Chapter 18: Shopping Spree at the Department Store

Seeing the wild boar’s head, she was startled. She had completely forgotten about it.

She was very impressed with Bond’s work ability, seeing that the wild boar had been dismembered into pieces.

There was only one wild boar, and she wasn’t willing to sell it to the system, even though the system offered a tempting price. She decided to wait a little longer.

Maybe one day she would achieve wild boar meat freedom.

Although wild boar meat is both gamey and tough, she was from the future, so maybe after storing it for a decade or so, she would find it delicious.

She wandered around, muttering to herself, making Xiaomiao and Bond speechless. Finally, Xiaomiao couldn’t take it anymore.

“Anjie, you can actually just use your mind, and all the things in the warehouse will appear in your mind. You don’t need to look at them one by one like this.”

“It’s just that life needs a sense of ritual.” In reality, she was just bored and still wasn’t used to using her mind.

“Xiaomiao, can I use my consciousness to cook?”

“You’re the boss in your own territory!”

“Then what are we waiting for? I’ll go do it now.”

There were so many eggs in the space. She needed to use some. She would make a dish of minced meat steamed eggs.

She took out 200 pounds of front shoulder meat and 800 eggs. She minced all the meat. She mixed the minced meat with oyster sauce, salt, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and scallion ginger juice until the juice was absorbed. She put one pound of minced meat on each plate and beat four eggs on top, then put them in the steamer and steamed for ten minutes.

She repeated this process seven times, steaming all 200 plates. She listed 100 portions and put the remaining 20 portions in the warehouse.

Then, she made 100 portions of braised pork and steamed 100 portions of yellow croaker. After listing everything, she earned another 70,000 gold coins.

Her current gold coin balance was 212,685.

After listing everything, the ticket collector reminded the passengers that the bus was about to arrive at the station. Xia Ning’an’s consciousness returned, and she prepared to get off the bus.

Xia Ning’an looked at the time. It was almost 10 am. After getting off the bus, she first went to buy a ticket back to the city for tomorrow afternoon. She decided to go to the hospital first to inquire about the information so that she could be prepared.

After leaving the station, she took a bus for five stops and arrived at the First People’s Hospital. She registered for ophthalmology.

The hospital did have a special imported eye drops, but the doctor said that the effect on retinal damage was negligible. Moreover, the price was 85 yuan per bottle, which was equivalent to two years of income for Xia Ning’an’s family. However, she didn’t hesitate to ask the doctor to write a prescription. She also asked the doctor to help her write a note so that she could buy two cans of malt extract without tickets. The doctor heard that it was for a wounded soldier to supplement his nutrition, so he didn’t make things difficult and wrote it for her.

Xia Ning’an went to the pharmacy to get the medicine, then went to the hospital’s bathroom. She went into the space and changed into the clothes she had chosen earlier. She put her hair in two braids. Unlike people in this era who liked to use hair oil, her two braids were fluffy. She pulled out some loose hair in front, making her look lively and playful. Xia Ning’an had grown 2 cm in the past few days. She was now 160 cm tall. Her skin was no longer yellowish, but white and tender. Now, she was a lively and lovely little beauty.

Of course, she had to go to the department store to dress up and buy some fabric to make a few pairs of pants. The pants women wore in this era had zippers on the side, and she wasn’t used to them.

The department store here was a four-story building located at the intersection of a major road. The entrance was open, facing the intersection, and it covered a large area.

When she went inside, it wasn’t exactly crowded, but there were so many people that it startled her. It was the first time she had seen so many people in a store in her previous life and this life.

The cash register here was even more exaggerated. In the middle of the first floor, there was a high platform. A cashier sat on the platform. The cashier was like a big spider, spitting out steel wires to the various counters. The salesclerks collected the money, tickets, and receipts, clipped them together, and slid them to the cashier through the wires. Then, they continued to serve the next customer. The cashier received the money and tickets, and the transaction was complete.

This cashier was really amazing. Receipts were constantly coming from all directions, but she didn’t make any mistakes.

The first floor was mainly for food: snacks, candy, pastries, and other food items.

The second floor was mainly for daily necessities and household goods, bicycles, sewing machines, and so on.

The third floor was mainly for finished clothes and fabrics, yarn, shoes, leather bags, bed sheets, cotton, and so on.

In this era, plain cotton fabric and twill cotton fabric were the most common materials for autumn and winter clothing, and they were also relatively cheap.

