Chapter 54: Large Purchases

Having settled the matter, Cheng Su felt as if the sky had turned a few shades bluer, and what pleased her most was that Qi Taiguo had generously given her fifty yuan—for household expenses and to purchase some necessities.

Clutching the Great Unity bills with a beaming smile, she said, "Don’t worry, with me at home."

Her smiling face dazzled Qi Taiguo, who snorted, "Real money grubber," and then added, "You’re not familiar with this area, let Chunhua and the others accompany you to the farmers market and the supply and marketing cooperative when they’re free, to learn the way around."

"Okay!" Cheng Su asked, "Will you be coming back for dinner tonight? I can buy some meat and make a couple of good dishes, to celebrate the start of our cohabitation?"

Qi Taiguo felt awkward hearing that word and said, "Up to you!"

"Then, come back when it’s time!" Cheng Su smiled again, turned around, found paper and pen, and began wandering around the house, making a list of everything they were missing.

Without lingering, Qi Taiguo went back to the military base, but the corner of his mouth was slightly raised, so much so that when people at the base saw his content expression, they said his wife’s arrival had improved his mood—that getting a wife was indeed the right thing to do.

Was it really the case?

Touching his own face, Qi Taiguo remembered Cheng Su’s "three rules," and his smile subsided, ’Great, isn’t it? Still out of reach.’

Forget it, he too was a proud man. If Cheng Su wanted to play it this way, then let’s see who ends up winning this game!

Cheng Su didn’t have so many thoughts in her head. After making her list, she asked Chunhua and the others to accompany her to the market and the supply and marketing cooperative, to get to know the routes. In the future, she would frequent these two places, so it was better to familiarize herself with them now, enabling her to go on her own later on.

Most apartment buildings at the time were only two or three stories high, without much decoration on the exterior walls. Many were simply covered with a brushing of cement and sand, and there were also low-lying factory buildings with large characters painted in red on the walls, such as "Serve the People" or "Hello, Deng Xiaoping!"

On the streets, let alone cars, even bicycles were scarce; people’s attire was extremely ordinary, with dacron counted as a mid-to-upper grade fabric.

Squeak, a small bus with only about a dozen seats stopped in front of them. Cheng Su gripped the canvas bag strap and followed the others onto the bus, bought her ticket, and sat down by the window, listening to Chunhua’s introduction.

The supply and marketing cooperative wasn’t near the military district but rather in the city. It was about a thirty-minute bus ride to the city center, and most people opted for the bus to get there.

Watching buildings fly by her gaze, Cheng Su’s mind was filled with mixed feelings. In her previous life, she was born at the end of the 1980s, and during this current time, she wouldn’t have even been born yet.

Their first stop was the supply and marketing cooperative, where they exchanged grain coupons for rice and bought some items that were lacking at home. On the way back, they turned to the farmers market, where Cheng Su bought several pounds of flour. Seeing the fresh pork, she also weighed out two pounds of pork and ribs, thinking that it’s a good thing it was already the mid-1980s. If it were a few years earlier, she would have needed meat coupons for purchasing the meat, which would have been depressing.

With flour and meat in hand, Cheng Su also bought several heads of napa cabbage and some leeks, then a basketful of eggs.

After a busy half-day and completing their major shopping, the group, weighed down with large and small packages, sweated their way back home. Cheng Su, not bothering to clean up, immediately took two apples and shared them with Chunhua and the others as a thank-you for their companionship that day.

"We’re all neighbors, and we’ll have plenty more chances to help each other out in the future—no need for such formalities!" the two of them said with a laugh.

Nonetheless, etiquette was indispensable. Cheng Su graciously thanked them over and over again before returning to her own home.