Two-in-one
After the New Year, Qin Yao and her family prepared to return to the island. This time they took a plane, first to Guangcheng, and then took a boat to the island. Although the plane at that time was not big, it could check in a lot of things. Before leaving, Qin Yao and his wife took their two children and bought some specialties in Beijing.
Even if you don't need it, you should take some back to give to your friends.
The department stores in Beijing are packed with people. Although people are said to be poor at that time, their consumption is not necessarily low. This is because housing is mostly allocated or rented. Even if the living area is small, the housing cost is low. Even in Beijing, renting a house only costs a few yuan a month, but one must have a work permit and a city hukou.
Newlyweds do not need to buy a house before getting married. Instead, they can apply for a separate house after they get married. Buying a bicycle only costs a hundred yuan. If you really calculate it, the cost of getting married at this time is very low, and everyone is willing to get married and have children.
In other words, everyone is equally poor, there is not much difference between the rich and the poor, and they just get together because they like each other's facial features.
“There are so many people.”
The train station was crowded every day. Starting in 1976, a large number of educated youth returned to the city, and the place was crowded. There were more than a dozen people in the alleys and courtyards, and many educated youth, both men and women, came back with their families.
If Qin San Ge and Xie Hongni had not changed their identities, they could have returned to the city as educated youth. Of course, this was not a good thing. There were too many educated youth returning, and there were people competing for the jobs of sweeping the streets. There were a lot of unemployed young people in the cities.
This had a huge impact on the city's public security. Qin Yao and Gu Cheng encountered petty thefts several times when they went to buy local specialties. There were also black market vendors who openly used hand gestures to make transactions. There were also people who hid toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap under their clothes, and gestured to people in the street to ask if they wanted them.
There were countless fights in the corners, and the atmosphere between men and women became more ambiguous. At the ice rinks and parks, there were many young couples holding hands in private, and some even had sex in the parks in the evening. They were really not afraid of the cold.
Why is no one in charge? Due to the severe shortage of police resources, it is impossible to catch all the idle young people in society. These twenty-year-old young men run much faster than rabbits, and there are people watching them. As long as they are not caught on the spot, the police can do nothing to them.
Many times, we can only turn a blind eye.
"Things are changing so fast." Qin Yao couldn't help but sigh as she saw these changes. When she was studying history before, she only remembered that the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977, followed by economic reforms and the development of individual economy in 1979.
But in fact, people's behavior is at the forefront. Various policies are introduced based on the existing social situation. If the college entrance examination is not restored and the individual economy is not developed, where will these idle young people in their twenties and thirties who are in their prime be arranged?
If we let them go any further, they will cause chaos.
Restoring the college entrance examination will allow young people to concentrate on their studies and will also have significant benefits for social security.
“And hair perms.”
"I guess I burned myself. It smells like it's being burned."
"I've also heard of people using kerosene on their hair."
Many people take the train, and quite a few take the plane. People at the airport are dressed relatively formally, and 80% of them are on business trips, such as delivering urgent documents to major confidential units. If the document emphasizes that it must be delivered by plane, then they have to take a plane.
Travel expenses can be reimbursed for business trips, but an airplane ticket is not cheap, costing twenty or thirty yuan, which is something most people cannot afford.
The return flight ticket was sponsored by Grandpa Gu. If the journey wasn't too long, the old man would have wanted to go with her and supervise his grandson's wife while she wrote the article.
"Grandpa, don't worry, I will finish writing it carefully."
After making promises to Grandpa Gu, Qin Yao and her family boarded the plane. Before boarding the plane, they deliberately tired out the two children's energy. When taking off, they looked out the window. After entering the stratosphere, there were nothing but white clouds. Soon, the two children fell asleep out of boredom.
Qin Yao also fell asleep. She felt pain all over her body when she got off the plane. Although the flight time was short, it was extremely painful. The seats on the plane at that time were very narrow, just like the economy class in the future. The cramped space was like torture. In comparison, the train sleeper berth was more comfortable than flying as it allowed both lying and sitting, even if the time was longer.
Gu Cheng, the oldest member of the family, was also the one feeling the worst. After getting off the plane and arriving at the guesthouse, the whole family slept like dead pigs.
