The Adopted Cannon Fodder Made a Comeback

In Harbin, they bought tickets to Hai City.

Upon arriving in Hai City, Gu’er gazed upon the city that was known as the ’Magic City’ in her past life. Its current development couldn’t compare to what she had seen on television, as many of its famous buildings had not yet been built.

They only stayed in Hai City for half a day, not nearly enough time to see it properly, before taking a ship to Wenzhou.

’Transportation really is undeveloped these days,’ Gu’er couldn’t help but lament.

When they reached Wenzhou, Gu’er found it was nothing like she had imagined.

Of course, Gu’er had never actually been to Wenzhou in her past life. Her knowledge came entirely from what she had seen on television. The difference between the Wenzhou of the future and the Wenzhou of today was enormous; the city was still quite run-down.

Though the streets and buildings were shabby, there were many small vendors everywhere.

Gu’er recalled how people in her past life used to describe the people of Wenzhou.

In the 1980s, people from Wenzhou and Sichuan were among the first to venture out from their hometowns. At a time when people in many other cities were terrified of leaving home, the people of Wenzhou and Sichuan took the leap.

But the people of Wenzhou and Sichuan had different philosophies. Those from Wenzhou loved to be their own boss. They would rather sleep on the floor than work for someone else, preferring to earn a thousand yuan a month for themselves over earning three thousand as an employee. Being their own boss was all they ever thought about.

People from Sichuan, however, tended to go to Guangdong to work in factories.

Their different mindsets ultimately led to different outcomes.

Gu’er greatly admired the business acumen of the Wenzhou people. However, she also knew that later on, the quality of their products would become truly abysmal. Still, because they were so cheap, many people and places were eager to buy them.

Gu’er, Sun Jiaming, Li Zhi, and Dingzi watched the small vendors. Gu’er was somewhat prepared for the scene, but the other three had never seen anything like it and were fascinated by it all.

Li Zhi was the most curious of the bunch, stopping to look and ask about anything unfamiliar. The Wenzhou vendors were silver-tongued, praising their wares to the high heavens. To put it bluntly, they were experts at swindling you into a purchase.

However, Gu’er had heard stories and knew many of the items were shoddy. She didn’t let Li Zhi buy everything in sight, but they did pick up quite a few nice little trinkets that they could either sell later or give as gifts back home.

Gu’er and the others also asked around and found a shoe factory where they bought a large quantity of top-grain leather shoes. Gu’er had heard of "one-day shoes" and "dawn-to-dusk shoes," so she was wary of the products sold by some street vendors. She inspected the quality carefully, not wanting to buy shoes that would fall apart after a single day’s wear.

As night fell, they found a place to stay. After dinner and a night’s rest, they went out again the next day. This time, their destination was a cosmetics shop.

Gu’er and her companions searched from morning till afternoon before finally finding a fairly large cosmetics wholesaler. The shop had a comprehensive selection, and Gu’er was quite satisfied.

Gu’er picked out plenty of lipsticks, blushes, and eyeshadows, while the three men just watched. They didn’t understand any of it.

Gu’er debated whether to get pressed powder, since people in the Soviet Union didn’t use it. ’But even if it doesn’t sell there, I can always sell it back home,’ she thought. In the end, she took a large quantity.

Gu’er spotted some Pehchaolin face cream. It came in small packets, and the wholesale price was less than one yuan each. She bought a large amount. Most face creams back then were for hydrating and moisturizing, and Pehchaolin was a very good brand.

Gu’er also found another face cream called White Jade Cream, which claimed to have a whitening effect. She bought plenty of that, too. ’Even if I don’t use it myself, it’ll be good for gifts or to sell,’ she figured.

Things like sheet masks didn’t exist yet. After looking around, Gu’er found that the variety of products was still quite limited. Still, it wasn’t bad; at least they had managed to buy everything they came for.

After she finished selecting her items, Gu’er chatted with the salesclerk for a long time, asking for a lot of advice. In her past life, she had known nothing about makeup or skincare. Gu’er felt she had learned a great deal on this trip.

"Gu’er, what colors do you like?"

Sun Jiaming held out a selection of pressed powders, lipsticks, eyeshadows, face creams, and whitening creams for Gu’er to choose from.

"I’ve already bought these, Brother Jia Ming. We don’t need to buy any more. This is plenty."

Gu’er was confused. She had already bought so many of these items, so why was Sun Jiaming asking her to pick more?

"You’re so dense. Jia Ming is asking because he wants to buy them for you. Only the ones he pays for himself count as a gift from him. The ones you bought are for business. How can they be the same?"

Li Zhi grumbled, dissatisfied. Gu’er could be so slow on the uptake in these matters. But deep within his eyes lay a faint envy. He wished he could be the one buying her gifts. ’If only I were the one she liked.’ 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Dingzi watched them, his face expressionless, but his eyes held a hint of a smile. He thought about how wonderful it was to have met Gu’er and Sun Jiaming. His world was now filled with so many things it had lacked before.

Sun Jiaming’s face flushed slightly. He was a bit embarrassed that Li Zhi had exposed his intentions in front of everyone, but he was a real man, and there was nothing to be ashamed of admitting.

"I want to buy them for you. A man should be the one to buy a woman’s things."

Sun Jiaming gazed at Gu’er, his eyes full of affection.

Gu’er blushed. She truly hadn’t thought about it that way. It never occurred to her that Sun Jiaming wanted to buy them *for her*. She’d never had an experience like this in her past life. Other than his fists and feet, Zhang Da had never given her a single thing.

"I... I’ll take this one."

Gu’er took a packet of the Pehchaolin face cream.

Sun Jiaming watched her, wishing she would take them all. He didn’t want her to try and save his money. He had seen the way her eyes lit up when she entered the shop, and he wanted her to have whatever she liked, without having to be so hard on herself.

After a moment’s thought, Gu’er also picked out a pink lipstick she liked and an eyeshadow.

"I’ll pass on the pressed powder. I’ve heard some of them contain lead, which is bad for your skin and can make it darker over time. If you really want to buy me something, you can get me some pearl powder instead. That’s good for your skin; it’ll make it fair and bright."

Gu’er whispered to Sun Jiaming.

As she spoke, a blush crept up her cheeks, as if she had applied rouge, making her look utterly captivating.

Sun Jiaming felt his heart melt. If they weren’t in public, if it were just the two of them, he would have pulled her into his arms.

Li Zhi watched the two of them, feeling both happy for them and slightly jealous. ’Why wasn’t I the one who met her first?’ he wondered. If he had, he would be the one exchanging loving glances with her right now.

A delighted Sun Jiaming went to pay. He also bought several large bags of pearl powder, then had everything packed up and handed it to Gu’er.

"Tsk, tsk. It’s different when you’ve got a sweetheart. You don’t even have to buy your own things. Poor me... when will I find someone to buy things for me?"

Li Zhi wailed theatrically.

Sun Jiaming and Gu’er ignored him, knowing he was just being dramatic.

Sun Jiaming and Gu’er walked out of the store with their purchases. Li Zhi was still rambling on when Dingzi, who was carrying bags in one hand, grabbed him by the collar with the other and hauled him out of the shop.

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This Chapter was updated at 11 AM, but for some reason, it wasn’t showing up. So strange. Thank you to Karl King for the He Shi Bi gift, which has made you an Alliance Lord! Brother K is probably the only Alliance Lord for this book. Reaching that status also means bonus Chapters, so by my count, I now owe three: two for the He Shi Bi gifts and one for the Alliance Lord tier. I’ve run into something really frustrating these past couple of days, but I’ll post the bonus Chapters to make up for it once it’s resolved. Thank you all, my dears.