Chapter 11

“Shrew? Hmph! So what you mean is… you harass me, and I’m supposed to just take it? My man’s in the army — you mess with a soldier’s wife, and you’d better watch out you don’t end up eating bullets!”

Gu Keqing spat a “ptui!” right at Huang Chengguo’s face, then turned to leave.

She still had to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things — she didn’t have time to waste bickering with this mad dog.

But when she turned her head, she spotted a militiaman with a red armband.

Well, now, wasn’t this just perfect timing?

“Brother Militia, this lecher has been harassing me, won’t leave me alone — please help me!”

As soon as she saw the militiaman heading her way, Gu Keqing instantly put on a delicate, helpless look, tears shimmering in her eyes but not quite falling.

“I–I didn’t! Gu Keqing, you’re slandering me!”

Huang Chengguo panicked — truly panicked in a way he never had before.

He fancied himself a respectable man. Even that shameful fling with Gu Keqing’s stepsister, he could dress up as some romantic dalliance.

Never had he imagined being accused of being a molester.

“Brother Militia, I was eating at the state-owned restaurant, and when he saw I was good-looking, he just kept pestering me, saying all sorts of improper things. If I hadn’t seen you coming, I… I might have been… ooo…”

Gu Keqing’s tear-brimmed, pitiful appearance instantly triggered the militiaman’s protective instincts.

“You — come with us. You’re not going anywhere until you explain yourself.”

Two militiamen grabbed Huang Chengguo by the collar, one on each side, and hauled him away.

“Hmph! You want to mess with me? Please. Your grandma here is someone from the future.”

Gu Keqing smoothed her hair with a cold snort, shouldered her bamboo backpack, and headed toward the supply and marketing cooperative.

In the ’70s, supply and marketing co-ops didn’t have much, and their selection was far worse than the stock she kept in her personal storage space.

The Shen family had four men and three women.

So Gu Keqing planned to buy two sets of ready-made clothes for each person.

Then she’d get some dark fabric and some light floral prints.

She couldn’t sew herself, but she could always ask one of the village aunties who could.

After buying the clothes and fabric, she remembered that malted milk powder was all the rage in this era.

It was nutritious — perfect for building strength.

Paired with the goat milk powder, camel milk powder, and cow milk powder in her space, they could drink something different each time.

So she bought four cans of malted milk powder.

That alone took up half of her 1,000 yuan.

Once she was done shopping, she slipped into an empty alley, put all her purchases into her storage space, and continued on.

She suddenly remembered — Shen Yan didn’t seem to own a watch.

But her space was full of all kinds of brands — Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, and so on — in both men’s and women’s styles.

She decided that when she got home tonight, she’d take out a pair of simple matching couple’s watches.

She and Shen Yan would each wear one.

But it had to be a plain model — anything too fancy would stick out in this era.

As she was thinking this, she headed toward where the ox cart back to the brigade would be.

Just then, a shrill female voice rang out.

“Mom, how could Huang Chengguo commit a hooligan crime? Impossible! Some shameless woman must have seduced him.”

Huang Chengguo? Mom?

She turned her head and saw a mother and daughter, looking very much alike, hurrying toward a building across the street.

“Serves you right!”

Gu Keqing thought. This sharp-tongued monkey-faced pair were most likely the “cheap” stepmother and stepsister who’d bullied the original host.

From the original’s memories, there was the image of Huang Chengguo and Xu Xiaoxiao laughing at her for being stupid.

She gave a cold snort. “The original was naïve. I’m not so easy to bully. Next time I come into the city to sell things, I’ll pay a visit to my so-called father’s house.”

By the time Gu Keqing reached the ox cart, almost everyone was already there.

Sun Lili and Xia Ye had lost the arrogance they’d shown in the morning when they came into town.

Now they were chatting and laughing with Qi Zhilan, calling each other “sister.”

Gu Keqing raised an eyebrow and climbed onto the cart.

Those two fools — in the book, their ending was even more miserable than the original host’s.

The root cause was that they had no loyalty.

Whoever gave them benefits, that’s where they leaned.

Seeing Sun Lili and Xia Ye’s arms full of food, she could guess that Qi Zhilan must have spent heavily to win them over.

But the other three educated youths didn’t have much in their hands, likely unwilling to go along.

Since Qi Zhilan had started making her move, it meant life wasn’t going to be peaceful for a while.

But Gu Keqing wasn’t afraid.

When the enemy comes, you block them; when the water rises, you use earth to dam it. If Qi Zhilan wanted to ruin her marriage with Shen Yan, she’d have to see if she had the ability first.

Of course, Gu Keqing didn’t mind finding Qi Zhilan a “good husband” ahead of time.

“Shen Yan’s wife, what did you buy in town?”

The auntie next to her asked.

Gu Keqing smiled.

“Not much, just wandered around.”

“This morning, Comrade Qi broke the pot, but later she bought us an even bigger, better one. She even bought meat, eggs, and malted milk powder.”

Sun Lili shook the mesh bag in her hand, pride in her eyes.

Gu Keqing feigned deep envy. “Wow, Comrade Qi is really wealthy — she must come from the richest family among the educated youths, right?”

Qi Zhilan was vain and only ever set her sights on rich, powerful men.

From the book, Gu Keqing knew that when Qi Zhilan learned Shen Yan’s father had been a commander before coming down to the countryside, she’d gone all out to curry favor with the Shen family.

She bought things for both Shen’s father and mother.

Looking at the large and small bags in Qi Zhilan’s hands now, Gu Keqing guessed it wouldn’t be long before she came knocking on the Shen family’s door.

But currying favor required capital.

Qi Zhilan’s family wasn’t rich — her parents were just ordinary workers, and she had a lazy younger brother.

She was desperate to change her fate by marrying well and thereby improve her whole family’s life.

So Gu Keqing figured that today, Qi Zhilan must have spent more than half of her money.

Hearing Gu Keqing praise her family’s wealth, Qi Zhilan naturally accepted it.

“My parents give me a ten-yuan allowance every month, so life’s a bit more comfortable.”

“Oh wow, ten yuan! We can’t save up ten yuan in a whole year, and she gets that in just one month — life really is different for different people.”

“Exactly. Just look at her clothes — so new. Is that a dress? The fabric’s so nice.”

Several aunties looked at Qi Zhilan with envy.

Sun Lili, however, was unimpressed. “Aunties, a dress is nothing. My family sent me a mink coat for winter — it’s gorgeous. When it snows, I’ll wear it for you to see.”

The praise for Qi Zhilan instantly shifted to Sun Lili’s bragging.

Qi Zhilan fumed inwardly: Idiot. I’ll take you down sooner or later.

Gu Keqing smiled faintly and asked, “Comrade Qi must have a lot of mink coats too, right?”

Qi Zhilan, still stewing, was caught off guard — how was she supposed to answer that?

“Yeah, with Comrade Qi’s good family, she must have plenty of mink!”

“That’s right, we should go visit the educated youth spot someday. In these times, having mink is really rare.”

The clueless aunties chattered on, completely missing the way Qi Zhilan’s face had gone pale.