After dinner, Li Ruolan wanted to clear the plates and dishes to wash them in the kitchen as usual, but this time, just as she stood up, Li Hongjun suddenly spoke.
“Ruolan, I’ve already accepted the betrothal gift from Factory Director Zhang’s family—one hundred yuan and a permanent worker position.
The wedding date has also been set, on the tenth of next month. The wedding is coming up soon, so be obedient. When you get married, I’ll prepare a generous dowry for you.”
Li Ruolan didn’t look up, only said calmly, “I understand.”
Li Hongjun glanced at Li Ruolan a couple more times, and seeing that she wasn’t making a fuss today, nodded in satisfaction and got up to return to his room.
Watching Li Hongjun’s back, Li Ruolan really wanted to smash all the plates and dishes in her hands onto his head. She took two deep breaths before she managed to control herself.
She quickly washed the plates and bowls clean, then returned to her own room, took out a small lock and locked the door, and only then entered the Dimensional Space.
Inside the space, Deng Minghao had already returned. Who knows where he had gotten some burlap sacks from this era and some bamboo baskets—he was busy transferring flour into the sacks.
Li Ruolan took a bamboo basket and went to collect the eggs the hens had laid during this period, putting them into the basket.
Of the 20 chicks Li Ruolan had originally bought, 18 were hens and two were roosters.
Perhaps because they ate well and the temperature was just right in the space, after two months, the chicks started laying eggs. Later, within a month, three hens went broody.
The three hens each hatched ten chicks, so 20 chickens became 50.
After that, more hens kept going broody, but Li Ruolan didn’t allow it—she took the eggs away every time, keeping the chickens, ducks, and geese controlled at under 50.
So during this time, they had saved up a lot of chicken eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs, which would surely sell for quite a bit of money.
After packing the flour, Deng Minghao went into the chicken coop, caught ten hens, and slaughtered them, preparing to sell those ten hens as well.
The two of them busied themselves in the space for half the night, then each drank a big cup of spiritual spring water before leaving the space and returning to their own places to sleep.
At first light the next morning, Li Ruolan opened her eyes. This was a habit left by the original owner—waking at this time every day and going to make breakfast.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Li Ruolan reluctantly dragged herself up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
After breakfast, the Li family members went off to school and work, leaving only Li Ruolan at home.
After thinking it over, Li Ruolan went out to a supply and marketing cooperative quite a distance away. One of her classmates worked there as a sales clerk, and the two of them were on pretty good terms.
When she arrived at the cooperative, Li Ruolan spotted her classmate at a glance—Zhao Xiaomei.
“Zhao Xiaomei? You really did become a sales clerk here! That’s amazing. How is it? Is the work tiring?” Li Ruolan went up and showered her with compliments first.
Zhao Xiaomei was genuinely happy to see Li Ruolan, her eyes full of smiles: “My parents arranged this job for me. It’s not tiring at all, very easy.”
Li Ruolan said enviously, “How nice. It’s been over two months since I graduated, and I still haven’t found a job. Oh, by the way, get me two boxes of vanishing cream.”
“Alright, two boxes of vanishing cream come to forty cents.” Zhao Xiaomei quoted the price to Li Ruolan, who immediately handed over forty cents.
After making her purchase, Li Ruolan lingered, chatting with Zhao Xiaomei for a while, then hesitated, looking as if she didn’t know how to bring something up.
Zhao Xiaomei noticed and gave her a nudge. “Is there something you need? Don’t be shy—if I can help, I will.”
Li Ruolan glanced around, and seeing no one nearby, said quietly to Zhao Xiaomei, “I heard that the supply and marketing cooperative has some defective goods? The kind that doesn’t require ration coupons?”
Hearing this, Zhao Xiaomei immediately understood. “Oh, that’s what you’re after. Sure, we employees are allowed to sell defective goods to our own family and friends. What do you want? I’ll go get it for you.”
“There’s quite a lot I want. Could I go in and look myself?” Li Ruolan asked in a low voice, as if afraid Zhao Xiaomei might refuse.
Seeing her like this, Zhao Xiaomei patted her chest. “Of course you can! Come on, I’ll take you to the warehouse to have a good look around.”
“Xiaomei, thank you so much.” Li Ruolan thanked her at once and followed her to the warehouse.
The warehouse was full of things—all sorts of odds and ends, including quite a few defective goods that really didn’t matter at all.
There were yellow-soled cloth shoes dyed in uneven shades—those labor-protection liberation shoes. Aside from the unattractive uneven coloring, they were perfectly fine.
Li Ruolan picked out six pairs where the flaw was barely noticeable—three pairs for herself and three for Deng Minghao.
There were ceramic teacups with a bit of chipped paint; she bought two large ones and two small ones, along with two enamel washbasins and two army canteens with slight dents.
There were towels in ugly colors and some fabric with misprinted patterns, but the misprints were too obvious, so Li Ruolan didn’t care for those and left them.
After buying a bunch of miscellaneous items, Li Ruolan finally paid and took everything with her.
Before leaving, she gave the two boxes of vanishing cream she’d bought earlier to Zhao Xiaomei as a thank-you gift.
Finding a secluded spot, she stored everything in her Dimensional Space before returning to the Li family home.
None of the three would be home for lunch, so Li Ruolan didn’t cook in the kitchen. She went back to her room, locked the door, and entered the Dimensional Space.
After putting away her purchases, Li Ruolan started cooking. She made a pot of steamed rice, stir-fried shredded potatoes, stir-fried pork with garlic scapes, and made some seaweed and egg drop soup.
Li Ruolan’s appetite was average, but Deng Minghao ate a great deal, so two dishes and a soup really wasn’t too much.
Once the food was ready, Li Ruolan waited a while until Deng Minghao finally came in. He was dressed in dusty gray clothes, in disguise, looking several years older.
“I went over to the steel factory family compound today. Those people really have money. I sold over a hundred jin of flour, two baskets of chicken eggs, one basket of duck eggs, and one basket of goose eggs.
The flour went for twenty cents a jin, but it required ration coupons—any kind would do—so it sold especially fast. I got twenty-five yuan for the flour, ten yuan for the two baskets of chicken eggs, and ten yuan for the basket of duck eggs and the basket of goose eggs.”
“We also sold three hens at five yuan each. In just one day today, I earned over sixty yuan. And there are some cloth coupons, cigarette coupons, sugar coupons, and soap coupons too.”
As Deng Minghao spoke, he handed a stack of money and coupons over to Li Ruolan.
Li Ruolan looked through them, picking and sorting, then set the cloth coupons aside separately, planning to buy some fabric tomorrow and take it to the tailor shop to have a few sets of padded clothes made.
Winters in the Northeast were bitterly cold, so they needed to have their padded clothes ready.