Chapter 37
When it came to going to the market, Qiao Wei’s excitement was no less than Yan Xiang’s; it was her first time attending such a large rural market.
Their town was called Xiahe Town, and there was a river nearby, not far away. The distance from Yan Lei’s house to the riverbank was about the same as going to the Residential Compound.
The big market was on the riverbank, basically right where Yan Lei dug for mud.
Communes from several nearby townships had all come, bringing their own agricultural by-products and handicrafts. There were all kinds of transportation: trucks, tractors, horse-drawn carts, mule carts, and even wheelbarrows and pushcarts could all be seen.
When Qiao Wei and Yan Lei were out for their morning run, they had already seen many figures moving about by the river.
“Siping Township is famous for its bamboo ware,” Yan Lei told Qiao Wei, “They definitely have these small chairs, but for larger ones, you’ll have to try your luck. If they don’t have them, I’ll go to Qingshan Town next week to buy one for you.”
This man kept his word.
Qiao Wei happily agreed, “Okay. Let’s go to the market and see first; maybe we’ll get lucky.”
The family of three picked up their woven baskets and net bags, and happily headed toward the river beach.
Along the way, there were people heading to the river beach for the big market, all in families. Whether adults or children, everyone had smiles on their faces. Going to the market in this era was truly a grand and happy event.
It could almost be considered a major recreational activity.
Upon arriving at the river beach, it was the first time Qiao Wei had seen so many people since she time-traveled; they were gathered together in a massive crowd.
It was as if the entire town had squeezed onto the river beach. No, actually, it was even more than that; besides the people from the town, there were also people from various communes who had come to the market to sell their goods.
There were no industrial products at this kind of market. Looking around, it was all agricultural by-products and handicrafts. This was exactly what Qiao Wei liked.
She couldn’t walk past several stalls, looking at this and touching that. Before long, her shopping basket was full.
Yan Lei squeezed over and pulled her, “I asked around; the Siping Township commune is over there.”
A comfortable large bamboo chair was Qiao Wei’s main goal today, so she gave up on what was in front of her for now and took Yan Xiang to follow Yan Lei toward the Siping Township commune.
Siping Township was famous for bamboo ware, and a large area was filled with bamboo products. Bamboo baskets, bamboo hampers, large bamboo brooms… Small bamboo chairs were spread out over a large area, clearly a very popular product.
She was really lucky; behind the large area of small bamboo chairs, Qiao Wei spotted two bamboo lounge chairs at a glance!
And they were the foldable kind!
“Is this it?” Yan Lei turned his head and asked Qiao Wei, “Is this the kind you wanted?”
“Yes, yes, yes, those two, buy them quickly!” Qiao Wei hurriedly shook Yan Lei’s arm. Ever since the canned yellow peaches, she knew very well that when she saw good things, she had to strike first: “I want both.”
“Isn’t one enough for you to sit on?” Yan Lei wondered.
Qiao Wei chided him, “Silly, wouldn’t it be nice for you and me to each have one, sitting under the eaves eating melon and chatting on summer nights?”
Her eyes were bright and lively, filled with smiles.
Yan Lei’s heart skipped a beat.
Just imagining the scene of the couple sitting under the eaves after dinner in the evening, holding hands and chatting, was truly warm and wonderful.
“Okay, we’ll buy both!”
Yan Lei went over to ask for the price and negotiate. He quickly struck a deal and came over to tell Qiao Wei, “I’ll take them home first.”
But Qiao Wei pointed to something else and asked, “What is that?”
It was also a bamboo product, with four legs at the height of a small table, but it was rectangular with a bamboo frame. The surface was woven bamboo, with a pattern just like a bamboo cooling mat.
Yan Lei thought to himself that people from the city really were ignorant, and he said, “Isn’t that just a cooling bed?”
It was too hot in the summer, so some people slept on these bamboo cooling beds, but they were mostly used in the fields, for people watching the fields at night to sleep on.
Qiao Wei went over and pressed it with her hand. The woven bamboo had a slight elasticity. She sat on it to try it out, and it was quite comfortable.
“This one.” She patted the cooling bed, “I want this.”
She had resumed her morning runs today, and her complexion was particularly good.
Sitting on the cooling bed, she looked up at Yan Lei, her eyes full of anticipation.
Yan Lei asked the villager directly, “How much?”
In the end, Yan Lei carried a large bamboo broom and held Qiao Wei’s already full woven basket, instructing Qiao Wei, “Don’t you two get separated.”
“We have this.” Qiao Wei raised her hand and shook it.
Because Yan Xiang was too young, she had specially gotten a rope and tied it to her own and Yan Xiang’s wrists—a baby anti-lost leash.
So, Yan Lei led the villager from Siping Township, using a flatbed cart to push the bamboo cooling bed and the two foldable bamboo lounge chairs home first.
Upon arriving home, he directed the man to unload the bamboo chairs and the cooling bed. He arranged the chairs under the eaves and left the cooling bed in the yard, waiting for Qiao Wei to come back and decide where she wanted to place it. He then put the basket of odds and ends Qiao Wei had bought into the house and emptied the woven basket, preparing to bring it back to Qiao Wei.
