With her back to the cloth vendor, Lin Qiuman curled her lips into a satisfied smile. But when she turned around, her face hardened again.
“I think I’ll look around a bit more.”
The cloth vendor hurriedly said, “Alright, alright—if you want to exchange, come back and tell me. If it’s any more than that, I won’t be able to trade.”
“Sister, I can tell you really like my fabric.”
This time Lin Qiuman sighed, her expression looking as though she had just missed out on a fortune.
In the end, she exchanged for three meters of black dacron and two meters of white dacron.
Afterward, she carried the two balls of yarn and continued walking. The grain seller she approached was also a woman, and Lin Qiuman quickly reached an agreement with her.
She traded one ball of yarn for ten jin of cornmeal.
Then she exchanged the other ball of yarn for a little cooking oil.
As for the small hair clips she had brought, she took them to a residential family compound.
In those days, people who lived in family compounds usually had stable jobs, and their families were relatively well-off.
The children playing in those compounds almost always had some pocket money.
Lin Qiuman clipped one of the hair accessories into her hair and wandered around the compound.
“Hello, little sister. May I ask—is this the grain station’s family compound?”
“No, this is the fire brigade’s family compound,” replied a girl who looked about twelve or thirteen. While talking to Lin Qiuman, her gaze stayed fixed on the accessory in Lin Qiuman’s hair. Curious, she asked, “Big sister, the little rabbit in your hair is so cute. Where did you buy it?”
“This one?” Lin Qiuman removed the rabbit clip from her hair and explained, “A friend from the capital brought it back for me. I figured you probably couldn’t buy something like this here.”
The girl nodded regretfully, clearly disappointed.
“I actually have several pairs. If you want one, I can sell you a pair,” Lin Qiuman said as she took the remaining clips out of her backpack.
“How much?”
“Two mao per pair.”
If she sold them for just one or two cents each, she felt she might as well raise chickens and collect eggs instead.
“Big sister, wait for me! I’ll go home and get money.” The girl repeatedly reminded Lin Qiuman not to leave before running home.
Lin Qiuman had originally thought she would only make one sale. Unexpectedly, the girl returned with three other girls.
They happily picked out their favorite clips and each paid two mao.
“They look really pretty on you,” Lin Qiuman said as she adjusted the clips in their hair so the cute decorations were clearly visible.
In just a few minutes, she earned eighty cents.
She also learned a useful piece of information—those girls all studied at South Street Primary School in the county town.
With them acting as walking advertisements, if she went to sell hair clips there next time, they would surely sell well.
After leaving the compound, Lin Qiuman saw the post office not far away and couldn’t help reddening her eyes.
She hadn’t seen her parents and brothers for decades. How she wished she could go back in person and apologize to them face-to-face…
But right now, the most urgent thing was to send food home.
Thinking of this, she quickly entered her space, cut two jin of pork, and walked along the alley looking for a buyer.
Today was the weekend. In those days with only one day off per week, it was the only day people didn’t work, so the streets were full of people.
At a glance, she spotted a well-fed-looking auntie.
“Auntie, I have some pork here and two bundles of vegetables. Could you exchange them for some money?”
City people treasured both vegetables and meat. They didn’t lack money—they lacked meat ration coupons.
“Let me take a look.” The plump aunt inspected the pork wrapped in oiled paper and smiled with satisfaction. “The meat looks good.”
“Auntie, I’ll count the pork at seventy cents per jin. Two jin plus these vegetables—you can just give me four yuan.”
Lin Qiuman checked the time. She needed to hurry and sell the remaining piece of pork before lunchtime—either for money or ration coupons.
The auntie was straightforward and immediately handed over the cash before carrying the pork home.
After that, Lin Qiuman found two more buyers, selling another piece of pork and two jin of white sugar.
With these transactions, she now had more than ten yuan in cash.
She went to the post office and wrote a letter, placing the money inside.
She also arranged a shipment, mailing white flour, cornmeal, and sorghum flour, along with two pieces of cloth.
She couldn’t imagine how her parents would react when they saw the letter and the supplies. She only hoped they wouldn’t throw them away and could endure this difficult period.
“Miss, do you need anything else?” The postal worker saw Lin Qiuman standing there absent-mindedly with tears running down her face and kindly reminded her.
“I’m sorry. I still need to mail another letter.” Lin Qiuman wiped away her tears and quickly placed the essay she had written earlier into an envelope, sending it to Xinyuanfang Publishing House.
On the way back, she continued bartering, exchanging items from her space that she might not need for things she urgently required.
However, since she had told others that she was going to the provincial capital to visit relatives, she didn’t dare return to the village too early.
Instead, she entered the mountains from the township entrance and began transporting soil to the seventh and eighth floor sky garden in her space to reclaim farmland.
For a woman, reclaiming land and farming was truly difficult—especially since the sky garden covered such a large area.
“The supermarket doesn’t have seeds!”
After exhausting herself clearing nearly a hundred square meters of land, Lin Qiuman suddenly realized she had forgotten to exchange for seeds.
Going to the county town wasn’t easy, and starting tomorrow she would have classes for six straight days without leaving the village.
Thinking quickly, she searched on her tablet and discovered that the seeds inside red chili peppers could be used for planting.
“That could work.”
She ran excitedly to the vegetable section of the first-floor supermarket in her space and collected seeds from cherry tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers, beans, soybeans, and other vegetables.
Following the online instructions, she soaked some seeds in water before planting them.
After spending the entire afternoon working, she washed up in her space, prepared the things she needed to bring out, and finally left the space.
Looking at the mountainside she had dug into several pits, she realized that if anyone discovered she had taken so much soil privately, the inspection team would definitely drag her away for a lecture.
Thinking of this, Lin Qiuman swallowed nervously and carefully avoided passersby as she left.
“Teacher Lin, you’re finally back!”
At the entrance of West Hope Village, many villagers had gathered. They stared into the distance eagerly, and the moment they saw Lin Qiuman’s figure, they excitedly waved and shouted to her.
The scene made Lin Qiuman feel as if she had done something wrong. She subconsciously tightened her grip on the bag in her hand.
“Everyone… why are you all standing here?”