Since Xu Mingxuan was taking her back to the valley, Chen Lan wanted him to spend the New Year at home with the children. The twins were ten years old this year and had never had a reunion New Year with their biological father. Her mother-in-law also hadn't had a reunion New Year with her own son for over ten years. It was a bit of a regret.
Chen Lan thought that people were greedy creatures. It was fine not to have expectations, but once expectations arose, they would become greedy and want more.
So Chen Lan started planning in her mind. She needed to figure out when New Year's Eve of 1960 was and reasonably plan Xu Mingxuan's half-month holiday so he could spend a reunion New Year with the children and his mother with peace of mind.
With this thought, Chen Lan used her mind to order a traditional Chinese almanac from the system. She took it out from the system warehouse, sat up, put on a thick cotton coat, and eagerly began to flip through it. Her actions startled Xu Mingxuan. He quickly helped Chen Lan put on her coat, sat up himself, and put on his own coat. He asked, "Lan'er, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Chen Lan shook her head and replied, "Mingxuan Ge, I'm fine. I'm not uncomfortable, so don't worry! I just want to see when the New Year is this year."
Xu Mingxuan said with a hint of rebuke, "You! You're always so jumpy. The New Year will come when it's time to celebrate it. Do you still need to look at the almanac? Lan'er, you're pregnant now, so take care of yourself, understand?"
Chen Lan nodded and turned the almanac to January 1960. She found that New Year's Eve in '60 was January 27th, which meant New Year would be celebrated on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, and there would be no thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month this year.
So Chen Lan pointed to January 18th on the almanac and said, "Mingxuan Ge, let's buy sleeper tickets from Suifenhe to Changchun for January 18th, which is the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month."
Xu Mingxuan asked with some confusion, "Lan'er, why are you only buying tickets for January 18th? Why don't we buy tickets two days earlier so we can get home sooner?"
Chen Lan replied with a smug look, "Mingxuan Ge, I've arranged it this way specifically because I want you to have ample time to spend with the children and mother-in-law during both the minor and major New Year celebrations."
Hearing Chen Lan's words, Xu Mingxuan also looked nostalgic, sighing, "Yes! Since joining the army, I haven't spent a New Year with you all for over ten years! Lan'er, I'm sorry! I've never had the time to be with you, to watch the children grow up, or to be by the side of the elders at home."
Chen Lan patted Xu Mingxuan's hand to comfort him. "Mingxuan Ge, in this world, someone always has to sacrifice the small for the greater good. And you are the one who chose to do that. However, let's make a deal now. Once everything is on the right track, you'll hang up your uniform and return to be with me and the children."
Xu Mingxuan nodded and promised very solemnly, "Lan'er, when that day comes, you won't even have to say it. I guarantee I'll quickly submit a report to apply to come home and be with you."
The remaining days were spent on preparation, and Xu Mingxuan became even busier. The study tasks he assigned to the soldiers were clearly laid out every day: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were for learning general knowledge, Tuesdays and Thursdays for technical theory, and Sundays for ideological education.
One day, it had been dark for a long time, and the stew in the pot had been reheated twice. Xu Mingxuan and Er Zhuang finally came in from outside. Chen Lan didn't ask them why they were so late today. Instead, she immediately got up and poured them a basin of hot water, telling them to take off their gloves and hats, wash their faces with hot water to warm up, and then she brought the steaming hot dinner to the kang table.
Xu Mingxuan and Er Zhuang each ate a bowl of hot stew with gusto before they recovered. Xu Mingxuan reached into his embrace, took out a paper package, and handed it to Chen Lan, who was sitting beside him. Chen Lan opened the package with confusion and immediately beamed with joy. It turned out the paper package contained the second series of Renminbi.
Now she could finally see the true appearance of the 1953 series Renminbi. Chen Lan carefully picked up a set and looked at it. The largest denomination of the 1953 series Renminbi was ten yuan, known later as the "Big Black Ten." The smallest denomination was one fen. A total of eleven denominations were issued in the set.
Chen Lan carefully picked up a three-yuan banknote, her heart filled with excitement. She had finally seen the "Green Three Yuan," which is now worth as much as thirty thousand yuan in the collection market.
Chen Lan finally got a clear look at the three-yuan banknote. The entire three-yuan banknote was light green, slightly larger than the one-yuan banknote currently circulating. The front had the traditional Chinese characters for "three yuan" at both ends. At the top of the left and right ends were Arabic numerals "3." Above the center were the six characters "People's Bank of China." The center depicted a stone bridge, with dark green floral borders around the bridge and a yellow background. The back of the three-yuan banknote featured the national emblem and floral patterns, with the characters "People's Bank of China Three Yuan" in Han, Uyghur, Mongolian, and Tibetan languages in the center.
Xu Mingxuan saw Chen Lan looking down and admiring each banknote repeatedly, so he asked, "Lan'er, will these money really be worth a lot in a few decades?"
Chen Lan nodded, picked up a red five-yuan note, and said, "This red five yuan will be worth twenty thousand yuan in a few decades, an increase of four thousand times. But scarcity drives value, right? It's valuable because there are few of them. Corn flour at the grain store now costs just over a dime a jin. It's just that there's no grain for sale at the store due to the drought. In a few decades, there will be plenty of grain, but it will cost several yuan a jin then. Prices will have also risen thirty to forty times. These daily necessities have risen the least; some items have even increased hundreds of times."
Hearing this, Xu Mingxuan became a little confused and asked, "Lan'er, since money won't be worth much then, let's just keep a little as a souvenir. Do you really plan to sell them later? Will anyone even buy them? I doubt it."
Chen Lan replied nonchalantly, "Mingxuan Ge, you don't understand the psychology of the wealthy at that time. Everything will be collected then; the rarer something is, the more valuable it will be. Just you wait and see! Anyway, I'm going to get a set for each of the children, including the one I'm carrying and my own. You just wait and enjoy the good life with me!"
At this point, Er Zhuang chimed in enthusiastically, "I believe Sister-in-law. I'm also going to prepare a few sets as heirlooms for my son."
Chen Lan praised him with a smile, "Er Zhuang, out of everyone here, you're the smartest. With the money we have now, we can save up enough by simply being thrifty! But things will be different in a few decades. Remember, you still owe me a big meal."
Er Zhuang repeatedly said, "No, I won't forget. I remember!"