Arranging time off in lieu of work is easy. Su Yu is usually quite hardworking and has never complained about work, so getting time off in lieu of work should be no problem.

The next morning, Su Yu swaggered away with her bag on her back, filled with money and tickets.

The family members stared blankly, none of them daring to ask a single question.

There are two shopping malls in the provincial capital, but they are not very close to home. Usually, people buy things at the nearby supply and marketing cooperatives.

Having been here for so long, Su Yu has hardly ever gone shopping. Partly because she hasn't had time, and partly because she doesn't really find it appealing.

As she spent more and more time in this era, her thoughts changed to some extent.

For example, she now thinks Yan Fang is dressed quite well. Compared to her, she feels much worse.

Yan Fang was wearing a blue dress with a cardigan over it, and cloth shoes. Her two long braids were tied up, making her look more beautiful than usual.

Seeing Su Yu still wearing her work clothes while shopping, I somewhat understood how Su Yu felt.

No wonder Su Yu wants to change now. She really does need to change; she can't mistreat herself no matter what.

She pulled Su Yu and ran upstairs, saying, "Come on, the clothing store is upstairs, let's hurry up and buy some. If you don't have enough cloth coupons and industrial coupons, I can lend you some; I still have a few left."

"Yes, I brought them all." Su Yu patted her bag. She was prepared.

As soon as the two went upstairs, Su Yu was taken aback by the scene in front of the counter. A dozen or so women were crowded in front of the counter.

The sales clerks inside were taking clothes out, and basically, as soon as they took them out, they were snatched away.

There's no such thing as trying on clothes or being picky about colors.

Su Yu squinted at it and thought, "No matter how poor the country is, people who love beauty will still love it. It won't be a problem at any time."

Yan Fang was furious, "You're late even though you're here so early!"

Then he pulled Su Yu over there.

Yan Fang was much more experienced when it came to shopping. Seizing every opportunity, she quickly pulled Su Yu to the counter amidst the complaints of the crowd.

This was the first time Su Yu had experienced something like this, and she was panting as she touched her chest.

"Hurry up and get what you want, there are a lot of people behind us." The salesperson shouted impatiently.

Su Yu grabbed the money and tickets and placed them on the counter, saying, "Bring out all your new styles for this season."

Salesperson: "..."

Yan Fang: "..."

"Ahem, what I mean is, I need clothes for the season. Lenin suits, two Lenin suits, please. Blouse will also be fine, I want them both."

Yan Fang pulled her aside and said, "Why do you need so many? One set is enough. These are very expensive. People usually save them for their weddings."

Is this outfit you're saving for your wedding?

Su Yu firmly refused. "My younger brother and sister asked me to buy it. They won't agree if I buy too little, they think I'll embarrass them."

The sales clerk immediately glanced at her, thinking, "Why didn't we have such a good younger brother or sister?" Then she quickly rummaged through clothes for Su Yu, not caring about colors or sizes, and piled them all on the table and counter. Then she started calculating the industrial coupons and cloth coupons.

The two Lenin suits cost a total of twelve feet of cloth ration coupons plus two industrial coupons, which amounted to twenty dollars in cash alone.

In an era where the average monthly salary is only thirty yuan, this is practically high-end clothing.

I was planning to buy a Blagi dress, but it was already sold out.

Su Yu was immediately extremely depressed.

Yan Fang said, "You're quite lucky to have managed to buy two Lenin suits. Ready-made clothes are extremely rare these days, you can't even buy them. And it's fortunate that we're in the provincial capital. In the cities, counties, and regions below, they don't even sell ready-made clothes yet. If you want to buy clothes, you have to go to our provincial capital."

While touching her newly bought clothes, Su Yu said, "Don't we have so much fabric in our factory? Why don't we make clothes from it?"

“Isn’t there an order from above to expand production? We’re busy enough producing raw materials, we don’t have time to make garments. And garments need to be put into machines. Our factory doesn’t have money. If you had money, the workers in the factory wouldn’t be living so poorly. The workers in the steel mills and coal yards live in better housing than we do. They’re building houses in large areas. Our factory has only provided housing for a few families.”

"Can we build houses in our factory?" Su Yu suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Without money, I think construction is out of the question," Yan Fang shook her head.

Su Yu was immediately delighted. She absolutely had to be able to build a house! How could she live in a big house if she didn't build one?

After buying clothes, the two went to the shoe counter to buy shoes.

Su Yu looked down on the Liberation Shoes and white sneakers; they cost as much as a pair of genuine leather shoes.

The leather is so good now, it's genuine leather. It's comparable to the leather in her old haute couture shoes. High-quality stuff.

Su Yu stomped on her new shoes and found them incredibly comfortable.

Yan Fang stared at her in disbelief. "Sister Su Yu, you just put your shoes on the ground like that?"

"Well, you're going to wear it to get out of bed, right?"

"..." I should at least stay in bed for one night. These are new shoes, after all.

"Let's go find a place to change clothes. I need to wear these new clothes too," Su Yu said to Gao Xin.

Lenin suit, leather shoes—finally, the setup isn't too different from my previous life.