The Great Movement had only been over for two years, and the woman at the office was genuinely a little intimidated by young people like Ning Yuan, who seemed pumped up and spouted slogans.
She could only force a dry laugh. “Right, right… right.”
How could she say that this kind of advanced thinking was wrong?
In the end, the woman took out a marriage certificate and wrote down Ning Yuan and Rong Zhaonan’s names.
Then, she swiftly stamped it and hurried them out the door.
Ning Yuan gazed at the marriage certificate with leader’s quotations printed on it, suppressing her wildly beating heart as she and Hua Zi walked out of the office.
Once outside, she finally let out a sigh of relief. With her hands on her small waist, she let out a “pfft” and, clutching her chest, laughed aloud. “Heh, we did it!”
Hua Zi also breathed a long sigh of relief. “Ning Zhiqing, you’re amazing. You scared me to death back there.”
He hadn’t known how to respond at all.
Looking at Hua Zi’s honest and simple face, Ning Yuan smiled and said, “Thank you for your hard work, Hua Zi Ge. In a bit, you can go get the fertilizer first. I’m going to the county’s Department Store.”
The marriage registration office wasn’t far from the county Department Store, only about a ten-minute walk.
Hua Zi nodded. “Alright. I’ll wait for you at the entrance of the Department Store then.”
Hua Zi drove the tractor away with a chug-chug-chug.
Ning Yuan made her way to the county Department Store. The people on the streets were dressed in either green military uniforms, blue worker’s clothes, or white shirts.
It was simple and unadorned.
The most impressive building in the county was the three-story Department Store. It had just been renovated and opened last month; it was previously called the Department Company’s retail section.
When it opened, the lines were incredibly long. Today was a workday, but it was still crowded.
She looked at the bustling entrance of the Department Store, felt the five yuan in her pocket, and walked in.
Since she had been reborn into her youth, she needed to re-familiarize herself with the environment and start thinking about how to make money in the future.
On the first floor of the Department Store, there were counters on both sides displaying various daily necessities, with the cashier’s station at the highest point.
Just as she entered and stood before a counter to look—whoosh—a small clip holding money flew past right above her head along an iron wire.
Ning Yuan jumped in surprise. She looked up at the various iron wires overhead and only then remembered—
Right, at this time, you didn’t need to go to the cashier to pay.
Long iron wires connected the cashier’s station to the sales counters. When someone chose an item, they gave their money and coupons to the salesperson.
The salesperson would clip the money, coupons, and a written slip onto a small clamp. Then, with a forceful push, the clamp would slide along the wire to the cashier’s station.
After the cashier received it, they would calculate the total, clip the change, coupons, and stamped receipt back onto the clamp, and slide it back to the salesperson’s counter.
She looked at those thin wires and the proud and lively expressions of the department store salesclerks and cashiers, and couldn’t help but smile.
Ah, how nostalgic…
“What are you buying? If you’re not buying anything, don’t block the people behind you!” A salesclerk with two butterfly bows in her hair saw Ning Yuan standing there smiling foolishly and rolled her eyes at her.
Ning Yuan wasn’t angered by her attitude. On the contrary, she was in an excellent mood and even smiled back at the salesclerk.
In an era of material scarcity, a job at the department store was a great one, even better than many cadres in government departments. Salesclerks had many connections to get things that couldn’t be bought without coupons, so their service attitude was poor.
But seeing such a salesclerk again made Ning Yuan even more certain that her life had truly started over!
She wandered around all the floors of the Department Store. The county Department Store was just as she remembered it; there seemed to be a lot of things, but there was little variety.
Soon after the Reform and Opening-Up, the south would get rich first. In the mid-to-late eighties, things like Cloth Coupons, grain coupons, postage stamps, meat coupons, and Industrial Coupons would slowly be phased out.
But for now, it was still the era of the planned economy, and various coupons were harder to come by than money.
Fortunately, she still had some meat coupons, Cloth Coupons, and others that she had saved up herself, not having been foolish enough to offer them all up to Tang Zhenzhen.
An hour later, Ning Yuan came out carrying a bottle of Songhe Grain Liquor, a shoebox, and a thermos.
