Chapter 66 Shopping
He Chuan led Su Tao to the streets of He County. At that time, road traffic was not as developed as in later generations. The main roads were divided into three horizontal and two vertical roads. Only the two central cross-roads were asphalt roads, and the others were ordinary dirt roads.
The central intersection of the streets was the commercial center of the county town. Su Tao and He Chuan were standing right in the middle of the commercial center. Both sides of the county's main road were lined with old-style houses, with residents living along the street, and shops and houses interspersed.
The houses were all built of brick and wood, and the streets were lined with dense trees. Many women sat outside their homes, picking vegetables and hanging laundry. From time to time, children herded ducks past, and elderly women in red armbands maintained order on the streets. The scene was a scene of prosperity.
The man dragged Su Tao to the county supply and marketing department and pointed at the vanishing cream in the daily necessities counter and said, "Let me buy you some vanishing cream. The weather is cold and dry. I need some moisturizer. We don't have any in town."
Su Tao peeked over to the counter, genuinely curious about the skincare products of this era. There weren't many varieties, just vanishing cream, choling moisturizer, friendship cream, and clam oil, all priced between a few cents and a dollar.
He Chuan saw that Su Tao was interested after looking carefully, so he asked, "Which one do you like?"
Su Tao turned around, smiled and shook her head, saying: "No, I have it." Su Tao was just curious. The moisturizer she exchanged in the space was used several times more than these.
He Chuan was speechless. He had forgotten that Su Tao had a bunch of strange bottles and jars of supplies, such as shower gel. He had never heard of or seen anything like it before. They looked more exquisite than those on the counter, so he naturally looked down on them. Since she had them, he would not force her.
The quality of the counter sales clerks in the county is higher than that in the town, and they were not angry because Su Tao and his friends looked at the items for a long time without buying anything.
Su Tao turned around and was about to leave when he suddenly caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and pulled the man forward.
"Wait a minute, I found something I want to buy?"
"What?" the man asked in confusion. Didn't he just say that he didn't want to buy anything?
Su Tao pulled the man back to the daily necessities counter again, pointed at a product on the counter and shouted, "Please help me get 50 boxes of this."
The man looked in the direction Su Tao pointed and saw a colorful square paper box with the words "Women's Sanitary Belt" printed on it. His face turned red.
Su Tao looked at the man's embarrassed look and couldn't help but smile. She was about to pay when the man reached out to stop her, "I'll do it."
Su Tao jokingly glanced at the man, pointing at the sanitary belt with a smile and asked, "You coming? Do you have the ticket?"
The man's face, which had just subsided, turned red again. He really didn't have this ticket. His sister was too young to use it before, and there was no elder in the family. He didn't know when the girl would use it.
Su Tao stopped teasing the man, paid the bill, and put the sanitary belts into the bamboo box behind him. Fifty of them should last a while. I bought so many mainly because He Yanzhi was getting old and might need them someday, so it was always a good idea to have a few on hand. Unfortunately, there were no sanitary napkins available for exchange, so I'd have to use this one for now.
"Let's go." Su Tao took the man's arm again and walked towards another counter. After a round of shopping, he didn't find anything he wanted to buy.
"Don't you want to buy something else?" He Chuan asked.
Su Tao shook his head and refused, "Basically, they're available in other towns, but there are more styles here. There's no need to buy so much. I can hardly take it back."
After Su Tao said this, the man thought so too. It would be so difficult for Su Tao to take it back. Next time he goes back, he will see if there is anything he wants to take back and buy it back.
Su Tao dragged He Chuan to a barbershop on the main street. Back then, the county town wasn't filled with barbershops like it is today. This was the only barbershop in the county, and it was a government-run one. Two large, mottled mirrors lined the walls of the shop, and in front of them stood a long wooden cabinet filled with hair dryers, scissors, combs, and other utensils. Four iron chairs sat in front of each cabinet, some of which were occupied by customers, while several barbers busily cut hair.
This was before hair straightening and perming, so there were only simple haircuts. The price was a flat 20 cents per session.
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