In the city, in the alley next to Shengli Primary School, there is a small shop at the end of the alley. At this time, it is quiet and deserted, with no one patronising it, except for the ticking of the large alarm clock on the wall.
Mei Yuxuan sat behind the counter, feeling bored. Her hair had been permed, and she was wearing a blue skirt. She looked whiter and more fashionable than at home, but she still had acne on her face.
School had not yet finished, so there was not much business. She wanted to sleep, but she couldn't, so she could only pick up the storybook that had been left on the counter, the pages of which had turned the wrong way, and read a few pages before putting it back on the counter. She had read it several times before.
She didn't know that one of the first few jokes was signed 'Deep Sea', which was his younger brother.
It's not her fault. By the following month, it would have been three years since she had been released, and she hadn't been home for three years. She had written two letters when she first got out, and had only made a few phone calls afterwards, so of course she didn't know the situation at home.
She had thought that the family must still be having difficulties, not to mention the old debts that hadn't been paid off, and with her younger brother in junior high school, the family must have taken on new debts.
Unexpectedly, after the New Year, when she went to visit her sisters at the garment factory where she used to work in the suburbs, they told her that their parents had gone to the provincial capital in the second half of last year, and it seemed that they had earned some money and had almost paid off all their debts.
She was stunned for a long time after hearing this, not expecting her parents to be so capable! At the same time, she also felt a lot more relaxed, and all the guilt and self-blame that would make her feel bad, occasionally floating to the surface of her mind in the quiet of the night, disappeared from then on.
In the past two years, she hasn't been much help to her family, but they've been doing well, so that's good.
When she worked part-time at the clothing factory, if she worked overtime, she could earn more than 100 yuan a month. If she saved money, she could help her family by giving them 400 to 500 yuan a year.
But she had so many things she wanted to buy. When she left, her parents lent her some money, which paid for her travel expenses and bought her a summer dress and a pair of sandals in the town.
The clothes she bought in town looked tacky no matter how she looked at them, so after receiving her first month's salary, she went shopping with the money herself, but then she spent it all.
The following month, new styles became popular, and she worked hard for a whole month but still couldn't buy a single item. In addition, she had to buy facial cleanser, various creams, lipstick, etc. Month after month, she couldn't save a single penny.
Sometimes, when buying clothes in the store, she has thought that if she sends the few tens of dollars back home, at least her parents will have a little more money this month. But as soon as she sees the clothes, she thinks that the girl outside is also wearing the same clothes, and they look so good... So she decides to wait until next month to send money home.
After working in the clothing factory for more than a year, she has not saved any money, except for a large box of clothes. Some of the clothes in the box she no longer likes, and there are also many bottles and jars of cosmetics.
She had been working more than ten hours a day at the factory, and she felt that she could not bear it anymore. Just then, when she was shopping during a holiday, she met a girl trying on clothes, and she gave the girl some advice.
After they came out, they struck up a conversation, and it turned out that the girl's home was near their clothing factory. They went shopping together that day and found that they got along very well. After exchanging names, they discovered that the girl's name also contained the character 'yu', and her name was Zhou Yufang.
One day soon after, when she finished work, Zhou Yufang waited for her at the factory gate and invited her to her house. Zhou Yufang's parents were divorced, and she had a younger sister and younger brother. Her younger brother lived with their father, and the three of them now lived in a newly built two-storey house in their hometown.
This was Feng Yuxuan's first time in her house, and she was immediately impressed. The homes of the village and townspeople were in no way comparable to the Zhou family's. Zhou's mother was very kind, and Feng Yuxuan was quite good at socialising. After a few times, she was very much liked by Zhou's mother, and later simply adopted Feng Yuxuan as her godmother and became her sworn sister.
Then, Feng Yuxuan often treated the Zhou family as her own, and most of the time, she left behind the dilapidated and poor home in the countryside.
When she said she didn't want to work in the clothing factory anymore, Zhou Yufang found her a job as a shop assistant in the city. The salary was about the same, but the work was much more relaxed and free than in the factory.
But once she had more time on her own, Feng Yuxuan spent even more money, because she usually socialised with Zhou Yufang and the other city people. Feng Yuxuan paid more attention to her appearance, so she still spent as much as she did before.
Without any money in her hand, she felt bad going home to see her parents, so she just let the years pass.
With a bell ringing, the primary school next door finished class, and the children, who had just now been few and far between, came in droves to the store to buy food and drinks. The small business only sold things for a few cents, but there were so many people that Feng Yuxuan was overwhelmed for a while.
After a while, a girl with short hair and a red T-shirt and jeans walked in. She looked neat and tidy. This was Zhou Yufang.
Seeing that Feng Yuxuan was overwhelmed, she walked behind the counter to help out.
