usatvline Chapter 117 Characteristics of the Times 13
Chapter 117 Characteristics of the Times 13
At 8:20, the oxcart arrived in Yingqian County. Everyone got off the cart. Ziyue and a few other educated youths who were going to the post office mailed their letters. After that, Ziyue parted ways with them.
She still prefers to shop alone, as it gives her more freedom.
Yingqian County did not seem as lively as Yingshui County when they came yesterday, but it had everything they needed.
Supply and marketing cooperatives, post offices, government compounds, slaughterhouses, cinemas, photo studios, state-run restaurants, government-run hotels, county hospitals, scrap metal collection stations...
The gray walls and gray tiles, everything looks dusty and gray, giving off an old photographic feel, and the bluestone pavement along the street shows the traces of time everywhere.
Every so often, you can see different slogans written on the walls—
Prepare for war, prepare for famine, for the people.
Dig deep tunnels, store up plenty of grain, and never seek hegemony.
In the name of revolution, let us advance.
People have a duty to defend their homeland.
Develop the economy and ensure supply.
Class struggle is effective as soon as it is grasped.
Let us work together for a better future.
……
Every word and every sentence deeply reflects the characteristics of life in this era.
In the previous two days, she had been coming and going in a hurry and hadn't really taken the time to observe the times.
Now, she calms down, approaches it, observes it, and feels it; this era naturally has its own unique charm.
Completely different from the rampant materialism and utilitarianism of modern society, people in this era are mostly simple-minded and free from distractions.
Although most people are relatively poor in material life, they are exceptionally rich in spiritual satisfaction and happiness.
This is an era full of passion and change.
At noon, Ziyue still chose to eat at the state-run restaurant.
I ordered a steamed pork with rice flour, a cabbage with pork cracklings, a bowl of rice, and a tomato and egg soup.
Ziyue went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a small bamboo basket, then bought two catties of steamed egg cake, a serving of mung bean cake, and a serving of red date cake.
I also bought two jin of meat, five jin of rice, and five jin of noodles.
After buying the food, I went to a state-run restaurant to pack some leftovers: a plate of pickled mustard greens with sliced pork, a plate of braised pork, and a plate of steamed pork with rice flour. I put each of these into one of the three lunchboxes I had brought with me.
She neatly placed rice, noodles, lunch boxes, meat, and pastries into the basket. Of course, these lunch boxes were actually empty; the ones filled with vegetables had already been stored in her spatial storage.
A stack of old newspapers was placed on top of the basket, so others couldn't see what was underneath.
This is just for show.
At three o'clock, Ziyue arrived at the meeting place, and almost everyone had already returned.
After waiting a while longer, everyone was there, so we headed home.
Ziyue gave three cents this time because she brought something. If she were alone, it would have been two cents, but since she brought something, the extra charge would have to be based on the weight.
Another grueling, bumpy journey followed. Ziyue decided she needed to buy a bicycle as soon as possible. She went to check today but couldn't find one. The salesperson said bicycles would be in stock in a few days.
Okay, she'll buy it next time.
There were bicycles in the space, but she still had to find a clear path to cross.
By the time they arrived at Dahe Village, it was almost five o'clock. Ziyue and several other educated youths who were traveling with her said goodbye to the older women and aunties in the village and headed straight for the clinic.
However, she was closest to the village entrance, since the clinic was right in the first row.
Ziyue put the basket into the room, washed up and changed into clean clothes before entering the ward to check on Qin Jie's condition.
Seeing that her wound was healing well, I told her to continue drinking radish soup or millet porridge, a thick rice soup, to help with gas. If she persisted for another day, she could eat some semi-liquid food.
Qin Jie nodded, indicating that she would definitely obey.
Ziyue then returned to her room at the back. First, she needed to paste a layer of newspaper on the wall, as this was an adobe house and she was afraid the soil would fall off.
However, pasting newspapers requires paste, which is easy; just mix some hot water to make paste.
Ziyue took out a bowl, put some flour in it, poured in hot water, stirred it until it was thick enough, and then started pasting newspapers around the edge of the bed.
That's why she put a stack of newspapers on top of her basket; she used them to wallpaper the walls.
The task was completed. After pasting the newspapers, seeing that it was still not dark, I went to the old carpenter's house in the village and asked for a standing wooden cabinet, a cupboard, a cutting board, and a wooden bucket.
After the old carpenter and his son brought her all her things on a cart and carried them into her room, her dwelling was finally quite decent.
-
Five days later, Ziyue checked Qin Jie's wound one last time. Seeing that the wound was healing well, she let her family take her home.
When Zhang Guodong's parents came to pick up their daughter-in-law, they also gave Ziyue some eggs and a live chicken. Ziyue repeatedly declined, but when she couldn't refuse, she had no choice but to accept them.
In the past few days, she has become quite familiar with Zhang Guodong and his wife, and has also heard a lot of gossip from the surrounding villages.
When Zhang Guodong and his wife learned that Ziyue was going to the county to pick up a package, they quickly said that they had an oxcart at home and invited her to ride in it.
Just then, their family was planning to go to the county to buy some new fabric to make clothes for the child and buy some other things. When Ziyue heard this, she thought it would be more convenient and agreed.