Chapter 39.2

The tall, handsome male comrades in green military uniform who rarely smile and the sweet and pretty female comrade wearing a white dress, who was born with a smiling face were sitting on the chair with a straight posture and their hands on their thighs. 

The cameraman said, “Look how sweet the female comrade smiles, can the male comrade also smile?”

Han Cheng looked at the camera and smiled. With the “click” of the shutter, a wedding photo was freshly released.

Although it is not cheap to take photos these days, the opportunity is rare. Su Xiaoxiao proposed to take a photo with the cubs.

Han Cheng held Fantuan, and Su Xiaoxiao held Xiao Doubao. Their position was the same as the one they took for their wedding photo, but this time, each had an extra cub sitting on their lap.

This was the first time Fantuan took a picture, and he was so happy that he put on a very stupid pose.

The first family photo of a family of four was freshly released, and the photographer repeatedly praised them for being a good family.

After leaving the photo studio, the family went straight to the Civil Affairs Bureau.

The Civil Affairs Bureau registered a lot of new couples, and many have brought their children to get certificates, but it was really rare for the entire family to look so beautiful.

The clever child said “Mom” to the elegant and snow-white-skinned female comrade. They got along so harmoniously, even if she was actually their stepmother. The comrade in charge of registration couldn’t help looking at them more and teasing Xiao Fantuan.

The marriage process is very simple, but this year’s marriage certificate is the distinguishing feature of this time. It is red and special, a bit like the kind of certificates you get in elementary school, but it is lighter red, with a big red peony flower printed in the middle, and a few words on the four sides. There is a big red “happiness” character printed on the four sides, the chairman’s quotation and the highest instruction on the top, in the middle are the three characters of “marriage certificate”, then the font size, and below are the name, age, date, and certificate issuing department, etc. All the information is filled in manually and finally stamped with a red seal.

Su Xiaoxiao found it strange, is this a marriage certificate? She held it in her hand and looked at it several times, then realized that the marriage certificate at this time does not need to paste the photos of the married couple. So, the wedding photo was taken in vain? Also, the photos didn’t come out quickly, showing how naïve they are.

However, it’s also good to leave a souvenir, and it will serve as a precious memory when they grow old.

Fantuan also clamored to see the marriage certificate, but Han Cheng took it and put it away: “You can’t understand it, you might break it.”

Fantuan disagreed: “I can understand; my mother taught me a lot of words!”

Han Cheng casually pointed out a word and asked, “What is this word?”

Fantuan: “…” He was so overblown that he couldn’t understand it!

Su Xiaoxiao was overjoyed: “Come on, don’t bully the cubs. Let’s eat lunch first.”

One person picked up a child. Han Cheng held Su Xiaoxiao’s hand and gently squeezed it. He smiled at Su Xiaoxiao. Su Xiaoxiao’s dimple appeared. ‘Yes, Comrade Han Cheng, we have become legal couples.’

A little episode happened while they were eating in the state-run restaurant. Xiao Fantuan hated the food in the restaurant and said, “It’s not as delicious as my mother’s food” loudly. 

The waiters also heard it and rolled their eyes at him. If they weren’t wearing decent clothes and Han Cheng, wearing a military uniform, they would probably drive the little guy out.

After eating their lunch, Xiao Doubao became sleepy. Han Cheng held him and let him sleep.

The family rushed back to the state-run shopping mall with their marriage certificate and bought a big red dragon and phoenix quilt, a big red basin, and a cabinet. Finally, after three turns here and there, they bought what they need. 

Su Xiaoxiao wanted to add a wardrobe, but it was too big, and the style was not beautiful, so she gave it up for now.

There was nothing left in this joint meat factory. They only bought a little sausage and preserved duck, which was better than nothing.

After they bought the meat, they went to the non-staple food factory and bought a lot of things; the baby’s milk powder and malted milk were replenished. 

Su Xiaoxiao also bought many kinds of seasonings that could not be bought in the town, such as mung bean powder and potato powder and other kinds of powder that can be bought without tickets. In a word, the things that didn’t require any tickets will only be sold in small portions.

There are also kinds of sweet cakes that can be bought only with a marriage certificate. The snacks in this era were readily available and couldn’t be bought casually. These foods didn’t have as many additives as in later generations; they are all organic and natural. Su Xiaoxiao wanted to buy more food and let the cubs eat it slowly.

There are not many fuel tickets, and they can only buy small amounts of gas, which will take a few days. 

In the 1970s, even if you had money, you couldn’t buy what you wanted if you didn’t have any tickets for it, which made Su Xiaoxiao sad.

“Don’t worry, let’s go to the black market later.” Han Cheng comforted her.

Su Xiaoxiao slapped her forehead and almost forgot that there was such a good place.

They put their things away and went to the black market as soon as they were ready. 

Han Cheng drove the car to the black market.

“Why are you so familiar with the way?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.

Han Cheng parked the car and replied: “Every place that Chen Aimin had visited, there is no one in our department who doesn’t know where that place is.”

Well, Doctor Chen is talkative.

The black market in the city was nothing like the one in the town, which only opens for a little while in the morning. 

