After a day and night of train riding, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie got off the train at the station the next morning. Standing on the platform, they took a deep breath, turned their heads to look at the rising sun, smiled at each other, and left the train station together.

After leaving the station, they found a bus and took it to the vicinity of the school. The two did not rush to the school, but first found a breakfast shop on the roadside to have breakfast. After

eating fried dough sticks and tofu pudding, they felt warm.

After carrying the luggage out of the breakfast shop, Ruan Xi pulled the scarf on her face to cover her mouth to block the cold air, sniffed, turned around and said to Ruan Jie: "Let's go, I'll take you to school first." After all,

it was the first time for Ruan Xi to go to school alone, so Ruan Xi was naturally not particularly relieved for Ruan Jie. She sent Ruan Jie to the school gate, watched her enter the school gate, and walked into the depths of the school, and then turned around and left with her luggage.

She paid for the bus to her school at the station.

After getting off the bus, she found herself outside the school gate. Ruan Xi stood outside the gate with her luggage, looking up at the four big characters on the gate. Other students were carrying their luggage and going in, all of them with excitement on their faces.

Her smile was hidden under her scarf, but her eyes were bright and glittering.

Taking a deep breath, Ruan Xi smiled and stepped into the school gate.

Water flowed from the faucet like a column, and the column disappeared when she turned her hand. Her

white fingers fell into the enamel basin, scooped up the clear warm water and splashed it on her face.

She wiped her face with a towel, poured out the water in the basin, picked up the mouthwash cup with a toothbrush and toothpaste and went back to the dormitory. She

put away her toiletries in the dormitory, hung up the towel, and took the comb to the mirror to comb her hair.

Her hair was black, soft and shiny, and the quality was very good. She could comb it from the roots to the ends with a comb. However, she never grew her hair very long, only to the chest, so it was not particularly troublesome to tie it up. She

combed her hair and braided it into two neat pigtails, and tied it with a hair tie.

Just after tying her hair, she suddenly saw her roommate Li Xiaofang sitting up on the bed next to her, holding her hair.

She turned to look at Ruan Xi and asked with a strong nasal voice: "You got up so early, are you going to the library?"

I haven't had a rest since I came to school for a week. Today is Sunday, so everyone got up a little later.

Ruan Xi tied her hair and picked up the comb, "No, I have to go out for something today."

Li Xiaofang still spoke with a nasal voice, "Oh."

She caught a cold two days after arriving at school, and it hasn't healed yet, and her nose is still blocked.

Ruan Xi didn't wait for her, she took her schoolbag and put it on her back, and whispered to her, "Then I'll go first."

Li Xiaofang nodded, leaned back on the bed, and went back to sleep.

Ruan Xi went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, and left the school with her schoolbag on her back.

Before she traveled through time, she had of course been to the capital, but she had never been to the capital in the 1970s. The city of Beijing at that time was not so prosperous and lively, and most of the residential houses were small bungalows with gray tiles, and the street scenes were all gray.

She wandered around the alley with her schoolbag on her back and saw a car repair shop.

There was a rainproof shed in front of the repair shop. A row of old bicycles were placed on the curb, some of which were 80% new and some were 30% new. A young man in his twenties wearing a blue uniform was sitting under the shed repairing bicycles.

Ruan Xi didn't look at the young man for long, but just looked at the row of old bicycles.

While the young man was repairing the bicycles, he raised his head and looked at her twice, then threw down the repair tools in his hand, washed his hands, came over, stood in front of Ruan Xi, looked her up, and asked her: "Do you want to buy a bike?"

Ruan Xi looked at the young man, then looked at the name of his repair shop, and asked after a moment: "Do you sell it?"

The young man smiled and whispered: "Whether I sell it or not depends on whether you want to buy it." Ruan Xi looked at him suspiciously, and asked: "Then how do you sell these bicycles?" The young man pointed at the old bicycles and said

: "Do you want to sell them?"

He said, "This older one will cost you 40, and this one that's about 80% new will cost 80."

Ruan Xi looked at him again, "Isn't this considered speculation?"

The young man looked at her calmly and smiled, "If you buy it, you are also speculating. You can't sue me for the same crime, right? If you don't buy it, then I am not speculating either, don't you think?"

Using a legal repair shop as a cover, repairing cars and engaging in speculation at the same time, how brave he is.

