Chapter 53

Regarding the renovation of their own home, Yan Lei understood it as a ritual for Qiao Wei. A fresh start, from scratch.

And a true home should be properly cleaned up.

Like the home of Captain Zhao, although messy, it was vibrant, and that was how it should be.

So he was fully supportive.

The three of them worked together with a common goal.

Spending time, energy, and money. Most importantly, spending thoughts.

—Her thoughts were all spent on this home.

How wonderful.

In the evening, they discussed the matters of the house, and Qiao Wei said, “I’ll go to the county town tomorrow.”

“What do you want to buy?”

“I want to go take a look at books.”

The town didn’t even have a bookstore. The nearest one was in the county town. If she wanted to buy books, she had to go to the county.

As soon as books were mentioned, Yan Lei became alert, “What kind of books?”

“Knowledge-based, popular science.” Qiao Wei said, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

If it were before, Yan Lei wouldn’t be at ease. But now, when Qiao Wei said “don’t worry,” Yan Lei felt that perhaps he could really be at ease.

He said, “Okay.”

Then he added, “Take some extra money.”

And reminded her, “Keep the money in two separate places, in case it gets stolen…”

Oh, this triggered a memory. There were quite a few thieves in this era.

The original owner had been stolen from before, and she was so angry she cried.

“Alright,” she promised.

The next day after breakfast, Qiao Wei took Yan Xiang to Captain Zhao’s house and entrusted Yan Xiang to Sister Yang.

Sister Yang asked, “Going to the county town?”

Qiao Wei asked, “Do you need anything to buy?”

Sister Yang said, “Take a look and buy Lin Xixi two sets of clothes.”

Lin Xixi’s clothes brought from the countryside had many patches.

Her man gave Sister Yang money every month. Thinking about it, it was probably all spent on her son, and he didn’t really care about this daughter.

But as an officer’s wife, she couldn’t let her husband’s niece look so shabby. Although the cloth Qiao Wei gave was good, it wasn’t suitable for everyday wear.

“Just shirts and pants will do,” she said.

“White ones? Or patterned ones?”

“Um… One of each.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“That’s all. I’ll give you the fabric vouchers when I get back.”

“No need, I brought them.”

“Alright, then I’ll settle the bill when you come back.”

Qiao Wei told Yan Xiang, “Just play in the yard, don’t run outside.”

Yan Xiang promised.

Qiao Wei went to catch the bus.

The bus station was at the entrance of the town, and there were only a few trips a day. She waited for more than half an hour and finally caught one, which was considered lucky.

Yongming County was only ten miles away from Xiahe Town, with factories in between, and many workshop buildings could be seen.

Yan Lei had mentioned that there was news about merging the town into the county, because with the current development, the county town was expanding outward and was about to connect with the surrounding towns.

Qiao Wei got off the bus in the county town, and with the original owner’s memory, she took the No. 2 bus in the county and found the Xinhua Bookstore.

The stores in this era all had a common feature: the houses could be considered spacious, but there were very few things inside. Even the bookstore was like this.

Qiao Wei carefully looked around, most of them were literature, history, and political books.

Literature was absolutely off-limits, as one book might be classified as harmful during certain periods.

History… was afraid of breaking the Four Olds.

Politics, Qiao Wei took two blank books. Even buying ten books wouldn’t be too many. Yan Lei would definitely have some, she bought one for herself and one for Yan Xiang.

She also found the Xinhua Dictionary, checked it, it was the fourth edition, the latest.

Unfortunately, there were hardly any books on science and knowledge. The main purpose of her trip was actually to find some popular science books for Yan Xiang.

Finally, she picked up a technical manual on agricultural guidance and a manual on pig farming.

She didn’t know which branch of science Yan Xiang’s tree of knowledge would light up, so she could only get him whatever she found.

Qiao Wei comforted herself: his dad would be a big leader in the future, if he didn’t have the conditions to manually make missiles, then entering the agricultural department with solid agricultural knowledge and pig farming skills would be quite good… right?