Just as he was about to head back out to the market to find his wife and son, someone came to the door, shouting at the top of their lungs, “Is this the house of the Yan family?”
Yan Lei came out from the house, “Yes.”
The person who came was a villager, who asked in a loud voice, “What’s your wife’s surname?”
Yan Lei: “… Qiao.”
“That matches. It’s definitely your house.” The villager untied the rope on his chest and unloaded the thing on his back, “Your wife asked me to deliver this.”
It was a small rattan cabinet with double doors.
Yan Lei pulled the doors open and saw that it had three layers inside, like a bookshelf. There were also two drawers on top.
“What is this for?” he asked.
“Whatever you want to use it for,” the villager said, “storing bowls, putting away clothes, displaying books, it’s all fine. It’s up to you.”
After the villager finished speaking, he looked Yan Lei over, “You’re a cadre, aren’t you?”
Yan Lei replied, “Serving the people.”
The villager grinned, “Cadres sure know how to talk. Your wife… she sure can, she sure can buy.”
He probably wanted to say she was a real spendthrift, but right before saying it, he thought not to cause any marital discord, so he changed it to “buy.”
Yan Lei straightened his back, “What else? Isn’t making money for one’s wife to spend?”
The villager gasped and gave a thumbs up, “That attitude, worthy of a cadre.”
The rattan item was a bit bulky, but actually very light. Yan Lei carried it into the house with one hand and put it aside.
He locked the door and went to the market with the villager, chatting along the way.
The villager was quite talkative, “Your wife is a city person, right?”
Yan Lei said nonchalantly, “She went to high school.”
“Whoa, so she’s an educated person,” the villager exclaimed, “At a glance, I could tell she was a city person. What about you? Are you also from the city?”
Yan Lei stated his hometown, “I’m from the countryside.”
“Then you’ve got skills,” the villager gave him a thumbs up again, “marrying an educated woman as your wife.”
Regimental Commander Yan kept his back straight the whole way.
However, upon arriving at the market, it wasn’t easy to find people. After searching for a long time, he found the mother and son in the area where food was sold.
It was barely morning, and they had already started eating cold jelly noodles.
Seeing him, she beamed and beckoned him over to sit on a small stool and eat cold jelly noodles together.
“What is all this?” Yan Lei asked with his hands on his hips.
Qiao Wei’s woven basket had been taken back by Yan Lei, but she had bought a back basket!
Now this back basket was sitting at her feet, and it was almost stuffed full of things.
She was really something.
“Do you know that our peasant brothers eat better than we do?” Qiao Wei pulled Yan Lei to sit on a small stool, “You don’t need food coupons to buy food from them.”
How could Yan Lei not know? He put the woven basket he had brought back at her feet and laughed, “Of course, they are the ones who grow the grain, so they are better off than the city in terms of food.”
For this big market, various communes had also brought many agricultural by-products to sell. Qiao Wei had seen it all, so much food.
Buying food here didn’t require food or meat coupons, so if she bought a bit more, no one would complain, right?
“If that’s the case, if there’s something we want to eat that we can’t buy in the city, we can just go to the township…”
Yan Lei timely gave a cough, interrupting her.
Qiao Wei immediately realized, shrinking her neck, pursing her lips into a line, and looking left and right. Fortunately, in the noisy market, no one heard her speak.
Yan Lei pulled his small stool closer to her: “Stop thinking nonsense. The market opening is when the commune brings things to sell. What do you want to do going to the township yourself? Find villagers to buy from?”
Qiao Wei nodded tentatively.
Yan Lei was amused and poked her forehead with two fingers: “Do you want to engage in speculation and profiteering?”
Qiao Wei shrank her neck again: “It’s that strict?”
“What did you think?”
It wasn’t that Qiao Wei didn’t know, but someone who came from a world with an extreme abundance of goods in the future really lacked a real understanding of the term “speculation and profiteering.”
“Do they arrest people?” she asked.
“If you’re caught, you’ll definitely be arrested.” Yan Lei scared her, “We can’t make that mistake.”
Qiao Wei nodded hurriedly: “Got it.”
Seeing her look like a quail, Yan Lei found it funny. He looked around; everyone was buying things and walking around in a chaotic manner, and no one was paying attention to this side.
He leaned close to Qiao Wei’s ear and lowered his voice, telling the truth: “When you really want to buy something, be smart, and don’t get caught.”
Qiao Wei’s eyes lit up instantly, and she gave him a glare.
Sure enough, timid people couldn’t achieve great things. People who could reach high positions were never truly rigid, rule-abiding, honest people.
Yan Lei acted as if nothing had happened and picked up a chopstick of cold jelly noodles.
He had jogged all the way here and squeezed through the crowd to find them, so he was already covered in sweat. Eating cold jelly noodles in the shade of a tree was truly refreshing.
All private buying and selling that was not state-run was defined as speculation and profiteering.
But the needs of the people were there. The planned economy couldn’t satisfy them, so these “speculation and profiteering” activities always existed underground, and no matter how much they were cracked down on, they still existed.