But Ruan Xi didn't care about these things, she really wanted to buy a bicycle now. She originally planned to buy a new one, but she heard that someone was selling bicycle tickets on the black market, but she calculated it again and realized that she couldn't afford it. Bicycle

tickets would sell for about 120 yuan, plus the new bicycle itself would cost 150 yuan, which is almost close to 300 yuan. Three hundred yuan is a huge amount of money, and she couldn't bear to spend it even if she could afford it.

So after thinking about it, she decided to try to buy a second-hand one.

By chance, she came here and saw a second-hand one.

Since this person dared to sell it, why wouldn't she dare to buy it? So she picked and chose among the bicycles, picked a semi-new one, bargained with the young man for a long time, and bought it for fifty yuan.

The young man took the money and pushed the bicycle to her, patted the seat and said, "I guarantee you will be satisfied with the ride."

Ruan Xi took the bicycle and left, but the bicycle chain fell off less than fifty meters after riding.

"..."

Ruan Xi turned the bicycle around, pushed the bicycle back and put it in front of the young man.

The young man was not embarrassed at all, and quickly put the bicycle chain on Ruan Xi.

As a result, Ruan Xi rode out less than 50 meters before the chain fell off again.

This time she pushed the bike back and looked at the young man and said, "You can hear my accent and see that I am young and from another place, so you are trying to cheat me, right? This bike is worth 50 yuan, I don't think it's worth even 10 yuan, I don't want it."

Fortunately, the chain fell off twice before leaving the shop. If she had walked far, she would not be able to explain it when she came back.

The young man looked at her and smiled, "Sister, how could I cheat you? Look at my bike, it's a genuine Fei Du brand."

Ruan Xi looked at the bike and then at him, "Isn't it this bar that is Fei Du brand?"

"..."

The young man's smile was a little subtle this time.

It is true that only the front bar is Fei Du brand, and the other parts are all mixed together, none of them are good things, but they are also assembled by him with great effort. It was fine before, but who knew it would break at the critical moment!

Ruan Xi understood his expression and glared at him, "Give me back! You are bringing shame to the people of the capital!"

The young man was not angry, and called Ruan Xi again, "Why don't you look at something else, I'll give you a discount."

Who would buy here after being cheated? Ruan Xi stretched out his hand to him, "No."

The young man didn't look very willing, but finally returned the fifty yuan to Ruan Xi.

Ruan Xi took the money and left decisively, and continued to walk somewhere else.

The young man didn't hesitate, and sat back under the shed to repair the car again. He also put the car that had been falling apart next to him, intending to repair the other one after repairing the one in his hand.

The sun's rays shifted their angles on the roof of the shed, and when the shadow of the shed fell on the east side in the evening, the girl who planned to buy a car in the morning came back again. She was still walking with her schoolbag on her back, as if she was very tired after walking all day.

The young man was packing up and preparing to close the shop and go home. When he saw Ruan Xi coming back, he asked, "Didn't you find it?"

Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "Yeah."

Buying things these days is the most troublesome thing. She was lucky to come across this shop today. Because she came across it as soon as she went out in the morning, she thought there were many speculators in big cities, but it turned out that there were not many.

The young man continued to pack up, "Do you think anyone dares to do this?"

Ruan Xi looked at him without saying anything, not knowing what to say.

The young man felt uncomfortable after being stared at by her for a while, so he stopped what he was doing, straightened up, looked at her again and said, "There are not many people coming from other places these days, and you don't look like you are here to visit relatives. Are you here to go to college?"

Ruan Xi still simply replied, "Yes."

The young man nodded and said, "College student, not bad, I didn't pass the exam."

Then he asked, "Do you specifically need a car?"

Ruan Xi looked at him and still replied, "Yes."

The young man smiled and said, "Since you are really in trouble, for Bring honor to the people of our capital, I will pick up a good car for you. Come pick it up next Sunday, I will definitely not cheat you or cheat you this time, I will get you a good car. "

Ruan Xi's face had a different expression, and she relaxed a little, "Really?"

The young man said, "Come and see it next week, if it's not good, just don't want it, I won't force you to buy it."

Ruan Xi agreed with ease, "Okay, then I'll come next week."

Ruan Xi ran around outside all day, and it was dark when she returned to school. She went to the cafeteria to eat dinner, went back to the dormitory to wash up, climbed onto the bed and sat to read a book, and when she was sleepy, she stuffed the book under the pillow and fell asleep.

Because the school is strict, and because many people have said goodbye to school for many years, and suffered a lot in factories or the countryside, so now that they have the opportunity to study again, they are all desperately trying to make up for their knowledge.

