Chapter 92: Instant Noodles and Watermelons

Next up was another war film, Railway Guardians, which had only been released this year. Like the previous one, it was about the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

The movie told the story of Gao Jian, a security department chief during the war, who went undercover as an enemy spy to foil a plot to blow up a railway. He ultimately captured the spies and removed a bomb from a train.

This reminded Zhou Yimin of a joke one of his past-life teachers had told.

Back in those days, when a village played a movie for the first time, it was a war film. After it ended, some villagers actually ran behind the screen to search for shell casings.

His grandpa and grandma nearly couldn’t stand up, so Zhou Yimin quickly reached out to support them.

Both films were about 100 minutes long. The first one in particular ran for over 120 minutes—nearly two hours.

So by the time the movies ended, it was already very late. They started around 7 PM and didn’t finish until close to 11 PM.

To people of the future, 11 PM is nothing—nightlife’s just getting started! But in this era, that was already deep into the night.

If it hadn’t been for the movie being so engaging, some people would have fallen asleep.

Even if someone felt sleepy, they forced themselves to stay awake—after all, movies didn’t come around often. Missing even a single shot felt like a loss.

Third Uncle and Third Aunt held Laicai by the hand, carrying Qianqian as they walked back with the rest of the villagers.

That’s right! This time, Zhou Yimin had Laifu ride in the bike, and Laicai walked.

Though Laifu was more sensible, he couldn’t favor one over the other.

“Comrades, thanks a lot!” Zhou Yimin thanked the four young men and handed each of them a cigarette.

“You’re too kind, really.”

The four young men grinned from ear to ear, not willing to light up at all. They carefully pocketed the cigarettes.

Zhou Yimin made sure Grandma was seated properly, and Laifang sat in the front again.

The moon was bright enough to roughly make out the road. Plus, Zhou Yimin had prepared a lamp, so riding a bicycle at night posed no issue.

At the time, a popular gadget was the friction-powered bicycle light, installed on the bike with a small generator mounted below. The spinning tire powered the generator, which in turn lit the lamp.

Basically, there were just two key components: the friction generator and the lamp.

The generator was fixed to the bicycle fork with a mounting bracket and included a protective casing that could rotate around it.

There was a protrusion on the front of the casing, and the lamp could be attached to it, allowing the beam to be adjusted and integrating the light and generator into a single unit.

The concept wasn’t complicated—anyone with a bit of hands-on skill could assemble one themselves.

After dropping off the elderly couple at home, Zhou Yimin had to take a shower—otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

The next morning, he woke up and glanced at the “1 Yuan Flash Sale” section in his mental store: 100 jin of instant noodles, and 100 watermelons.

Instant noodles were invented in 1958, but they hadn’t yet reached mainland China. It would be 1964 before a Taiwanese merchant brought them over, and they wouldn’t be produced in the Beijing until 1970.

In fact, back in the Qing Dynasty, there had already been a prototype of instant noodles in China.

Zhou Yimin figured instant noodles were worth exploring.

After all, this stuff was hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

The moment it launched, it sold explosively, symbolizing an era of rapid economic growth. It spread across numerous countries.

It would be a great opportunity to earn foreign exchange.

China was extremely short on foreign currency—then, now, and all the way through the 80s and 90s.

The instant noodle market was huge; he couldn’t let the Japanese have it all.

As someone who’d come back from the future, Zhou Yimin knew instant noodles weren’t hard to make.

It was just about steaming and frying cut noodles to fix their shape. The seasoning packets were simple too—just a few basic ingredients.

In other words, it was a low-tech product.

And in this era, it was entirely possible to produce.

As for watermelons—they were perfect for summer too.

After finishing the breakfast Grandma made him, Zhou Yimin returned to the city.

When he got back to the courtyard, Dapeng was gone—off having fun somewhere, no doubt.

Zhou Yimin left some supplies in his room.

Thinking it over, he also took out two watermelons. Even without a word, Dapeng would understand—they were meant for him and Li Youde.

“Yimin, just got back?”

As he walked into the middle courtyard, he bumped into Li Youde.

Zhou Yimin told him, “I left two watermelons at Dapeng’s—one’s for you. Go grab it later. Oh, and I’ve got a favor to ask.”

Li Youde nodded. “Sure. What is it?”

If it was something Zhou Yimin needed, it was as good as done—no need to talk about favors.

“The village school’s short on textbooks. I need you to collect used ones, from first to third grade—any editions from the past two years. Try to get ten or twenty of each.”

“No problem!”

It wasn’t a hard task. Just canvassing their street could yield plenty.

Zhou Yimin pulled out a ten-yuan bill.

Li Youde shook his head. “I’ve got change.”

If Zhou gave him a ten, it’d actually make things harder. Besides, to collect some discarded textbooks, you didn’t need money—just offer a few sweets and the kids would eagerly hand them over.

Zhou Yimin didn’t push it and put the money away.

“Then get it done today.”

With that, he headed back inside, while Li Youde went off to do the errand. As for the watermelon, he’d go pick it up from Dapeng later.

A short while later, Zhou Yimin went out again.

This time, he was going to Director Li’s place—as promised.

Director Li also lived in the courtyard, nothing particularly special. When no one else was around on the way, Zhou Yimin pulled out two watermelons and two bags of milk powder.

“Young man, who are you looking for?” someone in the courtyard asked.

“Auntie, does Director Li live here?” Zhou Yimin took out a few pieces of candy and offered them to the woman.

A little courtesy never hurt!

The woman’s face lit up with a smile.

“Looking for Director Li, huh? She lives in the back courtyard. I’ll take you.”

As they walked, she probed for the reason he was visiting.

She had already guessed from the watermelons in his hands—he probably wanted a favor from Director Li. You don’t show up with gifts for nothing.

Zhou Yimin smiled. “She’s my aunt, but this is my first time visiting.”

The woman didn’t quite believe it.

When they reached the back courtyard, she called out, “Xiao Li, this young man says he’s looking for your mother, Director Li—claims she’s his aunt…”

Before she finished, a young woman who had been hanging laundry lit up in surprise. “You’re Yimin? Come in, quick!”

Then she turned to the older woman. “Thanks so much, Aunt Chen! He’s our relative—first time here.”

The old woman: “……”

So he was family after all!

“No need to bring gifts!” Guo Li scolded gently.

“Cousin-in-law, someone else gave me the watermelon—I’m just re-gifting. Where’s my aunt? Still at work?” Zhou Yimin smiled and set the watermelon down.

Each one weighed nearly 20 jin—a very large watermelon in this era.

Inside, there was a man prepping ingredients.

Zhou Yimin took one look and guessed it was Director Li’s son, so he called out, “Cousin, busy?”

(End of Chapter)