After taking a train for a day and a night, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie got off the train at the station the next morning. Standing on the platform, they took a deep breath, turned their heads to look at the rising sun, smiled at each other, and walked out of the train station together.
After leaving the station, they found a bus to the vicinity of the school. The two did not rush to school, but instead found a breakfast shop on the side of the road to have breakfast.
After eating fried dough sticks with tofu pudding, your body will feel warm.
After coming out of the breakfast shop with her luggage, Ruan Xi pulled the scarf over her face to block out the cold air, sniffed, turned around and said to Ruan Jie, "Let's go, I'll take you to school first."
After all, it was the first time for Ruan Jie to go to school alone, so Ruan Xi was naturally not particularly confident about her. She sent Ruan Jie to the school gate, watched her enter the school gate and walk into the depths of the school, then she turned around and left with her luggage.
Go to the platform, pay for the bus and take it to your school.
After getting off the bus, Ruan Xi found herself outside the school gate. She was holding her luggage and standing outside the gate, looking up at the four big words on the gate. There were other students around carrying their luggage in, all with excitement on their faces.
Her smile was hidden under the scarf, but her eyes were bright and sparkling enough.
Taking a deep breath, Ruan Xi walked into the school gate with a smile.
Water flows like a column from the faucet, and it disappears when you turn the handle.
The white fingers dropped into the enamel basin, scooped up the clear warm water and splashed it on the face.
After drying her face with a towel, Ruan Xi poured out the water in the basin, picked up the mouthwash cup containing the toothbrush and toothpaste and returned to the dormitory.
I went to the dormitory, put away my toiletries, hung up my towel, and took a comb to the mirror to comb my hair.
Her hair is black, soft and shiny with good quality. You can comb it from roots to ends with a comb, but she has never grown her hair very long, only to chest level, so it is not particularly troublesome to tie it up.
Comb your hair and braid it into two neat pigtails, securing them with a hair tie.
I had just tied my hair when I suddenly saw my roommate Li Xiaofang sitting up on the bed next to me, scratching her hair.
She turned to look at Ruan Xi and asked with a strong nasal tone: "You got up so early, are you going to the library?"
I haven't had a rest since I came to school for a week. Today is Sunday, so everyone got up a little later.
Ruan Xi tied her hair and picked up the comb, "No, I have something to go out for today."
Li Xiaofang still spoke with a nasal tone, "Oh."
She caught a cold just two days after arriving at school, and she hasn't recovered yet, and her nose is still blocked.
Ruan Xi didn't wait for her any longer, he picked up his schoolbag and put it on his back, whispering to her, "Then I'll go first."
Li Xiaofang nodded, fell back on the bed, and went back to sleep.
Ruan Xi went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and left the school carrying his schoolbag.
Of course she had been to the capital before she traveled through time, but she had never been to the capital in the 1970s. The old city at that time was not so prosperous and lively. Most of the residents' houses were small bungalows with gray tiles, and the street scenes were all gray.
She was wandering in the alley with her schoolbag on her back and saw a car repair shop.
There was a rainproof shed in front of the repair shop. A row of old bicycles were placed on the curb, some of which were 80% new and some were 30% new. A young man in his twenties in a blue uniform was sitting under the shed repairing bicycles.
Ruan Xi didn't look at the young man for long, just looked at the row of old bicycles.
The young man looked up at her while repairing the car, then dropped the tools in his hand, washed his hands, came over, stood in front of Ruan Xi, looked her over, and asked her, "Want to buy a car?"
Ruan Xi looked at the young man, then at the name of his repair shop, and asked after a moment: "Do you sell it?"
The young man smiled and whispered, "Whether I sell it or not depends on whether you want to buy it."
Ruan Xi looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Then how do you sell these cars?"
The young man pointed at the old bicycle and said, "This older one will cost you 40 yuan, and this one that is 80% new will cost you 80 yuan."
Ruan Xi looked at him again, "Isn't this considered speculation?"
The young man looked at her calmly and smiled, "If you buy it, you are also speculating, the same crime, you can't sue me, right? If you don't buy it, then I am not speculating, right?"
Using a legal auto repair shop as a cover and doing speculative business while repairing cars is really courageous.
But Ruan Xi didn't care about these things. She really wanted to buy a bicycle now. She had originally planned to buy a new bike, and she heard that there were people selling bicycle tickets on the black market, but she did the math and realized she couldn’t afford it.
