The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 221 The long-lost feeling

At about 12 o'clock in the afternoon, Jiang Cheng drove back from outside, and Zhou Lingying prepared a simple meal. If you make mutton hotpot at home, you have to wait until the evening to make it, so you can just eat a simple meal at noon.

"It's so cold. It's been cloudy all morning today, and there's no sun. The room is so cold. I brought back so much charcoal. I can just make a fire at home. We don't need it at home." Jiang Cheng said while sitting at the dining table.

In the later life, Jiang Cheng only heard about the warming of the climate, but he had never experienced it. Now he has experienced it, and it is not the coldest time in Changcheng, but he already feels very cold.

"You are not at home most of the time, so I am either lying in bed sleeping or walking outside. I will start burning charcoal this afternoon to ensure that you can warm yourself by the fire as soon as you come back." Zhou Lingying said with a little self-blame when she heard Jiang Cheng say this.

Zhou Lingying couldn't sit still at home and liked to walk around. The main reason was that she knew someone outside the yard who was about the same age as her and was also a daughter-in-law.

Zhou Lingying also learned to play cards, but she played for fun, not gambling. The game was to compete for the top spot, which was basically the same as playing Landlord, but the rule was that the first player to finish playing the cards was the top player, and the bottom player had to give the top player the biggest card at the beginning of each round.

In some places, the downstream player lets the upstream player draw a card from the cards in his hand, and he doesn’t have to give the highest card. But it is precisely because of this kind of punishment that makes winning and losing meaningful.

It’s just that some people have turned the card game of “Striving for the Top” into a money game, and have cancelled the system of the downstream giving cards to the upstream. Instead, after the upstream has passed, both the midstream and downstream have to give money. For example, if the midstream gives one cent, the downstream has to give two cents.

In fact, this is no different from playing Landlord, except that you don’t need to be the king or the queen to compete for the top spot.

"I'm going to the Yi'an County Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the afternoon. Do you want to stay at home or go with me? I'll go back to my parents' home then." Jiang Cheng said.

"Go, take my own car, I must go." Zhou Lingying said immediately.

This time when he went to Yi'an County, Jiang Cheng actually saw that some materials were being delivered to the Yi'an Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so he took the initiative to exchange with the deliveryman. In addition, there was a statistician following the truck, so he also took on the task of matching the list with the goods.

The main reason is that it is convenient to go back by car. In order to develop his business in Hong Kong, Jiang Cheng has recently saved time on the road to sell fish and buy some things, and to save time staying in Hong Kong.

As a result, when I occasionally have time to rest, I don’t want to move and just want to lie down at home.

This time I decided to stop by to take a look and bring some things back.

In China, there is not much festive atmosphere for New Year's Day, and there is not much festive atmosphere on the streets. But no matter what, it is a new day in a new year.

Some units and factories still celebrate New Year's Day, and they organize performances, chorus, poetry recitation, dance, and sports competitions, such as tug-of-war, table tennis, and running.

Then the street office will organize some people to do cleaning and make some broadcasts to celebrate the new year.

But for ordinary people, this day is still a day to go to get off work and go home, and eat the same food as usual. People only pay attention to the first day of the lunar calendar, which is the Spring Festival.

It is New Year's Day on the Gregorian calendar, but the Chinese New Year is almost here, with only one month to go. In half a month, many people may start buying New Year's goods in advance.

During the Chinese New Year, Jiang Cheng has no rest, and this is the case for service industries such as supply and marketing cooperatives and hospitals. Jiang Cheng is better off, at least he can stay at home after get off work in the afternoon. Hospital staff may have to arrange for someone to be on duty at night.

In the early 1970s, people in China only had two or three days off for the New Year, and people had to go back to work on the third day.

When Jiang Cheng heard that Zhou Lingying wanted to go back to Jinhe Commune with him, he began to discuss with her what to bring back.

In the countryside, to be honest, some good things are wasted if you bring them back. Many things are so good that you don’t want to use them or eat them. A few months ago, I brought canned food for Jiang Changhe and his friends, but I couldn’t bear to eat it, so I sold it.

Give them things that can only be used by them. Although it is not the Spring Festival now, it would be nice to give them a piece of cotton cloth so that the whole family can wear new clothes.

I also brought some fish and meat, and as for vegetables, although they are rare in winter, there is really no need to bring everything. If they are fed green vegetables in winter, they will not understand how precious they are.

In the countryside, radishes and Chinese cabbage are enough, and bringing back some fish and meat is better than anything else. At most, you can bring back two bottles of ordinary white wine, and then give them some money in advance so that they can prepare New Year's goods.

