Shen Heng laughed: "You still don't believe me? There are those flower-picking swindlers out there now. They'll tap you on the back of the head, and you'll foolishly follow them. When you wake up, you'll find yourself in the mountains, with no one to call for help. Let's see what you do then."

Shen Heng tried to scare Bai Jiaojiao, but to his surprise, Bai Jiaojiao showed no fear at all. She turned her head away and ignored him, leaving him with only a silent back of her head.

They set off at the crack of dawn and arrived in the county town after 10 a.m.

The truck jolted as it stopped, waking Bai Jiaojiao, who had fallen asleep without realizing it.

"Heng-ge, have we arrived yet?"

"arrive."

Shen Heng helped Bai Jiaojiao out of the car, and then followed the people who came out of the grain depot to weigh the grain. His face was unusually calm.

The wheat in Shili Village was weighed all morning, and the recording wasn't finished until after 2 p.m.

"What a terrible business! I knew the brigade leader was being kind enough to let us come to the city for a stroll."

Even someone like Shen Heng was exhausted. He wiped his face and said, "Come on, let's go eat at a state-run restaurant."

Even though it's still long now, Shen Heng estimated that if they wanted to get back to the village before dark, they would have to leave at least five o'clock. There wasn't much time left, so they had to hurry.

Bai Jiaojiao looked at the scenery along the way. At this time, even the county town had not yet developed. The main road in the center of the county town was quite wide, but the roadside was overgrown with weeds and birdsong. The small earthen buildings each had their own character. Without any planning, they were dusty and messy.

"Why are you so far away from me? Didn't I tell you there are beggars in the county town?"

There were indeed more people on the streets of the county town than in the town. Shen Heng pulled his wife closer to him.

"Of all the people on the street, you're the least likely to be a good person." Didn't you see that everyone avoids you?

After Bai Jiaojiao finished speaking, Shen Heng raised an eyebrow: "Now you know I'm not a good person, but it's too late."

On a bright, sunny day, Bai Jiaojiao was too lazy to pay attention to Shen Heng's flippant remarks.

The two entered the restaurant. Bai Jiaojiao glanced at the prices and saw that any stir-fry with a little meat cost one yuan per dish, and stews were even more expensive.

"What would you like to eat? Order."

"Have a steamed bun."

Bai Jiaojiao glanced at the prices and decided that eating meat buns was the most cost-effective and convenient option. She could eat them and leave quickly, saving time going to the supply and marketing cooperative, where she still had many other things to buy.

"So stingy."

Shen Heng followed Bai Jiaojiao's lead and ordered six meat buns, a pot of chicken stew with mushrooms, and a plate of stir-fried cabbage, spending a total of eight yuan and twenty cents.

Bai Jiaojiao touched the money in her hand. She had only taken twenty yuan, and half of it was gone in the time it took to eat a meal.

Shen Heng looked at Bai Jiaojiao's face, which was scrunched up like a bun, and said, "I'll treat you to some."

Where did you get the money?

Bai Jiaojiao remembered that she had given Shen Heng five yuan to help with his back pain about half a month ago. After that, the money from selling glutinous rice strips was given to Shen Heng by Wang Fushun, and Shen Heng gave it back to her before he even had a chance to enjoy it.

Shen Heng chuckled mischievously: "Can't I earn two myself? As a grown man, can't I even have a little bit of savings?"

It's so embarrassing to let your wife pay when you go out to eat!

Shen Heng took out his own money to treat everyone to dinner, looking very proud.

Bai Jiaojiao was both annoyed and amused by his worthless attitude.

The dishes were served in no time. For a state-run restaurant, the portions were more than enough. Bai Jiaojiao ate faster than usual since it was past 2 p.m.

With Shen Heng around, there was no possibility of wasting food. The two ate their fill at the state-run restaurant, inquired about the location of the supply and marketing cooperative, and treated it as a post-meal stroll, arriving in just over ten minutes.

The supply and marketing cooperatives in the county town are different from those in the town; their glass counters are always sparkling clean.

To celebrate the holiday, Bai Jiaojiao bought a lot of food; the variety of dishes here was dazzling.

"Hey, Hengzi, what brings you here? Is this your wife?"

The person selling pork here wasn't a salesperson, but a butcher wearing a dark blue apron. His eyes lit up when he saw Shen Heng.

His name is Sun Cheng. The pork that Bai Jiaojiao used to make meat floss was obtained from him by Shen Heng's contact person.

He used to be from Hushan Town, but now he works at a meat processing plant in the county. His company sent him to deliver goods to the supply and marketing cooperative.

“Come and deliver the grain,” Shen Heng said, glancing at the pork laid out before him. “Do you have anything better?”

They didn't arrive until the afternoon; the good meat had already been bought up.

"Brother, do you have any pork left? This is my old buddy. It's rare for him to come all the way to the county." Sun Cheng called to the sales clerk next to him. The best meat had definitely been picked up by the sales clerks.

The sales clerk was quite familiar with Sun Cheng. He pulled out a string of pork belly from the counter and said, "Old Sun has asked, how could we not have it?"

Sun Cheng took it and explained, "What kind do you want? I'll bring you a better batch tomorrow. My buddy needs it urgently, so we'll prioritize him."

"Thank you, Brother Sun." Shen Heng took the piece of pork belly, which was square and perfectly marbled with fat and lean meat, clearly from the best part of the plate.

"What are you saying, my own brother? Is there anything else you need? Do you want me to accompany you around?"

"No need, I've already bought everything I needed over there."

Besides food, Bai Jiaojiao bought twenty kilograms of yarn in one go, all in bright colors and of excellent quality. In the end, she didn't have enough money, so she had to use Shen Heng's secret stash.

Shen Heng exchanged a few polite words with Sun Cheng, then led Bai Jiaojiao out of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Is there anything else you want?

"Heng-ge, let's go to the scrap yard and see if they have any textbooks for sale."

"Buying books?"

"Yeah, didn't I say I'd teach you some manners last time? It's not easy for us to come all the way to the county, Brother Heng, do you know where the scrap yard is around here?"

"Just ask around and you'll find out."

As long as you're quick to speak, there's nowhere you can't find it.

The gatekeeper of the scrap metal recycling station was an old man with a face full of pockmarks. When he saw the two of them arrive empty-handed, he tilted his head and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Sir, I'd like to buy a book."

"Buy books? What kind of books?" The old man looked at Bai Jiaojiao warily.

"Junior and senior high school textbooks."

“I don’t have any of those here,” the old man finally breathed a sigh of relief. “What a coincidence today. A young man just left, saying he wanted to sell books, but not even as cheap as waste paper. Wasn’t he just trying to make fun of this old man?”

Where is he now?

"They're gone. Who knows where they went?"

"Grandpa, did you see him walk that way?"

Bai Jiaojiao was polite and spoke gently, so the old man happily pointed her in a direction: "She went that way, but you probably can't catch up with her."

Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng left the scrap yard and looked at the fork in the road, where a main road and a side road met.

"Let's walk this way first," Shen Heng thought. Carrying a bunch of books and still a pretty boy, he probably couldn't go far. He wanted to take a gamble and see if he could find a shortcut.

The path led to a row of houses in just a few steps. The alley was so narrow and oppressive that Bai Jiaojiao didn't dare to go any further.

They had just stopped when they heard coughing coming from the nearest house, along with a man's voice: "Mom, it's okay, I'll go again. The price is fine, even if it's just scrap paper!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jiaojiao quickly went to knock on the door.