Chapter 53

Regarding the renovation of their own home, Yan Lei understood it as a ritual of Qiao Wei. To turn over a new leaf and start from scratch.

And a real home should be cleaned up properly.

Like Captain Zhao's home, although it is messy, it is full of vitality.

So he is very supportive.

The three of them work together to do the same thing and have a common goal.

Spend time, energy, and money. Most importantly, spend your thoughts.

——Her thoughts are all spent on this home.

How great.

In the evening, after discussing the house, Qiao Wei said, "I'm going to the county tomorrow." "

What are you going to buy?"

"Go read some books."

There is not even a bookstore in the town. The nearest bookstore is in the county. If you want to buy books, you have to go to the county.

As soon as the topic of books came up, Yan Lei became alert: "What kind of books should I buy?"

"Knowledge books, popular science books." Qiao Wei said, "Don't worry, I know what's going on."

In the past, Yan Lei would not have been able to rest assured. But now, when Qiao Wei said "Don't worry", Yan Lei felt that he might really be able to rest assured.

He said, "Okay." He

also said, "Bring more money." He

also reminded her, "Put the money in two separate places, in case it is stolen..."

Oh, this triggered a memory. There are still many thieves in this era.

The original owner had her money stolen before, and she was so angry that she cried.

"Okay." She agreed.

After breakfast the next day, Qiao Wei took Yan Xiang to Captain Zhao's house and entrusted Yan Xiang to Sister Yang.

Sister Yang: "Going to the county town?"

Qiao Wei asked: "What do you want to buy?"

Sister Yang said: "Please buy two sets of clothes for Xixi."

Lin Xixi brought a lot of patches on her clothes from the countryside.

Her husband gave her money every month, but I think he spent it on his son at home and didn't pay much attention to his daughter.

But she was an aunt and the lover of an official, so she couldn't let her husband's niece live in such poverty. The bra that Qiao Wei gave her was good, but it was not suitable for daily work.

"Just a shirt and pants will do." She said.

"White? Flowered?"

"Hmm... one and the same."

"Okay. What about the others?"

"No more. Wait for me to get you the cloth coupons."

"No, I've got them."

"Okay, I'll tell you when I get back."

Qiao Wei told Yan Xiang, "Just play in the yard, don't run outside."

Yan Xiang agreed.

Qiao Wei went to catch the bus.

The station was at the entrance of the town, and there were only a few trains a day. She waited for more than half an hour and caught one, which was lucky.

Yongming County was only ten miles away from Xiahe Town. There was a factory in the middle, and many workshops could be seen.

Yan Lei said there was news that the town would be merged into the county, and it was also because of the current development that the county seat was expanding outward and was about to be connected to the surrounding towns.

Qiao Wei got off the bus in the county town, and with the memory of the original owner, she changed to bus No. 2 in the county and found the Xinhua Bookstore.

Stores of this era all have one feature: the buildings can be considered spacious, but there are very few things. Even bookstores are like this.

Qiao Wei looked around carefully, and most of the books were literature, history, and politics.

Literature is absolutely not to be touched. I don’t know which one was identified as a poisonous weed during a special period.

History... I’m afraid of destroying the four olds.

Politics, Qiao Wei took two □□. It’s not too much to buy ten of this. Yan Lei must have it, so she bought one for herself and Yan Xiang. She

also found the Xinhua Dictionary and took a look. It’s the fourth edition, the latest.

But unfortunately, there are almost no science and technology or knowledge books. The main purpose of her trip was to find some popular science books for Yan Xiang.

In the end, the short general took a manual on agricultural guidance technology and a manual on pig breeding technology.

She didn't know which branch of Yan Xiang's science tree would light up, so she could only give him what she had.

Qiao Wei comforted herself: his father will be a big leader in the future, and he doesn't have the conditions to rub missiles by hand, so it's not bad for him to work in the agricultural department with solid agricultural knowledge and pig breeding technology... right?

She picked up a few more picture books and comic books, took them to the counter and asked the clerk: "Do you have a Modern Chinese Dictionary?"

