CHAPTER 14 

Sang Miao didn’t relax until she was out of Lu Xiao’s sight.

She didn’t know why, but she always got a little nervous around him.

At the door to Yang Xin’s office, she knocked gently.

“Come in,” came a calm, composed female voice from inside.

Sang Miao pushed the door open. Yang Xin was bent over her desk, writing something. As the head of the Literary Arts Division, Yang Xin was responsible not only for the troupe’s artistic creation and performances, but also for managing the music, dance, and drama subgroups. Her schedule was always full, and administrative tasks often had to be pushed to the weekends.

When she looked up and saw Sang Miao, she put down her fountain pen and smiled. Yang Xin had been observing Sang Miao’s work on the dance over the past few weeks. The rehearsals had gone so smoothly that she barely had to step in at all—and the results had exceeded her expectations.

Naturally, Yang Xin’s appreciation for Sang Miao had only grown.

“Sang Miao,” she said warmly, “what brings you here?”

“Teacher Yang, today’s a rest day, and the four of us in the dormitory wanted to request permission to go out for a bit,” Sang Miao replied.

Then, recalling that Yang Xin had been especially busy this week and hadn’t seen the dance team’s progress, Sang Miao added, “Our choreography is basically complete now. I also made some changes to my solo section. Will you be able to come see the first run-through on Monday?”

“I have a meeting next week, so I’m not sure if I’ll make it,” Yang Xin said. “I’ll have to check my schedule, but I’ll let you know in advance if I can’t attend.”

“Alright, thank you.”

After hearing Sang Miao’s update, Yang Xin was quite satisfied. She had checked in on the dance team several times throughout the past month and had full confidence in Sang Miao. Since there would be three dress rehearsals in total, missing the first one wouldn’t be a big issue—she could always attend the next one.

“You’ve all worked hard lately. It’s good to go out and relax a little. Just don’t stay out too late—come back early,” Yang Xin said, approving the outing without hesitation.

Sang Miao filled out the leave request form and politely said goodbye before leaving the office.

Outside the rehearsal hall, the other three girls were practically bursting with anticipation.

They rushed over the moment they saw her. “Sangsang, did she approve it?!”

“All good.” Sang Miao waved the signed form with a grin.

“I knew it! If Sangsang went to ask, it’d definitely work. Teacher Yang likes her best,” Xiao Honghong said happily. Although it was allowed to go out on weekends, the troupe had an upcoming performance, and Yang Xin had been especially strict lately. Many of the girls were nervous about asking for leave.

Especially Xiao Honghong—she loved having fun but dreaded being asked how the choreography was going.

Sang Miao, though, was different. She had Yang Xin’s trust and admiration. When she went to ask, there was no trouble at all—she got the form signed with ease.

The four girls, in high spirits, left the military compound together. Just outside the base, there was a bus line that ran straight to the town. A new bus departed every hour on the hour, and the base was the end of the line.

Before leaving, they had already calculated the time and arrived at the bus stop over ten minutes early. The bus came not long after. This was Sang Miao’s first time riding a 1970s-style public bus, and its red-and-green color scheme gave off a distinct retro vibe.

As soon as the bus pulled up and the doors opened, Xiao Honghong was the first to hop on. She went straight to the back and told the conductor she needed four tickets to Shanglin Street.

While speaking, she handed over a one-mao note.

The conductor, a slightly plump middle-aged woman, took the money and reached into the pouch tied around her waist to give her two two-cent coins as change.

“To Shanglin Street, it’s two cents per ticket. Here’s your four cents in change, take it, girl.” She then handed over the four tickets.

Xiao Honghong took the coins and cheerfully thanked her, “Thank you, dajie!”

Sang Miao had never taken this kind of public bus before and didn’t know how it worked. When she saw Xiao Honghong go up and buy the tickets first, she let out a small sigh of relief. Carefully watching the exchange between Xiao Honghong and the conductor, she finally got a sense of how ticket-buying worked here.

Xiao Honghong had rushed up to get the tickets so quickly that Li Lan didn’t even get a chance to stop her. “Honghong, we could’ve bought the tickets ourselves.”

But Xiao Honghong just smiled at them. “I’m the one who asked you guys out, so the fare’s on me.”

Xiao Honghong had always been generous with the people around her. But since they were all from the same dormitory, both Liang Xiaoling and Li Lan felt awkward about letting her spend money on them all the time. Whenever their families sent food or other goodies, they’d always share them with her in return.

Now, Sang Miao naturally didn’t want to take advantage of Xiao Honghong either. Remembering how kind she had always been to her, Sang Miao made a mental note to pick out something Honghong would like once they got to the street and gift it to her later.

The four of them got on the bus. Since it was the first stop, there weren’t many passengers yet.

The driver was a young man.

The moment he saw four pretty girls get on, he didn’t even know where to look.

The conductor dajie was the chatty and enthusiastic type. She raised her voice and started chatting, “Girls, are you from the army’s cultural troupe? Are you heading into town on a break?”

She often worked on this route and was used to chatting with people from the army. Most of the people coming from this stop were from the cultural troupe. Seeing these four pretty girls, she immediately guessed who they were.

Xiao Honghong was the sociable type, and with her sweet and likable looks, it didn’t take long for her to hit it off with the dajie. In no time, the conductor was calling her “Honghong” like they were family and even seemed ready to adopt her as a goddaughter. Xiao Honghong, for her part, was equally open and ended up telling her how old she was and how many people were in her family.

But the dajie didn’t just talk to Honghong. She soon turned her attention to Sang Miao, grabbing her hand and saying, “Girl, I feel such a connection with you! I’m the best matchmaker on the street. You girls are so lovely and have such good jobs—I’ve got lots of promising young men on hand. If I’d had a son instead of a daughter, I’d have wanted you as my daughter-in-law right away…”

Before Sang Miao knew what was happening, the dajie was trying to set them up with potential suitors. Sang Miao was completely overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.

And to make matters worse, Xiao Honghong chimed in, “Jie, our Sangsang is the pride of our troupe! Only the very best will do for her—you’ve got to keep an eye out!”

Sang Miao couldn’t help but call out, “Honghong!”

Thankfully, the bus soon arrived at their stop. Sang Miao quickly grabbed the others and got off. The dajie even leaned her head out and called after them, “I live right down the street… Come find me next time, I’ll find you all a good match!”

Sang Miao only felt truly relieved once they were off the bus and the dajie was out of sight.

She couldn’t help thinking: Aunties from this era sure are passionate.

It was the weekend, so the town’s workers were off work, and there were plenty of older students out as well. The streets were lively.

People bustled by—men, women, young, and old—all wearing different styles of clothing. Among them were military green work uniforms and blue-and-white collared shirts. Most of the women wore floral dresses paired with simple sandals or cloth shoes.

The stone-paved streets were lined with vendor stalls, already filled with a dazzling variety of goods that Sang Miao found quite novel.

Up ahead, there were food stalls as well, wafting delicious aromas through the air.

Besides the stalls, there were also various shops: state-run restaurants, department stores, fabric shops, barbershops, and photo studios—it was bustling.

Once they hit the streets, Xiao Honghong was like a fish back in water, lively and enthusiastic. She confidently led the others around, clearly well-versed in navigating the market.