"You need a coupon to buy one from the department store, right? Where did you get a coupon? I heard they cost several dozen yuan!"

Someone voiced the question on everyone’s mind. Even one hundred and fifty yuan wasn’t cheap. Of the hundred or so families in Millstone Peak, very few could produce one hundred yuan. Aside from Byron Thorne’s family, there was Felix Thorne, the pig butcher, and Frederick Thorne, who had a government job; they could definitely afford it. Most other families couldn’t even earn one hundred yuan in an entire year.

Adrian Hawthorne had already prepared his story. The bicycle was likely to stir up a great deal of jealousy, so he had to answer carefully. But it was a double-edged sword; the bike could also bring him some benefits.

"The coupon was a gift from a relative in the city. He had an extra bicycle coupon he didn’t need, so he gave it to me. The money was from that relative, too."

The villagers exchanged surprised glances. The Hawthorne family actually had a rich relative in the city?

"How come we’ve never seen this relative visit?"

Adrian Hawthorne calmly replied, "He used to work out of town and was only transferred to Vessaria this year. We just got in touch."

"No wonder you’ve been going into the city so often lately. So you were visiting relatives," a nosy villager pried. "What does this relative of yours do? His family must be very wealthy, right?"

"He just works at the Armed Forces Department. He’s not that wealthy."

A few days ago, Adrian Hawthorne had caught a few chickens and asked Mr. Wood to deliver them to a former army buddy. That was how he learned the man was actually a leader in the Armed Forces Department. An idea sparked in his mind. He decided to pass off Mr. Wood’s friend as his own relative. The villagers would never go to the city to investigate, and the connection would be enough to intimidate them.

Just as he expected, the villagers gasped when they heard "Armed Forces Department." That place was in charge of military recruitment! In this day and age, having a son become a soldier was a tremendous honor for a family. Their status in the village would rise accordingly.

’The Hawthornes had a relative with such a powerful background, and we used to bully Adrian and his mother. Will this relative make trouble for Millstone Peak now?’

When Tang Xiaonan arrived, she saw a crowd gathered at the Hawthornes’ gate and jumped in fright. She thought someone was causing trouble again. Scurrying over on her short little legs, she was instead greeted by a surprisingly warm and friendly atmosphere.

"Adrian, you’ve gotten taller, haven’t you? People from the city are just different, so much better-looking. Your mother’s chickens are well-raised, and her vegetables are growing nicely too."

"If you need anything in the future, just say the word! Don’t be a stranger!"

"A distant relative is no match for a close neighbor, after all. We’ve all lived in the same village for so many years, we ought to help each other out."

...

Tang Xiaonan cleaned out her ears, making sure she hadn’t misheard. ’Have these people lost their minds?’

"Adrian, can your relative get a sewing machine coupon? I’ll pay for it, I won’t let your relative lose out," someone shouted.

Adrian Hawthorne glanced at Sherman Golding, who was trying to hide at the edge of the crowd, and smiled faintly. "He can definitely get one, but my relative doesn’t have any on hand. He’d have to buy it from a colleague, and the price won’t be cheap."

"How much?"

"At least eighty yuan. At Telvor Bridge, they’re already being scalped for a hundred yuan a piece. My relative’s colleague doesn’t rely on this to make money, so he sells them a bit cheaper," Adrian Hawthorne quoted a price.

"What’s Telvor Bridge? Why are they so expensive there?"

Many of them didn’t understand. Most of the villagers from Millstone Peak had never been to Vessaria. They usually went to the market in Wraven for the New Year and weren’t familiar with Vessaria.

"It’s just a bridge. A lot of people go there to trade all sorts of coupons. You can find any kind of coupon you want, they’re just a bit pricey," Adrian Hawthorne explained.

Telvor Bridge was Vessaria’s gathering place for coupon scalpers. Grain coupons, meat coupons, bicycle coupons, sewing machine coupons, radio coupons, oil coupons, foreign exchange certificates... all kinds of coupons flooded the area. As long as you had money, you could buy any coupon you needed at Telvor Bridge.