good old days

Chapter 97 Picking Apricots

The photo studios in the 70s are incomparable with those decades later, and the layout is extremely simple.

The young couple who took a group photo in front of Jiang Xinyu and Chen Yi are against a background wall painted with a few bamboos. Although they are sitting close together, they look stiff. The man is shyer than the girl.

After the two finished filming, it was Jiang Xinyu and Chen Yi's turn.

Jiang Xinyu pointed to the table in the photo studio, saw the plastic flowers hanging on the shelf, and asked the staff: "Can you put the table in front of the background wall, and then put the flowers on it."

The staff of the state-run photo studio is also an enviable job. Just like the service staff in the supply and marketing cooperatives and state-owned restaurants, they all have their eyes above the top. Compared with the customers of later generations who are gods, the service staff these days are God.

In any era, they respect Luo Chang first and then others. People saw that both of them were dressed in good clothes. The man was handsome and the woman was handsome. It looked like they had a formal job. It was polite to follow Jiang Xinyu's wishes and put the table and The flowers are placed in front of the background wall.

On the background wall are a few bamboos painted with watercolor powder, and the two are sitting on a long bench, in front of them is a table with purple plastic flowers on it.

The photographer thought it would look really good, so he instructed: "Comrade men put their shoulders back."

Chen Yi misplaced his shoulder, Jiang Xinyu tilted her head towards him again, her eyes were bent.

"Okay, stay still."

The light flashed, and Jiang Xinyu almost couldn't help blinking.

The photographer asked: "Do you want another group photo? You two have bicycles, so I'll take a photo for you outside."

Jiang Xinyu's eyes lit up, she can have this!

There was a big tree outside the photo studio. The car was parked there. Chen Yi propped himself on the ground with one leg, facing the photographer. Jiang Xinyu sat sideways on the back seat, holding his waist with one hand.

Her face was already burning hot, because there were many people watching around, and she heard someone whispering that she would also take pictures on the bicycle.

After the group photo was taken, she started to take pictures of a single person, and being surrounded by people to take pictures, she really couldn't bear it.But if I don’t leave a few photos now, I won’t know what my past looks like in a few years.

Jiang Xinyu had a big idea, and asked the photographer to go to the flower bed over there to take pictures. She stood in front of the flower bed and touched her braids, her head half down, smiling like a flower.

Restricted by the conditions, Jiang Xinyu's dress today is unpretentious, but to the people around her, she looks beautiful and fashionable.When the young girls saw Jiang Xinyu, they didn't even put on powder and grease, and they didn't even wear a floral skirt, but they looked unusually beautiful.The gay men cast envious eyes on Chen Yi.

There were too many people, and being watched and taking pictures by others made his face stiff, so Chen Yi simply stopped taking pictures of single people.When returning to the photo studio, Jiang Xinyu asked again: "You don't take pictures of single people, do you run out of money?"

Chen Yi casually said "Yes", "So you can pay today's money."

Jiang Xinyu looked up at him in disbelief.

The corners of Chen Yi's lips curled up, and there was a smile in his clear eyes, "I'm lying to you, is one photo enough, do you want to take a few more?"

She shook her head, "There is no place for me to express myself, let's shoot later."

He said "hmm" and said to the staff: "Four photos were developed for each group photo, and two photos for a single person."

The comrades at work looked at him in surprise. A photo is not cheap. Even a young man who is going to get married and take pictures will not print so many group photos at once. "How many inches do you need?"

"A single photo is two inches, one is six inches, and a group photo is all six inches."

"It's a total of [-] yuan." The staff quickly typed a note, "Come back to pick it up in seven days."

Chen Yi handed over the money, put the note back in his pocket, and the two left the photo studio. He asked, "Go to the temple to pick apricots? Come back for dinner, go to a park, and watch a movie in the afternoon?"

He was seriously asking for her opinion.

Jiang Xinyu has no objections, as long as she is not allowed to work in the field with a hoe, she can do whatever she wants.

The bicycle left the county town, and after walking for more than half an hour, the two of them met a salesman riding a bicycle on the way. A wooden box was fixed on the back seat of the car. The word "Sorbet" was written on the yellow box. It is also covered with a layer of cotton.

This is the old-fashioned popsicle, one penny each, Jiang Xinyu wanted to buy two, but Chen Yi didn't want to eat it, so she bought one and ate it on the back seat of the bicycle.

Different from the milky and fruity ice creams of the later generations, the current popsicles are cold and sweet, just like sugar water popsicles frozen in the refrigerator.

The apricots on the apricot tree were not big, with red tops. Looking up, the sun was shining through the gaps in the leaves, which made her dizzy after a while.

Chen Yi climbed up the tree, picked one that was pleasing to the eye, wiped it clean on his hands, and threw it down for her.

Jiang Xinyu ate one, and she squinted her eyes because of the sourness. It had a sweet taste, but it was not strong, so it must have been undercooked.

If it is not ripe, you have to pick it back, otherwise I don’t know if it will be there next time, if it is left for two more days, it will definitely be sweet.

The cloth pocket was stretched open, Chen Yi picked it up on top, and Jiang Xinyu picked it up on the bottom.

The voice of a child can be heard from a distance, and there is a village a few kilometers away.

Seeing that he had picked a lot, Chen Yi jumped down from the tree.

The two of them got on their bicycles like thieves and slipped away.

Xingzi was hanging on the front handle, and Jiang Xinyu sat behind and scratched her back, always feeling that something was moving in the clothes, but she couldn't touch the place. Thinking of the limp caterpillar, she felt bad all over.

She tugged at the clothes around his waist, "Stop, I feel like there are worms in the clothes."

Jiang Xinyu jumped out of the car, pulled the shirt out of her trousers and shook vigorously, but the itchy feeling did not disappear.

Chen Yi watched her trembling, told her to stop, reached out and pinched a gray half-sized spider on her head.

Jiang Xinyu's whole body is hairy, it's okay if she doesn't see this thing, but when she sees this thing, she feels like there are spider legs crawling all over her body, and her scalp is about to explode.

"Help me see if there's anything on my back."

He asked her to squat down, opened the collar of her shirt at the back of her neck, and looked in. There were red marks on her clean back from rubbing just now. The shirt was wide. I looked inside the shirt, and as expected, there was a gray spider lying on it.

"Is there any?" she asked eagerly.

Chen Yi pretended to be calm and let out a "huh".

Then he reached in from the hem of the shirt, inevitably scratching her back, she trembled uncomfortably but didn't move.

After a while, the spider was caught by him. In order to prove that he was very serious just now, and absolutely did not intend to take advantage of her on purpose, he even waved the spider in front of her eyes, "It's just this one, it should be gone."

Jiang Xinyu had had enough of this spider, jumped three feet high, and wished she could go home and take a shower.In order to eat a few not-so-sweet apricots, her body would become a spider's nest, she folded her arms and rubbed it, complaining, "Why don't you have any?" It's really unfair.

Chen Yi coughed lightly, "Can you check for me?"

Jiang Xinyu looked at his serious appearance, not sure if he was molesting her?

She smiled, and said maliciously, "Take off your shirt, and I'll take a look for you." Who wouldn't know it?

A smile flashed across his jade-like pupils, and he patted the car seat, "Let's go."

(End of this chapter)