Chen Xiaolin quickly put all her things into her space. She planned to pack a big parcel tomorrow and put the milk powder and padded jackets on top.
It was already late, and Chen Xiaolin was too lazy to cook, so she took out a portion of fresh meat wontons from the space to eat.
Chen Xiaolin loved wontons. Back when she was stockpiling, she had even stored a hundred jin of wonton wrappers. She planned to finish all the cooked wontons first and then make more with different fillings, or maybe even fry some, which wouldn’t be bad.
After finishing her dinner, Chen Xiaolin filled a pot with the spiritual spring water. She intended to boil some water and put it in a thermos so she could have hot water on the train later. Since it would stay warm in the space, she could just take it out when she got on the train.
Chen Xiaolin packed her summer clothes and some miscellaneous items into a suitcase. She planned that the day after tomorrow, she would bring one suitcase, one big parcel, and a small parcel with some food, leaving the rest in the space.
She didn’t touch much inside the house. Liu Aihong was very familiar with the place, and she would notice if anything was missing. To avoid revealing the space, Chen Xiaolin only tidied up small items. The larger items were left for Zhou Jianguo to use or locked in Chen Dazhu and his wife’s room.
Chen Xiaolin decided to lock Chen Dazhu and Cheng Xin’s room. She moved some old clothes, old quilts, and a few keepsakes into their room.
As for the other rooms, she left them unlocked for Zhou Aiguo and his wife. Even when she eventually returned to the city, Chen Xiaolin didn’t really want to live here anymore—too many memories made it feel oppressive. Once the reforms came, she planned to tear it down and rebuild a five-story building to rent out, which wouldn’t be bad.
After organizing her things, Chen Xiaolin went back into the space to keep busy.
Outside, it was completely dark, but the space remained bright. It was a pity there was no sunlight inside. Chen Xiaolin was curious about where the light came from, but no one ever answered her.
She found ten large plastic bins in the warehouse, planning to harvest the strawberries from that one plot first.
Eating and picking at the same time, the sweet strawberries made her mood feel equally sweet.
After almost two hours, Chen Xiaolin finished picking all the strawberries.
Rubbing her now growling stomach, she decided to eat first before continuing to harvest the rice.
As she gnawed on a chicken leg, she suddenly remembered she had arranged with Chef He at nine o’clock to pick up the baked flatbreads today.
Looking at her watch, the hour hand was about to hit nine.
“Oh no, I haven’t picked up the flatbreads yet!” Chen Xiaolin hurriedly left the space and rushed to the state-run restaurant.
Luckily, her home wasn’t far from the restaurant. At 8:55, she arrived punctually at the kitchen’s back door.
He Cuihong had been waiting there for a long time and finally saw Chen Xiaolin arriving breathlessly.
“Little sister, over here.”
“Sorry, I’m late today.” Chen Xiaolin felt embarrassed for making someone wait. She blamed herself for forgetting her appointment after seeing the strawberries.
“No problem, we just finished making them. What will you use to carry the flatbreads?” He Cuihong asked, noticing Chen Xiaolin’s empty hands. How would she carry so many flatbreads without a bag?
“Oh, my big bamboo basket and cart are over there. I’ll go bring them.” Chen Xiaolin patted her head, realizing how forgetful she always was. Luckily, she had stored her cart in the space while packing today, otherwise she couldn’t have carried all the flatbreads herself.
She found a quiet spot and brought out the cart and her pre-prepared large bamboo baskets.
In the end, Chen Xiaolin pushed three large bamboo baskets full of flatbreads back home. The smell was incredibly tempting.
Back home, she put all three baskets into the space warehouse.
Seeing that it was getting late, she practiced martial arts for half an hour and then returned to the space villa to sleep.
The next day, after breakfast, Chen Xiaolin went out to harvest rice with the harvester.
It took about three hours to harvest the five-mu rice field. Her hands felt almost detached from her body—this was her first time operating such a large machine.
Tomorrow, she would return to her hometown. Today, Chen Xiaolin planned to visit the supply and marketing cooperative. She left the space around 10 a.m.
She didn’t rush along the way; she wanted to carefully look at the city since she wouldn’t return for another seven years.
When she arrived at the cooperative, there happened to be defective fabric being sold without receipts. The place was packed with people.
Chen Xiaolin didn’t plan to buy fabric; she had more than enough in her space. She didn’t bother squeezing through the crowd.
Most people went upstairs to buy fabric, leaving few on the first floor to buy miscellaneous goods. Chen Xiaolin bought two large bags of matches, a kerosene lamp, and a bottle of kerosene.
She didn’t buy a flashlight; she already had one at home and had stocked many during her previous hoarding.
Chen Xiaolin also bought two pounds of defective White Rabbit milk candies, a bottle for oil, soy sauce, and salt.
By the time she finished shopping and stepped outside, the defective fabric upstairs had sold out. Many people had missed out and headed home dejected.
Chen Xiaolin felt helpless about the scarcity of goods in these times. Although she lacked nothing herself, she had to use things secretly.
Back home, she put today’s purchases into her packed parcels. Luckily, her martial arts practice had increased her strength; otherwise, she might not have been able to carry so much luggage.
After lunch, Chen Xiaolin took half a watermelon from the space and sat under a tree in the yard, eating and planning her next steps.
She knew she was a bit carefree and not thorough, so after returning home, she would have to live alone.
Living with more people could risk revealing her space, and she wasn’t clever enough to hide it well.
In the afternoon, she practiced martial arts in the yard until her arms were too tired to lift.
The next morning, Chen Xiaolin got up early and prepared a lot of buns and steamed bread, all taken from the space. She also took a box of dumplings to eat later on the train.
Her train left at 7:30 a.m., so she had to leave home by 6:30 a.m.
When she opened the door with her luggage, she saw Liu Aihong and her husband, along with Zhou Jianguo, standing at her doorstep. She didn’t know how long they had been waiting.
“Xiaolin, we’ll see you off to the train station. Here’s your ticket. I couldn’t get a soft sleeper, so I bought you a hard sleeper.” Liu Aihong’s husband handed her the train ticket.
“Thank you, Uncle Zhou. A hard sleeper is already great—I thought I could only get a hard seat!” Chen Xiaolin knew it was nearly impossible to buy any sleeper ticket now, so a hard sleeper was more than enough.