Chapter 8: Chaochao has money but nowhere to spend it~

He Chengze shook his head with a smile.

After sending him off, Jiang Xueyi went to the Zhao family next door and knocked on the door: "Liu Lu, it's me, are you home?"

The door opened quickly, but no one was there to open it.

Jiang Xueyi was stunned for a moment, then looked down and saw a little girl with two crooked pigtails, about five years old, with an apple-like round face with a healthy blush, and she looked quite cute.

The little girl tilted her head: "Are you looking for my mother?"

Jiang Xueyi raised the corner of her mouth, bent down and touched her head: "Yes, what's your name?"

The little girl smiled sweetly: "My name is Zhao Xiaorui."

"Xiao Rui is so good. Is your mother home? I have something to ask her."

Zhao Xiaorui turned sideways and called out, "Mom, there's an aunt looking for you."

There was a clanging sound from the room. After a moment, Liu Lu came out, her eyes red and her voice haggard. "It's Xueyi. What do you want from me?"

Jiang Xueyi: "Oh, I want to ask you, where can I buy seeds nearby? I want to grow vegetables on the balcony."

"Seeds..." Liu Lu thought for a moment, "Maybe I can buy them at the market."

Jiang Xueyi's eyes lit up: "When can we go to the market?"

Liu Lu glanced back at the calendar on the wall. "Today is market day. Captain He should have told you about this. There are several communes nearby. On every fifth and tenth day of the lunar month, villagers bring their own agricultural products, bamboo baskets, straw mats, and other handicrafts to the market to sell. Sometimes, even villagers from dozens of miles away come to the market. On busy days, there are four to five thousand people, and on less, there are still two to three thousand people."

Jiang Xueyi was surprised: "There are quite a lot of people."

"Yes," Liu Lu said, "there are many people and many things to sell. You can buy some things there that you can't usually find in the supply and marketing cooperative."

She looked around and lowered her voice: "Some don't even want tickets."

Jiang Xueyi's eyes lit up again, then she had to go.

"Please write down the transportation route for me. I will go to the market soon."

"Okay." Liu Lu agreed happily and called Zhao Xiaorui, "Xiaorui, go into the room and get some paper and pen for Mom."

Zhao Xiaorui scurried into the house, and soon came out with a piece of paper and a pen. However, she didn't hand them to Liu Lu. Instead, she tugged at her clothes and said eagerly, "I want to go to the market, too."

"There are so many people at the market, why are you going there? Aren't you afraid of being squeezed into a meat patty?" Liu Lu said angrily.

Zhao Xiaorui pouted: "But there are a lot of delicious food at the market, such as mung bean cakes, malt sugar, popcorn..."

The little girl looked so cute as she counted on her fingers.

Liu Lu hooked her nose and said, "You greedy girl." Then she looked at Jiang Xueyi and said, "Okay, Xueyi, wait for me. I'll go with you."

Jiang Xueyi smiled and said, "It's okay. I'll bring Xiaorui whatever she wants to eat."

"That won't work," Liu Lu said. "You're pregnant, and I'm worried about you going to that crowded place alone. If anything happens, your Captain He will blame me to death."

Jiang Xueyi felt warm in her heart: "Thank you, sister-in-law."

Liu Lu went back to the house to get her bag, and holding Zhao Xiaorui's hand, she said as they walked: "The market place is not far from us, but it is not close either. We have to take an ox cart to get there."

Sitting on the ox cart driven by the villagers, Jiang Xueyi glanced at Zhao Xiaorui and saw that she was only paying attention to the scenery on the roadside. She whispered to Liu Lu, "Did something happen to you just now? I see your eyes are red. If there is anything I can help you with, please let me know."

Liu Lu also glanced at Zhao Xiaorui and sighed, "Alas, every family has its own problems. I'm not afraid to tell you, the postman just delivered a letter. It was from my mother-in-law. It was two pages long and it was all about inducing labor."

Jiang Xueyi blinked: "Don't you have Xiao Rui at home?"

Liu Lu sighed again: "Xiao Rui is a girl, and my mother-in-law is hoping that I will give birth to a boy. She also said that Lao Zhao is already 35 years old and it's time for him to have a second child. When others are Lao Zhao's age, they have children running around and have company even when they go out to play."

She frowned and said, "It's not that I don't want to have a baby, but I just can't." She added, "Don't worry if you laugh at me, I came out to the market with you because I didn't want to stay home. The moment I stay home, I think of my mother-in-law's face and the letters she wrote urging me to have a baby. It's so annoying."

When it came to family matters, Jiang Xueyi changed the subject sharply: "Children's affairs are all destined by heaven, there's no need to rush. I think Xiaorui is doing well and is very obedient."

"It's all thanks to the teacher's good teaching." Liu Lu said, "I sent her to the red education class early. You didn't see her yesterday because she went to school. That's why she's on vacation today."

She curled her lips and said, "My husband, Zhao, has been arguing with me a lot because of Xiaorui's class. He says how can we let a child so young go to school?" She added, "The other military wives also say I'm lazy, but they don't think about it. Zhao has to go to the army, and I have to work at the Women's Federation. If I don't send Xiaorui to the class, who will take care of her?"

Jiang Xueyi smiled and said, "If the child goes to the Yuhong class, with the teacher's guidance, he will start to learn basic life habits early. There are only benefits and no harm. We adults can also relax more easily. Besides, he can meet other children earlier. When he goes to elementary school, he won't be out of place and will be able to make good friends faster."

