Back to my 1980s

Xu Qian remained expressionless. Jiang Yue glanced at her, then slowly shifted her gaze back to Xu Qian and said, "Okay, I will."

Seeing the two of them acting like they were performing a comedy routine, Zhao Hua found it somewhat amusing. He looked at Xu Qian and said, "You really can't do it?"

Xu Qian didn't say anything, she just shook her head.

Zhao Hua nodded and said, "Well, it's okay if you don't know how. Jiang Yue is driving you, so two cars will be enough. We won't need my car then."

"No way! She's too weak! She can't carry me, what if we overturn halfway?"

Zhao Hua burst into laughter. Who else but Jiang Yue would dare to carry this little miss?

As he laughed, he looked at the village officials beside him. Unfortunately, the village officials weren't stupid. The rain had just stopped, the ground wasn't completely dry, and the road was very slippery. It would be good if they could deliver the goods safely, but if something went wrong, it would be a big problem. With their old arms and legs, they just wanted to work peacefully until retirement.

Whoever makes the suggestion should take responsibility; they're not going to take the blame. The village officials looked at each other, but no one took the initiative.

Seeing this, Xu Qian chuckled and said, "Don't you have a new car? I want to ride in it, why don't you give me a ride?"

Zhao Hua's heart skipped a beat. Damn it, in August they'll not only investigate future matters, but they'll also dig up old grievances!

He shook his head vigorously, his gaze fixed on the group of village officials. He saw that some of them were lifting their feet to look at the soles of their shoes, while others had their eyes closed and mouths wide open as if they were about to sneeze. A few of them were looking back into the village, as if something new had suddenly sprouted in the village where they had lived for decades.

Zhao Hua was cursing inwardly, but he didn't show it on his face. He laughed it off and said, "I haven't finished processing the fish yet. I just came to see you off. I have to go back and raise the fish later."

"Then why did you just say you didn't need your car? Isn't that a clear indication that you intended to use it in the first place?"

"Haha... I mean, I'm offering my car, I didn't say I was going."

Jiang Yue watched silently from the side. She roughly understood what Xu Qian meant. Although she was speechless, she did not stop Xu Qian from causing trouble.

Seeing that Zhao Hua was unwilling to argue, Xu Qian didn't bother to waste her breath and instead snorted at the village officials, "How come the young people in your village have no sense of morality at all?"

The village cadre who was pretending to be stupid almost went crazy. Xu Qian and Jiang Yue were from the township. If this label was attached to them, the village cadre would be accused of not setting a good example. If this got back to the township, they would have to hide in the ground when they went to the next meeting in the township. How could they face anyone?

They couldn't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. They cursed Zhao Hua inwardly for being such a troublemaker, but the task still had to be done. The village secretary stepped forward, pulled him to the side of the road, and whispered, "Little Zhao, your grandfather and we have a good relationship. How could you let us down at a time like this?"

The village chief nodded and said, "We've watched you grow up and we all hope you'll do well. We turned a blind eye to you fishing in the river before, but now that the village needs your help, you can't pretend to be oblivious."

When he was little, Old Zhao often brought him to the brigade headquarters to play. Watching him grow up was no exaggeration. Seeing that Zhao Hua had no reaction, the village chief couldn't help but feel a headache. He scratched his ear, thought for a moment, and said, "What's wrong with helping someone get a ride? It won't take you much effort. Besides, you'll be relying on him to collect fish in the future, won't you?"

Zhao Hua chuckled inwardly. "Giving someone a ride is no big deal," he thought, "you were all pretending to be clueless before." He laughed, "It's not that I'm not willing to help, but if I do, who knows what those old women in the village will say! I'm not even married yet, and my reputation is already ruined!"

After thinking about it, the group realized that what he said made sense. Even they felt it was somewhat inappropriate, let alone the gossipy people in the village. However, they naturally wouldn't show it on their faces. The village secretary raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, "So that's what you're worried about. What's there to be afraid of? Don't worry, I definitely won't let them spread this around. Anyone who dares to spread rumors, I'll come and talk to them."

Zhao Hua pursed his lips. It sounds nice now, but if someone really spreads rumors, it'll seem like they can really control it. Besides, he doesn't believe Xu Qian will actually gossip when she gets back.

The neighborhood security chief, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Why don't you have your grandfather try to persuade you?"

"Hey! Tsk! If there's something going on in the village, of course I'll do what I can, whether it's helping or not. Do I look like someone with such low awareness? I was just thinking of going to push the cart when you guys dragged me here. If you hadn't stopped me, I would have already arrived in town!" His grandfather is so old, and the ground is so slippery. What if he falls over here?

He glanced at Xu Qian and said, "I'll go get the car first. You guys wait here for a bit!"