Everyone understood that in their hearts.
So, just don’t get caught.
“What if I get caught?” Qiao Wei asked humbly for advice.
“That’s why I said your revolutionary foundation is too weak.” Yan Lei looked down on her, but still pointed her in the right direction, “Run. Run as fast as you can.”
Qiao Wei laughed until she was swaying back and forth: “Okay, I’m going to practice running fast.”
The family of three also had lunch at the market. Yan Lei ate four large sesame seed cakes by himself, Qiao Wei was full after eating one, and Yan Xiang could only eat half.
Yan Lei ate the remaining half, not wanting to waste it.
It was Qiao Wei’s first time visiting a big market, and the goods were basically non-industrial, full of pastoral flavor. She really wanted to buy whatever she saw.
Shopping really could make people happy, which was intuitively expressed in her eyes and expression.
Yan Lei couldn’t help but look at her face, always feeling that Qiao Wei’s eyes were shining brightly and her face seemed to be glowing.
If she wanted to buy something, let her buy it; he wouldn’t stop her.
It was just that when Qiao Wei wanted to buy a whole bolt of hand-woven homespun cloth, he stopped her: “What are you buying this for?”
She used to go directly to the Department Store in the county or city to buy ready-made clothes. The Supply and Marketing Cooperative in town also sold clothes, but the big places sold clothes with more colors, better patterns, and styles.
In the past, she would have looked down on these raw-colored or indigo-dyed homespun cloths.
“It’s useful,” she said.
Alright, if she wanted to buy it, she could buy it.
But she actually even wanted to buy plain cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, which were what old rural ladies wore.
Yan Lei stopped her again: “Let’s go to the city and buy a new pair of leather shoes.”
“These are comfortable,” she said.
Alright. Buy them.
But when Qiao Wei wanted to buy straw sandals, Yan Lei really couldn’t stand it anymore.
“You can’t possibly wear these,” he told her, “They’ll rub your skin raw. Only people with calluses on their feet can wear these.”
“I know,” Qiao Wei smiled, “I want to hang these on our wall. Oh, where are the bamboo hats sold? I also want to buy a bamboo hat. Hey, there are straw hats over there, straw hats are fine too, go buy one!”
She pushed Yan Lei, urging him.
Yan Lei had no choice but to squeeze over to buy a straw hat.
Qiao Wei paid for the straw sandals here.
When they got back, if they hung the straw hat and straw sandals under the eaves, wouldn’t that pastoral vibe be there?
She was just happy when she suddenly heard someone calling her. Turning her head to look, Qiao Wei was amused: “Oh, Driver Zhang. How come, how come… you’re here with Lin Xixi?”
Qiao Wei laughed while speaking, her eyes looking at Lin Xixi beside Driver Zhang.
Lin Xixi was still wearing that dress from yesterday. That was normal; in this era, people didn’t change clothes every day. What kind of style would that be? That would be decadent bourgeois style. At this time, borrowing clothes to wear and wearing the same piece of clothing for several days were common.
Driver Zhang really wanted to say something; in later generations, it would probably be something like an official announcement.
But Lin Xixi coughed, stopping him. Driver Zhang had no choice but to evade the question: “Mm-hmm, ah, just strolling, just strolling.”
How to put it, strictly speaking, they didn’t even count as dating.
Among the people dragged here by Regimental Commander Zhao last night for a blind date with Lin Xixi, Driver Zhang was actually the lowest in rank. But he was a driver; being able to drive was very valuable at this time, and even if he transferred to civilian work in the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about a job.
Compared to the others, he had another advantage: his time was flexible, and he was free to come and go.
The others had to ask for leave to leave the military camp. Coming to the group blind date yesterday was all specially permitted by the Political Commissar. But Driver Zhang didn’t need that; his time could be flexibly arranged by himself.
So this clever young man ran to Regimental Commander Zhao’s house early this morning to curry favor: “There’s a market today, let me accompany you, and I can help you carry things.”
Regimental Commander Zhao and his wife were amused at the time. Because the person Lin Xixi nodded and agreed to last night was Driver Zhang.
But since the man had been so attentive and came himself, there was no need to actively say things like “My niece wants to date you.” Regimental Commander Zhao said: “Sister Yang and I will go later, how about this, you young people go first. Gangzi—! Yingzi—! Huazi—!”
Regimental Commander Zhao shouted for the three older children, telling them: “Go with your sister and Brother Zhang.”
On the other side, Sister Yang also pushed Lin Xixi into the house to change into that dress from yesterday, gave her one yuan, and quietly told her: “Get along well and see how it goes.”
Lin Xixi went through the motions, changed into that dress from yesterday, and brought the three younger siblings along with Driver Zhang to the market.
Before they even reached the riverbank, the three little ones took off running, leaving just her and Driver Zhang.
Driver Zhang confessed directly: “Comrade Lin Xixi, my name is Zhang Guoqiang, I’m 20 years old, currently at a level 24 salary in the Military Unit, 42 yuan a month, and I can drive. Please, uh, please, mm-hmm, be my girlfriend.”
