Asking her to give up her seat? That was impossible. This road could shake out the contents of a person’s stomach. Besides, they were not acquaintances, so Wen Jiajia, of course, only cared about herself.

The car started slowly. There were chickens and ducks on the bus, and the smell wafted around her nose in waves.

Wen Jiajia could only be thankful that she didn’t get carsick, and that the original owner’s body didn’t get carsick either; otherwise, she would have vomited as soon as she got in the car.

Ten minutes later, they were almost at that shaky road.

The aunt was obviously familiar with this route. She squeezed her way to Wen Jiajia and said, “Sister, can you hold the baby for me for a while?”

That was fine, as long as she wasn’t allowed to get up, everything would be fine. Although Wen Jiajia was selfish, she was not that selfish.

She took the child and placed her on her lap, only then did she notice that it was a baby girl.

“It’s a little girl,” Wen Jiajia said, surprised. “Why does she have such short hair?”

It’s almost bald. Not only is it cold, but it also damages the hair follicles.

The aunt smiled and said, “She is still young and afraid of getting lice. When she is three or four years old and can withstand it, she can slowly let it grow longer.”

Wen Jiajia: “…”

She felt a little scared now and wanted to wrap her head with a piece of cloth.

After a moment of silence, Wen Jiajia couldn’t help but say, “Use a comb to comb her hair more often, and then wash her hair with sulfur soap every day. The lice will disappear quickly.”

The aunt said calmly, “Sister, you are from the city, right? We can’t wash our hair with sulfur soap every day. If you can take a soap bath once a week, you are considered clean. There are five children in the family; how can I wash them all?”

Wen Jiajia felt a little depressed, and even the violent shaking was a little bit unnoticed. She sighed and said, “I’m not a city person; I’m a country person.”

Hearing what Wen Jiajia said, the aunt was a little surprised.

She prided herself on being good at judging people but didn’t expect to make a mistake with Wen Jiajia.

She added, “Then you must have been educated.” She spoke very coherently.

Wen Jiajia had nothing to say.

After this distance, she wanted to take the child back.

Wen Jiajia waved her hand. “Auntie, let me hold her. She’s very well-behaved.”

She was indeed well-behaved. She leaned against Wen Jiajia, occasionally turning her head to look at her, then looking up at her mother, without crying or making a fuss.

“Right, she’s the best-behaved one; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to bring her out,” the aunt said. “Her sisters have never been to the city with me.”

The scenery outside the bus window slowly receded. After passing that section of the road, Wen Jiajia shifted in her seat and felt much more relaxed.

Maybe she was mentally prepared and didn’t want to vomit this time. She was in good condition all the way to the city.

Wen Jiajia got off at the State-owned Hotel stop that Wei Dai had mentioned. Her aunt didn’t get off, so Wen Jiajia left her seat for her.

She jumped out of the car and took a deep breath.

Ah, so fresh and sweet.

This street was very busy. Walking along the street, Wen Jiajia saw the supply and marketing cooperative and the retail store. After turning a corner to another street, she could also see the grain station and the department store she had been longing for.

The streets were bustling with people, and bicycles were everywhere.

Occasionally, a bus would pass by slowly, and surprisingly, there were not many people on the bus. This showed that buses that only travel within the city were not as congested as urban and rural buses.

Wen Jiajia vaguely remembered that the capital’s subway should have been opened by this time, and she didn’t know when the subway here would start construction.

When she arrived at the entrance of the department store and looked up, she saw that it was a three-story building.

When she entered the store, there were not many people inside, but the wide variety of merchandise was far superior to that of the supply and marketing cooperatives in both quantity and quality.

There was even a row of ready-made clothes for sale! But the styles were average, and it would be better for her to buy the cloth and make them herself.

Now that she had the skill of making clothes, and with the reform and opening up, she had another way to get rich.

Wen Jiajia touched the stack of banknotes in her chest pocket and planned to buy some cloth to make summer clothes for herself.

She left the ready-to-wear section and started looking at other items.

The first floor mostly sold food and clothing. After taking a look around, Wen Jiajia went up to the second floor and planned to buy some things on the first floor before leaving.

She came to the second floor with a purpose.

The second floor was filled with luxury goods such as watches and radios. Wen Jiajia took out a watch ticket and pointed to a watch in the window, saying, “I want that Shanghai watch.”

Shanghai watches were the hottest watches at the moment.

But there were none in her hometown because they were bought one by one, and often when Wen Jiajia went to the county town, the cupboard was empty.

Since this place was close to Shanghai, there was no shortage of Shanghai watches, and there were even several Shanghai brand radios waiting to be sold.

It just so happened that Wen Jiajia had seen a watch ticket among Wei Dai’s various tickets. Adhering to the principle of buying early and enjoying early, Wen Jiajia went to buy a watch the next day after she arrived here.

“Wait a moment.” The salesperson took the bill, clamped it with a clip, and followed the track into a place where Wen Jiajia couldn’t see. Then the salesperson took out a watch and said to Wen Jiajia, “Do you want me to adjust it for you directly, or do you want to adjust it yourself?”

At this time, the new watch needed to be adjusted.

Wen Jiajia said, “Comrade, please help me adjust it.”

The salesperson adjusted the watch in no time, checked carefully to see that there were no scratches, and gave it to her.

Wen Jiajia put it on right away. With the watch, she felt more secure, and her life of looking at the sky to estimate the time was finally over.

After buying the watch, she stood in front of the radio counter for a while.

The salespeople were all high-quality, and no one drove you away.

After all, it is common for people to come and look at the radios. Even if they can’t afford them, can’t they still enjoy the sight?