She also picked up a few comic books and picture books, then went to the counter and asked the clerk, “Do you have the Modern Chinese Dictionary?” 

The clerk, wearing a blue smock and white sleeves, raised her eyelids, “Huh?”

She turned her head and asked her colleague, “Modern Chinese Dictionary? Do we have it?”

“Never heard of it…” the colleague said, “When was it published? Which publisher?”

“Oh, forget it, I just heard someone mention it,” Qiao Wei smiled.

Probably… it hasn’t been released yet.

Leaving the bookstore, Qiao Wei went to the department store. Indeed, the items here were better compared to the supply and marketing cooperative, and there were more varieties of goods.

On Monday mornings, there were hardly any customers. It was the same at the bookstore, just the three of them.

She wore coarse cloth clothes at home for comfort and ease, but when going out, she wore a starched shirt. The salesperson saw her dressed neatly and carrying a bunch of books, her demeanor was good, so she didn’t treat her like a thief, letting her browse freely.

Qiao Wei bought Lin Xixi a white shirt, a floral shirt, and two pairs of pants. At this time, the center of the pants must have a straight crease. Grandma had been wearing these pants until she passed away. Even Mom hardly wore them anymore.

At this time, many women’s clothes were indeed printed with small floral patterns.

But Qiao Wei knew that soon, women’s clothing nationwide would become more gender-neutral, leaning towards army green, army yellow, and army blue colors.

A considerable part of Qiao Wei’s wardrobe still had clothes with floral patterns, which she had been wanting to replace for a long time.

She bought several identical cotton and linen white shirts for herself.

White shirts were versatile.

Cotton and linen weren’t as smooth as pure cotton, but they were comfortable and soft.

Buying the same style, changing clothes every day, others wouldn’t notice.

Hehehe.

When paying, she took out fabric vouchers. The salesperson exclaimed, “Real fabric vouchers.”

Qiao Wei said, “I’m helping several people.”

The salesperson believed her when she saw Qiao Wei buying several identical white shirts at once.

She rolled up the clothes into a bundle and wrapped them with paper, tying them up with string. Qiao Wei always felt it was similar to wrapping pastries.

Fortunately, she brought her net bag today, so she stuffed them into the bag. When the net bag wasn’t in use, it could be rolled into a small ball. When opened, its actual volume was super large. Books, clothes, all could fit inside.

Qiao Wei looked around and saw the sugar from her home in the sugar jar.

No wonder she couldn’t find it in the supply and marketing cooperative in the town, it turned out it was bought in the county. The department store and the cooperative had different sources of goods, and there was quite a difference in the products.

There was still plenty of sugar at home, so Qiao Wei didn’t buy any more sugar. She bought a few pounds of peach pastries and told the salesperson, “Please separate them into two portions, I’m helping someone else.”

There wasn’t much else worth buying.

Hungry, Qiao Wei found a state-owned restaurant and went in.

The waiter came over and asked, “How many people?”

Qiao Wei sat down and said, “Just one.”

“Huh?”

This exclamation was sharp, a bit grating. Qiao Wei was startled and covered her ears.

The waiter stared at her. “What’s a single person doing in a restaurant?”

Qiao Wei replied, “…”

To be honest, the service attitude of the department store and bookstore staff was also not great, but they didn’t bother her about the number of people or how much money she was spending.

The service attitude of the state-owned restaurant in the town was acceptable because they knew that most customers were from military families. However, the service attitude in the county was quite poor.

Qiao Wei said, “Even one person needs to eat.”

The waiter retorted, “You’re just one person. You could just buy a pancake outside.”

“What I eat is my business,” Qiao Wei was starting to get annoyed. “Your job is to give me the menu, take my order, and then give it to the kitchen.”

“But you’re alone…” the waiter persisted.

Bang!

Qiao Wei slammed her hand on the table, startling the waiter. The head chef even leaned out from the kitchen window.

