Chapter 350 Lover
After the Little New Year, it is almost New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, Zhang Yunqi, urged by his father, drove to Longwan Town to go to the market and buy New Year's goods. Ji Ling, Zhang Chunlan and Xiao Xiao also went with him.

When we arrived in town, it was just getting light.

It is now the busiest time of the year at the Longwan Town market. Although it is still early, villagers from all over the country have already carried their own vegetables and other agricultural products and poultry to the market to sell. Some smart people sell the in-demand commodities from the southern coastal areas, which makes them more profitable than the villagers who sell vegetables.

There are many people going to the market at the end of the old year.

Farmers who can make every penny count, have worked hard for the crops for a whole year, and have saved the hard-earned money in their hands, waiting for this time to buy New Year goods and have a good New Year. Therefore, the market is particularly lively, and the noise of bargaining and scrambling for stalls can be heard from afar. Some rural cooks who can cook will set up a ground pot at the market and provide hot meals for the villagers who come to the market. Those farmers who come to the market will grit their teeth and buy a bowl of big pot dishes for 20 cents, and drink a dime of Lao Baigan. More people who save money will simply buy a bowl of boiled water for 10 cents and eat steamed buns with pickles.

In Zhang Yunqi's eyes, the historical context of rural development is clearly visible in this small market.

It was not until the Third Plenary Session of the 1978th Central Committee in 90 that people gradually began to open up their courage and try to go to the market to do some small business of their own agricultural and sideline products. After the s, the exchange of rural commodities was basically liberalized, and all kinds of strange, counterfeit and shoddy foreign goods began to flood the rural stalls.

A huge crowd of people, all kinds of living beings, and the hustle and bustle of the world.

At this time, the dirt road in the market was very congested and cars were driving slowly. People looked at this big guy with surprise in their eyes. Zhang Yunqi put Zhang's father and Chunlan down and asked them to find a place to have breakfast first. He drove to his alma mater, Longwan Town Middle School. He hadn't been here for many years. Looking at the dilapidated teaching building, the overgrown weeds, the mud basketball court, and the wooden ping-pong table, he still felt quite emotional.

Ji Ling came along and asked after getting off the car: "Is this where you went to junior high school?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and nodded: "Yes."

Ji Ling narrowed her eyes and looked around: "Are you here to reminisce about your first love in junior high school?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "I did have a crush on a girl when I was in junior high school, but if you think this is first love, then my first love will probably be old enough for my son to help with cooking in two years."

Ji Ling's eyes widened: "So exaggerated."

Zhang Yunqi laughed and said, "Graduating at the age of fifteen, working in another place for two years, bringing back a boy, and getting pregnant with another. Isn't this the fate of many rural girls these days?"

"Why do I hear regret in your words?"

"Of course I feel regretful, but this doesn't seem to have anything to do with love. I just feel that the other person's life shouldn't be like this. I've heard this saying: Why should we entrust the responsibility of choosing a lifelong partner to a young age when we don't even know how to do it? Why should we delay the appearance of mature vision in a wasteland that has already been harvested?"

"That's great, Mr. Zhang."

“That’s the power of knowledge.”

"Oh, you're drunk? I'm not drinking."

"Actually, what I want to express is that sometimes when I think of my old junior high school classmates, I feel how lucky I am because I am still receiving education, but what about them? The fate of most people is to run to the assembly lines in coastal cities to supply cheap labor before graduating from junior high school. I can even say that in the future, China will inevitably become the global manufacturing center, and Made-In-China will circulate around the world. However, the core driving force behind these great achievements is the one-way circulation of rural labor factors under the urban-rural dual structure. The countryside is transfusing blood to the city, and the countryside will only become more and more decadent."

"So what?" "On the basis of the household contract responsibility system, we need to transfer land on a large scale, increase agricultural production efficiency, and retain the young and middle-aged population. Of course, the key point of this issue lies in the equal exchange and two-way integration of urban capital, technology, talents and rural resource elements, so as to form a positive cycle of the entire supply chain. At least Yunxi Village and Longwan Town should do this."

"Can I tell you that I don't understand?"

"all right."

"But I listened carefully!" Ji Ling smiled with her eyes narrowed. In the sunny winter light, the girl's delicate face was particularly clear and bright. The wind blew, and her hair swayed in front of her forehead, making her so beautiful that it was frightening.

The two chatted and left the school together.

They found Zhang's father, Chunlan and Xiaoxiao in an open-air rice tofu shop.

After breakfast, they started buying New Year's goods, mainly chicken, duck, fish, meat, incense, paper, candles. Wine and gifts for the New Year were all brought from the city. Xiaoxiao also clamored to buy firecrackers.

When she lived in Yunxi Village, Xiaoxiao was always the most excited person every time she went to the market. Because for her, the market was a feast for the gluttons. She was so excited by all the delicious and fun things that she kept asking to buy them. Fruit hard candies, peach cakes, crystal cakes, big biscuits, sesame candies, etc. were all her favorites. Now that she has a small mouth, these things are no longer in her eyes, but she still has a special liking for firecrackers.

Zhang Yunqi bought her two large boxes of firecrackers, including baby's breath, throwing firecrackers, rubbing firecrackers, sky rockets, and colorful beads... The plump lady boss smiled so hard that she couldn't close her mouth. But Zhang's father said he had money but nowhere to spend it.

On the way back, they met an old man making old-fashioned rural popcorn. Ji Ling found it novel, and Zhang Yunqi paid for a pound of it.

The popcorn is freshly made.

The master poured corn kernels into the iron gourd, covered the pot, tightened the safety pin, and placed it in the matching old-fashioned stove. He kept turning the pressure iron pot with his hands to make it evenly heated. After 15 minutes, he took the iron pot out of the stove, put the prepared wooden stick on the iron pot's safety pin, stepped on the safety pin hard to open it, and with a "bang" sound, gunpowder smoke rose up, and at the same time, there was a sweet smell of popcorn.

Zhang Yunqi ate two handfuls. It was the taste of childhood, a taste that he would never go back to.

After returning home, Zhang Haijun's daughter and Ji Ling's cousin Zhang Xiaomei came to Zhang Yunqi and said that his junior high school classmates wanted to have a party in town tomorrow and asked him if he wanted to join.
Ji Ling was in high spirits and said yes! She wanted to go too.

But Zhang Yunqi said he didn't have time and refused directly.

99% of his junior high school classmates worked in other places after graduating from junior high school. After two years, they had some money in their pockets and wanted to maintain their friendship with their classmates, which was actually quite good. Who knows, a few rural love stories might happen. But he knew that he was not suitable to attend such a class reunion. Although most of his classmates didn't know how he was doing now, there were always a few who knew him, such as Zhang Xiaomei. So no matter how low-key he was, he would be seen as pretending in the eyes of his old classmates, which would make the atmosphere awkward. He didn't need such low-level spiritual enjoyment, so why bother?
Ji Ling asked him, "Why don't you go?"

Zhang Yunqi's excuse came out immediately: "I have to discuss work with the Yunxi Village Cooperative tomorrow, so I don't have time."

"We discuss work during the day, right? The party is at night."

"By the way, why are you so interested in my group of junior high school classmates?"

"No, I'm interested in your first love."

(End of this chapter)