Chapter 15

“Sure, I don’t have anything to do right now. I stay at home every day, so I have time.”

“Okay, in that case, I’ll pick you up the day after tomorrow night. There’s a movie theater opening over at Xinjiekou. By the way, do you have any dietary restrictions or food that you don’t like to eat?”

Bai Ruanruan smiled and said, “I don’t like garlic and bitter melon, but the other things are fine.”

Zhou Hongyu had something else to do, so he hung up the phone quickly.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day they had agreed on.

It just so happened that this day was the day when the watermelons planted by Bai Ruanruan were ripe.

As soon as she got up in the morning, she entered the space and irrigated the watermelons with the spiritual spring for the last time. Then she harvested them with one click, and the watermelons appeared in the warehouse interface below.

Bai Ruanruan clicked on the warehouse. There was a watermelon pattern in the upper left corner of the warehouse. Next to the watermelon was written 602, which should be the number of watermelons.

She clicked on the watermelon and took one out. The next second, the watermelon appeared in front of her.

Bai Ruanruan excitedly picked up the watermelon and went to the kitchen.

The watermelon was very big. She flicked it tentatively and thought it should be a good one.

She cut the watermelon with a fruit knife in the kitchen and started eating with a spoon.

When you take a bite, it is very juicy and sweet, just like eating candy.

Bai Ruanruan did the math and found that the seeds cost 3 yuan, the subsequent deworming cost 1 yuan, and the fertilizer cost 2 yuan. The average cost of a watermelon was only about 1 cent, and 600 watermelons could be ripe in four days. If she opened a fruit store, she would make a lot of money, right?

Bai Ruanruan was a little eager to make a move, but it was only the beginning of September 1977, and reform and opening up would not be allowed until the end of 1978, which was still a year and a half away. Unless she went to the black market to speculate, she would be a military wife soon, so it was not appropriate.

According to the plot of the original book that Bai Ruanruan read, the warehouse in this space has a preservation function. The fruits will not go bad after being produced and will remain in their current state.

Well, it’s okay to store this batch of watermelons for now.

Bai Ruanruan thought so and changed the fruit. The next batch was to plant pears. Pears need to be planted on pear trees first. It takes five years for pear trees to bear fruit. According to the time ratio of space, after using the spiritual spring to speed up, it will be 60 days.

Bai Ruanruan chose pears because the task to be completed in order to unlock the next field on the farm is to plant fruit trees until they bear fruit. This way, one can lock in what is planted in a field, and the next field will be unlocked.

The cost of purchasing pear saplings was relatively high, so I paid 10 yuan directly to buy the pear saplings and started planting them rapidly.

Then, she held the watermelon, ate it and watched TV in the villa.

She also discovered one thing. Perhaps because the owners of the space were different, the things in the villa were also different.

Gu Zhenxi in the book is not a time traveler, but a real local, so there is only a black and white TV in the space, the house is relatively old, and the things in the kitchen are all in line with the era in the book.

She came in through time, so after she contracted the space, the TV screen in the villa in the space was in color, and there was a computer in the bedroom.

Moreover, Gu Zhenxi in the book didn’t know how to use this mobile phone at first, and it took him a long time to learn how to use it. But since she came here through time travel, she could use it right away.

Bai Ruanruan didn’t come out of the room until ten o’clock in the morning. Fu Shiting also knew that her daughter was going out on a date tonight. She happened to be going to work at the state-owned restaurant at this time. Before she left, she reminded her, “Ruanruan, today is your first date, you have to dress up well.”

“Okay, okay, Mom, I know.”

Bai Ruanruan responded perfunctorily.

It’s just a date, not a marriage, why make it so grand?

Besides, Bai Ruanruan always feels a little strange when looking at Zhou Hongyu now.

Maybe it was because her most unruly and rogue side had been seen. Bai Ruanruan felt that since the other party knew her situation, there was no need for her to dress up and act like a lady, because she felt that her image in Zhou Hongyu’s eyes would not be very good.

Soon, Fu Shiting went to work, and Bai Ruanruan took out the remaining half of the watermelon from the space and put it in the refrigerator.

That way, when her parents come back at night, they will think that she bought watermelon to eat during the day.

At 3:30 in the afternoon, Zhou Hongyu came out of the military area and quickly returned home.

Qi Lianxiang was watering the flowers at home. She was a little surprised to see her son come back, but then she thought, it was normal for her son to come home early to pack up since he had a date today.

Zhou Hongyu returned to the room and took out the clothes from the closet and placed them on the bed for comparison.

Apart from the military uniform, most of his clothes in his wardrobe are black, gray, and white.

Occasionally, there were two pieces of clothes of other colors mixed in. They were all bought for him by Qi Lianxiang. Zhou Hongyu spent most of his time in the military area and could not wear other clothes, so these clothes were all very new.

This was their first date, and Zhou Hongyu looked at the pile of clothes and pants on the bed and was faced with a difficult decision.

He remembered his mother saying before that some clothing combinations were fixed, while others could be mixed, but which one should he wear?

“Don’t know how to choose?”

