Chapter 046

Of course Chuxia could tell that the old man was talking about food coupons.

Seeing him like this, although I subjectively want to let him have a bowl of soup to satisfy his craving, but objectively speaking, this is a state-owned business, and he cannot eat without a ticket, and Chuxia has no say in the matter.

Just like she doesn’t have a ticket, so she can’t eat the watermelon in the old man’s car.

So the two of them just coveted each other's things from a distance.

However, my craving for watermelon in early summer is not even one-tenth as strong as the old man’s craving for noodles with soybean paste.

Chu Xia finished laughing, fanned herself and said to the old man: "I will come every time the commune has a market in the future. You can come and eat when you have a ticket. Have a bowl of diced meat. I guarantee you will think it is worth it after eating it."

Hearing Chuxia say this, the old man looked up at the sky, smacked his lips silently, and felt even more upset.

Chuxia couldn't help laughing when she saw the old man like this.

As I was laughing, a white object suddenly appeared in front of me.

Chuxia looked carefully and found that it was actually a cream popsicle with cold steam coming out of it.

Following the popsicle upwards, I saw Lin Xiaohan's expressionless face.

Seeing her in a daze, Lin Xiaohan looked at her while holding the popsicle and asked, "Don't you want to eat it?"

Chuxia reacted and quickly said "eat", reached out to take the popsicle, put it in her mouth and took a bite.

Lin Xiaohan put the basin containing dishes and chopsticks on the table.

He hooked a small stool and sat down next to Chuxia, and directly reached out to take the fan in her hand to fan herself.

Chu Xia's attention was on the popsicle, and she didn't care when Lin Xiaohan took the fan away.

After taking two bites of the milk-flavored popsicle, she felt cool and refreshed all over.

What do you think of when you take the third bite?

Chu Xia swallowed the popsicle, looked at Lin Xiaohan and asked, "Are you treating me to a meal?"

Lin Xiaohan fanned himself and said, "Oh," "No."

He looked at Chuxia and said, "The lady selling popsicles only had this last one left. She probably saw that I was in good condition, so she forced me to buy this last one. Put it in the account."

Chu Xia looked at Lin Xiaohan, and after hearing what he said, she took another bite and ate more calmly.

If he had treated her, she would have to think about how to repay him, but now she can eat with peace of mind.

Finished eating the popsicle.

In early summer, the air around me feels sweet and cool.

The market was very quiet in the afternoon, with almost no one coming. Some stall owners were taking a nap on the side, while others simply packed up their stalls and went back to the production team.

Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan did not leave, and they took a rest under the shed together.

After finally pushing the cart here, they planned to go back after dinner time in the evening. They wanted to sell as many bowls as possible, as they would have to wait another week for the next market day.

The melon seller next to him didn't leave either.

After Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan rested, he also leaned against the wall, covered his face with a straw hat and went to sleep.

After a drowsy afternoon nap, everyone got up and looked after the stalls.

Chuxia fell asleep on the table. When she woke up from her nap, Lin Xiaohan was still lying on the trolley with no intention of waking up.

Since no one was coming anyway, Chu Xia naturally didn't call him.

She sat on a small stool and dozed off for a while, and the old man selling melons next to her came to talk to her again.

Naturally, the old man's attitude towards Chu Xia has completely changed.

He chatted with Chuxia very enthusiastically and asked her where her hometown was. When he heard that she was from Beijing, he asked her many questions about Beijing to express his yearning for the capital and the great man.

After chatting about this, the old man suddenly asked Chuxia: "Aren't you two a couple?"

Chu Xia knew that he was asking about her and Lin Xiaohan, so she naturally shook her head and said, "No, we are classmates."

The old man glanced at Lin Xiaohan who was sleeping lazily on the cart, and said to Chuxia: "It's not good, this guy is stingy at first glance, he even puts it in the account after buying a popsicle, and he is reluctant to treat you to a five-cent popsicle. I said he can't marry a good wife like you."

Hearing this, Chuxia couldn't help laughing.

Lin Xiaohan, who was lying on the cart and had woken up a long time ago, frowned and looked up at the old man.

Why is this old man selling melons so talkative?

Neither the old man nor Chu Xia looked at Lin Xiaohan.

The two chatted for a while, and then Chu Xia remembered something serious, so she stopped talking and asked the old man, "Uncle, will there be a big market soon?"

