Chapter 50 : Entering the City

After lunch, Su Xieqiu said to Grandpa Du, “Grandpa, I’m going to the city this afternoon and may be back a little late.”

“Zhenyu’s wife, are you going alone?”

Now that the corn fields were more than a meter tall on both sides of the road, Grandpa Du was a bit worried.

“Grandpa, there will be an ox cart going into the city this afternoon. I’ll go with my aunt from the village.” Su Xieqiu understood his worry and smiled as she explained.

Earlier, she had heard Aunt Qiuye mention that the village ox cart would be heading to the city in the afternoon to pick up some things, and she had asked if Su Xieqiu wanted to go to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Su Xieqiu was planning to buy some mousetraps in the city, and she also needed to take some things out of her space and mail a letter. It was a good opportunity to get several tasks done in one trip.

When Grandpa Du heard that she would be going with the villagers, he felt reassured and smiled, saying, “Go ahead, be careful on the road, and don’t get separated from the villagers.”

He took out fifty cents from his pocket and handed it to her, “Use this to buy some candy.”

Su Xieqiu was taken aback when she saw her grandfather actually giving her money for candy.

Looking at the crinkled fifty-cent note, she felt an indescribable emotion in her heart.

In both her lifetimes, no elder had ever given her pocket money.

Although it was only fifty cents, it was enough to make her remember it for a long, long time.

Su Xieqiu accepted the fifty cents without hesitation and said sweetly, “Thank you, Grandpa.”

Grandpa Du smiled and waved his hand, “Go quickly.”

Su Xieqiu went to Aunt Qiuye’s house first.

Though the original owner had worked in the Sanhua Brigade for several months, she didn’t enjoy interacting with the villagers, so she didn’t know many people.

Aunt Qiuye had just finished her meal. When she saw Su Xieqiu coming over, she smiled and said, “I’ve already spoken to Yonggui and asked him to save two seats. Let’s go to the intersection and wait.”

“Yes, Auntie.”

Aunt Qiuye was holding her little grandson in her arms, and Su Xieqiu helped her with the basket. The two of them walked slowly toward the village entrance.

As soon as they arrived at the place, an ox cart came from the brigade headquarters.

There were only two people in the cart: one was the driver, Yonggui, and the other was the accountant of the brigade.

Su Xieqiu didn’t know them very well, so she just sat in the cart and listened to Aunt Qiuye chatting with them.

“Accountant Sun, I heard that more educated youth will be coming here soon,” asked Yonggui, the driver.

“Yes, they’ll be here next month. They’re from Haicheng. I think our village will have to send three or four people,” replied Accountant Sun with a sigh. “These city kids can’t do much. What do you think they’ll be able to contribute when they get here?”

Yonggui and Aunt Qiuye both glanced at Su Xieqiu sitting behind them.

Accountant Sun then remembered that there was an educated youth in the cart, but the words had already been said and couldn’t be taken back.

He said awkwardly, “Well… Su Xieqiu, I didn’t mean anything by it. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Su Xieqiu smiled and shook her head. “Accountant Sun is just speaking the truth. Compared to the villagers, we really are far behind in farm work.”

There was no need to argue about this. Most villagers could earn ten work points a day, and even women could earn seven or eight work points.

On the other hand, these educated youth were lucky to earn half the amount of the villagers, and each of them had to take a share of the per capita ration, which would inevitably lead to complaints from the villagers.

However, most of the educated youth who came to work in the countryside hadn’t come willingly. Some even harbored resentment, so they didn’t get along very well with the villagers.

Accountant Sun smiled and said, “Once you get used to it, it will be fine. Once you get used to it, it will be fine.”

Aunt Qiuye smiled and changed the subject, “What are you going to buy in the city today?”

“Aunt, I’m going to mail a letter and buy some mousetraps at the same time,” Su Xieqiu replied.

“These mice are really annoying. They’ve eaten a lot of our potatoes. If I didn’t have children at home, I’d also want to put a few in the house.”

