The next day, after breakfast, Gu Yijia took her niece Baohua by the hand and went to Grandma Huang’s house together.
Today she had to go to the county seat, and it was not good to take Baohua along, so she left Baohua at Grandma Huang’s house.
Huang Pingping had already packed up and was waiting for her. Seeing them come over, she said, “Hurry, hurry, hurry, the tractor is about to leave. Let’s get over there quickly.”
Huang Pingping was not only capable and efficient, but also very careful. Knowing that Gu Yijia’s health was poor and that she could not overwork herself, although she urged her very hard with her words, in fact she walked extremely slowly, afraid of tiring her out.
The two of them arrived at the village entrance and found that the tractor was already waiting there. The brigade leader was directing people to load things onto the tractor.
After everything had been loaded, Huang Pingping pulled Gu Yijia onto the tractor together with her.
There were a lot of things on the tractor, and the only place that could be sat in was one corner. This time there were several male commune members going to the county seat, and only Huang Pingping and Gu Yijia were girls.
Huang Pingping was very familiar with everyone. This time, she was also going to the county seat to deliver goods, and incidentally help keep accounts. After finishing those tasks, she would go to the department store to buy things.
So Gu Yijia was basically taking advantage of Huang Pingping’s convenience to be able to ride the public vehicle to the county seat.
The commune members on the truck were all very friendly toward Gu Yijia. Knowing that her health was poor, they even said to the driver, “Kang Liu, drive a little slower. We’re not competing for that bit of time.”
Kang Liu had not started the vehicle yet. Hearing this, he turned his head and said to them, “Got it.”
Gu Yijia knew these people were looking after her, and she generously smiled at them. “Thank you, Brother Kang Liu.”
Kang Liu was dazed by her smile. His dark, sunburned face felt a little hot, and he stammered, “N-no need, anyway the road is pretty flat, no need to drive too fast…”
The people around him burst out laughing.
However, when Gu Yijia turned her head and smiled at them, they also felt a little unable to hold up.
Gu Yijia’s health was poor. Before, other than going to school, she spent most of her time at home and did not move around much in the brigade. She had been protected too well by Chen Aifang, so even if the young people in the brigade knew she was pretty, they did not dare to get too close and only looked from afar.
Only now, after coming into close contact, did they realize how beautiful the Gu family’s youngest daughter was.
Huang Pingping looked at the dazed expressions of this group of men and reminded them, “It’s time to set off.”
The male commune members turned around with red faces and pretended to get busy.
Luckily, their skin was dark, so even if their faces were red, it probably could not be seen, right? Comforting themselves like this, quite a few people still secretly looked at Gu Yijia.
They saw Huang Pingping was saying something to her, and she was listening seriously too, the corners of her lips carrying a smile. She was beautiful beyond description. If there were immortals in this world, they should look like Gu Yijia.
This was Gu Yijia’s first time riding this kind of tractor, so it was unavoidable that she felt a bit novel about it.
The original owner’s memories did not count. Memories were always separated by something and were not as good as firsthand experience.
Nanshan Commune was close to the county seat, and a road had been built. Although it could not compare to the asphalt roads of later generations, it was still better than many places’. The tractor driving on it was not very bumpy.
Gu Yijia felt it was fine. By the time she got off, although her legs were a little weak, her spirits were still all right, and she did not feel dizzy, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, or anything like that.
It seemed that during this period, her efforts to nourish her body and walk every day were useful.
Seeing that she was in fairly good spirits, Huang Pingping also relaxed and said, “We need to deliver the goods first. You…”
She was just about to say that she would let Gu Yijia wait for them at the state-run restaurant, where there was a place to sit and rest, and later everyone could conveniently go eat lunch together, when she heard Gu Yijia say, “Sister Pingping, I’ll go to the post office first to mail something. I’ll wait for you all by the department store later. I also need to buy some things.”
The county seat also had a department store, but it was over by the center of the county seat, rather far away, and one had to take the county bus to get there. Taking the bus also cost money, and many people were reluctant to spend that money.
So when commune people came to the county seat, they usually just went directly to the nearby supply and marketing cooperative to buy things.
Huang Pingping hesitated. “Can you manage on your own?”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?” Gu Yijia said with a smile. “I used to come to the county seat alone to study, and I didn’t see that I couldn’t manage, did I?”
Although the original owner was a sickly person, she still came to the county seat alone to study. It was just that her health was poor, and she often had to ask for sick leave. Even so, she still finished high school, and her grades were not bad, which showed that she was a very smart girl.
The current Gu Yijia was even more fine.
Huang Pingping thought about it and did not insist any further. She carefully instructed her that if she got tired, she must definitely find a place to rest, and if she encountered anything, she must definitely look for the public security officer.
Gu Yijia answered in a good-tempered way.
After parting from Huang Pingping and the others, Gu Yijia went to the post office to mail her things.
After mailing them, thinking that the stamps at home were almost used up, she bought another sheet of stamps. She specially looked at the stamps currently being issued. Since she had not been interested in stamp collecting before and had not figured out which ones would later become out-of-print and could be sold for money, she decided not to make that fortune.
Anyway, just wait until the 1980s, when the national economy takes off. Even a pig can fly up.
If she was still living well by then, there would be plenty of ways to make money.
Gu Yijia was thinking this over in her heart as she slowly left the post office.
Today she was still wearing a wide sunhat. On the sunhat there was a delicate cluster of flower branches. The wide brim blocked most of her face, leaving only a section of exquisite nose and lips visible, making anyone who caught an inadvertent glimpse of her let their imagination run wild.
