Chapter 37

Speaking of going to the market, Qiao Wei was just as excited as Yan Xiang. This was her first time going to such a rural market.

Their town was called Xiahe Town. There was a river near the town, not far away. The distance from Yan Lei's house to the river was about the same as the distance to the compound.

The market was on the bank of the river, which was basically where Yan Lei dug mud.

Communes from several nearby towns came, bringing their own agricultural and sideline products and handicrafts. There were all kinds of transportation, including trucks, tractors, horse-drawn carriages, mules, and even carts and chicken buses.

When Qiao Wei and Yan Lei were jogging in the morning, they saw many people swaying by the river.

"Siping Township is famous for making bamboo products." Yan Lei told Qiao Wei, "Such small chairs are definitely available, but you have to rely on luck to get a large one. If not, I'll go to Qingshan Town to buy it for you next week."

The man kept his word.

Qiao Wei happily agreed, "Okay. Let's go to the market first, just in case we have it."

The family of three picked up the weaving baskets and net bags and headed to the beach happily.

All along the way, there were people rushing to the beach to go to the market, all families, adults and children, with smiles on their faces. Going to the market was really a grand and happy thing in this era.

It could almost be considered a major entertainment activity.

When they arrived at the beach, Qiao Wei saw so many people for the first time since she traveled through time, gathering together in a huge crowd.

It seemed as if all the people in the town had crowded onto the river beach. No, in fact, more than that. In addition to the people in the town, there were also people from various communes who came to the market to sell goods.

There were no industrial products in this kind of market. Looking around, there were only agricultural and sideline products and handicrafts. This was exactly what Qiao Wei liked.

She passed by several stalls and couldn't move. She looked at this and touched that. After a while, her shopping basket was full.

Yan Lei squeezed over and grabbed her: "I asked, where is the Siping Township Commune."

The comfortable big bamboo chair was Qiao Wei's main goal today. She gave up the things in front of her and pulled Yan Xiang to follow Yan Lei to the Siping Township Commune.

Siping Township is famous for its bamboo products, and a large area of ​​bamboo products are displayed. Bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets, big bamboo brooms... small bamboo chairs were placed in a large area, which were obviously very popular products.

Qiao Wei was so lucky that she saw two bamboo lounge chairs behind a large area of ​​small bamboo chairs!

They were foldable ones!

"Is it okay?" Yan Lei turned his head and asked Qiao Wei, "Is it the kind you want?"

"Yes, yes, just two, buy it quickly!" Qiao Wei hurriedly shook Yan Lei's arm. Since the canned yellow peaches, she knew that she had to take the initiative when she saw good things: "I want both."

"One is not enough for you to sit?" Yan Lei wondered.

Qiao Wei scolded him: "Stupid, wouldn't it be nice for you and I to sit under the eaves with one each on a summer night to eat melons and chat?"

Her eyes were smart and her smile was bright.

Yan Lei's heart was pounding.

Imagine the scene of the couple sitting under the eaves after dinner in the evening, holding hands and talking and laughing.

"Okay, buy both!"

Yan Lei went to ask the price and negotiated quickly. He came to Qiao Wei and said, "I'll take them home first."

But Qiao Wei pointed to another thing and asked, "What is that?" It

was also made of bamboo. The four legs were as high as a small table, but it was rectangular, with a bamboo basket frame and the surface was woven bamboo. The pattern was the same as a bamboo mat.

Yan Lei thought that city people were really ignorant. He said, "Isn't it a cool bed?"

In the summer, it was too hot, so some people slept on this kind of bamboo cool bed, but more people used it in the fields and people who watched the fields at night.

Qiao Wei went over and pressed it with her hand. The bamboo weaving had some slight elasticity. She sat on it and tried it out. It was quite comfortable.

"This one." She patted the cooler. "I want this one."

She resumed her morning jogging today and looked particularly good.

Sitting on the cooler, she looked up at Yan Lei, her eyes full of anticipation.

Yan Lei asked his fellow villager directly, "How much is it?"

Finally, Yan Lei carried a large bamboo broom and Qiao Wei's already full weaving basket, and told Qiao Wei, "Don't get separated."

"Here's this." Qiao Wei raised her hand and shook it.

Because Yan Xiang was too young, she made a rope and tied it around her and Yan Xiang's wrists, as a baby anti-lost belt.

So, Yan Lei led the fellow villagers of Siping Township and pushed a bamboo cooler and two folding bamboo lounge chairs on a flatbed cart to deliver them home first.

When he got home, he directed people to unload the bamboo chairs and the sunbed. He placed the chairs under the eaves and put the sunbed in the yard first, waiting for Qiao Wei to come back and see where she wanted to put it. He also put the basket of odds and ends that Qiao Wei bought into the house and left the woven basket empty for Qiao Wei to take back.

