My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 49 Agreement
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Time flies and the end of the month is fast approaching.

Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying have been living in their new home for almost a week now. The new home is much better than their old cramped apartment, and both Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying are extremely satisfied with the conditions here.

Getting along with Grandma Fang Manxia wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined. Just as Aunt Tang said, this old lady was a very cultured person, and it was very comfortable to be around her.

Besides ensuring the old lady has three meals a day and being responsible for the cleanliness of the building, she doesn't have any other requests. However, she rarely goes downstairs and usually stays on the second floor.

To take better care of the elderly woman, Lin Ying and Zhou Jiye discussed and specially adjusted their stall's hours. Every morning, Lin Ying would prepare breakfast at home or buy some breakfast from nearby. Then she would also prepare lunch in advance, so that Zhou Jiye could simply cook it when he returned at noon.

As for dinner, it was originally Zhou Jiye's responsibility, but after the old lady ate two meals and didn't say anything, the observant Lin Ying noticed that her cooking suited the old lady's taste better. So Lin Ying asked Zhou Jiye to go to the movie theater in the afternoon to temporarily watch her stall for an hour, and then she would rush back to cook dinner before going back to relieve Zhou Jiye.

Over the course of a few days, everyone got along well.

The old lady was a very distant person, which was similar to Lin Ying's habits, and they felt very comfortable living here.

Today, Zhou Jiye set up his stall at the vegetable market as usual. Due to the approaching National Day holiday, there were many more customers at the market than usual these days.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Holidays that were canceled in 1960 are gradually being reinstated starting this year. Moreover, this year's National Day falls on a Monday, and with the Sunday preceding it, everyone gets two consecutive days off, which is a rare holiday for ordinary people.

These past few days, Zhou Jiye had specially purchased more old hens from the suburbs, increasing the number from the usual twenty to over thirty. Even so, due to the approaching holiday, there were many more customers than usual, and the hens sold out even faster. By 10:30 a.m., all thirty-odd old hens were sold out. Customers who hadn't bought any even asked Zhou Jiye if there would be any left for tomorrow. Only after Zhou Jiye repeatedly assured them that there would be no fewer chickens tomorrow than today, and promised to reserve some for his regular customers in advance, did they leave satisfied.

After tidying up the cages and cleaning the stall, Zhou Jiye looked around and frowned slightly.

"What are you thinking about?" Old Wen's voice rang out from the side, offering a cigarette.

"Finished with work?" Zhou Jiye took the cigarette and lit it with the one Lao Wen handed him.

"Business has been good these past few days, and I'm finally done with the busy work," Old Wen said with a smile. "The holiday is coming soon, and everyone is busy buying things. I was almost overwhelmed. Look, not to mention your old hens, even the eels over there were sold out in half a day."

"Hehe, congratulations on your fortune."

Let's get rich together!

The two looked at each other and laughed. Such a booming situation only happens a few times a year, so of course they were happy that business was good.

Will you still be setting up your stall during the National Day holiday?

"I'm not going out." Old Wen shook his head and said, "I plan to rest for two days. Besides, everyone has already made preparations for the holiday, so it will be almost over by tomorrow. I've been busy for most of the year without much rest, so I'll take this opportunity to relax and have a good holiday with my wife and kids."

At this point, Lao Wen asked Zhou Jiye, "What about you? Are you still planning to set up your stall?"

Zhou Jiye thought for a moment and said, "I originally planned to set up a stall, but after hearing what you said, I think it makes sense. After tomorrow, everyone will have bought what they need, and there probably won't be many people at the market during the holiday. But, as you know, my wife sells tea eggs near the movie theater, and there will probably be more people there than usual during the holiday. So even if I don't set up a stall, I'll probably still have to set up a stall near the movie theater. I'll have to discuss it with her before deciding."

"That's true..." Old Wen nodded in understanding. The movie theater is different from the vegetable market, and the tea eggs aren't made from the old hen that Zhou Jiye sells. Judging from the usual rest days, the movie theater actually does better business on holidays.

"Oh right, I almost forgot something," Zhou Jiye suddenly said to Lao Wen.

Old Wen looked at him questioningly, and Zhou Jiye said it was about the dinner they had agreed to have last time. Originally, they had planned to wait until they moved to their new house, but now that they had moved, it would probably be inconvenient to host a dinner there. Yesterday, Lin Ying and Zhou Jiye discussed it and decided to pick a time to host a dinner in a restaurant. They just didn't know when Old Wen and Xu Guoqing would be free.

"Ask Brother Xu which day is convenient for me, and I'll book a restaurant in advance."

"How about National Day? I'll take my wife and kids to my mother-in-law's for lunch, and then we'll be free in the evening. Besides, this time won't interfere with your sister-in-law's daytime stall. Also, don't bother looking for a place outside. I bet all the state-run restaurants will be closed during the National Day holiday, and eating out is expensive and not worthwhile. I'll find a place for us. We can prepare some things in advance. You can keep a chicken for tomorrow and not sell it. I'll also get some eels and hairy crabs, and we can cook it ourselves."

