Era: Starting from the local police station

"I'll just take one. Your dad has a watch, but he usually keeps it in his pocket to avoid scratching it."

Jiang's mother handed the Citizen back.

Jiang Zhenghua didn't insist, and took the watch and put it in his pocket.

"Everyone has a watch now. But keep it low-key and don't flaunt it everywhere."

Jiang's mother looked serious and turned to point at her pouting daughter: "Especially you, don't go out showing off your pocket watch."

The group nodded in agreement.

Jiang Qinghe reluctantly nodded and replied, "Mom, I know."

The older brother raised his wrist and asked, "Zhenghua, what time is it? Let me check my watch."

Jiang Zhenghua subconsciously raised his wrist and glanced at it: "My watch is wrong too. Qinghe, check your pocket watch."

"Hehe, what's the use of a pretty watch? It's not even as accurate as mine. I don't want to tell you."

Jiang Qinghe immediately chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

This caused Jiang's mother, who was also preparing to check her watch, to change her expression. She lashed out at her daughter, saying, "I don't see any use for the pocket watch. Why don't you let me keep it and give it to you when you're older?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qinghe's heart skipped a beat, and she thought to herself, "Oh dear, I was so caught up in showing off that I forgot about my mom."

Jiang Zhenghua chuckled and joked, "Mom, I think you're right. My little sister is too young, so she should be confiscated."

Seeing that her mother seemed to be considering the feasibility, Jiang Qinghe immediately reached into her pocket for her pocket watch: "I was just trying to lighten the mood. I'll take a look."

After saying that, he glared at his second brother, then took out his pocket watch, pressed a button, and opened the pocket watch cover.

It's 7:10 now.

The group immediately took their watches and started turning the buttons to calibrate them.

Jiang Qinghe suddenly let out a soft "Eh," then exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, there's even a date on this! Today is August 9th, right?"

Jiang's mother and the other two were startled by her shout and looked up at her.

"Really, it shows up here, look."

As she spoke, Jiang Qinghe showed the pocket watch to the group.

"Let me see it quickly."

The older brother eagerly reached out his hand.

Jiang's mother glanced down at the Roman numeral watch on her wrist and noticed the number '27' displayed next to the dial. She looked at her second son and said, "Zhenghua, this number on my watch..."

Jiang Zhenghua nodded and took the Roman watch from his mother's hand: "It also has a date function. This button is for adjusting the date, and this one next to it is for adjusting the time."

Upon hearing this, the eldest brother handed the pocket watch to Jiang Qinghe and asked curiously, "Mom, yours has a date too?"

He glanced at his own and said, "Why don't I have any?"

The sister-in-law patted her husband: "Having a watch is already pretty good; it's worth over a hundred yuan."

Jiang Zhenghua explained, "Brother and sister-in-law, the ones we gave you are Soviet-made and don't have a date display function. Mom's is Western, so it does."

Jiang's mother owns a high-end watch from the brand Roma.

Jiang Qinghe interjected, "Big brother, how about we switch?"

Jiang's mother gently patted the back of her head: "Why change it? Those are two identical watches given to you by your second brother. It's fine for the two of you to wear them together."

Upon hearing this, the older brother felt the cold gaze beside him and immediately replied, "That's right, these are a pair, we're not trading them."

After saying that, he turned to his wife and said ingratiatingly, "Right, honey?"

His sister-in-law rolled her eyes at him: "It's already past seven o'clock, hurry up and finish eating or we'll be late for work."

Jiang Qinghe stuck out her tongue, carefully put the pocket watch into her pocket, and picked up her corn porridge to drink.

Soon, the older brother and his wife finished eating and left.

Jiang Zhenghua slurped down his corn porridge and munched on his cornbread.

At this moment, Jiang's father strode in, carrying a burlap sack in his hand.

He carefully placed the bag on the table and instructed, "There's a bottle of Fenjiu liquor in here. Take it to the director of the neighborhood office when you leave. Your mother has some cigarette coupons. Use some of those to buy a few packs of good cigarettes and give them to your superiors at work."

Jiang Zhenghua stood up and replied, "I understand. Dad, please eat your meal."

Mr. Jiang waved his hand and said to Mrs. Jiang, "I don't have time to eat. I'll just pack two cornbread buns to eat on the way, and I'll have lunch at the factory."

"It's already prepared for you."

Jiang's mother picked up a net bag from the side; inside were two metal lunchboxes.

Jiang's father took the net and instructed, "The street office opens at eight o'clock. Zheng Hua, you should go there early too, and find Director Liang of Yu'er Street Office. You know him, he's the former officer Liang from the Military Control Commission."

Jiang Zhenghua replied, "I understand."

Jiang's father nodded, turned around, and quickly left.

Watching his father hurriedly leave, Jiang Zhenghua asked, "Mom, why didn't we buy a bicycle?"

Jiang's mother sighed and said, "Before, only your father worked in the family. He was a level 5 fitter, and he only earned 66.5 yuan a month. At that time, he was thinking of saving money for you two brothers to get married and for his daughter to go to school, so he couldn't bear to buy it."

Jiang Zhenghua frowned and asked, "When I first joined the army, I sent home relatively little money, but since the year before last, I've been sending back about thirty yuan every month. Together, that's almost a hundred yuan. Our family isn't doing poorly, is they?"

After pouring the last of the porridge on the table to her second son, Jiang's mother explained, "You said it was the year before last. Last year, your eldest brother got married, and we were thinking of buying a bicycle, but who knew that there was a shortage of bicycles last year? People lined up all night at the department store and still couldn't buy one. Later, they bought them directly with coupons, but we couldn't get any coupons at home, so we didn't buy one."

"All right."

Jiang Zhenghua nodded, finished the last mouthful of porridge, and felt a sharp pain in his throat. He quickly poured himself a glass of water and drank it down, which made him feel a little better.

"Here are three Class B cigarette coupons. Do you have any money left? Or should I give you some?"

Jiang's mother came out of the inner room with several receipts in her hand.

Jiang Zhenghua took the receipt and shook his head, saying, "No need, I still have some money on me."

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Household registration booklet, my household registration needs to be re-established. And grain and oil ration booklet, the grain ration will definitely need to be transferred to my home."

Jiang's mother suddenly slapped her forehead: "Oh dear, I was so happy about you having a job that I forgot about such an important thing. I'll go find it right now."

Just as he was about to turn around, he saw his daughter sitting at the dining table fiddling with her pocket watch. He immediately ordered, "Qinghe, clean the table and wash the pots while you're at it. Don't you have any common sense? Can't you see I'm busy helping your brother find something?"

"Okay, I'll get ready right away."

Jiang Qinghe stuck out her tongue and then stood up.

Seeing Jiang's mother turn and walk towards the cabinet on the kang (a heated brick bed), Jiang Zhenghua leaned close to his sister and whispered, "Don't lose this pocket watch. It was seized from an American officer and is better than the ones your older brother and the others have."

"real?"

Jiang Qinghe paused in clearing the dishes, then looked up in surprise.

Jiang Zhenghua nodded emphatically.

Jiang Qinghe's face lit up with joy as she hummed a little tune as she tidied up the tables and chairs.