Chapter 23 A rare bit of modern atmosphere at the market
After school, Zhu Yingning was worried that Xu Sirui would go to Zhou Yueshan to settle the score, so she stopped him in advance and said, "I have good news to tell you."
It has been an unknown amount of time since Xu Sirui last heard good news.
This was his third week in the mountains.
It is said that it takes 21 days to get used to something new. He did not believe it before, but now he has slowly gotten used to life in the mountains, used to the local people's routine of working from sunrise to sunset, used to climbing five or six kilometers of mountain roads in one breath, and used to seeing chickens, ducks and geese walking when he opened the door.
But habit does not mean liking it.
He always felt a sense of alienation from life in the mountains, unable to fully escape, nor fully integrate. This sense of alienation, unable to escape or integrate, often brought him the irritability similar to a smoking craving.
He really couldn't believe that this place could bring him any good news other than leaving. He looked indifferent when he heard this until Zhu Yingning told him that they were going to town on the weekend.
"In town?"
Xu Sirui tried hard to search his memory and remembered that she seemed to have told him before that there was a signal in the town and he could make a phone call.
As if she could read his mind, she further explained, "I'm going to town to buy some groceries and talk to my brother on the phone. Uncle Yang said you can talk to your mother on the phone, too, if you want."
Happiness came too suddenly, and Xu Sirui was stunned.
**
Counting the days until Sunday, Xu Sirui got up very early that morning and woke up Zhu Yingning and all the crew members before dawn.
Perhaps because he was in a good mood, he began to like the tattered ox cart. Knowing that he had to rely on this cart for both the outbound and return journeys, he took the initiative to propose a solution and asked if he could put a blanket on the wooden board.
Zhu Yingning was speechless at his fussiness, but Liu Guifang said quickly, "Yes, yes, of course! But if you don't have a blanket, how about a plastic bag?"
"It's okay as long as there's something separating us." Xu Sirui was surprisingly easy to talk to.
Liu Guifang picked up a clean, dried fertilizer bag, cut it open, and carefully spread it on the cart. Since today's shoot would mostly be during the day and didn't require lighting, Yang Ji only assigned two photographers to accompany them. Zhu Yingning drove, and the other three sat on the cart, heading towards town.
Xu Sirui had no idea what towns and villages were like, but he felt that no matter how bad a town was, it couldn't possibly be worse than a village. In his opinion, any place with better conditions than a village was a prime location for feng shui.
The oxcart's bumpy ride was initially enjoyable and bearable, but later on, his interest faded, and the hardships of the journey became apparent. The oxcart couldn't compare to the softness and comfort of a sedan, and Xu Sirui felt his lumbar spine shaken to pieces the entire way, leaving no part of his body untouched by pain.
The physical fatigue further diluted his mental excitement. When he arrived at the destination, he had completely lost the enthusiasm he had before going out. He just wanted to finish the call quickly and find a place to lie down.
In stark contrast to his listlessness, Zhu Yingning was full of energy and walked briskly after getting off the ox cart, without any signs of being exhausted.
She tied the ox cart at the entrance of the town, took out a wrinkled ten-yuan note from her pocket, and said she would buy something first before making a phone call.
"...Can't we just finish the game first and then go shopping? Otherwise, we'll have to carry a bunch of stuff after shopping."
In reality, Xu Sirui simply wanted to make a call quickly. Three weeks had passed, and his phone had long since run out of battery, making even a signal useless. Now he was completely reliant on Zhu Yingning to take him to the landline.
Zhu Yingning shook her head and firmly refused, "No, there's a market here. If you go too late, all the good stuff will be gone. We have to go buy something first."
"What good things can you buy with ten dollars?" Xu Sirui just wanted to roll his eyes.
"Don't underestimate ten dollars."
She waved, beckoning him to follow.
The town was small and simple, with only a few streets and roads. After following Zhu Yingning around, Xu Sirui quickly figured out the town's structure. Thankfully, the roads here were no longer dusty and sandy. While the houses weren't particularly tall, mostly two or three-story, they were no longer the shabby tiled houses of Zhujia Village; they were now made of concrete.
This rare bit of modern atmosphere almost brought Xu Sirui to tears. Especially as they passed a food street, which was lined with Shaxian snacks, Lanzhou ramen, and barbecue stalls, and even a newly decorated food stall.
Food stalls——
A month ago, Xu Sirui would never have imagined that a food stall could leave such a profound impression on him. Back in Beijing, he'd looked down on restaurants like food stalls, believing they were for the less well-off, a place for the poor to gather. But now, in his eyes, this food stall was the equivalent of a Michelin three-star restaurant. Just looking at the myriad ingredients in the freezer made him feel like he was floating in the air.
Before he could finish expressing his feelings, he was cruelly dragged away by Zhu Yingning.
She led the way to another street behind the food street, where a market was being held.
The streets were filled with people, tired and exhausted, selling everything: dried goods, fruits, goat milk, clothes, fabrics...
Zhu Yingning found a stall owner she was familiar with and asked for sugar, salt, sweet potato starch and flour.
“You can buy these in supermarkets.”
They had just passed by a convenience store. Xu Sirui was about to express his confusion when Zhu Yingning said, "The prices here are all made by the farmers themselves. There are no middlemen making a profit. The prices in the supermarket are twice as high."
……All right.
He watched the wrinkled ten-dollar note in her hand change hands several times until it became wrinkled one, two, and five dollars, and thought that with such living conditions, one could only be frugal and buy the cheapest.
To his surprise, after buying all the pieces, Zhu Yingning still had three pieces left.
