Time Travel: My Comfortable Life After Going to the Countryside

More than ten days passed like this. Chen Jie was nurtured by Liu Xiangyang every day, so much so that now anyone who sees her thinks she is a young woman of twenty-two or twenty-three.

That morning, while the two were having breakfast, Chen Jie suddenly handed them a newspaper: "Xiangyang, your Dongsheng Village got electricity last week."

"Where is it? Let me see." He took the newspaper and saw that it was indeed there.

The large headline read, "Grasp Revolution, Promote Production" Yields Fruitful Results: XX County Achieves Electricity Access to Every Village, Illuminating the Road to Socialism. The article mentioned that Dongsheng Village completely bid farewell to kerosene lamps last week.

Liu Xiangyang thought that once Dongsheng Village got electricity, the radio in that space could finally be used.

Seeing his happy expression, Chen Jie asked, "Judging by the time, aren't you going back in a couple of days?"

"It's about time to go back. If we don't go back soon, the village chief will come looking for me." Liu Xiangyang pulled her onto his lap and kissed her cheek.

"I really don't want you to go back. When will I be able to have a child for you?" Chen Jie said in a muffled voice, nestled in his arms.

"If, and I mean if, you were asked to give up everything you have in Harbin and come back to Beijing with me, would you be willing?" Liu Xiangyang lifted her chin, looked into her eyes, and asked. "Would you be willing to live together as a family?"

"I do, I do, I can't wait to go with you right now." Chen Jie said emotionally, "You've gone back to Dongsheng Village, I don't know how I'm going to survive in Bingcheng."

"I'll come to Harbin to see you whenever I have free time, and I'll try to come see you once a week."

"That's the only way then. I'll ask for leave tomorrow and go with you to buy some things to take back with you."

"Okay." Liu Xiangyang knew she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, so he didn't refuse.

After the two finished breakfast, Liu Xiangyang took Chen Jie to her workplace and then went to the Harbin No. 1 Department Store to buy some things for Xue Bingbing and the others.

He had just locked his car when a furtive-looking man approached him. "Hey bro, wanna get some industrial vouchers?" he said, glancing around at him.

Because it was a workday, there weren't many people around. Liu Xiangyang sized up the man, who was wearing a dog-skin hat and a scarf that covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of cunning eyes that darted around.

"Brothers, you guys are really bold. Zhao Si just fell from power, and you're back again?" Liu Xiangyang asked.

"Brother, you're pretty well-informed, but there's nothing I can do. I'll starve if I don't come out here. Give me a straight answer, or I'll find someone else."

Do you accept them?

"What did you say?" the man asked.

"I asked if you accept them? Mainly industrial vouchers," Liu Xiangyang repeated.

"Brother, you're not making fun of me, are you? Are you in the same line of work?"

Liu Xiangyang reached into his inner pocket, took out a few industrial coupons from his spatial storage, showed them a corner of them, and then put them back in his storage.

"What are you kidding me for? You're not a pretty woman."

"Sure, of course I'll take it! How many bills do you have, brother?" The man's voice was loud with excitement. "Brother, my surname is Li, everyone calls me Li Dan. What's your surname, brother?"

"So it's you, Brother Egg. What's the price?" Liu Xiangyang asked calmly.

"Brother, it depends on what it is. How many do you have?" Li Dan said with a fawning smile. "For example, the bicycle inspection ticket is 150 yuan per bicycle, but I'll give you 130 yuan per ticket. That's the most reasonable price in the whole of Harbin."

"Who are you trying to fool? So-and-so only gave 140, and you're bragging about it." Liu Xiangyang bluffed.

"Really? This price is only for bulk orders. How many do you have?"

"Never mind how much I have, just tell me if you can afford this price. If you can't, I'm going inside to buy something." Liu Xiangyang made a move to leave.

Li Dan grabbed him, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Brother, can you wait for me for a while? It'll be quick, just a few minutes. I'll call my older brother over to talk to you."

"Okay, I'll wait here for ten minutes," Liu Xiangyang said, looking at his watch.

Five or six minutes later, Li Dan arrived with a middle-aged man: "Brother, this is my elder brother, surnamed Wan, given name Wu."

Wan Wu: "Brother, let's find a safe place to talk."

"Let's chat here. If we're done chatting, we can find another place. If we're not done chatting, it won't waste my time," Liu Xiangyang said nonchalantly.

"Brother, that's great! How many tickets do you have?" Wan Wu asked, giving a thumbs up.

"I don't have an exact amount; it depends on how much you're willing to pay. By the way, if you can finish it all, I'll settle the bill with 80% of the price in large yellow croaker."

"Wow, that's awesome, bro. How much are you asking for?"

"I won't ask for much, and I won't let you not make a profit. Right now, a bicycle costs 160 yuan, and a sewing machine costs 155 yuan. I have large-item invoices, so I'll give you a uniform price of 140 yuan per invoice. If you can do it, great; if not, forget it," Liu Xiangyang said, staring into Wan Wu's eyes.

"Brother, you have to give me a number. If you only have a few bills, that's just bullshit."

"I can give you three hundred, can you handle that?"

When Li Dan heard the number three hundred, he was completely stunned and couldn't say a word.

"Do you know Young Master Qian, brother?" Wan Wu asked, staring intently into Liu Xiangyang's eyes.

"So what if we know each other? So what if we don't? Why ask so many questions if you can't eat? If you can't eat, I'm going to go buy something."

Wan Wu didn't see any flaws in Liu Xiangyang's plan. He silently calculated and said, "Okay, I agree to this price, but there aren't that many yellow croakers. You've added up to three catties of yellow croakers. Who can afford that? I can only give you five large yellow croakers at most, and the rest of the small ones. I still have to find more."

"Okay, but for the part that's not enough, the price of yellow croaker will be calculated at 45 yuan per gram," Liu Xiangyang said in an unchanged tone.

Wan Wu pointed at him and said, "Brother, you're really not in the same industry? How come you know the prices better than I do?"

Liu Xiangyang thought to himself, "The author must have searched for a long time to find this out. On the black market, gold is priced at 30-60 yuan per gram, but here it's 30 yuan per gram."

After agreeing on a price, the two arranged to meet here at noon, and Wanwu went to gather the gold and money.

Liu Xiangyang watched the two walk away before entering the No. 1 Department Store, where he bought leather shoes, socks, face cream, and some small accessories for Xue Bingbing, Le Qi, Le Yao, and Luo Lan.

Thinking that Xue Bingbing and the others were all wearing cotton bellybands, I searched carefully in my space for a while and actually found a few silk coupons. I was originally planning to buy a bolt of silk.

After asking the price, I gave up the idea; a single piece of silk cost 360 yuan, and required a huge number of tickets.

Liu Xiangyang spent thirty yuan to buy five meters of silk, and asked the salesperson to divide it into five portions, just enough for each of his five women to have one meter.

When he realized that Dongsheng Village had electricity, he bought more than ten 30-watt light bulbs. The salespeople all asked him if he needed so many light bulbs for his home.

Liu Xiangyang said he was buying them for several colleagues and friends, which fooled the salesperson.

At noon, Liu Xiangyang covered his face with a scarf and went to the bicycle shed, where he saw Wan Wu and three other people smoking.