Chapter 10
As they walked, Qiao Wei observed the people they encountered, and she understood better why Yan Lei had been so sarcastic when they talked about clothes.
It wasn’t just that doudou fabric itself was rare and a luxury item.
Besides, it hadn’t been as noticeable in the provincial capital, but back in the town, many people were still wearing old homespun cloth. Some clothes even had patches on them.
Qiao Wei also saw many middle-aged and elderly women wearing old-fashioned side-buttoning tunics.
No wonder the original owner didn’t like it here; the difference between the town and the countryside villages wasn’t really that big, while what the original owner longed for was the bustling metropolis described by her grandmother, the fallen heiress.
From Qiao Wei’s modern perspective, that wasn’t necessarily wrong.
But it was truly out of sync with the times, making the original owner’s life and marriage miserable.
Hopefully, in her next life, she can be born in an era that suits her.
There were people in the Residential Compound’s Cafeteria, but not many. It was probably because Qiao Wei had gotten up quite late today, and most people had already finished breakfast.
Qiao Wei went to the counter to pay for two bowls of wontons and two fried dough sticks. The wontons were 10 cents a bowl, and the fried dough sticks were 3 cents each. However, she also had to provide food stamps and meat coupons.
Qiao Wei’s hand paused slightly as she opened her wallet. Calculated this way, the twenty or thirty yuan in her wallet was equivalent to several thousand in later generations. At this moment, her understanding of money finally hit home, and it felt real.
What was different from the future was that she also had to provide ration coupons. Qiao Wei didn’t know how many to give, so she tried placing two or three on the counter. The girl collecting the money glanced at her strangely and took two of them.
Qiao Wei now had a rough idea of how many ration coupons were needed.
The girl gave her four rough-edged paper cards, two printed with “1 Bowl of Wontons” and two with “1 Fried Dough Stick.” Qiao Wei took them to the master chef at the window, waited for a while until the window called, then went over to pick up the wontons and fried dough sticks.
Wontons paired with fried dough sticks—one of the best breakfast combinations.
Compared to the large wontons common in breakfast shops of the future, the wontons here barely had any meat. However, the wonton wrappers were rolled extremely thin, like goldfish dragging long tails. The dough wrappers fully absorbed the flavor of the soup, melting in her mouth with just a press of her tongue.
Qiao Wei, who had lived entirely on nutrient solutions before her death, sighed—even just for this bite of delicious wontons, living was worth it.
The mother and son finished eating with great relish. Yan Xiang asked, “Are we going home?”
Qiao Wei shook her plastic woven basket: “We’re going to buy groceries.”
Yan Xiang was very familiar with the Farmers Market and led the way, wobbling as he walked. In this era, there were no electrical appliances, and certainly no refrigerators. Fresh fruits and vegetables couldn’t be stored for long in the summer, so every household basically bought groceries for the day, or at most for two days.
The scale of the market was much smaller than Qiao Wei had imagined, and the variety of vegetables was very monotonous—all common Northern vegetables; she couldn’t see any Southern vegetables at all. There was only one meat counter, and surprisingly, there was a long line.
She kept hearing people greeting each other. The place was small, everyone knew each other, and the market and public restrooms had become social venues.
Her memory told Qiao Wei that she had to queue for meat first, otherwise it was very likely that the meat would sell out and she wouldn’t be able to buy any.
She held Yan Xiang’s hand and stood in line. There were others queuing with children, too. The children were impatient, swaying, jumping around, or making noise. The parents basically ignored it, and when they got annoyed by the noise, they would slap them twice.
Qiao Wei looked at Yan Xiang again. By comparison, Yan Xiang was so well-behaved, quietly leaning beside her.
At this moment, he looked a bit like the reticent boy described in the original text.
As if sensing something, the child suddenly looked up, saw Qiao Wei looking at him, and beamed at her. His bright eyes curved into crescents, and his small white teeth were clean and neat.
This kind of smile could simply purify an adult’s soul.
Qiao Wei ruffled his hair vigorously.
With her here, she would never let this cute little boy turn into some gloomy youth.
It was finally her turn in line, and she cut a piece of meat with both fat and lean parts.
Because she had arrived a bit late, there wasn’t much meat left. The person behind her was unhappy: “Why are you buying so much? How many people are eating?”
Qiao Wei looked at the piece of meat; it really wasn’t big. It was only because she didn’t have a refrigerator to store it that she was buying such a small amount.