Qi Lianxiang came over with a smile on her face and began to analyze: “This suit is more formal and looks very elegant, but you are several years older than others, so it may not be suitable for you to wear this…”

“This outfit is very casual, and paired with those shoes, it’s really cool. But if you wear this outfit, you have to take care of your hair, otherwise it won’t look right.”

Zhou Hongyu nodded and decided to wear the clothes his mother picked out for him.

He went to take a shower, and when he came out he changed directly into his casual clothes and dried his hair until it was half dry. Qi Lianxiang then came over excitedly.

“Son, sit still and don’t move. Mom will do your hair.”

Zhou Hongyu had never done this before, so he could only sit stiffly on the chair and let his mother do whatever she wanted with his hair.

“This is your first date with a girl, so you should be generous, take care of her during the meal, and take the initiative to pay the bill after the meal. Don’t let the girl pay for it.”

“Also, you can’t miss a surprise when you meet. This is your first date, so remember to bring a gift for the girl. It doesn’t matter if it’s expensive, but it has to be thoughtful.”

Qi Lianxiang said a lot, and Zhou Hongyu remembered it all silently.

Of course he prepared a gift. Although it was their first date, he still made some preparations.

Zhou Hongyu quickly drove to Bai Ruanruan’s home. He looked at the time and it was exactly half past five.

Bai Ruanruan was wearing an ordinary white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. When she heard the doorbell, she walked over and opened the door.

When Zhou Hongyu walked in, Bai Ruanruan was stunned for a moment and even rubbed her eyes, thinking she had seen it wrong.

He was wearing a fitted shirt and loose casual pants, his hair looked styled, and he even had a faint scent on his body.

Her whole body exudes refinement, and it is obvious that she has been dressed up carefully.

Looking at Bai Ruanruan again, she was wearing the simplest and most ordinary clothes, with her hair casually tied up. It was obvious that she was in the most relaxed state at home.

It’s a date between two people. He is dressed so exquisitely. If I go out like this, wouldn’t it seem like I don’t take it seriously and am a bit perfunctory?

Zhou Hongyu seemed to have seen nothing and asked, “Are you ready?”

“Sorry, I forgot to check the time. Please sit here and wait. I’ll be back soon.”

Bai Ruanruan felt a little guilty. After pouring a glass of water for Zhou Hongyu, she quickly returned to her room to change clothes.

Bai Ruanruan hurried back to her room and changed into another set of clothes, a chiffon dress that looked very nice.

She simply tied her hair into a bun, tidied up the loose hair around her forehead, picked out a pair of earrings and put them on. Bai Ruanruan felt that it was about right and went out.

She has a good foundation and no matter how she dresses up, she can attract people’s attention.

Zhou Hongyu was stunned for a moment when he saw Bai Ruanruan, then he naturally looked away, stood up and asked, “Are we going to leave?”

“Let’s go.”

Bai Ruanruan took the key and went out with Zhou Hongyu.

It was nearly six o’clock. When we got in the car, Zhou Hongyu said, “There’s a lot of good food near the cinema in Xinjiekou. There’s a good Sichuan restaurant. Do you like spicy food? If not, there’s also a state-owned restaurant. They recently launched a new fish dish. I heard that many people ordered it.”

Zhou Hongyu had done some preparatory work. He asked many people about good restaurants nearby and what good movies were available recently. He then picked out a few and let Bai Ruanruan choose.

Bai Ruanruan likes spicy food, so she chose that Sichuan restaurant.

However, due to her physical condition, she could not eat too much spicy food. Zhou Hongyu noticed this, so when ordering, he asked them to use less dried chili peppers and also asked for two bottles of room temperature milk.

Milk can relieve spiciness, but when ice milk meets chili peppers, it may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, so Zhou Hongyu only asked for room temperature milk and placed it next to Bai Ruanruan.

“Thanks.”

It was dinner time and soon the restaurant was full.

While waiting for the food, Zhou Hongyu pretended to ask casually: “I heard Aunt Mao say before that she wanted to introduce you to a blind date two years ago. Why didn’t you go then? Did you find someone on your own?”

“No, I’ve never been in love.”

Bai Ruanruan smiled and said, “I study hard when I’m in school, and I’m too lazy to go out when I’m not in school, so I don’t have anyone I like, and I’ve never been in a relationship.”

It is undeniable that Zhou Hongyu felt a little happy when he heard her say that she had never been in love, but then she said that she didn’t have anyone she liked, and Zhou Hongyu felt a little disappointed.

It turned out that he was the only one who remembered what happened back then, and he had remembered it for so many years.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Hongyu decided to tell those things.

“Ruanruan, after so long, don’t you feel that I look familiar?”

“ah?”

Bai Ruanruan was stunned. She looked at Zhou Hongyu carefully, a little confused about what he meant.

“When I was a child, I lived with my grandmother for a few years. My grandmother’s house was in the Li family compound.” Zhou Hongyu looked at her and said patiently, “In the summer, there are many trees there. Every evening, everyone would bring their children out to enjoy the cool air or take a walk. Under the largest tree at the gate of the compound, there would often be a vendor selling sweet water and popsicles…”