After nearly ten minutes, Feng Yuxuan pointed at the alarm clock on the wall and reminded the children waiting behind her that there were still a few waiting. At this time, they also hurriedly ran to school, and immediately afterwards, the school bell rang.
Finally, this wave of dealing was over! Both of them let out a sigh of relief. Feng Yuxuan started to keep the accounts, and Zhou Yufang helped her sort out the change.
In the end, they counted that in just under ten minutes, they had sold nearly 30 yuan worth of things.
Zhou Yufang said, 'Not bad, right? In just one day, you can buy a lot of things. And don't look at these small change, but the profit is good! How about it, find a good location and open one too?'
Feng Yuxuan put the account book in the drawer and glared at her in annoyance, 'I know better than you, okay! Opening a store is easy for you to say. Even if I find a good store, where would I get the money to open a store? You lend it to me!'
Zhou Yufang laughed and said, 'You know my situation. I can manage small amounts of money, but I can't really help with the money needed to open a shop. But let's just think of this as a goal. After all, you can't just keep helping people with their shops.'
Feng Yuxuan thought the same thing. Just opening a shop would cost at least tens of thousands of yuan. She had never been able to do anything about such a large sum of money before, but now there was a possibility.
In a few months, her parents would definitely go home to harvest chestnuts, so it seemed that she must go home for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
...
In the morning, when there are fewer people, Mei Qiuping took Feng Yiping with her and managed to get two seats on the minibus. They arrived in the county at a little after nine, and after waiting at the bus station for an hour, they boarded the 10:30 bus to the provincial capital. Before getting on the bus, Mei Qiuping bought three steamed buns and two fried cakes for lunch, and she also bought a catty of mandarin oranges, which she gave to Feng Yiping to eat, as the peel would come in handy.
Mei Qiuping gets carsick, and even taking motion sickness medication doesn't help. Then she hears that if she feels like throwing up, putting the orange peel up to her nose and smelling it works.
The bus to the provincial capital leaves at half past ten and is cheaper, but it's an old-fashioned bus with wooden benches. This type of bus will soon disappear. But Feng Yiping actually likes these buses, which are better than some of the soft-seated ones.
In those buses, many of the seats were broken, with the foam inside exposed, and the leather on the seat surface was filthy. There was a heavy smell as soon as you got on, which was not as refreshing as this bus.
And at this time, his dignified buttocks are not yet used to the sofa and can withstand the bumps of the hardwood chair all the way.
Mei Qiuping peeled an orange and shared it with her son. She introduced to Feng Yiping the buildings and places she had seen along the way. Of course, she didn't know that Feng Yiping was more familiar with them than she was.
There was no highway to the provincial capital yet, and they were still taking the provincial road. The speed was not fast, but the old bus still jolted along the seemingly flat road. After a short while, Mei Qiuping felt a little uncomfortable. She opened the window as wide as it would go, and while enjoying the wind, she held an orange peel in front of her nose. 'I can't believe it, you're not even a little bit carsick on your first ride.'
Feng Yiping was fine for now, and told Mei Qiuping not to lean back in her seat, which would help. Mei Qiuping tried it, and it seemed to make a difference.
She said to Feng Yiping, 'It's a bit better, and the panic of people who can't stand the shaking is better.'
After they left the county and stopped walking and stopping, Mei Qiuping felt better and said to Feng Yiping with a smile, 'When I was a child, I even ran behind the car on the highway with my uncles. At that time, I thought the smell of gasoline was very nice, but now I feel like vomiting when I smell it.'
Feng Yiping had a similar experience. After graduating from secondary school, he went to work in the south. The school chartered a bus to take him and ten other students there. Along the way, nine of the ten students threw up. When they stopped at a gas station to refuel, the last student threw up too. In the end, even the experienced driver felt sick.
After driving for more than three hours, the bus passed through the city's border highway. Mei Qiuping and Feng Yiping shared the steamed buns. As for the two fried cakes, she didn't touch a bite, saying that the smell of oil made her feel sick. Feng Yiping knew that this was an excuse.
Mei Qiuping took a few bites of steamed buns, drank a mouthful of cold boiled water from the canteen, looked out the window at the city, and said to Feng Yiping, 'Your sister is here, in the city.'
After driving for another hour or so, the Yangtze River, which is as yellow as the Yellow River, is on one side. Feng Yiping leans over the window to look. This is the first time he has seen the Yangtze River since his rebirth, and he is a little excited.
In fact, apart from being vast, the Yangtze is quite murky, and the water has a strong fishy smell. It's not beautiful, but when you see it for the first time, you feel a sense of familiarity.
The bus continued along the river for more than two hours, and it was almost time to go downhill. This was the most beautiful moment of the scenery along the river. Just then, they finally saw a Yangtze River bridge, as well as the high-rise buildings on the other side of the bridge and the tall chimneys of the power plant by the river. The provincial capital, they had finally arrived!