The clerk, wearing a blue smock and white sleeves, raised her eyelids: "Ah?"

She turned to her colleague and asked: "Modern Chinese Dictionary? Is there one?"

"I've never heard of it..." the colleague said, "When was it published? Which publisher?"

"Oh, no, forget it, I just heard about it from others." Qiao Wei smiled.

Probably... it hasn't been published yet.

After leaving the bookstore, Qiao Wei went to the department store. It's true that the things here are better than those in the supply and marketing cooperative, and there are more varieties of goods.

There were almost no customers on Sunday morning. The bookstore was similar just now, with only three or two people.

She wore homespun clothes at home for comfort and casualness, but she still wore a shaggy shirt when she went out. The salesperson saw that she was well-dressed and carrying a large bundle of books, and had a good temperament, so he didn't guard against her as if she were a thief, and let her shop.

Qiao Wei bought Lin Xixi a white shirt, a floral shirt, and two pairs of trousers. At that time, the trousers had a straight line ironed in the middle. Grandma wore such trousers until she died. Even my mother didn't wear them much.

At that time, many women's clothes were really small floral patterns.

But Qiao Wei knew that soon the clothes in the whole country would be de-feminized and de-gendered, leaning towards military green, military yellow, and military blue.

Now, a lot of clothes in Qiao Wei's closet are still floral patterns, and Qiao Wei has long wanted to get rid of them.

She bought herself a few identical cotton and linen white shirts.

White shirts are versatile.

Cotton and linen are not as smooth as pure cotton, but they are comfortable and skin-friendly.

Buy the same thing and change clothes every day, and others won’t be able to tell.

Hehehe.

When paying, she took out the cloth coupons. The salesperson exclaimed: "You really bought them." Qiao Wei

said: "I brought them for several people."

The salesperson saw that she bought several identical white shirts at once and really believed it.

Roll the clothes into a roll for her, wrap a piece of paper on the outside, and tie it up with a rope. Qiao Wei always felt that this was similar to making snacks.

Fortunately, she brought a net bag today and stuffed it into the net bag. The net bag can be crumpled into a small ball when not in use. After opening it, it actually has a super large capacity. Books and clothes can all be put in.

Qiao Wei looked around again and saw the sugar in her own sugar jar.

No wonder she couldn't find it in the town's supply and marketing cooperative, it turned out that she bought it in the county. Department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives have different channels for purchasing goods, and the products are quite different. There was

still a lot of sugar at home, Qiao Wei didn't buy any more sugar, she bought a few pounds of peach cakes and said to the salesperson: "Please divide it into two portions, I'm carrying it for others."

There was nothing else to buy.

Qiao Wei was hungry, so she found a state-owned hotel and went in.

The waiter came over and asked: "How many people?"

Qiao Wei sat down: "One."

"Huh?"

The sound was quite sharp and a bit harsh. Qiao Wei was startled and covered her ears.

The waiter stared at her: "Why are you going to a restaurant alone?"

Qiao Wei: "..."

To be honest, the service attitude of the staff in department stores and bookstores is not very good, but they don't control how many people she has or how much money she spends.

The waiters in the state-owned hotel in the town know that the people who go to eat are all military officers' families, so their attitude is still okay, but the service attitude in this county town is too bad.

Qiao Wei said: "You have to eat alone."

The waiter said: "You are alone, why don't you just buy a steamed bun outside and deal with it casually."

"What I eat is my business." Qiao Wei was already unhappy, "Your job is to give me the menu, record the dishes I order, and then place the order to the kitchen."

The waiter frowned: "But you are alone..."

Bang!

Qiao Wei slapped the table, scaring the waiter. The chef also poked his head out of the food serving window.

People tend to get angry when they are hungry. It is even more irritating to come here excitedly for a meal and then have your mood ruined.

Qiao Wei raised her eyebrows: "Just do your job well in this position. As long as the customers pay and give tickets, you have to take their orders, serve them, and do a good job of serving them."