There aren't always that many people coming to the small fairs held every week. If it were a big fair, it would be really crowded and lively, and the business of the small stalls would be much better than usual.

The old man thought about what she said and said with a hiss, "It seems that there is no market recently. Since our market opened last year, there have only been big markets during the Mid-Autumn Festival and before the New Year."

Chuxia nodded after listening.

It's really not easy to make money these days.

Chuxia and the old man chatted like this, and soon it was evening.

The sun has set in the west and there is no sunlight. There is an occasional cool breeze, making the streets even cooler.

More people came to the stall one after another, but of course there were far fewer people than in the morning.

On the market street.

A young couple, a man and a woman, were walking down the street.

The young man said to the girl, "Didn't we say we were going out to eat? Why are you here?"

The girl turned to look at the boy and said, "I heard that there's a noodle stand here, and it tastes really good. Didn't you say I can eat whatever I want? I want to come and have a bowl of noodles."

The young man obviously didn't want to eat here.

He looked around and said, "There's noodles in the state-owned canteen, so why are we eating here? All the chefs who have learned their craft are in restaurants. What good food can a small stall make?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly smelled a fragrance.

The fragrance drifted in front of him, and he subconsciously sniffed and stretched his head to look forward.

I didn't see where the fragrance came from.

The girl next to him quickened her pace, "Let's go, I can smell it."

The young man followed the girl's pace.

When you turn the corner of the street, you'll see a noodle stall with a sign hanging on it.

The noodle stall was naturally very simple and could not be compared with the state-owned canteen.

The young man still looked somewhat reluctant. He paid for the girl's meal because he wanted to have a decent meal. Eating at a small stall like this was obviously not decent at all.

But the girl had already sat down at the table and ordered noodles aloud: "I want a bowl with meat."

The young man had no choice but to sit down, but he didn't ask for noodles.

The girl looked at him for a while and asked, "Don't you want to eat?"

The young man held it and said, "You eat it, I'll just watch you eat."

He still felt that it was not worth spending money to eat in such a place.

Seeing him like this, the girl became a little unhappy.

Her face and voice darkened, and she added, "Forget it, I'll pay for the meal myself. You don't have to treat me."

They agreed that she could eat whatever she wanted, so now he was acting weird and boring.

The young man wanted to say something else, but before he could finish his words, the noodles the girl ordered were served.

The girl ignored him and just picked up the chopsticks, mixed the noodles and started eating.

The young man was still holding the girl while she was mixing the noodles.

But after the girl lowered her head and started eating noodles, he gradually found it difficult to hold it still.

After a while, I couldn't even sit still anymore.

Because I had a bad impression of this stall, I didn’t feel hungry just from smelling the food.

But now, as he smelled the food and watched the girl eating happily in front of him, he began to swallow his saliva uncontrollably. Even looking away did not help.

After a while, his eyes moved away and then returned to his face.

The girl looked up at him and felt that he seemed to be very greedy, so she said, "They are not lying at all, they are really delicious. Do you want to try a bite?"

The young man held back the saliva in his mouth and said with gritted teeth: "No need."

The girl completely ignored him and continued to eat her noodles with her head down, taking bigger and bigger bites.

But the young man regretted it immediately after he said he didn't need it.

He is so useful!

He now wished he could pick up the chopsticks and put a big piece of food directly into his mouth!

But he had already said it, so he tried to save face while continuing to stare at the girl while she was eating noodles.

When he saw the girl finish the last bite of noodles, he almost opened his mouth subconsciously.

When the girl put down her chopsticks and raised her head with a satisfied expression.

The young man swallowed hard.

The girl ignored him and looked at Chu Xia in a good mood and said, "Comrade, your cooking skills are amazing. This is the first time I've eaten noodles so delicious."

Chu Xia smiled at her and said, "Thank you, as long as you like it."

The girl naturally liked it very much. The satisfaction and happiness after eating it made her feel that the 40 cents was well spent and she didn't feel any regret at all.

She took out money and tickets from her bag to pay the bill.

The young man quickly held out his hand to stop her and said, "I told you it was my treat."

The girl insisted on paying and said, "You didn't eat anything, why should I ask you to treat me? I said I would pay for it myself."

Neither Chu Xia nor Lin Xiaohan reached out to take the girl's money or tickets.

