Chapter 28 Chapter 28 (Xiao Xiu) Cheng Xinchui...

Cheng Xin had two hundred yuan in her pocket and she wanted to buy something for her home.

There are stalls everywhere in Haiwan Commune. The prices are cheaper than those in state-owned stores, and most importantly, no tickets are required.

Cheng Xin passed by the dazzling array of small commodities and was so fascinated that she couldn't move.

White steam was emitting from the tarpaulin sheds set up on both sides of the road, and the aroma of fried dough sticks mixed with the continuous shouting came over.

"Dacron shirt, three dollars and fifty cents a piece!"

"The new electronic watch has an error of no more than five minutes!"

An old man wearing a straw hat was squatting on the curb with a bamboo chicken coop in front of him. Cheng Xin wanted to buy chicks again.

Geng Yunye suddenly stopped in front of a blue cloth stall. The stall owner was a round-faced woman wearing sleeves. In a glass box were placed various hairpins, and at the edge were a pair of red lacquered wooden combs, with gold powder still in the teeth.

"I want this one." He pointed at a pair of light blue butterfly hairpins.

Cheng Xin rushed to pay, but was stopped by Geng Yunye: "It's unreasonable for me to ask you to pay when I go out with a lesbian."

When Cheng Xin saw the cracked rubber sole of his Liberation shoes, she had an idea.

She looked around, clutching her coin purse, and finally found a stall selling shoes.

Jiefang rubber shoes only cost three yuan, so Cheng Xin bought a pair of Jiefang shoes for her father and Geng Yunye. She didn't buy shoes for her younger brother because they were too expensive, and cloth shoes suited him better.

Geng Yunye didn't know what he bought, but he stuffed the bulging cowhide bag into her backpack.

Cheng Xin handed him the newly bought shoes: "The stitches on your shoes are torn, but they were still intact when you were cutting grain a few days ago." It must be because he often rode his bike to visit her and helped her with housework these days, so his shoes were worn out.

Geng Yunye didn't notice when he went out that these shoes were old shoes that he usually wore when doing heavy work at home. He was so embarrassed for the first time that he didn't even notice that the soles of his shoes were cracked.

In this era, everyone wears old clothes and old shoes. Going out in cracked shoes is not abrupt, but a bit embarrassing.

He touched his nose and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

Cheng Xin didn't laugh at him and asked him to put on his new shoes: "It's normal for a man like you to be careless and not notice it."

Geng Yunye found a deserted place and changed into new shoes.

I don’t know how she measured him. She clearly didn’t know his shoe size, but the shoes she bought were just the right size.

Geng Yunye took two steps back and forth: "It fits perfectly. I remember I didn't tell you my shoe size."

Cheng Xin smiled confidently: "I can see that."

"Sweet, your smile is sweet, like flowers blooming in the spring breeze, blooming in the spring breeze..."①

The sweet voice of a female singer floated from behind a stall selling farm tools, and the woman on the tape box was wearing a sequined skirt and smiling.

Cheng Xin pinned a butterfly hairpin on her temples and caught a glimpse of Geng Yunye bending over to talk to the shoemaker, holding the old shoes he had just taken off. He was more frugal than she had imagined.

Cheng Xin bought two enamel basins, a thermos, some cold cream and a bag of brown sugar for her home.

She gained new insights in the Haiwan Commune and realized that this is what reform and opening up is.

The two did not stay and returned home after buying things.

The setting sun dyed the dirt road in the countryside golden, and Cheng Xin's palms were sweaty as she gripped the handlebars. The seat of the 28-inch bicycle was too high, and she had to stand on tiptoe to barely reach the pedals.

"Turn the pedal forward half a circle and then step on it." Geng Yunye held the back seat, his wheat-colored forearm across three inches behind Cheng Xin's waist. She smelled like dried straw.

Cheng Xin pushed the pedal hard, and the front of the car tilted towards the rice fields on the side of the road.

Geng Yunye quickly grasped the handlebars and pressed his chest against her back. His body temperature penetrated through the coarse cloth shirt and made Cheng Xin tremble.

"Relax." The deep voice shook her eardrums. Geng Yunye covered the back of her hand with his calloused palm. "Watch how I use my wrist to exert force." He led her to turn the front of the car, and the blue veins rose and fell under his wheat-colored skin.

The wheels rolled over the raised gravel, and suddenly there was a bump, and Cheng Xin hit a hard chest when she leaned back.

Geng Yunye's Adam's apple brushed against the top of her head, and her breathing suddenly became disordered. He put his left foot on the ground and stopped, and Cheng Xin fell back into his arms.

The cicadas' chirping became deafening at this moment.

