Back to my 1980s

The bricks were supposed to be delivered by the afternoon, but Xu Qian changed the number from 10,000 to 20,000 with a stroke of her pen.

As a result, he didn't finish his bowel movement in one afternoon and had to go again the next day.

While Zhao Hua was busy hauling bricks, Meng Qinghe's shed next door was also finished being built.

At night, after catching fish, he returned to the educated youth settlement to guard the cement. He glanced at the completed asbestos tile shed and, after discussing it with Meng Qinghe, decided to go to the town's supply and marketing cooperative early in the morning to see if they could get the goods. If not, they would go to the county town to check.

Actually, the best option is to pick up the goods in the county town. Even if it's inconvenient for Meng Qinghe because she's a girl, her father can go instead.

However, the shuttle bus isn't that convenient now; if you go in the morning, you can only come back in the evening.

If they didn't take the bus and instead pulled a cart to the county town, Zhao Hua roughly calculated that it would be more than 20 li (about 10 kilometers) and would take Meng's father about five or six hours to walk there and back. It would be more troublesome to take the bus...

The next morning, Zhao Hua took out one hundred yuan and handed it to Meng Qinghe.

Unsure if the town's supply and marketing cooperative would be able to get the goods, they decided early in the morning to go sell the fish with Zhao Ru first, and then go to the supply and marketing cooperative together after selling the fish.

Seeing that someone was accompanying Zhao Ru, Zhao Hua didn't care what they did. Anyway, Meng's father was going with them, so he didn't need to worry about it and act as a savior. His own house wasn't even finished yet. If he stayed at the educated youth settlement to keep an eye on things, others could get the work done faster.

Of course, this matter should be viewed from two sides. Nowadays, the villagers have a very simple and honest mindset. If you are there as a supervisor watching them work but don't do anything yourself, it will be difficult to change their mindset.

Those who do the work will curse you behind your back, and might even tell Zhao Hua's sister-in-law to ask her to call him to help with the work, otherwise the family's wealth will be squandered sooner or later.

It has nothing to do with jealousy or envy. That's really what they think. They even believe that asking Zhao Hua to help move bricks and mix mud is for Zhao Hua's own good, to guide the young man onto the right path.

Fortunately, not long has passed since Zhao Hua's image changed, and many people still hold the stereotype that he is idle and irresponsible, so they are more tolerant of Zhao Hua than they are of others.

No one actually came to ask Zhao Hua to help move bricks, so he could lie under the tree and slack off without worry.

As the sun rose higher, the small trees couldn't completely block out the sun. Zhao Hua got up, glanced at the asbestos-roofed shed that the Meng family had built, chuckled, and crawled inside.

What are you doing here?

When Zhao Hua opened his eyes, he saw Meng Qinghe standing on his head, looking down at him with a grin.

He looked up and saw that Meng's father's cart was loaded with goods, which were being moved into the house.

"I've come here to cool off for a bit. Can I get my goods from the town's supply and marketing cooperative?"

Meng Qinghe sat down next to him and said softly, "Yes, it's a bit expensive. A box of matches costs 25 yuan, which is 5 yuan more than the 20 yuan we calculated before. Dad said he wanted to go to the county town to take another look, but I think it's more important to get the goods and set up the stall first, so we'll get the goods first."

Zhao Hua gave a soft "hmm". It was indeed more important to set up the business first, but saving costs was also very important.

He felt something was off. Usually, daughters were more frugal, while fathers didn't care about costs. In their family, it seemed like the opposite was true.

"What did you buy?"

"We have soap, matches, candles, fruit candies, and toilet paper. We can't buy tobacco or alcohol, so we've prepared this much for now."

The matches had been arranged beforehand, so Zhao Hua wasn't surprised. When he heard about toilet paper, Zhao Hua grimaced. There was no toilet paper available yet, so people used these sheets of rough toilet paper when they went to the toilet. The paper was rough and quite irritating to the buttocks, but having toilet paper at all was already a good thing.

Nowadays, people use clods of earth and corncobs, and toilet paper costs money, while this is free. When Zhao Hua first came back, he couldn't find any paper in the dry toilet at home, so he used a cigarette box to wipe his bottom. As soon as he heard about toilet paper, Zhao Hua remembered the embarrassing time when he first came back.

While his thoughts were wandering, Zhao Hua suddenly had a whimsical idea. There were no sanitary napkins available, not even soft toilet paper. He glanced at Meng Qinghe's waistband as if possessed.

He immediately looked away, but it was too late. Meng Qinghe had been looking at him the whole time she was talking to him. She looked down at him and her face flushed red.

Zhao Hua coughed twice and said seriously, "Have you prepared how to arrange these things? All the goods have arrived; we should be able to start selling them this afternoon, right?"

Meng Qinghe suppressed her embarrassment and pretended to be nonchalant, saying, "Is everything ready? Dad said we can just bring out the wooden bed from home and prop it up at both ends."

"Hmm, good idea." Zhao Hua praised, then sat up and said enthusiastically, "Come on, let me see what we have. Once the goods arrive, let's get started." After all, he wasn't that shameless.

The main problem was that Meng Qinghe's face was blushing so obviously that he couldn't pretend he didn't see it. The little girl was too shy; otherwise, she could have just brushed it off. It made him feel a bit awkward too.

By this time, Meng's father had already emptied the goods from the cart. Zhao Hua reached out and pushed the cart aside before going into the house. Meng's father was stroking the goods piled on the bed board back and forth.

Zhao Hua laughed and said, "Uncle, why are you putting it on the bed board now? Aren't you going to take it apart this afternoon?"

Mr. Meng glanced back at the two people who had entered the house. He saw that Meng Qinghe's face was flushed and assumed it was from the heat. After all, he could easily spot the two of them when they were moving the goods, and Zhao Hua had always been well-behaved. So he didn't think much of it and said with a smile, "No rush. We'll put it out after lunch. I'll go cook first. Little Zhao will eat here for lunch today."

Zhao Hua waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, I can't eat here every day. I just came to see what the whole boxes of goods look like. I've always bought them in small quantities and have never seen whole boxes of packaging before. Okay, after I'm done looking around, I'll go sit under the shed and cool off. Uncle, you go ahead and do your work."

With that, he left the house. If it weren't for the awkwardness under the shed, he wouldn't have gone inside to take a look.

After he entered the shed, he noticed Meng Qinghe was still following behind him. A little curious, he asked, "What brings you here? We're opening this afternoon, aren't you going to get ready?"

Meng Qinghe shook her head and remained silent, standing under the shed staring at him intently.

Seeing this, Zhao Hua was somewhat surprised and asked, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Meng Qinghe swallowed hard and said, "Brother, I'm a little flustered. Will you still be here this afternoon?"

Zhao Hua sat down on the sack he had brought earlier, raising an eyebrow and asking, "What's the rush? Nervous?"

Meng Qinghe squatted down in front of him and said, "I don't know either. I just feel unsure. The thought of having to take those things out to sell this afternoon makes me feel weak and powerless."

Zhao Hua glanced at her and said, "Did you buy the firecrackers? Just two strings will do."