Lu Chengxiu didn’t say anything. She wasn’t used to eating coarse grain either, but she couldn’t afford fine grain anymore. Only now did she finally feel that she had truly fallen into poverty.
Yet she still felt bitter about it.
“Ziqi, can you actually eat coarse grain? I remember your family always ate fine grain too, didn’t they?”
Zhao Jun glanced at Qin Ziqi.
To be honest, a face like hers was hard to forget no matter where she went. But in a village, especially somewhere unfamiliar where she knew no one, such beauty was also a potential danger.
Moreover, Lu Chengxiu’s words implied that Qin Ziqi came from a well-off family. An educated youth like her would be even more likely to attract the attention of the villagers.
“What does that have to do with you? What I want to eat has anything to do with you? Besides, you must be really unaccustomed to going from eating fine grain to only being able to eat coarse grain.”
Does Lu Chengxiu have something wrong with her? Why is she always picking on me?
Qin Ziqi really wanted to slap her.
Zhao Jun was an experienced educated youth after all. From their exchange, he immediately understood the situation.
This Qin Ziqi was clearly well-off and had probably come to the countryside only because she had no other choice for the time being.
As for Lu Chengxiu, something must have happened to her family, causing her circumstances to deteriorate.
When they passed the carpenter’s courtyard, Qin Ziqi turned the corner and knocked directly on the door.
“Is anyone home? Is Uncle Zhuzi here? I’m one of the new educated youths. I’d like to exchange for some things.”
In this era, except for state-run establishments, private buying and selling wasn’t legal. So when making private transactions, people didn’t talk about “buying” things. They could only say they wanted to “exchange” for them.
A man who looked to be around fifty came out of the house.
“Come in. What do you want to exchange for? I have some finished things in this room.”
Zhao Youzhu pointed toward a large room on the west side. It was his workshop, and all the finished furniture was kept inside.
Qin Ziqi walked straight in and set down the sack of grain she had been carrying.
“I want a wardrobe, a kang cabinet, a kang table, a small square table, two stools, a washbasin stand, and a small stool.”
She looked at the things inside and added, “Also a wooden basin, a bathing tub, and a kang curtain. That’s all.”
Zhao Youzhu looked at Qin Ziqi.
She must be one of the new educated youths. Judging from her clothes and appearance, she certainly looked well-off.
“A wardrobe is ten yuan, a kang cabinet is five, a kang table is three, a small square table is four, the stools and washbasin stand are two yuan each, the small stool is one, the wooden basin is five, and the bathing tub is ten. I’ll throw in the kang curtain. Forty-four yuan in total.”
Qin Ziqi took out her money.
She handed him five ten-yuan bills.
Zhao Youzhu pulled some small bills from his pocket and gave her six one-yuan bills in change.
“Wait a moment. I’ll have my son deliver everything to you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Zhuzi.”
Qin Ziqi put the change away.
“Uncle Zhuzi, do you exchange for fine grain too?”
Zhao Youzhu glanced at the sack of grain on the ground.
“We do. You’ve got thirty-five jin here, right? I’ll give you fifteen jin of rice and five jin of white flour. You can keep the cloth sack too.”
Qin Ziqi was extremely satisfied.
She had managed to accomplish two things with one trip.
Zhao Youzhu called his wife over and asked her to weigh the grain.
Outside in the courtyard, Zhou Xue and the others stared in shock as Qin Ziqi bought a whole pile of furniture and exchanged her grain for fine grain.
Zhou Xue immediately stepped forward.
“Uncle Zhuzi, I want the same furniture Qin Zhiqing ordered. Also, are you still exchanging fine grain?”
Zhao Youzhu glanced at her.
“Except for the wardrobe and bathing tub, which will take five days because I don’t have any finished ones left, my son can deliver the rest together. As for the fine grain, I’m not exchanging anymore. We don’t have much left at home. I need to save it for the children.”
