The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 17 The Last Day of Leaving the Village

When the educated youth ate together, everyone had to contribute the same amount of food. If anyone couldn't contribute, they would be kicked out mercilessly. What unity, friendship and mutual help? When it came to eating, if you didn't have enough food, they would just say you didn't save money and didn't work hard, and you deserved it.

Zhou Lingying happily ate two bowls of porridge and some vegetables at Jiang Cheng's house. Her performance during the past few days made Zhao Yuxia regret introducing her to her son as a girlfriend. That was not polite at all. Although she was thin, she would eat a few bowls of rice and a lot of vegetables.

Nowadays, the bowls we eat in are all big bowls, and a bowl of rice is quite a lot.

After dinner, Zhou Lingying took the initiative to wash the dishes, and then went to the town's shuttle bus stop with Jiang Cheng. It took 10 to 20 minutes to walk there, and if they left now, they might have to wait a long time there, but the couple was in love, and they would not feel bored even if they sat in one place for a whole day, so waiting for the bus together was nothing.

The two of them arrived at the parking spot, which was the roadside outside the town leading to the county town. There was not even a place to sit. They waited for an hour and a half before the bus came, and then Zhou Lingying happily rushed to pay for the ticket.

Although Zhou Lingying was indeed attracted by Jiang Cheng's good conditions and was willing to date him at first, after a few days of getting along, she was already moved. The ticket price was not much, but she still wanted to pay a little.

After arriving at the county town, the two of them wandered around, although their purpose was to buy some flour and rice to take back. But they could buy those things when they returned in the afternoon, and there was only one bus back to Jinhe Commune in the afternoon.

I bought some things that didn't require tickets at the supply and marketing cooperative, such as a small mirror, a wooden comb, a rubber band, a hairpin, etc. I was hungry at noon, so I ate at a restaurant in the county town and cooked two dishes. I felt that the taste was very good, mainly because the restaurant was willing to use oil and seasoning when cooking.

Although they had good food at home these days, Jiang Cheng's mother and sister-in-law were reluctant to use much oil when cooking. Moreover, Jiang Cheng did not bring much oil back. The national food coupons were for oil, and one catty of food coupons brought more than one cent of oil. Buying 100 catties only brought a little more than one catty of oil, so even if his mother and sister-in-law were willing to use more oil, it was not much.

After dinner, the two wandered around the county for a while before going to the grain store to buy flour and rice. They didn't buy much rice, because grain coupons were precious, so they only bought enough to feed their family for a month. Because in a month at most, the new grain might have been harvested and distributed. Jiang Cheng's family might not have received much grain because of their low work points, but even if the grain they received was enough to feed their family for two or three months, it would be fine.

Jiang Cheng bought dozens of kilograms of rice on the first day he came back, but after a few days, not much was left. He ate rice every day. Even in big cities these days, he didn't arrange food like this.

This time I went to buy some flour. Jiang Cheng planned to have dumplings tonight and report to the city tomorrow. Dumplings stuffed with pheasant and cabbage. There was no way to buy meat without meat coupons.

The production team in the commune raised pigs, but they were usually slaughtered during the Chinese New Year. Only then could the rural people buy some meat without tickets.

After buying the rice and flour, the two went to the station to wait for the bus. After they got on the bus, Zhou Lingying paid for the tickets again.

After returning home with the rice and flour, Zhou Lingying hung a small mirror in her room. She had a mirror in the female dormitory for educated youth.

Jiang Cheng is leaving tomorrow. Zhou Lingying took the initiative to sit next to him. Then, as she expected, Jiang Cheng's dishonest hands soon hugged her.

"Jiang Cheng, there are two new female educated youth in our dormitory. The team leader is planning to build another house, but it will take several months to build it. The new ones will be arranged to stay temporarily in the villagers' homes, just like I did before. You are leaving tomorrow, so I thought I might as well move in and give my bed in the dormitory to the new educated youth." Zhou Lingying said.

It was easier for male educated youth to live with villagers, but it depended on the situation for female educated youth. Some families with unmarried men of marriageable age should try not to live with them. Anyway, there were cases where female educated youth married villagers who lived with them because of living with them.

Just like now when it is hot, the educated youth living in other people's homes must take a bath frequently. Even if the educated youth are not very good at work, their fair and clean bodies are not comparable to those of rural women, so it is normal for some people to have bad intentions.

"Okay, then if I come back from the city, we'll sleep in the same room." Jiang Cheng said with a smile. "If you come back, I'll sleep in the same room with my sister-in-law." Facing Jiang Cheng's shameless teasing, Zhou Lingying already had resistance. She couldn't agree to this. They could only sleep together after getting married.

"Lingying, I'm leaving tomorrow, can you give me a kiss?"

"No."

"If a woman says she doesn't want it, she wants it."

Jiang Cheng hugged Zhou Lingying and gave her a quick kiss on the face. For three days, Jiang Cheng had been very restrained in front of Zhou Lingying. In his era, Jiang Cheng no longer believed in love, at least it was difficult for poor people to have love. Women talked about emotions with rich people and money with poor people.

You can have a passionate love affair with just a few hundred dollars, but the police won't allow it, saying that love that comes too quickly is like a tornado, and a tornado will harm society.

"I'm not going to pay attention to you. I'm going to roll noodles and make dumplings later." After being kissed by Jiang Cheng, Zhou Lingying blushed again, stood up and slipped out of the house.

Jiang Cheng was not idle either. He went out with his three followers and went to the ditches in the fields to look for eels. He liked to eat this thing, stir-fried with chili and ginger. There were also snails, which could also be eaten as a midnight snack.

There are still a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. Jiang Cheng also wanted to get some, but then he thought about it and gave up, as it is difficult to deal with them.

After exploring many eel holes and field snails, Jiang Cheng took his three children home as the sun was about to set.

When I got home, the dumplings were already on the table. I just wiped the table clean and put the dumplings on the table, waiting for Jiang Cheng to come back and put them in the pot.

So when Jiang Cheng came back, Zhou Lingying and his sister-in-law Li Xianglan immediately took some dumplings to the kitchen and put them in the pot. After the dumplings were cooked, they put some soy sauce in a bowl, poured some dumpling soup, and then put the dumplings in the bowl, and they were very delicious.

The soy sauce of that time had a strong flavor, and even the salt was saltier than later generations. However, the soy sauce of later generations was not strong in flavor, and the salt was not salty, because the quality was better, and there were no impurities.

Everyone had a happy dinner again, and even the dumpling soup was served.

In the evening, Jiang Cheng sent Zhou Lingying back to the educated youth dormitory again. This time, after sending her there, the two of them gave each other a warm hug before Jiang Cheng turned around and went home. Looking at Jiang Cheng's departing back, Zhou Lingying hoped that the days ahead would always be as happy as these days.

At night, the starry sky was beautiful, filled with stars. Such a scene could no longer be seen in later generations. Jiang Cheng returned home, and after washing up, he did not go to bed immediately. He sat at the door and looked at the starry sky for a long time.

Jiang Cheng somewhat missed the era of 2024, when men died as teenagers. He missed the computers, mobile phones and friends from his era, but the only thing he didn't miss was the women of that era.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and it was getting cooler at night. Jiang Cheng went back to his room to sleep, as he would start a new journey tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)