"Bang, bang, bang."
Just as Lu Fangfang had harnessed the donkey cart, she heard a knock at the door outside the courtyard. She quickly went to open the gate.
"Hey girl, are you ready?"
Outside the door stood Wang Shufen, fully armed.
The two had arranged to go to the county two days ago. Zhao Lanying was in charge of the farm during the day, and she told the two of them what she wanted to buy so that they could take it with them.
"Sister Shufen, all done, just wait to leave."
Lu Fangfang turned around and said to the courtyard, "Xiuxiu, bring out the little wild donkey."
"Why."
Xiuxiu took the flashlight and quickly patted the little wild donkey, making it pull the donkey cart outside.
Hearing the commotion, the little flower and the little Tibetan fox inside the house also curiously followed them out.
Seeing this, Lu Fangfang quickly bent down and patted the two little guys, "Little Flower, Little Yellow Dog, we're going to the county today, you two stay home and behave yourselves."
"Awoo~"
"Meow~"
Little Flower and Little Tibetan Fox called out, looking somewhat unwilling.
Lu Fangfang patted them hard, then let them go back to the yard.
There will definitely be a lot of people in the county town today, so it's not suitable to bring them along.
She took the flashlight from Xiuxiu, tied it to the donkey cart, and used it to light the way ahead. Then she invited the two of them to get on.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, the residential compound was quiet.
She patted the little wild donkey and made it pull her along.
"Xiuxiu, keep a close eye on your sister. Fangfang, when you're shopping, make sure you don't push or shove."
Zhuang Mingcheng, wearing a military overcoat, came out of the courtyard.
He was still a little worried, so he called out to the two people on the donkey cart.
"It's alright, don't worry. It's not even dawn yet, you should go back and get some more sleep."
Lu Fangfang waved her hand, then pulled the blanket over herself.
It's almost the Great Cold, a truly cold time, and it's especially cold before dawn.
She was wearing a military overcoat, a cotton hat, and a quilt, but she still felt a little cold.
"Here you go, girl."
Wang Shufen took out a hot water bottle and handed it over.
Lu Fangfang had forgotten about this, so she didn't stand on ceremony and took it into her arms.
She felt a little more comfortable after receiving the warm water bottle.
Ahead, the little wild donkey yawned, and only after leaving the residential compound did it pick up speed.
It ate its fill last night and isn't hungry now. The dark grassland poses no obstacle to it.
After leading the three for more than twenty minutes, the little wild donkey looked ahead and suddenly brayed.
"Oh...ah..."
Lu Fangfang was dozing off against the donkey cart when the little wild donkey's bray startled her awake.
Looking ahead, she vaguely saw a beam of light. As she got closer, she realized it was Sister Guilan riding a bicycle.
"Sister-in-law Guilan, I thought we were early enough, but I didn't expect you to be ahead of us."
"Hey, I just wanted to get to the county town to queue up as soon as possible."
Zhao Guilan, riding her bicycle, turned her head to look at their donkey cart with a hint of envy.
It's windy now, and she's riding against the wind. She's so tired and cold; she's not comfortable at all.
Today, there are also buses from the group going to the county, but not as early as usual. We won't get to the county town until after 9 o'clock at the earliest.
To save that little bit of time, she rode her bicycle to the county before dawn.
Lu Fangfang looked at her and felt that riding a bicycle to the county town was a bit unreliable.
Lan Ying's bicycle was not even as fast as the donkey cart pulled by the little wild donkey.
Soon, the little wild donkey passed Zhao Guilan.
"Sister-in-law, we'll be going now."
Lu Fangfang turned around and called out, then hugged the hot water bottle and put her hands inside.
Looking around, the grasslands on both sides were quiet, with nothing but the sound of the wind, nothing like the liveliness of summer.
Feeling confident in the little wild donkey's skills, she simply closed her eyes and rested.
Behind the donkey cart, Zhao Guilan pedaled hard.
After a while, seeing the donkey cart getting further and further away from her, she lost her spirits again.
...
As dawn broke, the little wild donkey, pulling the donkey cart, arrived at the outskirts of the county.
Lu Fangfang took off her flashlight and quickly started distributing the tickets with Sister Shufen.
The two of them brought Lan Ying's tickets and money with them this time.
They bought quite a lot of things, so they had to queue up as soon as they arrived.
"Shufen and Xiuxiu, you two go to the poultry market and line up. Here are nine poultry tickets for you. Xiuxiu, take these three tickets from our family. If they have geese, buy geese; if not, buy ducks; if all else fails, buy chickens."
"Um."
Xiuxiu took the money and nodded quickly.
"After you buy the poultry, go check out the fish stalls. If they have fish, buy as much as you can. Don't worry about the money."
Lu Fangfang took out a ten-yuan note and handed it to Xiuxiu.
In this day and age, material goods are what truly matter; money that can't be used to buy things is just worthless paper. So even though she already had a lot of small fish buried at home, she still wanted to buy some more.
The Qilian Mountains are not far from Qinghai Lake, and there is a good supply of fish during the Spring Festival. No tickets are required, so you should buy as much as you can. If you can't eat it all, you can keep it and dry it into fish jerky.
Thinking of this, Lu Fangfang took out another ten-yuan note and handed it to Xiuxiu.
As for herself, she plans to go to the meat stall and queue up.
She took the meat ration coupons from Sister Shufen and counted them; the total weight of the three coupons was six jin and five liang.
It's a bit pitiful to think about; such a small amount of meat would have been more than a family could eat in later generations.
Soon, the little wild donkey led them to the county department store.
At this time, a large crowd had already gathered at the entrance of the western food market.
Lu Fangfang got off the donkey cart and stretched for a bit before tying up the little wild donkey.
Seeing that the food market was about to open, she called out to Sister Shufen and Xiuxiu and quickly went over.
The area in front of the store was bustling with people buying New Year's goods, mostly women and children.
Lu Fangfang looked around and noticed that many children were still yawning, probably because they had been dragged to line up by their parents.
In those days, children as young as five or six had to help with household chores, even something as simple as buying soy sauce.
After waiting a while, news suddenly spread from the crowd that the market was about to open, and then the crowd began to squeeze in.
Wang Shufen and Xiuxiu tried their best to protect Lu Fangfang and squeezed into the market.
"Shufen, Xiuxiu, you two go quickly."
Lu Fangfang called out and then quickly ran to the meat stall to join the queue.
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