“Twenty-two pieces of sugarcane in total. Two of them are free for the kid. Please take them, ma’am.” Su Yue handed the packaged sugarcane to the old lady, while subtly signaling to the child.
Her own child in the future would probably be just as cute.
The child liked Su Yue and beamed at her.
Then he reached out to his grandmother, asking for sugarcane.
“All you think about is eating!” the old lady scolded, yet still took out a piece and gave it to him.
She then opened her optical brain to transfer the payment.
Su Yue quickly pulled up her own device to receive it.
Sixty star coins were credited—Su Yue’s face lit up with joy.
When the old lady left with the child, Su Yue even waved goodbye.
With the first sale done, the rest became easier.
Su Yue was eloquent and quick-witted. Before long, she completed three more transactions.
Only one customer came on their own; the other two were approached by Su Yue after she noticed their interest.
Her method was almost always the same—offer free samples first, and only buy if satisfied.
If someone tried to bargain, she would agree to give a few extra pieces or more samples.
This way, deals were almost always closed.
After a while, Su Yue spotted another potential customer.
Just as she was about to approach, a drone hovered above her.
“Warning! Exiles DQS107 Su Yi and DQS108 Su Yue—illegal vending detected in the commercial district. Leave immediately!”
Su Yue was startled.
At the same time, people around them turned alert and wary of the siblings.
The potential customer immediately gave up the idea of buying sugarcane and walked away.
“Warning! Exiles DQS107 Su Yi and DQS108 Su Yue—illegal vending detected in the commercial district. Leave immediately!”
The mechanical voice repeated.
Annoyance surged in Su Yue’s heart.
She knew there was no point staying—business was over for now—so she called Su Yi to leave.
The annoying drone dutifully followed them until they exited the commercial street, only then flying away.
“Yueyue—” Su Yi looked at the departing drone, worry written all over his face.
Su Yue forced herself to stay upbeat.
“It’s fine. We probably got caught because we stayed in one place too long. This time we’ll walk while selling and avoid those drones a bit—they shouldn’t chase us again.”
There were plenty of street vendors in the commercial district. Those drones were just like pre-apocalypse city inspectors—chasing vendors was common.
But no matter how much they chased, vendors would always exist.
So Su Yue led Su Yi back into the commercial street.
While observing other vendors, she continued selling her sugarcane.
After being chased off again and chatting with other vendors to learn the ropes, Su Yue finally understood the survival rules of the commercial street.
Stay in one place for over thirty minutes—you’ll definitely get chased.
If you stop while moving for more than five minutes, it gets recorded. Accumulate thirty minutes total—you’ll still get chased.
Of course, due to the limited number of drones in the safe zone, enforcement might vary—but generally, these rules held true.
Another important point: if you’re chased off three times in one day, it’s best not to return.
A fourth offense would result in a fine.
Rumor had it the minimum fine was over five hundred star coins.
Unfortunately, Su Yue soon encountered her third warning.
Luckily, by then, most of their prepared sugarcane—including what was stored in her space—had nearly sold out.
She stored the remaining pieces back into her space.
To avoid a fine, Su Yue gave up on re-entering the commercial street and decided to head back with Su Yi.
After half a day of hard work, she had earned a total of 1,080 star coins—a huge sum for them.
They went to a suspended bus station.
Spending eight star coins on fare, they returned near their rental home.
Compared to the one-hour walk earlier, the return trip took just over ten minutes—even with multiple stops.
It was nearly six in the evening.
The streets near their rental were now bustling.
Shops were thriving, hover vehicles were everywhere, and many vendors had set up stalls.
Outside the commercial district, drones didn’t interfere with vendors after 5 PM.
The dense population created huge demand.
Since they still had potatoes and wild vegetables at home, Su Yue had no interest in the synthetic food restaurants nearby.
She took Su Yi into a general store.
The electric saw at home was running low on power—she needed to buy an energy crystal.
Because of limited time and lack of experience earlier, she hadn’t managed to sell all the processed sugarcane.
Tonight, she planned to process the remaining sugarcane with her brother.
Tomorrow, they would sell everything and convert it into star coins.
After buying the energy crystal, Su Yue pulled her gaze away from some tempting appliances and left with Su Yi.
As they reached the building downstairs, a sudden roar came from behind.
Su Yue turned—
A hovering motorcycle was speeding straight toward her.
Su Yi instantly moved, shielding her.
The vehicle braked just in time, stopping less than ten centimeters from him.
“Hey! Kid—not bad! S-grade mental power, huh? Nice reflexes!” The man on the bike removed his helmet and reached out to pat Su Yi’s shoulder.
Su Yi snorted and dodged.
The man wasn’t angry—instead, he laughed.
“Mad? Just joking!”
Behind Su Yi, Su Yue frowned.
This man was Zhou Yin—the local gang leader of this street, with over a dozen underlings.
It was said that before being exiled, Zhou Yin had been a notorious interstellar bandit—no wonder everyone feared him.
They had just moved here when Zhou Yin set his sights on them.
All because one of his subordinates had harassed her—and her brother had beaten him down.
Since then, Zhou Yin had taken an interest in her brother’s skills.
“Not funny,” Su Yi snapped angrily.
He clenched his fist, ready to strike.
Zhou Yin immediately raised his guard—
But the punch never came.
Looking again, he saw that Su Yue had grabbed Su Yi’s arm.
Zhou Yin smiled at her.
“Still, Yueyue knows what’s right—not like you, getting worked up over nothing with your big brother here!”
“I’m Yueyue’s real brother!” Su Yi shouted angrily.
Su Yue pulled him back again.
“Big brother, let’s go home and eat. No need to deal with someone like chewing gum,” she said.
Zhou Yin wasn’t afraid of pain or confinement—but she didn’t want her brother getting locked up again.
Previously, when her brother had beaten Zhou Yin’s subordinate—and even Zhou Yin himself—the authorities had detained him.
Drones patrolled unpredictably—it was too easy to get caught.
If the Public Security Bureau came again, confinement would be the least of their worries.
If it got recorded in their files, their sentence could even be extended.