After discussing with Zhou Lingying what to bring, I started packing after dinner.

There was mutton at home, but Jiang Cheng didn't sell the mutton he brought back to his neighbors this time. One reason was that it was cold and they could keep it for several days, and the other was that Zhou Lingying was no longer interested in selling something to get compliments from her neighbors. There was also pork at home, as well as chickens. The weather was cold, and the chickens stopped laying eggs, so they were eaten for meat.

After packing up, Jiang Cheng took Zhou Lingying, who was pregnant, out of the yard. The goods to be delivered to Yi'an County had been loaded and unloaded in the morning and could be delivered in the afternoon.

In the car, Jiang Cheng put a wool blanket on the passenger seat and let Zhou Lingying sit on it. He also got a small quilt to cover her.

After Jiang Cheng started the engine and got into the car, he found it was raining, a very light rain, the kind that was drifting down.

Zhou Lingying also thought it was raining, but it didn't matter, she didn't plan to go to the educated youth team this time. She followed Jiang Cheng out mainly because she was bored at home, lying in the car, covered comfortably, and able to enjoy the scenery on the road.

It’s a pity that Zhou Lingying missed the Yellow River truck that Jiang Cheng used to drive at the transport station, which had a seat in the back for lying down.

The car started, and Jiang Cheng and his wife were driving and chatting on the road, and they were also very comfortable. However, they didn't drive for long when they heard a popping sound coming from the windshield.

It turned out that it wasn't raining, but snow. Zhou Lingying stretched her hand out of the car window, and when she immediately took the snow falling on her hand in, she could see something like ice.

A county town also has a supply and marketing cooperative, which is responsible for the distribution of goods between the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county town and the supply and marketing cooperatives in the communes under the county town.

In the urban area, some directors of supply and marketing cooperatives, if they want to move up, they will not be promoted to the headquarters, but may be promoted to important positions in the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county.

After Jiang Cheng arrived at the Yi'an Supply and Marketing Cooperative, the cadres of the Cooperative were really polite to him. The reason was simple, because compared with the staff of the urban supply and marketing cooperative, they were the closest to the Cooperative.

However, to enter the Changcheng Supply and Marketing Cooperative, all the county supply and marketing cooperatives under the urban area have to compete in terms of ability.

As a driver of the Changcheng Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Jiang Cheng may not be able to help the people of the county supply and marketing cooperative, but it is easy for him to say bad things about them.

Just like the companies of later generations, I may not be able to build you up, but if I want to punish you, I still have ways to do it.

Jiang Cheng had never thought that when he delivered goods to other supply and marketing cooperatives in the city, he would only give cigarettes to some warehouse staff there. But when he arrived in the county, he actually received cigarettes and alcohol. He even knew that the person lying in the passenger seat of the car was Jiang Cheng's wife, and he even gave her some peanuts to eat.

It's been a long time since I left the bus station. Jiang Cheng hasn't received such formal benefits for a long time. Although he doesn't lack these things, this flattery still makes him feel good.

After checking and unloading the goods at the county supply and marketing cooperative, it was actually already late. Jiang Cheng drove to the Jinhe supply and marketing cooperative, but the car could not enter the village due to road problems.

Zhou Lingying, a pregnant woman, also had to help take some things back to Jiang Cheng's parents' home.

The weather and season now are the off-season in the countryside. But we still have to work, just not as much. We don't plant crops or vegetables anymore. We dig ditches, reclaim wasteland, and build ponds and canals every day.

But those jobs were basically done by strong laborers. When Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying returned home, everyone in the family was there, and their niece Jiang Juan had also returned from school.

Rural people don’t have much to prepare for the New Year. Jiang Cheng directly took care of the clothes and fabrics, and just posted some couplets and had something good to eat.

So in addition to the gifts, Jiang Cheng gave his parents ten yuan. This was just for the New Year's gifts. Even if Jiang Cheng couldn't come back for work during the New Year, Zhou Lingying would definitely come back to wish everyone a happy New Year on Jiang Cheng's behalf, and she would bring gifts with her.

I didn't stay at home for long. It was getting dark very quickly. It would be dark around five o'clock.

Jiang Cheng gave the gifts and money, chatted for a while, and was about to leave. The cloth he gave was enough for the whole family to make a set of clothes, and there was even some extra for his sister Jiang Yan.

It snowed for a while on the way here, but it stopped halfway. On the way back, it snowed again and the weather became even colder.

In the memory of the original owner of the body, when it was cold in the south, some icicles under the eaves could be tens of centimeters long. Such scenes are no longer seen in Changcheng in the future.

(End of this chapter)