Chapter 5: The Female General Enters the City and Struggles to Buy Milk Powder
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
His wife, Qu Cui, added, "Chengyan, we don't normally give out these two kinds of tickets. Your uncle got them from someone else… But don't worry, he knows a few people in the commune and the county. You should be able to exchange them for one or two bags of milk."
Ling Chengyan thanked them and offered to give them money for the food stamps.
The two of them refused Ling Chengyan's money, but after a few rejections, they finally relented. They told her they would tabulate the overall sum once Ling Chengyan bought the milk powder.
Seeing that it was still early, Ling Chengyan left Wang Futang's house and went straight to the village. She went in the direction of the county that her uncle-in-law, Wang Futang, had pointed out.
After sending the three of them off, Qu Cui returned to the house. Wang Futang tapped his old tobacco pipe and sighed, "Ever since Liansheng's accident, the three of them have been having a hard time surviving. We should help them if we can."
The old lady glanced at her husband and said, "It's not that I don't want to help. I just want to be on the neutral side, and not lose any favors. It wouldn't be good if that happened."
Wang Futang's father passed away at the very early stages of his life. It was Wang Futang and his wife who took up the responsibility of supporting his younger brother, Wang Guitang, who was just 7 years younger than him. They also took it upon themselves to build the younger brother's home when he settled down with his new wife.
Wang Futang looked ashamed when he heard his wife's words. He put down his tobacco pipe and pot, stood up, and walked out with his hands behind his back. "Alright, I'm going to take a walk in the field. It's almost freezing right now, so it's time to plan out some work."
The Li Wangzhuang Brigade was not too far from the county. Five miles southwest was the commune, and ten miles southwest was the county.
Ling Chengyan hurried along with the two children. Not to mention Xiao Xing, who was walking on her own, even Ling Chengyan couldn't walk very fast with the current condition of her body.
Fortunately, after a short while, they saw an ox cart carrying feces. The old driver was kind and invited the three of them to get on the cart.
At that point, she couldn't care less about the stench of the feces. After thanking him, she brought the two children onto the cart.
On the way, she chatted with the old driver and found out that he was from the Lin Lake Brigade, which was south of the commune. The Lin Lake Brigade was close to a large area of water and had fish and lotus ponds. Every year, they would clear out the silt and obtain a lot of mud. If their Brigade couldn't use it, they would sell it to other brigades. The old driver was on his way to deliver the mud.
After making their way through the commune, the old man let the three of them down after turning a corner.
Ling Chengyan sincerely thanked the old man and continued on her way with the two children.
Lady Luck was smiling down on them that day because after walking for a while, they managed to hitch a ride with a donkey cart owner all the way to the county.
As they were traveling along the road, they heard a rumbling sound from afar as soon as they entered the county borders. Ling Chengyan immediately pulled Xiao Xing into her arms, and the cart driver quickly steered the donkey to the side of the road to avoid the incoming vehicle.
As the rumbling sound got closer, a strange big green car came into view and sped past them, producing a cloud of dust behind its trail.
Ling Chengyan lowered her head and embraced Xiao Xing and Xiao Tian. The three of them covered their faces and waited for the dust to settle before raising their heads again.
The donkey cart driver coughed a few times. He looked at the tail of the strange vehicle and said, "Pfft, what's so great about driving a car!"
Ling Chengyan ignored the jealousy in the man's words, only remembering a new word, 'car.'
"Why weren't there any bulls or horses pulling that carriage?" she asked.
The man turned to look at her and suddenly smiled. "Is this your first time entering the city? That's called a car. It needs neither a bull nor horse. Instead, cars use oil. If you fill it up with oil and start it, you can run the vehicle all on your own..."
The man went to the factory of the foreign trade company. Ling Chengyan got out of the cart with the two children and followed the man's directions all the way to the county town.
In the town, there was not much difference between the whole place and the Great Chu in terms of the houses, firewood, earth stoves, cows, horses, and carriages.
Ling Chengyan's eyes widened upon seeing the sights in front of her. There were two-wheeled bicycles, huge cars that drank oil, and this era's 'Medical Center' which was called a hospital. What surprised Ling Chengyan even more was that there were women working in the fields, women on bicycles, and even many of the doctors in the hospital were women...
Here, women could study and work just like men. From what she knew, there were even women who joined the army.
However, these things were not to be mentioned for the time being and would be discussed later in the story.
When Ling Chengyan brought the two children to the hospital for a consultation, a kind-looking female pediatrician told her that the two children were obviously malnourished, especially Xiao Tian. Severe malnutrition had already affected his health, so he had to be supplemented with nutritions within the allocated time.
The female doctor gave him fish liver oil, calcium tablets, and glucose. More importantly, she gave Ling Chengyan a hospital certificate. With this certificate, she could go to the department store to buy one catty of milk powder without using a food ticket.
This was truly a pleasant surprise. Ling Chengyan held the hospital certificate and thanked the female doctor with all her heart.
The female doctor was disheartened to see the three of them in ragged clothes and asked, "Do you have enough money to buy medicine and milk powder?"
Ling Chengyan could hear the concern in the female doctor's voice and was taken aback for a moment. She then smiled and thanked her. "Thank you for your concern. I have money that I borrowed."
A look of admiration flashed in the female doctor's eyes. She stood up to send them out and whispered, "When the milk powder runs out, if you can't afford to buy more, come and find me again..."
Ling Chengyan once again thanked her for her unexpected kindness. "Thank you, Doctor Shen."
The female doctor's signature was at the bottom of the prescription: Shen Huiru.
"You can read? Did you go to school?" Shen Huiru was slightly surprised.
"I've studied for a few years, so I can make out a few words." Ling Chengyan replied with a smile.
Shen Huiru denied the suspicion that flashed in her heart. "You're talented in reading. The pharmacy will mark the dosage on the bag. You only have to give the child the medicine according to the instructions."
Ling Chengyan thanked Shen Huiru again before bidding farewell. She went to the pharmacy to receive the medicine and led the two children to the department store.
A department store was a relatively large grocery store that was related to the clothing, food, and housing of the people.
It was Xiao Xing's first time shopping in a department store, so her eyes were full of curiosity. Her head twisted left and right to look at the dazzling array of goods.
Ling Chengyan regained her composure being in this kind of place. Although there were some goods that the Great Chu didn't have, the exquisiteness and luxury of the goods were far inferior to that of the Great Chu. What was there to see?
After she entered, she glanced around and saw a sign on the counter: Clothing, stationery, and food.
Wang Lianxiang, her uncle Wang Futang, and Doctor Shen had all mentioned that they needed food stamps to buy milk powder.
Ling Chengyan strode over to the non-staple food counter and said to the saleswoman that was knitting to pass time, "I want to buy milk powder."
The saleswoman didn't look up as she said indifferently, "We're out of milk powder."
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