Twenty-one: Are you buying cabbage?
The salesman's eyes rolled back so much that his pupils were almost invisible. He shaved Shen Lingning from head to toe, his voice sharp and harsh: "Go away! Go where it's cooler! A hundred kilograms of white flour? Do you think it's blowing?
"A hundred kilograms of Fuqiang flour? A toad yawns—what a boast!"
As he said this, he pretended to come out from behind the counter and push someone.
A short man next to him, wearing a cadre uniform with four pockets and a shiny watch on his wrist, looked at his new watch and curled his lips: "Tsk, people these days don't do any research or consider their own weight, just daydreaming."
Next to him was a young girl in a Lenin suit with two shiny braids, who glanced at Shen Lingning.
She pinched her throat and said something sweet, "Brother Jianguo, please don't say that. Maybe I'm just dreaming, or maybe I just came from the countryside and haven't seen any big scenes, so I don't know the rules."
The taste was like boiled water mixed with two ounces of saccharin, so choking.
Shen Lingning was still wrapped in his thick, heavy black-grey cotton-padded jacket, the cuffs frayed and ripped, with a few strands of yellowed, rotten cotton sticking out. He wore thick cotton-padded slippers made of scraps of cloth that Aunt Wang had knitted, and a dark grey headscarf, so washed out it looked pale, wrapped around his head...
From head to toe, he is really tacky.
Fubao was mumbling something, and Shen Lingning's heart echoed: "Mom, these people look down on us. Show us your beauty and blind their eyes."
Shen Lingning was stunned. She didn't want to cause any trouble, but Fubao's words were so interesting.
She smiled, pinched Fubao's little face, and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, our Fubao is right, mommy listens to you."
The watch man and the salesperson were both puzzled when the child didn't speak...
The young woman chuckled again, her eyes and nose squeezed together as she spoke, "Brother Lu, I don't know which commune this lady is from. She's so stupid! She thinks such a young child can understand what she's saying."
The watch-wearing man glanced at the child in her arms and her patched-up clothes. When his eyes passed through her bright, beautiful eyes, he paused for a moment, then returned to the young woman beside him and agreed, "Yes, yes, yes."
Shen Lingning didn't want to pay attention to these gossips, but the girl pinched her throat, and the condescending smell of tea in her words was like a fine thorn, making her feel uncomfortable.
She said nothing, but lowered her eyelids and swiftly unbuttoned her cotton-padded jacket with one hand.
Once the heavy black and gray cotton-padded jacket was taken off, it was as if a layer of gray shell had been removed, revealing a perfectly tailored indigo blue slanted-collar cotton-padded jacket underneath.
It was obvious that the cotton-padded jacket was not an ordinary item. The fabric was thick and crisp, and it was washed straight with rice water without a single wrinkle. The waist was fitted just right, highlighting her tall and slender figure.
She quickly folded the tattered cotton jacket she had taken off and stuffed it neatly into the backpack on her back.
Then she raised her hand and untied the gray headscarf. The headscarf slipped off, revealing her thick, neatly combed black hair, which was tied into a simple but neat bun at the back of her head, revealing her smooth and full forehead.
Without the cover of heavy clothes and the restraint of a headscarf, she seemed to have grown taller in an instant, with her back straight.
The small face that had been hidden by the gray headscarf was now completely revealed - the face was not big, the chin was pointed, and although the skin was not made up, it had a clean porcelain white.
Compared with most women in southern Shanxi, she is taller and has fairer skin.
The most eye-catching thing is the pair of eyes, which were previously made particularly bright by the cotton-padded jacket. Now, without the burden of contrast, they are even bigger and clearer, with black pupils and long and thick eyelashes. There is a kind of calm and penetrating power when looking at people.
She stood there, her posture upright, her eyebrows and eyes clear. Although she still had the same facial features, she no longer looked rustic. Instead, she exuded a calm and neat energy, and there was an indescribable foreign and dignified air that was out of tune with her surroundings.
She raised her chin slightly and glanced at the young woman in the Lenin suit with a calm, emotionless gaze. Her eyes were as calm as a deep pool, but the girl's deliberate expression of superiority froze for a moment.
Just this one glance made the young woman look extremely ugly. Thinking about how she had just belittled this woman, she couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
The young woman subconsciously glanced at the watch man next to her, who was staring at Shen Lingning like a pig without even moving his eyes.
Suddenly, she was so angry that her eyebrows raised high, and she turned around to block the man's gaze: "Brother Jianguo, we haven't bought the quilt cover yet. The one here doesn't look good. Let's go to the next one."
The watch man, who was a little over 1.6 meters tall, had his face completely blocked by the young woman. He leaned his head out and responded, "This one is quite nice."
The salesperson was stunned when he saw Shen Lingning's transformation, and he was even more displeased when he saw the appearance of the couple.
He raised his chin and looked at Shen Lingning: “Even if you are good-looking, you can’t afford a hundred kilograms of Fuqiang powder, so don’t make trouble here.”
Seeing the watch-wearing man constantly peeking around, the young woman flew into a rage, cursing in a roundabout way, "Of course you are! If you weren't that capable, you wouldn't be teasing people like this. A hundred kilograms of Fuqiang powder isn't something everyone can afford!"
Shen Lingning raised his eyebrows at the few people and smiled gently. He was not angry or annoyed. He took out two big unity bills and slapped them on the counter. His voice was calm: "No need for tickets, just go with 'negotiable'. How much per pound? I'm in a hurry."
The light "click" sound and Shen Lingning's overly calm eyes made the salesperson wake up instantly.
She looked at the money suspiciously, then looked at Shen Lingning carefully, and her tone immediately changed, with a hint of flattery and caution: "Oh, little comrade, this... bargaining is expensive! Fuqiang powder has to be... forty-five cents a pound! One hundred pounds is forty-five yuan!"
This price is nearly twice as expensive as buying with a ticket!
"OK!"
Shen Lingning said without hesitation, "Also, one hundred catties of standard flour (ordinary flour), fifty catties each of cornmeal and sorghum rice! Salt, coarse salt grains, fifty catties first! White sugar... do you have any?"
Ten pounds! And...two jars of the cheapest bulk soy sauce and vinegar!"
She spoke rapidly, reciting a series of lists.
No tickets needed! As long as you can buy it, price is not a problem!
This feeling of "extravagant wealth" made her feel as if she was back in the days in Shanghai, and her heart, which had been suppressed for two years, suddenly felt refreshed!
Fubao blew out bubbles and said to himself, "Mom, I weigh a hundred pounds. I feel so proud!"
Even if she didn't know about firewood, rice, oil and salt, she knew that in that era, one hundred kilograms of fine grains was not a small amount of money, otherwise her mother would not have been sold by that bad grandfather for five kilograms of rice.
The salesperson's eyes widened and he frantically took notes.
He kept repeating, "They all? They all?! So many... You... You run a canteen?"
The tone was full of shock and disbelief.
This is not how you buy cabbage these days!
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