The two aunties were of noticeably different heights, one tall and one short, and both were obviously very curious about Song Ziyao.
The taller auntie asked: “Are you the new educated youth? What’s your surname?”
Song Ziyao smiled and replied: “Song.”
“Ah, Educated Youth Song. I heard Old Eighth’s wife mention you yesterday. She said a very pretty female educated youth had arrived. That’s you, right?”
Before Song Ziyao could speak, the shorter auntie said: “It’s definitely her. This old woman has never seen such a beautiful girl before.”
The taller auntie said: “Teacher Meng is pretty good too, quiet and refined.”
The shorter auntie shook her head dismissively. “She won’t do. One look and you can tell she won’t be easy to bear children with. Unlike Educated Youth Song, whose chest is a proper chest, and her bu…”
Since Song Ziyao was sitting down, the shorter auntie could not see her backside, so she swallowed the rest of her sentence and instead said: “At a glance, you can tell she’ll have plenty of milk, and the child…”
The shorter auntie’s words came to an abrupt halt halfway through.
Because the tractor suddenly stopped.
The tractor had been so noisy that everyone had needed to shout in order to hear each other.
But no one had expected it to stop so suddenly. As a result, the auntie’s words: “plenty of milk.” rang out exceptionally loudly. Even now, they seemed to linger in the air.
The two aunties were very embarrassed. They glanced at Tan Jinhe at the front and quietly asked: “He didn’t hear that, did he?”
Then they apologetically looked at Song Ziyao.
“Sorry about that, Educated Youth Song. This auntie really didn’t mean anything by it.”
The taller auntie also complained to the shorter one. “Educated Youth Song is still an unmarried young lady. You shouldn’t have said those things in the first place!”
Actually, Song Ziyao did not mind that much. After all, from her perspective, she and Tan Jinhe had already done the most intimate things possible together. This level of teasing was nothing.
However, she was still an unmarried young lady at present, so she had no choice but to lower her head and pretend to be flushed with embarrassment and annoyance.
At that moment, a young married woman climbed onto the tractor.
It turned out that the tractor had stopped because someone had flagged it down.
The young woman was familiar with the two aunties. As soon as she got on, she began chattering away.
Because of what had just happened, the two aunties no longer focused their attention on Song Ziyao, and the three women began discussing other gossip.
“I heard someone introduced a town girl to Xueyi from the Production Brigade Leader’s family. Not only is the girl pretty, but her family works at the power supply station.”
“That’s nonsense. How could she possibly take a liking to Xueyi?”
“The Production Brigade Leader’s wife declared that even if she had to sell everything she owned, she would find Xueyi a partner with excellent conditions. I think there’s a real chance they’ll offer a huge bride price and marry a town girl into the family.”
The young woman asked: “Why? Shouldn’t a wife be chosen based on whether she can endure hardship and work hard? Those pretty town girls are so delicate. Wouldn’t they have to be pampered if they married into the countryside?”
“You just married into the village, so you don’t know. Xueyi from the Production Brigade Leader’s family is completely infatuated with Teacher Meng from the primary school. He insists on marrying her no matter what. But Teacher Meng doesn’t think much of him. He worked himself to the bone helping her become a teacher, yet she doesn’t even spare him a glance.”
“Of course the Production Brigade Leader’s wife couldn’t swallow that. She’s determined to find Xueyi someone whose conditions are no worse than Teacher Meng’s. It’s not about the steamed bun, it’s about saving face!”
The young woman clicked her tongue and sighed. “I saw that Teacher Meng from a distance once. The way her little waist swayed when she walked, you could tell at a glance she acted like a temptress.”
After criticizing Teacher Meng for a while, the three women naturally shifted to other topics.
The village aunties truly had a powerful information network. During the one-hour journey to the county, Song Ziyao learned everything from whose daughter-in-law whispered into her husband’s ear at night to what bad things she had said about her mother-in-law.
After entering the county, the tractor stopped at a certain location, and the two aunties and the young married woman got off.
Seeing that Song Ziyao remained seated on the tractor, they asked: “Educated Youth Song, where are you headed?”
Unlike Song Ziyao, they had not come to the county to buy things. They were there to sell things.
Rural residents were allowed to sell certain agricultural products in towns and cities, and no one would interfere.