From a distance, she saw Hua Zi’s tractor loaded with fertilizer. She hurried over with her things and smiled. “Hua Zi Ge, let’s head back!”
Hua Zi grinned. “Alright, let’s go!”
The tractor chugged its way out of the city and headed back towards the village.
By the time the two of them returned to the village in the vehicle used for transporting pesticides, it was already afternoon.
At the village entrance, Ning Yuan looked around and saw no one. She suddenly handed the liquor to Hua Zi. “Hua Zi Ge, this is for you and the Old Branch Secretary.”
Hua Zi was immediately taken aback and refused. “Isn’t this the liquor for your wedding? I can’t take this!”
A bottle of Songhe Grain Liquor cost two yuan and fifty cents, not like the cheap liquor from the Production Brigade’s supply and marketing cooperative that cost only a few dimes.
Ning Yuan’s eyes curved into a smile. “That’s right. I’m married, so I’m treating the people who helped me to a drink. It’s not against the rules. I’m off!”
With that, she shoved the bottle into Hua Zi’s arms, grabbed her remaining things, jumped off the tractor, and ran.
Although she had used some clever words to coax the Old Branch Secretary into helping her, he was a good person. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sympathized with her and had Hua Zi Ge help her go to the city to get her marriage certificate.
“Wait… oh…” Hua Zi was still driving the tractor. He could only quickly stuff the liquor into the tractor bed, not wanting people to see it and start gossiping.
He first drove the tractor back to the production team’s office in the village.
“Dad, look at this…!” Hua Zi told the Old Branch Secretary what had happened.
He was afraid that accepting a gift would be a violation of discipline.
The Old Branch Secretary took a few puffs from his water pipe, glanced at the bottle of Songhe Grain Liquor, and nodded.
“That girl gave out wedding candy yesterday. The little kids were thrilled. She knows how to show gratitude. Keep it. It doesn’t count as a violation of discipline, it’s just a wedding drink!”
Hua Zi was very happy. “Alright, I’ll have Man Hua fry up a plate of peanuts and dried fish tonight.”
In these years, the only cheap side dishes for drinks were peanuts and fried dried fish.
The Old Branch Secretary thought for a moment. “By the way, tell Man Hua to give Ning Zhiqing a few days of marriage leave, no work points deducted.”
Man Hua was the team’s work point recorder and also Hua Zi’s wife. She was an Educated Youth from the “old three classes” who had married into the village branch secretary’s family.
Hua Zi nodded. “Got it.”
Carrying the shoebox and the thermos, Ning Yuan headed back to the Cowshed.
Under the brilliant late autumn sun at four in the afternoon, Rong Zhaonan watched from a distance as a figure came jogging over.
The girl’s two braids swayed back and forth, and she looked like a radiant daisy in a field.
Rong Zhaonan watched for a moment, then lowered his eyes and continued fixing the roof.
Did the little spy accomplish her mission in the county, which is why she’s so happy?
Ning Yuan returned to the small house next to the Cowshed, put her things down, and took a big gulp of water from her Enamel Mug, finally quenching her thirst.
“Strange, I didn’t see Rong Zhaonan in the Cowshed just now. Where did that guy go?” Ning Yuan looked around, puzzled.
Suddenly, a man’s cool voice came from the roof. “Looking for me?”
Ning Yuan jumped, startled. She looked up to find a person crouched on the roof beams.
“What are you doing up there? You scared me to death!” She couldn’t help but be startled.
Rong Zhaonan propped himself up with one hand and, with a clean and crisp motion, did a beautiful backflip, landing just beside Ning Yuan.
Ning Yuan’s eyes widened in amazement, and she clapped. “That’s amazing! Did you study gymnastics before?”
Rong Zhaonan said, “This isn’t gymnastics.”
Ning Yuan was intrigued. “Wow, so you were in acrobatics? Does that mean you can walk on stilts and balance bowls on your head?”
It was hard to imagine that the formidable big shot of the future had to learn acrobatics as a child.
The corner of Rong Zhaonan’s lips twitched, and he shot her a cold glance. “…”
Was this little spy genuinely clueless, or was she playing dumb?
Before approaching him, hadn’t she done a background check on him?