The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 88: Just rubbing my back
"Comrade, can you sell me a few more pairs of shoes? That family has a lot of people."

Jiang Cheng drove the car into the rubber factory's warehouse and spoke with a smile to the person in charge of loading.

Being a driver these days requires thick skin, just ask for something you like. If you are rejected, you won't feel embarrassed as long as you are thick-skinned, but if someone says yes, you are lucky.

Just like some drivers nowadays, if they go to transport watermelons, they will dare to pick your watermelons and eat them just like the Japanese invaders entering the village. They are almost saying "What's wrong with me eating your watermelon?"

Hearing Jiang Cheng's question, the person in charge was no longer surprised. He didn't say anything at first, but wrote a list and pointed in a direction, saying, "I can only sell you two pairs. Go over there to pay."

"Thank you, comrade." Jiang Cheng happily took the bill and went to pay immediately.

This is why drivers are so popular these days, as they often have the opportunity to buy some hard-to-find items. But in other people's factories, it's actually nothing.

After Jiang made the deal, they stamped the order. After returning, he gave the order to the person in charge of loading the goods, who asked him to pick two pairs directly from the warehouse.

After getting the shoes and putting them in the cab, Jiang Cheng felt a little regretful. In the future, whether he was delivering goods or receiving them, he should have played to his strengths. There were so many fish in the space, so he could just take them out and exchange them for their things. If he didn't exchange them, he wouldn't lose anything.

If I could exchange them for some more shoes, raincoats or something like that and give them away as gifts it would be no better than just having the fish.

They packed the rubber shoes in bags first, and asked Jiang Cheng to check the quantity according to the delivery note. After checking that there were no mistakes, they put the bags of raincoats on top.

The dispatch room at the transport station called us this morning, and they were ready. If we waited for the car to arrive before putting the bags one by one, then even if Jiang Cheng planned to go directly to Shanghai this afternoon, he would have to stay here.

After all the goods were loaded, Jiang Cheng drove away. When he left, the person in charge of loading the goods told Jiang Cheng to be careful on the road. He was not concerned about Jiang Cheng's safety, but Jiang Cheng was too casual in loading the goods.

For things like coal, it's okay if you don't block the open-air transportation. After all, people will steal it, so a little less won't matter.

When transporting fruits, except for some watermelons, they are all packed in wooden frames and nailed shut. It is not easy for people to steal them, and they are likely to be caught if they try to pry open the wooden frames.

This time, the goods being transported were raincoats and liberation shoes. Other drivers loaded the goods and covered them with green tarpaulins regardless of whether it rained or not, and then tied them up with ropes.

Jiang Cheng's truck was transporting the goods without any protective measures. If someone knew about it and drove it to a remote place, he would have to be careful even when sleeping at night. Someone might sneak onto the truck at night, cut a hole in the bag, and take away a few pairs of shoes without him knowing.

In fact, after Jiang Cheng arrived at the rubber factory, he felt that if he didn't put the truckload of goods in a space, it might be unsafe to park it on the road near where he lived at night.

The public security is good now, Jiang Cheng can bet that no one will steal, he can bet once, ten times, a hundred times. But if the bet succeeds, he will not get any benefit, as long as he is stolen once, he will have to bear the responsibility.

He still drove to a deserted place and Jiang Cheng put all the goods in the space.

When he returned to the alley outside the courtyard, Jiang Cheng took out a tomato from the space and wiped it on his body casually. It was not clean, so he took a bite and got out of the car with his Liberation shoes.

After entering the yard, Jiang Cheng saw Zhou Lingying feeding the chickens. For the two hens, Zhou Lingying went to the vegetable market to pick up rotten vegetable leaves after returning from the hospital this morning.

Nowadays, if a grain of rice falls on the table while eating, you have to pick it up and eat it, and if there is any oil in the soup in the bowl, you have to lick it clean. There is no leftover food to feed the chickens.