In the past, they generally sold goods at the town market or the commune fair. However, there was no market today, and since a tractor happened to be heading to the county, they had come along.
After all, they might earn a few extra cents selling in the county.
After learning this, Song Ziyao said: “I’m going to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy some things. I’ll get off later.”
Their destinations were different.
The others therefore arranged a time and meeting place with Tan Jinhe for the return trip and left.
Song Ziyao turned to Tan Jinhe and said: “Tan Jinhe, can you take me to the largest cooperative in the county?”
After quite a while, she finally heard him reply with a single “Mm.”
Song Ziyao found it a little strange, though she did not think much about it.
The county’s largest cooperative had two floors. Everything she needed should be available there.
After dropping her off, Tan Jinhe went to the fertilizer factory to collect fertilizer. Before leaving, he told her to wait there after finishing her shopping and not wander around. He would come back for her.
Song Ziyao smiled sweetly and nodded several times.
The smile dazzled Tan Jinhe so much that he immediately looked away.
Only after watching Tan Jinhe leave did Song Ziyao turn around and enter the cooperative.
She browsed as she walked, buying anything that seemed useful.
As for daily necessities, she bought candles, kerosene, two batteries, rain boots, and rubber shoes.
She had brought toothpaste, scented soap, and laundry soap from home. Since she could also wash up and do laundry in her space, she could save quite a bit, so those supplies should last for a long time and did not need replenishing.
However, she still needed to buy some toilet paper for appearances’ sake.
After looking through the daily necessities section, she went to the food counters.
It was already afternoon, so all fresh meat supplies had long since sold out. On the pork stall remained only a lone large soup bone. Every shred of meat had been scraped clean, yet several flies still circled around it.
Since soup bones did not require meat ration coupons anyway, Song Ziyao bought it.
At the pastry counter, Song Ziyao purchased two jin of walnut cookies and one jin of peanut brittle. Although she did not like roasted watermelon seeds, they could be useful for socializing, so she bought two jin of those as well.
She did not buy any fresh fruit, only a can of yellow peach preserves.
Finally came grain. She spent most of the grain coupons she had brought, purchasing five jin of refined rice and five jin of premium flour.
Song Ziyao had originally wanted to find a secluded place to take some items out of her space and mix them in with her purchases, but after searching around, she could not find any place that felt completely safe.
Forget it. She would deal with it after returning.
Song Ziyao had bought too many things. She had to hire someone to help carry everything to the roadside.
After waiting for more than half an hour, Tan Jinhe arrived.
Seeing the goods spread all over the ground, Tan Jinhe paused briefly before helping her load everything onto the tractor.
Several sacks of urea fertilizer had already been loaded onto the tractor, and there was still plenty of space remaining.
Song Ziyao asked: “You only brought back this little fertilizer?”
Tan Jinhe was momentarily stunned by her familiar tone before replying: “Chemical fertilizer is a scarce commodity. Even this amount was only obtained because the Senior Party Secretary got an approval slip from an old comrade-in-arms.”
Song Ziyao nodded.
After picking up the other three passengers, the tractor returned to the brigade. It was only four-thirty in the afternoon.
Song Ziyao had purchased far too many things. There was no way she could carry them back by herself.
She looked at Tan Jinhe expectantly.
“Could you help me?”
The word “no” circled around Tan Jinhe’s lips several times, but in the end, he never said it.
Song Ziyao’s eyes curved into crescents as she said: “Thank you.”
Tan Jinhe pressed his tongue against his back teeth and stretched out a hand.
“Pass them down to me from up there.”
Standing in the cargo bed, Song Ziyao handed the items to Tan Jinhe one by one.
She was in such a good mood that her movements became light and cheerful. Even when getting down from the tractor, she jumped off.
But she had become too pleased with herself and stepped on a small stone.
Her ankle twisted, and she was about to fall. Both of Tan Jinhe’s hands were occupied, making it impossible for him to catch her, so he could only extend an arm, intending to block her fall.
Unexpectedly, Song Ziyao’s body tilted slightly, and she ended up wrapping both arms around his arm from the front.
Tan Jinhe instantly froze.
In truth, he had heard what those two aunties had said.
He had spent the entire journey trying to forget it, but before he could succeed, he had personally experienced it for himself.
And an uncontrollable thought surfaced in his mind.
It was not just as the auntie had described.
It was also… very soft.