Moving to the tobacco and alcohol counter, she happened to have a few more ration tickets for tobacco and alcohol. Mother Lin must have considered that she would need to get on good terms with the locals when she went down to the countryside, so she had prepared a few for her.
Xu Qinghuan simply bought a few packs of cigarettes across the high, medium, and low grades. Phoenix, Great Front Gate, and Warrior were the most popular cigarettes of this era. Phoenix cost sixty-two cents a pack, Great Front Gate thirty-five cents a pack, and Warrior thirteen cents a pack.
Production brand cost eight cents a pack—too cheap. Xu Qinghuan felt it was too shabby to give away.
Maotai liquor cost eight yuan a bottle. Xu Qinghuan had heard it had good collectible value, so she bought two bottles. This item was rationed, and it was only with Wang Juan's help pulling strings that she managed to get two; otherwise, she would have only been able to buy one.
Brown sugar, white sugar, milk powder, and malted milk extract—she bought as many as her tickets allowed, clearing them all out. She also bought canned food, yellow peaches and lychees. These were her favorites, so she bought two cans of each.
The second floor sold clothes, shoes, and socks. Xu Qinghuan's fabric tickets were basically untouched, so she bought two dresses, two shirts, two pairs of pants, and two pairs of shoes, one of which was a pair of Liberation shoes.
Once her fabric tickets were spent, she could only look.
Having bought so many things, Xu Qinghuan spent one hundred and fifty yuan and thirty-five cents.
She had eight hundred and seven yuan and thirty-four cents left in her hand. No matter the era, money was never enough.
Xu Qinghuan stopped buying. Her tote bag was full again, and anything more wouldn't fit, so she stopped.
Wang Juan saw her to the door, hesitating to speak.
Xu Qinghuan said, "Sister Wang, I need to come by again tomorrow to see if I missed anything, and by the way, I'll bring you the medicine."
Wang Juan fished out fifty yuan from her pocket. "I'm so sorry, I only brought this much. You helped me out so much, I should thank you properly. I will never forget your kindness."
Xu Qinghuan refused to take it. "The three doses of medicine cost thirty yuan in total. You can pay me tomorrow when I bring you the medicine. There's no rush."
Thirty yuan was no small sum, but one of the main ingredients would use medicinal herbs from her Space, and its value was immeasurable. Not only did it have nourishing properties for the mother, but it could also ensure the early development of the fetus.
Carrying her bags in both hands, Xu Qinghuan walked down two streets before finding an empty alley. She put all her purchases straight into the Space.
Not very familiar with the neighborhood, Xu Qinghuan asked for directions to find the state-run pharmacy. She bought the herbs she needed and came out with three packages.
If the medicinal herbs spent a night in the Space, they would absorb a certain amount of spiritual energy, which would be immensely beneficial to the patient.
This was her reason for charging thirty yuan.
The storefront next to the first floor of Yong'an Department Store was a tailor shop, and next to that was a place that fluffed cotton and made quilts. Xu Qinghuan dropped off the cotton and fabric to have a winter outfit made, along with a ten-jin cotton quilt and a five-jin cotton quilt.
She arranged to pick them up in two days.
After a whole day of running around, she returned to the Xu family home just as the sky was turning dark. The Xu family hadn't eaten yet; Wang Mingxia was cooking in the kitchen, and Xu Manman was sitting on the sofa shedding tears. Seeing Xu Qinghuan return, she hurriedly stood up and called out piteously, "Sister, sob, sob, I'm sorry!"
Xu Qinghuan paused for a second and asked calmly, "What's the matter?"
Xu Manman brandished the watch with the smashed crystal. "Sister, I'm sorry. I said I wanted to see what the watch looked like, and Brother Chengxu gave me your engagement token, but I didn't take good care of it and accidentally dropped and broke it."
"Broken is broken. Anyway, this engagement token was given to Huanhuan. As long as Huanhuan doesn't mind, how big of a deal can it be?" said Eldest Brother Xu Hongwei.
