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Chapter 110: Chapter 106 Spending Money
Having sold all her goods, Shen Yunfang calculated her earnings and found she had made a total of 1,367.80 yuan. Among the various miscellaneous coupons she valued most were a bicycle coupon and over a dozen special supply alcohol coupons. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
This trip was a success and quite lucrative. Would she be able to do this every year? Shen Yunfang thought cheerfully as she pocketed the money.
Of course, she wasn’t stingy, with money earned, she had to think about how to spend it, and she did indeed have some things she needed to buy.
Therefore, on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, she went to the largest shopping center in the county first thing in the morning, The First Department Store Building.
The building had three floors, the first of which sold groceries. Half of it was dedicated to condiments of varying quality, all kinds of sugar balls, pastries, and areas for tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and tea, while the other half housed pots, pans, and kitchen utensils.
Shen Yunfang had never been to such a large shopping mall before, so she meticulously visited every counter from start to finish, asking the sales assistants to write up tickets for anything she wanted.
She couldn’t find crescent-shaped sugar cubes back in her county, so she decided to buy some, knowing Xiaojuan would surely like them. "Ah, this white sugar is quite pure," she thought, as she used a lot of sugar at home for sweet and sour dishes and had plenty of Sugar Coupons in her pocket. She decided to buy two jin. She also thought the cakes seemed tasty, so she picked up two jin as well.
Ah, look at what she found—Moutai. That’s certainly a valuable item. If she kept it, it would be worth a lot in thirty years. "Bring me ten bottles," she said.
What? None available? "I have coupons," Shen Yunfang quickly pulled a small stack of special alcohol coupons from her pocket. What’s the matter? No sale even with coupons? Disappointed, Shen Yunfang ended up taking only the four bottles of Moutai they were selling to the next counter. Ah, this is not the era when the customer is king!
Heading upstairs to the second floor, the area was divided into two halves right from the staircase—one half selling sewing necessities, cotton fabrics, wool, and the like, and the other half, appliances.
Shen Yunfang bought ten jin of cotton, arranging with the staff to pick it up when she left. Ten jin of cotton is quite a bundle.
There were many types of fabrics here, many of which Shen Yunfang didn’t recognize, but she found familiar ones such as khaki, canvas, poplin, corduroy, cotton, and work cloth. She cut seven chi of work cloth for herself, saving it to make a uniform, five chi of poplin to make a trench coat when she had the chance, and chose two pieces of nicely patterned cotton to make a duvet cover at home. Not knowing how to quilt, she had to resort to the lazy method.
Seeing the red corduroy, she thought of Xiaojuan and cut an additional four chi, which should be enough to make a complete outfit for the girl.
She then crossed over to the other side to buy a flashlight and some batteries. Without electricity at home, it was a hassle to light an oil lamp at night when starting the fire, so a flashlight made it much more convenient. As for the bicycle, Shen Yunfang just looked without buying. After all, if she bought it there, everyone in the village would see it, and she wouldn’t know what to say when asked where she bought it. It was better to buy it back at the department store in the county, where they also had them.
After picking up some odds and ends, Shen Yunfang proceeded to the third floor.
The entire third floor was dedicated to clothing, shoes, and socks, which Shen Yunfang truly had no interest in. She thought the clothes too old-fashioned to justify spending so much money. However, she did like the look of the pure cotton undershirts for women, costing only 0.80 yuan each, quite a bargain. She bought four right away. After some thought, she picked up two for men as well, not sure what Li Hongjun wore during the summer.
For shoes, she bought a pair of rubber shoes, saving them for mountain climbing, as wearing layered sole shoes was too damaging. Not knowing how to make shoes herself and not wanting to always trouble Dashuan’s wife, she decided to buy a replacement pair.
Thinking of Dashuan’s wife, she picked up another pair of rubber shoes to give away. Then she bought a pair of knee-high boots for when she needed to clean the pigsty.
Just like that, Shen Yunfang had spent half a day trekking through the entire First Department Store Building, buying everything that needed to be purchased. When she walked out, she was trailing a basket holding a jumble of items; anything too heavy had been transferred to her space. On her back, she carried ten catties of cotton, which wasn’t an item she could easily make disappear—it was too suspicious—so she would need to find a secluded spot to take care of it later.
In total, the shopping trip had cost her over two hundred yuan, and now she had nearly two thousand yuan in savings.
That afternoon she didn’t go anywhere else and rested well at the inn—a much-needed break after the exhausting past few days. The next morning, Shen Yunfang checked out of her room early and went to the bus station to catch the bus to R County.
Li Hongjun’s military base was located even further north than Gaijiatun, in the remote mountainous areas. Although it wasn’t too far in a straight line, it required tedious transfers between buses and trains to reach it. Moreover, since there were no villages or houses near the military base, generally, to visit, one would need to send a letter in advance so the military could arrange for someone to pick them up from the bus station.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to visit without sending a letter first. A vehicle from the base went to the county twice every week for supplies. If you were lucky enough to spot it, you could also take that ride to the base.
Since Shen Yunfang had a fiancé, she certainly didn’t want to leave things to chance. She had already sent a letter to Li Hongjun, notifying him that she would arrive in R County on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, trusting that he would come to meet her.
"Alright, dismissed," Li Hongjun glanced at his watch and shouted at the soldiers from his company.
"Hey, political commissar, what’s up with our company commander these days? Why is he in such a good mood?" Quan Zhu was puzzled as he watched his company commander’s pleasantly bright silhouette. The man had been gloomy for several months, so why the sudden change?
Wu Guoqiang took off his military cap, smiled, and said, "What, do you want your company commander to revert to how he was half a month ago?"
"No, no, no, I didn’t say that," Quan Zhu quickly shook his head, "Heh, I’m just curious, commissar, do you think the commander has some joyous news? Could it be he’s got someone now? Yes, it must be. Only someone who’s fallen in love can be this fickle." Quan Zhu stroked his smooth chin as he thought.
Congratulations to him, he wasn’t far from the truth.
"Hehe, you’ll find out tonight," Wu Guoqiang teased, withholding the details.
As the political commissar, it was his duty to pay attention to the thoughts and emotions of all the soldiers in his company. He was well aware that ever since Li Hongjun was promoted to company commander, his mood hadn’t been quite right. Wu Guoqiang later learned that there seemed to be some displeasure between Li and his partner back home, to the point where his partner had stopped writing him letters.
When it came to the young love troubles, all he could do was provide guidance; he had no power to intervene in anything else. Watching Li Hongjun day after day with a long face, training without clear distinction between night and day, even he couldn’t help but worry, fearing that Li might take things too far.
To his surprise, half a month ago, Li Hongjun received a letter out of the blue, and since then the clouds had parted, and his demeanor had lifted. Today, he was even more cheerful, grinning at everyone like a fool.
Meanwhile, Li Hongjun checked the time, noting it was almost time, and drove straight from the base to the county’s bus station.
Once there, he glanced at his watch again; there was still some time to wait, so he stayed in the car. Finally, he saw a large bus approach in the distance, which prompted him to get out of the car.
As the bus came to a halt and the door flung open, with people disembarking one by one, Li Hongjun’s heart tightened. It wasn’t until he caught sight of the figure he had been yearning for that his mouth broke into a wide smile, and he stepped forward briskly, "Yunfang, I’m here to pick you up."