The bicycle ticket costs about 120 yuan, plus the new bicycle itself costs 150 yuan, which means the total cost is almost 300 yuan. Three hundred yuan is a huge sum of money, and she would not be willing to spend it even if she could afford it.
So after thinking about it, I decided to try buying a used one.
It just so happened that she came here and saw the second-hand ones.
Since this guy dared to sell it, why wouldn't she dare to buy it? So she picked and chose among the bicycles, picked out a half-new one, bargained with the young man for a long time, and bought it for fifty yuan.
The young man took the money and pushed the bicycle to her, patted the seat and said, "I guarantee you will be satisfied with the ride."
Ruan Xi took the bike and left, but after riding for less than fifty meters, the chain fell off.
“…”
Ruan Xi turned the car around and pushed it back in front of the young man.
The young man was not embarrassed at all and quickly helped Ruan Xi to fasten the bicycle chain.
As a result, Ruan Xi had not ridden 50 meters when the chain fell off again.
This time she pushed the car back, looked at the young man and said, "You can hear my accent and see that I am from another place and I am young, so you are trying to rip me off? This car is worth fifty dollars, but I don't think it's worth even ten dollars. I don't want it."
Fortunately, the chain fell off twice before I left the shop. If I had walked far away, I wouldn’t have been able to explain it when I came back.
The young man looked at her and smiled, "Sister, how could I possibly cheat you? Look at my car, it's a genuine Fei Ge brand."
Ruan Xi looked at the bicycle and then at him, "Could it be that this bar is from Fei Ge?"
“…”
The young man's smile became a little subtle this time.
It is true that only the front bar is Fei Ge brand, and the other parts are randomly put together and none of them are good, but they were all assembled by him with great effort. It was working fine before, but it failed at the critical moment!
Ruan Xi understood his expression and glared at him, "Give me back! You are bringing shame to the people of the capital!"
The young man was not angry, and called Ruan Xi again, "Why don't you look for something else, and I'll give you a discount."
How can you buy it here if you've been cheated? Ruan Xi stretched out his hand to him, "No more."
The young man seemed reluctant, but finally returned the fifty yuan to Ruan Xi.
Ruan Xi took the money and left decisively, continuing to shop somewhere else.
The young man didn't hesitate and went back to repairing the car under the shed. He also placed the car that had been breaking down next to him, intending to tinker with the other one after he finished repairing the current one.
The sun's rays shifted their angle on the roof, and when the shadow of the roof fell on the east side in the evening, the girl who had planned to buy a car in the morning came back. She was still walking with her schoolbag on her back, as if she was very tired after walking all day.
The young man was packing up and preparing to close the shop and go home. When he saw Ruan Xi coming back, he asked, "Didn't you find it?"
Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "Yeah."
Shopping is the most troublesome thing these days. I am lucky to come across this shop today. Because she ran into him as soon as she went out in the morning, she thought that there were many speculators in big cities, but it turned out that there were not many.
The young man continued to pack his things. "Do you think anyone would dare to do such a thing?"
Ruan Xi looked at him without saying anything, not knowing what to say.
The young man felt uncomfortable after being stared at by her for a while. He stopped what he was doing, straightened up, and looked at her again and said, "There aren't many people coming from other places these days. You don't look like you're here to visit relatives. Are you here to go to college?"
Ruan Xi simply responded: "Yeah."
The young man nodded and said, "College student, not bad, I didn't pass the exam."
Then he asked, "Do you particularly need a car?"
Ruan Xi looked at him and still responded: "Yeah."
The young man smiled and said, "Since you are in such a difficult situation, and to bring honor to the people of our capital, I will buy you a good car. Come pick it up next Sunday. I will not cheat you or rip you off this time. I will buy you a good car."
Ruan Xi's face had a different expression, and she relaxed slightly, "Really?"
The young man said, "Come and take a look next week. If it doesn't work for you, just don't buy it. I won't force you to buy it."
Ruan Xi relaxed and agreed, "Okay, I'll come back next week."
Ruan Xi ran around outside all day and it was already dark when he returned to school. She went to the cafeteria to have dinner, returned to the dormitory, washed up, climbed onto the bed and sat to read a book. When she felt sleepy, she stuffed the book under her pillow and went to sleep.
Because the school rules are strict, and because many people have said goodbye to school for many years and have suffered a lot in factories or the countryside, they are now working hard to catch up on their knowledge after getting the opportunity to study again.