Cheng Xin stared at the two people's clasped hands, her heart beating wildly.

"Continue?" Geng Yunye's voice was hoarse, but he did not retract his arm.

Cheng Xin nodded randomly, the heat wave blowing up her sweaty hair.

After riding three times, Cheng Xin finally didn't need any help. She felt the back seat sink.

Geng Yunye's action of jumping onto the car created a gust of hot air, and the car body suddenly tilted towards the roadside ditch.

"You!" Cheng Xin's knuckles turned white from gripping the handlebars, and her straw hat was knocked to the back of her head.

The wheat-colored arms suddenly wrapped around her waist, and his hot chest pressed against her back.

Geng Yunye's voice came with the vibration of his chest: "Watch the road."

He covered her hand that was holding the handlebar with his left hand.

Cheng Xin smelled the scent of sweat mixed with mugwort soap, and the heat from her waist penetrated through her shirt, making her spine numb.

When passing by a populated area, Geng Yunye let go of the back seat and Cheng Xin was caught off guard and leaned back by inertia, with the back of her head hitting his collarbone.

"Be careful." He rubbed his chin against her sweaty temples, and after turning around the straw stack, his arm quietly wrapped around her again.

The evening breeze lifted the hem of Cheng Xin's clothes, revealing a tight waistline without any fat. Geng Yunye's Adam's apple rolled when he looked away, and the muscles in his arms were tighter than when he was riding a bike.

The car bells jingled as it crossed the stone bridge, and Geng Yunye braked with one leg on the ground.

"We're here." A hoarse voice fell behind her ear.

Cheng Xin jumped out of the car in a hurry, feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

Geng Yunye sent her to the door of her house and then rode away on his bike. He couldn't always trouble others when building his house.

When Cheng Xin got home, she excitedly shared that she had learned to ride a bicycle, which made Cheng Lei's face full of envy.

"Sister, you are amazing. You can ride a bicycle so quickly."

Cheng Cunzhi rubbed the cotton wick and said happily: "When our family conditions improve, we will buy a bicycle so that it will be convenient to go anywhere."

Cheng Lei stood on tiptoe and looked into the backpack: "Sister, why did you buy so many things? You must have spent a lot of money, right?"

Xu Fengxia came back from the field carrying a hoe. Cheng Xin gave her brother two pieces of chocolate and asked him to invite her aunt over.

The family of three talked behind closed doors.

"Dad, Mom, guess how much I sold today?"

Cheng Cunzhi made a “five” gesture, and Xu Fengxia shook her head: “How can you possibly sell so many mushrooms?”

Cheng Xin pulled out her coin purse and took out a roll of money.

"I spent twenty dollars, you count the rest."

Xu Fengxia couldn't believe her eyes: "So much money?! Is it really earned from selling mushrooms?"

"What else? The buyer kept praising the quality, saying it was top grade. I didn't quite understand that mushrooms need to be graded after being dried. Geng Yunye taught me all that."

After counting, Xu Fengxia pushed the number to her husband: "You count."

Cheng Cunzhi sighed and said, "We have to thank Xiao Geng very much. He is such a good guy. How will he react when he knows we earn so much?"

Cheng Xin thought about it and said happily, "He didn't react much. He helped set the price. I was almost scared at the time, for fear that people would scold me for saying that mushrooms are more expensive than pork. I don't know why the buyer was sure that Geng Yunye was an expert, and the two chatted for a while."

They all knew that Geng Yunye had just retired from the army, and they didn't know how he managed to make people so convinced.

Cheng Xin took out two big unity notes: "This is my aunt's money."

Xu Fengxia asked her to put away the remaining money: "Keep it for yourself. You are the only one in our family who has a bright future. You made money last time by selling dried bamboo shoots, and this time you made a lot of money by selling mushrooms. It's a pity that you were born as a girl and can't go out and work hard like a man."

Cheng Xin disagreed with her mother's words: "Mom, what's wrong with being a girl? Today I saw many women setting up stalls in the commune. Women hold up half the sky."

Xu Fengxia just smiled bitterly: "You are a girl. If you were born in a family like ours, you can only get married and have children early. No matter how capable you are, you have to find a husband. If you were a man, everyone would praise you for your ability and success if you earned this much money. Your grandparents would have to listen to you."

Cheng Xin understood what her mother meant. She held her mother's hand and said, "I don't think there's anything wrong with being a girl. When I lead our family to a good life, grandpa and grandma will have to put up with their opinions about girls."

A few days ago, Xu Fengxia was scolded by her parents-in-law, who probably meant that they looked down on Geng Yunye and thought he was an unemployed vagrant who didn't know how to farm. She was the last person to know that Wang Jiangang had fallen in love with their daughter.