Zhou Xue paid for the furniture and had no choice but to carry her coarse grain away.
Shen Xingheng ordered the same things as well, except for the wardrobe and bathing tub.
Shen Changzheng and Lu Chengxiu only ordered a kang cabinet and a wooden basin.
Zheng Hongjun didn’t order anything at all. Everything was too expensive, and he couldn’t afford it.
Everyone else left, leaving only Qin Ziqi waiting for Zhao Youzhu’s wife to weigh her fine grain.
Zhao Youzhu’s wife, Yao Chunni, quickly weighed the rice and white flour and handed them to Qin Ziqi. She also pulled some vegetables from their own garden and gave them to her.
“I grew these myself. They’re not worth much. Take them home and eat them.”
Yao Chunni knew Qin Ziqi was a big customer. Her husband had just given her a meaningful look. A few vegetables weren’t worth much anyway. They couldn’t sell for more than a few cents, so she might as well do Qin Ziqi a favor.
“Thank you, Auntie Zhao.”
Inside the basket were a handful of leafy greens, two cucumbers, a handful of green onions, and some chives.
With her arms full, Qin Ziqi returned to her room.
She took a rag out of her space and began cleaning. The kang needed to be wiped down, and once that was done, she could lay down the kang curtain. Everything else would have to wait until the furniture arrived.
For now, she could only sweep the floor clean.
She looked at the walls and took an old bedsheet out of her space. She cut it in half, then took out a hammer and some nails and nailed the bedsheet to the wall.
That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about the mud from the walls falling down.
The bedsheet was an old, washed-out gray one. Once nailed to the wall, it looked drab enough not to attract attention.
She only needed to nail it along the two sides against the wall. At the head of the bed, there was a partition that wasn’t very high. Once she placed the wardrobe there, it would separate that area from the front half of the room.
For the top of the partition, Qin Ziqi found a matching old bedspread. She cut off a quarter of it and draped it over the partition. She nailed the remaining portion up to make a curtain, completely dividing the room into two sections.
Zhao Youzhu’s son arrived very quickly.
By the time Qin Ziqi had finished all this, he had already arrived and began arranging the furniture according to the positions she had planned.
Her little home was finally taking shape.
The small square table was placed by the window with two stools. The wardrobe was placed against the partition beside the kang, with a curtain separating the other half.
The kang cabinet went at the foot of the kang. The kang table was placed beside it, while the washbasin stand went beside the door. The wooden basin was placed on the lower shelf of the washbasin stand.
Tomorrow, after going to town, she could pretend to go to the post office to pick up a parcel and take things out of her space.
The bathing tub was placed near the back door.
She laid down the kang curtain, then spread an old bedsheet over it before laying down the mattress.
It was still summer, so it wasn’t cold. A relatively thin mattress and blanket would be enough.
She hung the clothes from her suitcase inside the wardrobe.
Qin Ziqi looked around the room, then put away the remaining odds and ends.
Silently, she said to herself:
From now on, I am Qin Ziqi. Qin Ziqi of this era.
Qin Ziqi was also grateful for her years in the orphanage. They had left her with a deep sense of insecurity, which was why, once she started making money, she developed a particular fondness for stockpiling things and couldn’t bear to throw anything away.
So now, even old bedsheets and bed covers could come in handy.
And in the large house inside her space, she had stocked up on everything from tissues and sanitary pads to food and daily necessities.
She had no intention of selling those things on the black market, but she could use them herself and live very comfortably.
She was basically lacking nothing in her daily life. Whenever she had some free time, she only needed to put on an act, go into town, and buy a little meat, snacks, and other things.
The double-door refrigerator was filled with cut pork, beef, lamb, and frozen foods.
She could buy a little from town, so when she cooked, no one would become suspicious.
And whenever no one was paying attention, she could slip into her space to satisfy her cravings.
A life like this was much better than staying in Shanghai, where she would not only have to live on edge all the time, but also face people she didn’t want to see.