Listening carefully in class is the most basic thing. Apart from class time, the rest of the time is almost entirely spent on studying. Usually they are either in the study room or in the library, and not many students have the time to do other things.
Of course, Ruan Xi is one of these students.
Of course, she was not thinking about things like dating which were expressly prohibited in school, but she would go out and learn about the situation in the society whenever she had time. Pay attention to the developments at all times and prepare for what you will do in the future.
On the second Sunday in college, she still did not stay in the dormitory or go to the library to read.
After breakfast, she carried her schoolbag and went to the repair shop she had visited last week.
The young man was still wearing his blue uniform and greeted her when he saw her coming to the shop. Then he got up from under the shed and went into the house, pushing out a car that looked about 80% new, with shiny black paint.
The young man pushed the car directly in front of Ruan Xi, and without further ado, he raised his thumb and index finger, "I've given you this car for a week, and all the parts are good, I'll charge you eighty for it."
Having been cheated once, he naturally became more cautious. Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "I want to try riding it."
The young man was generous and gave her the bike directly, "Ride it."
Ruan Xi walked around to the left side of the bicycle, grabbed the handle and pushed it onto the road. She got on the bike and rode back and forth a few times in the alley in front of the repair shop. She could feel that the bike was really good, and it was easy and smooth to ride.
After the ride, she pushed the bike back to the repair shop, looked at the young man and asked, "Can you make it cheaper?"
The young man said, "This car? I can easily sell it for a hundred. I only gave it to you for eighty because you are young and really need a car. I basically didn't make any money from your labor."
Ruan Xi looked at the car and then at the young man, and still felt that eighty was too expensive.
But she couldn't find a cheaper or better car than this one, so she breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Okay."
The young man stood in front of her and watched her take out the money. After he took the money from her and counted it and put it away, he suddenly said, "How about this, wait a moment, I'll give you a wire lock."
Ruan Xi waited outside for a while, and then saw the young man take out a black steel wire lock from the house.
She took the wire lock from the young man and said with a smile, "Thank you."
The young man looked at her and asked again: "Which school are you from?"
Ruan Xi smiled and said, "From Peking University."
The young man's expression became serious after hearing this. "Oh, this is really amazing. He is a pillar of society."
Ruan Xi didn't talk to him much. He locked the wire lock on the bike, got on the bike and left.
Of course she didn't go back to school, but rode her bike around the city.
I didn’t finish the tour that day, so I went out again the next Sunday to continue walking around the streets.
By chance, they ran into the young man who repaired the bicycle in the alley again. The young man knew her and the bicycle he had assembled. He stopped her and asked, "Are you a student at Peking University or a hutong wanderer?"
Ruan Xi replied: "Can't Peking University students be hutong hangers-on?"
The young man said, "Well, I'm a car repairman from the alley!"
During his freshman year, Ruan Xi spent his spare time drawing clothing designs, designing clothes that were in line with the aesthetics of that era, and making patterns. He spent the rest of his time riding his bike outside.
After touring the entire city, she went to the suburbs, mainly to see what factories there were. Of course, the factories she was looking for were all related to making clothes, such as textile factories that made fabrics, and factories that made buttons and rubber bands.
After getting to know all the factories in the suburbs, she realized that the distance she could reach by bicycle was limited, so she bought a ticket and took the train to go to the surrounding areas. The main thing is to look along the railway to see if there are any related factories.
Of course, this year she just watched and chatted with the gatekeeper, and did not take any action.
The last year before the sun broke through the haze passed quickly.
Nineteen seventy-nine.
In March, the glaciers melt.
This year, there was a thunderclap, awakening the economic market that had been dormant for twelve years.
Under the rain shelter in front of the repair shop, a young man in a blue uniform was biting a branch and watching the drizzle outside. Water droplets gathered on the eaves, and large drops fell down, shattering onto the ground and splashing fine water droplets.
Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly saw a girl in a thick white coat folding her umbrella and coming under the shed.
He recognized her at a glance. Wasn't this the beautiful Peking University student who came to buy a used car last year and whom he met several times in the alley later? I didn't see her in the alley again for a long time.
Ruan Xi was not polite. She put away her umbrella and asked him directly, "Why are you away all the time?"
The young man spat out the dry branch in his mouth, did not answer the question, just looked at her and asked: "What's wrong? Did your bike break down?"
Ruan Xi walked up to him and said, "My car is not broken, but I want to ask you for help."
The young man reached out and took a small stool, spread it out and placed it in front of him, "Sit down and talk slowly."
