“Hey there, Yun Su. Looks like you’ve traded up! Working as a salesclerk at a distribution outlet now.”
The visitor walked in and immediately started teasing her. Yun Su found it quite baffling.
Then the person turned to look at Ji Xiangtian: “Oh, so this is your partner! Looks like a respectable person. Yun Su, you’re really lucky…”
“Enough. Are you going to buy something or not? If not, get out!”
Yun Su cut off the visitor bluntly, her expression full of impatience.
Ji Xiangtian also recognized the visitor. It was none other than Hu Chunhua. This was the same person who had caused Yun Su to fall into the sea and had been arrested and detained for half a month as punishment.
Ji Xiangtian had been keeping an eye on this woman because she bore ill will toward Yun Su. But although he had come to Yunjia’ao Production Brigade many times, he hadn’t run into her. Based on what he knew, she should have been released a week ago. Where she had been over the past week was highly suspicious.
Thinking this, Ji Xiangtian stood up and positioned himself in front of Yun Su, ready to prevent Hu Chunhua from making any sudden moves.
Hu Chunhua was so angry at their behavior that she was momentarily speechless. She let out a cold laugh: “What do you mean, not buying anything? I came today to buy the most precious thing—brown sugar. What’s wrong? You’re a salesclerk. You’re not going to refuse to sell to me, are you?”
Yun Su raised an eyebrow, wondering since when the Hu family could afford such a big purchase.
“If you want to buy, then buy. Where’s your ration coupon?”
Buying brown sugar required a brown sugar ration coupon. Even though the distribution outlet relaxed the rules a bit for the villagers’ convenience—for example, with a coupon for one tael of brown sugar, they could sell an extra qian without a coupon, though the price per unit was slightly higher—the coupon was still mandatory for the base amount.
Hu Chunhua chuckled twice, then pulled several brown sugar ration coupons from her pocket. Altogether, they added up to half a jin.
That was quite impressive for someone in the village.
Yun Su grew even more suspicious about where the woman had gotten those coupons. But that wasn’t her business. As long as there was a coupon, she would sell the goods.
—
She took the coupons and money and went to weigh out the brown sugar.
Just then, Yun Feng, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up. She had come with Hu Chunhua. While all the bickering was going on, Yun Feng had been as quiet as a mute.
“Chunhua, don’t be so aggressive. What happened before was your fault. If you hadn’t pushed Yun Su into the sea, she wouldn’t have called the public security.”
Hu Chunhua cursed inwardly: If I hadn’t pushed her into the sea, would she have found such a good catch?
She only dared to think this to herself. Having been detained once, Hu Chunhua had finally learned her lesson.
After being released by the public security last week, Hu Chunhua heard that Yun Su had found a wonderful partner. And that partner was the very man she had rescued when Yun Su fell into the sea.
If it were just that, Hu Chunhua might not have been so angry. But the man turned out to be a doctor, and his family was exceptionally well-off. This made Hu Chunhua absolutely livid.
If not for some good fortune of her own, Hu Chunhua wouldn’t be in such a good mood standing here buying brown sugar. The moment she laid eyes on Yun Su, she would have rushed over and slapped her a few times.
Yun Su couldn’t hear Hu Chunhua’s thoughts, but just by looking at her expression, she could tell the woman hated her with a passion.
It seemed she was holding back for some reason, not daring to lash out.
So, she must have something to fear.
Ji Xiangtian walked over, helped Yun Su wrap the weighed brown sugar, and placed it directly on the long table in front of Hu Chunhua.
From start to finish, no one paid any attention to Yun Feng’s nonsense.
This made Yun Feng feel humiliated. But she didn’t dare say anything more. Yun Su was now more valuable than before. From a purely self-interested perspective, Yun Feng knew she couldn’t afford to completely burn bridges with her.
“We’ll go now, Yun Su. If you have time later, we should get together…”
Without waiting for Yun Su to respond, Yun Feng dragged Hu Chunhua and the brown sugar out the door.
—
Once they were gone, Yun Su looked at the man speechlessly: “Do you have people like that at your hospital?”
Ji Xiangtian understood what she meant. He smiled and nodded: “There are even more at the hospital. Not just doctors and nurses—some patients too. Orthopedics isn’t too bad, but my mom is the head of the gynecology department, and they have even more drama.”
Ji Xiangtian worked at the best hospital on the island. Although it was a military hospital, it wasn’t located inside the military compound. It also treated civilian patients from the island. If someone had a critical condition and couldn’t be transferred to Guangzhou, they were sent to their hospital.
Ji Xiangtian wasn’t one to gossip, but there were so many people at the hospital that his ears passively absorbed a lot of information. Some things he heard made him question the very meaning of life.
Thinking about the hospital environment, Yun Su immediately understood what he meant.
Not wanting to dwell on such an unpleasant topic, Yun Su changed the subject back to their trip to Guangzhou tomorrow.
Tomorrow, she and Ji Xiangtian were going to Guangzhou. The purpose was purely leisure—to visit the supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores in the city, broaden their horizons, and bring some dried seafood to Yun Su’s aunt there.
—
Over on the other side, Yun Feng felt deeply unsettled after walking out of the distribution outlet on her own terms.
At that outlet, the wind couldn’t reach you, the rain couldn’t touch you, and the sun certainly couldn’t shine on you. On top of that, you got a monthly salary, subsidies, and work points. If only she could have a good job like that herself.