When city dwellers raise chickens, they either go to the vegetable market to pick up rotten leaves or catch insects to feed them. If it's cold, they have to buy some rice bran to feed them, otherwise they have to be slaughtered before the New Year.

"Jiang Cheng, you're back. Why did you bring so many pairs of Jiefang shoes?" Zhou Lingying said in surprise when she saw Jiang Cheng coming back with several pairs of Jiefang shoes in his hands. "Didn't I tell you at noon that I was going to the rubber factory to pick up goods? These are the products of the factory. They gave me two pairs, and I bought two more pairs. Go and try them. I specially found a pair of small-sized shoes to see if they fit your feet." Jiang Cheng saw Zhou Lingying coming towards him, so he handed all the shoes to her.

"Give me some tomatoes, I'll go back to my room and try it."

Zhou Lingying not only took the shoes from Jiang Cheng's hand, but also took the half-bitten tomato and put it in her mouth.

Jiang Cheng smacked his lips, thinking it would be inappropriate to take another tomato out of the space. The carpenters who were working with him each smoked a cigarette and followed him back to the room.

"Jiang Cheng, it looks good."

"Not bad, it fits well."

When Jiang Cheng entered the room, Zhou Lingying had already changed her shoes and asked him if they looked good. It would be fine if she asked other people this question, but when she asked Jiang Cheng, he would just say they looked good.

His aesthetics have not yet fully integrated with this era, and most things are tacky in his eyes. He thinks military uniforms are okay, and the cadre uniforms and Zhongshan suits worn by leaders are a bit interesting. It's not that Zhongshan suits and cadre uniforms are not tacky, but they look imposing when worn in this era.

"This small shoe is just the right size. Jiang Cheng, you said we should go to the movies together tonight. I've bought the tickets. They're at 6:30, and they're 15 cents each." Zhou Lingying said. She also wanted to watch a movie, but she had lived as an educated youth for more than a year. She was reluctant to spend 15 cents to watch a movie. It was only 30 cents for two people, and it took a hard day's work in the commune to earn that much.

"It was around eight or nine o'clock after the movie, so it was just right for me to come back and take a shower and sleep." Jiang Cheng replied.

Going to the movies is also a way to kill time. Otherwise, in this era, it's really boring at night, and the weather is still hot, so you can't fall asleep even if you want to.

Jiang Cheng finally understood why people in this era have several children at any time. One reason is that they don't care whether there is one more or one less child, and the other is that men are irresponsible and do whatever they want without any protection.

They don't go out to watch a movie or something, and there's no one to chat with at night, just the couple. Even if Jiang Cheng, the old driver, can control himself, he really thinks women are vegetarians.

What is this saying about women being like wolves at 30 and tigers at 40? It's all bullshit. Jiang Cheng has already felt Zhou Lingying's obvious transformation. She is only 18 years old, but she has already started to take the initiative.

This is because the night is too boring and there is nowhere to go at night, and it’s the same for both men and women.

"Jiang Cheng, do you want to go to your room and take a shower tonight? I'll rub your back." Zhou Lingying walked to Jiang Cheng and said in a low voice.

Jiang Cheng looked at Zhou Lingying and found that she didn't blush when she said such words. Even her eyes were clear, which made him wonder if he had heard it wrongly. Or maybe Zhou Lingying just said it literally, and didn't have other ideas like he always did.

"Just rubbing the back?" Jiang Cheng couldn't help but ask.

The corners of Zhou Lingying's mouth lifted up, revealing her dimples. She didn't answer Jiang Cheng's question, but went out to pack her things and prepare dinner.

Jiang Cheng fell into deep thought as he watched Zhou Lingying leave. He found that he seemed to have made a mistake. In this era, women were indeed conservative. And no matter whether they were in a relationship or a couple, they did not see people holding hands and hugging each other intimately outside.

But Jiang Cheng had never thought about what it was like when men and women in this era really lived together. Later TV series and movies never talked about this either. Jiang Cheng planned to explore what kind of mentality Zhou Lingying had tonight.

(End of this chapter)