Chapter 77: Television

The boat from the brick and tile factory stays in Shanghai for about five or six days, and time is quite tight.

Jiang Liyun takes out a list and meticulously writes down the items she wants to buy.

She likes to plan in advance to avoid wasting time.

Sun Jinshan takes a glance at the list and decides not to look further.

Jiang Liyun is meticulous; she brought several notebooks with her to Shanghai, and her constant note-taking gives him a headache.

“Jiang Liyun, I’m tired. I’m going back to sleep,” Sun Jinshan says.

“Sure,” Jiang Liyun responds.

Hearing this, Feng Yi says, “Sister Liyun, I’m leaving too. Close the doors and windows, and later, put the tables and chairs behind the door.”

“I will.” Jiang Liyun smiles.

Reluctantly, Feng Yi follows Sun Jinshan, leaving the room.

The place they are staying claims to be a hotel but is essentially a converted house near the dock. The owners built rooms on the second and third floors to rent out.

Both of their rooms are small, barely fitting a bed, a table, and a chair. The partitions in the middle aren’t made of bricks but rather wooden boards.

Back in his room, Sun Jinshan lifts the kettle and realises there’s no water inside. “No water… Feng Yi, I’ll go downstairs to get some water and use the bathroom.”

This hotel doesn’t have bathrooms in the rooms; they are on the ground floor.

“I’ll come down too,” Feng Yi says.

As Sun Jinshan contemplates something, he asks, “Does Jiang Liyun have water in her room?”

Feng Yi replies, “I already helped Sister Liyun fetch water.”

“You’re quite considerate!” Sun Jinshan admires Feng Yi.

Downstairs in the hotel, the family that owns it is watching TV. It’s past eight in the evening.

Sun Jinshan calls out, and the male owner brings a kettle of hot water, exchanging it for the empty one Sun Jinshan is carrying.

Each room has a kettle, and when the water runs out, tenants can ask the owners for hot water. As Sun Jinshan carries the kettle back upstairs, he says, “We’ll need another trip later. One kettle of hot water isn’t enough for the two of us.”

They need water to wash their faces, hands, and feet! And they also need to drink!

Feng Yi says, “I’ll bring water next time.”

After a simple wash, Feng Yi fetches another kettle of water and also opens his textbook to study.

“Feng Yi, you’re so obedient. Whatever Jiang Liyun asks you to do, you do it,” Sun Jinshan remarks. “We’re both this old; what’s the point of studying?”

Feng Yi replies, “Sister Liyun’s studies seem quite useful, don’t they?”

Sun Jinshan: “…”

Even though Feng Yi is told to study, his mind is a bit chaotic today, and he can’t focus on reading.

In his previous world, it was quite small. He had thought about working outside, but the only jobs that came to mind were manual labour at the docks.

Back then, he didn’t have a clear plan for his future.

After Jiang Liyun became his partner, he started imagining their future together.

In his imagination, he and Jiang Liyun would lead a life similar to many couples in their village—build a house, have a child, and then help the child build their own house while raising grandchildren.

They would continue selling pan-fried dumplings, just like that, for a lifetime.

However, Jiang Liyun’s progress was too rapid, and she quickly moved beyond the world he had envisioned.

When Jiang Liyun was busy with the chicken-related matters and not with him at the stall, he vaguely sensed that something was off. Now in Shanghai, this feeling has become even clearer.

Feng Yi knows that Jiang Liyun won’t settle for the life he had imagined.

In Jiang Liyun’s eyes, there is ambition, and the life she envisions is the affluent lifestyle they witnessed in Shanghai.

He had thought about living such a life too, but Jiang Liyun’s brightness in this new environment makes him feel a sense of crisis.

Is there a possibility that Jiang Liyun will leave his world one day?

All along, Jiang Liyun has been helping him.

When he was a child, Jiang Liyun took care of him and fought for his interests.

In the past few months, he has done a lot of work, but without Jiang Liyun, he might still be struggling at the brick and tile factory.

Will he fall behind if he can’t catch up with Jiang Liyun?

The next day, the three of them started their purchases.

Their first stop is, naturally, the Xinhua Bookstore.

Books are relatively expensive compared to people’s wages at this time, but Jiang Liyun grits her teeth and buys what she needs.

Xinhua Bookstore also has the English cassette tapes she wants, so she buys those as well.

Originally, Jiang Liyun thought about buying a few extracurricular books, but considering that there are places to rent books in Jiuku Town and the workers’ club has a reading room with some books and magazines, she decides not to rush to buy more.

