Struggle Life in the 1970s

The next morning, Chu Ye went out with two big packages. It was rare for Chu's father and mother to send her to the door. Chu Guangyao also got up very early today because he had promised yesterday to send Chu Ye to school.

The old couple were a little hesitant at first, but seeing that it was indeed hard for Chu Ye to carry the luggage by himself, and Chu Guangyao kept nagging them that he wanted to go to the city to see the world, they thought about it and decided to let him go.

As he walked out of the courtyard gate, Chu Ye saw Brother Jianwen driving a ox cart towards him.

Jianwen went out to the brigade before dawn this morning and drove the ox cart directly to the doorstep of his home. He thought that Chu Ye had a lot of things and this way he would suffer less.

However, when the ox cart got closer, an unexpected person was seen sitting on it. It was Mu Jiajun. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants. Just looking at the material, you could tell that they were not cheap. With him sitting on it, the ox cart didn't look so rustic.

"Why are you here so early in the morning?" Chu Ye greeted Brother Jianwen, took the luggage and put it on the ox cart, then turned around and asked.

"I just happened to be going home, so I'll take this ride." Mu Jiajun first greeted Chu's parents politely, then answered her, and then helped to put Chu Ye's luggage in place.

After Chu Guangyao came up, the three of them sat down, waved to their families, and the ox cart slowly moved towards the village entrance.

When they arrived in the town, Chu Ye was about to take the luggage, but unexpectedly, two hands reached out from the left and right, picked up the luggage neatly and got off the car.

Chu Ye was still a little dazed, but heard Mu Jiajun had already walked away two steps. He turned his head and urged, "What are you staring at? This bus is about to leave. Get off quickly."

People waiting for the bus usually gather in a fixed place, which is an open space diagonally opposite the famous state-owned hotel in the town. Now the three of them are not far from there and can arrive in two or three minutes on foot.

Chu Ye gathered the cloth bag on her shoulder and prepared to get off the bus, but was stopped by Brother Jianwen. He reached into his pocket and took out a plaid handkerchief. When he opened it, it turned out to be pickled plums.

"Your sister Nianci insisted that I pack this for you this morning. She said you would be gone for months and she missed you so much. There was nothing valuable at home, so I took some dried plums that I dried myself and gave them to you as snacks at school."

There is a thick layer of purple-black dried plums in the small towel, and the surface is covered with icing sugar, which makes people drool just by looking at it.

Chu Ye opened his mouth, feeling touched, then he took it and thanked Sister Nian Ci for her kindness.

Then Jianwen told Chu Guangyao to pick him up in the town in the evening, and then he drove the ox cart back the same way.

Two tall and thin figures were holding packages, with a little girl in between. As the three of them got on the bus, a smell of gasoline mixed with various foot odors, sweat odors and indescribable perfume rushed into their noses.

Chu Ye covered her nose subconsciously, then felt that her behavior was inappropriate. She looked at Chu Guangyao and found that his expression remained unchanged. She then turned to look at Mu Jiajun, who just frowned.

Chu Ye put down her hand and followed the two of them to find an empty seat. They had a lot of luggage, which they tied to the roof before getting on the bus. Fortunately, there were not many people in the bus at the moment, so she and Chu Guangyao sat together, and Mu Jiajun sat next to Chu Ye in the back seat.

The sun was already high in the sky, and the scorching heat was streaming down through the iron roof. The people in the car were like steamed buns in a steamer. Some people couldn't wait to open the glass windows, but it was of no use.

The conductor, with a briefcase slung across his waist, began to collect money from the front to the back. With a loud bang, the driver stepped on the accelerator and a puff of black smoke instantly floated out of the exhaust pipe at the rear of the car. The vehicle then swayed slightly from side to side and then quickly drove forward.

This was Chu Ye's first time riding in a bus. As the vehicle started moving, wind blew in through the window. Although it was still hot, it at least blew away the irritability in his heart.

When she was choosing a seat just now, she deliberately picked one by the window. At this moment, she pressed her face tightly against the glass, staring outside with wide eyes curiously. It was clearly the daily town life she was used to seeing in the past, but now, perhaps because she was sitting higher, she was in a different mood when she looked outside.

For Chu Guangyao, this was also the first time he took a bus in his life. In the past ten years, the farthest place he had been to was the town, and the most delicious thing he had ever eaten was chocolate.

His sister had just chosen this window seat, and he thought he could see the scenery outside from here, so he wanted to sit here too. However, Chu Ye pointed and told him to sit on the other side of the aisle, where there was also an empty window seat, but this way he couldn't sit next to Chu Ye.

He thought about it with some hesitation and finally sat down next to Chu Ye. After all, he was still a junior high school student and it was his first time to ride in a car and travel far away. He was still timid in his heart and wanted to sit with the person closest to him, so that he would feel at ease.

So seeing Chu Ye pressed against the window, he couldn't help but move closer. Chu Ye felt his body, which had been cool due to the breeze for a while, getting hot again. He turned his head and found that it was Chu Guangyao.

Probably because boys' body temperature is always higher than girls', as soon as he approached, Chu Ye felt like there was a small human-shaped stove placed next to her. But this small stove was unaware of it and, imitating Chu Ye's appearance, also looked outside curiously. She endured it in her heart, and finally said nothing, turning her head to continue looking at the scenery.

