Gu Xu had to go running around again to get a radio, and Shen Man was nowhere in sight.
Shen Li closed her room door and checked the things she had bought yesterday. Sure enough, the watch had been worn—disgusting.
She put everything into her space, drew some spirit spring water out, added sugar, boiled it a little, and packed it to take along.
Shen Li took a rickshaw to Xiatan. More poor people lived there, and it was also the address she had given to Gu Zhaoye.
Several of the gray bricks were dented; Shen Li carefully jumped over them and arrived at a small courtyard.
The courtyard had a large open-air atrium. Shen Li headed to the innermost house.
She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then took out a lot of fruits and vegetables from her space before knocking on the door.
The door opened to a man in his forties, wearing a long jacket patched in many places. Seeing Shen Li, he was surprised and delighted, but thinking of his own poverty, he bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Young Mistress, that you have to come to such a place.”
This man had once been the steward of the Li family. Later, when the Li family was sent away, his family was poor, so he was spared.
He called Shen Li’s mother “the Young Mistress,” and to him, Shen Li was still the Young Mistress.
The Young Mistress was the favored child of heaven. How could she come to such a filthy, cramped place? Old Lu felt guilty toward her.
“We’re all human. If you can live here, why can’t I? Uncle Lu, if I get sent away later, I might not even be able to live in a place like this.”
“How could the Young Mistress be sent away? Shen Liren promised Master he would take you to Xiangjiang.”
Shen Li smiled lightly. She didn’t hide the truth—this was the time to let Uncle Lu know, so they could be on the same side.
“Shen Liren doesn’t plan to take me. He tricked me into marriage. Once he gets the marriage certificate, he’ll withdraw my parents’ money from the bank and flee to Xiangjiang with his family.”
“That beast Shen Liren… I want to kill him!”
Old Lu was furious, ready to go after him. No wonder Shen Liren had gone to great lengths to prevent him from seeing Shen Li. Shen Liren had told him that Shen Li didn’t want anyone related to the Li family involved, so he hadn’t dared approach her. No wonder the Young Mistress had come to him suddenly.
She must have suffered a lot in the Li household.
Shen Li held Old Lu back. “Uncle Lu, don’t act impulsively. Killing someone will get you shot.”
“Someone like Shen Liren doesn’t deserve it.”
Old Lu’s eyes reddened. “But Young Mistress, you’ve been wronged so much…”
“You can’t let Shen Liren get away with it.”
Even if it cost him his life, he would fight to reclaim the family property for her.
Shen Li shook her head. “No one can take my family’s property from me.”
“Young Mistress, you have a plan?”
“In the next few days, Shen Liren will probably have Gu Xu secretly transport part of my inheritance to Xiangjiang. You just need to watch Gu Xu closely and inform me immediately if there’s any movement.”
Shen Li didn’t want Old Lu to act recklessly, so she emphasized again, “Just follow and report to me. I have the rest planned.”
“All right. I’ll do as you say, Young Mistress. Also, you asked me to check on Master and his family—I’ve found out about them.”
Old Lu didn’t tell Shen Li that Master and the others were living miserably; he couldn’t bear it.
Shen Li had already guessed. She took out her Plum-Brand watch and handed it to Old Lu. “Use this watch to help my uncle and the others. It should make their lives a bit easier.”
“Young Mistress, this watch is precious. If you get sent away later, it could protect you.”
Plum-Brand watches were extremely valuable at this time, and this particular model was only available at Friendship Department Store.
“I won’t be sent away. My uncle and the others need it more.”
She was going to follow her treacherous uncle’s path, leaving them with no way out.
Xiangjiang. Reclaiming her inheritance—she was going there!
Old Lu had once handled affairs for the Li family and knew many people. He had been powerless before due to lack of funds, but now with the watch, he could ensure the Li family lived well.
Old Lu held the watch tightly, moved to tears. “Young Mistress, you’re so kind.”
Not only was she good to the Li family, she even trusted him—not afraid he would steal the watch.
Shen Li saw what Old Lu was worried about and said firmly, “Uncle Lu, I trust you.”
Old Lu’s eyes blurred with tears.
The emotional stress triggered an old illness, and he coughed relentlessly.
“Don’t worry, Young Mistress. It won’t affect anything.”
Shen Li wasn’t worried at all. She handed him a tin water bottle. “Uncle Lu, have a sip to soothe your throat.”
Old Lu thought it was just water and drank a few sips—but it was sweet.
“This… this is sugar water!”
“No, I’ve had enough.”
He didn’t deserve such good things.
“Then I’ll leave it here. Drink it when you’re thirsty. This is sugar water—you can’t waste it.”
Old Lu wanted to tell her to take it back, but he had just drunk directly from the tin bottle—he couldn’t let the Young Mistress drink after him.
He wished he could slap himself for drinking straight from it.
Shen Li: “There are also some fruits and vegetables. Take your time, Uncle Lu.”
Old Lu’s environment wasn’t good, but he refused money; Shen Li could only give him fruits and vegetables.
Her space only had basic vegetables; no livestock. She had to go to the black market to buy some to raise in her space.
Next time, she would make sure to have chickens, fish, and pork.
When Old Lu tried to refuse, Shen Li said they came from the Li household. Since she wasn’t eating there now, if he didn’t take them, Shen Liren would benefit. Old Lu took them immediately.
After staying a while with Old Lu, Shen Li asked if anyone had come looking for him. Old Lu said no. Good—Gu Zhaoye’s side was going smoothly.
Thinking of the two foreign buns, she gave Old Lu fifty yuan to find an agent on Chaojiang Road and have the money handed to Gu Zhaoye.
With everything handled, she headed straight to the black market.
The black market lay deep in an alley. Rural people hid grain and meat to sell.
It wasn’t yet a crackdown era; speculative trading wasn’t too strictly controlled. Many people came to the black market.
Shen Li only planned to take a single risk this time and buy everything she needed.
Her first targets were seeds and young livestock.
She bought all sorts of vegetable seeds, chicks, ducklings, fish, and turtles—almost everything she could count.
Buying piglets was harder. Everyone wanted to raise them, no one wanted to sell. Finally, with Shen Li’s high price, she got two—one male, one female. The seller said they could breed naturally.
Perfect—she just didn’t know if her space could breed them.
Shen Li quietly put everything into her space when no one was looking.
She planned to buy some cloth next. Just after paying, she saw a familiar figure at the alley entrance.
Shen Li wrapped her head with a scarf. Shen Man clearly couldn’t resist herself.
Seeing Shen Man’s sneaky behavior, Shen Li thought: Could she be up to something bad?
Shen Li packed her things and followed at a careful distance—close enough to see, far enough not to be noticed.
Shen Man had chosen this secluded spot intentionally. She looked around to ensure no one was watching, then opened a sheet of wax paper.
The wax paper, usually used to wrap food, now contained overseas remittance certificates.
These certificates were issued proportionally when overseas Chinese sent money home. They were required for some imported and scarce domestic goods. In Shanghai, their greatest advantage was that they could be exchanged for building materials and gave priority for children’s school enrollment.
“Director Lin, I heard your son is building a house and your granddaughter is enrolling. Are these remittance certificates enough?”
Before Shen Liren’s family came to her house, they had nothing. The Lis came from a peasant background and had no overseas relatives. Shen Li’s aunt had gone abroad five years ago, and these remittance certificates had been sent by her.
Shen Li recognized the “Director Lin” Shen Man mentioned—the Red Committee director who had sealed the Li family’s assets.
Trying to use her money to buy influence?
She had to photograph their crimes!