This topic resonated with everyone, and several people began to criticize the troublesome rats.

When they arrived in the city, Accountant Sun said to Aunt Qiuye and Su Xieqiu, “Let’s go to the grain station to pick up some seeds. It will take about an hour. Let’s meet up here later.”

“Okay, Accountant Sun. We’ll wait for you here after we buy the things.”

Aunt Qiuye first followed Su Xieqiu to the post office to mail the letter, then the two went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

This was the second time Su Xieqiu had entered the city since traveling through time.

The first time was when Han Zhenyu had taken her to the hospital for treatment.

She had been in a hurry then, and it was nighttime, so she didn’t have the chance to take a closer look.

Now, as she looked at the old buildings, Su Xieqiu didn’t find them dilapidated. Instead, they seemed very familiar to her.

She bought ten mousetraps, and Aunt Qiuye asked in surprise, “Xieqiu, why did you buy so many?”

Su Xieqiu placed the mousetraps in the basket and smiled, “Aunt, I thought I might need them in the future, so I bought them all together.”

Aunt Qiuye thought there was no need to stock up on so many mousetraps, that she could just come and buy them whenever needed. But seeing that Su Xieqiu had already paid, she didn’t mention it again.

Aunt Qiuye bought a pound of salt, a bottle of soy sauce, and a bottle of vinegar.

Looking at the snack crumbs on the counter, she hesitated for a moment before deciding to buy one for two cents.

Su Xieqiu had originally planned to buy some peach cakes for Han Zhenyu’s grandfather.

But seeing that Aunt Qiuye had only bought the snack scraps, she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s self-esteem, so she didn’t buy anything.

She was planning to go back and get some food from her space for Grandpa Du.

“Xieqiu, do you want to buy some?” Aunt Qiuye whispered. “Although these snacks are broken, they taste just like peach cakes, and they don’t require a ticket.”

The salesman scraped the leftover bits toward the middle, glanced at them, and said nonchalantly, “It’s just a coincidence that you came here. When the nearby factories get off work, I’m sure they’ll all be scrambling to buy them.”

Su Xieqiu believed what he said. Not to mention the leftover snacks, nowadays, any food that didn’t require tickets would be snapped up.

But she still smiled and shook her head, “Aunt, I won’t buy any. Han Zhenyu still has some left from what he bought a few days ago.”

A woman sitting behind the counter heard Su Xieqiu mention Han Zhenyu’s name, looked up at her, and continued with her work.

She thought it must be a coincidence that they had the same name. Her husband had a good relationship with Han Zhenyu, and she had never heard of him having a girlfriend.

When Aunt Qiuye heard Su Xieqiu say she didn’t want to buy it, she didn’t try to persuade her anymore, but in her heart, she was sure that Su Xieqiu was reluctant to buy it.

She had heard that the money the family used to build their house was borrowed from Han Zhenyu’s grandfather and uncle.

With so much hardship, how could anyone afford to buy snacks?

After buying the items, the two went to the place where they had agreed to meet Accountant Sun.

Accountant Sun and Yonggui had not arrived yet, so Aunt Qiuye took the bag of snack crumbs out of the basket.

She pinched a small piece for her grandson first, then selected a few larger pieces for Su Xieqiu. “Xieqiu, you should try some.”

“Auntie, I don’t want to eat it. Give it to Huzi,” Su Xieqiu said with a smile.

Aunt Qiuye thought she was too embarrassed to ask for it, so she stuffed the snack into her hand and said, “Why are you being so polite? Eat it quickly.”

Su Xieqiu looked at the broken pieces of snacks in her hand and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but she felt quite touched.

It was clear that Aunt Qiuye was sincere.

She couldn’t bear to eat it herself but picked out the bigger pieces for her. This gesture of friendship was very precious.

Su Xieqiu felt that Aunt Qiuye was someone worth getting along with.