Chapter 108 I am a mountain man
If you can't take a shower, then go directly to the department store.
Lu Donglin followed the two people and looked around, finding everything he saw strange.
The farthest place he had ever been was the commune. The county town looked much more impressive than the commune. Not only were the roads wider, but there were also buildings! No wonder Second Uncle Lu Mingwang didn't want to go back after entering the city.
Wen Wan and Lu Dongping walked forward for a while, and suddenly realized: "Where is Donglin? Didn't he catch up?" Looking back, he was so far behind, and he didn't know where he was looking!
Lu Dongping strode over and slapped him in the face: "What are you looking at? Follow me. There are human traffickers in the city who specialize in carrying children. I'm not trying to scare you." Lu Donglin was startled and instinctively reached out to grab his sleeve.
If it were any other time, Lu Donglin would definitely not believe it, but when he arrived in a strange place and didn’t know anyone here except his brother and Wen Wan, he was still a little scared.
When he was in the team, he also heard that there were human traffickers outside who specialized in stealing and robbing children and exchanging them for food.
Lu Dongping reached out and rubbed his head soothingly. "Don't look around anymore. We're going to the department store to buy things. Remember to follow closely. There are only houses and roads, and no one on the street has three eyes. What's there to see?"
Lu Donglin snorted, "The houses here are taller and prettier than those in our team, and the roads are wider and smoother than those in our team. How come they're not pretty?"
"Looks good? If it looks good, then study hard. Once you pass high school, you can come to the city and watch it every day until you're satisfied."
Lu Donglin pouted: "You adults are so annoying. You can't stop talking about studying."
Lu Dongping was too lazy to pay attention to him. He was the typical person who didn't know how to appreciate what he had and deserved to be punished.
Wen Wan waited for the two of them to come over before saying, "I almost forgot, Lu Dongping, is there a scrap yard in this county? I want to go to the scrap yard first."
"There is a scrap yard, what are you doing there?"
Wen Wan said, "Let's go see if there are any old books or newspapers in there." It turned out that when she was at home, she and Xu Qingming had sneaked into the scrap yard. That place was like a huge treasure trove for them when they were young. There were all kinds of interesting storybooks and various fun things in it.
Of course, she didn't go there to look for any treasures. She just wanted to find some old newspapers and see if there were any books.
"It's convenient for us to have nothing in our hands now, but it will be inconvenient when we buy something later."
Lu Dongping responded: "Okay, then let's go to the scrap yard first."
The scrap yard in Xinxi County is located behind the steel plant. It is a large courtyard with low and dilapidated houses and an old gate. An old man guarding the gate is cooking at the door of a small house next to it.
Wen Wan shouted, "Master!"
The old man glanced back, and perhaps due to his age, his eyesight wasn't very good. He blinked several times before speaking: "Call me?"
Wen Wan nodded with a smile: "I want to go in and find some books, is that possible? When I come out, you can just charge me by the kilogram. I'll take whatever I have."
The old man nodded: "Be careful, don't stay in there too long."
He'd been guarding the gate for years. The items inside were all stolen from the early years, during the height of the revolution. There was a wide variety of items, many of which could be used, but with the current situation, few were brave enough to use them. Over time, the place had become nothing more than a thick layer of dust, and a swarm of rats.
Wen Wan responded, pushed the dilapidated door a little further, and slipped in.
Several rooms with connected ridges were filled with boxes, cabinets, beds, and some porcelain items such as chamber pots and vases.
Many of these were treasures collected by wealthy families or passed down from ancestors, but were sent here at the wrong time and buried in the dust.
Wen Wan came for books and newspapers. There were some, but it wasn't easy to choose. The smell of mold filled her nose as soon as she entered, and rats scurried about in terror. The books, piled like garbage on the floor, had become their nests and food, leaving piles of rat droppings and gnawed books everywhere.
Wen Wan covered her nose, frowned, and was unable to take any action.
Lu Donglin said: "Sister, what kind of books and newspapers are you looking for? I will find them for you."
"Just find some good, new paper. You'll use it to paper the walls. Don't want the kind that rats have crawled on."
With Lu Donglin and Lu Dongping around, she didn't need to do anything. The ones squeezed in the middle were fine. They hadn't been gnawed or crawled on by mice, nor were they stained with mouse urine. They had a slightly musty smell, so she could just go back and dry them in the sun and use them.
It can not only be used to paste walls, but also for pasting shoe uppers and insoles. It can also be cut into pieces and placed in the toilet. It is much better than corn husks.
There was a thick stack of books, but Wen Wan couldn't find any. The things inside had been badly damaged.
Instead, she found a trumpet-shaped bottle with light green and dark green hues. It looked nice, so Wen Wan planned to take it home, wash it, and use it to put flowers in it.
A few people walked around inside and went out without much delay.