Wen Jiajia didn’t go to the third floor, as that’s where foreign exchange coupons were required.

Back on the first floor, she bought some cloth, a thermos, two kilograms of sugar, one kilogram of plain milk candy, and one kilogram of chocolate-flavored candy.

Toffee^[1]is a kind of dessert created by heating sugar or molasses, butter, and occasionally flour until it caramelizes. nowadays is made from real ingredients, but Wen Jiajia thinks it’s a bit too sweet and doesn’t like it very much. She prefers the chocolate taste, so she planned to hide in her room and eat it slowly after buying this pound.

Then she bought a pound of biscuits and a pound of butterfly cakes.

Wen Jiajia was pleasantly surprised. She used to buy butterfly cakes every time she went to Shanghai on business trips, but later she never bought them again because of the long queues. She didn’t expect to find them here too.

Butterfly cakes are really fragrant but also really expensive.

Just one pound cost Wen Jiajia two yuan, which was more expensive than meat.

Finally, she bought rain boots, a pair of Warrior canvas shoes, and two bottles of white wine. Before leaving, she bought a few pairs of hairbands and a bottle of Pechoin. After spending all the money in her chest pocket, she left reluctantly.

There were still things she needed to buy!

She took out the big bag from her small bag and put all the things she had bought into the big bag.

Then she went to the grain station and bought some rice and flour.

Next, she went to the store and bought a live chicken, a live fish, a pound of meat, and a few ribs.

At this time, the meat could only be lean meat.

Fortunately, it was pork belly, and Wen Jiajia was thinking of using it to make barbecued pork.

Finally, she bought some vegetables and dragged a big bag of things to wait for the bus to go home.

Wen Jiajia was panting and wanted to run back to the department store to buy a bicycle.

Unfortunately, she didn’t bring enough money or tickets.

Finally, the bus came slowly.

Because her boarding point was close to the starting station, there were still empty seats on the bus.

But when it arrived at the next stop, the bus was crowded with people. Wen Jiajia looked carefully and found that this stop was the vegetable market station.

No wonder. When she gets a bicycle someday, she will come here to take a look.

As they entered the suburbs, the sky was already filled with the sunset glow.

The fiery red sunset looked like colorful silk spread across the sky, breathtakingly beautiful.

Every evening, people are eager to go home.

Wen Jiajia couldn’t help but think of home. She had left in the morning and didn’t prepare lunch before leaving. She didn’t know whether Wei Dai had brought home lunch at noon. If not… would Wen Chun and Wen Xuan be too hungry?

The journey was faster today, and the bus arrived at nearly five o’clock. Wen Jiajia got off the bus in a hurry. After getting off, she found that the aunt she met in the morning was also on the bus.

She looked quite embarrassed at the moment, with a sleeping child on her back, things in her hands, and a cloth bag hanging on her chest. Wen Jiajia couldn’t help but slow down her pace.

“Aunt, do you want me to help you?” she asked.

“Sister Wen, it’s you. You can just call me Sister Hong, Hong for rainbow.” She looked up and smiled, “But I don’t need your help. These things are not heavy. It’s easy.”

As she spoke, she shook the things in her hands.

Seeing this, Wen Jiajia did not insist.

Sister Hong seemed interested and asked her, “I heard that you brought two girls from your family with you to join the army?”

Wen Jiajia was surprised. Wow, has this matter spread? But Sister Hong didn’t know about it this morning, so how come she knows about it now?

She nodded and said, “I and my two sisters are the only daughters left in my family. My father has no brothers and I don’t even know where my mother’s family is. So I am the only one who can raise these two children.”

Sister Hong sighed. Although she didn’t know why there were only three girls left in the family, she knew that they must have experienced a tragic disaster.

“You’ve had a hard time too,” she said.

Wen Jiajia thought, finally someone understands how hard I’ve been suffering.

After getting to know Fang Mingyan, she kept talking about how great her life was.

It’s not fun at all. I was very stressed when I first wore it. There was hair on my pillow every morning.

“But now I’ve made it through,” she added. “Hey! At least you are raising your own niece, raising her to be close to you. The two in my family are from my husband’s side.”

Wen Jiajia didn’t know how to respond. Let’s make friends, but remember not to talk too much. She never liked to meddle in other people’s family affairs.

The two walked all the way to the troops.

Sister Hong talked as they walked.

Wen Jiajia was a good listener. Although she didn’t say much, she could respond appropriately. Sister Hong thought this girl was pretty good.

As they were almost at the family quarters, the child on Sister Hong’s back woke up. She quickly shook the child and tried to comfort him, “Oh, oh, Yaya is home, home…”

As she was shaking the child, the medicine in her pocket fell out.

Wen Jiajia helped pick it up, and it was mercurochrome.^[2]also known as merbromin, is a topical antiseptic used for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns. It was once widely used in first aid due to its antiseptic properties and distinctive red color.

People these days often use mercurochrome and gentian violet. After Wen Jiajia was born, these two potions were almost nowhere to be seen.

Why? Because they contain mercury. Using them not only carries the risk of mercury poisoning but can also easily leave pigmentation.

“Sister Hong, did you go to the hospital today?” Wen Jiajia handed her the mercurochrome.

Sister Hong stuffed the medicine back into her pocket and said, “No, why go to a hospital? Our military hospital is good enough. I’ll go to the pharmaceutical factory. Xiao Wen, if you need any medicine in the future, just call me. I have someone at the pharmaceutical factory.”

Wen Jiajia: “…”

Do pharmaceutical companies sell all kinds of medicine these days?