Ye Xuanhan guessed that someone from the brigade would come to pick up the educated youth, so he planned to take a ride back.
So he and Jiang Wang stood together with a group of educated youth who were preparing to go to the countryside, waiting for the team's ox cart so that they wouldn't have to walk back.
We waited until after five o'clock.
I saw the team leader Li Erhe driving an ox cart slowly arriving at the Yun'an County Railway Station.
"Daya? Jiang Wang? You guys are back?"
Li Erhe was very surprised to see Ye Hanhan, whom he hadn't seen for more than a month.
"Uncle Li, Jiang Wang and I were coming back by train, and we happened to run into some educated youth who came to our Huaihua Brigade to work in the countryside, so we thought we could take a ride with us. Would you mind?"
"Daya, look at what you said," Li Erhe said with a smile, "Even if I don't want to sit, I can't stop you from sitting."
After a few polite words, the team leader called the names of four educated youth, two men and two women, and set off back to the team.
...
...
"Qian Lanlan, Yu Meili, Cui Hongxing, Shao Guangrong, follow me to the Huaihua Brigade."
After everyone gathered, they got on the ox cart and prepared to return to the team.
But after sitting for a while, Ye Han regretted it. The roads in those days were not hardened, they were all dirt roads and not smooth. Sitting on the ox cart, one would be bumped from time to time, which would hurt one's buttocks.
The old ox pulling the cart would stop from time to time to pull a large pile of garbage, which smelled terrible. In addition, Li Erhe in front was smoking a pipe, which almost made Ye Han suffocate.
She kind of regretted taking this ride, it was almost killing her!
Seeing this, Jiang Wang said to Li Erhe, "Captain, you can just drop us off when we get to the town."
Ye Xuanhan was a little confused and looked at Jiang Wang, "You want to go shopping?"
Jiang Wang has no friends or relatives here, and Ye Han can't think of anything else he can do besides buying things.
"You'll find out in a moment."
Jiang Wang smiled mysteriously, as if he wanted to give Ye Xuanhan a surprise.
Soon, the ox cart arrived at the town. Li Erhe dropped Ye Han and Jiang Wang off, and then drove the ox cart back to the team.
Ye Han followed Jiang Wang in confusion, and they went all the way to the nearest supply and marketing cooperative. Jiang Wang took out four hundred yuan and took Ye Han straight to the bicycle counter.
"Salesman, I want a bicycle," Jiang Wang said to the salesman who was busy behind the counter.
"Okay," the salesperson immediately perked up when he heard someone wanted to buy a bicycle.
Yun'an County is a poor and remote place. Few people can afford bicycles. Everyone travels on foot. If they are more extravagant, they can hire an ox cart to go to the county town. To get to farther places, they have to take a bus or train.
Some people would rather walk for a day and a night to get to the city than buy a bus ticket.
So it is not necessarily possible to sell only one bicycle in a month.
"Have you got any bicycle tickets, comrade?" the salesperson asked.
Without any hesitation, Jiang Wang took out a bicycle ticket from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
The salesman's eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled. "Comrade, what a coincidence! Our store just received a batch of Phoenix brand bicycles. They will be very impressive when they are ridden out."
Ye Han secretly laughed in his heart. The feeling of picking up a bicycle in this era was probably the same as picking up a Mercedes-Benz in later generations.
Not only does it look grand, it also makes people look good.
It’s not difficult to choose a bicycle. They are all black in color. You just need to ride it, turn it around a few times and you’re good to go.
A bicycle was quickly chosen.
After coming out of the store, Ye Hanhan put the bag in his hand into the basket in front of the bike, then sat in the back and hugged Jiang Wang's waist, attracting many envious glances along the way.
After riding for about ten minutes, Ye Han and Jiang Wang even caught up with the people riding on the ox cart.
Everyone looked at the two people's Phoenix brand bicycles, and their eyes were filled with envy and jealousy.
Qian Lanlan also greeted Ye Hanhan, "Wow, Hanhan, you just went to buy a bicycle. I'm so envious."
I just sat on the ox cart for a while and my butt almost feels like it doesn't belong to me anymore.
At this moment, Qian Lanlan regretted very much why she didn't bring more money when she went to the countryside, so that she could ride a bicycle out if anything happened in the future.
Yu Meili looked disdainful, "It's just a bicycle. I have two at home. It's a pity that I can't bring them here by train. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to suffer this."
When the other two male educated youth on the ox cart heard this, they immediately looked at Meili with admiration.
"Hey, Meili, where are you from?" asked one of the male educated youth, Cui Hongxing.
"I'm from the capital, and I'm different from you guys who come from the corners," Yu Meili puffed out her chest proudly, as if it was a very proud thing to be a capital person.
"Yes, yes, yes. From now on we can't neglect you, Miss Yu," Shao Guangrong also echoed.
Being flattered by two men, Yu Meili's unhappiness and jealousy mostly disappeared.
Qian Lanlan turned her head to the side to appreciate the scenery along the way, just smiled and said nothing.
When Ye Han heard the conversation between the few people, he just shook his head helplessly.
It seems that the educated youth site will start to become noisy again in the future.
One month after leaving Huaihua Brigade, Ye Han had an indescribable feeling in his heart. It might be because he had been away from home for too long and was worried about it all the time.
Several aunties from the neighborhood saw Jiang Wang riding a bicycle and Ye Han sitting on the back seat, and they all had puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Han, I haven't seen you for a month. Where have you been?" asked the neighbor, Sister Guihua, with a gossipy look on her face.
Aunt Guihua is the loudspeaker of the Huaihua Brigade. If something reaches her ears, it will spread throughout the entire brigade within the morning, and even the surrounding brigades will know about it.
Jiang Wang put one foot on the ground and stopped in front of Aunt Guihua, letting his wife talk to her.
"Aunt, didn't I go to see my fiancé last month? We also held our wedding in the capital. Just two days after the wedding, I came back to the brigade to treat everyone to a wedding banquet."
After Ye Han finished speaking, he took out a handful of fruit candies from his pocket and handed them to his aunt.
"Hey, auntie, let me treat you to some wedding candy. It's so sweet."
Ye Xuanhan was very sweet-talking and made Aunt Guihua smile.
As the saying goes, one should be grateful to those who have eaten one's food and be soft-hearted when receiving something from someone else. Although Aunt Guihua is a big mouth, she still knows a lot about the ways of the world.
"Daya, is there anything I can help you with? There is no one in your family who can help you. I have watched you grow up, and it would be unreasonable if I didn't go to help you get married."
"Ah, Auntie, you are so kind," Ye Hanhan wanted to hear this. She held Auntie Guihua in a friendly manner and said, "How about this, I won't let you work in vain. If you ask someone to help you later, you will get a red envelope."
Aunt Guihua didn't take the red envelope seriously.
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