have a cut-out printed on the wrapping paper. Orange, apple flavor is printed with apple, pear flavor is printed with pear, it is very vivid and easy to understand. There is also a mint-flavored Double Happiness Candy, which is a long white hard candy filled with red sugar threads in the middle. It is very beautiful and is usually used to entertain guests at weddings.

Fudge is sorghum candy, toffee is white rabbit, and there is also a kind of wine-centered chocolate, which is shaped like a hill. The outermost layer is a thin layer of chocolate, and the middle is a layer of coarse granulated sugar, which contains a hint of sweet brandy. If After eating one piece, I can reminisce about it all weekend.

As for the tea leaves, they all come in uniform yellow and red plastic bags. A pack of 2 taels of Monkey King Jasmine Tea is divided into several grades. The higher the grade, the more complete the tea leaves are, and the lower the grade, the more delicate the tea leaves. Broken, but the taste seems to be the same after brewing. The better teas are Tieguanyin and Biluochun, which are packed in sturdy iron boxes with simple landscape paintings printed on them. After drinking the tea, the boxes will be used for various purposes, such as holding food stamps and change. It’s a good choice!