Listening carefully in class is the most basic thing. Apart from class time, the rest of the time is almost all spent on studying. Usually, students are either in the study room or in the library. Not many students have the mind to do other things.

Of course, Ruan Xi is one of these students.

Of course, her mind is not on things like dating, which is expressly prohibited by the school, but she goes out to understand the situation in the outside society whenever she has time. Pay attention to the trends every moment to prepare for what she will do in the future.

On the second Sunday in college, she still did not stay in the dormitory or go to the library to read.

After breakfast, she carried her schoolbag and found the car repair shop she went to last week.

The guy was still wearing a blue uniform, and he greeted her when he saw her coming to the shop. Then he got up from under the shed and went into the house, pushing out a bike that looked 80% new, with shiny black paint.

The young man pushed the bike directly in front of Ruan Xi, and without wasting words, raised his thumb and index finger, "I've given you this bike for a week, all the parts are good, I'll charge you 80 yuan."

Having been cheated once, Ruan Xi naturally had to be cautious. She looked at him and said, "I want to try riding it."

The young man was generous and gave her the bike directly, "Ride it."

Ruan Xi walked around to the left side of the bike, grabbed the handle and pushed it onto the road. She got on the bike and rode back and forth a few times in the alley in front of the repair shop. She could feel that the bike was indeed very good, riding it easily and smoothly.

After the ride, she pushed the bike back to the repair shop, looked at the young man and asked, "Can you sell it cheaper?"

The young man said, "This bike? I can easily sell it for 100 yuan. I only gave it to you for 80 yuan because you are young and really need a bike. I basically didn't make any money from your labor."

Ruan Xi looked at the bike and then at the young man, and still felt that 80 yuan was too expensive.

But she couldn't find a cheaper or better car than this, so she breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Okay."

The young man stood in front of her and watched her take out the money. After taking the money from her hand, counting it and putting it away, he suddenly said, "How about this, wait a minute, I'll give you a wire lock."

Ruan Xi waited outside for a while, and then saw the young man take a black wire lock out of the house.

She took the wire lock from the young man and said with a smile, "Thank you."

The young man looked at her and asked, "Which school are you from?"

Ruan Xi smiled and said, "Peking University."

The young man was shocked when he heard it, "Oh, this is really amazing, a great talent."

Ruan Xi didn't talk to him much, locked the wire lock on the bike, got on the bike and left.

Of course, she didn't go back to school, but rode around the city. She

didn't finish the whole tour that day, and went out again the next Sunday to continue walking around the streets.

By chance, she met the young man who repaired bicycles in the alley again. The young man knew her and the bicycles she assembled. He stopped her and asked, "Are you a student at Peking University or a hutong resident?"

Ruan Xi replied, "Can't students at Peking University be hutong resident?"

The young man said, "Well, I'm a hutong resident who repairs bicycles!"

In her spare time during her freshman year, Ruan Xi spent her spare time on drawing clothing designs, designing some clothes that conform to the aesthetics of this era, and making patterns. She rode her bicycle around outside. After touring

the city, she went to the suburbs. The main purpose of going to the suburbs was to see what factories there were. Of course, the factories she was looking for were all related to making clothes, such as factories that weave and make fabrics, and factories that make buttons and rubber bands.

After getting to know all the factories in the suburbs, she bought a ticket and took a train to go to the surrounding areas as the distances were limited by bicycle. She mainly looked for related factories along the railway.

Of course, she only looked and chatted with the gatekeeper this year, and did not take any action.

The last year before the sun pierced through the haze passed quickly.

It was 1979.

It was March, and the glaciers were melting.

This year, a thunderclap woke up the economic market that had been dormant for twelve years.

Under the rain shelter in front of the repair shop, a young man in a blue uniform bit a branch and watched the drizzle outside. The sound of the rain was like oil. Water droplets gathered on the eaves of the shed, and large drops of water fell, smashing to pieces on the ground, splashing fine water.

Just as he was in a daze, he suddenly saw a girl in a thick white coat holding an umbrella and going under the shed.

He recognized her at a glance. Wasn't this the beautiful Peking University student who came to buy a used car last year and met several times in the alley later? I didn't see her in the alley again for a long time.

Ruan Xi was not polite. She collected the umbrella and put it aside, and asked him directly: "Why are you not here all the time?"

The young man spit out the dry branch in his mouth, did not answer the question, just looked at her and asked: "What? Did your bike break down?"

Ruan Xi walked to him, "My bike is not broken, but I want to ask you for help."

The young man reached out and took a small pony, spread it out in front of him and put it, "Sit down and talk slowly."

