Chapter 61

Ye Qingshui also wanted to stroll around the capital’s department stores.

This was one of the most prosperous cities in the country, and the goods displayed in the malls were dazzling and abundant. Some brands were even sold nationwide — nothing like the backward, impoverished little county town.

Seeing the expectation in her eyes, Xie Tingyu took her to a department store.

He asked Ye Qingshui what she wanted to buy.

Ye Qingshui wanted to buy a watch, but she didn’t plan to tell him that. She only vaguely said, “Some clam oil. Winter is too dry, and Grandma’s and Mother’s hands are cracked. Your radio is almost out of power too, so we need to buy some batteries. Mm… I think Auntie is pregnant, so we should get some nutritional supplements to be prepared.”

“All for other people — what about you?” Xie Tingyu asked.

Me?

Ye Qingshui stammered, “I don’t really have anything to buy.”

What she wanted was too expensive — a bicycle cost over two hundred, a watch also around two hundred, and both needed ration tickets. She planned to try her luck at the black market to see if she could get tickets.

The black market here would certainly be livelier than the one in a small county town.

Xie Tingyu led her to buy snowflake cream. Standing in front of the clean glass counter, Ye Qingshui looked over everything. The clam oil and snowflake cream that were all the rage in the county town only took up a small corner here; most of the space was filled with century-old brands like “Kong Fengchun” and “Xie Fuchun,” as well as Palace Lantern brand, Meichi, Wanziqianhong, Dabo… an overwhelming variety.

Xie Tingyu chose the three most expensive boxes, had them packed, and paid.

They then browsed the nutrition section. This time, Ye Qingshui stopped him. “Just buy malted milk.”

Malted milk was a prized high-grade nutritional product, not often eaten even by city folk. But seeing how Xie Tingyu’s gaze skipped past the malted milk and landed directly on the milk powder, Ye Qingshui’s heart tightened.

Milk powder was a scarce item — if it were only expensive, she could still afford it — but it was also rationed and required tickets. Could it be that Xie Tingyu could even produce milk powder tickets?

“Malted milk doesn’t help with lactation. You can’t drink it after giving birth,” Xie Tingyu said after a pause.

“Is that really true?” Ye Qingshui asked.

Xie Tingyu nodded and explained, “Malted milk contains maltose, which is extracted from malt. Malt has the properties of reducing lactation and aiding digestion. In the past, traditional Chinese medicine often used it to stop milk.”

The shop assistant, overhearing this young couple’s serious discussion, couldn’t help smiling:

“Comrade, are you pregnant?” She glanced at Ye Qingshui’s belly. “Speaking of lactation, this male comrade is right — drinking malted milk really isn’t good. Why not buy some milk powder instead?”

It was rare to see such a good-looking young couple in the store, so the shop assistant’s tone was gentler and more caring than usual.

Ye Qingshui quickly shook her head, her face burning, and hurriedly bought three cans of malted milk to end the matter.

“I’m buying it for myself, for Grandma, and for Mother, alright?”

After a moment, she added, “Buying this now is never wrong. It’s enough as a nutritional supplement during pregnancy. After giving birth, it’s not too late to drink carp soup to stimulate milk. Thinking about lactation before the baby’s even born — you sure plan far ahead.”

Xie Tingyu thought: This is nothing; I can plan even further.

For instance, the warm milk powder ticket in his pocket — something he had gotten from his grandmother — which he intended to save for her and her child to get extra nutrition.

But Ye Qingshui didn’t notice the subtle look on his face. She was already holding the three heavy cans of malted milk, examining them closely.

The bright red “Double Happiness” cans really matched the festive New Year atmosphere. The label even bore the large characters “High-Grade Nutritional Drink.”

The malted milk lived up to its title — made from milk powder, wheat flour, and glucose, it was rich and fragrant, the best nutritional product of the time.

Since returning to the 1970s, Ye Qingshui had never tasted malted milk herself. When Xie Tingyu was recovering from illness, she had bought some for him as a supplement, but she hadn’t touched any herself.

Xie Tingyu remembered that too.

He quietly paid — the three cans cost a total of 12 yuan and 60 cents.

Ye Qingshui also bought five sets of Zhonghua-brand large batteries. For people like them who listened to the radio every day, a set of batteries would last only a month or two at most. These batteries were rarely sold in the county town, since few people bought them, and Xie Tingyu usually had to ask someone in the capital to send them.

