Chapter 109 1/2

The weather quickly warmed up, military coats were exchanged for cashmere coats, and cashmere coats were swapped for short fur Lenin-style jackets.

Soon, even the short fur jackets couldn’t be worn, and only shirts could suffice.

In May, the 11th Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee was held.

At this point, Qiao Wei already had a faint premonition.

Time-travelers who couldn’t remember historical event years were truly unqualified time-travelers.

Sure enough, in June, the front pages of the newspapers were filled with one article after another.

The historical stage that Qiao Wei had never been looking forward to finally arrived.

She held the newspaper and couldn’t help but sigh.

Secretary Huang came over with a tea tray. “Why the sigh?”

Qiao Wei said, “Xiang Xiang was too energetic yesterday, playing all the time, which made me sleep late and gave me a headache.”

“Have some tea, brew it strong. It looks like today will be a day of endless meetings.”

The new directives from the Central Committee had to be interpreted word by word below. Such significant changes, if the spirit of the directives wasn’t thoroughly understood, would lead to major mistakes.

Certainly, it would be another day of endless meetings.

Qiao Wei opened her military satchel and took out a paper package. “Here, this year’s new tea, Mingqian tea.”

“So soon?” Secretary Huang was delighted as he took it. “Thank you.”

For those working within the system, cigarettes and tea were essential.

In June, the new newspapers arrived, and the abolition of the college entrance examination system was also brought up. The college entrance examination was deemed to be grooming successors for the bourgeoisie.

Secretary Huang privately communicated with Qiao Wei, “The days of college students won’t be easy.”

Qiao Wei lowered her eyes. “Indeed, intellectuals, probably won’t be easy either.”

Secretary Huang nodded. “High school and vocational school graduates might be better off.”

Secretary Huang himself had a high school education.

At this time, college students were becoming rare.

Thinking about it, the technician whom the original owner had a crush on turned out to be quite an outstanding talent? He took advantage of his academic halo to seduce married women.

A smirk tugged at Qiao Wei’s lips.

It’s okay; scumbags will get their comeuppance someday.

Contrary to what Qiao Wei had expected, the change didn’t happen overnight. This kind of change had always been centered around Beijing and Shanghai, spreading outward like ripples.

Bocheng was still just a small county town, not the renowned heavy industrial city of the future.

These ripples had to spread to the provincial capital first, then to Lin City, before finally covering the county-level areas.

Before being engulfed by the waves, people still had to eat, sleep, work, curse, and discipline their children as usual.

But there were indeed more people in the county town wearing green military uniforms, and military green became the most fashionable color.

Burlap clothing became noticeably less common. Female comrades rarely wore skirts to work anymore; it was more common to see them in shirts and trousers, and clothing styles began to de-feminize.

Wu Aizhen from the Propaganda Department came to Qiao Wei for help, so Qiao Wei helped her get a brand new military satchel.

This was the trendiest item, and Wu Aizhen carried it every day.

Captain Zhao once again introduced a potential partner to Lin Xixi, and Sister Yang brought out a few pieces of burlap clothing, intending to give them to Lin Xixi but got reprimanded.

Captain Zhao criticized her, “Why wear that! No political sensitivity at all! In this day and age, can you still wear this? Don’t you know the current situation?”

In March of this year, the Big Brother over there held the 23rd National Congress, and our side decided not to send representatives, effectively suspending relations between the two parties.

What’s burlap clothing? It’s something that came from over there!

Now, wearing this [burlap clothing], it’s a sign of problematic ideology.

Sister Yang was unconvinced, muttering to herself, “For a blind date, don’t you need to dress up a bit? Pants are nowhere near as pretty as skirts. What’s wrong with wearing a skirt? Wearing a skirt makes you a counter-revolutionary?”

Housewives always lagged behind in their understanding of the outside world. They spent their days around the stove at home, only going to the market and their own yard, so they couldn’t feel the increasingly tense atmosphere.

Captain Zhao couldn’t reason with her, and he rolled his eyes in frustration.

Lin Xixi was still wearing pants for blind dates.

Not only because burlap was now considered revisionist, but also because she had never been enthusiastic about blind dates.

The kind of person she wanted, her uncle and aunt couldn’t find. The ones they could introduce to her were still from humble backgrounds, the best of them being small-town youth. There weren’t even any from the county seat.

After such a long time, Lin Xixi had truly figured out what she wanted.

She just wanted to become an upper-class person in the future, the wife of a high-ranking official, surrounded by wealth, without the worry of being laid off, living in a villa, and having plenty of money to spend.

Of course, it would be best if this person were from the city and not from a humble background.

She observed that among these officers from humble backgrounds, apart from Captain Yan and the wife of Radio Broadcaster Lu, there weren’t many who were worth considering. Even though they earned high salaries, the traces of their origins were still very clear.

Sure enough, this blind date ended in failure again.

Although Sister Yang wanted to keep Lin Xixi around for a couple more years to do housework, if Lin Xixi kept failing at blind dates like this, it wouldn’t be good for her reputation. People would think this girl was too picky.

Sister Yang scolded her a bit.

Lin Xixi couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you introduce that Battalion Commander Li to me back then?”

“Which Battalion Commander Li?” Sister Yang didn’t react immediately.

After Lin Xixi spoke, she regretted it and kept quiet. When Sister Yang asked again, she didn’t respond either, just saying, “I was talking nonsense, Auntie, don’t worry about me. I’ll just help you take care of the kids, isn’t that good enough?”

If worst came to worst, she could just rely on her uncle’s family for the rest of her life. This was her own uncle; if she stayed long enough, he would eventually treat her like his own daughter. 

After thinking about it, if it didn’t work out, as long as she could get a job arranged by her uncle, like her cousins, one that wouldn’t be affected by layoffs, it would still be better than being with a useless man and having nothing to eat.

After realizing this, her depression lessened a lot.

But Sister Yang and Captain Zhao were discussing late at night, “Which Battalion Commander Li is she talking about?”

After discussing it back and forth, there couldn’t be any other Battalion Commander Li. Similar in age and appearance, the only one who could attract a young girl’s attention was the Battalion Commander Li who used to be a platoon leader under Captain Yan.

“Speaking of which… why didn’t I introduce him to our Xixi back then?” Sister Yang couldn’t help asking.

Captain Zhao chuckled, “You think I’m blind and can’t see him?”

Battalion Commander Li stood out in a crowd, a presence that caught the eye immediately.

Why wouldn’t he introduce him to his niece? Was he stupid?

So, back then, he politely declined.

Later, when Yan Lei wanted to introduce a match for the daughter of the director of the town’s supply and marketing cooperative, Li Aiguo immediately shaved and washed his face again upon hearing it. He meticulously washed and hung up his uniform, making sure it was perfectly flat without a single crease, and eagerly went on the blind date.