The scale here is not small, and there are many stalls at the foot of the city wall. Han Cheng, dressed in military uniform, arrived at the intersection. Those who are in charge of letting the wind out should immediately notify everyone to withdraw if they find something is wrong. Han Cheng could already feel that someone was going to tell him the news.

A few people came out soon. Probably, when they saw Han Cheng with his wife and children, who didn’t appear like he was there to clean up, they relaxed their vigilance.

It was inconvenient for Han Cheng to go in because of his military uniform, so he waited at the intersection with Xiao Doubao in his arms. Su Xiaoxiao took Fantuan in, but Han Cheng told her not to go far and asked her to buy things on the side.

Han Cheng’s eyes never left Su Xiaoxiao’s shadow.

Xiao Fantuan had never been to such a place, but he was excited.

Su Xiaoxiao bought some mungbean cake first, let the little cub take one to eat, and asked him to look around to see if there was any oil for sale.

Xiao Fantuan, who was holding his mother in one hand and eating mung bean cake in the other, looked around as he hopped here and there.

The little guy is not afraid of life. He directly asked an uncle who was squatting in front of him: “Uncle, do you know where I can find an oil seller? Our house has no oil for frying.”

Su Xiaoxiao: “…” What is this operation?

Su Xiaoxiao just wanted to say, ‘sorry, my child is not sensible.’

As a result, the uncle looked at them and said, “How much do you want? I have a few pounds. Come with me.”

Su Xiaoxiao turned back to Han Cheng and gestured that she was going to follow the uncle. She took the Xiao Fantuan and walked with the uncle into the opposite alley.

There are also residential buildings on both sides of the alley. Uncle’s home is probably here and not too far from the black market. The Uncle asked them to wait and took out the key from his pocket to open the door.

After a while, he took out a small jar of oil. He looked at Su Xiaoxiao again. He frowned and asked, “You don’t have a jar with you? What did you bring?”
Su Xiaoxiao remembered that she had to bring her container to buy these things. She forgot to bring her small jar of oil.

“Sorry, I forgot to bring it. How about I buy your jar together with oil, is that okay with you?” This is several kilograms of oil. Su Xiaoxiao doesn’t want to miss it.

When the Uncle saw that she was very kind, he said, “Well, you can put some deposit here and return it to me next time you come.”

Su Xiaoxiao thought to herself: There will be a next time? Naturally, I will agree.

“Well, well, then we have an appointment. I will buy it at this time next month. Can you keep it for me?”

The Uncle was also an honest man. He shook his head and said, “I can’t promise it. Every household is short of it, and it is not available every month. You can only get it on a first-come, first-served basis.”

Xiao Fantuan took out a piece of mung bean cake from Su Xiaoxiao’s hand, pulled the uncle’s clothes, and handed it to him with his face upturned. “Uncle, I’ll treat you with some mungbean cake, can you sell us your oil next time? My mother’s cooking is delicious, but it won’t work without oil. Next time, we’ll bring you something delicious, okay?”

Uncle: “…”

Su Xiaoxiao: “…” Xiao Fantuan… Does he have the social bull syndrome that she always hears about from her previous life? He’s so young, but he’s better than me! ^[1]Social Bull Syndrome—A new meme was created as a mix between social niubility (means very awesome or extremely cool) and social phobia. It describes a person who is somewhere between a social … Continue reading

What’s more amazing is that the uncle unexpectedly agreed: “You are a very clever young kid. All right, for your sake, I will leave you three catty next month. You must come here at this time, don’t be too late.”

Xiao Fantuan nodded. He was smiling so hard that you could see all of his teeth: “Well, thank you, uncle, we will definitely bring you delicious food! Then uncle, do you know where I can buy meat? We haven’t eaten meat for a long time.” I couldn’t eat meat yesterday; it’s been a long time.

Uncle really pointed out the place to Fantuan: “The second house we passed through has several chickens. See, they have live chickens and chicken.”

Xiao Fantuan replied. “Chicken. I haven’t eaten chicken for a long time.”
He looked up and asked Su Xiaoxiao, “Mom, can I have a chicken leg?”

Su Xiaoxiao was convinced by this little boy, she smiled and said: “Yes, hurry up and thank uncle.”

Xiao Fantuan smiled and said, “Thank you, uncle.”

Su Xiaoxiao gave the payment and took the oil in one hand. Before leaving, the Uncle also went into the house and took some snacks for Fantuan. Praised Fantuan for having a promising future.

A few minutes later, Su Xiaoxiao successfully bought chicken meat, which was, by the way, two whole chickens.

When Su Xiaoxiao appeared in the alley with chicken in one hand and oil in the other, followed by Xiao Fantuan with snacks in two hands, Han Cheng could not wait to come in.

“What took you so long?” He was worried that something might have happened to them.

Su Xiaoxiao gave him the oil in her hand and shook his wrist: “Our son is very good; you must take him with you when you buy things in the future.”

Xiao Fantuan pulled Xiao Doubao and wanted to give him snacks: “Dad, I earned all these; am I good?”

Han Cheng was at a loss.

Su Xiaoxiao gave him a thumbs up and patted Fantuan’s head: “Our little Fantuan is great. Today’s harvest is very rich. Let’s go home.”

……