Chapter 53
Regarding the renovation of their home, Yan Lei understood it as a kind of ritual for Qiao Wei. Turning over a new leaf, starting from scratch.
Moreover, a real home should be properly tidied up and fixed up.
Like Regimental Commander Zhao’s home—although messy, it was full of vitality. That’s how it should be.
Therefore, he was very supportive.
A family of three working together on the same thing, with a common goal to strive for.
Spending time, energy, and money. Most importantly, spending heart and mind.
—Her heart and mind were all spent on this home.
How wonderful.
That evening, while discussing the house, Qiao Wei said, “I’m going to the county seat tomorrow.”
“What are you going to buy?”
“To look for some books.”
The small town didn’t even have a bookstore; the nearest one was in the county seat. If she wanted to buy books, she had to go to the county.
As soon as books were mentioned, Yan Lei became alert: “What kind of books?”
“Knowledge-based ones, popular science ones,” Qiao Wei said. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
If this were before, Yan Lei wouldn’t have been able to rest easy. But now, when Qiao Wei said “don’t worry,” Yan Lei felt that perhaps he really could rest easy.
He said, “Alright.”
He added, “Take more money.”
He also reminded her, “Keep the money in two separate places; in case it gets stolen…”
Oh, that triggered a memory. There were quite a few thieves in this era.
The original owner had once had her money stolen and cried in anger.
“Okay,” she promised.
The next day, after breakfast, Qiao Wei took Yan Xiang to Regimental Commander Zhao’s home and entrusted Yan Xiang to Sister Yang.
Sister Yang asked, “Going to the county seat?”
Qiao Wei asked, “Is there anything you need to buy?”
Sister Yang said, “Keep an eye out and help Xixi buy two sets of clothes.”
The clothes Lin Xixi had brought from the countryside had many patches.
Her husband gave money to his older sister every month, but it seemed it was all spent on the son at home, and he didn’t pay much attention to this daughter.
But as her aunt-in-law and the wife of a cadre, she couldn’t let her husband’s niece look so shabby. The dress Qiao Wei had given her was nice, but it wasn’t suitable for daily chores.
“Just shirts and pants will do,” she said.
“White? Patterned?”
“Hmm… one of each.”
“Alright. Anything else?”
“Nothing else. Wait for me to get you the fabric coupons.”
“No need, I brought some.”
“Alright, then we’ll settle up when you get back.”
Qiao Wei told Yan Xiang, “Just play in the yard, don’t run outside.”
Yan Xiang agreed.
Qiao Wei went to catch the bus.
The station was at the entrance of the town, with only a few buses a day. She waited for over half an hour and caught one, which was quite lucky.
Yongming County was only ten li away from Xiahe Town, with factories in between, where many workshop buildings could be seen.
Yan Lei had mentioned rumors that the town might be merged into the county, which was also because of current development; the county seat was expanding outwards and was about to connect with the surrounding towns.
Qiao Wei got off at the county seat and, relying on the original owner’s memory, transferred to the county’s No. 2 bus and found the Xinhua Bookstore.
Shops in this era had one characteristic: the premises could be called spacious, but there were very few goods. Even the bookstore was like this.
Qiao Wei carefully searched around; most were literature, history, and political books.
Literature was absolutely not to be touched; she didn’t know which book would be labeled as a poisonous weed when the special period arrived.
History… she was afraid of the “Destroy the Four Olds” campaign.
For politics, Qiao Wei picked up two copies of the Quotations. Buying ten wouldn’t be too many. Yan Lei definitely had one, so she bought one for herself and one for Yan Xiang.
She also found a Xinhua Dictionary and checked it; it was the fourth edition, the latest one.
But unfortunately, there were almost no science or knowledge-based books. The main purpose of her trip was actually to find some popular science books for Yan Xiang.
In the end, settling for what was available, she picked up an agricultural guidance technical manual and a pig-raising technical manual.
She didn’t know which branch of Yan Xiang’s tech tree would light up, so she could only give him what she could find.
Qiao Wei consoled herself: His father would be a high-ranking leader in the future; he didn’t have the conditions to hand-craft missiles, so entering the agricultural department with solid agricultural knowledge and pig-raising techniques would be quite good… right?
She also picked out a few comic books and picture books, took them to the counter, and asked the clerk, “Do you have the Modern Chinese Dictionary?”
