Perhaps she was a little reluctant to part with the days they had shared hardships together.
Habit is a powerful thing; it made her accustomed to his presence.
Ning Yuan lowered her long, dark eyelashes, a complex light flashing in her large, grape-like eyes, before finally asking, "Are you going back to the capital?"
Rong Zhaonan shook his head and said calmly, "No, I'm not going back to the capital. I can't tell you my destination."
Ning Yuan was taken aback; she understood, his job was different.
Ning Yuan sighed silently, swallowing her sorrow, and simply smiled: "Then you go ahead with your work, I don't need any gifts."
No one else belongs to her, so what right does she have to ask for any gifts?
She knew he had been leaving early and returning late lately, having a lot to do.
Is this departure just the beginning?
Gradually, he will be away for longer and longer periods of time, always returning to the capital, and becoming increasingly busy.
In addition, he will meet his wife, get married and have children, and his status will rise higher and higher. In the future, as a friend who has gone through thick and thin with him, it will be good if he can only see her once every few years.
Rong Zhaonan looked at the girl in front of him, who seemed to accept his departure well, as if she didn't care where he went.
His gaze turned icy: "Don't you have anything else to say?"
Her husband was away for ten days or half a month, and she only said this one sentence. She didn't ask any more questions, and she didn't even tell him to come back soon.
Ning Yuan looked up at him calmly: "Be sure to be careful. The policy is changing now, so the security situation is worse than before. Have a safe journey."
He never belonged to this kind of place. A dragon trapped in a shallow pool, an eagle imprisoned in a cage, he will one day return to the vast world.
She wished him a bright future and a safe and successful life.
As a friend, that was the only thing she could think of.
Rong Zhaonan gave her a deep look, said nothing, and turned to leave.
Ning Yuan was taken aback. She keenly sensed that although Rong Zhaonan hadn't said anything, he seemed to be angry.
For some reason, she felt a heavy weight in her heart.
That's it. It's fine if she's angry. I won't have any illusions or get involved with things that don't belong to her.
Don't give others hope, or you'll disappoint yourself!
Ning Yuan shook her head, turned around and went into the room to cook.
As Rong Zhaonan went out, he saw Grandma Xia standing at the door with vegetables in her hands.
The old lady overheard their conversation.
Rong Zhaonan took an envelope and handed it to the old lady—
"Chen Chen's car is waiting for me outside the alley. If anything happens at home in the next two weeks, you can go to the address on the envelope to find Lao Xu."
Grandma Xia looked at the envelope. If she wasn't mistaken, he originally intended to give this envelope to Ning Yuan.
She stared at Rong Zhaonan as if he were an idiot, wanting to say something but ultimately remaining silent.
Having lived together for almost a year, she could tell that Ning Yuan and Rong Zhaonan hadn't consummated their marriage!
On one occasion, when she went to the department store to buy something, she passed by the No. 2 Middle School in the county and happened to see Ou Minglang and Ning Yuan coming out together after school.
Although they looked like ordinary classmates, and even had some provocative expressions towards each other, as the old saying goes, "no fight, no friendship."
MISS Xia felt so heartbroken that she had two more wrinkles. At her age, she still had to worry about her "little animals" in the yard.
She glanced at Rong Zhaonan's military jeep waiting at the alley entrance, and could only wave goodbye to him.
"Fine, you can go now. I hope you'll be two years older when you come back!"
Although that big white goose from Ningyuan School was a few years younger than Rong Zhaonan, that silly wolf, he was still quite handsome and had the air of her old Tang.
Will that silly boy Rong Zhaonan just wait and wait... until Xiao Ning gets snatched away by the big white goose's wolfish beak?
This silly boy is good at everything else, but he's a total awkward simpleton when it comes to matters of the heart!
...
The day after Rong Zhaonan left was Sunday. Although Ning Yuan looked at the empty bed next to her, she felt a little empty inside.
But the thought of today's task energized her—she was going to be a madam today, and she couldn't afford to make a mistake!
With that thought in mind, she no longer cared about her little melancholy mood.
No one can stop her from making money!
...
Early in the morning, Ning Yuan put on her mask and rode her pre-loaded tricycle toward the movie theater.
"Huff! Huff!" She quickly stepped onto the ground.
Sure enough, Sunday was the busiest day around the movie theater, and she spotted the tall, white goose... no, it was Ou Minglang.
His height already made him stand out from the crowd, and his Shanghai-style clothes made him even more conspicuous.
"Here, here!" Ning Yuan waved excitedly at him.
Ou Minglang, with a handsome face that had a distinctly Korean look, approached and said, "I don't want to sell!"
"You have to sell, whether you want to or not. You said you'd accept the consequences of your bet!" Ning Yuan looked at him with satisfaction at his outfit: a pilot jacket, jeans, and white sneakers.