Lu Zecheng’s figure would need about 5 chi of fabric for pants, Xia Ninghao 4.5 chi, Xia Changhai 4 chi, and she and Li Fang 3 chi.

She liked black, navy blue, and green, which were also the most popular colors in this era. She bought one bolt of each color. These colors looked great for making Zhongshan suits and Lenin suits.

She also bought 40 chi of floral cotton fabric. Li Fang should like this pattern. The fabric could be used to make cotton pants and jackets. She had a lot of white, dark gray, and navy blue Xinjiang long-staple cotton in her space. These were purchased by the farm to make bed covers. She had 20 jin of cotton tickets in her hand, so she bought them all. She would also make cotton coats and pants when she got back.

There was also corduroy. This fabric wasn’t available in their county. The original owner remembered that the educated youths from Beijing wore jackets made of this fabric, and the villagers were very envious. This fabric came in three colors: black, brown, and maroon. She bought two bolts, 10 chi of maroon. She would let Li Fang decide how to allocate it when she got back.

The salesclerk saw that Xia Ning’an had bought so many things and eagerly recommended herringbone fabric. This fabric was expensive, and it had been sitting on the counter for months without anyone asking about it. Seeing that she was so generous with her money, she rushed forward to promote it.

She saw the dark gray herringbone fabric and immediately imagined Lu Zecheng wearing a black turtleneck sweater inside and a medium-length double-breasted British-style coat outside. It would definitely look super handsome. She decided to buy some.

She asked Bond how much fabric Lu Zecheng would need for such a coat.

Xia Ninghao and Xia Changhai were not tall, so a short style would be suitable for them. 4 meters would be enough for each of them.

In the end, she bought 9 meters of dark gray herringbone and 4 meters of dark brown.

Compared to herringbone, she preferred solid-color woolen coats, so she bought one set for each person. She also bought some needles, thread, buttons, zippers, elastic bands, and so on.

Xia Ning’an spent 135 yuan and some fabric tickets and cotton tickets here. She carried the things to the bathroom, saw that no one was around, and put them in the space.

She came out and continued to browse.

She went to the place where vests were sold and bought two sets of woolen shirts and pants and two sets of underwear for each person. She had seen that Li Fang’s pants had patches on them.

This time, she saw Keds shoes at the shoe store. So, this brand existed so early? She saw a pair of white sneakers for 4 yuan a pair. She bought a pair in size 35. She currently wore size 34. She would buy a larger size after she grew taller.

The blue mesh shoes were also very nice. They were 3 yuan a pair. She bought four pairs in their sizes. She also chose a pair of leather shoes for each person. She bought two pairs of liberation shoes for each person to wear for farm work. Although Xia Ning’an thought these shoes were very ugly, they were good things in this era. Rural people would love to have a pair. They were non-slip and durable, and they were very comfortable to wear for work.

She bought a pair of black corduroy cotton shoes for each person. These shoes were very warm to wear in winter and were also light and comfortable. She also saw leather ankle boots with white lamb wool inside. They looked warm just by looking at them. She bought a pair for each person according to their size.

She went to the place where yarn was sold and saw fine yarn. She bought 20 jin to knit base layers. She also bought a pair of knitting needles.

She bought 10 jin of white acrylic yarn and mohair yarn. She would knit a turtleneck sweater for herself with the two yarns combined.

She also bought some large floral bedspreads and sheets. Li Fang would like them. She liked the plain bed covers in the space.

The fourth floor was where appliances and bicycles were sold. She wasn’t interested, so she went down to the first floor to continue browsing.

She bought 10 jin of big twists, two cans of malt extract, 5 jin of fruit leather, and 5 jin of tiger skin peanuts. Her mother loved to eat these two snacks in her previous life, and she often ate them with her. She also liked them. She bought 5 jin of long life cakes shaped like tongues, and 20 jin of Kragu’s large sausages, which were made with very rich ingredients. They smelled delicious.

Lao Longkou white wine was limited to 10 bottles per person. She bought 10 bottles. Moutai was 7 yuan per bottle and required special supply tickets. She had just exchanged two tickets on the black market, so she bought them as well.

After shopping for several hours, Xia Ning’an was famished.

It was almost 2 pm when she left the department store. She went to a state-owned restaurant and ordered a bowl of wonton soup. After eating, she changed her makeup and prepared to go to the black market in the provincial capital.