The next day, Qin Yao woke up earlier than Gu Cheng, and saw Gu Cheng sleeping neatly on the big bed, with the two kids sleeping on top of him, just like Peppa Pig's family.
Qin Yao stretched. She didn't feel it at home on weekdays, but when she went out, she felt that the conditions were so difficult and the journey was so tiring. She suddenly had the idea of making a lot of money. She wondered when the economy would develop and living conditions would improve.
In the 1980s, gold was everywhere, and it would have been unreasonable not to take the opportunity to make more money. In Beijing, she had already seen some people working as vendors, and she guessed that there would be people selling herbal tea and melon seeds in the summer... There was no way she could make all of this.
Don't think that the whole country was poor at that time. In many places, the "business" of the production and construction teams was in full swing. They made a lot of money by processing parts for state-owned companies, and the whole commune was rich.
These were all brought secretly. The bold ones will die of overeating while the timid ones will die of starvation.
The original heroine Bai Qiuling is a standard heroine in period novels. She made her fortune by selling clothing in the 1970s and 1980s. Qin Yao originally planned to participate in Bai Qiuling's career and take the opportunity to get a piece of the pie. Now it seems that it is better to rely on oneself than on others. How long will she have to wait for Bai Qiuling to make her fortune?
It's already 1976, so she might as well prepare herself in advance and think about how to start a business. After all, she traveled back from forty years later and knew the development trends in the next forty years. How could she not make money?
Only with money can you develop your hobbies, such as setting up a writer's club or opening a zoo.
The idea of making money is easy to implement. The most profitable way is to take advantage of the price difference between two places and reselling. Other retail department stores, clothing and restaurants are all industries that are easy to start a business in.
In addition, Qin Yao most wants to open a magazine company to publish journals on fashion, lifestyle and beauty to promote new lifestyle trends.
Compared to novels, I think publishing this kind of lifestyle and fashion magazine is the most profitable because it can earn high advertising fees.
*
Back on the island, the couple first took the children to clean the house. With Chen Guixiang gone, all the housework fell on Qin Yao. Gu Cheng felt guilty: "You will have to work hard to take care of the children in the future."
Qin Yao sighed softly.
"Although I don't spend much time at home, as long as I'm at home, you can treat me like a beast of burden."
Qin Yao burst out laughing.
Gu Cheng asked: "Do you want to send the child to a nursery?"
"It's too early to go to daycare. I'll take the kids to work for a while. If I can't take care of them anymore, I'll send them to daycare."
Gu Cheng nodded.
The couple packed up for a day or two, and Gu Cheng returned from vacation, but he didn't come home for two days in a row. Qin Yao was looking after the two children at home, and she wished she could tie each of them with a rope and lock them in the yard like puppies.
A new neighbor moved in next door. Now, apart from Sister Zaohua, Qin Yao's closest neighbors are this new neighbor. The man is called Chen Hai and the woman is called Gao Lili. Gao Lili is tall and has beautiful facial features, big eyes, a high nose bridge, and delicate facial features, but her skin is dark and cannot hold any flesh. The nasolabial folds on her cheeks are very serious, making it seem as if there is an "x" drawn on her face, dividing her face into four parts.
Her facial features are very beautiful when viewed individually, but her nasolabial folds are too severe, making her whole face look not so good. But when you look at her eyes and nose alone, they are very delicate and beautiful.
Gao Lili studied medicine, but she never went out to work after getting married. She took care of the family wholeheartedly and was a true good wife and mother. She and her husband had a son, Chengcheng.
"Hello, I'm the new guy who moved next door."
Qin Yao greeted her: "I live next door, my husband is Gu Cheng, my last name is Qin, my name is Qin Yao, and I work in the cultural center."
"My husband is Shen Hai, and my name is Gao Lili. I stay at home to take care of the children."
Qin Yao asked, "You're the new transferee from your family? Haven't you been assigned a job yet?"
"No, no, no, I'm not suitable for work." Gao Lili waved her hand. "I used to work in a hospital as a nurse. I was a big celebrity in the hospital at that time. People would pay attention to me no matter what I did. I couldn't stand it. They always said that my work attitude was not positive, I liked to cook, and I was not ambitious. They said that since I was so beautiful, I should marry a good family and be a good wife and mother."
