Back to my 1980s

Zhao Hua noticed a few girls peeking out from behind her, but she remained silent.

Zhao Ru immediately understood and said with a soft laugh, "It's alright, they won't go back and talk nonsense."

"Hmm, yours is 20.7, mine is 21.9, the total is 42.6." Zhao Hua glanced around, his voice low.

"Then I can get two yuan? Hehe! That's great!" Zhao Ru excitedly leaned over and whispered, mimicking Zhao Hua.

"Shh, keep your voice down. You also helped sell those fish at the back today, so here's 4 yuan for you."

Zhao Ru's face immediately tightened, her pupils widened, and she froze on the spot. Her group of best friends immediately surrounded her. Ignoring them, Zhao Ru hurriedly caught up with Zhao Hua, who was walking forward.

"Bro! Are you serious??"

Glancing at Zhao Ru who had caught up, Zhao Hua laughed and said, "Would you eat candy if I lied to you? It really is, of course it's true."

"Wow! Does that mean I earn more than Dad? He only makes two or three yuan a day making furniture for people! You're really willing to give me so much?" Zhao Ru rubbed her little hands together, following closely behind Zhao Hua.

"Are you stupid? Didn't we spend two days fishing yesterday? It's been two days, little sister. Dad earned five or six yuan working for two days."

"Ugh! You're so annoying! He doesn't have work every day." Zhao Ru waved her hand and walked a few steps behind to join her friends.

Ignoring them, Zhao Hua continued walking home, not really wanting to participate in their girlish chatter.

"elder brother?"

"……what?"

"It's nothing, why are you in such a hurry?" Zhao Ru pulled her group of girlfriends to catch up.

"The fish are all sold out, why aren't you going home? Are you just lounging around here? Going for a stroll?"

"No, I just wanted to ask you if you could give me 5 cents first, so I can go home and buy a bag of preserved plums for them to eat."

"No, no!" The three girls next to her quickly waved their hands, their faces flushed.

He glanced at the three girls walking beside him. Their eyes were bright and clear, their youthful faces showed a hint of awkwardness, and their hands were rough and calloused. He paused slightly, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Buy them. One bag each. I'll buy them. It's a treat for you after working so hard all morning."

They dared to directly refuse Zhao Ru, but dared not speak to Zhao Hua, whom they were not familiar with. After hearing him speak, the three of them exchanged a silent glance, then lowered their heads and remained silent.

Zhao Ru squeezed next to them, whispered to them, and winked at them with her eyes crinkling. Their faces flushed slightly, and after glancing at Zhao Hua, they all started chasing after Zhao Ru.

Watching the group playfully run off into the distance, Zhao Hua shook his head and smiled, then leisurely followed behind, carrying his bucket.

When they arrived at the small shop in Shuanghuai Village, the sun was high in the sky. Old Chen was cooking in the inner room. He wiped the sweat from his face, raised his hand and knocked on the counter. The person in the inner room heard the sound, wiped his hands with his clothes and hurried out, responding repeatedly, "Coming, coming!"

"What do you want?" Old Chen walked to the counter.

"Give me four packs of preserved plums, and another pack of Daqianmen cigarettes, still no tickets!" Zhao Hua pointed to the dried plums displayed behind the counter.

"My goodness! Keep your voice down! Don't let anyone hear you! I know, I know!" Old Chen hurriedly waved his hand to signal him to lower his voice, then turned around and took out a pack of cigarettes from under the cabinet and handed it to Zhao Hua.

"Tsk! What are you afraid of? You can buy things even without tickets outside now. Besides, everyone in our village knows how good your stuff is. I even suspect that you're the one spreading the word about this place." Zhao Hua tapped on the counter, his eyes scanning the shelves.

"Bullshit! I suspect it was you who spread the word! When other people come to pick up goods, they all use the cigarettes in your hand as an excuse!" Old Chen threw several packs of preserved plums onto the counter in annoyance.

"Huh? Hahaha! Haha! How much?? Stop dawdling over getting the goods, or your food will burn!" He glanced at the billowing fumes outside.

"A pack of preserved plums costs 10 cents, and cigarettes cost 55 cents, totaling 95 cents."

He fumbled in his pocket for a while, then skillfully pulled out a one-yuan bill, paid the bill, waved to the old man, and went out the door.

Zhao Ru, Xiao Ting, Xiao Ran, and another girl whose name I don't know stood under the shade of a big tree outside the door, waiting for the buckets and carrying pole.

Zhao Ru remained relatively calm, but the others' eyes lit up when they saw Zhao Hua walking out with the preserved plum in his hand, and they unconsciously pursed their lips.

There are many siblings in the family, so they don't usually get to eat many snacks. Except for holidays like Chinese New Year, when the family will buy them a pack, they have to share it. Or when they are sick, the family will only buy them snacks out of pity.

If I want to eat a whole bag of preserved plums, I'll probably have to wait until they're getting married...

"Brother!" Zhao Ru waved with a grin.

"Hmm." He walked closer and handed out the preserved plums. The three girls pushed and shoved each other, none of them daring to take them. So he simply handed them to Zhao Ru to share.

Zhao Ru stuffed the preserved plums into their hands one by one. They hesitated for a moment, thanked her in hushed tones, and then took them. Each of them clutched the bag of preserved plums, their fingertips rubbing the rough wrapping paper, and gave Zhao Hua a sweet smile.

That smile made him feel a little uneasy. There's no logic to feelings, even though his reputation wasn't very good before.

However, many girls like men who are a little bit bad, and they look down on men who are too honest. Plus, he can make money now, and maybe they'll hit it off with just one glance. He's not some kind of moralist or hypocrite.

But what if rumors start circulating? Would Song Xueping still be able to stay with him? Dating someone you like and breaking up when the feelings fade is no longer an option these days. If he does this now, he might end up having to pay for bullets himself.

"Let's go home." He shook his head, picked up the bucket from the ground, and stopped thinking about it. Why think so much? Maybe she was just thanking him. He was overthinking things. Luckily, Zhao Ru didn't know what he was thinking, or she might have laughed herself to death.

"Mmm!" Zhao Ru said goodbye to the girl Zhao Hua couldn't recall, with a freshly bought plum in her mouth.

"Xiaoting, Xiaoran, why did you two leave with us so early? Won't your parents scold you?" On the way home from the convenience store, Zhao Hua was genuinely curious.

"I asked. Zhao Ru asked last night when she went over. There's not much work to do at home right now, my brother and the others can finish it, so they don't need my help. They said as long as I don't wander off, it's fine." Xiao Ting couldn't bear to eat the bag of preserved plums, so she put it in her pocket.

"They don't have time to care about me. They're always busy with my younger brother. I feel like I was adopted," Xiao Ran added.

They lived right next to Zhao Hua's house, so it was convenient for them to go that way. Both of them shared the surname Zhao, which was the most common surname in the village. Many of them had fled there during famine years ago, while others had married into the family. After several generations of intermarriage, although they all shared the surname Zhao, they were basically not related by blood, and their family genealogies did not even belong to the same lineage.