Grandma and Grandpa had always treated her well, so Qiao Jia Jia had no objections to going to He Family Village.
She nodded. “Okay! Are we leaving soon?”
He Yingying looked down at her daughter, who was curled up in her arms, and said gently, “Not yet. We’ll go after lunch. If we leave now, it’ll already be close to lunchtime by the time we get there.
Your grandparents don’t know we’re coming today. They probably only prepared enough food for themselves, so there wouldn’t be enough for all of us. Making another meal just for us would be troublesome, so let’s not make them go through all that.
We’ll go to the department store for a little while. Oh, right, we also need to buy another outfit for your cousin. After we finish shopping, we’ll go home for lunch, then I’ll take you to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”
He Yingying was very fond of the only niece in her parents’ family. Especially after having Jia Jia, she had grown even fonder of girls. She loved her nephews too, of course, but she could never compare them to her niece.
As soon as Jia Jia heard that they were going to the department store, she immediately perked up from where she had been quietly lying in her mother’s arms.
She really loved shopping.
In her previous life, one of her favorite things to do after closing a big deal was go on a crazy shopping spree. She had always had a strong desire to shop.
There might not have been a wide variety of goods in the department stores of this era, but they were still interesting and had a distinctive style of the times. Jia Jia especially liked buying little delicate things. Whenever her parents were going to the department store, she always remembered to bring her little wallet.
The little wallet had been a gift from Aunt Shu. It looked almost like a delicate work of art and perfectly suited Jia Jia’s taste. It even had a little sheep embroidered on it—her zodiac animal. She had been born in 1955, the Year of the Sheep.
Because the wallet was so delicate, Jia Jia took great care of it. She usually kept it inside her little trunk and only brought it out when she went somewhere.
Time to take her little wallet shopping!
Jia Jia climbed out of her mother’s arms, put on her little cotton slippers, and pattered over to the cabinet. She opened her little trunk and took out her wallet.
“I want to buy a present for Cousin too,” Jia Jia said, clutching her little wallet.
Jia Jia was three years old, and every month her family gave her four yuan in pocket money—one yuan from each adult.
The adults did not interfere with what Jia Jia chose to spend her money on. They basically let her spend it however she wanted.
None of the adults were worried that she was too young and would waste the money.
What did “wasting money” even mean? It was only a few yuan. If she wanted to spend it, then let her spend it! If a child couldn’t even decide what to buy with her own pocket money, then there was no point in giving her any in the first place.
When He Yingying heard that her daughter wanted to buy a present for her cousin, her heart immediately melted.
How could my daughter be so sweet?
She picked up her precious daughter and kissed her little cheeks several times before smiling.
“Our Jia Jia is such a good girl! As a reward, Mommy will pay for the present. You don’t have to use your pocket money. You can just choose the gift yourself.”
Jia Jia had actually saved quite a lot of pocket money in her little wallet—forty yuan in total!
But she immediately refused.
“No! I want to use my own pocket money to buy a present for Cousin! That way, it will really be my gift to her!”
“Okay, okay, okay! We’ll use your pocket money, then!”
He Yingying did not insist on going against her daughter’s wishes. However, she secretly decided to find an opportunity later to give Jia Jia a little more pocket money.
He Yingying took her daughter to the department store.
Qiao Heping did not come along this time. He was working with the cement workers, helping them lay bricks so that the construction would go faster.
“You two are heading out? Where are you going to play?”
A neighbor in the apartment building looked at the mother and daughter, both dressed beautifully in puff-sleeved bulaiji dresses, and asked curiously.
“We’re not going out to play. We’re going to the department store to buy a few things,” He Yingying replied with a smile.
The neighbor looked a little disappointed.
“Oh, then you’re too late. New fabric arrived at the department store today. Guess what it was? Imported diliang fabric! There was so little of it that it sold out in ten minutes. If you had gone first thing this morning, you might have gotten some.”
He Yingying felt a little disappointed when she heard that. She had not been to the department store for nearly half a month and had no idea that new fabric had arrived.
“Will there be any tomorrow?”
If there was, she would definitely go first thing in the morning and line up.
“No,” the neighbor said. “The salesclerks said this morning’s shipment was the only batch of the month. The warehouse is completely out. Imported fabrics like that are always in short supply.”
“Then I guess I was just unlucky and missed it,” He Yingying said. “Otherwise, I really would have wanted to buy some for Jia Jia’s clothes. The colors of diliang fabric are so bright and pretty.”
He Yingying genuinely loved this imported fabric.
It was crisp, smooth, and durable, but what she liked most was the variety of bright colors and patterns. Clothes made from it were truly beautiful.
Seeing her disappointment, the neighbor comforted her.
“A shipment only comes every few months. Missing it is normal. Don’t worry. Wait for the next batch. Maybe you’ll happen to catch it next time.”
Jia Jia listened to her mother and the neighbor talking and was somewhat surprised to learn that they liked diliang fabric so much.
She still preferred cotton. It was comfortable and breathable.
As for diliang, it was essentially polyester. In her previous life, polyester was far cheaper than cotton. It was less breathable and tended to create static electricity. Jia Jia personally thought it was not very suitable for wearing in summer.