The car started running very fast, quickly crossed the street and went onto a highway.

So the scenery in his eyes changed from bustling streets to countless trees, all green. Before he could see clearly, the car whizzed by. Chu Ye couldn't help but sigh at how fast the car was going.

"Hello, where are we going?" The ticket seller's voice appeared, interrupting the two people's interest in viewing the scenery.

The Chu siblings all turned their heads back and saw the plump aunt holding a stack of bills in one hand and putting the money she received into her purse with her other hand. Now she was looking down at them.

Chu Ye reacted and quickly reached into the bag, "The three of us are going to the city, how much is the total?" As she spoke, she pointed at Mu Jiajun who was sitting behind her, indicating that she wanted to pay for his fare as well. The ticket seller was full of suspicion, her eyes wandering around the three of them.

Needless to say, the Chu siblings were dressed like honest country people. Even though Chu Ye had a delicate face, her face and arms were tanned yellow and black due to summer labor, which made people feel no sympathy for her.

On the other hand, Mu Jiajun's white shirt was shining in the sun, and it was obvious that it was made of high-quality material. Although his skin was not that fair, he gave off a sunny and healthy vibe.

"Seven dollars and two cents in total."

Upon hearing this, Chu Ye's face instantly wrinkled, and she lamented inwardly how expensive the ticket price was. However, despite lamenting, she still honestly reached into the cloth bag, fumbled for a while, took out a handful of paper money, then counted out enough numbers and handed it over.

The ticket seller had been glancing at her as she counted the money, and knew that the amount was correct, so he took it directly, tore off three bills from the ticket book, and handed them over together.

Chu Ye put away the bill and counted out two yuan and forty cents from the remaining change. Then he hesitated, put away the four ten-cent notes and took out a fifty-cent note.

"This is your fare back home, keep it safe." She handed the money to Chu Guangyao and instructed.

She had earned fourteen dollars and thirty cents for the entire summer, but now she was left with only forty-six cents.

She felt a little pain in her wallet and her heart, so she simply pulled Chu Guangyao's hand and put the money directly in her palm. Then she leaned her head against the glass window as if she was seriously injured, and looked out the window blankly.

However, her series of actions were seen by Mu Jiajun behind her. Mu Jiajun was tall, and even when he was sitting there, half of his head was exposed. If he sat up straighter, he could see all of Chu Ye's movements.

He saw Chu Ye's excitement when he saw the scenery outside the window after getting on the bus, saw the two furry heads in front huddled together, and saw Chu Ye generously say that he would pay for the fare for the three of them, and then he leaned his head against the glass hopelessly like a salted fish.

He laughed silently, only feeling that Chu Ye now was very different from she was a few months ago. Perhaps it was because they had gradually become familiar with each other, Chu Ye would inadvertently reveal her true character, and no longer be as reserved and cold as before.

He took out a notebook and a pen from his briefcase, then wrote something on a blank page, then quietly tore off the page, took out twenty yuan from his bag, folded it a few times and placed it on the paper.

In the sunlight, Mu Jiajun flipped his fingers, and in a few breaths a piece of white paper turned into a small envelope. When he folded the last corner in, it became a small rectangle one finger long and three fingers wide.

He put the small piece of paper into his trouser pocket, then leaned his head back in the back seat, staring at the roof of the car, wondering what he was thinking.

Their town is close to the city, only about 60 to 70 kilometers by car, but the entire journey is loess road, which is bumpy and difficult to drive on, so the bus speed is not high, and a trip takes three or four hours.

Tongyang Normal School is not far from the city center. The bus going to the city will pass by here. The three took the opportunity to stop the driver, took their luggage and got off the bus.

Because today is the first day of school, there are many people on the roadside, and there are also vendors pushing their own carts selling food near the school.

It was now past one in the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and the August air was filled with hot steam. Even a mouthful of water falling on the ground would give off white steam, which would then quickly sink into the ground.

Chu Ye licked his dry, wrinkled lips, his stomach growling at this moment.

Mu Jiajun spoke at this time, "Let's eat something first. We can't stay hungry all the time."

After saying that, he took the big package and walked to a place selling wontons first. He directly asked for three big bowls of meat wontons. When Chu Ye reacted and hurried to pay, Mu Jiajun got there first.

Chu Ye frowned and was about to speak, but Mu Jiajun spoke first.

"You don't have much money left after paying the bus fare, so you should keep it for yourself. Consider this as my celebration of your starting school." After saying that, he smiled at Chu Ye, his teeth looking white because of his tanned skin.

Then he found a relatively clean place nearby, called Chu Guangyao over, put the package there first, and turned around to see that the vendor had already prepared three bowls of wontons and placed them one by one on the small wooden table.

The wooden table was right under the tree. After the three of them sat down, they fell into the shade of the tree and felt instantly cooler.

There were green chopped green onions floating in the bowl on the table, and orange-yellow oil particles on the edge of the bowl. There were about twenty wontons in the bowl, each with a pure white dough edge, like the hem of a fairy's skirt.

The pink and tender pork floats in the bowl through the white dough, which looks particularly appetizing.

Chu Ye, who was already hungry, swallowed hard at this moment. Mu Jiajun sat down first and invited the two siblings to eat quickly.

(End of this chapter)