After letting them talk for a while, Lin Xiaohan suddenly smiled and looked at the young man and said, "Would you like to have a bowl too?"

The young man couldn't bear it any longer.

He looked at Lin Xiaohan, then at the girl in front of him.

Then he continued to pretend and said, "Then...then have a bowl...try the saltiness..."

God knows, if he doesn’t eat a bowl tonight, he probably won’t be able to sleep all night when he goes back.

I wasn't surprised to hear him say that.

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan looked at each other, smiled silently, and turned to cook noodles.

***

Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan waited until the sun went down and dusk fell before packing up and leaving.

It was getting dark and there was no light, so it was inconvenient to cook and eat noodles, so naturally no one was around.

Although I am very tired after a busy day, I am in a good mood.

It was completely dark when they returned to the brigade headquarters. After Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan pushed the cart into the storage room, they did not leave immediately. Instead, they stayed in the storage room to count the money and check the accounts.

In the entire Tanxi Brigade, only the brigade headquarters has electricity.

Under the dim light, Chu Xia leaned close to Lin Xiaohan and watched him settle the accounts quietly.

Lin Xiaohan was the one who kept the account from beginning to end, so naturally he would be the one to do the settlement as well.

After Lin Xiaohan finished calculating the bill, Chu Xia asked, "How much money did we make today?"

Lin Xiaohan looked at his account book and said, "After deducting the cost and the money given to the team, the two of us earned 4.20 yuan. If we divide it equally, it will be 2.10 yuan per person."

Chu Xia widened her eyes slightly and said, "It's a lot."

She originally thought that she would be satisfied if she could sell ten bowls of noodles on the first day of setting up the stall.

Lin Xiaohan closed the account book and looked at her. "This is really good for the first day. I hope more and more people will know about our noodle stall and our business will get better and better in the future."

Chu Xia said confidently, "Take your time."

Today ended very successfully. Lin Xiaohan put the account book back on the cart, stood up, turned off the lights in the storage room with Chuxia, locked the door and left the brigade headquarters.

I got up early in the morning and was tired after a whole day.

After returning to the educated youth point, Chuxia washed up, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep in less than two minutes.

There was nothing important the next day, so Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan did not get up early.

Chuxia slept soundly and was not woken up by the alarm in the boys' dormitory, but was woken up by the noise of Gu Yuzhu and the others getting up.

After being woken up, I wanted to continue sleeping, but Gu Yuzhu and the others were making a lot of noise.

Whether they are talking, tidying up the bedding or picking up things, they will make louder noises than usual.

It wasn't like he was pretending she didn't exist, but more like he was deliberately bothering her.

Chuxia lay on the bed, closed her eyes and tried to keep calm.

Unable to calm down, she said in a calm voice: "If you have the guts, why don't you just stop going to work? What's the point of arguing here all day?"

Gu Yuzhu and the other three were stunned by what she said.

Then Gu Yuzhu snorted coldly and said, "Who deliberately disturbed you? You really take yourself too seriously. We just made the normal noises when we got up. It's not as dirty as you think. We don't have time to target you."

Chu Xia continued to close her eyes and said in a calm and even voice: "I'm not stupid, you're just jealous that I have a good job and can sleep in during holidays. It's useless to be jealous of others. I advise you to focus more on yourself and think about how to live your life. Otherwise, it won't be long before you can't get any help from heaven or earth."

Gu Yuzhu snorted again, "You don't need to worry about it. We are living well. There are twelve people in the dormitory, and ten of them are not on good terms with you. You should worry about how far you can go."

Chu Xia sneered and didn't respond to her words.

They didn't argue any more and went back to work soon.

After they left, the entire youth cadre site became quiet, and Chuxia took another nap.

Before falling asleep, she thought to herself that she must move out and stay away from people like them.

After taking a nap, Chuxia got up, washed up, had a meal, and fed the chickens.

Yesterday, she and Lin Xiaohan went to the stall and asked Wang Xiaoyan to take care of the chickens, so they were not hungry.

After finishing these things, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan went to the brigade headquarters again.

They found accountant Qin Xue and settled the accounts for yesterday.

When Qin Xue saw how much money Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan had earned yesterday, he exclaimed, "That's great!"

Lin Xiaohan said without any modesty: "You have tasted Comrade Xiao Xia's cooking skills, it must be good."

