Chapter 159: The Village's First Camera (3000 words)
Chapter 159: The Village's First Camera (3000 words)
Zhou Chenglei was buckling his belt when he noticed Jiang Xia looking at him. He looked up at her and asked, "What's the matter?"
Jiang Xia turned around and gestured towards her pants.
Zhou Chenglei: "..."
"Did your period come?"
Jiang Xia nodded, "Yes, I didn't get pregnant."
"Then we'll try again in a few years," Zhou Chenglei replied, not overly concerned. He longed for their child, but he also understood that having a child was a matter of fate.
He fetched a sanitary pad from the drawer for her, hugged her, and kissed her forehead to comfort her, "Don't worry, we're still young. We can try again in a few years."
Jiang Xia said, "I'm young, but you..."
Zhou Chenglei held her waist and pulled her into his embrace, "I'm young too!"
Jiang Xia looked up at him from his embrace, speechless, and just smiled.
At his age, nearing thirty, how could he still claim to be young? Zhou Chenglei lifted her up and kissed her passionately, using his strength to prove that he was not only young and strong but also full of youthful vigor! As a result, they set out for the sea an hour and a half late that day. The extra half-hour delay was because Zhou Chenglei had made red date water for Jiang Xia and washed the clothes that had gotten dirty.
Jiang Xia, with weak legs and sore arms, vowed never to call him old again.
Absolutely young and vigorous, full of energy!
For the next two days, Jiang Xia stayed at home, translating documents and familiarizing herself with the shipyard's materials, the textile factory's fabrics, the plastic factory's products, and sampling the food factory's products.
Now, she was making dried fish snacks with He Xinghuan and Great-Grandmother.
For this batch of dried fish, Jiang Xia planned to sell them directly to Marquis Hou.
However, making dried fish required frying, and the oil they had bought was quickly used up. Both families had run out of oil coupons.
Purchasing items still required coupons, although some items no longer needed them. Essentials like grain, oil, meat, and electronic products still required coupons.
Zhou Chenglei had saved up quite a few coupons, but Jiang Xia had already used up all the oil coupons.
Usually, they would sell their catch at the purchase center, where the prices were low, but they would receive some coupons each month based on the quantity they sold.
However, Jiang Xia noticed that despite selling so many fish last month, Zhou Mu had only brought back two four-city-unit oil coupons, and she had exchanged other coupons as well.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, coupons were needed to buy meat and mooncakes for gifts.
He Xinghuan said, "I'll try to find someone to buy some oil coupons and see if I can get any."
Great-Grandmother added, "This year, we'll use all the peanuts from the field to make oil."
Jiang Xia nodded, "Alright, we'll do it this way for now. Once the dried fish business becomes more stable, I'll think of another solution."
Restaurants were now allowed to operate, and obtaining a small food workshop business license would make buying oil and grain more convenient.
In the evening, as usual, Jiang Xia went to the wharf to wait for her family's boat to return. The production team members informed her that there were two packages from Jing City.
Jiang Xia went to collect the packages first.
Zhou Li, curious about the two large packages, asked, "Jiang Xia, why do you receive packages from Jing City every day? Who sends them to you? Do you have relatives in Jing City?"
Jiang Xia replied, "It's my younger brother. I asked him to buy some things for me."
Zhou Li, eager to see what was inside the packages, asked, "Is your brother studying at Jing University? That's amazing!"
The address on the packages was indeed Jing University, which she had noticed.
Jiang Xia smiled and thanked her, then made an excuse to check if her family's boat had returned. She left with the two boxes.
Zhou Li wanted to chat more with Jiang Xia to build a better relationship, as Jiang Xia's family had connections. It would be beneficial for her if she wanted to change jobs or needed help for her son to secure a job within the system after he finished middle school.
After leaving the production team, Jiang Xia returned home with the two packages.
She opened the larger one first and found two cashmere sweaters and many imported snacks, including cola!
One of the sweaters was probably for Jiang Mu.
Jiang Xia then opened the other package and found a Seagull camera with a twin-lens design, resembling a rectangular box with a flip-open lid.
It seemed a bit complicated, so she studied it briefly before reading Jiang Dong's letter. Indeed, one of the sweaters was for Jiang Mu. The letter also mentioned that he had already loaded the camera with film.
He had bought two rolls of film. If she couldn't change the film in the camera, she should take it to a photography studio for assistance to avoid exposing the film and ruining the photos.
After reading the letter, Jiang Xia examined the instruction manual to understand how to take pictures. She found the shutter button and aimed it at Zhou Zhou doing homework and Zhou Mu weaving a fishing net, clicking the shutter.
Both of them turned to look at her.
Zhou Mu smiled, "Is that a camera? Did Xiao Dong send it?"
Zhou Zhou also looked curious.
Jiang Xia nodded and smiled, "Yes, I asked my brother to buy it for me. It arrived right on time. We can take a photo of the new boat when it returns."
Zhou Mu's eyes lit up at the idea, "Yes! Let's take a photo of the house too! Your father will be so happy."
Jiang Xia smiled, and she asked Zhou Mu and Zhou Zhou to stand together for a family photo.
Zhou Mu waved her hands, "No need, no need. Don't waste the film. Let's take the photo when the boat returns. We can all be in it."
Zhou Mu knew that taking a photo at a photography studio was expensive, costing two yuan, and color photos were even pricier, with additional charges for enlargements.
The photography studio owner explained that the reason for the high price was the cost of the film, which was around twenty to thirty yuan per roll.
So, she believed that the more people in a single photo, the more worthwhile it was. Moreover, why take photos when there was no special occasion? It was more sensible to wait for a grand event or a family reunion to take pictures.