People were more irritable when they were hungry. Having their mealtime ruined made them even angrier.

Qiao Wei’s eyebrows furrowed. “In your position, you just need to do your job. Customers pay with vouchers, and you need to take their orders, serve their food, and provide good service.”

“If you don’t want to do this job or think it’s meaningless, get your supervisor over here now. I’ll talk to them about whether this position should be replaced!”

“Also, where is your restaurant’s superior management unit? Who is the direct supervisor?” 

The waiter’s momentum weakened. “I was just asking, please order.”

Finally, the menu was handed to Qiao Wei.

But she asked, “Where is your manager? Isn’t he on duty during the day?”

Qiao Wei was bluffing, but it worked. The manager thought there wouldn’t be many customers on a Monday and went out for personal matters.

The waiter felt very uneasy and stuttered, “He, he…”

“The manager went to a meeting!” the head chef shouted from the kitchen, motioning to the waiter with his eyes. “Xiao Sun, quickly take the customer’s order. I’ll start cooking.”

Seeing them yielding, Qiao Wei gave the waiter a cold look and ordered one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of rice.

Surprisingly, the chefs at state-owned restaurants in this era were genuinely skilled, and the food tasted really good.

Qiao Wei’s mood was initially ruined by the waiter, but it improved after tasting the chef’s cooking.

The head chef came out and asked her, “How’s the taste?”

Qiao Wei sincerely praised him for a few words.

The head chef smiled and pointed to the waiter. “She just started her shift. Little girl, don’t mind her.”

Xiao Sun was indeed quite young, probably only sixteen or seventeen.

At this age, some children from families would start working in factories to support their parents. It was a period of adolescence, so Xiao Sun couldn’t help but say, “Just one woman dining alone… Aren’t you wasting?”

The head chef, experienced in life, could tell what was going on.

Unfortunately, Xiao Sun was still in her rebellious phase. Despite the head chef’s gestures, she continued, “Just one woman dining alone without a man… Isn’t it too extravagant?”

“Dishes and rice that I eat end up in my stomach, digesting into energy for my body. How is that wasteful?” Qiao Wei retorted.

“Just… just a woman, dining alone, it’s too extravagant,” Xiao Sun muttered stubbornly.

It was common for families or guests to go out for a meal. Even if someone dined alone, it was usually a man. Xiao Sun had never seen a woman dining alone. It seemed immodest.

“Have you ever thought that it may be extravagant for you, but it’s just ordinary daily life for me?” Qiao Wei replied.

Xiao Sun was taken aback.

Qiao Wei said, “Let’s settle the bill.”

The head chef quoted the price, “72 cents.”

Qiao Wei actually understood Xiao Sun’s logic.

But she didn’t instill any feminist ideas in her. She wasn’t her life mentor.

The girl was already earning a wage herself but still had the deeply ingrained belief that women didn’t deserve to eat well. That kind of mindset was deeply rooted, probably instilled in her from childhood by her upbringing, family, and parents.

It was unlikely to change easily.

Even Lin Xixi felt that she shouldn’t go to her uncle’s family’s restaurant.

However, Qiao Wei took a few steps forward, paused before leaving the restaurant, and then turned back.

“Girl,” she turned to Xiao Sun and said, “life is actually quite short. Learn to be kinder to yourself.”

With that, she left.

Xiao Sun blinked. “What was that about?”

The head chef said, “Put the money in the drawer.”

Xiao Sun felt indignant and wronged. “She ate almost a dollar by herself.”

“Hey,” the head chef said, “She said it herself, this is just her ordinary day.”

Xiao Sun couldn’t get over this hurdle in her mind and grumbled.

The head chef said, “Don’t be stubborn. You can tell she’s from a cadre’s family. How can we compare to your family? Not every family prohibits women from sitting at the table.”

After a pause, he added, “Maybe she’s a cadre herself.”

The woman spoke with such authority, hmm, she looked like a cadre.