“Why do you always encourage Feng Yi to study, Jiang Liyun?” Sun Jinshan curiously asks.

Jiang Liyun responds, “Because the most important thing for personal growth is learning. This learning doesn’t necessarily have to be from books; it can also be learning from others. But no matter how, only by actively learning can one progress and keep up with the times.”

Born in the 1960s, she has experienced many things.

She believes she succeeded because she always observed her surroundings, learned, and improved.

Computers, smartphones, and all kinds of new things—she made an effort to learn them as they emerged, and that’s how she kept up with the times.

However, many of her peers were resistant to these changes, even when smartphones first appeared. By the time she passed away, some people were still only using a few basic applications.

This was true for Jiang Lihai at that time. He was left behind by the times.

Feng Yi is still young and willing to learn. Regardless of what he learns, it will be beneficial.

One small example is the recent increase in the number of characters Feng Yi recognises, making it much easier for him to read novels.

“Sister Liyun, what kind of person do you want me to become?” Feng Yi asks.

Jiang Liyun replied, “I want you to become the person you want to be.”

Feng Yi smiled and looked towards the nearby skyscrapers.

Coming to Shanghai, he realised that buildings could be so tall…

After buying the books, Jiang Liyun and Sun Jinshan inquired around and found a shop selling second-hand electrical appliances.

Jiang Liyun wanted to buy a second-hand television because colour televisions would become popular in a few years. They could just buy a cheap one for now and upgrade to a better one later.

However, when they saw the second-hand televisions, Jiang Liyun abandoned the idea.

The quality of these second-hand televisions, which would soon become obsolete, was not good, and they were still expensive.

Since the money earned from selling chicken wasn’t shared with Sun Jinshan, she couldn’t use it either. The money they brought from home amounted to just over a thousand.

Jiang Liyun reluctantly bought a new black-and-white television and a new recorder, emptying her pockets in an instant.

But it was unavoidable. The prices of televisions will rise next year.

Apart from shopping, Jiang Liyun also took Sun Jinshan and Feng Yi to explore new sales channels.

When they sailed back, she felt they had gained a lot.

On the boat ride back, Feng Yi wasn’t as seasick as before.

Jiang Liyun had been busy since her rebirth, and she rarely had such long periods of leisure. She decided to chat with Feng Yi. “Feng Yi, I feel like this world is going to undergo earth-shaking changes.”

“Do you know about computers? The kind of thing the leaders say teenagers should learn… I asked around, and it’s really amazing. I think it will change the world.”

“In the future, I want to expand my shop nationwide.”

…

Jiang Liyun had many thoughts—things she wouldn’t tell others but was willing to share with Feng Yi.

No matter how incredible her ideas sounded, Feng Yi always looked at her seriously, fully believing in her.

That feeling was really special.

Feng Yi used to think running a pan-fried dumpling shop was fine.

But Jiang Liyun wanted to live in Shanghai and expand her shop nationwide.

He needed to learn more to catch up with Jiang Liyun.

When they returned to Hongxing Township, it was already the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.

Having spent a week outside without a bath, Jiang Liyun felt she stank. The first thing she wanted to do when she got home was to take a shower.

But she didn’t get the chance.

The television was strapped to the back seat of a bicycle and brought home. Upon seeing the television, both Jiang Lame and Jiang Liyu went wild with joy.

“A television! A television!” Jiang Liyu bounced around in ecstasy. “We have a television at home!”

Jiang Lame cautiously wanted to touch the television but didn’t dare to.

Wu Xiaochun was even more exaggerated; she started wiping tears of joy.

Jiang Liyun was puzzled for a moment before realising the reason.

To put it bluntly, they were too poor, and the entertainment they could afford was extremely limited.

The television, which Jiang Liyun had long ceased to value, was actually a treasure to them.

Jiang Liyun glanced around and noticed that even Feng Yi was filled with affection for the television.

Upon careful thought, one reason Jiang Liping was willing to marry Li Xuyang was because the Li family had various electrical appliances, including a television.

When she first married into the Xie family in her previous life, she was particularly fond of their television.

The television was popular, and so was the recorder.

When Jiang Lame and his wife learned that they could take the recorder to the dumpling shop to listen to music while wrapping dumplings, they were overjoyed.

Jiang Lame couldn’t help but speak up: “Life is so good now. Why didn’t my parents live a few more years?”

Jiang Liyun had similar sentiments in her previous life. The later days were really good, so why didn’t her parents live a few more years?