When talking about this, Gao Lili's face showed a bit of pride. She is very satisfied with her current life. She married a husband with a high salary who can support her. She lives a more comfortable life than most people and has achieved her small goal when she was young.
Although Qin Yao in front of her had a fairer skin, her facial features were not as delicate as hers. Gao Lili noticed Qin Yao's face and thought that although Qin Yao looked beautiful overall, her eyes were not as big as hers, and her nose was not as tall as hers. She was just a "little beautiful girl".
Qin Yao was too young. Her face was still full of collagen, making it look round, plump, and fleshy, not as delicate as her own.
"I don't agree that I can only be a good wife and mother, but that's it for now. Staying at home can reduce a lot of troubles. At least there are not so many people gossiping about me. In the past, in the hospital, every time I talked to a man, they would say something about me."
"Let me pick a good man sooner... I can't stand it anymore. Every time I wear new clothes, they talk about me behind my back. I am a celebrity in our place."
"It was the same when I lived in another family compound before. They always paid attention to me. No matter what I did, they would talk about me behind my back for a long time. I don't know why. They all liked to pay attention to me."
…
Qin Yao listened to the neighbor talking for a long time and felt that Gao Lili was really talkative. She couldn't stop talking and kept talking about her own affairs. But she could also feel that she didn't have any good intentions and said whatever she wanted.
After chatting for a while, Qin Yao already knew her family background. She was born in the county town, has an older sister, an older brother, and a younger brother. All of her brothers and sisters are married...
Qin Yao didn't reveal any information about herself, and she didn't care about her neighbor Gao Lili. She talked about herself, saying that many eyes were staring at her, and that many people liked to observe her and gossip about her behind her back.
She was a very confident woman. It was the first time Qin Yao met such a woman in the 1970s.
Qin Yao noticed Gao Lili's face and guessed that she must have been a rare beauty when she was sixteen or seventeen years old. Unfortunately, this kind of appearance has a "short blooming period". Gao Lili in front of her was only twenty-five or twenty-six years old, not much older than Qin Yao, but she looked like a woman in her thirties or forties. She was not fat, but the flesh on her cheeks had sagged, her eyes were big, and the bags under her eyes were more obvious.
If Gao Lili hadn't said that she was twenty-six and almost twenty-seven, Qin Yao would have thought she was in her thirties.
"Okay, Lili, let's talk next time."
Qin Yao was not annoyed by Gao Lili's chattering about her own affairs. It was quite interesting to listen to her. It was better to have such a talkative but simple-minded neighbor than to have someone who was aloof, silent and dissatisfied with everything.
Qin Yao had no opinion about Gao Lili for the time being, but she didn't know that Sister Zaohua hated Gao Lili so much.
Since Gao Lili and her family moved in, Sister Zaohua has been disgusted. "I really can't stand her! What nonsense is she saying? She is obviously a woman and has education, right? She can also go to work in the hospital and see what she says - 'They all say that I am suitable to be a good wife and mother at home.'"
"I was well-known in the hospital when I was working. They knew everything I did. Bah! How shameless this woman is."
Sister Zaohua was a child bride. She was not good-looking, just pretty. Over the years, she thought she was a good woman, taking care of the housework and raising the children attentively. She was a good wife in every way.
Gao Lili's words were disgusting enough, as if she was showing off, "I don't want to work, I just want to be a good wife and mother at home and marry a good husband", "I'm so beautiful, no matter what I do, people pay attention to me", "I'm the best wife for men, educated, beautiful, and good at cooking, don't try to learn from me"...
Qin Yao said: "Sister-in-law, just listen to what I said, don't bother with her."
"I won't bother with her. I just feel uncomfortable." After saying that, Sister Zaohua lifted her hair.
Qin Yao smelled the scent of cold cream from Sister Zaohua. It seemed that Gao Lili had brought great stimulation to Sister Zaohua, and Sister Zaohua had begun to pay attention to her image.
