Phoenix brand bicycle

Zhao Dongchuan walked along the streets of Mijia Town, found a guesthouse, took out the letter of introduction from the village, and paid to reserve a bed for Sun Shaoan.

He remembered this plot: Sun Shaoan, overwhelmed with worry for the plowing ox, hadn't registered for a bed and almost had to spend the night outside. Fortunately, a kind Henan boss of a blacksmith shop took him in, and he slept by the stove for a night.

Since he knew this, he certainly couldn't make the same mistake. If there was a bed to sleep in, why sleep on a hard board?

When he had finished registering and returned to the Veterinary Station, Sun Shaoan had just finished giving medicine to the ox with the people from the Veterinary Station. He was now sitting beside the plowing ox, a look of exhaustion on his face.

"Dongchuan, where did you go? We just gave the ox medicine, and you didn't even come to help," Shaoan said with a hint of blame.

"Brother Shaoan, I heard from the people at the Veterinary Station that the ox needs another dose of medicine at midnight. Since the ox is sick, it's not good to move it back and forth, so I figured you'd definitely have to stay here."

"So, I took the liberty of registering a bed for you at the guesthouse in town. That way you'll have a place to sleep tonight," Zhao Dongchuan said, handing Sun Shaoan a receipt.

Sun Shaoan took the receipt and looked at it, a warm current rising in his heart. Just as he cared for the plowing ox, Zhao Dongchuan was also caring for him. He suddenly felt a little ashamed. After all, he was a few years older than Zhao Dongchuan, yet he hadn't thought things through as thoroughly as him, and had even misunderstood him.

"Dongchuan, thank you. I was wrong to blame you just now."

"It's nothing. You're also swamped with work and can't spare the time to think about these things."

"Brother Shaoan, then I'm off to the county town. I'll leave the ox from the team to your hard work," Zhao Dongchuan said, waving his hand and bidding farewell to Sun Shaoan.

Watching Zhao Dongchuan's departing back, Sun Shaoan suddenly felt a bit unfamiliar with Zhao Dongchan. Since a while ago, Zhao Dongchuan had changed like a different person, becoming mature and steady in his words and actions, and even becoming an expert at work.

Especially today's incident made him feel a touch of gratitude towards this young man who was a few years younger than him.

From the age of thirteen, he had been struggling to support his "broken" family, which was on the verge of collapse, trying to maintain it. He had borne too much. In front of outsiders, he always appeared strong, but in reality, he was just a young man in his twenties.

Zhao Dongchuan had already left the Veterinary Station and arrived at the bus station in Mijia Town, waiting for the public bus to Yuanxi County.

Although Mijia Town belonged to an outside county, it was a large town in the old society. When people around Shuangshui Village needed to buy important things, if Shigangjie didn't have them, they wouldn't go to their Yuanxi County town, but rather to Mijia Town in the outside county to purchase them. Mijia Town was not only close, but its supply of goods was also more complete than their county town—not only did it have goods from their own province, but also goods from Beijing and Tianjin.

Mijia Town was at its busiest at this time, with many people coming and going. They brought goods from all over the country. As for whether all of them were sent to state-run stores, that was unclear. Private enterprise policies were not allowed, but strong demand inevitably led to the emergence of "black markets."

Zhao Dongchuan certainly wanted to make money; only with money could he improve his living conditions. However, the current environment was not suitable. Once caught, he would be sent to the Commune's agricultural infrastructure construction site for re-education through labor. He still needed to ponder this matter.

After waiting for about half an hour, the bus arrived. Zhao Dongchuan bought a ticket and got on the bus heading to Yuanxi County. There were old and young people on the bus, many acquaintances chatting as if no one else was around. The bus was not quiet. Zhao Dongchuan simply closed his eyes to rest, not engaging in conversation.

Upon arriving in Yuanxi County, Zhao Dongchuan headed straight for the Post Office. Fortunately, the actual scope of the county town at that time was not large, unlike in later generations, so he quickly reached the Post Office. He presented his pick-up slip, and the staff handed him a package.

Zhao Dongchuan slung the package over his back and walked towards the Department Store in the county. He had wandered around the county when he came to mail a letter and submit a manuscript, so he had some impression. Soon, Zhao Dongchuan arrived at the Department Store's Second Branch. There weren't many people at this time; most people in the county were still at work, and only some villagers from surrounding Communes would come to buy kerosene, matches, and other daily necessities.

He entered the store and looked around the counter, but did not see any bicycles. No one paid attention to him at this time. Salespeople at this time had "iron rice bowls," and their service attitude was "hard to describe."

He found a young female salesperson and asked, "Hello, I'd like to look at bicycles. Can you show me?"

"You want to look at bicycles? Do you have money? If you don't have money to buy, I won't show you," the young female salesperson said with a look of disdain, her voice unconsciously getting louder. She felt that Zhao Dongchuan's appearance and attire did not suggest he could afford a bicycle.

"Xiaofang, what's wrong?" Presumably, hearing the noise, a middle-aged man walked out of the office inside.

"Director Hou, this person wants to look at bicycles," the salesperson, referred to as "Xiaofang," said with a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Hello, I want to buy a bicycle. Do you have any in the store?" Zhao Dongchuan ignored the salesperson's sarcasm, completely disregarding her, and spoke directly to Director Hou.

Director Hou felt that this person's speech was not like that of an uneducated farmer; he spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, his gaze was direct, and his accent did not sound local.

"Yes, we do. Follow me, and I'll show you," he said, walking into the inner room where there were large items like sewing machines and radios, and a few bicycles next to them.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Director Hou asked abruptly as he walked.

"That's right, I'm an educated youth who responded to Chairman Mao's call to settle in our Yuanxi County."

"Oh, no wonder. I noticed your accent isn't local," Director Hou said with an expression that showed he had already guessed.

"This is a men's Phoenix brand, just arrived last month, priced at 150 yuan per bicycle. Oh, do you have a bicycle ticket?" Director Hou asked Zhao Dongchuan.

"Yes, I have them all ready," Zhao Dongchuan said with a smile.

"Alright," Director Hou said, then called out to the outer room, "Xiaofang, tell Jin Guangming to come and handle this."

"Okay, Director Hou," Xiaofang probably guessed that she had underestimated him and felt a bit embarrassed to face Zhao Dongchuan, so she didn't come in.

"Director Hou," a middle-aged man walked in a moment later, greeting him while sizing up Zhao Dongchuan.

"You're... Xiao Zhao?" Jin Guangming looked at the somewhat familiar Zhao Dongchuan with a hint of confusion.

Jin Guangming had some impression of this educated youth from the village. He had happened to see Zhao Dongchuan in Shuangshui Village when he was assigned there.

"Uh, and you are?" Zhao Dongchuan was also a little curious.

"I'm also from Shuangshui Village. My name is Jin Guangming. I've seen you before; you're an educated youth from our village."