Chapter 27

As they walked along, they encountered a person selling soda from a small refrigerator on his back.

Yu Xiangnian wanted soda again, but Cheng Jingmo didn’t. He silently paid three cents and bought one bottle each for her and Xiao Jie.

The orange-flavored soda was ice-cold. Drinking it in this hot weather was really refreshing.

After finishing the soda, before they even reached the department store, both of them needed to use the restroom.

At this moment, Cheng Jingmo somewhat understood what his comrades meant when they said accompanying women shopping was asking for trouble!

Fortunately, the town wasn’t big, and the South City People’s Hospital was nearby.

Cheng Jingmo wasn’t in a hurry to pee, so he took the opportunity to relieve himself.

After leaving the hospital, Cheng Jingmo went to the post office opposite the department store.

He asked for a remittance form from the staff and started filling it out.

Yu Xiangnian noticed that the payee was Cheng Huazi, which should be Cheng Jingmo’s father’s name. The receiving address was very long, indicating some village and community in a poverty-stricken county in Northwest China.

Yu Xiangnian knew that place was over a thousand kilometers away from South City.

Finally, Cheng Jingmo took out thirty yuan from his pocket and handed it together with the remittance form to the clerk.

After they left the post office, Yu Xiangnian asked, “Cheng Jingmo, do you send money home every month?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still have money left to spend?”

Yu Xiangnian didn’t know how much Cheng Jingmo earned, but a simple calculation showed that if he gave her eighty yuan a month and sent thirty yuan home, that was already one hundred and ten yuan. He must not have much money left.

“Yes,” Cheng Jingmo replied.

“Okay, from now on, you don’t need to give me money every month. I’ll ask you when I need it,” Yu Xiangnian said.

She said this, but she wouldn’t actually ask others for money.

Her salary was definitely not enough for her needs; she had to find a way to earn more!

Before Cheng Jingmo could respond, Yu Xiangnian changed the subject, “Cheng Jingmo, your home is so far away. How often do you go back?”

“I haven’t been back.”

Yu Xiangnian was astonished. “You’ve been in the military for ten years and haven’t been home once?”

“Yeah.”

When they had just gotten married, his family had sent a telegram asking him to bring his new wife to meet them. But he knew Yu Xiangnian would never agree to go to that remote mountain village with him, so he used the excuse of being too busy with military duties to decline.

Yu Xiangnian thought Cheng Jingmo must have a bad relationship with his family; otherwise, not going home for ten years was hard to justify.

“Don’t you miss your family?” she asked delicately.

“I’m used to it.”

Their conversation ended as they entered the department store.

It was crowded on a Sunday, with people packed around every counter buying things.

Cheng Jingmo used his ration tickets to buy ten kilograms of flour, twenty kilograms of rice, ten kilograms of corn grits, two kilograms of sugar using sugar coupons, three kilograms of sesame oil using oil coupons, plus seven yuan and eighty cents in cash.

This was his monthly ration.

Yu Xiangnian watched Cheng Jingmo take out three bags of groceries from his backpack and couldn’t help asking, “Cheng Jingmo, you bought so much as soon as you arrived. How are we going to shop around later?”

Cheng Jingmo paused. “We’re still going shopping?”

He thought coming to town meant shopping, and besides, if they didn’t buy now, everything might be sold out later.

Yu Xiangnian sighed helplessly and waved her hand, “Let’s buy, let’s buy.”

After all, there weren’t any other malls or shopping centers in the city, so it didn’t matter if they shopped or not.

Cheng Jingmo carried these items and was dragged by Yu Xiangnian to the fabric counter.

Unable to resist Yu Xiangnian’s insistence on making him clothes, Cheng Jingmo picked the cheapest fabric, which cost three cents per meter. But Yu Xiangnian refused, saying the fabric felt rough to the touch and wouldn’t be comfortable to wear.

Yu Xiangnian bought the same fabric as Xiao Jie’s clothes, flower-patterned and polyester fabric, two meters each.

Yu Xiangnian took out the fabric coupons Zhao Ruozhu gave her, but Cheng Jingmo stopped her and took out the fabric coupons he had just received yesterday, adding eleven yuan and sixty cents to give to the shopkeeper.

“I have these, you keep your fabric coupons and use them to make clothes for yourself,” he said.

Yu Xiangnian didn’t insist and took back her coupons. Anyway, she would use them later.

She wanted to buy a can of Malt Milk for Xiao Jie. Xiao Jie was growing up, and the family couldn’t guarantee eggs, meat, or fish for every meal. She would make sure he got nutrition by giving him a cup every morning.

But Malt Milk was quite expensive, costing eighteen yuan a can, and she didn’t have any coupons to use.

Cheng Jingmo didn’t ask a word and silently paid.

Yu Xiangnian also bought three kilograms of White Rabbit Creamy Candy and two kilograms of pastries for Xiao Jie, using up both sugar and pastry coupons, and paid another three yuan and sixty cents.

Finally, Yu Xiangnian’s eyes fell on two new lipsticks just brought into the department store.

The original owner also had lipstick, but after all, it was something applied to the lips. Yu Xiangnian felt a bit disgusted and had never used it before.

She wanted to buy two new ones, but considering that lipstick was not cheap, costing five yuan each, she thought for a moment and decided to buy just one.

But then she struggled with choosing the color.

Nowadays, there were no samples for lipstick to try out. When she asked the salesperson, they nonchalantly replied, “They’re all red, rose red and peach red.”

Yu Xiangnian imagined the difference between rose red and peach red in her mind, feeling that neither color was particularly appealing.

Suddenly, someone behind them pushed forward, pressing Cheng Jingmo’s chest against Yu Xiangnian’s back.

Yu Xiangnian felt her back heat up and then realized that there was a military officer behind her!

She asked Cheng Jingmo, “Cheng Jingmo, which lipstick color do you think looks better, rose red or peach red?”

To prevent Cheng Jingmo from saying “both look good,” Yu Xiangnian added, “You can only choose one.”

Cheng Jingmo almost said “both look good” but swallowed it back.

What did he know about lipstick?!

He could only recall in his mind what rose red and peach red looked like, thought about it again, and still thought both were good.

But since Yu Xiangnian said he could only choose one, he carefully filtered through his thoughts and finally said, “Rose red.”

Yu Xiangnian nodded in satisfaction and said to the salesperson, “Give me one peach red.”

She fully trusted a straight man’s sense of aesthetics!

A big straight man like Cheng Jingmo said rose red looked good, so peach red was definitely the right choice!

Cheng Jingmo: “…”

What did she mean? Was she teasing him?

Yu Xiangnian walked out of the department store happily with the lipstick in hand.

As soon as they reached the store’s entrance, she unscrewed the lipstick and applied it to her wrist to see the color.

The color was indeed nice. She stretched her wrist in front of Cheng Jingmo. “This color looks good, right?”

Cheng Jingmo only noticed how fair and delicate her wrist was, as if it could break with just a gentle force.

At this moment, Cheng Jingmo, holding three bags of groceries, a bucket of oil, and two rolls of fabric, while Xiao Jie held lighter items like pastries and candy.

Yu Xiangnian took the fabric and oil from Cheng Jingmo’s hands. “Next time you buy these heavy things, come by car.”

Thinking about carrying so many things and walking to the park to wait for the bus, how exhausting!

Cheng Jingmo said, “Don’t carry them. I can handle them myself.”

Yu Xiangnian replied, “If you let a child laborer carry them but not me, won’t you get a bad reputation as a boss?”