Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 429 Local Specialties

Xiao Wei got up, folded his clothes again, and put them in his suitcase, stuffing his small personal items into the gaps between the clothes.

Xiao Hong said in the bathroom, "I see my mom and your aunt lecturing my dad and your uncle with their hands on their hips, and they look really cool. Why can't I do it? I always burst out laughing. Why is that, Brother Gui?"

Xiao Wei scratched his head and said, "Do you even need to ask? I'm just not cut out for it. What's the point of learning that?"

Xiao Hong thought for a moment, rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror, and said, "Sigh, this beautiful woman has too good a personality; I can't be shrewish. I'm too kind."

Xiao Wei leaned against the bathroom door and said, "Are you saying that my mom and your mom are shrewish women?"

Xiao Hong was stunned for a moment, then shook her head vigorously and said, "No, absolutely not, you must have misheard."

Xiao Wei pointed at Xiao Hong with his finger and said, "I'll tell on her when I get back."

There was a knock on the door. Xiao Wei opened it, and Chen Hui, rubbing his eyes, stood outside and asked, "Is there anything to eat?"

Xiao Wei said, "I did bring some up, but it's a bit cold. Xiao Hong eats it with hot water."

Chen Hui said, "It's fine if it's cold." After entering the room, he poured himself a cup of hot water, ate some steamed buns, and the side dishes were just pickled vegetables, which were already cold.

Xiao Wei turned his head and asked, "Are you staying for a few days or going back?"

Chen Hui took a sip of hot water and said, "Let's go back. There's nothing to do here anyway, and I'm worried about Chen Xiao."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, let's go buy the train tickets in a bit. Do you want to buy some local specialties?"

Chen Hui nodded and said, "Buy some, bring back some mare's milk wine, beef jerky, and milk tea." Xiao Hong said, "Old Xia and the others need to buy some too, right? How are they going to carry all that? It's all heavy stuff."

Chen Hui said, "Let's go downstairs and buy another suitcase later, I'll carry it."

Xiao Wei said, "Are there any cars with wheels for sale here? Probably not."

Chen Hui said, "It's okay, I'll carry it. Xiao Hong can help me drag my suitcase. Lao Xia and Geng Hui brought two suitcases, so they can put their things in their own suitcases. I'll carry both of ours."

"I heard you two talking bad about me as soon as I got to the door. What were you saying?" Xia Maosheng and Geng Hui walked in hand in hand. Geng Hui went straight to the bathroom to talk to Xiao Hong. Xia Maosheng walked over to Chen Hui, looked at him, and said, "Is it cold? Can it still be eaten?"

Chen Hui said, "It depends on whether you're hungry or not. I've eaten, so having something to eat is better than not eating at all." He took a sip of hot water and said, "We'll buy train tickets later, and then we'll buy some local specialties to take with us. You two can make room for one suitcase."

Xia Maosheng said, "Geng Hui's can't hold much."

Chen Hui said, "It's okay, this is enough for the two of you. I'll buy another suitcase for Xiaowei and me later."

Xia Maosheng turned his head and asked loudly, "Geng Hui, do you want to eat something?"

Geng Hui poked her head out of the bathroom and said, "I don't really want to eat. We can have it together at noon. You can eat it if you want."

Xia Maosheng glanced at the steamed buns, eggs, fried pancakes, and side dishes on the table, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's eat something. Geng Hui, why don't you have two eggs?"

Geng Hui said, "Okay, get me some hot water to scald them." Xia Maosheng got up, grabbed a cup, put two eggs in it, and poured in boiling water. Then he noticed Chen Hui was holding a cup, which he didn't need. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to use it and just eat it cold.

When Xiaohong and Geng Hui finished tidying up and came out of the bathroom, chattering away, Xia Maosheng had already devoured all the steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and side dishes, and handed two peeled and heated eggs to Geng Hui.

After eating the eggs, the five of them locked the door and went downstairs to the train station. When they got to the front of the management office, they ran into the sister-in-law, who was also there. So they called Zhang Jun to come out and go to the train station together. Xiao Hong and her sister-in-law, Xiao Wei and Zhang Jun, a family of four, Xiao Wei and Chen Hui and Xia Maosheng, the three brothers, and Xia Maosheng and Geng Hui, posed for more than a dozen photos. Then Zhang Jun went into the station and bought tickets with an acquaintance.

