Chapter 14: Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi Visit the Department Store

It was already eleven o’clock, almost lunchtime.

“Should we go to the state-owned restaurant for lunch and then go shopping at the department store?” Xie Qingxiao asked.

“Sure,” Lin Xiangyi said, “We should eat first. But do you know where the state-owned restaurant is? Should we ask someone?”

The city was much more bustling than the county, and there were many state-owned restaurants. Naturally, there were some near the bus station.

Lin Xiangyi had never been here and didn’t know where it was.

Xie Qingxiao, however, was very familiar with the area. He led Lin Xiangyi for seven or eight minutes until they found a restaurant.

Although it wasn’t lunchtime yet, the restaurant was quite crowded. Most of the people were probably travelers.

Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi were lucky. As they entered, two women sitting by the window finished their meal. Lin Xiangyi immediately took their seats.

“You stay here and I’ll order. What do you want to eat?” Xie Qingxiao asked.

“Rice,” Lin Xiangyi said, “I’ll have a dish of cucumber and scrambled eggs.”

Xie Qingxiao went to order. Ten minutes later, he came back with two bowls of rice and two plates of dishes. There was the cucumber and scrambled eggs that Lin Xiangyi ordered, and a dish of stir-fried pork with garlic sauce.

At that time, state-owned restaurants served generous portions. The plates were filled to the brim, and the food smelled delicious.

Especially the stir-fried pork with garlic sauce that Xie Qingxiao ordered. It must have just been cooked, still steaming hot. The strong aroma filled the air.

Lin Xiangyi glanced at it twice. Xie Qingxiao placed the dish in front of her: “Let’s share.”

Lin Xiangyi didn’t hesitate and took a piece of stir-fried pork.

Xie Qingxiao also ate Lin Xiangyi’s cucumber and scrambled eggs.

This restaurant was different from the ones in the county. You didn’t pay for how much you ate, you just paid for the ration coupons. Here, you could eat as much as you wanted, but you couldn’t take any leftovers or waste food.

Xie Qingxiao served Lin Xiangyi a large portion of rice. Lin Xiangyi suspected he served her according to his own appetite.

She had already eaten breakfast before leaving, and it wasn’t lunchtime yet. She couldn’t possibly eat that much.

She forced herself to eat until she was full. She couldn’t eat another bite.

“I can’t eat that much. Don’t serve me so much next time,” Lin Xiangyi told Xie Qingxiao, putting down her chopsticks and deciding to rest before eating more.

Xie Qingxiao ate quickly and had already finished. He just went to get two cups of hot water.

Hearing Lin Xiangyi’s words, he placed one cup of hot water in front of her and bent down to take her leftover rice: “I’ll eat it.”

“Huh?” Lin Xiangyi instinctively reached out to take the rice back.

Xie Qingxiao glanced at her: “Can you still eat?”

“But I made it look so…” so messy.

Lin Xiangyi looked at the leftover rice in her bowl. There was a lot of soup, and some broken eggs, it looked disgusting…

Xie Qingxiao, without any hesitation, used a spoon to gather the rice together. He scooped up a spoonful, looked up at Lin Xiangyi, and his eyes seemed to be saying that she was being fussy again.

Lin Xiangyi: “…” Even though they had discussed getting married two days ago, they weren’t close before that. She wasn’t as adaptable as him. What was wrong with being a little fussy?

“Eat, eat, eat, eat more. You’ll be tired from shopping later,” Lin Xiangyi picked up the plate and poured all the soup into his bowl. It was childish.

Xie Qingxiao didn’t mind and ate everything, soup and rice included.

After they finished eating, they went straight to the department store.

It was called a department store, but it only had two floors. However, it was very large, and the goods were not like those in the supply and marketing cooperative, where everything was sold at one counter. Here, there were different sections, one for daily necessities, another for clothes and shoes…

Each shop had a counter in front of it, and customers who wanted to buy something would line up behind the counter and ask the salesperson to get it for them.

There were many people, bustling and lively.

Lin Xiangyi and Xie Qingxiao walked around for a while and then turned into the clothing area. They needed to buy a new set of clothes to wear for their wedding day.

“The clothes here have more styles than in the county,” Xie Qingxiao said.

“Yes, in a few years, there will be even more styles, and they will be even more beautiful,” Lin Xiangyi agreed.

After the reform and opening up, big cities were the first to embrace new things. Now, after several years, big cities had undergone a drastic change.

The clothing market was one of the earliest industries to develop.

In a few years, when clothing factories in Guangdong province developed, there would be even more styles.

It was just that small counties were lagging behind in information and conservative in their thinking. There hadn’t been much change, especially in clothing. The colors were still mainly black, gray, and blue, and the styles were also very simple.

Xie Qingxiao was surprised to hear her words. He looked at her in astonishment: “How do you know?”

Xie Qingxiao had many friends, and he wasn’t bound by his family, so he had been traveling around for the past two years. He had also noticed the difference between big cities and small counties.

He had seen a lot and had some idea of the future economic development of the country.

But Lin Xiangyi had been in the county all her life. How did she know?

“I read it in the newspaper,” Lin Xiangyi casually made up an excuse.

Xie Qingxiao understood and didn’t suspect anything.

Lin Xiangyi was a good learner. He knew that.

Her grades were good in school. He originally thought that it was a sure thing that she would go to university. Although she didn’t get in,

it could only be said that she was unlucky. It didn’t mean she wasn’t smart.

“Do you think this would look good on me?” Lin Xiangyi pointed to a pair of blue straight-leg jeans hanging on the rack and asked.

Xie Qingxiao followed her gaze. It was a new style. No one in the county wore these kinds of pants yet.

To be honest, he couldn’t imagine Lin Xiangyi wearing these jeans.

However, they had seen a few young women in the department store wearing them, and they did look better and more stylish than ordinary pants.

In Xie Qingxiao’s eyes, Lin Xiangyi was prettier than other girls, so she would definitely look good in them.

So he nodded: “It’s suitable.”

Lin Xiangyi had never worn any beautiful clothes in her life.

Before Chen Fengmei moved in, Lin Shan loved her. But he was a rough man, and he was satisfied with buying her delicious food. He didn’t understand the need to dress her up.

After Chen Fengmei moved in, it was even less likely that she would dress Lin Xiangyi up. Most of her clothes were picked up from other people’s unwanted clothes.

Now, she still had the two hundred yuan that Lin Shan gave her. Beautiful clothes were everywhere.

Lin Xiangyi decided not to feel sorry for herself.

When she asked Xie Qingxiao, she had already decided to buy these jeans.

Hearing Xie Qingxiao’s answer, she was happy that he wasn’t teasing her or deliberately saying the opposite. She walked towards the counter and said to a salesperson who was leaning against the counter and cracking sunflower seeds: “Please get me those jeans, thank you.”

However, the salesperson didn’t move. She even gave her a disdainful look: “Twenty-eight yuan, no ration coupons needed, no trying on.”