The clerk, wearing a blue smock and white sleeve covers, lifted her eyelids: “Huh?”
She turned to ask her colleague, “Modern Chinese Dictionary? Do we have it?”
“Never even heard of it…” the colleague said. “When was it published? Which publisher?”
“Oh, if you don’t have it, never mind. I just heard about it from someone else,” Qiao Wei smiled.
Probably… it hadn’t been published yet.
Leaving the bookstore, Qiao Wei went to the Department Store. Indeed, the goods here were better than those at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and there was a greater variety of products.
On a Monday morning, there were almost no customers. The bookstore earlier was about the same, just two or three people.
She wore simple homespun clothes at home for comfort, but when going out, she wore a shirt made of better fabric. The salesclerk saw that she was dressed decently and was carrying a large stack of books, and she had a good temperament, so she didn’t guard against her like a thief and let her browse.
Qiao Wei bought Lin Xixi a white shirt, a patterned shirt, and two pairs of pants. At this time, pants had to be ironed with a straight crease down the middle. Her grandmother wore pants like this until she passed away. Even her mother didn’t really wear them much anymore.
At this time, many women’s clothes really had small floral patterns.
But Qiao Wei knew that soon, clothing across the country would become de-feminized and gender-neutral, leaning towards military green, military yellow, and military blue.
Right now, a significant portion of the clothes in Qiao Wei’s wardrobe were still floral patterns, and Qiao Wei had long wanted to get rid of them.
She bought herself a few identical cotton and linen white shirts.
White shirts are versatile.
Cotton and linen weren’t as slippery as pure cotton, but they were comfortable and skin-friendly.
By buying the same ones, she could change clothes every day, and others wouldn’t be able to tell.
Hehehe.
When paying, she took out fabric coupons. The salesclerk exclaimed, “You’re quite well-stocked with coupons.”
Qiao Wei said, “I’m buying these for several other people.”
Seeing her buy several identical white shirts at once, the salesclerk truly believed her.
She rolled the clothes into a bundle, wrapped it in paper, and tied it with string. Qiao Wei always felt this was similar to wrapping pastries.
Fortunately, she had brought a mesh bag today and stuffed it inside. The mesh bag could be crumpled into a small ball when not in use. When opened, it actually had a huge capacity. Books and clothes could all fit inside.
Qiao Wei walked around some more and saw the candy that was in the candy jar at her home.
No wonder she couldn’t find it at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the town; it turned out it was bought at the county. The Department Store and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative had different procurement channels, so there was quite a big difference in their merchandise.
There was still plenty of candy at home, so Qiao Wei didn’t buy any more candy. She bought a few jin of peach blossom cakes and told the salesclerk, “Please separate them into two portions; I’m buying them for someone else.”
There wasn’t anything else worth buying.
Feeling hungry, Qiao Wei found a State-run Restaurant and went in.
The waiter came over and asked, “How many people?”
Qiao Wei sat down: “One person.”
“Huh?”
The sound was quite sharp and a bit grating. Qiao Wei was startled and covered her ears.
The waiter stared at her: “Why are you eating at a restaurant by yourself?”
Qiao Wei: “…”
To be honest, the service attitude of the clerks at the Department Store and bookstore wasn’t very good either, but they didn’t go so far as to police how many people were with her or how much money she was spending.
The waiters at the State-run Restaurant in the town knew that those who came to eat were from Military Unit cadre families, so their attitude was acceptable, but the service attitude in this county seat was just too poor.
Qiao Wei said, “A person has to eat, too.”
The waiter said, “You’re just one person, wouldn’t it be fine to just buy a sesame seed cake outside and make do?”
“What I eat is my own business,” Qiao Wei was already starting to get unhappy. “Your job is to give me the menu, record the dishes I order, and then place the order with the kitchen.”
The waiter frowned: “But you’re just one person…”
Bang!
Qiao Wei slapped her hand on the table, giving the waiter a start. The head chef also poked his head out from the serving window.
People are naturally prone to having a temper when hungry. Coming to eat in high spirits only to have the mood ruined made her even angrier.
Qiao Wei’s eyebrows shot up: “You are in this position; just do your job well. As long as the customer pays money and gives coupons, you have to take their order, serve the food, and provide good service.”
“If you don’t want to do this job and feel it’s meaningless, call your manager over now. I’ll talk to him about whether this position should be filled by someone else!”
