Jiang Yue didn't eat in the morning. After Gu Ye started driving in the second half of the journey, she felt less carsick and no longer felt nauseous. Now that she had gotten out of the car and was feeling the wind, her stomach began to growl.

It was a bit early for lunch, so Jiang Yue bought two corns and a portion of popcorn. The lady in the store folded a piece of cut greaseproof paper diagonally on both sides, rolled it into a cone shape, and stuffed it full of popcorn, which was already puffed up.

A bag of popcorn costs only two cents, but a stick of corn costs five cents. Compared with the price of nine cents per pound, the prices in the zoo are still on the expensive side.

"Team Leader Zhang, here you go!" Jiang Yue handed a corn to Zhang Jianguo.

Zhang Jianguo was flattered, “Sister-in-law, I’m not hungry!”

Jiang Yue smiled and said, "It's still a while before dinner time, let's fill our stomachs first."

After hearing what Jiang Yue said, Zhang Jianguo thanked her and took the corn.

Just as Jiang Yue was about to pay, Zhang Jianguo rushed to pay.

"Sister-in-law, Gu Tuan gave me money and asked me to help you pay the bill." Seeing that Jiang Yue was about to refuse, Zhang Jianguo hurriedly explained.

"Oh, I see!" Since it was arranged by Gu Ye, Jiang Yue naturally would not refuse.

She broke the corn into two pieces and gave half to Ningning. The corn in this era was grown naturally, and was fragrant and sweet. Although the popcorn had no sugar added, it was still fragrant, crispy and delicious.

Jiang Yue took Ningning to see the monkeys, and then to Tiger Mountain to see the tigers. Ningning jumped and chattered excitedly all the way, and it was almost twelve o'clock when they finished visiting the zoo.

"Let's go and eat!" Jiang Yue was also hungry at this time, so the three of them walked towards the exit of the zoo.

"What are you looking at?" Not far away, a young woman tugged at her male companion. Seeing that he didn't respond, she followed the man's line of sight and saw that he was staring at a man and a woman. The man was wearing a military uniform and holding a little girl. The woman had a slim figure from the back.

"Is this someone you know?" the woman asked.

The man came back to his senses and said, "I don't recognize him, but he looks familiar."

"Let's go," the young woman urged, "We finally have less classes today so we can go out and play. Let's go eat first. After dinner, you accompany me to the department store. The weather is getting hot soon. I want to buy a pair of sandals. I heard that the department store has received a batch of plastic sandals..."

The young couple also walked towards the exit of the zoo, but they were delayed for a while while talking. When the man came out and wanted to look for the familiar figure, he saw no one there.

The man frowned and thought for a few seconds, feeling that he must have recognized the wrong person. Then he sneered. He actually mistook a strange woman for Jiang Yue.

After Jiang Yue left the zoo, she discovered that there were a lot of vendors in the provincial capital, some selling melon seeds, peanuts, popcorn, some selling popsicles, and some selling soda.

However, today is not the weekend, so there are not many people in the zoo and most of the vendors are doing slow business. When they saw Jiang Yue and the other two, someone immediately came up to sell food.

Jiang Yue used to be a hawker himself, so he knew how difficult it was to do this job. He also had to be on guard against being caught by the joint defense team at all times.

At that moment, she bought a portion of melon seeds and peanuts from a woman carrying a child on her back for two cents, just to take care of the business.

The three of them went to a state-owned restaurant and ordered two bowls of beef noodles, using the money and food coupons provided by Zhang Jianguo.

Jiang Yue asked for another small bowl and shared the noodles with Ningning. This time the beef noodles actually had beef in it, a thick layer of beef, which was very flavorful and the noodles were also very chewy.

Jiang Yue and Ningning ate up all the beef noodles, even drinking up the soup.

After eating and drinking, the three of them got on the bus because the department store was a bit far away.

Although the facilities and infrastructure of this era seemed too backward to Jiang Yue, and there was no interesting entertainment, when Jiang Yue was there, when she walked on the asphalt road, looking at the unpolluted and exceptionally blue sky, a strange feeling would arise in her heart.

She couldn't quite describe what that feeling was. It seemed to be between reality and illusion, just like sometimes she couldn't tell whether it was a dream or not.

The bus arrived at the station. Zhang Jianguo got off the bus holding Ningning, and Jiang Yue followed behind. The department store was in front of them.

The department store in the provincial capital is much more imposing than the one in Qingshan County. It is three stories high. As soon as you enter, you will see the non-staple food area with a wide variety of food. The air is filled with the aroma of food.

Jiang Yue discovered that there were cream cakes for sale here. The white cream was very tempting, but a little expensive, costing 35 cents each. Jiang Yue bought two, wrapped them up and prepared to take them home to eat.

The first floor also sells tobacco, alcohol, hardware and electrical appliances, cleaning products, etc. The second floor sells clothing, shoes and hats, fabrics, gold, and watches; the third floor sells cultural and sports supplies.

Jiang Yue thought, it is worthy of being the provincial capital, it is indeed prosperous. The goods here are much richer than those in a small county town. The clothing area also opened Jiang Yue's eyes, not only the styles but also the prices, which once again refreshed Jiang Yue's understanding of the prices of this era.

At the same time, Jiang Yue thought to herself that the department store only sold domestic products, and the prices were already so high. If she went into a foreign trade store, all her money would probably not be enough to buy a piece of clothing.

"Sister-in-law, aren't you going to buy clothes? What about shoes?" Zhang Jianguo was a little anxious when he saw that Jiang Yue was just looking and had only bought two cream cakes so far.

Gu Tuan gave him a hundred yuan and asked him to follow Jiang Yue to pay. As a result, he has only paid a few cents up to now. The task is about to be completed. How can he not be anxious?

"I don't like anything." Jiang Yue looked at several ready-made clothes. A sleeveless dress with a waistline cost 40 yuan, which was too expensive. She would not buy it.

"Don't you like it, or don't you have the money to buy it?" The salesperson at the clothing counter became impatient when he saw Jiang Yue just looking but not buying, and snorted coldly with his nose turned up.

"How can you talk like that!" Zhang Jianguo jumped up in anger when he saw the salesperson's attitude.

"How do I talk? This is how I talk! If you don't want to buy anything, go away and don't get in the way!" The salesperson was dusting the non-existent dust on the counter with a feather duster, while spitting and cursing: "There are so many poor people these days. Being poor is not scary. What's scary is that they pretend to be poor and come here every day even though they can't afford to buy--"

"Who are you calling a poor bastard? Who are you calling a poor bastard?" Zhang Jianguo was furious and started arguing with the salesperson right away.

At this moment, Jiang Yue suddenly heard a tender and gentle voice, "Sister?"

Sister? Jiang Yue didn't react at first when she heard this. She was about to persuade Zhang Jianguo not to get angry and scold the salesperson for looking down on others. But just as Jiang Yue opened her mouth, the gentle voice sounded again, right beside her ear.

"Sister! It's really you!"

Jiang Yue turned her head and saw a young woman who was half a head shorter than her, with thin eyebrows and eyes, a very classical and gentle appearance, a thin figure, and wearing a white dress. She was looking at her with surprise.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" Jiang Yue looked puzzled. Why was this woman trying to get close to her and calling everyone she met "sister"? She didn't have a sister that old.