sbdcsierra Chapter 7 Didn't your fiancée run away?
Chapter 7 Didn't your fiancée run away?
Although she is four years older than me, she is caring and knows how to be considerate.
Afterwards, Song Yanchuan took Qin Yingxue to buy two sets of clothes, two pairs of shoes, and various snacks, filling both of their hands.
Finally, Song Yanchuan took Qin Yingxue to the state-run restaurant, which was also the place where the two first met.
To Qin Yingxue's surprise, Song Yanchuan gentlemanly let her order: "Order whatever you like."
Qin Yingxue saw today's menu and ordered a braised pork hock with rock sugar, a salted duck, and a four-happiness meatball.
Song Yanchuan paid the bill and got the ticket, then sat down opposite Qin Yingxue with two bottles of orange soda in his hand.
The soda was in a glass bottle. After unscrewing the cap, Song Yanchuan inserted a straw into the bottle and handed it to Qin Yingxue.
"Thank you." Qin Yingxue reached out and took it, expressing her gratitude.
After the dishes were served, Qin Yingxue buried her head in her food and began to eat.
The chefs at the state-run restaurant were incredibly skilled. The pork hock was not only stewed until it was tender, sweet, and juicy, but it also burst with flavor with every bite. Qin Yingxue especially loved the skin of the pork hock, which was chewy and full of collagen.
After Song Yanchuan discovered that Qin Yingxue had a particular fondness for the skin of the pork hock, he used chopsticks that he had never eaten from before to peel off the skin and put it into Qin Yingxue's bowl.
"Thank you," Qin Yingxue said as she chewed.
Qin Yingxue ate almost the entire plate of braised pork hock with rock sugar, but she didn't eat much of the other dishes.
But the two of them finished all three dishes.
Qin Yingxue belatedly felt a little embarrassed: "It's been so long since I've had pork hock, I..."
“We’ll be serving braised pork hock with rock sugar every Wednesday.” Song Yanchuan took out a stack of tickets and money from his pocket and stuffed them into Qin Yingxue’s hand. “Use these first, and if you need more, I’ll go back to the army and get some more…”
"No need, I..." Qin Yingxue was stunned by Song Yanchuan's actions. Just as she was about to return the ticket and money to Song Yanchuan, a somewhat familiar voice came.
"Chuanzi, don't forget the train at 3 PM." Xu Guohua, dressed in uniform, stopped his bicycle in front of the two of them.
"Thanks." Song Yanchuan patted the other person on the shoulder.
"Why are you being so polite with us brothers? Miss, it's you!" Xu Guohua's eyes lit up when he saw Qin Yingxue.
"Guohua, this is Comrade Qin Yingxue, who is also my fiancée," Song Yanchuan said, half of his body blocking Qin Yingxue's way.
"Fiancée? Didn't your fiancée run away?" Xu Guohua realized his words were inappropriate as soon as they left his mouth, and awkwardly touched his nose. "Miss, don't misunderstand. Chuanzi and that Jiang Linlin have nothing going on..."
"Alright, we have something to do, so we'll head back first." Song Yanchuan was afraid that Xu Guohua would only deepen the misunderstanding if he explained further, so he took Qin Yingxue's hand, got on the bicycle, and left.
"This kid, I've never seen him care about anyone like this before..." Xu Guohua muttered with amusement as he watched the two figures leave.
The atmosphere was somewhat silent on the way back to the commune. As Qin Village came into view, Song Yanchuan suddenly slammed on the brakes, turned around and looked at Qin Yingxue with a serious expression: "After I get back, I'll pack up and catch the train. Wait a month at most. Once the application report is ready, I'll come back and marry you."
Qin Yingxue blinked, and before she could react, Song Yanchuan had already led her back to the main gate of the Qin family.
"You're back!" The door opened suddenly, revealing Qin Dahai and the others.
Song Yanchuan greeted everyone and quickly disappeared on his bicycle.
As Qin Yingxue was ushered back into the house, she finally understood why Song Yanchuan hadn't come into the village to tell her what he had said.
Upon learning that Qin Yingxue had already eaten lunch, the Qin family told her to rest well before leaving.
After closing the door, Qin Yingxue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
After tidying up the things she had bought, Qin Yingxue lay on the bed and yawned.
Whether it was because the air was fresher back in Qin's hometown or because she was physically weak, Qin Yingxue often felt sleepy.
I took a nap, and it was already 1:30 in the afternoon.
Qin Yingxue got up and opened the door. The courtyard was quiet, and there wasn't a soul in sight.
It is early summer now, the busy season for farming.
Qin Yingxue remembers that it was October of 1980, which was the off-season for farming after the wheat was planted, that the land was distributed to individual households.
Even now, everyone is still in the same production team, and the work point system is in place.
Every adult in every household must work to earn work points.
The teenagers who didn't go to school would gather pig feed, dig wild vegetables, or go to the river to catch fish and loaches, trying their best to help their families.
As Qin Yingxue walked along, she saw several naked children laughing and playing in a canal ahead under the scorching sun.
Qin Yingxue strolled over and discovered that they were holding eels and loaches, competing to see who could catch the biggest one. There was also a dirty little boy with a runny nose holding a two-pound turtle.
Wild soft-shelled turtles are highly nutritious, but people in rural areas dislike them because of their strong fishy smell.
Later, after people learned about the nutritional value of soft-shelled turtles, the price was driven up to several hundred yuan per kilogram.
The eels held by the children each weighed between eight ounces and half a pound.
Qin Yingxue's heart stirred.
These are all completely natural and wild; they're worthless in the countryside, but they can be sold in shopping malls...
Qin Yingxue opened Douyin (TikTok) with a focused mind and entered "wild eel". The results showed that a half-pound eel was 150 yuan per pound, an eight-ounce eel was 300 yuan per pound, and a one-pound eel was 500 yuan.
Wild small loach costs 50 yuan per jin (500g), while wild large loach costs 80 yuan per jin.
Wild turtles cost 800 yuan per jin (500 grams).
Knowing the approximate price, Qin Yingxue felt more confident and asked the children, "Little friends, are you taking all these loaches and eels home to eat? Can you finish them all?"
Qin Yingxue only realized when she got closer that their baskets and buckets were full of eels and loaches.
"If we can't finish it, we'll chop it up and feed it to the chickens or pigs," one of them said, sniffling.
"Feeding chickens and pigs is too wasteful, how about I buy some from you?"
Qin Yingxue asked with a smile.
"Sister, how much do you want?" the boy, sniffling, asked. "Is it paid for?"
"Hmm! I'll take as many as you have. I'll give you two cents a pound for loach and three cents a pound for eel, how about that?"
Qin Yingxue looked at the children and asked.
"Great!" the children cheered excitedly.
Not only will they be unpalatable if caught and taken back, but they'll also get their clothes dirty and get beaten.
Sold to my sister, not only did I get money and avoid being beaten, but I could also buy candy to sweeten my mouth.
The child holding the turtle suddenly became anxious: "Sister, do you want this turtle?"
"Yes," Qin Yingxue replied with a smile.
Old Turtle spent five yuan, the eels weighed twelve jin (about 6 catties) of various sizes, Qin Yingxue gave three yuan and six mao (about 1.6 yuan), and the loach weighed eight jin (about 4 catties) for one yuan and six mao (about 1.6 yuan).
"Sister, do you want it again tomorrow?" The little girl asked, her eyes crinkling with a smile as she held the money in her hand.
"These will last for several days, so we don't need them for now," Qin Yingxue shook her head.
She needs some time to work on it before she can implement the plan.