Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 430: Keep Your Promises

Yi Chichi carried the lunch to Ji Jian’s house and found that her place was indeed lively.

There were several sister-in-laws, both familiar and unfamiliar.

She wondered, "Why aren’t you all at work today?"

"Day off."

The one who answered was Zhou Fangfang, wife of a political commissar from the group, who worked at the seafood purchasing station, where the island had the largest secondary seafood market.

Zhou Fangfang’s task was to select premium seafood, pack them up and load onto the ship, then send them off the island.

The work wasn’t exactly easy, but it wasn’t too exhausting.

It’s just that being long associated with seafood, she got the fishy smell that couldn’t be washed away.

She glanced at Yi Chichi’s bowl, noticing there were vegetables, meat, and fish, and couldn’t help but express envy, "This must be your Old Wen paying extra for the kitchen staff to make a special meal for you."

Yi Chichi, "..."

The comment was hard to respond to, so she smiled and changed the topic, "What are you all doing?"

"Making clothes. Isn’t it getting cooler? Got to make some jackets for the kids."

Modern women are unlike those in the future, depending mostly on making do themselves rather than buying everything.

They make their own clothes, and also shoes and socks.

Focused on self-reliance to ensure adequate clothing and food.

Yi Chichi took a bite of her meal, glanced at the wife of the regiment commander of the third group, and noticed something was off about her fabric. Upon closer inspection, goodness, somehow she had sewn the sleeve into the chest area.

She voiced a reminder, "Sister-in-law Huang, you’ve sewn it in the wrong place."

Huang Xiuzhen exclaimed, and suspiciously unfolded the clothing to see, instantly feeling embarrassed as her cheeks turned red.

"I did sew it wrong."

Chatting too happily, the stitches ran off track while sewing.

Ending up on the front of the jacket.

She took her scissors to unpick the stitches, "What time did you come back yesterday?"

"The last ferry, got in around nine."

Yi Chichi replied, Ji Jian looked at her, "Your man, afraid to wake you, specifically told me to let you sleep till you naturally wake up when he went to work this morning."

It made sense.

After all, she had brought lipstick for Ji Jian, and Wen Shi was anxious about Ji Jian needing it in a hurry.

She smiled, "I’ll give you the lipstick after I finish eating."

The crowd, "???"

"You bought lipstick?"

They spoke in unison, looking surprised.

Ji Jian waved it off, "I didn’t buy it, it’s for my cousin."

"What color is it?"

"For that, you’d have to ask Chichi."

She only handled it by paying and getting the ticket, nothing beyond that.

As a result, Yi Chichi was met with curious gazes from everyone.

"Bright red."

There weren’t many colors of lipstick available back then, not mentioning any matte or glossy finishes like in the future.

Choices were few.

"Let’s have a look later."

"Sounds good."

For the rest of the time, Yi Chichi didn’t speak, and just focused on eating.

After she was full and satisfied, she took the bowl and chopsticks home to wash, then carried the items she had bought for Ji Jian and the others over.

"Here you go."

"Quick, let us see the color."

Women seldom don’t love beauty, and in times of scarce resources, their pursuit of beauty remains.

Otherwise, products like snow cream and duck egg powder wouldn’t be so popular.

Many young girls took pride in owning snow cream and duck egg powder.

Lipstick is considered a luxury, mainly because rarity drives value.

The department store often ran out of stock, and the clientele at Friendship Store was rather special, most people couldn’t enter, nor did they have foreign exchange coupons.

So, there weren’t many female comrades in the family area who had lipstick.

Now suddenly a lipstick appeared, naturally, it was worth a good look.

Encased in a small black metal tube, the lipstick looked incredibly high-quality.

Ji Jian admired it immensely, and upon twisting it open, the bright red stick appeared joyously vibrant and high-class.

She clicked her tongue, "No wonder my cousin wants a lipstick, even I’m tempted by such a nice color."

Zhou Fangfang laughed, "Then keep it for yourself."

Ji Jian sighed, "No way, I must do what I’ve promised."

Saying this, she looked to Yi Chichi, "How much was it?"

"6.8 yuan."

This price wasn’t cheap, worth several days of her husband’s allowance.

Madam Lin looked pained, "You really went all out."

For her, she wouldn’t be willing to buy such an expensive lipstick for her own sister.

Buying more meat to let the child eat better, wouldn’t that be more satisfying?

Ji Jian also felt the pinch, but there’s no use, she had promised.

Moreover, entering the Friendship Store requires not only money but also tickets.

She went inside, fetched some money and a ticket, and handed it to Yi Chichi, "Here, thanks for your hard work!"

Yi Chichi accepted the money, but returned the tickets, "It’s no big deal, Sister-in-law, no need to give the ticket, since it was a defective item, I didn’t use the ticket for it."

"But you still have to take it."

Ji Jian refused to accept the ticket return, "You got the defective one because you’re the master at the Friendship Store, I’m not the same, without you, I wouldn’t have this lipstick, you must take this ticket."

Her stance was too firm, and Yi Chichi couldn’t say much else. So she negotiated, "Then how about half a pound of meat tickets?"

"Deal!"

Foreign exchange coupons were harder to come by than meat tickets, Ji Jian had no reason to refuse.

This also made Madam Lei, who also had Yi Chichi help her with Coca-Cola, feel obligated to give tickets as well.

"Xiao Yi, how much for this Coke?"

"9 mao."

Yi Chichi didn’t hesitate, "Sister-in-law, you don’t need tickets for this one; just the money is fine."

Beibingyang soda was 1.5 mao, Coke was 4.5 mao, sold only at the Friendship Store, nowhere else.

It might only enter the market after the market reform.

Looking at the Coke in Madam Lei’s hand, Zhou Fangfang and the others curiously asked, "Why do you want something that tastes like bitter medicine?"

Madam Lei sighed, "It’s not me who wanted to buy, it’s my Hua Hua who heard about it from her cousin once and has been thinking about it ever since, pestering me every day."

The crowd, "..."

"Then your family must be pretty well off."

Without a certain foundation, no parent would willingly buy Coke for their child.

Madam Lei pouted, "My family isn’t well off, it’s my sister-in-law’s family that’s well off. My brother says it’s like marriage, but honestly, it’s no different from marrying into the wife’s family, Hua Hua’s cousin may have the same surname as me, but he’s raised by his maternal family."

There was a notable depth of resentment.

Fearing she might say something inappropriate, Yi Chichi immediately changed the subject, "Isn’t there a big tide tonight?"

"Yes, big tide."

Bringing up the big tide brought excitement to the group.

"Want to go clamming tonight?"

"Yes!"

In the pollution-free and resource-rich 1970s, seafood was cheap.

Yet regardless of the price, for sister-in-laws from inland areas, seafood was considered precious.

First, seafood is meat; second, sea harvests don’t have to be handed over to the collective.

Using it to improve living conditions was okay, and sending it back home as gifts added prestige.

Therefore, regardless of conditions, the sister-in-laws in the family quarters were all eager about clamming.

Yi Chichi was no exception. After dinner, she eagerly prepared her clamming gear and with a cheerfully excited look, invited Wen Shi enthusiastically.

"We’re going clamming, want to come?"

Wen Shi glanced at her unfinished clothes and her tapestry, thinking accompanying her to clam wasn’t bad either.

It’s just, "Are Old Li and the others going?"