"Celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic!"
"All of China celebrates National Day, the entire nation congratulates China!"
"Golden October, the whole country rejoices!"
Various National Day propaganda banners stood on both sides of the streets, and a strong festive atmosphere adorned this small town.
Pedestrians on the street wore joyful smiles on their faces.
Since 2002, material supplies across the country have gradually become abundant.
Coupled with the rapid economic growth after joining the WTO, people's living standards have improved at a visible pace.
With increasingly abundant supplies and a promising future, the common people at this time were full of hope.
Tan Jincheng's family also went out.
After returning, it was the first time the family went shopping together, mainly to buy essential clothes for the baby on the way.
After returning, Zhang Suzhi went for a prenatal check-up, which Tan Jincheng had requested.
Although he knew his mother would have no accidents during childbirth, it was better to be cautious for an older pregnant woman.
To be honest, although it was already the post-millennium development stage, for women from small cities and rural areas, there weren't so many specific practices for giving birth.
For example, the weekly prenatal check-ups his ex-wife had in his previous life were still relatively rare at this stage.
As a state-owned enterprise worker who had lived and worked in the same city for decades, even without power, he knew quite a few people.
At Tan Jincheng's instigation, through some coded language between doctors, the couple also confirmed the baby's gender.
With the birth approaching, this wasn't a major violation.
It was a daughter.
The couple was very happy, and of course, Tan Jincheng was also happy; this wasn't an act, even though he already knew the outcome.
So, the family took advantage of the National Day holiday to start preparing some clothes for his future sister in advance.
"Alright, alright, that's enough; don't pick up everything you see."
Seeing that Tan Jincheng wanted to buy everything, Zhang Suzhi couldn't handle it anymore; this child had no limit when spending money.
When they were in the rural hometown, he bought out all the snacks from the small store, and now back in the city, he started again; after being away for a year, he actually developed the habit of squandering money.
"Let's buy a few more clothes, Mom, look how nice these clothes are,"
Tan Jincheng said with a smile.
During his time back home, Tan Jincheng's biggest feeling was that prices back then were truly friendly, and the purchasing power of money was quite strong.
"No need to buy, we've already received a lot of used clothes at home. Children grow fast, so buying too much won't be worn,"
Zhang Suzhi firmly refused.
"Okay then, never mind,"
Tan Jincheng said with a hint of reluctance, still not having had his fill.
In Yicheng, there was a tradition for newborns to wear old clothes left by previous children, which symbolized receiving blessings.
The more old clothes received, the more blessed the child was believed to be in the future.
They hadn't planned on having another child before, so Tan Jincheng's childhood clothes had all been given to relatives' and friends' children.
Both the Tan and Zhang families had many siblings, so naturally, they received quite a few clothes.
Tan Jincheng was pulled out of the children's clothing store by Zhang Suzhi, while the shop owner was still chasing after them, saying they could offer a discount.
However, Zhang Suzhi ignored her.
Throughout the entire time, Tan Lihua was like a transparent person, not participating in the mother-son discussion, just standing by his wife's side, protecting her safety.
"Ah, what a pity; we finally met a good-natured and wealthy young man, why didn't he come alone?"
After the family of three walked away, the shop owner secretly lamented to a store clerk.
But soon, new customers arrived, and the shop owner no longer paid attention to those thoughts, quickly stepping forward to continue promoting her wares.
Taobao was only launched in 2003, and Alipay hadn't been introduced yet.
For the emergence of new things, ordinary people would always have a process of acceptance.
Therefore, shopping was still primarily done at offline physical stores in those years, and major holidays were the sales peak season for shops.
Large and small shops were all putting in their best efforts, hoping to earn more during the National Day holiday.
"Dad, has my sister's name been chosen?"
In the restaurant, Tan Jincheng casually asked Tan Lihua while scalding the bowls and chopsticks with boiling water; after being a bag carrier all morning, Tan Lihua finally felt a sense of presence.
"Yes, it has. I had thought of two names before, one for a boy and one for a girl,"
Tan Lihua said with a smile.
Tan Lihua was in a remarkably good mood during this National Day holiday.
A daughter was good, a daughter was her father's little padded jacket.
"Oh, so what's my sister's name?"
A bit disappointed, the name had already been chosen.
He had originally wanted to have some mischievous fun by revealing the name himself beforehand.
"It's Tan Jinyue, hoping she grows up to be happy,"
Tan Lihua said softly.
"That's a nice name. My sister will definitely be happy her whole life."
"Son, I just realized that when you were picking out clothes, you seemed to know quite a lot, besides not knowing how to bargain. Where did you learn this? Can you even learn this on a ship?"
Zhang Suzhi watched her son's skilled movements scalding bowls and chopsticks, seeing that he had clearly done it many times, and couldn't help but recall the scene when he was just picking clothes.
"Of course. There are all kinds of guests on the ship. As waiters, we have to learn a bit, in case guests ask us to help them buy clothes, right?"
"That's true. It seems you've learned quite a lot this year."
"Of course. As the saying goes, everything has two sides. Missing out on university has its downsides, but it's not without its benefits, right? Mom and Dad, please don't dwell on this issue anymore."
"You child, why won't you study? You said your grades weren't bad, wouldn't it be good to study hard and get into a university? Save the money you have and earn interest, and when you graduate, it would be great to buy a house."
"Didn't I say that I've almost forgotten everything from high school? I've already returned it all to the teachers, so how can I repeat a year?"
"How much can you forget in just over a year? Review it, study hard, and you'll remember it all."
It's not just one year, it's over 20 years for me; it would be a miracle if I could get into university.
It's not like I haven't seen news of top students from my previous life taking exams for others to get into vocational colleges.
Tan Jincheng knew his parents still couldn't quite accept his decision not to study, and they had been trying to persuade him to change his mind these past few days.
If this continued, Tan Jincheng wouldn't be able to bear it much longer.
Although he wouldn't change his mind, his parents' daily nagging was unbearable.
"There's about a month and a half until Tan Jinyue is born. I can't stay at home for this month and a half; I need to go to Yongcheng to set things up first."
Tan Jincheng's eyes darted around.
If he went to Yongcheng first, set up the business, and invested the money, his parents would then have difficulty continuing to ask him to repeat a year.
It was decided.
After the National Day holiday, he would discuss it with Zhang Xupeng, first go to Yongcheng to look for factory buildings, and get all the company registration procedures done.
"Let's eat, let's not talk about this anymore. You two shouldn't worry about this now, just wait for Tan Jinyue to be born."
(End of this chapter)
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