Chapter 6

Although Su Ting had the thought of lying flat, she found herself unable to completely let go. She was the type of person who liked to stay cautious, always leaving herself an escape route.

However, the work on the island was clearly not something she could rely on, so she had to find another way out.

Su Ting began to calculate the skills she possessed.

She had quite a few skills. When she was young, she had learned the piano and practiced ballet, but neither of them lasted. The only thing she had stuck with for over a decade was painting.

She had studied painting in college, but due to family changes and life’s pressures, she had accidentally entered the gg industry, and painting was set aside.

As for painting, it was fine if she stopped for two or three days, but after two or three weeks, she could noticeably feel her hands were out of practice, and she had stopped for two or three years. Moreover, she no longer had the same mindset she had when she first entered college, and everything she painted seemed wrong.

After realizing she couldn’t go back to her previous state, Su Ting had felt a little depressed for a while, but she didn’t completely give up. After regaining her spirits, she opened an account online to start drawing again.

At first, her drawings were quite random and mostly for her own enjoyment. Gradually, some fans asked her to draw portraits of their idols. She tried accepting some commercial commissions, and later, she began using comic strips to record her life.

However, due to her busy job, she couldn’t update more than twice a month, so her comics had no popularity in the early years and didn’t earn as much as the commercial work.

It wasn’t until last year when a big influencer reposted her comic and connected it to a trending event that she became an overnight sensation, leading to her first publication.

The house she had bought before her time travel was paid for with the royalties from her comics.

After the house was delivered and decorated this year, and with her side income becoming more stable, she had planned to quit her job and become a freelancer. But before she could even submit her resignation, she found herself transported to the 1970s with just the blink of an eye.

It was heartbreaking to think about!

But life had to go on. Su Ting sighed and continued to contemplate.

The skills she had—piano and ballet—were out of the question. Not to mention whether playing piano or dancing ballet in this era would be considered bourgeois, but the years of neglect had made her forget her fingerings and movements.

There was also no hope for a career in gg design; these kinds of flashy jobs didn’t exist in this era. The publicity department could at most draw posters and write slogans.

She was good at drawing posters, but the Military Unit’s publicity department was made up of soldiers, and she didn’t meet the qualifications for that job. The Women’s Federation also had a publicity team, but the Women’s Federation was one of the hardest units to get into in the family compound, so she had no chance there either.

After thinking it over, Su Ting realized that the only thing she could do was to return to her old profession of drawing comics.

This idea came to her while she was having breakfast. As she watched the kids coming and going in the canteen, she suddenly remembered how popular comic books were in this era.

Although, strictly speaking, comic books and manga weren’t the same artistic form, they both came from the same root. Su Ting had a foundation in drawing, and she had already published comics in her past life. It should be relatively easy for her to start drawing comic books in this life.

However, the idea wasn’t fully formed yet. If she were really going to do this, she needed to first go to the city, buy some drawing supplies, and also pick up a few comic books to study.

…

She decided to take action. That evening, after dinner, Su Ting told He Yan that she would take him to the city on Sunday, meaning the next day.

In Su Ting’s memory, children would be excited about a trip out, so she thought He Yan would be happy. She had always looked forward to her father taking her to the playground when she was young.

But He Yan’s reaction was unexpected.

Not only was he not happy, but his eyes quickly turned red. He tried to widen them and stared at her, shouting loudly: “I don’t want to go!”

Su Ting was puzzled. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t. Why are you so angry?”

He Yan froze for a moment, looking hesitant. But after a while, he straightened his back and said with full force: “You don’t want me anymore! Why can’t I be angry? I’m angry! I’m angry! I’m angry!”

The little boy shouted louder and louder, and Su Ting couldn’t help but cover her ears. When he finally calmed down, she asked: “When did I say I didn’t want you anymore?”

He Yan sniffed, his eyes redder now. Tears were brimming in his eyes, but he stubbornly refused to let them fall. Choking on his words, he said: “You said this morning that the bad person told you to take me outside and abandon me!”

Su Ting was stunned for a moment, and after a while, she finally understood his logic. “You thought that when I took you to the city, I wanted to abandon you?”

He Yan raised his neck and asked: “Isn’t that what you meant?”

“Of course not!” Su Ting replied quickly. “If I abandoned you in the city, I’d go to jail! Do you think I’m stupid? Our lives are going well right now, why would I risk sending myself to jail for no reason?”

He Yan didn’t fully understand what “going to jail” or “prison” meant, but from the tone of Su Ting’s words, he could tell they weren’t good things. He immediately relaxed, but still had some doubts. “Why would the bad person want you to abandon me?”