Just as he was about to go out to the market to look for his wife and son, someone came to the door again and asked in a hoarse voice: "Is this the family of Yan?"

Yan Lei came out of the house: "Yes."

It was a fellow villager who asked in a loud voice: "What's your wife's surname?"

Yan Lei: "... Qiao."

"That's right. It's yours, for sure." The fellow villager untied the rope around his chest and took off the things on his back. "Your wife asked someone to send it over."

It was a small rattan double-door cabinet.

Yan Lei opened the door and saw that there were three layers inside, like a bookshelf. There were also two drawers on top.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"Do whatever you want." The fellow said, "Put bowls, put clothes, put books, it's all up to you."

After the fellow said that, he looked at Yan Lei and said, "Are you a cadre?"

Yan Lei replied, "Serving the people."

The fellow grinned, "Cadres are really good at talking. Your wife... is really good at shopping." He

probably wanted to say that she is really good at spending money, but when he was about to say it, he thought about not causing conflicts between the couple, so he changed it to shopping.

Yan Lei straightened his back and said, "What else? Isn't the money you make to spend on your wife?"

The fellow took a breath and raised his thumb, "This layout is worthy of being a cadre."

The rattan woven things are a bit bulky, but they are actually very light. Yan Lei carried them into the house with one hand and put them down first.

He locked the door and went to the market with his fellow villager, chatting all the way.

The fellow villager was quite talkative: "Is your wife from the city?"

Yan Lei said casually: "She has studied in high school."

"Huh, she is an educated person." The fellow villager praised, "I saw at a glance that she is from the city. What about you, are you from the city too?"

Yan Lei reported his hometown: "From the countryside."

"Then you are capable." The fellow villager gave him a thumbs up again, "Marry an educated person as your wife."

Captain Yan held his back very straight all the way.

It was just that it was not easy to find people at the market. After searching for a long time, he found the mother and son in the food area. They

started eating cold noodles in the early morning.

When she saw him, she smiled and invited him to come over to sit on a small stool to eat cold noodles together.

"What are these?" Yan Lei asked, with his hands on his hips.

Yan Lei took Qiao Wei's woven basket back with him, but she bought a backpack!

Now the backpack is at her feet, and it is almost full of things.

She is really good.

"Do you know that the farmers eat better than us?" Qiao Wei pulled Yan Lei to sit on the pony, "You don't need food coupons to buy food from them."

How could Yan Lei not know? He put the woven basket he brought back at her feet and laughed, "Of course, they are people who grow food. They are more well-off than the people in the city in terms of food." During

this big market, various communes also brought a lot of agricultural and sideline products to sell. Qiao Wei saw it all, a lot of food.

You don't need grain coupons or meat coupons to buy food here, so no one will complain if you buy more, right?

"In that case, if we want to eat something that we can't find in the city, we can go to the countryside..."

Yan Lei interrupted her with a timely "cough".

Qiao Wei reacted immediately, shrinking her neck, pursing her lips into a line, and looking left and right. Fortunately, no one could hear her in the noisy market.

Yan Lei pulled Xiao Ma Za close to her: "Don't think about it. The market is for the commune to bring things here to sell. What do you want to do by going to the countryside alone? Buy from fellow villagers?"

Qiao Wei nodded tentatively.

Yan Lei laughed angrily and poked her forehead with two fingers: "Do you think it's speculation?"

Qiao Wei shrank her neck again: "So serious?"

"What else?"

Qiao Wei knew this, but people who came from the world of abundant commodities in the future did not really understand the term "investment and profiteering".

"Are you going to be arrested?" she asked.

"If you are found, you will definitely be arrested." Yan Lei threatened her, "We can't make this mistake."

Qiao Wei nodded hurriedly: "Remember it."

Seeing her quail-like appearance, Yan Lei found it funny. He looked around and saw that everyone was buying things and walking around in a mess. No one paid attention to this place.

He leaned close to Qiao Wei's ear and lowered his voice and told the truth: "When you really want to buy, be smart and don't get caught."

Qiao Wei's eyes lit up instantly and glanced at him.

Sure enough, timid people can't achieve great things. Those who can reach high positions are never really honest people who follow the rules.

Yan Lei took a chopstick of jelly as if nothing had happened.

He trotted over and squeezed through the crowd to find someone, and he was already sweating. It was so comfortable to eat jelly under the shade of the tree.

All non-public private transactions are defined as speculation.

But the needs of the people are there, and the planned economy cannot meet them. These "speculation" things have always existed underground, no matter how hard they are caught.