Xu Manman opened her eyes wide and looked at Xu Qinghuan. "Really, Sister? You won't blame me, will you?"
Although Second Brother Xu Hongye didn't say anything, he stared straight at Xu Qinghuan, as if he wouldn't let the matter rest the moment she nodded.
"This watch is no longer mine. Who he gave it to, and whether it broke or not, has nothing to do with me," Xu Qinghuan said indifferently.
Wang Mingxia came out carrying a dish. She had known the ins and outs of the matter all along and smiled. "There's nothing sisters can't discuss. I told you your sister wouldn't care about this. You have no idea—just now when Manman came back, she cried her eyes out, scared to death. Honestly, what a small thing!"
Xu Manman stamped her foot. "Mom, you don't understand. Brother Chengxu might not say anything, but if his mother finds out, she certainly won't let it go. What should I do? I promised Brother Chengxu I would compensate him with a watch."
This reminded Xu Qinghuan. She had dozens of watches in her Space—any one of which could sell for a million in later generations—but she couldn't take out a single one right now. She would still have to go buy a watch tomorrow.
She remembered she still had a nationwide watch ration ticket, which she could put to good use.
It felt as though the Lin family had emptied out their family savings amassed over many years just for her.
Wang Mingxia's expression changed completely. "Where would the family find the money and tickets to buy a watch as compensation for someone else? This isn't a matter of two or three coins!"
Xu Manman cried, "Mom, I didn't want this either, but what can we do now? This is the engagement token between Sister and Brother Chengxu!"
Wang Mingxia looked at Xu Qinghuan. "Huanhuan, what do you think we should do?"
Xu Qinghuan had already sat down and started eating. Boiled napa cabbage, braised potatoes with eggplant, and corn flatbreads—it was practically a weight-loss meal from later generations. She ate until her neck craned, gulped down a mouthful of water to get it down, and finally caught her breath.
"Second Aunt, this watch is something I returned to Jiang Chengxu. Since he gave it to our cousin, it's the cousin's affair. Even if you ask me, I have no right to dispose of this matter." Xu Qinghuan did not miss the flash of joy that crossed Xu Manman's face.
Xu Manman pursed her lips, stamped her foot again coyly, and said, "Oh, Sister, I only took it to look at it, I didn't mean to break it!"
Xu Qinghuan let out a sneer and couldn't be bothered to speak further.
As long as she could extricate herself, she didn't care who jumped into that fire pit.
Wang Mingxia's eyes lit up. "Huanhuan, are you saying you brought up calling off the engagement with Jiang Chengxu? This is a lifelong matter, you must think it through!"
Terrified that Xu Qinghuan might change her mind, Xu Manman hurriedly said, "Mom, why must you pressure Sister? If Sister hadn't thought it through, would she have given the watch back to Brother Chengxu in the first place? The watch is broken now anyway, so Sister probably didn't want it anymore."
"Yeah, I don't want it!" Xu Qinghuan didn't even raise her head.
Xu Manman didn't want it either. If she were to get engaged to Jiang Chengxu, she certainly wouldn't want a watch that Xu Qinghuan had worn. But for now, she couldn't return the watch either, and could only make do with it temporarily.
After finishing her meal, Xu Qinghuan returned to her room and began sorting through her clothes. Her winter cotton-padded jacket was especially thin, and the sleeves were too short as well—unless she lengthened them before wearing them. Her other two sets of clothes, including the ones she was wearing, were also a bit short.
Xu Qinghuan didn't have sewing skills, let alone tailoring abilities; she could only figure something out after she went to the Northeast.
It was July now. What she laid under herself was a straw mat. In the wardrobe, there was a set of winter cotton mattress pads and a coverlet, which together weighed only about five or six jin. Still, it was enough. She planned to use these two old, hard mattress pads and coverlets to line the kang when she went to the Northeast, and use the newly made ten-jin cotton quilt as a coverlet—that would surely be nice and warm.
Now her preparations were basically complete, except for buying a watch tomorrow.
The rest involved calling off the engagement, tying up any loose ends, and setting off for the Northeast in three days.