"That’s right." Yan Dongjun smiled. "A friend invited us to spend a few days in the suburbs. He has a courtyard house out there, so Jifei and I are heading over today."
"Have fun," Su Qing said with a smile.
"Thanks."
The three of them chatted and laughed as Yan Dongjun drove Su Qing to the entrance of her hotel. Su Qing thanked them both and went inside.
Just as Yan Dongjun pulled the jeep away from the hotel, Song Jifei grinned at him and said, "Dongjun, I think that young lady is pretty great. Aren’t you going to consider her?"
"What are you talking about?" Yan Dongjun laughed. "I’ve only known her for two days."
"Oh, just two days? And you’re already so enthusiastic?" Song Jifei winked. "You even went out of your way to drive her back to her hotel."
Exasperated, Yan Dongjun gave Song Jifei a light punch. "What’s going through your head? Beize asked to look after the young lady. Besides, she’s only seventeen, and I’m twenty-four. That’s a big age gap. Don’t spout nonsense, you’ll ruin her reputation."
"What nonsense? It’s just the two of us here." Song Jifei raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Are you really not interested?"
"Of course not."
"In that case, I’m making my move," Song Jifei said with a smile.
Yan Dongjun didn’t get it at first. "Make what move?" he asked.
"You blockhead! I’m going to pursue her, of course. It was love at first sight with this Su Qing. I plan on making her my girlfriend." Song Jifei laughed. "I’m twenty-two, younger than you, so the age gap isn’t that big. I think we’re a good match."
After speaking, he clapped Yan Dongjun on the shoulder. "How about you play matchmaker for ? We could all have a al together soti?"
"Are you serious?" Yan Dongjun gave Song Jifei a look of disbelief. "Don’t you always say that the single life is supre? Your mom pesters you so much, but you refuse to go on blind dates. Plenty of girls like you, but you’ve never shown any interest. I thought you were planning to be a bachelor for life."
"Hah, that’s just because I hadn’t found anyone I liked." Song Jifei grinned. "You know . A guy as handso as naturally has high standards."
"Tch, you’re so narcissistic," Yan Dongjun chuckled.
"It’s a fact," Song Jifei said, raising an eyebrow.
Yan Dongjun shot him a playful glare. "Well, that depends on whether you and Su Qing are fated to be together."
"Exactly! That’s why I’m asking you to play matchmaker. If we’re not fated, I won’t force it. But what if we are? Right? It’s not every day I find a girl I like; I can’t just let the opportunity slip by. Since you’re not interested, I’ve got to give it a shot," Song Jifei said with a smile.
"Alright, then." Yan Dongjun thought for a mont. "As it happens, Su Qing bought a place in Beijing. Once she moves in, we can go congratulate her on the housewarming."
"Huh? She bought a house in Beijing?" Song Jifei was a little surprised.
Yan Dongjun smiled. "Yeah. Didn’t I tell you she was in Beijing to take care of so business? This was it—buying a house."
"What’s her family situation?" Song Jifei asked, curious.
"I don’t know either. I’ve only known her for two days," Yan Dongjun said, shaking his head with a smile.
Song Jifei nodded. "Fine. I don’t care about the rest. I like her for who she is. Just make sure you bring along when you go."
"Deal."
Back at the hotel, Su Qing put all her belongings into her space, then went downstairs to get sothing to eat.
Over the next two days, besides buying so other necessities, Su Qing made another trip to the Friendship Store. During her previous transaction with Zhang Erlai and his group, he had given her so Foreign Exchange Certificates. These certificates could only be used at the Friendship Store, so she planned to spend them all on this trip to Beijing.
In this era, the average person couldn’t even get into a Friendship Store. Not only did you need Foreign Exchange Certificates, but you also needed a passport, an overseas Chinese certificate, or proof of foreign employnt to enter.
Fortunately, there was Cheng Beize. The Cheng Family was based in Xiangcheng, and since they could travel to Beijing to conduct business, they naturally had certain privileges. When Beize learned that Su Qing had Foreign Exchange Certificates, he left her a docunt that would grant her free access to the Friendship Store.
And just as expected, with that docunt in hand, Su Qing successfully entered the Friendship Store.
The Friendship Store was completely different from other departnt stores and supply and marketing cooperatives. Or rather, the goods it sold were in a totally different league.
All sorts of scarce goods that were hard to get on the open market—like cashre sweaters, various ho appliances, imported watches, bicycles, and foreign liquors—were in abundant supply here. There were even all kinds of Western pastries and candies that Su Qing had never seen in the regular departnt stores.
The salesclerks’ attitude was also excellent, so much so that Su Qing felt a daze, as if she had returned to a later era.
After browsing the store for a while, Su Qing took a liking to a light beige cashre sweater. A salesclerk wrote up the slip, and just as she was about to tell Su Qing to go pay, a panicked, anxious voice suddenly cried out from nearby. "Grandma! Grandma, what’s wrong? Don’t scare !"
Startled by the sound, Su Qing quickly turned to look. A girl of about eighteen or nineteen was kneeling on the floor, calling out to an elderly woman who had collapsed. The girl’s voice trembled with fear as she frantically called out to the people around her for help. "Can anyone help ? Help save my grandma!"
"Hurry, get her to a hospital!" soone shouted.
"Oh no, her face doesn’t look right! Is anyone a doctor? Is there a doctor here?" In just that short ti, the elderly woman’s complexion had taken a noticeable turn for the worse. The surrounding crowd saw it too, but no one dared to touch her, afraid their ignorance would only aggravate her condition.
"Let take a look." At that mont, a middle-aged man stepped out from the crowd. He went forward and perford a quick examination of the old woman, his brow furrowing tightly.
"How is my grandma?" the girl asked anxiously.
"It’s not good." The middle-aged man’s frown deepened. He suspected the woman was having an acute heart attack, and it looked very serious. If they tried to take her to the hospital themselves, she might not make it halfway. But if they waited for an ambulance, she would likely be gone before it even arrived.
But he had nothing on hand. He couldn’t even perform first aid if he wanted to.
After a mont of thought, he shouted to a salesclerk, "Do you have any ginseng that’s fifty years old or older? If you do, could you cut off two slices for this lady to use?"
The only option now was to use ginseng to prolong her life. And it had to be old ginseng; anything younger would be useless and wouldn’t buy her enough ti to get to the hospital.
The salesclerk was stunned. The store did sell ginseng, but it was in pre-packaged gift boxes, and the roots were only about ten years old. If she broke open a gift box and used the ginseng without her manager’s permission... putting aside whether the age was sufficient, if her manager made her pay for it, how could she possibly afford it?
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