Ou Minglang gritted his teeth, his handsome face flushed red: "Don't look at me like that, you're a lesbian!"
Ning Yuan chuckled and quickly began to lift the tarpaulin off her car: "Okay, okay, come and help me move my things!"
Having no other choice, Ou Minglang had to help unload the goods.
He noticed a large earthenware jar in Ning Yuan's car, which looked like an old-fashioned pickle jar and had a strange sweet and sour smell.
Then she brought down a box of white powder.
All Ou Minglang needed to unload were bamboo cups and a cardboard sign with Tang Laolong's flamboyant handwriting on it.
A new sparkling sweet water in Shanghai, only six cents a cup, it's so sweet, it'll make you feel good in pairs!
Ou Minglang: "..."
He roughly understood that Ning Yuan intended to sell sweet drinks, and writing the character here was a waste of talent.
Ning Yuan didn't care what he thought, pushed him forward, and gestured: "You, just stand here, smile, understand!"
That's why she wanted Ou Minglang's help—he looked and dressed very stylishly, and just standing there, he was a "Shanghai native," a living advertisement!
A vein popped out on Ou Minglang's forehead: "I promised to help you sell things, not to sell my smiles!"
They're still selling smiles for a cheap soda that costs only six cents a cup!
Ning Yuan noticed his long face, but the girls around them were all watching them curiously from afar.
A bolder girl with short hair leaned over and asked, "Comrade, what kind of sweet drink do you sell? Are you from Shanghai?"
Ning Yuan immediately smiled at her: "Yes, it's the most fashionable sweet sparkling water in Shanghai!"
She noticed the short-haired girl in front of her secretly glancing at Ou Minglang, and immediately said, "Would you like a cup? This is a recipe my cousin brought back from Shanghai."
Upon hearing that Ning Yuan was the cousin of this stylish and handsome young man from Shanghai, and not his boyfriend, the short-haired girl immediately smiled sweetly: "Cousin, how about a drink to try?"
Ning Yuan chuckled: "Okay!"
She knew that with Ou Minglang around, opening today would be a breeze!
Sure enough, a girl called her "sister" right off the bat!
Ning Yuan quickly grabbed a bamboo cup, first scooped some baking soda into it from the white box, and then immediately scooped a spoonful of sweet and sour water from the jar.
When baking soda comes into contact with sweet and sour water, it immediately produces a bunch of bubbles.
"Here you go. The deposit for the cup is three cents. Return the cup to me when you're done, and I'll refund your money!" Ning Yuan handed over the cup.
The short-haired girl originally bought the sweet sparkling water simply because she wanted to talk to Ou Minglang, this stylish young man from Shanghai.
But when she saw the pink water in the bamboo cup, with a layer of soda bubbles on top and a slice of green lemon, it looked so beautiful that she couldn't help but want to drink it.
She took a sip and then paused, exclaiming, "It's so delicious! Is this soda? It's even better than soda!"
Nowadays, soft drinks taste like saccharin, and after a few sips, they leave a slightly bitter taste on your tongue.
But the sparkling water she was drinking from the bamboo cup was sweet and sour, and had a lemony aroma.
Ning Yuan smiled and said, "You can call it soda, but bottled soda isn't popular in Shanghai. They call it sparkling water, made with an imported formula!"
Normal bottled glass soda costs at least 17 or 18 cents, and expensive cola costs 45 cents a bottle, but this spoonful of sparkling water only costs 6 cents!
It costs about the same as a popsicle!
Although the bamboo cup can only hold half the amount of water that a glass bottle can, her sparkling water is fresh, cheap, and pretty!
The short-haired girl promptly gave her 36 cents, but stayed there drinking and didn't go far.
Once someone took the lead, two couples who looked like lovers immediately followed.
Six cents isn't an expensive expense for a couple on a date, but they hesitated, worried that the taste might be strange and they wouldn't be able to get used to it and would have to throw it away.
Ning Yuan immediately took a few small wine glasses containing only a few coins' worth of water, poured them in, and let them try them.
Sure enough, once people tried the product, they would readily open their pockets and buy Ningyuan's sparkling water.
Imported goods in Shanghai, with a stylish young man from Shanghai standing next to them—how novel!
If you're bringing your partner to the movies, you won't hesitate to spend six cents, even if it's just to buy a drink to try.
"Hurry up, get the sweet water, collect the money, and start shouting!" Ning Yuan acted like a boss forcing women into prostitution.
She slapped Ou Minglang hard on the waist, annoyed that he was just standing there like an idiot.
With a flushed face, Ou Minglang stammered, "Hello... Shanghai sparkling water, would you like a glass?"
How could someone hit a man's waist like that!
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