This was the first time Qiao zhiqing had ever seen a marriage certificate like this. Most of it was printed, but the names and dates had to be handwritten, which made her look at it with curiosity.
Upon closer inspection, I found that the marriage certificate was actually quite nice.
The design in the very center is a pattern drawn with the five-star red flag, looking like a bright red silk ribbon, which is incredibly festive.
There are also Chairman Mao's quotations under the red flag.
The policewoman stamped the card with a large red seal, and the paperwork was complete.
Qiao zhiqing took it, looked at it carefully, and after confirming that there were no problems, she folded it twice and put the marriage certificate into her breast pocket.
Qin Huai caught a glimpse of her movement, and the corners of his lips curled up almost imperceptibly.
After they finished their business, the two headed outside.
Qin Huai is tall, over 1.8 meters, and has long legs.
In those days, every household struggled to get enough to eat and wear, so growing to 1.8 meters tall was already quite an achievement.
Qiao zhiqing is only 1.58 meters tall, much shorter than Qin Huai. Although their speeds seemed similar, she was quickly left far behind.
Qiao zhiqing immediately ran a few steps to catch up with Qin Huai and grabbed his hand.
She had originally intended to make the man wait for her, but as soon as she touched him, he jerked her away as if he had been electrocuted.
"What are you doing?" Qin Huai turned around in shock.
Then he looked around to make sure no one had seen what had just happened before he breathed a sigh of relief.
Qiao zhiqing was speechless.
Hey, hey, hey, what kind of expression is that?
She's a licensed person now! It's legal!
Why do they act like their relationship is something they can't be seen in public, not even daring to hold hands?
The next second, Qiao zhiqing realized that this was 1975, and it was probably not appropriate to pull and tug at each other in public. But she felt wronged: "Who told you to walk so fast? I couldn't keep up."
Upon hearing this, Qin Huai pursed his lips and said, "Then I'll walk slower."
"Mmm." Qiao zhiqing was instantly satisfied.
Next, Qin Huai indeed slowed down, and even adjusted the size of his strides to keep pace with her.
Qiao zhiqing felt happy to see that although the man was careless in some things, he could listen to every word she said.
After getting on the donkey cart, Qin Huai looked at her and asked, "Going straight to the supply and marketing cooperative? Are there any other places we need to go?"
Qiao zhiqing had just walked along the street and seen all the shops, but there was nowhere she wanted to go, so she shook her head.
"I won't go anywhere else, I'll just go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things."
Qin Huai then turned his gaze away and drove the donkey cart to the supply and marketing cooperative.
The saleswoman at the supply and marketing cooperative was a young girl with two large braids, who looked about two or three years older than Qiao zhiqing.
Upon seeing customers enter, especially two good-looking young men and women, he immediately smiled and asked, "What would you two like to buy?"
There was no one in the store at that moment except for Qiao zhiqing and Qin Huai, and the little girl's attention was focused on the two of them.
When Qiao zhiqing first entered the supply and marketing cooperative, she thought it was quite large from the outside, but once inside, she found that the store was even bigger than she had imagined.
Moreover, it truly has everything one could need in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
She felt like she didn't have enough eyes to see everything; she was overwhelmed by the sights.
She also noticed that there seemed to be another room behind it, which was also filled with many things.
"What should we buy?" Qin Huai asked, looking at Qiao zhiqing.
But Qiao zhiqing hadn't actually decided what to buy before she came. She was just curious about what the head of a supply and marketing cooperative looked like in the 1970s, so she thought she'd come and take a look.
After looking around, Qiao zhiqing finally focused her attention on food. "Shall we some food?"
Although there's no wedding ceremony, today is still the joyous day for the two of them to register their marriage, so we should cook something delicious to celebrate.
"You decide." Qin Huai listened to her completely.
Qiao zhiqing then said to the sales clerk, "Could you please tell me what delicious food you have here?"
Seeing the couple's demeanor, the sales clerk suddenly asked, "Are you two getting married?"
Qiao zhiqing smiled, "To be precise, we're already married. We just got our marriage certificate from the police station before we came here."
Seeing that she had guessed correctly, the little girl immediately smiled, turned around and took a piece of paper from the counter next to her.
"If you're getting married, just buy everything on this list. This is all the things you'll need for a wedding."
Qiao zhiqing looked down.
I was inwardly exclaiming, "Wow!"
The paper was covered with all sorts of things, there must be at least fifty or sixty items. The main question is, how much does this cost?
Before she could even see it clearly, a voice suddenly came to her ear: "Just buy according to this list."
Qin Huai didn't want to mistreat Qiao zhiqing. Since this was something that other families would prepare for their weddings, he should buy it all for Qiao zhiqing as well.
The waiter was overjoyed to have sold so much stuff at once, exclaiming, "Alright!"
But Qiao zhiqing was startled.
"Are you kidding me?" After glaring at Qin Huai, she immediately stopped the sales clerk who was about to leave. "We don't need so many things, just a few less will do."
As she spoke, Qiao zhiqing carefully picked out a few items from the paper, "Two catties of wedding candy, one catty of dates, one bar of soap, one box of tooth powder, one comb, two boxes of matches, and a large sheet of this red paper..."
She can take the red paper home and cut out two big "double happiness" characters to stick on the window; she happens to know how to cut them.
"And another two pounds of lean pork, 20 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of wheat flour, and 5 pounds of corn grits..."
"For the seasonings, we need two pounds of salt and two pounds of soy sauce..."
Qiao zhiqing rattled off a long list, but few of the items were actually on the list.
The sales clerk couldn't help but ask, "You don't want anything else on this list? Aren't you going to get a couple of new outfits for your wedding?"
Qiao zhiqing shook her head: "I'm not doing it anymore. As long as I have clothes to wear, that's enough. My man doesn't earn money easily, so I have to be careful with my spending."
The main problem was that the family was missing a lot of things. When Qiao zhiqing was cooking lunch, she discovered that the only seasoning they had was salt.
However, she could understand; Qin Huai used to live alone, so he must have made do with whatever he had.
But now that she's here, we need to be more careful.
Of course, the most important is that Qiao zhiqing is not very familiar with the prices of goods in this era, so she decided to buy all the things that she had previously discovered were missing from her home.
If there's any money left over, I'll buy a little more.
If you don't have it, that's fine. I'll buy it when I've made some money.
The sales clerk was still a young girl.
Seeing that Qiao zhiqing had so boldly spoken her mind, she immediately glanced at Qin Huai, covered her mouth and laughed twice before going to get the things for Qiao zhiqing.
Soon, the items Qiao zhiqing wanted filled the counter.
Just then, Qiao zhiqing suddenly noticed some finished cloth shoes on the shelf.
Glancing at the shoes Qin Huai was wearing that were already coming undone, she immediately pointed there and said, "Give me a pair of those shoes, size 43 or 44?"
The following question was asked while looking at Qin Huai.
Qin Huai's eyes flickered, and he looked at the sales clerk and said, "I don't want the shoes. Please take down that floral fabric over there and cut three feet of it."