"Is this convenient?" Zhou Jiye asked hesitantly.

Old Wen's words were somewhat tempting, but he also felt that inviting someone to Old Wen's house might be a bit of a disturbance. Living conditions in Shanghai these days aren't great, and he'd heard Old Wen say that his house wasn't big either, with the three of them crammed into one room. Doing this at his house would disturb his sister-in-law and child, which wouldn't be appropriate. "Hahaha, you don't think I'm talking about my house, do you?" Old Wen laughed.

"Not your house? Are you going to Brother Xu's house?"

"Of course not, his place is too small to cook at home." Old Wen shook his head and continued, "You, how could you forget about Guoqing's workplace? Their shop is closed for the National Day holiday, so there's no one there. Guoqing is a cook, so there's a place for him to cook, isn't there? Wouldn't it be more convenient for him to go there?"

Zhou Jiye suddenly realized, and then it dawned on him. It was true, he'd completely forgotten about it. Wasn't the first time he went to see Xu Guoqing at the state-run restaurant? That day, Xu Guoqing was wearing a chef's uniform; he was clearly a cook.

However, it's not surprising that Zhou Jiye forgot about this. On the one hand, he didn't think about it, and on the other hand, it was due to the habits of later generations.

Since the reform and opening up, with the continuous development of the private economy, the economic structure, including many industries, has undergone changes.

Putting everything else aside, let's talk about restaurants. Nowadays, most restaurants are state-owned. Although state-owned restaurants are still in the service industry, the attitude of service is vastly different from what it was decades later.

These days, state-owned restaurants are notorious for their arrogance, hostility, and poor service.

Who can blame us when there are no private restaurants yet? In fact, some state-owned restaurants and even state-owned department stores openly display signs saying "Do not beat customers without cause." Although the situation in Shanghai is much better than in other cities, the service is still not very good.

Besides that, the biggest difference between state-run restaurants now and those in the future is that restaurants in the future will be busiest and busiest during holidays, operating 365 days a year. But now, except for large hotels, most state-run restaurants, like factories and businesses, are closed on holidays.

This National Day holiday, the restaurant where Xu Guoqing works is also closed; they don't care about holidays. According to current thinking, since it's a holiday, everyone should be treated equally. Why can factories and businesses close but restaurants can't? Isn't that discriminating against working people? Besides, people don't eat out much these days; most people cook at home on weekdays and haven't developed the habit of frequently going out for a meal on holidays when they don't cook at home.

Zhou Jiye thought this arrangement was good. He would go directly to Xu Guoqing's restaurant, bring his own food, and cook it there. It was both convenient and affordable.

He immediately agreed, telling Lao Wen that he would specially reserve a chicken for tomorrow, and that he would also check what other good things were available when he went to the suburbs tomorrow, so they could all have a good meal together.

"Then that's settled. I'll talk to him about it during the National Day holiday. Let's put it this way for now?"

"Okay! It's settled then!"

Zhou Jiye readily agreed, and seeing that Lao Wen was almost finished with his cigarette, he took out a cigarette and offered it to him, while also lighting one for himself.

Smoking a cigarette, Zhou Jiye looked ahead again, scanning the crowd and frowning slightly.

"What are you looking at? I saw you looking around restlessly from the front."

"Do you remember the old lady who picked up vegetable scraps?" Zhou Jiye asked.

"I remember! What's wrong?" Old Wen asked, puzzled.

“I haven’t seen her for a while.” Zhou Jiye sighed, his expression grave. “She hasn’t been to the market for almost half a month. I don’t know if something happened to her, or… I’m a little worried. She’s an elderly woman, and her health isn’t good. What if something really happens to her?”

Old Wen was stunned, the cigarette in his hand stopped in mid-air, and his expression turned somewhat unpleasant as he recalled what had happened.

“I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, I do remember. It’s been quite a few days since I’ve seen that old lady. She usually comes around eight or nine o’clock, then rummages through the vegetable leaves and leaves, and leaves around ten-thirty. I’ve been at the market for over half a year, and I see her almost every day, but I haven’t seen her these past few days.”

"Brother Wen, do you think something might happen to this old lady...?" Zhou Jiye asked nervously.

"This..." Old Wen didn't know how to answer. He wanted to say that maybe the old woman had something to do at home and couldn't come, but the problem was that even he himself didn't really believe that. This old woman was disabled, and it was obvious that her family was poor, and she might not even have any children.

If she were well-off and had children, the old woman wouldn't have come to the market to scavenge for vegetable scraps to make a living. Now, this old woman has suddenly stopped coming. What happened is chilling to think about, and Old Wen's heart sank.

(End of this chapter)