But she was about to marry Gu Zhengrong soon. So she didn’t care much about this village outlet job anymore. Instead, after getting married, she wanted Gu Zhengrong to find her a job.
She’d heard that military spouses qualified for government support and policies. She was excellent and capable—surely she’d land a good job. A salesclerk at the military region’s supply and marketing cooperative would be pretty nice.
Still, it would be even better if Yun Su didn’t have such a good job.
Lately, the villagers had been whispering behind her back, saying she had no ability—that she couldn’t solve the commune’s supply cooperative problem, and that in the end, it was Yun Su who brought the distribution outlet to the village.
Growing up, Yun Su had always been inferior to her. Just this once—just this once—Yun Su had completely outshone her.
This shift in status made Yun Feng deeply uncomfortable.
She had a vague feeling things shouldn’t be this way. Yun Su shouldn’t be wearing such a happy smile.
Thinking this, she quickened her pace and caught up with Hu Chunhua ahead.
—
“Chunhua, don’t you think Yun Su has changed?”
Hu Chunhua was still fuming inside. Upon hearing this, she nodded irritably: “No kidding! She used to be so dull and simple. But ever since she came back from the sea, she’s become petty and calculating…”
Before she could finish, Hu Chunhua suddenly stopped. She raised her hand and slapped her forehead: “That’s right! Yun Su changed right after she fell into the sea that day. Could it be… could it be…?”
Yun Feng’s expression turned fearful too: “You mean that?”
Hu Chunhua suddenly broke into a strange smile: “Nine times out of ten, she’s possessed by a water ghost.”
People around here all held some reverence for ghosts and spirits. Campaigns like “Destroy the Four Olds” were just going through the motions. Every time they went out to sea, quite a few people secretly prayed. Naturally, many believed in water ghosts as well.
As it happened, Yun Feng was not one of those believers. But that didn’t stop her performance.
“Hmph, good riddance if she’s possessed by a water ghost! Someone like her deserves the worst.” Thinking about her own fifteen days in detention, Hu Chunhua ground her teeth with hatred.
Yun Feng quickly tried to calm her down: “Don’t be so angry. What you did in the first place was over the line. Next time you joke with friends, don’t go that far. And Chunhua, I need to ask you a favor. Don’t go telling people about Yun Su possibly being possessed. We don’t know if it’s true yet. If outsiders found out, they’d probably avoid her. Then how could she keep selling goods at the distribution outlet?”
As she spoke, Yun Feng shed a few genuine tears.
Hu Chunhua looked at her with an expression of exasperation: “She doesn’t even treat you like an older sister anymore, so why are you so eager to care about her?”
Then she sighed: “Fine, since you’re begging me, how can I refuse? I’ll just pretend I don’t know her. I won’t have anything to do with her from now on.”
“Oh, come on, don’t say that…”
Their voices gradually faded into the distance. Villagers passing by were shocked to see the two of them together.
They began asking around about when Hu Chunhua had been released.
—
At five in the afternoon, Yun Su closed up shop and took Ji Xiangtian home.
Yes, Ji Xiangtian had spent the entire afternoon with Yun Su at the distribution outlet. After Yun Feng and Hu Chunhua left, the two of them chatted and read together. Mostly, Yun Su studied, and whenever she came across a math problem she didn’t understand, she asked Ji Xiangtian for help.
Such simple time together left them both feeling deeply content.
Ji Xiangtian wasn’t going back to the military family compound that night. He would stay overnight at Yun Su’s house. The next morning, he and Yun Su would take the earliest ferry to Guangzhou.
“You’re back! Xiao Ji. We’re having roasted oysters tonight, and seafood soup with rice noodles. Will that be okay?”
Ji Xiangtian’s lips curved into a smile: “Auntie, I’m not a picky eater. This is already very generous.”
Yun Huaimin curled his lip when he heard this, thinking to himself how lucky this guy was. Every time he came, the family’s meals improved dramatically. Usually, his mother wouldn’t make soup in the middle of summer—she said it was too hot. But whenever Ji Xiangtian came, she suddenly didn’t mind the heat.
Every day, she made seafood soup, bone broth, or some kind of tonic soup, keeping the young man’s complexion rosy and radiant.
As if sensing Yun Huaimin’s silent grumbling, Ji Xiangtian turned to him and said, “Brother, what colors do you like? Tomorrow, Su and I are going to Guangzhou. We’ll bring you back some fabric.”
Yun Huaimin felt secretly pleased: This kid sure knows how to butter up his future brother-in-law. Hmph, if he ever treats my sister badly, no amount of fabric—ten thousand or eight thousand yards—will make it right.
Watching her older brother’s tsundere expression, Yun Su was thoroughly amused. She suppressed her laughter and said:
“Yeah, Brother! Last time Mom wanted to buy fabric but couldn’t find any. We’ve been too busy before, but now we finally have some free time. I heard the Guangzhou department store has a lot of fashionable materials. We’ll pick something out for you and make a new shirt. You’ll definitely be the most handsome guy at your matchmaking meeting…”
Her youngest brother, Fuzai, immediately objected.
“No way! I’m the most handsome one in this family. Older brother is too old…”
The dismissive tone made the whole family burst into laughter.
—
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