The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Big brother, this candy is so sweet!"

Zhao Xiaole peeled off the cellophane, licked the green candy, and smiled so much that his eyes narrowed.

"Mmm! It's sweet and sour. Xiao Le, what does the green candy taste like? Second Brother, what does the yellow candy taste like?"

Zhao Xiaoyue licked the red hard candy in her hand and carefully put away the remaining yellow and green candies as if they were precious treasures.

The red fruit candies were sweet and sour, much sweeter than the orange candies and candies she used to eat.

Although her eldest brother bought her one of each, she still wanted to try her second brother's and her little cousin's.

"It's sweet and sour!"

Zhao Xiaole replied.

"Xiao Le, let me try yours!"

Zhao Xiaoyue chuckled and began to coax her little cousin.

"No way! Big brother, you bought them all for us, and now you want to eat mine too. Humph!"

Zhao Xiaole snorted and turned her head away.

"Second Brother!"

Seeing that her younger cousin wasn't falling for it, Zhao Xiaoyue immediately looked longingly at her second brother.

"Hey! Here, lick it! But don't eat it!"

Looking at his younger sister's expression, Zhao Shijie took out the candy with a sense of helplessness.

"Hehe! Second brother, you're so nice!"

Zhao Xiaoyue chuckled and opened her blood-red mouth to bite down, only to find nothing in her mouth; she had missed her target.

Seeing his little sister's mouth open so wide, Zhao Shijie quickly withdrew his hand.

"Second brother, what are you doing?"

Zhao Xiaoyue asked, puzzled.

"You're opening your mouth so wide, what if I bite it and crush it?"

"Alright, alright, stop fooling around. Didn't I buy them for you all?"

Xiaoyue, stop thinking about your second brother and little sister's candy.

Seeing his younger sister's actions, Zhao Shi'an found it somewhat amusing; children are all greedy.

When we were buying candy, the little ones wanted all the candy they saw.

He looked around and found that he didn't recognize most of the candies. The cheapest one was only 50 yuan. After looking at the color of the candy, he gave up.

However, it was this "Assorted Fruit Candy" that caught his attention.

The red, yellow, and green fruit hard candies, wrapped in transparent cellophane and placed in a large, clear glass jar, are quite eye-catching.

This candy was produced by Yili Food Company. Last year, it was even used to comfort soldiers on the battlefield, which made it famous. The name of the assorted candy was changed to "comfort candy", and it became a trend among children.

Compared to "comfort candy," it has a more resounding name—Sour Tricolor! It once became a childhood memory for several generations.

Seeing that the famous sour tricolor was now available, Zhao Shi'an tried one and found that it was much more sour than the current sugar, and much less sweet. He found it much better after getting used to it.

The candies come in three colors: red, yellow, and green, corresponding to the flavors of strawberry, lemon, and apple, respectively.

Lemons and apples are fine, but strawberries are rare in this era. They are extremely rare imported fruits, expensive, and only sold in high-end places like Wangfujing.

"Hehe! Big brother, I'm just trying them out! I'll eat them in rotation! That way I can try all three flavors at once. Don't believe me? Ask second brother!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyue quickly began to explain.

"Big brother, Xiaoyue is right!"

Zhao Shijie nodded quickly upon hearing this.

"Oh, I see! Are you still going to the bookstore? If not, stay here and play, don't go out onto the street, okay?"

Zhao Shi'an nodded after hearing this, understanding his younger sister's actions. Children always think the candy in someone else's hand is sweeter than the same candy, especially since the colors are different.

"Let's go! Big brother, let's go!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyue immediately ran to her older brother's side.

"Big brother, I'm going too!"

"And me!"

"Let's go! Shijie and Shixiong, keep an eye on your sister!"

Seeing that all four of them were going, Zhao Shi'an called out and took the lead towards the bookstore!

"Oh! Off to the bookstore!"

The four little ones, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie, were very happy. They skipped and jumped behind their eldest brother, taking turns eating candy. After trying all of them, Zhao Xiaole put the candy in his mouth, licked the transparent glass candy wrapper, and carefully put the wrapper away.

The group arrived at Jinyuchi Street, walked west through several narrow alleys, and then headed north for about ten minutes to reach Chongwenmen.

The Xinhua Bookstore at the intersection is already in sight, and there are many children inside the bookstore with its gray brick walls and wooden-framed glass windows.

"Brother, the bookstore is packed!"

Zhao Xiaoyue was puzzled to see the crowd gathered in the bookstore.

"They're all here to read books, let's go in too. Shijie, Shixiong, you two follow!"

Zhao Shi'an pulled his two younger sisters along and walked quickly toward the bookstore.

"Here you are, big brother!"

Upon hearing their elder brother's call, Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong hurriedly followed.