Xu Qian chuckled and nodded. The village cadres exchanged glances, feeling a lump in their throats. Seeing that Zhao Hua was already heading home, they shook their heads without saying anything. They also had to go back and get two bicycles.

As soon as Zhao Hua arrived home, he happened to see his mother carrying a bundle of firewood into the kitchen. He looked at his mother and asked in surprise, "Mom, when did you get back? I didn't see you just now. Where's Dad?"

Zhao's mother glanced back and said, "Your father went to help someone build furniture after dinner. I just came back from next door. I heard someone wants to buy your fish?"

Zhao Hua pushed the bicycle out of the main room, nodded and said, "Someone wants to buy it, but not now. I'll go deliver it."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ru, who was cleaning whitebait in front of the ditch in the yard, turned her head and gave Zhao Hua a resentful look. She was working hard to clean fish here, but Zhao Hua, instead of offering a word of comfort, came back and even wanted to take the cart out to have fun!

Zhao Hua met Zhao Ru's resentful gaze, laughed, hopped on his bicycle, and headed straight out the door.

When they arrived at the village entrance, they were already waiting there. Zhao Hua didn't waste any words and waved to Xu Qian. Xu Qian giggled and jogged over. A moment later, the car body dipped slightly.

He glanced back and saw Xu Qian sitting sideways in the back seat with her legs together. He smiled and said softly, "Hold on tight, I'll try to be as steady as possible."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qian patted Zhao Hua on the back, clenched her right fist, and swung it sharply, urging loudly, "Let's go! Let's go!"

A gentle breeze blows, passing through alleys and fields, rustling the leaves of roadside trees, while green grass stretches along the ridges of fields on both sides of the road.

Zhao Hua rode his bicycle slowly, carrying the girl behind him along the ridges of the fields. He kept kicking Xu Qian in the middle of the road, making her covered in mud. He sighed inwardly, realizing that the first girl he had ever carried on his bicycle wasn't Song Xueping.

Jiang Yue followed beside her, while the two village officials lagged behind. She rode alone, which wasn't a problem as she rode in the middle of the road. With the partitions in place, the mud would only splash onto the back seat at most.

As Zhao Hua cycled along, he felt a little strange. He didn't really dislike the two girls, and he had been back for so long, always alone. Suddenly, a girl was so close to him.

He coughed twice, looked at Jiang Yue, and asked, "Can your restaurant accept whitebait?" He remembered seeing Zhao Ru cleaning whitebait earlier and used this as a way to divert attention.

Jiang Yue glanced at him sideways and asked, "Were there many of those long, thin fish on the boat today?"

Zhao Hua gave a soft "hmm" and said, "There are many kinds of fish. There are green-tailed ones, upturned ones, and white-striped ones. They all look pretty much the same, so I call them all white-striped ones."

"I don't think I saw you selling that kind of fish at the market before. Is it hard to sell?" Jiang Yue dodged the puddles and moved closer to Zhao Hua's car.

Zhao Hua sighed and said, "Yes, the seafood station won't buy them, and they don't sell well at the market. There are too many fish bones, and it's easy to get a bone stuck in your throat, so very few people eat them."

Jiang Yue rolled her eyes at Zhao Hua and said angrily, "Then why do you want me to collect them? Wouldn't I get just as many thorns if I collected them?"

Zhao Hua chuckled and said, "It's different. You can use it for staff meals. We're reluctant to use firewood, but you can stew dozens of kilograms in one pot, sprinkle with dried chili peppers, and the thorns will soften after stewing. Then you can make a dipping sauce with soybean paste, vinegar, and chili peppers to eat with it."

He thought for a moment and said, "You can also dry them and fry them. You can even eat the bones along with them. They're very delicious."

Xu Qian, standing behind him, asked curiously, "Zhao Hua, you can cook?"

Zhao Hua smiled calmly and said, "Yes, I can, but I only know a few home-style dishes." He learned those dishes when he was working alone after Song Xueping passed away.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qian tugged at Zhao Hua's sleeve and asked, "Is your cooking good?"

Zhao Hua thought for a moment and then smiled, "It's alright, it's still palatable."

Only after he finished speaking did he realize that Xu Qian's interruption had made him forget the important matter. It was more important to discuss how to sell the whitebait for money. Besides, Xu Qian had just tugged at his sleeve, so they were now even closer.

He felt the wind was a bit strong today, otherwise why would he have goosebumps? He quickly looked at Jiang Yue and said, "Can you take it? I'll give you a discount if necessary."