Jiang Xia assured them, "It's fine, I have two rolls of film. I'll take a photo of you and Zhou Zhou."
But Zhou Mu refused to have her photo taken, and Zhou Zhou, seeing his mother's reluctance, also hesitated. Jiang Xia had no choice but to take the camera to the wharf to capture her 'old man' in his boat.
Jiang Xia arrived at the wharf with the camera and took several photos: the bustling wharf, the fishing boats returning at sunset, and the women chatting under the banyan tree, eagerly awaiting the boats' return.
She even captured the line of people waiting to weigh their catches at the purchase center.
After taking a few photos, Jiang Xia stopped, not wanting to waste too many shots. The main reason was that she didn't know how to change the film, and she had to save it for photographing her 'old man' and the ceremony of launching the new boat.
Just then, Tian Caihua and Zhou Chengxin approached Jiang Xia.
Tian Caihua curiously asked, "Xia Xia, is that a camera you're holding?"
Zhou Chengxin, also intrigued, examined it and said, "I heard this Seagull camera is hard to come by. How long did you have to queue up to buy it?"
Jiang Xia was taken aback, shaking her head. "I don't know. I asked my younger brother to help me buy it. Come on, Eldest Brother, Elder Sister-in-Law, let me take a photo of you two."
"What? Take a photo? But, I don't look good today! My clothes are too old, right?" Tian Caihua suddenly became flustered, not knowing what to do with her hands and feet. She wanted to be in the photo, but she was worried that her appearance wasn't good enough, and she might look too ugly.
"It's fine. We can take another one when you're better dressed," Jiang Xia said, finding a spot and gesturing for them to stand there.
She then took a photo of them with the vast evening sky, the expansive ocean, and the bustling wharf as the backdrop.
After the photo was taken, Jiang Xia noticed that her family's fishing boat had docked.
She hurried over to capture her 'old man' on film, not wanting to waste his good looks.
Zhou Chenglei was holding a rope, preparing to disembark, when he spotted Jiang Xia running towards him with the camera. He frowned, "Slow down, don't run!"
Jiang Xia snapped a photo of him without hesitation.
Zhou Chenglei secured the rope and approached her, "Don't run like that in the future!"
Jiang Xia ignored him, climbed onto the boat, and said to Zhou Fu, "Dad, I'm taking your photo."
Zhou Fu's eyes lit up at the sight of the camera. The boat was already docked, and as he was about to leave, he turned back and posed with the ship's wheel, pretending to steer, "Is this pose okay?"
"Perfect! You look so handsome!" Jiang Xia adjusted the angle and clicked the shutter, "Got it!"
Zhou Fu quickly joined Jiang Xia, paying no attention to the boat full of fish, "How do I pose for this? Let me hold it and take a photo too."
Jiang Xia took the camera off her neck and showed him how to use it.
Zhou Fu was quite clever and quickly learned how to operate it. He hung the camera around his neck and began searching for Zhou Bingqiang's figure.
Zhou Fu immediately spotted the silhouette that occupied his thoughts day and night.
He called out to Zhou Bingqiang, "Bingqiang! Bingqiang! Come here, come, come! Our family bought a camera! Let's take a photo, brothers!"
Wasn't Zhou Bingqiang the one who had been shouting about wanting to buy this Seagull camera?
He had complained that it was extremely hard to buy, and even after queuing for half a day, he couldn't get his hands on one.
He had mentioned using connections to purchase it but wasn't sure when he would be able to get it.
Even before getting the camera, he had been boasting about it, and the whole village knew about it, but no one had seen the camera yet!
Haha, who would've thought that the young daughter-in-law would quietly manage to buy it!
Now, he had to capture Zhou Bingqiang's forced smile on film!
Zhou Bingqiang heard the call and looked over, seeing the camera in Zhou Fu's hand, his face darkened.
It was the camera he had wanted but couldn't bring himself to buy, costing over four hundred yuan, almost five hundred!
Zhou Fu not only called out to Zhou Bingqiang but also to the other villagers.
"Guo Cai, Guang Cai, come here! Let's take a photo together!"
As if! Taking a single photo was so expensive; of course, he couldn't just take a photo of Zhou Bingqiang!
This was the village's first camera!
Such a glorious event had to be shared with the entire village, and a group photo was in order!
In the future, he could boast that the first photo of their lives was taken by him, how cool would that be?
"Chao Hua, Chao Ming... Come here! I'll take a photo of you all! Let's have a group photo!" Everyone had been busy unloading and selling fish, but Zhou Fu's announcement caught their attention.
Taking photos was still a novelty, and everyone knew how expensive it was to take a photo at a studio. So, they stopped selling fish and gathered around Zhou Fu, "Yongfu, take a photo of me steering the boat."
"Take one of me too. I caught a full boat of fish today, so I want a memento."
"Take one of me steering the boat as well."
...
Zhou Fu exclaimed, "One photo each? There's not enough film! Let's take a group photo! Let's go to Bingqiang's new boat for the shot!"
Haha... He had to be kidding!
The villagers were happy to take a group photo, so they all boarded Zhou Bingqiang's new boat.
Zhou Fu said, "Xia Xia, you take the photo for us."
So, Jiang Xia took a group photo of everyone on Zhou Bingqiang's new boat.
The villagers stood or sat on both sides of the boat, which was filled with baskets of fish. Zhou Fu stood in the middle, his arm around Zhou Bingqiang's shoulder, beaming with pride.
Jiang Xia then suggested taking another photo in front of the production team's gate. Soon, the production team would undergo reforms and become the village committee, making it a cherished memory for this generation.
(End of Chapter)
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