1970s: My childhood sweetheart ran away, and I turned around and married the wildest chief.

Lu Mingzhou was already in enough trouble, but the military's attitude was too obvious, and the marriage application was approved so quickly. There must be a reason for this.

Bai Wei suppressed her anger. She knew that someone in the army wanted to bring this couple together, whether for Qiao Wanqing or Lu Mingzhou. The fact was that the two were already married, and at this point, she could no longer keep Qiao Wanqing.

With Lu Mingzhou's attitude so firm, Bai Wei couldn't maintain her composure. She forced a smile and said, "In that case, congratulations, Commander Lu. Comrade Qiao Wanqing is a talented person. I just appreciate his talent. I hope that Comrade Qiao Wanqing will not give up on himself in the future and will come out to contribute to the construction of our country as soon as possible."

After submitting the report, Lu Mingzhou took Qiao Wanqing to the city.

Although there are plenty of food stores and other amenities not far from the residential compound, the department store is in the city center. Fortunately, the residential compound is not far from the city center, only a 20-minute drive away.

Beichuan is a large and bustling city. The department store here has seven floors and a wide variety of goods. People with money and tickets like to shop here because they can buy many rare items that cannot be found elsewhere.

The two went straight to the second floor, where there were many ready-made clothes, fabrics, yarns, shoes, watches, and so on—all essential items for a wedding.

At that time, it was fashionable for city dwellers to bring "three turns and one sound" when getting married: a watch, a bicycle, a sewing machine, and a radio.

Qiao Wanqing already had a bicycle, and she didn't need a radio since they had a TV at home. So Lu Mingzhou took her straight to the watch counter. A watch was an essential item for a wedding, and he wanted to buy his wife a good one.

Domestically produced watches, such as the common Shanghai brand, cost a little over 100 yuan and require a receipt. Imported watches like Rolex and Omega cost 500 or 600 yuan, which are considered high-priced items, but they don't require a receipt.

These items were specifically prepared by the government for wealthy people to quickly recoup funds. Lu Mingzhou had a Rolex that he had bought a few years ago. Young military officers had high salaries and good benefits, and unmarried officers were even better off with only one person to feed and no family to worry about. Most of these expensive imported watches were bought by this group.

Qiao Wanqing has a Shanghai brand watch on her wrist, which she bought after returning to China. She also has imported watches, but they are mostly kept in her space. After returning to China, she became much more low-key, and she only keeps watches to make it easier to tell time.

Her online space is filled with hundreds of watches from various brands; they are her treasured possessions.

"How about these two? Do you like them?" Lu Mingzhou picked out two pieces and recommended them to her.

Qiao Wanqing took a look and thought the design was pretty good. She glanced at the one on Lu Mingzhou's wrist and said, "How about I buy you one too, so we can each have one?"

Lu Mingzhou shook his head, "I already have that, and there's a plum blossom one in the dorm, that's enough."

Titoni watches are also imported, but they are much cheaper than Rolex watches, costing around 300 yuan each.

Lu Mingzhou really doesn't lack watches. When he was on missions abroad, he plundered quite a few from foreigners and sold them all. With more money, he naturally bought new ones.

Besides the two commonly used pieces, there are a few more that have been hidden away.

Qiao Wanqing thought for a moment and asked the sales clerk, "Do you have matching couple styles?"

The teller, who had been admiring the two men's good looks, snapped back to reality upon hearing this. "Oh? Yes, yes, please wait a moment!"

The clerk was a young girl who couldn't help but steal glances at Qiao Wanqing and Lu Mingzhou as she went to get the watch.

So beautiful! Absolutely so beautiful! I came to buy a wedding watch; two such good-looking people are getting married! She saw two at once.

She should take a closer look!

Two pairs of couple watches were displayed on the counter in front of me: one pair was Omega, and the other was Patek Philippe.

Although she had many watches, wedding watches were still different. Qiao Wanqing examined them for a long time and finally settled on an Omega. She said to Lu Mingzhou, "How about this pair? We'll each take one."

It's a matching couple's item! Lu Mingzhou likes it.

"Then I'll take this one."

Five hundred and sixty yuan per piece, a total of one thousand one hundred and twenty yuan, Lu Mingzhou took out his money to pay the bill.

After buying the watch, they went to buy clothes. These days, ready-made clothes are scarce and expensive; most people prefer to buy fabric and make their own at home. Qiao Wanqing has a lot of clothes, but Lu Mingzhou's opinion remained the same: they had to buy some new ones for the wedding.

Finally, she spotted two coats that caught her eye, and this time Qiao Wanqing's eyes really lit up.

A long, burgundy cashmere coat. In this day and age, it's rare to see such a pure, bright red. Children's clothes are usually more red, while adults' clothes are mostly in more conservative colors.

The one in front of her wasn't a true red, but a more sophisticated wine red. The color and the design would still be fashionable even in later years, and Qiao Wanqing took a liking to it at first sight.

"This looks nice, what do you think?" Qiao Wanqing asked.

Lu Mingzhou also liked it and said with a smile, "You'll definitely look good in it. Buy it and wear it to your wedding; it'll be festive!"

There's also a gray and white plaid coat, the cut and fabric of which are both very good. This one is much more understated, and the plaid color scheme is very sophisticated.

Most of the plaid patterns in that era were red and blue, and due to the limitations of the craftsmanship, the color scheme often looks outdated from a modern perspective.

We live in an era of polarization. Some things are exceptionally good, elegant and sophisticated, and will never go out of style for decades. Other things are fashionable now, but will look outdated in a decade or two.

Lu Mingzhou immediately took a liking to it. "This one is nice too. The color is more understated and suitable for everyday wear. Let's buy them together so we can have one to exchange."

Qiao Wanqing glanced at him, and finally, the burgundy coat cost 195 yuan, the gray and white checkered one cost 180 yuan, and cloth coupons were also required. Lu Mingzhou took out his money to pay.

Qiao Wanqing paid for a gray sailor collar coat for Lu Mingzhou. The color and style were both excellent, and Qiao Wanqing took a liking to it at first glance. "This looks good. I'll knit you a sweater underneath it later."

When Lu Mingzhou heard that his wife wanted to knit him a sweater, he was overjoyed and excitedly dragged her to buy yarn.

In those days, due to production capacity issues, industrial products were generally very expensive. Yarn was much more expensive than many fabrics. Wool yarn cost twenty yuan per kilogram, and blended yarn cost ten yuan per kilogram. Qiao Wanqing chose black and navy blue yarn, and bought five kilograms of each.

Lu Mingzhou frowned. "Is that all you're buying?"

There are also better-looking colors like military green, yellow, and pink.

Qiao Wanqing smiled and said, "I have plenty of these in my dowry, I'm just missing these two colors, these are enough."

Lu Mingzhou was taken aback. "Dowry?"

Qiao Wanqing nodded, "Yes, my parents started preparing my dowry a long time ago. They were worried that something might happen, so they kept it in my brother's dormitory. It includes blankets, fabrics, and yarn."