There are many temporary stalls on the streets of the county town, and even the cold weather cannot dampen everyone's mood for the New Year.
Many people want to buy more New Year's goods within their means to have a good New Year, hoping that the coming year will be smoother.
Lu Shiyi carried a bamboo basket and followed Su Jin closely at all times. Another commune near the county town slaughtered the New Year pig in advance. In order to raise more food, the villagers kept a small portion for the New Year and took out the rest of the meat.
"Comrade, how much are you selling these porks for?" Su Jin saw that there was no one at a meat stall, so he hurried over to take a look and found that there were ribs, two sets of pig offal and ten pig trotters on the stall.
People would rather spend more money to buy fatty meat than buy such lean meat.
Lu Shiyi saw Su Jin bought ribs and other things, and secretly took note of it, and decided to try to buy her favorite meat in the future.
"You want these?" The stall owner was an honest farmer, too honest for his village self. When the New Year pigs were distributed, he gave them these. "Give me 30 cents, these don't have much meat."
"I'll give you one piece, but can you also give me this bamboo basket?" Su Jin discovered that the bamboo basket used to hold the meat was a large lotus basket, which could be used to store things after she bought it home. "The basket looks new to me, too."
"This... is too much!" the stall owner quickly refused.
After Lu Shiyi watched Su Jin pay, the two of them grabbed their bamboo baskets and tried to leave. The stall owner tried to stuff the money back into Su Jin's hand.
"Take them all, and go home quickly to buy New Year's goods." Su Jin stopped and looked at the stall owner, pursing her lips and smiling, "I think it's worth it."
The two men did not give the stall owner any chance to refuse, turned around and left, leaving the stall owner standing there.
The stall owner's fellow villagers envied him because he found a buyer as soon as he arrived.
Su Jin and Lu Shiyi continued to walk forward, and people from the same village were selling their things.
"Xiao Jin, those people should be from the same village." Lu Shiyi took a look at the baskets of those people and found that they were all pork.
"The village will also distribute New Year pigs. Should we buy one then?" Su Jin asked.
Lu Shiyi found that the stall on the right was selling frozen pears and frozen apples, so he walked over.
"Young man, buy some fruits for your wife. The fruits in our house are very sweet." The stall owner looked at the interaction between the two and felt that they were like a newlywed couple, so he quickly suggested.
Lu Shiyi directly asked for 3 kilograms of each fruit. Although the Fourth Battalion had enough food, there was very little fruit to eat.
Su Jin bought some dried mushrooms and turned around to see him buying fruit.
"This is a kind of crabapple fruit, sweet and sour and delicious. I'll grab a few more for you, you two can try it. If it tastes good, you can buy it from me every time there is a big market in the future." The stall owner grabbed 7 or 8 crabapple fruits with his big hand and stuffed them in.
Su Jin wanted to explain clearly, but Lu Shiyi grabbed her and stopped her from speaking.
He took the fruit and put it into the bamboo basket, then threw the basket on his back and continued strolling with her.
After the two of them walked away, Su Jin asked in a low voice why he didn't explain.
"It's not good for you to explain too much." Lu Shiyi said this with a pinch of salt.
Northeast Province places great importance on reputation, and as a result, many girls are tricked into marriage. Lu Shiyi had already tied Su Jin to his side, and the boys and educated youth in the village no longer dared to approach her.
"Okay!" Su Jin said helplessly, "Show me the list!"
Su Jin bought a few ingredients on the list according to her memory. When she heard someone shouting and selling hazelnuts in front of her, she thought of making some more dried goods to eat.
"Buy hazelnuts and chestnuts. I'll make some snacks for home and you can take some to work." Su Jin said hurriedly.
Lu Shiyi followed Su Jin's instructions and bought chestnuts and hazelnuts, and stuffed the two cloth bags into the bamboo basket.
It was almost noon when the two of them finished buying everything. The ox cart would not arrive until 4 pm, so they had to wait in vain for several hours.
"Is there anything else you want to buy?" Lu Shiyi asked Su Jin, "We'll have to wait for the oxcart for four hours."
"How long will it take for us to meet each other when we get home from here?" Su Jin asked curiously.
"At your speed, it will take us two hours to walk home." Lu Shiyi put all the things into a bamboo basket so that Su Jin could travel light.
"Let's go back. I still have to finish all this. We need to do a thorough cleaning for the New Year." Su Jin didn't want to waste time. She patted her forehead and said, "Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy beans. It's Laba Festival in a few days, and we need to cook Laba porridge."
Lu Shiyi never celebrates Laba Festival, and the canteen only makes one extra meat dish on that day.
"Laba Festival is not Chinese New Year, there's no need to go to such lengths." Lu Shiyi looked at Su Jin, "The supply and marketing cooperative is not crowded right now, let's take advantage of this opportunity to buy quickly."
Su Jin laughed secretly, Lu Shiyi was just saying one thing and thinking another.
"We need to buy all the New Year's goods so that the new year will be smooth." Su Jin pondered how much beans to buy. "Also, we need to buy some garlic. I think the garlic on the stalls is a little frozen."
Lu Shiyi walked towards the supply and marketing cooperative while listening to Su Jin speak.
Many sisters-in-law from the armed forces department also took the opportunity to come out and buy things. They looked at the two of them from a distance and started gossiping.
"Isn't Minister Lu going back home for the New Year? This is a blind date arranged by his family. I see the girl's clothes are from big cities." Several sisters-in-law came from the city to join the army. They wanted to introduce people from their natal families to Lu Shiyi, but they all failed.
"Let the men in each family ask Minister Lu, and we can also help Minister Lu buy some things." Several sisters-in-law were willing to help.
Lu Shiyi was airdropped from the Imperial Capital Military Region, and the leaders in the armed forces warned their wives not to act presumptuously in front of Lu Shiyi.
After a few years of getting along, the sisters-in-law all felt that Lu Shiyi was a good person. If a sister or sister-in-law could win his favor, the family would also get more benefits.
While the sisters-in-law were discussing, Lu Shiyi and Su Jin were shopping in the empty supply and marketing cooperative. They bought beans and garlic. Lu Shiyi also went to the department store counter to buy Friendship and Ya Shuang.
He planned to prepare another set for Su Jin, as both oils were scarce.
The two bought all the New Year's goods, had lunch at a state-owned restaurant, and slowly headed home.
Some village women from the Fourth Brigade passed by the state-owned restaurant on their way to the supply and marketing cooperative, and happened to see Lu Shiyi and Su Jin preparing to leave the city. Their arms were only a fist's distance apart, but the atmosphere between them was particularly harmonious.
"I knew Minister Lu had feelings for her. We should probably just wait for his wedding." Aunt Lu muttered softly.
"That's to be expected. Su Zhiqing is from a big city, so it's normal for Minister Lu to be interested in her." Several people talked as they walked. "I heard that the supply and marketing cooperative received a batch of cloth that doesn't require a ticket. I wonder how expensive it is."
"If it's good, I'll buy more clothes for my family for the New Year." Mrs. Lu Liu said quickly.
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