She put all her shopping into a large red plastic bag, twisted the handles into a knot, and slung it over her shoulder. Xu Sirui asked with a hint of disdain, "Are you planning on carrying this bag all day?"
"Yes." She nodded calmly, "If you don't carry it on your back, it will be stolen."
……All right.
After finishing the shopping, they were finally able to make a phone call. Xu Sirui followed Zhu Yingning, watching her turn and turn until she finally entered a small hair salon. Two small, thin, non-mainstream blond men, wearing printed T-shirts and tight pencil pants, were squatting at the door, smoking cigarettes.
Zhu Yingning walked over and asked if their boss was there: "I want to borrow the phone."
Yellow Hair Number One said, "Hey, Sister Zhu? He's not here, but he told me you can borrow his phone anytime."
Zhu Yingning thanked him and went in.
Xu Sirui hadn't expected the phone call to be so simple, requiring someone to borrow it, and even Zhu Yingning herself to borrow it. He had thought the crew had a dedicated landline.
But there was still one thing that puzzled him. He took two quick steps, walked side by side with Zhu Yingning, and asked her, "Why do they call you sister? You are so proud of yourself, aren't you?"
"They were joking." She replied without even looking up. "I just helped them catch a thief once."
“…”
Xu Sirui felt that next time even if he heard that Zhu Yingning had beaten a tiger, he probably wouldn't be surprised.
only--
"What's there to steal in this lousy place?"
The hair salon hadn't opened yet, and the lights were off. Xu Sirui looked around, and all he saw were scissors and shampoo. He couldn't imagine how such a thief could be so eccentric as to steal both.
Zhu Yingning laughed twice and said, "Don't think people are too stupid. Thieves are very clever. Look over there——"
She pointed at the hair washing station. "During a hair wash, they provide a shoulder and neck massage service. Wouldn't it be uncomfortable to have a massage while wearing a necklace? So many customers who wear necklaces will take them off during this process. The thief had been lurking nearby for several days until he finally found a customer wearing a gold chain. While the barber was away looking for shampoo, he disguised himself as a barbershop apprentice and sneaked in. He said to the customer, 'Sir, your necklace isn't safe here. Let me find you a box to put it in.' Then he took the necklace away. It wasn't until the barber came back and the customer asked him, 'Why did your apprentice take so long looking for a box?' that everyone realized something was wrong."
Xu Sirui was stunned.
What is this? The wisdom of the working people?
There was a landline behind the counter. Zhu Yingning put down the bag on her shoulder, stretched her muscles, and asked Xu Sirui, "Do you want to call first or should I?"
At this point, Xu Sirui felt a little homesick. Thinking back to the last time he called Xu Zhengkang and they had a disagreement, he stepped back, pursed his lips, and said, "You go first."
Zhu Yingning dialed a number.
Xu Sirui thought she would call their home phone—after all, didn't her brother live there? Unexpectedly, Zhu Yingning dialed a cell phone number. While she was listening to the ringtone, he couldn't help but whisper, "Does your brother have a cell phone?"
He was so poor that he only had ten dollars with him when he went out to buy groceries. He turned pale when he heard that a down jacket cost three hundred dollars. How could he have enough money to buy a mobile phone for Zhu Jixiang?
"Ah? Yes." She held the phone and nodded at him. "My mom was worried that my brother wouldn't have a cell phone and would be looked down upon in the city, so she bought him a second-hand PHS from a relative for fifty yuan."
Xu Sirui fell silent.
He wanted to say that PHS was becoming obsolete, that only country bumpkins used it, that using it wouldn't "raise her brother's status" and would only expose his lack of knowledge, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to say it. Considering Zhu Yingning's monthly shopping trips to town, fifty yuan should be half a year's living expenses for the family, right? Spending half a year's living expenses on a supposedly "impossible-to-laugh" but outdated city gadget, just to avoid being looked down upon, made him feel a little uncomfortable.
The call was connected, and because they were close, Xu Sirui heard a timid voice coming from the microphone: "Hello?"
"Hello? Brother Xiang, it's me!" Zhu Yingning excitedly spoke in dialect.
"Sister?"
"Yes, yes, it's me. I came to town today, and my mom asked me to call you."
After speaking a few words in dialect, Zhu Yingning realized that Xu Sirui was standing next to her. To prevent him from feeling excluded because he couldn't understand, and also so that he could understand the recent situation at home, she switched to Mandarin and asked, "Are you doing well over there? Are you adapting well? Are your uncle and aunt treating you well? Have you caused them any trouble?"
Zhu Jixiang wasn't as talkative as Zhu Yingning, and his voice was very low, giving him the impression of being introverted. Xu Sirui heard him mumbling for a long time before he said, "They treated me very well."
Then it was quiet.
"Don't just say that." Zhu Yingning urged him, "How is it better? Tell me in detail so that my mother and I can understand it too."
After being urged by Zhu Yingning, Zhu Jixiang finally spoke haltingly, like squeezing toothpaste: "It's just... the food here is very good, there's meat every day. There's a nanny who cooks for us, and we can tell her whatever we want, and she'll make it all, just like ordering food in a restaurant. And... there are a lot of KFCs and McDonald's. In the three weeks since I came here, my uncle and aunt have taken me to KFC four times. I only found out that KFC's English name is KFC after I came here. Also, the accommodation here is good... The original child of this family, was his name Xu Sirui? His room is very big, I've never seen such a big room, and the bed is very comfortable, with a Simmons mattress..."
Xu Sirui didn't feel anything special when he heard about the food he was eating. It wasn't until Zhu Jixiang said his bed was very comfortable that he screamed like a cat whose tail was stepped on, and said in disbelief, "Fuck, he even slept in my bed!?"
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