Zhao Shi'an led his two younger sisters to the entrance and looked at the Xinhua Bookstore in front of them.

There are two steps of bluestone at the entrance, and two heavy wooden doors that are wide open. Above the door is a wooden plaque with red background and white characters. The five large characters "Xinhua Bookstore" written by Chairman Mao are bright and shiny, shining in the sunlight!

The bookstore was about seven or eight meters wide, which was a very luxurious shop in this era.

Zhao Shi'an looked around for a moment, then led his two younger sisters into the bookstore.

Upon entering the bookstore, near the entrance, the dark brown bookshelves display works by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, as well as selected works, policy documents, and current affairs pamphlets, all arranged through transparent glass. The red spines of these books are striking and dignified.

Looking up, you can see slogans like "Serve the People" and "March towards Science and Culture," and the walls are adorned with portraits of leaders and propaganda posters promoting Sino-Soviet friendship.

The store is lined with seven or eight rows of glass bookshelves, arranged in a circle along the wall, with two more rows standing vertically in the middle. The entire cabinet is more than two meters high, the glass is polished to a shine, the spines of the books are stacked straight, and the classification labels are written neatly in small regular script with a brush.

A wide passageway was left in the middle, the floor was made of worn-out blue bricks, a tin spittoon stood in the corner, and a feather duster was placed on the counter.

The ceiling was whitewashed, with several tungsten filament lamps hanging from it.

"Big brother, I want to read a comic book! Second brother and Shixiong have both gone."

Zhao Xiaoyue saw her eldest brother looking around and then saw her two older brothers running to the children's bookstore, craning their necks to look at the books with a group of kids. She immediately became anxious.

"Let's go over there!"

Zhao Shi'an let go of her hand and followed her two younger sisters to the bookshelf of comic books and children's books.

Several sample books were displayed outside the bookshelf. Early-arriving children picked up the sample books and flipped through them. There were three or four little heads in front of each book, and the children behind could only crane their necks to see.

Some readers urged the others to turn the page quickly in whispers.

Zhao Shi'an noticed that his younger siblings were craning their necks and standing outside, unable to squeeze in, but even so, the four little ones were still having a great time.

Seeing this, Zhao Shi'an instructed his two younger brothers:

"Watch over your little sister, I'm going to buy books."

"Big brother, you go about your business, I'll watch over them."

Zhao Shixiong and Zhao Shijie agreed in unison.

"Big brother, go buy the books quickly, we'll wait for you here!"

Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole also spoke.

"Okay, I'll come find you after I buy it!"

Zhao Shi'an found it somewhat amusing to see the four little ones not even looking up. From their perspective, all he could see were the backs of the children's heads. The picture books were so small, barely the size of a palm, that he couldn't even see the pictures, yet they were reading them so intently!

His younger siblings' reactions reminded him of when he was a child, going to his neighbor's house with a TV and squeezing in with a group of kids to watch the Journey to the West cartoon.

Thinking back on the past, Zhao Shi'an planned to buy the past college entrance examination papers and a comic book for his younger siblings, which would surely make the little ones happy for several days!

Leaving the bookshelves filled with comic books and serialized books, Zhao Shi'an searched according to the labels and quickly found the bookshelf with middle school students' materials.

Books were precious in this era, as evidenced by the layout of Xinhua Bookstore. Brown bookshelves were covered with a layer of transparent glass, and the books were all kept in glass cabinets. To buy a book, you had to ask a staff member to take it from you, making it seem like you were going to a gold shop rather than a bookstore.

Except for the bookshelf containing comic books, which had sample books, the other bookshelves did not display sample books.

This method of meticulously protecting books is completely different from modern bookstores.

Zhao Shi'an searched for a while but couldn't find the actual college entrance exam questions he was looking for, and his heart sank.

Special review materials like past college entrance exam questions are not available in small bookstores; you can only find them at Xinhua Bookstore.

The Xinhua Bookstore near Chongwenmen is the closest to his home. If it's not there, you can only ask at the Xinhua Bookstores near Wangfujing or Qianmen, as those stores are larger and have a wider variety of products.

Thinking of this, he immediately found the staff member in the store who was wearing a Lenin suit and had blue cloth sleeves on his arms.

"Hello comrade! I'd like to ask if you have the 52 and 53 college entrance examination papers?"

"Hey kid, you're so young and already in your senior year of high school? That's amazing!"

"The college entrance exam papers, right? Yes, which kind do you want? I'll get them for you!"

"I just want to take a look beforehand. By the way, what are the prices?"

Zhao Shi'an gave a casual explanation, not understanding what the shop assistant meant, and tentatively asked about the price.

"You're planning ahead, classmate, you're sure to get into university!"

We have two types: mimeographed sets are 1500 yuan each, and letterpress sets are 2500 yuan each. Which one would you like?