Although Hong Zhi hadn’t said anything like that, Su Ting had no problem putting the blame on her. Without changing her expression, she said: “She just can’t stand to see others doing well. Anyway, even if I had listened to her and abandoned you, it would be me going to jail, not her. She wouldn’t lose anything.”

He Yan furrowed his little brow. “She’s so bad!”

“Exactly.” Su Ting replied. “That’s why, in order to have a good life in the future, I absolutely, absolutely won’t do anything illegal. You don’t need to worry about me abandoning or mistreating you.” She couldn’t help but smile. “Your head may not be that big, but you sure think a lot.”

Realizing that he had misunderstood her, He Yan felt guilty. Hearing Su Ting’s words, his face turned red. “I… I wouldn’t have thought so much if you hadn’t said those things in front of me!”

“Yes, yes.” Su Ting replied: “But it’s a good thing you think so much. That way, you won’t be easily deceived in the future. Hmm, since it’s all cleared up now, will you come with me to the city tomorrow?”

He Yan hesitated a little.

Although he believed Su Ting, he was still afraid of going to the city with her.

But he didn’t want to admit he was scared, so he forced himself to ask: “What’s fun in the city?”

Although Su Ting had traveled to Fujian in her past life, she had only visited tourist cities and had only transited through Rong City.

Moreover, since novels had some fictional elements, she could at least be sure that there was no island named Pingchuan Island in her past life, so she really didn’t know what was fun in Rong City in the 1970s.

She could only guess. “There should be food, and maybe places to have fun, but I’m going to a bookstore, so I might not have time to take you to play. At most, we can have a meal together.”

It didn’t seem very appealing.

He Yan thought for a moment and asked: “Then can I not go?”

Su Ting noticed his hesitation but didn’t call him out. After all, she had been the one who scared him in the first place. It was normal for him not to want to go out now. She agreed readily: “Then you can stay home tomorrow and don’t run around.”

He Yan breathed a sigh of relief but then remembered to ask: “Can you go alone?”

“Of course, it’s more trouble to take you along.” Su Ting replied bluntly.

He Yan: “…” Alright then.

…

Pingchuan Island wasn’t very large, but it had quite a few docks, both military and civilian. The latter were further divided into the ferry docks to the city and the docks for fishermen going out to sea.

Su Ting needed to go to the ferry dock, which wasn’t far from the family compound. It took her about twenty minutes to walk there.

The dock wasn’t very big—just a long causeway with a fence around the dock entrance. Next to the fence was a small building, which served as the ticket booth.

Since it was Sunday, there were quite a few people at the dock, and there was a line at the ticket window. Su Ting waited for seven or eight minutes before she could buy a ticket. The fare wasn’t expensive, only two mao for a one-way ticket, and the ferry ride took about twenty minutes.

Su Ting noticed that, in addition to one-way tickets, there were also monthly passes available for sale. A monthly pass cost three yuan and allowed unlimited ferry rides.

It was said that this was to accommodate residents living on the island and working in the city, but Su Ting doubted that many people bought the monthly passes. After all, renting a single room only cost two or three yuan, which was much cheaper than a ferry ticket, and didn’t require a daily commute. The only issue was that there weren’t many places available for rent, and finding an empty room was not easy.

While she was thinking, the ferry, which had been whistling in the distance, slowly approached and docked at the pier.

The gate was opened, and the people on the ferry started to disembark, while those waiting at the gate rushed to board.

There wasn’t really much to rush for, though. The ferry looked small, but there were plenty of seats. After everyone boarded, about a third of the seats were still empty. Once the ferry started moving, many people moved to the deck, leaving even more empty seats.

The weather was nice that day, with no wind or waves on the sea, making the ride very smooth.

About half an hour later, the ferry docked, and after disembarking, Su Ting left the dock and asked some locals for directions. She then took a bus to her destination, which took another ten minutes.

Su Ting had boarded the ferry at eight o’clock, and with the ferry ride, the bus ride, and waiting time, she finally arrived at the Xinhua Bookstore just before nine o’clock.

Seeing the familiar sign of Xinhua Bookstore, Su Ting felt a sense of relief. She had been worried that this world would be too empty, that many things from the real world might have been erased.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

Su Ting walked into the Xinhua Bookstore, which was slightly larger than she had expected. Rows of bookshelves were arranged in a crisscross pattern, and the shelves were filled with a dazzling array of books.

There weren’t many customers, just a few people browsing the books in front of the shelves.

