Back To The 80s-Chapter 110 - 109: Shopping_1

Gu Xiaobei saw shirts with blue stripes and sports trousers with white stripes along the sides for boys. Gu Xiaobei thought about Chen Gang’s height and bought a set for him, which cost 3.80 yuan.

Viewing this, Li Fengmei also felt it was good and decided to buy a set for each of her two children as well.

All three children were thrilled to have new clothes that they liked.

After dropping off the fabric at the tailor’s, they took measurements of the children’s heights and chose the style. There were no particular styles at that time, just the option to add a pocket on the chest or not. After taking measurements, the owner informed them that they could pick up the clothes on Saturday.

Afterwards, they went to the Xinhua Bookstore to buy notebooks and pencils. Pencils were two cents each and notebooks were five cents each. Gu Xiaobei bought twenty pencils and twenty notebooks.

While preparing to pay, Gu Xiaobei glanced back and was startled to find a familiar face, staring gloomily at her from behind the bookshelf—it was Chi Xiaoyue! Chi Xiaoyue quickly hid behind the bookshelf again when she noticed Gu Xiaobei had seen her.

Gu Xiaobei left the bookstore, her back feeling cold. It was truly frightening to see that pale face and menacing gaze suddenly appear, as if she had seen a ghost.

Gu Xiaobei took a deep breath, calmed down, and took everyone to have a meal. They each had a big bowl of wonton soup and also added a marinated egg for each person.

Li Fengmei felt distressed seeing her children eating so hurriedly. She split her wonton soup between her two sons, planning to just sip the soup herself. Though their living conditions were not bad compared to most, they could only afford to eat meat once a month. Zhang Lijun was the only one who earned money for the family, and they also had to spend on schooling for two children and send money home monthly, so they had to save every cent they could.

Seeing this, Gu Xiaobei ordered another bowl of soup for Li Fengmei. The wonton soup was generous, with dumplings as big as jiaozi and a rich filling. One bowl contained twelve dumplings. After eating a big bowl of soup, Jiujiu’s little mouth was stuffed and nothing was left in the end.

Gu Xiaobei asked Dadong," Dadong, are you full?"

Li Fengmei spoke up, "That’s enough, this child doesn’t know when to stop eating."

Dadong closed his mouth, too embarrassed to say that he wasn’t full. Seeing this, Gu Xiaobei ordered another bowl and split it among the three children, only giving Jiujiu three dumplings as she was worried about her overeating.

This lunch cost five yuan. Li Fengmei felt embarrassed. Gu Xiaobei certainly had spent a lot today.

After eating, Gu Xiaobei went to buy a piece of meat. She couldn’t have a nice meal by herself and not bring something back for Lu Zhanguo.

Li Fengmei couldn’t help but say, "Sister-in-law, if you keep spending like this, even a gold mountain wouldn’t be enough."

Gu Xiaobei’s heart was indeed anxious. She had already spent forty or fifty yuan without buying much. It seemed she had to hurry up and find ways to earn money. She had to build up some initial accumulation so she could have the capital to do something when she went to the city.

When they were on their way back to the army compound, they unexpectedly ran into Chi Xiaoyue again. Gu Xiaobei thought, ’How come I didn’t see Chi Xiaoyue when we were on the bus this morning?’

No words were exchanged when Chi Xiaoyue glimpsed them. She just sullenly walked past them and continued on her way.

While walking, Chi Xiaoyue was thinking about the people she had encountered today, the task assigned to her. She couldn’t help feeling apprehensive, regretting her previous decisions based on short-term profits which landed her in a difficult situation.

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. Looking at Gu Xiaobei, who was having a smooth-sailing life and even raising a young girl, Chi Xiaoyue couldn’t help but feel bitter and jealous.

Gu Xiaobei noticed how cautious Jiujiu was about keeping her new shoes clean and walking rather slowly, and asked, "Jiujiu, why are you walking so slowly?"

Jiujiu opened her big round eyes and looked at Gu Xiaobei, then pointed to her new shoes, "Auntie, I’m afraid my shoes will get dirty if I walk quickly".

Gu Xiaobei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, "Shoes are made for walking, and if they get dirty, we can wash them."

Jiujiu smiled without saying a word, continuing with her careful steps.

When they all got home in the late afternoon, Li Fengmei thought it was still early, so she decided to go to the vegetable field to pull up vegetable seedlings, making way for some sorrel.

The moment Gu Xiaobei heard this, she insisted on going along with Li Fengmei, rather than letting her work alone. She washed her face, grabbed a straw hat and followed Li Fengmei to the vegetable field.

Like a little tail, Jiujiu naturally followed along, swapping her new shoes back to her old pair to avoid getting them dirty.

Before they left, they noticed Xiangmin and Wang Ping chatting in the compound, with Wang Ping holding her five-year-old daughter, Nini.

Xiangmin seemed as though she hadn’t noticed Gu Xiaobei, and continued chatting with Wang Ping, "I’m pregnant now, and not quite up to doing chores, so I need to ask you for help to gather and pickle a jar of sorrel."

Wang Ping smiled awkwardly in agreement. What could she do? Her husband was just a junior operations officer, while Guo Huaqiang was several ranks above. If she didn’t agree to Xiangmin’s request, Xiangmin might complain to Guo Huaqiang, which could lead to her husband getting into trouble.

Xiangmin, however, acted like it was only natural, "Also, don’t use radish seedlings to make my pickled sorrel, their leaves are spiky and don’t taste good."

Despite felling irritated, Wang Ping was in no position to argue. Their family only had a small plot of land, and making a jar of sorrel using only cabbage seedlings would likely require all the seedlings in their field. However, all she could do was smile rigidly and nod in agreement.

After seeing Wang Ping’s agreement, Xiangmin left contentedly. Seeing Gu Xiaobei and Jiujiu standing not far away, she snorted and went upstairs.

Only after Xiangmin had gone upstairs did Gu Xiaobei approach, holding Jiujiu’s hand. She said to Jiujiu, "This is your little sister, Nini. Can you play with her in the yard?"

Jiujiu pondered a moment, then pointed her finger upwards and asked, "Auntie, can I go to the field to pick vegetables with you?"

Wang Ping laughed, "Jiujiu is such a sensible girl."

Gu Xiaobei patiently explained, "Your task today is to play with your sister. Can you do that?"

Jiujiu pouted, but before she could respond, Wang Ping interjected, "Exactly, aunty also needs to go to the field to pick vegetables. Can you play with Nini by the field’s edge?"

Gu Xiaobei also nodded along, and Jiujiu, being but a child and hearing that playing was also helping Aunty, happily agreed.

Wang Ping also went to get a hat and basket, leading Nini and Gu Xiaobei to the vegetable field.

The plots of land for the families in the compound were all next to each other, with each family having about two points of land. At that time, most of the land was planted with eggplant, chili, and tomato. There wasn’t much land left for planting cabbage and radish.

Li Fengmei was skilled at growing vegetables, planting eggplant and chili along the edges, so she could save space for cabbage and radish in the center of the plot.

At first, Gu Xiaobei watched to learn how Li Fengmei was thinning the seedlings. Seeing her watch, Li Fengmei laughed, recalling Zhang Lijun’s description of Gu Xiaobei’s attempt at gardening, "Thinning is quite simple, you just need to keep the strong seedlings and pull out the small and surplus ones around them."

Gu Xiaobei nodded, "So that’s how it’s done. It turns out it’s quite simple..."