"If you don't want to do this job and find it meaningless, call your leader over now. I'll talk to him about whether this position should be replaced!"

"Also, where is the superior management unit of your store? Who is your direct supervisor?"

The waiter's momentum weakened all of a sudden: "I'm just asking, are you ordering food?"

He finally handed the menu to Qiao Wei.

Qiao Wei asked, "Where is your leader? He's not on duty during the day?"

Qiao Wei was just being pretentious, but she was also very cautious. The leader thought there were not many customers on Monday, so he went out to do some personal business.

The waiter felt very guilty and stammered, "He, he..."

"The manager went to a meeting!" The master chef leaned over and shouted, and winked at the waiter, "Little grandson, hurry up and order the dishes for the customers. I'll start cooking now."

Seeing that they were submissive, Qiao Wei gave the waiter a cold look. They ordered a pickled vegetable, a vegetable dish, and a rice.

Don't mention it, the skills of the master chefs in the state-owned hotels of this era are all real skills, and the taste is quite good.

Qiao Wei's mood was ruined by the waitress, but she became better after eating the dishes cooked by the master chef.

The master chef came out to ask her: "How is it?"

Qiao Wei sincerely praised it.

The master chef smiled and pointed at the waitress: "She just got the job, kid, don't mind it."

The grandson was really young, probably only about 16 or 17 years old.

At that time, some children at home went to work in the factory at the age of 14 or 15 to take over their parents' shifts.

Probably at the age of being a middle school student, the grandson couldn't help but speak again: "Just a woman by herself..."

The master chef patted her shoulder in frustration.

Qiao Wei said, "Let her speak. Speak freely. Every comrade should have the opportunity to speak. We cannot block the way for speech."

She said to her grandson, "You speak."

She spoke with great vigor and dressed decently. In her net bag were several books and many clothes.

Who could buy so many clothes at one time? How many cloth coupons would that cost?

The master was old and worldly-wise, and he could see it.

But her grandson was still in her second year of middle school. Qiao Wei asked her to speak, and she was a little weak, but she still said, "You are a woman by yourself... and you don't have a man... isn't it a waste?" "

I ate the food and the rice, and it all went into my stomach. It was digested in my stomach and turned into my body energy. How can it be a waste?" Qiao Wei asked.

"There are no men. It's too extravagant for a woman like you to go to a restaurant alone." The little grandson was still unwilling to accept it.

Most people go to a restaurant as a family, or entertain guests and friends. Even if they go to a restaurant alone, it is usually a man. I have never seen a woman go to a restaurant alone.

Can't a woman just eat something casually? The delicious food has to be saved for the men. Isn't it always like this?

How can there be such a woman who goes to a restaurant alone and has no shame at all.

"Have you ever thought that what is a luxury for you may be an ordinary daily life for me?" Qiao Wei said.

The little grandson was stunned.

Qiao Wei said, "Let's calculate the price."

The master chef quoted the price: "72 cents."

Qiao Wei actually understood the little grandson's logical thinking.

But she did not instill any feminist ideas in her. She is not her life mentor.

This little girl can earn a salary by herself and still thinks that women are not worthy of good food. This is a deep-rooted old thought. It is most likely brainwashed by the environment in which she grew up, such as her family and parents.

Basically it cannot be backwashed.

Lin Xixi also felt that she shouldn't go to her uncle's restaurant.

But Qiao Wei turned around and took a few steps, but stopped before walking out of the hotel.

"Little girl." She turned to her and said, "Life is actually quite short, learn to be kind to yourself."

After saying that, she left.

The grandson blinked and said, "What?"

The master said, "Put the money in the drawer."

The grandson was angry and aggrieved, "She spent almost a dollar on it alone."

"Hey." The master said, "I told you, this is their normal life."

The grandson couldn't get over it and kept grumbling.

The master said, "Don't be stubborn. This family is obviously from a cadre family. How can it be compared with your family? It's not that every family doesn't allow women to sit at the table."

After a pause, he said, "Maybe she is an official herself."

The woman spoke so powerfully, well, she looked like an official.