However, there were quite a few people in front of the comic book shelf. Looking around, most of them seemed to be children around ten years old. This actually made things easier for Su Ting, as she didn’t have to wander around aimlessly like a headless chicken.

She walked straight over and found the “Comic Book Report” magazine on the middle row of shelves.

Although comic books were popular at this time, there weren’t many related magazines. The most famous one was “Comic Book Report.” a national magazine. It was the most common comic book magazine on the shelves.

There was also “Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers’ Illustrated.” a regional magazine that was published in almost every province, with a wide variety displayed on the shelves.

The illustrated magazines were cheap, priced at only two mao each, and didn’t require tickets.

Su Ting bought the magazines with the intention of submitting her work, so she grabbed at least two of every magazine, whether well-known or not.

She bought the most copies of “Comic Book Report.” taking six in total. She planned to focus on studying this one first and submitting her work to it, though she would consider others later.

After picking out the magazines, Su Ting wandered around a bit. Not seeing any sketch paper or pencils on display, she decided to ask the salesperson while checking out.

The salesperson’s attitude wasn’t very good, and her tone was blunt. “What do you need sketch paper and pencils for?”

“To draw.”

“You know how to draw?” The salesperson looked up at Su Ting, her eyes full of disbelief.

Su Ting was speechless. “Does it matter to you whether I can draw or not? Just tell me if you sell it or not.”

The salesperson frowned. “What’s with you, girl? I just asked a couple of questions, and now you’re getting all aggressive?” She coldly added: “You want to buy paper and pencils? I’m telling you now, we don’t have any!”

“Are you sure you don’t have any?”

At this time, salespeople were highly valued, and they were quite arrogant. She wasn’t afraid of Su Ting. With her chin raised, she stared defiantly and lied: “We don’t have any!”

Su Ting turned to ask another salesperson: “Is your manager around?”

“You want to see our manager?” the other salesperson asked.

“Yes.”

“What do you want to see them for?”

Su Ting pointed to the “Serve the People” slogan on the wall and said: “I want to ask your manager if the slogan on the wall is just for decoration, because I haven’t seen any sign of ‘serving the people’ from you as a salesperson.”

After the first salesperson sized Su Ting up from head to toe, she rolled her eyes and said: “You? Laboring people?”

Su Ting retorted: “My ancestors were poor farmers, and I was also an Educated Youth sent to the countryside. If I’m not a laboring person, then who is?”

The salesperson was about to say something, but was stopped by her colleague, who whispered: “Enough, it’s not worth making a scene. Do you really want to escalate this to the manager?”

“Let’s make a scene then, do you think I’m afraid of her?” Su Ting thought to herself. After all, even if the manager found out, they couldn’t fire her, so she wasn’t scared.

“The manager might not be able to fire you, but they can issue a demerit.”

Being given a demerit wasn’t such a big deal. Salespeople didn’t have the same performance-based salary structure as other jobs. Their pay was usually fixed, and even after a year, the salary remained the same. Ten years later, they would still earn the same unless they were promoted to a leadership position.

However, this woman was already in her forties, her work was mediocre, and promotion was basically impossible. Therefore, a demerit didn’t affect her much.

It was just that being given a demerit didn’t sound great when it was said out loud—it was embarrassing.

Her colleague, seeing her hesitation, said: “You just stand by and listen. I’ll handle this.” She turned around and smiled at Su Ting. “Comrade, I’m sorry. It was my colleague who acted inappropriately. Actually, she’s had some things going on today and wasn’t in a good mood. I apologize for her on her behalf.”

Su Ting hadn’t wanted to cause trouble, but the previous salesperson’s attitude had been so rude, and her words were frustrating, so Su Ting had snapped back. Now, seeing this person speak kindly, her tone softened. “I didn’t want to cause any trouble. I just wanted to buy something. But she was asking all sorts of questions. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was interrogating a criminal.”

“This was her fault, I promise I’ll talk to her later!” the colleague nodded in agreement, then pulled out two stacks of paper and several boxes of sketching pencils from underneath the counter, quickly changing the subject. “We have two kinds of paper here, and different pencil thicknesses. Which ones would you like?”

Now that someone more reasonable was handling it, Su Ting didn’t want to make things harder. She bought twenty-five sheets of each kind of paper and two pencils of each thickness. She also bought a utility knife and some erasers.

She hadn’t noticed how much she had bought while picking out the items, but when she finished paying and the cashier tied the items together with twine, Su Ting realized just how much she had gotten.

It was so heavy!