CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: SHE SAT IN HIS ARMS

This scarf is delicate and smooth, with bright colors, clearly a good product at first glance.

The salesperson’s name was Chen Shuying. She only glimpsed a corner of the scarf and was already enamored, holding it eagerly in her hand and greeting Xu Qinghuan with a smile, "Wait a moment, we have some more in the warehouse. Let me get them for you to choose from."

"Thank you, big sister!" Xu Qinghuan smiled sweetly, her expression like a blooming flower, making Chen Shuying want to present the best stamps for her to choose.

Actually, Xu Qinghuan wasn’t particularly keen on stamp collecting. She just knew that several stamps became especially popular later on, among them the "All Mountains and Rivers Red" known as the "Large Red" sold at auction for a sky-high price of 7.3025 million yuan.

Additionally, the 1980 Monkey Stamp, a complete set of 80 sold for a high price of 1.2 million yuan.

Since she had the chance, Xu Qinghuan certainly didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Chen Shuying brought over the stamps, which included the "Large Red" and "Small Red"; Xu Qinghuan didn’t skip either, and at the end, there were even two sets of the "Blue Military Post," stamps issued in 1953 that had also been dug out.

Of course, Xu Qinghuan wouldn’t miss these.

The "Large Red" stamp had not officially been issued due to an error on the map version; its rarity gave it value, hence its astronomical auction price.

The "Small Red" stamp was designed to solve the map error in the "Large Red" stamp; only 1.2 million were issued, with few surviving in later generations, giving them high collectible value.

The "Blue Military Post" was a stamp issued to the military.

In short, these three sets of stamps held significant positions in the philatelic world of later years.

The Monkey Stamp hadn’t surfaced yet, so Xu Qinghuan bought all three types, spending 25 yuan and 87 cents.

Xu Qinghuan also bought two stamps for mailing letters, checking the date, today was Lin Xiaolan’s day off, so she should be at home. Xu called the Lin Family.

It was indeed Lin Xiaolan who answered, and she was quite happy to hear Xu Qinghuan’s voice, "Huanhuan, how are things over there?"

"Pretty good, I just mailed a letter to you, keep an eye out for it." Xu Qinghuan briefly mentioned the situation there and was about to hang up when Lin Xiaolan quickly said, "Wait, something happened with the Jiang Family!"

"What happened?" Xu Qinghuan had anticipated something, but not that the Jiang Family would get into trouble so quickly.

Lin Xiaolan explained that someone had reported the Jiang Family, "Initially, Xu Manman was going to marry Jiang Chengxu, but now things have changed, and they might not be able to get married. They have to go to the countryside."

"Oh, then let them go to the countryside, there are so many people being sent down, it’s not just those two."

Seeing that Xu Qinghuan was indeed not concerned, Lin Xiaolan sighed in relief, "Once I get my salary this month, I’ll send you guys some money!"

Monthly salaries are issued on the first of the next month, and it’s not far from the end of the month.

Xu Qinghuan laughed, "I’m just kidding, I don’t really need you to send us money, please don’t, I have enough to spend."

As for Qiao Xinyu, her parents would certainly provide for her needs.

But Lin Xiaolan insisted, "I don’t care, I’m definitely sending money to you two."

Xu Qinghuan couldn’t refuse her, thinking if she really sent it, she would just save it up and return it to her later as a tidy sum.

Phone calls were too expensive, and they charged both ways, so they kept it brief and hung up, deciding to write letters to communicate further.

After that, Xu Qinghuan went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy goods, rice, flour, oil, a covered enamel bowl to store food, a chopping board and knife, oil, salt, sauces, and vinegar; since she had money and coupons, she bought everything she needed.

She bought ten pounds of rice and ten pounds of flour; in rural areas, each person only got two ounces of oil coupons a month, and Xu Qinghuan had some coupons saved, so she temporarily bought a pound of oil.

Mainly because her space still had about twenty jugs of oil, each holding 5L, which she got as work benefits in her previous life, didn’t use, and feared they might expire, so she tossed them into her space.

She didn’t expect to use them in a time like this.

She bought a pound of oil to use as an initial supply, adding a little from her stash here and there, and would buy again when it became unavoidable.

Xu Qinghuan went to buy meat at the butcher, but only scraps and lean meat were left, along with offal that was troublesome to clean, so she, avoiding trouble, just bought some bones and loin meat.

When she went to take the ox cart, Jiang Xingye was surprisingly there too.

The team’s cowherd, an ex-soldier named Dong Gensheng, had an injured leg, making him unfit for heavy labor but allowed to keep a cow and a few sheep.

Usually, the team took the ox cart to the commune, each trip costing three cents one way.

So Jiang Xingye generally wouldn’t drive the tractor when the ox cart was running.

Xu Qinghuan paid the three cents and sat next to Jiang Xingye. A faint fragrance arrived, leading Jiang Xingye to subtly shift away, bumping into Dong Gensheng.

Soon the ox cart was full. Beside Xu Qinghuan now sat Qiu Linghua, who kept inching toward her, saying, "Comrade Xu, what brings you to the commune again? Isn’t today not a workday? Did your family give you a lot of money and coupons? What did you buy?"

As she spoke, she reached to rummage through Xu Qinghuan’s basket.

She pressed the lid down, "You didn’t work either, and you haven’t starved, so why care about what I buy!"

Qiu Linghua wasn’t pleased, this new educated youth seemed quite stubborn, even daring to turn against her.

In Qiu Linghua’s eyes, in the Shangjiang Team, this was their turf, so even if the educated youths were formidable, they still had to behave.

And indeed, that’s what the educated youths did, rarely clashing with local members, while also forming a group of their own.

"Do you even know how to speak, talking doom and gloom? Who are you cursing?" Qiu Linghua retorted while trying to push Xu Qinghuan.

Seeing her filthy hands, Xu Qinghuan almost shrieked in terror, instinctively moving closer to Jiang Xingye.

Jiang Xingye tried to keep his distance as well but was almost about to fall off the cart.

"Don’t touch me, you’re filthy, keep your hands off!" Xu Qinghuan was almost in tears, because kicking Qiu Linghua off the cart would risk hurting others.

Others noticed Qiu Linghua’s hands, but weren’t surprised, since she was known for being lazy and greedy, and such people weren’t exactly clean?

Looking at her dirty fingers, nails long and full of black grime, with her hand back covered in thick dirt and her worn-out clothes glazed around the cuffs.

Xu Qinghuan caught a whiff of something foul.

Jiang Xingye opened his arms, and Xu Qinghuan nestled right into his embrace, her back tightly against his chest, the fragrance enveloping him, making Jiang Xingye tense like a block of wood.

Did she think he was dead?

Did she realize she was practically sitting in his lap?

Seeing Xu Qinghuan about to climb onto his lap, Bing unable to tolerate it anymore, Jiang Xingye swatted Qiu Linghua’s hand away, which made her yelp.

"If you don’t want to ride, get off!" Jiang Xingye yelled.

Qiu Linghua was indignant, "Xingye, why are you siding with an outsider? Is it because Comrade Xu is pretty?"

After saying that, she gave a sly grin.