She smiled: “I have to cut another piece when I get home; I’m bringing it for a neighbor.”
She was dressed beautifully, and her smile was gentle and bright, so the person behind her couldn’t say anything more even though they were unhappy: “Sigh.”
Qiao Wei began to have a concrete realization of the scarcity of resources in this era.
She bought some more vegetables and wanted to buy some fruit. But she had originally gotten up a bit late, and eating at the Residential Compound had delayed her. By the time she stood in the long line to buy meat and then wanted to buy fruit, the fruit had already sold out.
She had no choice but to give up, secretly reminding herself that resources were scarce in this era and she couldn’t be too late in the morning, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to buy good things.
Carrying the things, she led Yan Xiang and walked back slowly.
Actually, going out for a walk like this was quite nice. The memories about this town slowly unfolded and settled, turning from a cinematic reel into the reality before her eyes.
As they walked, they saw the sales department of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Qiao Wei, coming from the future where goods were extremely abundant, always felt that carrying just a piece of meat as a thank-you gift was shabby. Although she knew that meat was truly a good thing in this era, she still felt the gift was too meager.
After all, Regimental Commander Zhao’s family had taken care of Yan Xiang for several days, and they had taken good care of him.
In the future, who would help take care of someone else’s child? They weren’t even relatives. People didn’t even know the surnames of their next-door neighbors.
Qiao Wei still decided to go into the sales department to take a look. The sales department was quite spacious, and the building wasn’t small, but when you walked in, you could see everything at a glance.
There really wasn’t anything worth buying. The variety of goods was too small; she didn’t even see a single can of fruit.
Finally, Qiao Wei decided to buy brown sugar. Because she remembered her mother once telling her about drinking brown sugar water when she was a child, which was a good thing in that era.
Fortunately, she had packed various ration coupons when she went out, and she had also packed sugar coupons.
She didn’t know how much to buy, so she humbly asked the saleswoman for advice. The saleswoman saw her and Yan Xiang’s attire and knew they were a military family, so she said: “Let’s have thirty cents’ worth.”
So Qiao Wei bought thirty cents’ worth of brown sugar, which was wrapped in oil paper, topped with a piece of pink paper, and then tied up with a plastic string.
Only after it was tied up did she see Yan Xiang looking at it with sparkling eyes.
Qiao Wei found it amusing. She rummaged through her wallet, took out a one-cent coin, and placed it on the counter: “Give the child a taste.”
The saleswoman smiled and chipped off a small piece from the brown sugar on the counter and put it into Yan Xiang’s mouth. Yan Xiang went home with Qiao Wei, feeling sweet and happy.
When they got home, Qiao Wei put down her own groceries and took two pieces of meat out of the basket. When she bought them, she had asked the butcher to cut them into two pieces. One was fattier, and one was leaner.
Qiao Wei remembered that people in this era seemed to think fatty meat was better than lean meat. She wasn’t very sure, so she asked Yan Xiang: “Is fatty meat better or is lean meat better?”
Yan Xiang didn’t hesitate: “Fatty meat is better; fatty meat is fragrant.”
While saying this, he shook his head: “No one likes to buy lean meat.”
Qiao Wei said: “Alright, then we’ll give the fatty piece to Uncle Zhao and Aunt Yang, to thank them for taking care of Xiangxiang.”
Yan Xiang nodded vigorously: “Mm-hmm!”
Qiao Wei then carried the meat and brown sugar and took Yan Xiang out again.
Regimental Commander Zhao’s home wasn’t far; it was just a few steps away.
The courtyard gate was open. Qiao Wei didn’t go straight in; she stood at the gate and called out: “Is anyone home?”
Someone answered and emerged from the house. She was in her thirties, with a bun at the back of her head, a thin figure, and a sallow complexion.
By her appearance, one could tell she was from the countryside.
It wasn’t surprising; Yan Lei and many of his comrades-in-arms came from poor peasant backgrounds. It was only by relying on their courage and a heart full of patriotism that they had fought their way to their current ranks.
The benefits in the Military Unit were better than those of workers, simply because the country had a guiding ideology that “shedding blood is heavier than sweating.”
Many people in the future only knew about the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, but they didn’t know that after the founding of the country, due to geopolitics, the nation had been fighting battles of various sizes all along.
Just as that saying on the internet goes, there is no such thing as a peaceful life; it’s just that others are carrying the burden forward for you.
