I'm back in 1990

Chapter 35: Fine, you win.

The grocery store had only been open for a few years. It was established by the government to enrich the people's food supply. It mainly sold specialties from all over the country, such as cured meat, sausages, dried seafood, and various canned goods. Compared with local groceries, the prices were much higher.

The cold drink counters set up in grocery stores are a unique feature of Qingjiang. Unlike traditional state-run snack shops where customers buy and leave, these stores have a dedicated area with tables and chairs selling high-end cold drinks. Examples include the more expensive Da Guangming ice cream bars and fruit ice cream cups from Shanghai.

There are also less common canned drinks, such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Jianlibao. This is also a place where young people in Qingjiang often come to date.

Fortunately, Huang Xiaochuan and his group arrived in the morning, so there weren't many people there yet. If it were the afternoon or late evening, it would be extremely difficult to find a seat.

Young men who care about their image will not hesitate to spend a fortune here to please their sweethearts, so this place is very famous in Qingjiang.

To be honest, Huang Xiaochuan didn't know much about class monitor Qin Yu's family background, since they were just ordinary classmates in their previous life. However, the fact that Qin Yu had brought them to such a place today made Huang Xiaochuan guess that Qin Yu's family was relatively well-off.

However, despite his speculations, Huang Xiaochuan genuinely had no feelings for her. He had even decided that he would pay for everything today, no matter how much it cost. He wouldn't feel any guilt about living off his wife. He absolutely wouldn't accept a free meal from another girl, especially one who seemed to have a slight interest in him.

While the three were busy ordering, Huang Xiaochuan quietly approached the cashier at the grocery store, slipped him a hundred-yuan bill, and said, "Brother, do me a favor. None of the three can pay the bill later. Just leave this money here, and I'll settle the bill later."

Upon seeing the man and two women over there, the shop assistant smiled knowingly, gave Huang Xiaochuan a thumbs-up, and said, "Good job, young man!"

Seeing that the other party had misunderstood him, Huang Xiaochuan didn't bother to explain, just smiled and left.

Just then, Yu Wei saw Huang Xiaochuan approaching and urged, "Where have you been? Hurry up and bring some things. We've all chosen, you're the only one left."

Huang Xiaochuan asked him, "What did you order?"

Yu Wei counted on his fingers and said, "A large ice cream, a can of iced cola, and a fruit smoothie."

Huang Xiaochuan glanced at the kid in surprise: "Damn, aren't you afraid of getting a stomachache?"

Qin Yu, on the contrary, reassured Huang Xiaochuan: "It's alright, it's my treat today, you can eat as much as you like."

"Then I'll just have a Coke, room temperature." Huang Xiaochuan said habitually. Mainly because his stomach wasn't good after he got older in his previous life, he was a bit averse to iced drinks, but he would drink them a few times occasionally.

Qin Yu asked with concern, "Is a can of Coke enough? Don't be shy, order some other cold drinks too. Don't worry, I brought money."

Huang Xiaochuan quickly explained with a smile, "Class monitor, don't misunderstand, I'm not being polite. One can of Coke is really enough for me." Huang Xiaochuan didn't care what he drank, but the air conditioning in the grocery store was very powerful, making him feel very comfortable.

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan didn't seem to be faking it, Qin Yu stopped trying to persuade him.

Before long, the drinks and cold beverages that the group ordered were served. Goodness, Ren Yangyang's order was comparable to Yu Wei's; he's someone who doesn't care about getting a stomachache from eating bad food.

Qin Yu ordered a fruit ice cream cup, while Huang Xiaochuan had a can of cola in front of him.

Ren Yangyang seems to be a foodie; she's not ladylike at all when she eats.

She finished off a cup of ice cream in no time, and then started battling it out with a large block of ice cream.

After swallowing the large ice cube, he slowed down and began sipping Sprite through a straw.

It was only when Huang Xiaochuan was with them that he felt the unbridled spirit of youth, even though his mental age was already that of an old man.

The group ate, drank, and chatted.

Among the group, Ren Yangyang was the most talkative, and she was always the one who started the conversation.

She said, biting her straw, "I heard that university freshmen in Shanghai have to do military training and target practice!"

This topic particularly intrigued Yu Wei, who asked Ren Yangyang with surprise, "Really?"

Ren Yangyang responded to him with a touch of pride: "Of course, my cousin told me that he was in charge of military training for Shanghai University students when he was in the army, and live-fire target practice was one of the components."

Yu Wei served in the army with Lao Yu when he was a child and handled guns, but it was so long ago that his memory is not very clear. However, boys like rifles and cannons, which is because they watched too many war movies when they were young.

I remember when Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Wei were in elementary school, they imitated a people's hero who held a dynamite charge to blow up a bunker, shouting, "For the new country, forward!"

It's quite interesting to think about. Back then, the game boys loved to play most was war. Charge! Kill! Everyone wanted to be a hero. Nobody wanted to be a Japanese soldier or a traitor. The hero complex permeated every boy's childhood.

The content of military training varies slightly from place to place. Some places may not have shooting as a training subject. Huang Xiaochuan knows that every university in Shanghai had this training subject from the 1980s to the early 1990s.

In his past life, he had also fired five bullets, but unfortunately, the training time was too rushed, and none of the five bullets hit the target, resulting in him being bald. However, bald people like Huang Xiaochuan made up the vast majority of the new students. Only a few children of soldiers who had handled guns due to family reasons or a few lucky ones who got lucky by sheer chance had a few shots that hit the target.

Hearing about the opportunity to shoot targets, Yu Wei perked up and boasted, "I used to shoot targets with my dad when I was in the army as a kid, but it was a pistol, a small Type 64, and the bullet casings were made of pure copper. Huang Xiaochuan even saw it." Worried that his words weren't convincing, he even asked Huang Xiaochuan to vouch for him.

"Xiaochuan, you've seen those bullet casings before."

Huang Xiaochuan nodded in agreement: "Yu Wei wasn't bragging. His dad was a battalion commander who was demobilized back then. This kid always shows off those bullet casings in front of us, making us drool."

Then Huang Xiaochuan changed the subject: "But as for whether Yu Wei fired the gun himself, I don't know, since I wasn't there at the time. I think, what kind of unreliable person would let a five-year-old child fire a pistol weighing over a pound? Anyway, my Uncle Yu doesn't seem like that kind of person."

Ren Yangyang has a low threshold for laughter, and when she heard Huang Xiaochuan seriously betray Yu Wei, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan had exposed his boasting, Yu Wei, somewhat embarrassed and angry in front of the two young girls, said, "You just wait, I'm not going to fight for pride. Even though we're not from the same school, if there's a shooting component in this year's military training, let's find some witnesses and see who scores more rings. The loser treats everyone to dinner, and the winner gets to choose the venue. You dare to compete?"

Logically speaking, if one of two hot-blooded young people issues a challenge, the other will usually accept. However, Huang Xiaochuan did not play by the rules.

He said, "You just want to have a nice meal, right? I'll treat you without any competition. You win, okay?"

It felt like punching cotton, making Yu Wei extremely uncomfortable. He had originally wanted to show off in front of the girl, but now Huang Xiaochuan had directly admitted defeat. But why did he feel like he was the one who had lost?