Ruan Xi sat down in front of him, looked at him and asked: "You should be very familiar with Sijiucheng?"

The young man nodded, "Yes, I have been a hutong wanderer since I was a child, and I grew up here. I know all of Sijiucheng, Qianmen, Wumen, Zhengyangmen, Dongdan, Xidan, and Wangfujing. There is no place I don't know."

Ruan Xi thought that he should be very familiar with it, so she came to find him.

She herself visited Sijiucheng for a few days last year, but it was just a quick tour. Although she had good relationships with her classmates at school, there were not many who could help her with things outside of school, so she thought of looking for this mechanic.

But after school started, she came to look for him several times, but the mechanic shop was always closed.

Feeling that she had found the right person, Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "My name is Ruan Xi, what's your name? Although we are not familiar with each other and you have cheated me before, we have known each other for a year. Let's officially be friends from today."

The young man suddenly took a stance and said, "My name is Xie Dongyang, also known as Xie Sanye of Sijiucheng."

Ruan Xi: "..."

She looked at Xie Dongyang, "Let's stop bragging, okay?"

Xie Dongyang cleared his throat, "If you have anything to ask for, ask me for help." Ruan Xi didn't beat around the bush, "I want to buy a sewing machine, but I don't have a ticket, and I don't want to go to the black market to buy a ticket or a new one, it

's too expensive. I still want to buy a second-hand one, do you have any connections?"

Then she said, "It's not in vain that I ask you for help. I'll give you money."

Xie Dongyang looked at her and said, "Third Master, I'm not the kind of person who cares about this money."

Ruan Xi took a breath and cleared her throat and said, "Third Master, I saw that you were looking at the rain with a worried look in your eyes just now. The door has been closed for a while. Have you encountered something troubling you? Otherwise, just tell me and I'll help you with your advice."

Xie Dongyang stared at her for a while, then remembered that she was from Peking University, so he changed his expression and tone and said, "You really have encountered something wrong. This is reform and opening up. Can we ordinary people also set up a stall on the street to sell things?"

Because it is the capital, policies are implemented quickly.

Ruan Xi Chong nodded, "It's okay, but people will look down on you."

Especially in the beginning, everyone's mindset is still stuck in the previous policies. The concepts of more than ten years cannot be changed in a short time, so they look down on this kind of speculative behavior. Fearing being pointed at, few people do it.

In everyone's eyes, it is still respectable and respectable to have a regular job.

Those who set up stalls on the street will be regarded as unemployed hooligans with nothing to do.

Of course, it is indeed those who do not have a job, and they have no choice but to do this. If they can't find a job, they can't just lie at home and wait to die. They have to find a way to make money, and people with proper jobs don't even bother to look at them.

Xie Dongyang said, "I am not afraid of being looked down upon, as long as I can make money. You are a college student, you should be more knowledgeable than us. Do you think I can make more money by running this car repair shop or by setting up a stall to sell things?"

Ruan Xi said without hesitation, "Setting up a stall!"

Xie Dongyang looked at her, "Tell me why?"

Ruan Xi said, "Because there are too few state-owned stores, and the goods in the stores are too few, and there are many residents in the city. There are also very few people setting up stalls now. As long as you can get the goods, think about it, how many things can't be sold?"

Xie Dongyang seemed to have found a soulmate, "I think so too, but my family disagrees."

Ruan Xi said, "Master Xie from Sijiu City still has to listen to others?"

Xie Dongyang straightened his chest and waist instantly, "You... are right!"

But after a moment he slumped again, "But where can I get the goods? Even though I know Sijiu City so well, I still can't find a place to get the goods. I found some factories in the suburbs, but they all said that private individuals are not allowed to take the goods, and they must have a certificate from the unit."

He hadn't come to the car repair shop these days, so he went out to do this.

Ruan Xi looked at him, "I found a few, I'll take you there."

She spent a long time looking, a whole year, first to find out the addresses of all the factories, and then when there were changes in national policies, she went to ask them one by one whether the policies in their factories had changed.

Xie Dongyang's eyes lit up, "Really?"

Ruan Xi nodded, and then brought the topic back, "Can you help me with the sewing machine?"

Xie Dongyang said without hesitation, "Come and ask next Sunday."

He added, "As long as you can take me to the factory to get the goods, I will help you with all these small matters in the future. There is nothing I can't do in the city. Friends are friends, let's not talk about money."

Ruan Xi smiled and stood up from the pony, "Okay, see you next Sunday."