Chapter 73
◎Xuehuatang Pearl Cream◎
Tangtang’s university life began just like that. In about two weeks, she had basically adapted to life in the big city.
Tangtang was studying chemistry. They were mainly taking basic courses now. She really loved the feeling of being in university. She didn’t have to repeatedly verify the standard answer for a single question like in high school. The professor would tell them in class that “there are no forbidden areas in academics,” allowing them to comment on and discuss different opinions—this was freedom under a structured academic framework, and it was also the first time Tangtang had touched the diversity and vastness of knowledge.
Besides studying, there were also many very interesting extracurricular activities in the university. The school would show movies in the lecture hall or on the open-air playground every Saturday night. Besides Madame Curie, there were also some unbanned foreign films like Lenin in October and The Million Pound Bank Note. There were also academic lectures and literary club activities, all of which were very worthwhile to attend.
In terms of living, the school would give them a subsidy of twelve yuan a month and thirty catties of grain coupons. Her parents would each send her and her brother thirty yuan for living expenses every month. This amount of money was enough to cover her daily expenses in university. Tangtang’s material desires were not high. Besides eating, buying some simple daily necessities, and some books, she had no other expenses.
The dormitory relationship was also quite harmonious. The school had lecture halls, and it was easy to not hear the teacher’s lecture if you sat in the back. Every time someone from their dormitory arrived first, they would use their schoolbag to save a seat for the others. If it rained, the people in the dormitory would also help the others to bring their clothes in.
After a class of higher mathematics on this day, Tangtang and a few of her roommates had arranged to go to the canteen for dinner. The food at their school’s canteen was very good, large in quantity and affordable. There were many varieties of staple foods, including steamed buns, flower rolls, noodles, cornbread buns, and pancakes.
Steamed buns were five cents, flower rolls were seven cents, noodles were ten cents, cornbread buns were three cents, and pancakes were five cents. The texture was particularly solid. As for the dishes, they were also quite cheap. The red and shiny braised pork was thirty cents a portion, and the pork stew with vermicelli was twenty cents a portion. A vegetarian dish like stir-fried white radish slices was only ten cents a portion, even cheaper than Tangtang’s high school canteen. The dishes were stir-fried in a large iron pot and were very flavorful, with a good color, aroma, and taste. The canteen provided free soup every day, sometimes seaweed and egg drop soup, and sometimes winter melon and mung bean soup.
Tangtang ordered a portion of cherry pork and a portion of stir-fried shredded potatoes, and also bought a white flour steamed bun. The soup provided by the canteen today was kelp and radish soup. After a morning of classes, everyone was already so hungry their chests were sticking to their backs. After buying their food, no one bothered to talk. They just buried their heads and ate.
“The living allowance for this month has been issued. There are no classes in the afternoon. Let’s go to the department store and see what new things there are,” Chen Xiaohui suggested.
Hearing the words “department store,” Dong Shuqing’s eyes lit up. “Alright, alright.”
Tangtang also thought it was a good idea. She had never been to the department store in the capital.
Liang Cuixia and Pan Yanmei were not very interested in going shopping with the three young girls. Li Ping still had classes in the afternoon, so Tangtang, Chen Xiaohui, and Dong Shuqing went out together.
Capital University was not far from the department store. It was seven bus stops from the school gate. The department store was a typical Soviet-style building. There was a red five-star above the door beam, and the left and right sides were symmetrical. The layout was regular, with the middle being high and the two sides being low. The main building was tall, and the corridors were wide and extended. It was also a three-part structure. The entire department store was composed of three parts: the eaves, the wall, and the plinth, with a strict sense of order and balance.
You could buy most of the current popular goods in the department store. The building had a total of three floors, mainly divided into four areas: daily necessities, clothing, shoes and hats, food and non-staple food, and cultural supplies.
In the daily necessities area, you could not only buy enamel basins and cups, aluminum pots and thermoses, but also skin care products like scented powder, soap, and vanishing cream.
The clothing, shoes, and hats area mainly sold ready-made clothes made of cotton and polyester, all in fashionable styles, mainly in blue, gray, and black.
In the food and non-staple food area, you could buy candy, pastries, and canned fruit.
As for the cultural supplies area, it was the fountain pens, notebooks, and abacuses commonly used by students and workers.
There was a shop next to Capital University. They usually didn’t come here often. The dazzling array of goods was almost dizzying. Tangtang looked for a while and found that the words “Xuehuatang” were printed on the face cream and vanishing cream.
“Xuehuatang?”
“Xuehuatang?” Chen Xiaohui’s gaze fell on the bottles and jars in the glass case. She kindly explained to her, “This Xuehuatang is very famous! It was founded in the 1930s. The skin care products launched at that time were very popular all over the country. Not only in the capital, but also in Hong Kong and foreign countries, it was very famous. I heard that Xuehuatang’s face cream and vanishing cream have a particularly good moisturizing effect, and many people love to use them. You people from small, rural places have probably never heard of it.”
After saying that, Chen Xiaohui looked at the two country bumpkin roommates in front of her and couldn’t help but curl her lip in disdain.
In fact, Chen Xiaohui had also heard this explanation from her high school classmates.
As she spoke, Chen Xiaohui remembered something and quickly said, “I heard that Xuehuatang has something called pearl cream. Can you show it to me?”