Jiang Yue chuckled. The commune allocated a fixed monthly food budget, and eating meat a few more times would exceed the budget. It would be nice to be able to exchange it for cheaper fish. She smiled and said, "I have no problem with that, but the allocation needs Xu Qian's signature. If she thinks this is a large-scale non-compliant purchase, she has the right to reject the bill."

"..." Zhao Hua was somewhat speechless. He twisted his waist and said, "Hey, Jiang Yue's situation is fine, how about yours?"

Xu Qian narrowed her eyes and chuckled, "Oh? Here? Let me think."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hua coughed lightly and said, "If you don't agree, I'll ride the bike into the ditch."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xu Qian punched him twice in the back, but he didn't resist afterward.

The village officials behind them listened silently to their conversation, and no one was so tactless as to come up and interrupt.

Normally it takes half an hour to walk to the market, but now they can get there in just a few minutes by bicycle. Zhao Hua wasn't foolish enough to go to the commune restaurant, since he hadn't actually started working yet. He followed Jiang Yue directly to the township government, but the township government was at the end of the market, so they had to ride a little further in.

As Zhao Hua passed by Old Xu's shop, he wondered if Old Xu might suddenly appear. Theoretically, he could have dropped them off by now or taken them directly to their doorstep. However, with the village officials following behind, he didn't have permission and couldn't reveal their address on his own.

The village officials would definitely escort them to the front of the township government. Firstly, it was a matter of etiquette, and secondly, they were worried that Song Wenshu wouldn't know that Xu Qian and Jiang Yue had returned, and that he had made a wasted trip to the countryside. They needed to inform them, and Zhao Hua couldn't just leave halfway.

They smoothly delivered the two to the township government. Zhao Hua and Xu Qian waited for Jiang Yue and the village officials at the entrance. After the hard work of dropping them off, they had to go in and make their presence known. Zhao Hua didn't need to go; he sat on the bicycle, supporting himself on his toes.

Seeing that Xu Qian didn't speak, he figured he couldn't just stand there like a doorman forever. He coughed lightly, smiled, and said, "Did you have fun today?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qian put her hands behind her back, walked over to Zhao Hua, and smiled as she looked at him, saying, "It's so-so. I've been cooped up at home waiting for the results since graduation, and I'm so bored. I can only go to the market occasionally, but now even that's hard to do."

Zhao Hua smiled and said, "That's good. You students are able to go out of the city and see the world while studying. Many people in our village have never even been to the county town in their entire lives."

She bent down and kicked a small pebble on the ground, saying, "We didn't go to vocational school in this city; we're boarding students. We can't leave the school gates whenever we want. Even on Sundays, we have to return to school at a set time. We don't know the area well, so we don't dare to wander around. It's pretty much the same as the people in your village."

Zhao Hua understood immediately. No wonder he felt Xu Qian longed for freedom. Before he could say anything more, he caught a glimpse of the village officials and Jiang Yue coming out. He smiled and said, "Alright, they're out. I'm going back now. Isn't it much better now that you've graduated? You can go wherever you want. Those people in town wouldn't dare to really do anything to you, would they?"

She glanced at Jiang Yue and the village officials who were walking out, raised her chin, and said smugly, "Of course they wouldn't dare. Grandpa said he's already had someone warn them, but I heard from others that they have some connections."

She paused, looked away, glanced at Zhao Hua, slowly twisted her hair, hesitated for a moment, and said softly, "Besides, it seems that the people who support them don't get along with our two families, so... let's just leave it at that and stay at home."

These words were a bit too forward for Zhao Hua, who didn't want to discuss them further or care about such matters. Zhao Hua narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at Xu Qian, nodded casually, and said, "It's okay, things will be much better next month. Going out for a stroll shouldn't be a problem."

Xu Qian blinked, about to press Zhao Hua for an explanation, when Jiang Yue and the others approached. Jiang Yue looked at the two of them, a half-smile on her face, and said, "Having a pleasant chat, huh?"

Zhao Hua chuckled and said, "I was getting bored waiting, so I chatted for a bit. Are you guys heading back now? I'm going home too."

Jiang Yue nodded upon hearing this, then turned to thank the two village officials repeatedly. Seeing that the person had already come out and that there was no need to worry about the bicycle being stolen, Zhao Hua simply stopped waiting for the village officials and ignored their chatter, turning his bicycle around and heading home.

After a busy day, as dusk approached, Zhao Hua arrived home to find dinner already prepared. His family was waiting for him to come home for dinner, and they chatted briefly about what had happened that afternoon.

Zhao Ru, being so quick to speak, revealed that he had known the two of them for a long time. Zhao's mother immediately began to press him for details. As her own mother, Zhao Hua couldn't give her a perfunctory answer, nor did he want his family to worry. So he simply recounted how he met them while selling fish and how they happened to bump into each other while buying a car.