The old man who was guarding the gate had already finished his meal. He looked at the three people coming out and blinked several times before he could see clearly what they were holding in their hands.
One big and one small took two stacks of newspapers, and the little girl held a green bottle in her hand.
"Uncle, can you please weigh me?"
The old man held out his hand: "Don't weigh it, please. I'm eating right now. Give me two cents for the bottle and I'll give you the newspaper."
He didn't know the value of things, but he knew that the items inside were all old. In the right era, they would be valuable things, but now, they would be waste. No one would be willing to buy them for even two cents, let alone two cents.
Wen Wan took out the money and gave it to him promptly, and then Lu Dongping stuffed the things in his hand into the sack.
He looked at the bottle in Wen Wan's hand and said, "Give it to me. Put it in a cloth bag and carry it in your hand. It's not convenient to hold it in your arms."
Wen Wan gave him the bottle, then looked at her hands: "I just forgot that I should ask that old man for some water to wash my hands. Our three hands are not clean." After all, they had all been in a rat's nest.
"No, I'll take you to wash."
City dwellers also need water, but not every household has a pressurized well. Some people live in remote areas, closer to the river dam, and dig wells for several households to share.
After walking a little further, there was a river dam not far from the road. I went into the river to wash myself and then walked back to the center of the county town.
The three of them entered the department store together and found the place where paint was sold. There were not many types. One was synthetic paint that required industrial coupons, and the other was earth paint. The colors were only those two, dark red and blue-green.
Lu Dongping bought tung oil and red earth paint, and his pockets felt heavy with them.
After finishing, he accompanied Wen Wan to the place where cloth was sold.
Good luck is not always available. You go to the city once every few months, and it is impossible to find a bargain every time.
She didn't come across anything that didn't require tickets or coupons, but Wen Wan wouldn't buy less. The cloth coupons Lu Donglin gave her last time and the ones Zhang Hongying gave her this time were more than enough.
She bought a pure cotton quilt with a bright red harvest pattern on it, and for the rest she bought some floral ones, white and gray Dacron, and dark plaid plain cotton. She also bought a large roll of veil, and not only used up all the cloth coupons given by Lu Dongping and Zhang Hongying, but also added a lot of her own.
Anyway, I bought it now to decorate the new house and prepare for the wedding. What's the point of being stingy?
The purpose of coming to the county town is to shop. What else would you do in the city on a hot day if you don’t want to buy anything?
Not only were Lu Dongping and Lu Donglin stunned by her shopping spree, even the salesperson was stunned. Where did this girl come from? How did she manage to amass so many cloth coupons? These days, even a whole year's worth of cloth coupons wouldn't be enough to buy a whole set of clothes. Why did these rare cloth coupons seem so uncommon to her?
The arrogant salesperson's attitude suddenly softened when he saw her counting tickets: "Comrade, are you from the county town?" She looked like she was from the county town because of her clothes.
Wen Wan said, "No, I'm from the mountains. It's not easy for me to go to the city. My neighbors knew I was coming, so they chipped in and collected so much money for me to bring back things! Comrade, it's not easy for people in the mountains. I bought so many things, can I get any discounts, like a share of the cost?"
Salesperson:——
"We have regulations for everything here. It doesn't matter how much or how little you buy."
Wen Wancai didn't believe it.
After counting the tickets, he looked at the boxes on the shelf in the back and said, "Well, can we have some needlework, buttons, or something?"
Of course not.
"I've already bought the cloth, so I don't need a ticket for the thread, right? A roll of that stuff lasts a long time, and I don't buy it often. I'll just pay the due amount, and I don't need a ticket, right?"
This is still okay.
"How many do you want?"
Well, Wen Wan doesn't want tickets, but she wants a lot of things, including hemp thread, cotton thread, black, white, blue, red, and even the more rare colored silk thread.
The two salesmen looked at her and felt as if they had done something wrong. By the time they realized what was happening, she had already counted the money and put it on the counter and stuffed the items into her pocket.
It's so skillful that it's unbelievable.
"Comrade, what are you doing with all this thread? You need cloth coupons for this thread, too."
"Wen Wan leaned over the counter and said, "The thread you just mentioned only requires money and no coupons. I didn't take much actually. There are so many families in the team. If you share some with him when you go back, I may not even have anything left. I can tell at a glance that you are good people. It's not easy for people in the mountains. You can't even buy a set of clothes all year round. You have to sew the clothes you wear over and over again. If you had more cloth coupons, you wouldn't be able to do that. Please help me!" She spoke quickly without pausing to breathe, leaving no chance for others to open their mouths: "Don't worry, I will definitely not let you make any mistakes. Just think of it as selling a lot of clothes to customers today. I will definitely not give you a penny less. Okay, I have to hurry on my way and leave now. I will come to see you next time I go to the city."
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