"Yaoyao, you are much prettier than her. Why is she so proud? I don't think she would dare to say that in front of you." Zaohua said angrily, opening her mouth but swallowing the words in her throat. She didn't say them directly, "Anyway, you should be careful too."
This girl called Gao Lili talks a lot to both women and men. Last time, Gao Lili talked to Political Commissar Zhou at the door for a long time, and Sister Zaohua felt particularly uncomfortable when she saw it.
But the two of them didn't talk about anything out of the ordinary. Gao Lili just talked about what happened to her in the hospital, and what happened to her husband and child... It didn't seem like there was any ambiguity between men and women, but which wife could stand that?
"Okay, okay, sister-in-law, I know."
Qin Yao also found it funny to think of these neighbors with different personalities. Sister Zaohua was a very nice neighbor. During her vacation, she helped to look after the yard. Qin Yao also gave her some specialties from the capital.
"Xiao Qin, the cookie box you gave me last time was delicious. The kids liked it."
The wine that the sister-in-law and An asked someone to send to her has also been delivered to the island. There are several kinds of white wine and some fruit wine, including six bottles of high-quality aged Moutai. They were moved into the house one by one.
Qin Yao is not very familiar with liquor, nor does she care much about it, and she does not understand the value of Moutai. In her opinion, all liquors are equally unpalatable, and it is impossible to tell whether they are mellow or not.
For someone like her who doesn't know how to drink liquor, drinking this stuff is just like drinking alcohol. It's probably just disinfecting the stomach.
But ordinary people would keep some white wine at home to entertain guests. They could not use fruit wine to entertain distinguished guests. White wine was the main drink on the table.
Qin Yao tasted the fruit wine and said, "Hiss - it's quite exciting."
It was obviously wine, but the alcohol content was not low. It was a pity that there was no Sprite in those days, otherwise she would like to mix some wine with Sprite.
After taking a sip, her cheeks turned red. She wasn't drunk, but her face was flushed with alcohol, like a natural rouge, like a ripe apple.
Gu Cheng looked at her face and wanted to take a bite of it.
"These bottles have no labels. Are they also fruit wine?" Qin Yao also found a few bottles of unmarked wine. When she opened them and smelled them, they seemed to be white wine.
Gu Cheng poured it out and tasted it. "It's Maotai."
"Can you drink it?" Comrade Qin Yao looked at him with suspicion.
Gu Cheng laughed: "Why don't you try it yourself? Yaoyao, have a drink."
"All liquor tastes the same. I can't tell the difference. What's so good about it?" Qin Yao touched her nose. "Although I don't like liquor, I have to admit that my sister-in-law's uncle is a bit too generous to give me so much liquor."
Cigarettes, alcohol, sugar and tea are all expensive things, especially Moutai, which is not easy for ordinary people to buy.
Compared with cigarettes and alcohol, sugar and tea are still relatively cheap. Tea cakes and tea cans at that time are not expensive, while cigarettes and alcohol are expensive.
Like many male writers, although they can earn a lot of money from writing books, if they like to smoke on a daily basis, they can smoke themselves into poverty.
If you like fine wine, it will cost even more money.
Unless you smoke farmer's dry tobacco and homemade rice wine, these are cheap.
"Thank you." Gu Cheng raised his hand and pinched Qin Yao's face.
Qin Yao asked curiously, "Is this really Moutai?"
"Maybe it doesn't count if it's not in a bottle?" Gu Cheng crossed his arms and said with a condescending smile.
Qin Yao nodded: "That's right, isn't it the bottle that you buy Moutai in? Most people can't tell the difference between real Moutai and fake Moutai."
Later, Qin Yao also heard that Moutai is the most counterfeited liquor, and many of them are even indistinguishable from the real thing. Therefore, empty bottles of Moutai are expensive, and many people pay a lot of money to buy them.
"The unpackaged ones are for you and Lao Gao to drink at your party, and we'll keep the packaged ones." Qin Yao made plans quickly. She didn't plan to touch several bottles of aged Moutai and would use them for storage... to give to her son to his father-in-law when he gets married in the future?
Gu Cheng: “…”
"Comrade Gu, do you think we should save two bottles of Moutai every year?" After ten or twenty years, it will become aged Moutai, and its value will not be low in the future... Of course, it won't be too high either.