“Also, where is the higher-level management unit of your shop? Who is your direct supervisor?”
The waiter’s momentum suddenly weakened: “I was just asking, go ahead and order.”
She finally handed the menu to Qiao Wei.
But Qiao Wei asked, “Where is your manager? Is he not on duty during the day?”
Qiao Wei was just bluffing, but it was a lucky coincidence; the manager felt there were no customers on a Monday and had gone out to attend to private business.
The waiter was very guilty and stammered, “He, he…”
“The manager went to a meeting!” the head chef shouted, poking his head out and signaling the waiter vigorously, “Xiao Sun, hurry up and take the customer’s order. I’m starting the stove now.”
Seeing them back down, Qiao Wei gave the waiter a cold look. She ordered one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of rice.
I must say, the skills of the head chefs at the State-run Restaurant in this era were genuine, and the food tasted quite good.
Qiao Wei’s mood had been ruined by this waiter, but once she tasted the dishes cooked by the head chef, her mood improved again.
The head chef specifically came out to ask her, “How does it taste?”
Qiao Wei sincerely complimented him.
The head chef chuckled and pointed at the waiter, “She just started, she’s a child, don’t hold it against her.”
Xiao Sun was indeed quite young, looking about sixteen or seventeen years old.
That’s how it was in this era; there were children who entered factories at fourteen or fifteen to take over their parents’ jobs.
Probably being at that stubborn, rebellious age, Xiao Sun actually couldn’t help but speak up again: “Just a woman by herself…”
The head chef patted her shoulder, feeling that she was hopeless.
Qiao Wei said, “Let her speak. Speak freely; every comrade should have the opportunity to express themselves; we cannot block the path of speech.”
She said to Xiao Sun, “Go ahead.”
She spoke with great authority and was dressed decently; in her mesh bag were several books and several pieces of clothing.
Who could buy so many clothes at once? That would require so many fabric coupons.
The head chef was older and worldly-wise; he could tell.
However, Xiao Sun was still in that rebellious phase. Qiao Wei let her speak, and though she felt a bit weak, she still said, “You’re just a woman by yourself… and there’s no man… isn’t it a waste?”
“I ate the dishes, I ate the rice; it all went into my stomach, digested in my stomach, and turned into energy for my body. How is that a waste?” Qiao Wei asked.
“It’s just, there’s no man; for a woman like you to eat at a restaurant by yourself, it’s too extravagant.” Xiao Sun was still unwilling to give up.
Most people who ate at restaurants were families or entertaining guests and friends. Even if someone ate alone, it was usually a man. She had never seen a woman eating at a restaurant alone.
Couldn’t a woman just eat something casual to get by? If there was good food, it should be saved for the men. Wasn’t it always like that?
How could there be such a woman, going to a restaurant alone, having no shame at all.
“Have you never thought that while it might be extravagant to you, it might just be ordinary daily life to me?” Qiao Wei said.
Xiao Sun was stunned.
Qiao Wei said, “Let’s settle the bill.”
The head chef stated the price: “7 mao 2 fen.”
Qiao Wei actually understood Xiao Sun’s logical thinking.
But she didn’t instill any feminist ideas in her. She wasn’t her life mentor.
This young girl could already earn a salary, yet she was full of the idea that women didn’t deserve to eat well. That was a deep-rooted old ideology, most likely brainwashed from childhood by her growing environment, such as family and parents.
Basically impossible to deprogram.
Lin Xixi also felt she shouldn’t go to a restaurant with her uncle’s family.
But Qiao Wei turned and walked a few steps, and before walking out of the restaurant, she stopped.
“Young lady,” she turned her head and said to her, “Life is actually quite short; learn to be a little kinder to yourself.”
After saying this, she left.
Xiao Sun blinked: “What was that about?”
The head chef said, “Put the money in the drawer.”
Xiao Sun was indignant and aggrieved: “She spent almost a yuan by herself.”
“Hey,” the head chef said, “Didn’t she say, this is just her ordinary daily life.”
Xiao Sun couldn’t get over this hurdle in her heart and kept muttering.
The head chef said, “Don’t be so stubborn; you can tell she’s from a cadre family. Can you compare it to your family? Not every family forbids women from sitting at the table.”
After a pause, he added, “Or maybe she is a cadre herself.”
That woman spoke with such authority, hmm, she looked like a cadre.