After buying the batteries, Xie Tingyu asked curiously as they walked, “If Auntie’s pregnant, why hasn’t she told us?”

“How do you know she’s pregnant?”

Ye Qingshui thought that while Xie Tingyu could be attentive in some ways, in matters like this, without experience, he was still just a clueless young man.

“In the countryside, you can’t talk about it in the first month. Forget telling us — Uncle probably doesn’t even know yet. As for how I know…”

Ye Qingshui became a bit hesitant.

She herself had been pregnant before. One look at Aunt Xiao He’s cautious expression these days and she understood. Aunt had become delicate — in the dead of winter she wouldn’t easily wash clothes, leaving them for Uncle to wash instead. When it came time to paste couplets at home, which required climbing up and down, she stayed away.

Thinking of this, Ye Qingshui remembered that many years ago, she hadn’t been as sensible as Aunt — doing farm work until she was so tired she couldn’t straighten her back, and thinking she was just being weak.

“I’m this smart — of course I figured it out by observing.”

Xie Tingyu didn’t really get it at first, but soon he also recalled the scene of Aunt not daring to climb up or down.

He couldn’t help but feel envious. “Uncle sure works fast.”

Uncle Ye had gotten married more than half a year later than he had, and in the blink of an eye, there was already a baby on the way. Now even how to supplement the wife’s nutrition during pregnancy was a topic they were discussing — for some reason, Xie Tingyu’s mood grew a little complicated at that moment.

He glanced at the counter and said, “I have milk powder tickets. Let’s bring some milk powder back for her.”

Ye Qingshui had already given up on buying milk powder.

But Xie Tingyu took out the tickets and bought a bag of milk powder in plastic packaging — three yuan and five cents per bag. It was produced in Inner Mongolia, and when mixed, it had a rich, creamy aroma and a sweet taste. In her previous life, Ye Qingshui had only been able to afford milk powder after she started working in the city.

Its thick, rich taste might be too much for people in later generations, but Ye Qingshui had remembered it for a long time.

“One bag for Shui’er, one bag for Aunt,” Xie Tingyu said, carefully checking the ingredient list on the packaging.

Ye Qingshui couldn’t refuse, so she accepted vaguely, but in her heart, she had already decided to buy something else later to make it up to him.

After buying their things, Xie Tingyu naturally rested his hand on her shoulder and led her out of the department store, soon arriving at a tailor’s shop.

“Make her two pieces of clothing,” Xie Tingyu said, putting down everything he was holding. Sitting in an old rattan chair, he leisurely looked over Ye Qingshui.

After an autumn had passed, the skinny melon-seed-shaped face of the little girl had turned into an oval one, and she had grown a little taller. The worn cotton-padded jacket she wore no longer fit quite right. The faint morning light fell on her face, making each fine hair stand out clearly.

The old clothes didn’t really look shabby on her. Instead, they brought out a kind of unpolished-jade quality — simple and translucent in beauty.

He wanted to pick it up, gently wipe it clean, blow away the dust that covered it, and let more people see its unadorned beauty.

“What did you bring me here for?”

Ye Qingshui tugged at the corner of Xie Tingyu’s jacket. “I can make clothes myself.”

“Oh, the master must have misunderstood. I’m the one getting clothes made.”

With that, Xie Tingyu openly let the tailor measure his chest, waist, and hips.

The old tailor adjusted his thick reading glasses and smiled. “Tingyu’s grown taller and sturdier.”

Ye Qingshui, after being measured all over without really understanding why, felt strangely bewildered. But soon, Xie Tingyu was done with his measurements, and they left the tailor’s together.

Walking through the long alley of the old hutong, Xie Tingyu said with a cheerful smile, “Don’t look down on this little shop — its tailor used to be a master from Rui Fu Xiang. Everyone in our courtyard loves coming here to make clothes.”

“Shui’er, you don’t have to save money for me.”

Ye Qingshui glanced at her own clothing, which indeed looked out of place among the people from the compound. She could only say that now she understood the gap between herself and Xie Tingyu better, and she no longer felt troubled by it.

She said, “If you want new clothes, you can tell me — I’ll make them for you.”

“My skills may not be as good as that master’s, but I think they’re still pretty decent.”

Hearing this, Xie Tingyu thought to himself that he’d miscalculated.

“Ahem, Shui’er… actually, I am missing a set of clothes. When we get back, take my measurements.”

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