Gu Cheng: “I saved it.”
Captain Gu was stunned: "Didn't you see our wine?"
Gu Cheng doesn't drink much on weekdays, but there is wine at home. Due to his knowledge since childhood, the family always has good cigarettes and good wine on hand. They also give out some every year, and those that are not drunk are saved.
Qin Yao: “…”
"I forgot."
Comrade Xiao Qin suddenly remembered that she had a lot of wine at home. Political Commissar Zhou next door loved drinking and was quite envious of her family's stock. As for Gu Cheng, it was hard to tell whether he liked drinking or not, but he did like collecting wine.
Because of this, Gu Cheng never went out to show off and brag about how much wine he had hidden, and just left it at home to collect dust.
Their house has a storage room, so Qin Yao doesn't care much about his wine. Comrade Qin doesn't drink it anyway.
"Then you'd better be careful and hide it well, lest your son grow up and give you a broken heart—"
Before she could finish her words, Gu Cheng raised his hand expressionlessly and covered her mouth, "Say something auspicious."
Qin Yao: “…”
"I'm just saying, it doesn't necessarily mean——"
Gu Cheng was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I have been broken."
Qin Yao: “…”
"Comrade Lao Gu, you should be careful. Perhaps retribution is a cycle."
Gu Cheng carefully hid the wine. The two kids followed their father slyly. Although they were small, they seemed to have natural radar. The more the adults tried to avoid them, the more curious they became.
"Wife, hold on to your two kids."
Qin Yao said coldly: "My son, this is called being like your father."
Now that Chen Guixiang is gone, the family has become a family of four. Today, Qin Yao opened two bottles of wine. Although a bottle of wine can be kept for a few days once opened, the couple planned to finish it as soon as possible, so they had a bowl of wine each at dinner.
When the two little kids met, they started to complain about how unfair it was!
“I want it, I want it!!”
"Mom, I want it!"
Why don’t they have it?
Qin Yao drank the wine in one gulp. She didn't dare let a two or three-year-old child taste alcohol. She gave Gu Cheng a look, urging him to drink it in one gulp.
"One bite."
Gu Cheng pointed at himself and asked him to drink the white wine in one gulp?
"You're drinking like a cow?"
Qin Yao smiled and said, "For the sake of the child, you bow your head and be a cow."
Gu Cheng smiled. He dipped the food with chopsticks, put it in his mouth to taste it, and then drank it down with a gulp of white wine. He could not do such a heartbreaking thing.
He showed off the wine in front of the children, then took a sip himself.
Ruirui was intoxicated by the smell of alcohol, while Mingming's curiosity was aroused. He followed his father with his little head, he really wanted to try it.
Qin Yao supported her chin with her hand: "Don't shake your hands."
"No." After Gu Cheng finished teasing the child, he remembered to put the wine far away so that the two short guys wouldn't touch it.
After returning from the capital, the two dwarfs' outfits became short and striped, and they were not as round and cute as before.
"Eat first. It won't taste good if it gets cold. Oh, I think our two children have strong learning abilities. When they are six or seven years old, dad can take his sons into the kitchen to learn how to cook. Then one will wash the vegetables, one will cut them, and one will cook. Everything will be arranged—"
"You can also send it to other families to learn how to knead steamed buns." After eating steamed buns in Beijing for a month, Qin Yao really didn't mind eating rice one day and steamed buns the next day.
Gu Cheng: “…”
He lowered his head: "Listen to your mother."
The other two kids didn't say anything and just focused on eating.
Qin Yao felt a little lonely without her biological mother Chen Guixiang, but now that there were no elders around, she was really the boss in the family. She could do whatever she wanted without worrying about the nagging of the elders.
"Listen to your father." Qin Yao smiled and pinched the two children's faces, and began to put the dolls together: "Listen to your mother from now on."
Gu Cheng: "Our family seems to be hegemonic."
"Hmm?" Qin Yao thought to herself, it's too late for you to realize it now. She should be the one making the decisions in this family.
“I am a very democratic mother.”
Gu Cheng: “…”
The family of four had a simple and noisy meal, which was quite warm and cozy. It was the beginning of a new family life.
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