This time it's different from the one in Fengtian. The five sleeper berths are divided into two carriages, and there's only one middle berth, the rest are upper berths. Zhang Jun came out with the tickets and handed them to Xiao Wei, saying, "This is the only way. They're only helping us out. You can try to switch berths once you get on the train."

Xiao Wei took the ticket and looked at it; it was for a train departing at around 9 PM. He said, "It's fine, it's good that I don't have to stand all the way back. Let's talk about it on the train. Next time I'll drive; it's inconvenient not having a car when I'm used to driving."

Zhang Jun said, "Don't we need to inform Wang Gang and the others? What are the arrangements for the demolition and reconstruction here?"

Xiao Wei said, "No need, I've said everything I needed to say. When they start construction, you can go and take a look whenever you have time. I'll come and see it when it's finished. Sister-in-law, please keep an eye on the rental of the building and these shops, and ask them to give you a red envelope later." Xiao Wei said to his sister-in-law with a smile, and Chen Hui and Xia Maosheng nodded in agreement.

My sister-in-law laughed and said, "Then I'll really have to resign. I'll be counting on you guys from now on."

Zhang Jun said, "Where are we going to wander around now? Are we just going back to the guesthouse to wait?"

Chen Hui said, "Let's go buy some authentic local specialties, and we also need to buy a suitcase."

Zhang Jun asked his sister-in-law, "Are you going back to your unit?"

My sister-in-law shook her head and said, "No need. I finished all the formalities this morning. I didn't really want to go to this class anyway. It's not as good as when I was working at the department store. It was cold and empty inside all day long, and I was all alone."

Zhang Jun said, "Let's go, let's go to the department store. Ask the manager for a discount." The group didn't drive, and walked along the road towards the department store. His sister-in-law said, "Is that okay? We've already come all this way. Let's give it a try."

Xiao Wei, pulling Xiao Hong along, followed Zhang Jun and said, "No need. It's not worth owing someone a favor over such a small amount of money. As long as the things we buy are good, that's fine." His sister-in-law said, "That's no problem. Everything sold here is genuinely good quality; nobody would buy inferior goods."

In 91, the planned economy was still prevalent, the private economy was just emerging, and coupled with poor transportation and information flow, the goods sold by department stores were generally products from the province, and they were of good quality and low price. At that time, no one in state-owned enterprises was calculating costs carefully.

As expected, there were no wheeled suitcases, so I had to buy a leather suitcase. These days, leather items are still valuable; in mainland China, slaughtering cattle is illegal. Only in Mongolia are there many leather products; most are made of sheepskin. The suitcase cost over 300 yuan.

Then we bought some beef jerky, cheese, and mare's milk wine. Milk tofu was hard to carry and had a strong smell, so after discussing it, we decided not to buy it.

Xiao Wei asked Zhang Jun, "Can the mare's milk wine and melon seeds from here be shipped to Fengtian?"

Zhang Jun thought for a moment and said, "I don't know, I didn't ask. What do you want to do?"

Xiao Wei said, "Sell them! I think this mare's milk wine is quite unique, and so are the sunflower seeds. The sunflower seeds here are big, so they should sell well."

Zhang Jun said, "You're just making things up. Where are you going to sell it? How are you going to sell it?"

Xiao Wei said, "We can sell the liquor in restaurants. I also have a food factory; we can process sunflower seeds and do wholesale."

Zhang Jun said, "How many can we sell? We've transported them all this way; if we sell them cheaply, it's not worth it, and if we sell them expensively, will anyone buy them?"

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Our champagne costs over a thousand yuan a bottle, and people still drink it every day. If there's something, people will buy it. It's not a problem."

Zhang Jun thought for a moment and said, "If it really works, let's get some and give it a try. There's no need to ship anything; I can just arrange for a truck to deliver it. There are plenty of troops in the Liberation Army; a round trip will only take two days."

(End of this chapter)