After the neighbor left, Jia Jia asked her mother, “Is diliang fabric really that good? Didn’t Daddy say his diliang shirt wasn’t breathable last time?”
“Your dad’s diliang shirt was white,” He Yingying explained. “Other than being crisp and durable, and making him look quite presentable, it really doesn’t have many advantages compared with cotton.
“But look at how bright the colors are in other diliang fabrics! Clothes made from them are beautiful. The cotton fabrics in the department store have such a limited range of colors right now. Most of them are just black, white, gray, blue, or green. And they aren’t as durable as diliang either.”
Jia Jia had not expected that to be the reason, but after thinking about it, she found it quite understandable.
In her previous life, polyester could not compete with cotton partly because both fabrics were available in a huge variety of colors.
And people in the future did not live in an era where they had to patch and mend clothes for years. They did not need to place such a high value on durability.
Naturally, people would choose cotton because it was more comfortable.
But in this era, diliang fabric was practically on another level compared with rough homespun cotton.
It was durable, brightly colored, and fashionable.
No wonder ordinary people loved it so much.
Of course, He Yingying had no idea that her daughter was thinking all this. She assumed Jia Jia had simply asked out of curiosity.
She looked at the sun outside and said, “It’s already the middle of September. Why is it still so hot? How about I carry you there?”
Jia Jia had just been thinking about diliang fabric when she heard this. She immediately shook her head.
“No, Mommy! I can walk by myself. Let’s hurry and go!”
She was already three years old, not a one-year-old anymore. Jia Jia knew perfectly well how much she weighed. If she made her mother carry her all the way there, her mother would definitely get tired.
If Daddy Qiao Heping were here, she would have been more than happy to be lazy for a while.
Since her daughter refused, He Yingying did not force her.
“Then tell Mommy if you get tired on the way. I’ll carry you if you do.”
Jia Jia looked up and said softly, “Okay. I’ll tell you when I get tired.”
But despite saying that, Jia Jia did not complain even once all the way to the department store.
She felt that she had been such a sensible little girl that she deserved a reward.
Perhaps a chocolate-flavored Double-Stick ice cream would do.
The problem was that she had already used up her allowance of three ice creams for the week.
Jia Jia felt a little guilty, but she still looked up at her mother pitifully.
“I really want an ice cream! Can we buy a Double-Stick? Mommy and I can each have one.”
He Yingying had originally wanted to refuse, but when she saw her daughter’s flushed little face, warm from the walk, she finally gave in helplessly.
“Just this once. There won’t be a next time.”
“Yay!”
Jia Jia immediately became happy.
Not long afterward, mother and daughter were walking hand in hand through the department store, eating their ice creams.
Although He Yingying already knew from the neighbor that the diliang fabric had sold out, she habitually headed toward the fabric counter anyway.
Perhaps she might find some pretty patterned cotton fabric.
As soon as the salesclerk behind the counter saw He Yingying’s familiar face, she immediately waved her over and whispered, “Come here quickly. I saved something good for you.”
He Yingying hurried over with her daughter.
The salesclerk said, “Sister Yingying, do you want some diliang fabric?”
He Yingying was delighted.
“Of course I do! But didn’t you say the diliang fabric had already sold out? There’s still some left?”
“I bought some for myself before we even put it on the counter,” the salesclerk explained. “I specifically brought quite a few fabric coupons from home. I originally wanted to let you know that diliang fabric was coming in so you could come early and line up, but you hadn’t been to the department store in so long.
“I knew you would definitely like diliang, so in the end, I simply bought some extra for myself and saved it for you.”
Working as a department-store salesclerk came with quite good benefits.
Whenever good products arrived, employees were allowed to buy them before they were officially put on display. Many scarce goods that ordinary people could not get their hands on were practically effortless for salesclerks to obtain.
Hearing this, He Yingying said gratefully, “Hongmei, thank you so much! Here are the fabric coupons. Are these enough?”
She pulled a handful of fabric coupons from her shoulder bag.
“More than enough. I saved eight chi of diliang for you,” Sun Hongmei said with a smile. “If you use it to make an adult outfit, you’ll still have a little left over.”
“This fabric is so bright. It would look best as a dress,” He Yingying replied. “I’ve been planning for a long time to use diliang to make Jia Jia a dress. With eight chi, she’s so small that I could probably make several outfits for her.”
Diliang fabric was extremely difficult to obtain, and Sun Hongmei had gone out of her way to save some for her. He Yingying naturally wanted to show her appreciation.
Returning the favor, she said to Sun Hongmei, “Our steel factory will be getting a shipment of autumn pears at the end of the month. Employees can buy two jin for just one fen. Do you want some? If you do, I can buy extra for you.”
He Yingying worked in the cafeteria’s logistics department and was responsible for procurement, so she knew exactly what the factory was buying.
The steel factory had excellent employee benefits. At this time, even the cheapest vegetables cost two or three fen per jin. Getting two jin of pears for one fen was practically like giving them away for free.
There was no way to buy pears that cheaply outside. On the open market, pears cost around twelve fen per jin.