Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 334 First Experience at the Beach

Actually, there's not much to do at the beach these days. The beach, the seaside park, the yachts, the speedboats—that's basically it. Since it's not the right season, you can't swim, so it's mostly just for looking. The wind is blowing in from the land right now, so it's still a bit chilly.

After resting for a while, Chen Hui came over to call everyone to go to the restaurant on the first floor for dinner.

There weren't many people visiting this place this season; it was a bit early. The restaurant was also deserted. Only three tables were occupied by staff. Apart from Xiaowei and his group, there were only five or six other people divided into two groups, each eating their own food without much interaction.

After finishing their meal and going back to their room to sleep, Xiaowei said to Chen Hui, "Let's get up early tomorrow morning, go for a walk, and then go back. We'll have to stay here all night, but there's no point in staying here all day since we can't go swimming."

Chen Hui nodded, gave an OK sign, and went back to the room with Chen Xiao. He was still angry in the morning, but now they were hugging each other again.

Xie Xiaolong stayed in his room quietly, playing and eating as he was told, and even took a lot of pictures. Right now, he was writing a letter to his wife with great enthusiasm. In the 90s, writing letters with pen and paper was still the mainstream way for people to communicate. Although telephones and pagers had entered people's lives, installing a telephone was very expensive at that time, with a cost of five or six thousand yuan, which deterred many families.

Back then, having a telephone felt much cooler than taking out a loan to buy a domestically produced car in later years. And then there were motorcycles; a decent one cost over ten thousand yuan in 91. The Hongdu 125 and Wuyang 125, for example, once sold for over twenty thousand yuan – truly luxury items. Ironically, buying a house was the least noticeable thing back then. In the era of welfare housing, ordinary people rarely experienced significant housing difficulties.

Starting in 91, the domestic real estate market officially began to take off. Some people who got rich first began to enjoy the "high-class life" of big houses or villas, but this did not have much impact on ordinary people. At most, it was just a topic of conversation over tea.

Then it spiraled out of control. The government and businessmen all realized that making money from housing was a quick and easy way to make money, and the real estate market quickly and irresistibly boomed. The biggest enemy of the real estate market was welfare housing, so people from all walks of life worked together to finally end the welfare housing policy in 1998 after more than ten years of effort. From then on, housing became the primary survival issue for ordinary people, and it became increasingly difficult to obtain.

Silent all night.

The next day, the five of them got up, had breakfast at the restaurant, and couldn't wait to run to the beach. The deep sea made them feel small, but at the same time, it had a strong attraction for them.

After strolling along the beach for a while in the not-so-comfortable sea breeze, a few of us took a short cruise on a near-shore boat, experiencing the feeling of sailing on the sea. The seemingly endless, flat blue sea turned out to be anything but flat once you got on it; it was more like a desert, a desert made of water.

As they disembarked from the cruise ship, the five men looked rather grim. There were few tourists on the shore, and the boatmen were quite idle. In those days, everything was state-owned, so they didn't have to worry about income.

The boatman who was piloting the boat for Xiaowei and his friends was a burly man in his forties. He smiled and offered cigarettes to Xiaowei, Chen Hui, and Xie Xiaolong, saying, "Scared? Haha, I can tell it's your first time. Don't worry, it's safe. The sea is safer than the river. Even if you capsize, you won't sink."

Xiao Wei took the cigarette, lit it, and looked at the sea, saying, "I was really scared just now. The difference between looking at it from the sea and from the shore is huge. It felt like I was about to be swallowed by the waves."

The boatman pointed to a speedboat not far away and said, "Go and try riding that one, haha. That boat is smaller and is always weaving through the waves. If you want to feel safe at sea, you have to ride a big boat, but we don't have any here."

Chen Hui asked, "Is the sea always like this? Shouldn't the surface always be flat?"

The boatman shook his head and said, "There's no such thing as a flat surface on the water. Even on a river, you can feel the waves when you go down, just not as big as the ocean. Today is considered calm. If the wind is stronger, the waves can be four or five meters high. You guys just aren't used to it."

After declining the boatman's offer to take another ride, the group walked on the beach for a while, took some pictures, and returned to the sanatorium. Chen Hui said, "Everyone says they want to play at the beach, but there's nothing to do here. It's boring."

Xiao Hong said, "It's not the right time yet. You can't go swimming now. Come back in June or July, the beach will be packed with people then, that's when it will be lively."

Chen Hui shook his head and said, "It's boring. It's just soaking in the sea for a while. There's not much to do."

Xiao Hong said, "The main problem is that the water is too cold, so many attractions are closed. I saw there are water bikes over there, that must be fun."

Xiao Wei asked Xiao Hong, "Aren't you afraid?"

Xiao Hong said, "The boat went so far that we could barely see the shore a moment ago, that's why the waves were so big. There aren't that many waves at the beach. Those creatures are just playing around on the edge, what's there to be afraid of?"

Xiao Wei shook his head; the fear from earlier hadn't completely disappeared, and he didn't want to talk about the waves right now.

After resting for a while, the five of them went downstairs to check out and drove towards Longcheng. This trip to the seaside was not enjoyable because of the wrong season, and it even affected Xiaowei's perception of the sea. So, practice is the only true test of everything. You never know if a shoe is big or small until you put it on.

We set off by car, heading west. We had lunch in Goubangzi and tried Goubangzi roast chicken. In the 90s, Goubangzi roast chicken was very famous and renowned throughout the country. Merchants from all over the country would come here to buy it and resell it.

Now, I don't know why Goubangzi roast chicken is called Goubangzi smoked chicken. Goubangzi is a small town, not very big or developed even now. Moreover, as people's living standards have improved, many of the delicacies of the past are no longer considered delicacies, and only memories remain.

A little after 3:30 p.m., Omega drove into the courtyard behind the training center.

Classes were still in session at the main building, while the sweet aroma of food from the food factory filled the entire courtyard. Xiao Wei's dad and Hao Xiaodong were smoking by the boiler room entrance, while Xiao Wei's mom and several cafeteria ladies had moved stools to sit by the old building wall, picking vegetables and chatting. The whole courtyard had a peaceful atmosphere.

As soon as Xiaowei's car drove in, everyone in the yard naturally turned their attention to him, and the topic of conversation unconsciously shifted to Xiaowei.

"He can endure hardship, that's true, but I wouldn't call him capable. It's all thanks to the help of a few young men. I couldn't have done it all on my own. Oh, my eldest daughter-in-law is here." Xiaowei's mother was politely responding to the compliments from the older women to Xiaowei when suddenly her face lit up with a smile. She put down the vegetables she was holding, stood up, wiped her hands on her apron, and walked towards the car.

(End of this chapter)