Everyone knows it in their hearts.

So just don't get caught.

"What if we get caught?" Qiao Wei asked humbly.

"So I said that your revolutionary capital is too weak." Yan Lei despised her, but still pointed out a clear way for her, "Run. Run as fast as you can."

Qiao Wei was so happy that she fell forward and backward: "Okay, I want to practice running fast."

The family of three also had lunch at the market. Yan Lei ate four big steamed buns by himself, Qiao Wei was full after eating one, and Yan Xiang could only eat half.

Yan Lei ate the remaining half again to avoid wasting it. It was

Qiao Wei's first time to visit the big market, and the goods were basically non-industrial products, full of pastoral atmosphere. She really wanted to buy everything she saw.

Shopping really makes people happy, and it is intuitively reflected in the eyes and expressions.

Yan Lei couldn't help looking at her face, and always felt that Qiao Wei's eyes were shining and her face seemed to be glowing.

She could buy whatever she wanted, and he would not stop her.

But when Qiao Wei wanted to buy a whole roll of home-woven cloth, he stopped her: "Buy this... for what?"

She used to go directly to the department stores in the county and the city to buy ready-made clothes. The supply and marketing cooperatives in the town also sold clothes, but the clothes sold in big cities had more colors and better patterns and styles.

She used to look down on these original or indigo cloths.

"It's useful." She said.

Fine, she could buy it if she wanted.

But she actually wanted to buy plain cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, which were worn by old ladies in the countryside.

Yan Lei stopped her again: "You should go to the city to buy a new pair of leather shoes."

"This one is comfortable." She said.

Okay. Buy it.

But when Qiao Wei wanted to buy straw sandals, Yan Lei couldn't stand it anymore.

"You can't wear these." He told her, "Your feet will be rubbed. Only people with old scabs on their feet can wear them."

"I know." Qiao Wei smiled, "I want to hang these on our wall. Oh, where are the hats for sale? I also want to buy one. Oh, there are straw hats over there. Straw hats are fine too. Go buy them!"

She pushed Yan Lei to urge him.

Yan Lei had no choice but to squeeze over to buy the straw hat.

Qiao Wei paid for the straw sandals here.

Hang the straw hats and sandals under the eaves, and it will have the flavor of the countryside.

Just when she was feeling happy, she suddenly heard someone calling her. She turned around and saw Qiao Wei laughing: "Xiao Zhang. How come... you came with Xiao Lin?"

Qiao Wei said with a smile while looking at Lin Xixi who was next to Xiao Zhang.

Lin Xixi was still wearing the same skirt as yesterday. It was normal. In this era, people didn't change clothes every day. That was a decadent behavior of the bourgeoisie. Borrowing clothes and wearing the same clothes for several days were common at that time.

Driver Zhang wanted to say something. In the future, it would probably be an official announcement or something like that.

But Lin Xixi coughed and stopped him. Driver Zhang had to talk about other things: "Yeah, ah, just strolling around."

How to say it, strictly speaking, they were not a couple.

Among the people who were dragged by Captain Zhao to have a blind date with Lin Xixi last night, Driver Zhang was actually the lowest in rank. But he is a driver, and being able to drive is very valuable at this time, and he won't have to worry about finding a job even if he changes his career in the future.

Compared with others, he has another advantage, his schedule is flexible and he can come and go freely.

The other few had to ask for leave if they wanted to leave the barracks, and they came for a group blind date yesterday, which was specially approved by the political commissar. But Driver Zhang doesn't need to do that, he can arrange his schedule flexibly.

So this smart young man ran to Captain Zhao's house early this morning to offer his courtesy: "There is a market today, I'll go with you, and I can also help you carry things."

Captain Zhao and his wife were happy at the time. Because it was Driver Zhang who Lin Xixi nodded in agreement last night.

But since the man was so eager to come, there was no need to take the initiative to say, "My niece wants to date you." Captain Zhao said, "Old Yang and I will go later, or how about this, you young people go first. Gangzi! Yingzi! Huazi!"

Captain Zhao called out the three older ones and told them, "Go with your sister and brother Xiao Zhang."

Sister Yang also pushed Lin Xixi into the house to change into the skirt she wore yesterday, and gave her a dollar, whispering to her, "Look around carefully."

Lin Xixi was coy, changed into the bra she wore yesterday, and brought her three younger siblings and Xiao Zhang to the market.

Before they even reached the river, the three younger ones ran away, leaving only her and Xiao Zhang.

Xiao Zhang confessed directly: "Comrade Lin Xixi, my name is Zhang Guoqiang, I am 20 years old, and I am currently in the army with a salary of 24, 42 yuan a month, and I can drive. Please, that please, um, be my partner."