The morning light shone through the windowpane onto the beautiful face of the girl on the kang (a heated brick bed).
Xie Yuyao felt the light and slowly woke up. She opened her dazed eyes and it took her a while to remember that she had drunk herself into oblivion the night before.
She seemed to be pulling Zhao Honghui along, saying a lot of incoherent things. Or maybe she didn't say anything at all, because after feeling dizzy, she just slumped onto the table and fell asleep.
The memories are bizarre and indistinct, hard to distinguish.
Xie Yuyao rubbed her slightly sore forehead, then softly got up and dressed.
Zhao Honghui, who was cooking porridge, heard the noise and came in. "Yaoyao, are you awake?"
Xie Yuyao asked shyly, "I don't remember what happened after that. Can you tell me?"
Zhao Honghui couldn't help but laugh when he recalled her drunken ramblings from the previous night.
"What are you laughing at? Tell me quickly, did you embarrass yourself?" Xie Yuyao grabbed his arm and shook it.
Zhao Honghui smiled and said, "No, you just said a few words from your heart."
"What's on your mind?"
Zhao Honghui cleared his throat, suppressing a laugh, and said, "You said you had good taste, discovering this treasure of mine, and even said things like 'Oppa,' 'having babies'..."
"Alright, alright, stop talking." Xie Yuyao covered her face with her hands and quickly interrupted him.
Zhao Honghui laughed, then asked, not understanding, "Yaoyao, what is Oppa? Why does it mean to give birth to a monkey?"
Xie Yuyao: ......
"I'm not saying anything more, I'm going to wash up." She fled in a panic.
Seeing her expression, Zhao Honghui chuckled softly.
After the meal, Xie Yuyao began writing a reply.
This time, she didn't plan to ignore it. If she ignored them like last time, her family would keep bothering her. She decided to write a letter to make them give up on her completely.
In the letter, Xie Yuyao portrayed herself as a lonely and helpless girl far from home, and described her life after going to the countryside as extremely miserable.
She works from dawn till dusk every day, the farm work is never finished, and she never has enough to eat. And in the dead of winter, because she lacks thick, warm clothes, she is so cold that she shivers all over and can't even go outside.
What was even more agonizing was that the local thugs and bullies in the village were constantly harassing her, and the village committee protected its own people, so no one stood up for her. She couldn't take it anymore, so she agreed to marry a man from the village. That man was sickly and needed to take medicine every day, and all her money went towards buying medicine.
After playing the victim, she began to explain why she hadn't replied to her letter last time. At that time, they had just gotten engaged, and her fiancé was extremely suspicious. If he knew about the blind date, he would suspect that she had someone else in her heart, and no matter what she said, she would be severely punished.
Then she began asking her family for all sorts of help: food coupons, cotton coupons, cloth coupons, industrial coupons, etc., which she was lacking. She also asked them to buy more expensive Chinese medicinal herbs, such as ginseng and angelica, and send them to her so that her fiancé could use them to improve his health.
Finally, she asked Xie's parents for her dowry, asking them to send the money directly so she could prepare it herself. If they still cared for her, they could send more money. The larger her dowry, the more secure she would be in the village.
After finishing writing, Xie Yuyao read it over again and smiled with satisfaction.
Seeing this, Zhao Honghui curiously moved closer to her to take a look, and what he saw left him completely bewildered. He never expected Yao Yao to describe him in such a horrible way. "You!"
Xie Yuyao laughed, "Don't take it to heart, it's all just a joke."
Zhao Honghui smiled indulgently and shook his head, "My health was indeed not good before. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be able to leave my room this winter."
After careful recuperation, Zhao Honghui's body is now almost like that of a normal person. His left leg is no longer sensitive to cold, and his physical strength is improving, with the prospect of returning to his peak condition from his time in the military.
He felt reborn, and all of this was thanks to Yao Yao. He was willing to give everything to pave a happy future for Yao Yao.
After writing this letter, Xie Yuyao wrote another one to Xie Yulei, which was brief and to the point, simply letting her know that she was safe.
Xie Yuyao stuffed the letter into the empty mailbox, took out a stamp and affixed it. Just as she was about to say that she would mail it to the commune, she heard a sound outside.
"Yaoyao, are you there?"
Ren Fei's voice came from outside, and Xie Yuyao responded and went out.
She came to ask Xie Yuyao if she wanted to go to the commune bathhouse.
"Is it one of those large public bathhouses where many people can bathe together?" Xie Yuyao asked, frowning.
She learned about the current mainstream bathhouse model from the original owner's memories, which was unacceptable to her, as she always valued her privacy.
“Yes, I heard from Yu Wenbo that the commune issues a lot of bath tickets to each brigade every year. Anyone who wants to bathe can just buy them from the brigade leader for three cents. They're only available this month,” Ren Fei chatted with Xie Yuyao. “You know, it's too cold here in winter, and bathing is very inconvenient…”
Ren Fei thought of her large bathtub and suddenly fell silent.
Xie Yuyao nodded in understanding, but declined, saying, "I heard the queue is very long, so I won't go. You guys go ahead."
It's true that many people here only take a shower once in a long while, but that doesn't include her.
She can take a bath in a tub, or slip into the space to soak in the bathtub or take a shower in the bamboo house, which is a great advantage of having a separate house.
After Ren Fei left, Xie Yuyao returned to the room. Zhao Honghui said, "Some units in the county town have bathrooms open to the public, with private shower rooms. If you want to go, I'll get you a ticket."
"No need, have you forgotten what I have?" Xie Yuyao asked casually.
Zhao Honghui, as if struck by a sudden inspiration: "A house?"
Seeing her nod and smile, Zhao Honghui took a deep breath. Besides the soil, there were houses too! Wouldn't that be a paradise on earth?
Zhao Honghui didn't have to go to work today. The two of them went to the clinic first, told Zhao Hongqin and the others, and then went to the commune to mail a letter.
Upon arriving at the commune, the two first went to the post office to mail a letter, and then went to visit the supply and marketing cooperative.
With the Chinese New Year approaching, the supply and marketing cooperative is packed with people, so crowded that there's hardly any space at all.
The supply and marketing cooperative has more goods than usual, and many categories do not require coupons, but there are more people than goods, so it's all a matter of grabbing them.
The salesperson, who was usually indifferent, was now extremely busy, wishing he had more hands.
Xie Yuyao saw many New Year's goods that are not usually sold, but the crowd around her deterred her.
She only instructed Zhao Honghui to squeeze through the crowd to buy some red paper, to be used for writing couplets during the New Year. As for brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, she already had them in her spatial storage, so there was no need to buy any more.
Just as she was about to leave, Xie Yuyao saw someone buy Moutai liquor. Her eyes lit up, and she pulled Zhao Honghui to squeeze over to the liquor counter, asking the sales clerk who had just given change to a customer next to her, "Comrade, how much is Moutai?"
"Ten yuan a bottle, plus a voucher. How many do you want?" the salesperson asked.
Xie Yuyao tentatively asked, "Do you have ten bottles?"
The saleswoman readily agreed: "Yes, why don't you buy a case? There are twelve bottles in the large case, so you won't have trouble carrying them."
"Okay, one case then!"
Xie Yuyao had a plan in mind: take advantage of the increased supply during the Spring Festival and have Honghui buy a few bottles every day after get off work.
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