Qin Xue smiled and nodded, "That's fine, then do it well!"

Chu Xia nodded vigorously, "Yeah!"

***

Because the market is not held every day, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan do not set up their stalls every day.

When they were not setting up the stalls, they were not idle either. When they had time, they went to work in the production team and earned work points like everyone else.

On Sundays, when there is a market, I would continue to pull the cart to the market.

Because of the accumulation of the first stall, many people in the town heard about their noodle stall, so when they set up the stall for the second time, business was better than the first time.

After setting up the stall four or five times, many people have become familiar with the sign of the Tanxi State-owned Noodle Stall.

Noodles with soybean paste made in early summer have become the first choice for many people who want to improve their diet.

Before, if you wanted to eat noodles, you had to take money and tickets to the state-owned canteen.

Nowadays, if you want to eat noodles, you have to wait until the market day and go to the noodle stall to have a bowl of noodles with soybean paste.

In such a busy environment, the two months of summer vacation passed quickly.

School started in early September. Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan no longer went to work in the production team, but returned to school to concentrate on school affairs.

Because of the experience from the first semester, everything this semester was much easier.

After collecting tuition fees, I went to the county education bureau to get the books. Once the books were distributed, classes started.

After school started, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan had no plans to give up setting up the stall.

The main reason is that the money they earned during the summer vacation is not enough for them to build a house, and the shortfall is quite large. Anyway, they have nothing to do on Sundays, so they might as well earn as much as they can.

The first Sunday after school started happened to be the long-awaited fair in early summer.

Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is in two days, the brigade gave all members a day off this Sunday so that everyone can go to the market to buy things and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in a lively manner.

There are festivals every year. The new year is the Spring Festival, and the festival we celebrate is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

People save money every year as they get poorer, and the money they save is basically spent on these two festivals.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year, every family is willing to spend money.

That morning, before the roosters crowed, many people in the village got up.

The excitement of festivals all starts from the market day.

After having breakfast at home, everyone brought their children and went to the market together.

Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan also got up very early today.

Because they are facing a big set today, they need to prepare more things.

All the people in the village who were going to the market had already gone together, and only then did the other people at the educated youth site get up.

After they got up, washed, had breakfast, and naturally prepared things to go to the market.

Going to the market is just to buy food for the festival.

They have rural household registration and do not have meat coupons, so they do not need to buy pork. The village will slaughter pigs before the Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year, and distribute pork to each household according to the number of people. Of course, just like food, it is not distributed for free.

I don’t buy meat or vegetables. I go to the market to buy some snacks that I usually don’t want to buy, and eat some things that I usually don’t want to eat.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes are a must-buy.

If you are better off, you can buy some osmanthus cake and osmanthus wine.

Also, at this time, many families have run out of fine grains.

In order to have a good meal during the festival, people would bring coarse grains to the commune's grain station and exchange them for fine grains in proportion.

Han Ting and his men have long run out of fine grains.

Originally, the amount of fine grains distributed by the brigade was very small. They usually exchanged pickles with the villagers. The villagers did not want coarse grains, so they gave them fine grains. So now they had no fine grains.

There was no fine grain to eat, and it was time to celebrate the festival, so naturally, like other villagers, I took coarse grains to the grain station to exchange them.

After breakfast, Chaozi took a snakeskin bag and a pot lid to weigh the food.

The two men walked to the sack, and Chaozi reached directly into the sack, grasped the dry ladle, scooped out half a spoonful of sorghum rice, and poured it into the prepared snakeskin bag.

Since there are many of them, they naturally need to bring more coarse grains.

But when he scooped the third half spoonful, Chaozi was stunned for a moment, then frowned with a look of something wrong on his face.

He poured the sorghum rice from the dry gourd into the snakeskin bag and looked around with a frown.

Seeing his strange behavior, he held up the lid of the snakeskin bag and said in confusion: "Why are you talking so weird? Scoop again."

When you exchange coarse grains for fine grains, the weight will become less and less, so even if you don't weigh this little, it will not be enough.

Chaozi ignored the pot lid.

He looked at it for a while, then stood up and looked for it.

Guogai didn't know what he was doing, and said anxiously, "No, what are you doing? You're still waiting to go to the market."

Chaozi came back after searching for a while, his brows furrowed even deeper, and he looked at the pot lid and said, "What the hell is this market? We are out of food, and no one has noticed?"