Liu Lu agreed deeply and slapped her thigh: "That's exactly the truth."

The two chatted and laughed, and time passed quickly.

On the way, Jiang Xueyi saw many people going to the market like them. They were all from families, with the old and the young holding the children's hands. Both adults and children had smiles on their faces.

Going to the market is really a grand and joyful event these days.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xueyi's mood also became a little more cheerful.

When they arrived, Liu Lu carried Zhao Xiaorui out of the car and couldn't help but exclaim, "There are so many people."

"Yes." Jiang Xueyi replied.

Looking around, there were crowds of people.

The air is filled with the fragrance of vegetables and the aroma of meat, occasionally mixed with the smell of chicken and duck shit, and mixed with the sounds of bargaining one after another, weaving into a vivid picture of the market.

Although there are many people, it is not chaotic.

The market is divided into four areas: livestock area, grain area, vegetable area, and grocery area.

Liu Lu said, "You want to buy seeds, right? Let's go to the vegetable area. There are many fellow villagers selling vegetables there, so there must be some selling vegetable seeds."

She held Zhao Xiaorui with one hand and Jiang Xueyi with the other and squeezed into the crowd.

This was not Liu Lu’s first time at the market, and she quickly found a familiar seller.

Jiang Xueyi paid for the goods and bought several bags of seeds, including rapeseed, tomatoes, spinach, garlic sprouts, leeks, onions...

The variety of seeds was much richer than she had imagined.

After returning with a full load, Jiang Xueyi asked Liu Lu contentedly, "Do you want to buy some too?"

Liu Lu waved her hand: "Forget it, I don't have the time to serve this."

Jiang Xueyi smiled and said, "You don't have it, but Captain Zhao does. If you're too busy, ask him to help."

"What's worse, he acts like a big boss as soon as he comes home. He would rather lie down than stand. If I want him to help me, I'd have to wait for the sun to rise from the west." Liu Lu shook her head again and again.

Jiang Xueyi didn't force it: "Okay, wait until I grow some vegetables, and you can pick whatever you want to eat at my house."

"Yeah." Liu Lu responded perfunctorily. Obviously, she didn't think Jiang Xueyi could take good care of these vegetable ancestors.

After buying the seeds, Liu Lu asked, "What else do you want to buy?"

"I want to buy a few bars of soap, and some pots and pans. Oh, and some meat. I see everything on the stalls is very fresh." Jiang Xueyi said.

When she was buying seeds just now, she was not idle either. She looked around and saw someone setting up a pork stall. How could she miss this opportunity when she finally saw someone selling meat?

Liu Lu thought for a moment and said, "Let's go buy some meat now. As for the soap and pots and pans, we can stop by the supply and marketing cooperative on the way back."

She looked around and lowered her voice, "Although the things from my fellow villagers are cheap, the quality is not good. The products from the supply and marketing cooperative are guaranteed. If there is any problem, you can return them in time."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Jiang Xueyi said with a smile.

It was a good decision to go out with Liu Lu. She was a native of the area and had been in the military compound many years earlier than her, so she had a lot more experience.

Zhao Xiaorui was unhappy. The little girl tugged at Liu Lu's skirt, her lips pouting so much that a soy sauce bottle could hang on them: "Mom, don't forget you promised me to buy me something delicious."

Liu Lu picked her up and said, "I didn't say I didn't want to buy anything. What do you want to eat? Mung bean cakes or honey three-knife cakes?" She added, "I'll take you to buy some after I accompany your Aunt Jiang to buy meat."

Arriving at the pork stall, Jiang Xueyi picked and chose a piece of lean meat: "I want this."

Liu Lu clapped her hands and said, "Silly, why buy lean meat? Buy fatty meat."

"Fat? But dishes cooked with fat are more greasy, right?" Jiang Xueyi said.

Liu Lu rolled her eyes and said, "What's so greasy about it? I wish it was oily. I bought some fat meat and used it to make oil. When I stir-fry, I can scoop a spoonful of it and even the cabbage will taste like pork."

Jiang Xueyi nodded. If Liu Lu hadn't told her, she wouldn't have known that people these days like fat more than lean meat.

Then she should follow the local customs and buy the fatty meat.

Seeing that Jiang Xueyi had made her choice, Liu Lu coughed twice and spoke in the local dialect: "How much do you sell this meat for?"

The boss glanced at her and said, "70 cents a pound. If you don't have a ticket, it's 10 cents more."

That is, if you have meat coupons, you can get 70 cents per pound; if you don’t have meat coupons, you can get 80 cents per pound.

Liu Lu nudged Jiang Xueyi with her elbow. "How about it? Is that okay? I think their ribs are pretty good too. Do you want to buy a pound?"

"Okay." Jiang Xueyi also liked the red and white ribs, which looked fresh. "I want two pounds of pork and one pound of ribs."

The boss said: "The ribs are more expensive, 80 cents a pound, and if you don't have a ticket, it's 10 cents more per pound."

Jiang Xueyi gritted her teeth and bought pork at 80 cents a pound and spare ribs at 90 cents a pound, for a total of two dollars and fifty cents.

He Chengze only received five kilograms of meat coupons a month, which shows how precious meat coupons were in those days.

Even if you spend a dime more, you have to save the meat ticket so that you can buy meat in the future.

Judging from He Chengze's salary, what their family lacks most is not money, but various tickets.

To say something that is not quite right these days, I really have so much money but nowhere to spend it.