Ruan Xi sat down in front of him, looked at him and asked, "You should be familiar with Sijiu City, right?"
The young man nodded, "Yes, I have been a hutong dweller since I was a child. I grew up here. I have been all over the city, from Qianmen, Wumen, Zhengyangmen, Dongdan, Xidan, and Wangfujing. There is no place I don't know."
Ruan Xi came to find him because she thought he should be very familiar with him.
She herself visited the city for a few days last year, but it was just a quick tour. Although she had good relationships with her classmates at school, not many of them could help her outside of school, so she thought of looking for this car mechanic.
But after school started, she came to look a few times, but the repair shop was closed.
Feeling that he had found the right person, Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "My name is Ruan Xi, what's your name? Although we are not familiar with each other and you have cheated me before, we have known each other for a year. Let's officially be friends from today."
The young man suddenly took a stance and said, "My name is Xie Dongyang, and people call me Mr. Xie Sanye of Sijiucheng."
Ruan Xi: “…”
She looked at Xie Dongyang and said, "Let's stop bragging, okay?"
Xie Dongyang cleared his throat, "If you need any help, ask me for it."
Ruan Xi didn't beat around the bush. "I want to buy a sewing machine, but I don't have a ticket, and I don't want to go to the black market to buy a new one. It's too expensive. I still want to buy a second-hand one. Do you have any connections?"
After that, she added: "It's not in vain to ask you for help, I'll give you money."
Xie Dongyang looked at her and said, "Third Master, I am not someone who cares about this little money."
Ruan Xi took a breath and cleared her throat. "I noticed that you were looking at the rain with a worried look in your eyes just now. You haven't opened the door for a while. Did you encounter something troubling you? Why don't you tell me and I can help you with some advice?"
Xie Dongyang stared at her for a while, then remembered that she was from Peking University, so he quickly changed his expression and tone and said, "You really have run into trouble. Isn't this the reform and opening up? Can ordinary people like us also set up a stall on the street to sell things?"
Because it is the capital, policies are implemented quickly.
Ruan Xi nodded at him, "It's OK, but people will look down on you."
Especially in the initial stage, everyone's thinking is still stuck in the previous policies. The concepts of more than ten years cannot be changed in a short time, so they look down on this kind of speculative behavior. Few people do it because they are afraid of being criticized.
In everyone's eyes, having a regular job is respectable and respectable.
Those who set up stalls to sell things on the street will be regarded as unemployed hooligans with nothing to do.
Of course, it is indeed those who are unemployed who do this because they have no other choice. If they really can't find a job, they can't just lie at home and wait to die. They have to find a way to make money, while people with proper jobs don't even bother to look at them.
Xie Dongyang said: "I am not afraid of being looked down upon, as long as I can make money. You are a college student and you should be more knowledgeable than us. Do you think I can make more money by running this car repair shop or setting up a stall to sell things?"
Ruan Xi said without hesitation: "Set up a stall!"
Xie Dongyang looked at her, "Tell me why?"
Ruan Xi said: "Because there are too few state-owned stores, the goods in the stores are too few, and there are many residents in the city. There are also very few people setting up stalls now. As long as you can get the goods in, think about it, how many things can't be sold?"
Xie Dongyang seemed to have found a soulmate, "I thought so too, but my family disagrees."
Ruan Xi said: "Master Xie from the Forty-Nine City still wants to listen to others?"
Xie Dongyang straightened his chest and waist instantly, "You... are right!"
But after a moment he slumped down again, "But where can I get the goods? Even though I know so much about the city, I still can't find a place to get the goods. I looked for some factories in the suburbs, but they all said that they don't allow private individuals to take the goods. You must have a certificate from your work unit."
He hasn't come to the repair shop these days, so he's out doing this.
Ruan Xi looked at him: "I found a few, I'll take you there."
She spent a long time searching, a whole year, to first find out the addresses of all the factories. Then, when there were changes in national policies, she went to each factory to ask if there were any changes in their factory policies.
Xie Dongyang's eyes lit up, "Really?"
Ruan Xi nodded, and then brought the topic back, "Can you help me with the sewing machine?"
Xie Dongyang said without a word: "Come over next Sunday to pick it up."
He added, "As long as you can take me to the factory to get the goods, I will help you with all these small things in the future. There is nothing I can't do in this city. Friends are friends, and we won't talk about money."
Ruan Xi smiled and stood up from the small stool, "Okay, then we'll see you next Sunday."
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