“Sister-in-law.” Qiao Wei called out sweetly and stepped into the courtyard with Yan Xiang.
Yan Xiang was very polite: “Aunt Yang.”
“Oh.” Sister Yang wiped her hands on her apron and replied, “Little Qiao, you’re back. Have you two eaten breakfast? Shall I make you some noodle soup?”
“No need, no need, we’ve eaten,” Qiao Wei said.
Yan Xiang said loudly: “Aunt Yang, we went to the Residential Compound and ate wontons.”
“Ate wontons, did you?” Sister Yang smiled and glanced at Qiao Wei.
This glance made Qiao Wei feel a bit confused.
She couldn’t ask what that glance meant, so she put aside her doubts and stepped forward to stuff the meat and brown sugar into Sister Yang’s hands.
“What is this?” Sister Yang asked.
“That’s brown sugar,” Qiao Wei said. “I was unlucky; I got sick in the provincial capital and was delirious with fever, so I didn’t have time to buy anything and came back empty-handed. I just bought this at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. I brought it over for the children to drink.”
Sister Yang pushed them away: “What are you doing?”
Qiao Wei said: “I wasn’t home, and Yan Xiang bothered you for several days, Sister-in-law. I bought a few things as a token of appreciation; please don’t mind it.”
Although Sister Yang said, “Why are you being so formal?” her hands weren’t pushing as hard anymore. Qiao Wei then firmly stuffed them into her hands.
Sister Yang chided her: “Look at you, why are you being so polite with our family?”
After accepting the thank-you gift, she pulled Qiao Wei: “Have a drink of water.”
Qiao Wei took the opportunity to stay and followed her to sit at the small table under the eaves.
In this era, what kind of beverages would there be in a home? Drinking water really meant drinking water—plain boiled water.
Qiao Wei took the opportunity to look around the courtyard and house. Regimental Commander Zhao’s courtyard was larger, and there were some vegetables planted in it. But their house was not quite the same as Qiao Wei’s, because there were many people in the family, and they had added two more rooms after moving in. The unauthorized construction made the layout of the house look messy.
However, the land in the courtyard was well-kept, with several kinds of small green vegetables planted, looking lush and green. At a glance, one could tell that the family members were good at gardening.
“How did your visit with your relatives go?” Sister Yang asked with concern.
In this era, there was almost no privacy between neighbors. Fortunately, everyone had their own courtyards; it wasn’t that kind of large compound, so they didn’t have to worry about people eavesdropping.
But when older sisters like this met, they were bound to ask—it was only human nature.
Sister Yang actually didn’t have a very good relationship with the original owner. She was a rural woman, and the original owner considered herself an intellectual. Although their husbands hoped they could get along, these two people had absolutely nothing in common to talk about.
Before the original owner left, she entrusted the child to her, and Sister Yang couldn’t refuse due to the friendship between their husbands. But to say she was close to the original owner? That wasn’t the case.
But today, Qiao Wei came with a gift, and one shouldn’t strike a smiling face. Since she had suddenly become polite, Sister Yang naturally became a bit warmer toward her.
For the sake of her future life, Qiao Wei was bound to clean up the mess for the original owner, Qiao Weiwei, and smooth over the matter of her elopement. She brought out the same story she had used to fool Driver Zhang and told it again.
Sister Yang straightened her back, angry enough to slap the table: “How dare they look down on us!”
Qiao Wei said: “I just didn’t have time to tell them that I was a military family member. Mainly, they didn’t ask.”
The key person in this matter was Sister Yang. If she could fool Sister Yang, the matter would be smoothed over.
Qiao Wei would then be able to replace Qiao Weiwei and start a new life.
Sister Yang was from the countryside, and her appearance made it clear she was a rural person. Having been looked down upon by city dwellers a few times when going into town, she could particularly empathize with this kind of thing. Sure enough, she was fooled, and she was so angry that she started cursing and grumbling, using her hometown dialect.
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. We won’t associate with them in the future; they were only distant relatives anyway.” Qiao Wei looked around, “Where is your little Lin?”
As soon as the female lead, Lin Xixi, was mentioned, Sister Yang opened the floodgates: “You’ve met my Xixi, haven’t you? How is it? This little girl is not bad, right?”
There was pride in Sister Yang’s tone, revealing her love for this niece who had no blood relation.
The female lead truly had the female lead halo.