Hearing her words, the salesclerk took out a small glass bottle of pearl cream from the shelf and handed it to her. The red bottle cap was printed with a golden phoenix, which was unique and elegant. The white glass bottle underneath was used to hold the pearl cream. The milky white, smooth cream could be seen inside. It was estimated that it would spread easily on the hand. Unlike some face creams, which you had to rub for a long time to spread, you could smell a very light and elegant fragrance of magnolia.
After Chen Xiaohui finished looking, Tangtang and Dong Shuqing also took it to look, their eyes wide. They had never even heard of Xuehuatang, let alone this pearl cream. They had really learned something today.
“How much is this?”
The salesclerk said, “Three yuan a bottle.”
Chen Xiaohui was a little hesitant. Three yuan was not a small amount for a university student like her. “Do you need a coupon?”
“You need an industrial coupon.”
Hearing this, the light in Chen Xiaohui’s eyes instantly went out. Tangtang said, “Why don’t we look at other face creams? I think this one in the blue iron box is not bad…”
“Forget it.” Chen Xiaohui was not interested.
Not long after returning from the department store, on this afternoon, Tangtang was studying in the classroom when she heard that someone was looking for her. She went downstairs and saw the person, both surprised and happy.
“Brother Juesheng!” Tangtang looked at Su Juesheng, who was a head taller than her. The brother and sister hadn’t seen each other for a while. Her eyes sparkled. “You’re from the army? Why didn’t you write to me in advance to let me know? I could have picked you up at the train station!”
Su Juesheng was very tall, about 1.8 meters. He was wearing a military green top, with sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes. His posture was tall and straight, and he was full of vigor. He grinned with a mouthful of white teeth, his skin tanned dark.
When Su Juesheng was a child, he didn’t like to study. Every time he had to do his homework, he would be restless as if he were covered in thorns. His handwriting was like chicken scratch. But after the big and small things the family had experienced, three years of high school, and a few years of training in the army, he had obviously matured a lot.
Su Juesheng raised his hand and ruffled his sister’s hair, his eyes under the brim of his military cap hiding a smile. “Do you still remember I wrote in my letter that I had made a meritorious contribution on the front line? The army approved me to go to a military academy for further studies and specially approved a three-day family visit leave. I was thinking that the train would pass through the capital, so I could come and see you and Juesheng. So I bought a standing ticket and rushed over overnight.”
“Further studies at a military academy? That’s great! Dad and Mom would be so happy if they knew!” Hearing this news, Tangtang was happy for her brother from the bottom of her heart. After entering a military academy, not only could he learn more real skills, but it was also said that his future development would be better than those who had not attended a military academy.
“Brother Juesheng, I’m sure you’re hungry after coming all this way. Let’s go to the school canteen for dinner first. After dinner, we can walk around the school. Our school is very beautiful.”
“Alright.”
Before eating, Tangtang didn’t forget to run to the school’s guest house to book a bed for her brother.
After arriving at the canteen, Tangtang ran up and down to buy a lot of food: Dongpo pork knuckle, braised pork chops, braised beef, and a large plate of chicken. These were all high-priced dishes that she was usually reluctant to buy. There were also stir-fried shredded potatoes and stir-fried celery, as well as two bottles of soda.
Su Juesheng watched her busy up and down with a happy expression. He remembered the winter when his dad, Su Laosan, had just brought Tangtang home. At that time, Tangtang was a very thin and small girl, always timid, afraid of being driven away, and her arms were covered with many scars from being beaten and pinched. That year, their dad was arrested because of the hidden poems incident. She had hidden in the grass and cried alone, feeling that she was a jinx and had implicated their dad.
Now, there was no trace of that pitiful little girl on Tangtang. She was slender and tall, wearing a light yellow cotton shirt, and her long, shiny black hair was tied up with a bow hair tie. Even at Capital University, where the students were the pride of the nation, she was the most outstanding one in the crowd.
As Su Juesheng walked along, he also got a general idea of the campus environment of Capital University. He couldn’t help but sigh. “As expected of our country’s top institution of learning. Tangtang, your brother is happy that you could get into such a good university, and I’m also proud of you!”
“It’s so great that both you and Juesheng could get into university.”
Tangtang couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s thanks to the pile of nutritional supplements you sent home, which kept our bodies and minds in good shape. And Second Brother, he collected a lot of college entrance examination review materials and sent them back to us. Several of my classmates said that it was thanks to his materials, otherwise they might not have gotten into university.”
“By the way, brother, do Dad and Mom know about you being selected for further studies at the military academy?”
“I already told them about the military academy in my last letter home, but the spots were not finalized at that time. When the list came out a few days ago, I had already sent them a telegram.”
The brother and sister chatted nonstop while eating, their faces filled with excited smiles.
“Is it far from here to Juesheng’s place?”
“It’s not far from Capital University to the University of Transportation, just five stops. I’ll go with you later. But it’s far from Capital University to Capital Medical University. It takes more than an hour one way.” Tangtang and the others had self-study this afternoon, so they could ask for leave.
“Alright, then we’ll call Juesheng, and the three of us will go out for a meal together.”
“I’ve also called someone else.”
Tangtang put the fatty but not greasy Dongpo pork knuckle into her brother’s bowl. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes. “Who?”
Su Juesheng coughed with a profound look. “You’ll know when the time comes.”