The girl wearing the straw hat had a slender and graceful figure. A head of black hair was braided into two somewhat fluffy braids, hanging down in front of her chest. She wore a white shirt, and the hem of the shirt was tucked into a blue long skirt, outlining a very slim waist. As she walked, the skirt hem lifted slightly, brushing past the streets full of the atmosphere of time.
Quite a few people’s gazes on the street were gradually drawn to her.
Clearly they still could not see the girl’s face clearly, but just looking at this bearing and figure made people’s hearts thump.
Suddenly, Gu Yijia felt a gaze that could not be ignored, and subconsciously turned her head to look.
She saw not far away at the mouth of an alley a tall, cold-looking man standing there. His posture was upright and strong, like a green pine growing at the edge of a cliff. There was a stern and inviolable righteous aura about him, and combined with that set of green military uniform, one could tell that he was a soldier.
The sunlight was too glaring, so Gu Yijia could not see the other party’s appearance clearly, but she had a few points of goodwill rise in her heart.
Thinking about it, people of this era, as long as they saw this emblematic green military uniform, would all feel goodwill, right?
That person’s gaze swept over, then he turned to look in another direction.
Gu Yijia followed his gaze and looked over, discovering that on the other side of the street there were several young men with frivolous, dissolute manners, also commonly called street punks or street loiterers, looking at her with lewd smiles.
Gu Yijia’s brow furrowed slightly. She had not forgotten that the original owner had died such a miserable death because she had been bullied by a group of street punks in the county seat.
“Comrade Gu!”
Gu Yijia withdrew her gaze and walked to the bus stop. She was just about to take the bus to the department store when she heard this pleasantly surprised voice. Turning around, she saw Jiang Jinwang appearing not far away.
Jiang Jinwang was tall and thin, with features that were fairly proper and handsome, passable, and, together with his family background, he could also be considered a high-ranking handsome rich guy of this era in the eyes of the world.
Unfortunately, Gu Yijia really looked down on this man.
Not to mention that she had read the plot, even if she had not, a greasy-faced, powdery man like Jiang Jinwang was not her type.
Before coming, Gu Yijia had been wondering whether she would run into Jiang Jinwang today, and she had not expected to be so lucky.
She had come to the county seat twice and met this person both times. It had to be said that there was still some sort of fate between the two of them, or rather, it was like the plot was constantly trying hard to bind them together.
Jiang Jinwang walked over in big strides, looking at her with delight. “Comrade Gu, why have you come to the county seat?”
Actually, he quite wanted to see Gu Yijia, but unfortunately Gu Yijia rarely came to the county seat.
To be able to encounter Gu Yijia in the county seat today, he felt this was fate between the two of them.
Although he could also go to Nanshan Commune to look for her, in his heart he more or less understood that Nanshan Commune was not his territory. If he went there, those commune members would probably not give him a good face, and whether he could even see Gu Yijia was still uncertain. Besides that, given his status, he was somewhat upright and aloof. Only women came rushing to curry favor with him, there was no logic in him going to curry favor with a woman.
This was also the reason that when he asked Aunt Wang to come forward and propose marriage, he did not personally go.
He was a city person, and also the director of the steel factory. If he were so eager toward a country woman, how embarrassing would that be? Of course he had to let the woman come rushing to him.
As for the other party’s refusal? He did not take it seriously at all, only feeling that the betrothal gift he offered was definitely not enough.
These country people were just greedy. Looking at the Gu family’s behavior, one could tell. Although he could afford a generous betrothal gift, he also did not want to raise these country people’s appetite.
Gu Yijia looked at him, then said righteously, “Comrade Jiang, there’s no relationship between us. Please stay farther away from me, to avoid causing unnecessary misunderstanding!”
Jiang Jinwang was first stunned, then he came to his senses from the joy of seeing her, and only then remembered that Gu Yijia had refused him several times over.
A few shadows of gloom flashed across his heart, and his gaze at Gu Yijia gained a bit of unreadable meaning.
Jiang Jinwang took a few steps forward and came to stand in front of her, saying, “Comrade Gu, don’t be in such a hurry to refuse me. You can think it over again. As long as you’re willing to marry me, no matter what conditions you bring up, I will satisfy you!”
He said with confidence, feeling that with his status, could he not even satisfy the conditions of a country girl?
Gu Yijia took a deep breath. Her face went pale as she weakly said, “Don’t come any closer. If you come any closer, I’m going to shout.”
Jiang Jinwang looked at her in utter disbelief, not expecting her to say such words, especially when he saw her retreating backward with a face full of refusal. The beautiful face that he liked so much showed disgust, and his brain went blank. Subconsciously, he stepped forward and reached out to grab her arm…
“Someone’s being a pervert!”
Gu Yijia shouted as soon as her mouth opened.
Jiang Jinwang did not expect her to call out that he was being a pervert, and his pupils widened in shock.
The next moment, a powerful big hand reached over, pressed on his shoulder, and yanked him to the side. That force was so great that Jiang Jinwang was like a little chick, his entire body toppling backward.
When Jiang Jinwang fell, Gu Yijia’s arm was still being held by him, and she almost got dragged down with him.
Luckily, a strong arm promptly supported her back, steadied her body, and used a deft force to pry open the hand that was gripping her arm. As she stood firm, that hand quickly withdrew again.
This continuous series of movements was completed in one smooth breath, taking no more than three seconds from start to finish, absolutely the kind that would not cause any misunderstanding.
Gu Yijia, still shaken, looked up and instantly saw a handsome and cold face.