The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Bao Ya quickly went back to her room to change her clothes. She put on a white top with small pink floral print, black pants, and a pair of newly made cloth shoes.

She re-braided her hair, tidied herself up, and then walked out of the room.

The little girl's two shiny braids hung down in front of her chest, and her thin top revealed her slender waist as she moved, along with her long, straight legs under her black pants.

Jiang Yuan glanced at her, then lowered his head and smiled. The wife he had chosen was indeed beautiful.

Seeing that her granddaughter was ready, Grandma Su stopped talking to Jiang Yuan and told them to hurry up and come back soon.

Before leaving, Bao Ya instructed Grandma Su to clean up the grease.

Looking at Jiang Yuan's old-fashioned bicycle, Bao Ya said she wouldn't jump on it, as she had never ridden a bicycle before. Jiang Yuan climbed on first, with one leg on the ground, and once she was seated, he put his other foot on the pedal and rode off.

Bao Ya, sitting on the back seat, found it quite fun; it was her first time riding a bicycle in both her previous lives. In her past life, she often rode in her grandmother's tricycle, but later, every household had a car, and she had never even ridden a shared bicycle.

Sitting in the back seat, Bao Ya swung her legs and chatted casually with Jiang Yuan. When they passed through the fields, she greeted a few aunties.

The two of them happily rode their bikes into the city.

Nanshan Brigade belongs to Hongqi Commune under Pingzhou City. It is about 20 miles away from Pingzhou City and is located to the north of Pingzhou City, which belongs to Province C. If we take Beijing in the future as an example, Nanshan Brigade is still between the third and fourth ring roads. I wonder if Nanshan Brigade will be developed in the future.

Pingzhou is also an important industrial city in Province C, with factories in all four directions of the city. The Nanshan Brigade is located in the north of the city, while Jiang Yuan's meat processing plant is in the east. The movie theater they are going to today should be in the city center.

I rode my bicycle along the tree-lined path, the willows on both sides swaying their drooping branches in the gentle breeze. It was around nine in the morning, the sun was already high in the sky, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves onto my face was a little dazzling.

Bao Ya sat on the back of the bicycle, her hand naturally gripping Jiang Yuan's shirt hem. There was nothing wrong with grabbing his shirt hem, so why did the heroines in those novels interpret it as flirtation? Was there something wrong with her? Bao Ya turned her head to look at Jiang Yuan riding in front of her. He was just grinning foolishly, nothing else seemed amiss.

The road leading to the city was newly built and relatively smooth, but the road she had just taken out of the village had been quite bumpy, and her buttocks were still a little numb.

About half an hour later, the bicycle turned onto the city streets.

Jiang Yuan pointed to a road to the south and said to her, "That's the meat processing plant over there."

"Over there?"

" Um."

Bao Ya craned her neck to look, and Jiang Yuan also slowed down the car.

The rows of bungalows over there are fairly neat. It is said that they used to be Japanese military barracks. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were converted into slaughterhouses. Later, under the planned economy, the slaughterhouses were converted into meat processing plants and expanded to supply meat to the entire Pingzhou City.

Next to the meat processing plant, canneries, food factories, and so on were also built. In other words, all the food and beverage-related factories in Pingju City are located in the east.

Bao Ya thought it was great. Nowadays, people rely on the mountains for food and factories for food, so there shouldn't be a shortage of food in the future.

Walking west along the city road, the closer you get to the city center, the more bustling it becomes. The road is lined with single-story houses, some still in the style of the Republic of China era, with slogans painted on the walls that reflect the characteristics of that period.

There were more bicycles on the road, as well as buses—these round-headed buses I'd only ever seen online. The pedestrians on the road were thin, but all looked energetic, and their clothes had far fewer patches. There were also a few girls in dresses, chatting and laughing as they passed by.

These places aren't as drab and dreary as depicted in many novels; everything here is so vibrant and alive.

Bao Ya felt she couldn't take it all in, so she patted Jiang Yuan on the back and said, "Let's walk over. I've never been here before, and I want to take a good look around."

Following her advice, Jiang Yuan stopped his bicycle, found a place to park it, and then walked with Bao Ya.

This is almost the city center, and there are even more people here. There's a department store right in front, so it's packed with people.

"Are you hungry? If so, let's go to the state-run restaurant for a meal first."

"I'm not hungry. It's not noon yet. Let's go to the department store first."

Since arriving here, Bao Ya has only been to the supply and marketing cooperative and has never been to a department store before. She is now eager to try it out.

This is the largest department store in Pingzhou City and a landmark building. It has three floors. The first floor sells tobacco, alcohol, candy, and tea. Unlike ordinary supply and marketing cooperatives, the pastries and candies here are of a higher grade, and there are also some high-quality fruits, which are also very expensive. Ordinary people can't afford to shop here. Even so, the counters are always crowded with people; there's never a shortage of wealthy people.

The second floor sells general merchandise, daily necessities, clothing, and shoes. The third floor sells larger items such as bicycles, watches, radios, and sewing machines. These items are expensive and require tickets, so there aren't many people browsing them.

She glanced around on the first floor and, though she was a little tempted, she didn't like queuing, so she simply dragged Jiang Yuan to the second floor.

She wanted to buy the legendary face cream. Just as she reached the second floor, she felt something dazzle her; turning around, she saw it was a mirror.

I didn't have a mirror at home, so I decided to buy one and went to the counter where they sold mirrors.

"Comrade, could you please get me that mirror so I can take a look?"

Bao Ya pointed to a mirror with a peony pattern in the lower left corner and said.

"Okay, please wait a moment."

The waiter answered politely, then took the mirror off the shelf and handed it to her.

The mirror is about 20 centimeters in diameter, with a metal frame and a metal stand that can be opened to support the mirror standing on a table. The back features a magpie on a plum blossom design, but when Bao Ya looked at the front, she was completely petrified.

Who is that little dark-skinned guy in here? He's so dark, shiny black, and he has a set of dazzling white teeth. Bao Ya felt like she couldn't breathe.

In my past life, although I was chubby, I had great skin—fair and rosy—everyone envied me. In this life, I'm clearly a pretty girl, so why am I so dark-skinned?

"Fair skin hides a hundred flaws, dark skin ruins everything." Bao Ya's mind was a bit of a mess right now, even though she looked in the water tank every day and couldn't see her skin tone clearly.

No, no, her skin was quite white when she took a bath, so it should recover, right? Bao Ya kept reassuring herself.

Seeing her startled expression as she held the mirror, Jiang Yuan seemed to understand something. The girl was indeed much darker than last winter. He thought she was carefree and didn't care, but judging from her shocked expression, she definitely cared. Of course, what girl doesn't care about her appearance?

Jiang Yuan suppressed a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth and asked the sales clerk, "How much is this?"

"One yuan, one industrial ticket."

Jiang Yuan asked the sales clerk to write up the receipt while he went to pay. When he returned and saw Bao Ya looking somewhat dejected, he softly asked, "What's next...?"

"I want face cream."

Feeling bad about her own actions, Bao Ya decided she needed to make amends and started using face cream.