A few days later, Doctor Huang informed Su Xingran that the day for her to formally become an apprentice was the 18th of this month. It was currently the 15th, so there were still three days left. Su Xingran went home and told her parents, and the three of them discussed what the apprenticeship ceremony should include.
At this time, the apprenticeship ceremony should be kept as low-key as possible, but the proper rituals must still be performed. Only after a formal apprenticeship ceremony will Su Xingran become a disciple of Doctor Huang.
After discussing it as a family of three, they ultimately decided that Su Xingran would decide what gifts to buy. Since the family didn't have much savings, Su's father decided to borrow money from the village chief to buy the gifts for the apprenticeship ceremony. They could repay the village chief later, or offset the debt with work points at the end of the year.
On the morning of the apprenticeship ceremony, Su's mother took Su Xingran by oxcart to town early in the morning to buy gifts for the ceremony. The night before, Su's father had borrowed fifty yuan from the village chief. At first, the village chief was puzzled as to what Su's father needed so much money for, but Su's father explained that it was for buying gifts for Su Xingran's apprenticeship, as Doctor Huang wanted to take her as his disciple. The 18th of this month was the day Doctor Huang had chosen.
The village chief was an upright man who wouldn't meddle in other people's business, so Su's father was willing to tell him the reason. When he heard that Doctor Huang wanted to take Su Xingran as his apprentice, the village chief quickly gave Su's father money and told him to buy the proper gifts for the apprenticeship and not to be careless or perfunctory. It was Su Xingran's good fortune and destiny to be able to become Doctor Huang's apprentice.
Others might not know Dr. Huang's identity, but as the person in charge of receiving Dr. Huang, he did. With such a powerful background, Su Xingran's future as his apprentice was bright. The nation was about to get better.
Upon arriving in town, the mother and daughter went straight to the supply and marketing cooperative. Last night, Su Xingran decided to take a package of tea with no markings from her spatial storage, so that it wouldn't be noticeable from the outside. In any case, the supply and marketing cooperative also supplied tea in paper packaging.
She could only buy other things at the supply and marketing cooperative. She and her mother bought a bag of walnut shortbread, a bag of steamed rice cakes, a pound of fruit candy, and a large piece of pork belly. They also had some brown sugar coupons at home, and the village chief had lent them some coupons the night before to buy a pound of brown sugar.
In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Su discussed it and wrapped a red envelope with twenty-eight yuan inside. Together with the other items they bought, it was considered a decent apprenticeship gift at the time.
The apprenticeship ceremony was to take place at noon, so Su's mother took a day off in the morning, and Su's father took the afternoon off from work. At noon, the family of three changed into their half-new clothes and shoes, which they usually only wore during the New Year, and took the gifts they had bought for the apprenticeship ceremony to Dr. Huang's house.
Fortunately, most of the villagers were having lunch at home at this time, and Su Xingran's and Doctor Huang's families were not located near the village center, so they did not encounter anyone on the road. Otherwise, the sight of the three of them would have definitely attracted onlookers and heated discussions.
Upon arriving at Dr. Huang's house, they found the door open. The three of them went straight in, and as they crossed the yard to the door of the house, they heard voices coming from inside. Su's parents and Su Xingran exchanged glances, assuming that Dr. Huang was receiving guests, and wondered if they should retreat to the yard to wait for a while.
"Hey, folks, you've arrived!" The village chief happened to see the Su family of three at the door. Since they had been spotted, the three of them had no choice but to go inside. Once inside, they found several people: the village chief, the brigade leader; a man wearing glasses whom the Su parents recognized as the commune secretary; another man in a Zhongshan suit whom they didn't recognize; and a man in a police uniform.
Su's parents looked at each other, and Su Xingran was also confused about what was going on. Su Xingran's mother was a little reserved, while Su Xingran, having experienced many missions, didn't care much about these things. She just didn't know what this had to do with the apprenticeship ceremony.
"Xingran, Xingran's parents, come sit here. Let me introduce you to some people," Doctor Huang said, gesturing for the family to sit down. "Village Chief, Brigade Leader, you know them. This is the commune secretary, Deng Jianjun; this is the town mayor, Zhang Hengyuan; and this is the town police captain, Huang Tai'an."
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