Should she repair this place and make do with it for now?
Or should she just buy a house directly?
Maybe even buy a piece of land and build one herself?
Having only just arrived, wouldn’t making such a big move attract too much attention?
Even if this might not be exactly the same historical era she remembered, there were still certain things she needed to prepare for in advance.
This body’s condition seemed pretty good. She had already recovered quite a bit. Even after walking around for so long, she didn’t feel tired.
She slowly returned to the room and began organizing the original owner’s belongings.
Inside the travel bag were several changes of clothes. They all looked fairly thin and definitely unsuitable for Northeastern winters.
There were also several high school textbooks and a few extracurricular books.
As she reached deeper into the bag, she found a small bundle wrapped in a handkerchief hidden in the corner.
Feeling its shape, she immediately guessed it must be the original owner’s secret savings.
She unwrapped it layer by layer.
On the outside were blue ten-yuan bills. There were over twenty ten-yuan notes, several five-yuan bills, and quite a lot of smaller denominations—two yuan, one yuan, fifty cents, twenty cents, ten cents, even tiny coins down to one cent.
After counting everything, the total came to 385 yuan and 98 cents.
The original owner’s father held a leadership position at a factory and earned 32 yuan a month. This amount was equivalent to an entire year’s salary.
He had probably handed over all his savings to her.
Underneath was another stack of ration coupons: grain coupons, meat coupons, oil coupons, cloth coupons, sugar coupons, industrial goods coupons, towel coupons, wool coupons, soap coupons—everything imaginable.
There were even coal coupons and tofu coupons that could only be used in the city.
Clearly, he wanted to use this money and these coupons to ease his guilt.
Tang Tang left a few sets of clothes outside and stored the rest inside her space.
Sigh…
She had brought far too few things.
Looks like she needed to find an excuse to make a trip into the city.
Mm, tomorrow then.
She could say her family had mailed her luggage over. That way, in the future, she’d have an excuse whenever she took something out.
After resting for a while, Tang Tang took out two packs of pastries from her space after work in the evening. She removed the packaging and rewrapped them in oil paper. Then she found two unlabeled canned goods and placed everything into a basket before heading toward the village chief’s house.
She intentionally chose this time to avoid running into too many people on the road and the awkwardness that came with it.
At this hour, the village chief’s family should also be preparing dinner.
The village chief’s surname was Lin. He was a man in his fifties, with deep wrinkles carved into his face by years of wind and sun exposure.
He had three sons. The eldest and second sons were already married and even had several children. The youngest grandchild had only been born a month ago.
The third son had joined the army years ago. It was said he had been discharged last month but still hadn’t returned home.
Thinking through these memories, Tang Tang suddenly paused.
With a flick of her hand, she stored away the canned goods and replaced them with two bags of milk powder instead.
The boxed milk powder had already been removed from its packaging, and the silver-gray bags inside had no writing on them, which made things much easier for her.
She knocked on the courtyard gate.
“Village Chief Uncle, are you home?”
In rural areas, neighbors usually pushed the gate open and entered directly before calling out.
But she was an outsider and this was her first visit, so extra politeness could never hurt.
“Coming!”
A bright female voice answered.
The village chief’s wife opened the courtyard gate.
“Oh, it’s Little Tang, the educated youth! Come in quickly.”
She casually closed the gate behind them and led Tang Tang inside.
“Are you feeling better now? Is your head still dizzy?”
“Auntie, I’m much better now. Thanks to everyone taking care of me.”
People always liked hearing nice words.
“Oh my, we’re all neighbors here. Isn’t that what we should do?”
When they entered the house, the family was indeed preparing to eat.
On the round table sat a large basin of stewed beans and potatoes that clearly lacked any trace of oil, another basin filled with salted shredded vegetables, and a basin of sorghum rice mixed with more than half sweet potatoes.
Four children of varying ages sat around the table, staring eagerly at the food, yet none of them moved.
It was obvious they had been raised very well.
The village chief had just washed his hands and was sitting on the edge of the heated brick bed.
“Little Tang, have you eaten yet?”
Showing up right at mealtime would make anyone uncomfortable, so Tang Tang decided to handle things quickly.
“Village Chief Uncle, I’ve already eaten.”
She answered his question first before explaining why she came.
“Village Chief Uncle, I got sick when I arrived and couldn’t bring too many things with me. My family mailed my luggage afterward, and I’d like to go to the town post office tomorrow to pick it up.”
Tang Tang always remembered her advantage in this lifetime.
She was only sixteen years old, at the age of blooming youth. Whenever she spoke to others, she naturally carried a gentle smile, spoke sweetly, and acted cheerful. Under those circumstances, very few people would dislike her.
“Alright. You still had one more day of sick leave tomorrow anyway, so there’s no need to ask for additional leave. I’ll write you a certificate.”
As he spoke, he climbed down from the bed.
“Your health is alright now, isn’t it?”
“I’m fine now, Village Chief Uncle. It was just low blood sugar and a bit of difficulty adjusting to the environment. I’ve already improved a lot these past two days.”
“That’s good. Young kids like you really need to take care of yourselves, otherwise how will you work in the fields?”
“I understand, Village Chief Uncle.”
She answered again with a sweet smile.
Internally, however, she thought:
Once you witness my strength surpassing that of grown men, you definitely won’t say that anymore.
After receiving the certificate stamped with the bright red seal of Xiangyang Production Team, she placed the basket onto the table.
“Village Chief Uncle, I brought these from home. They’re nothing valuable, just something for the children to try. I’ll head back first.”
Before they could refuse, she turned and left immediately.
The village chief’s words were cut off before he could even say them.
“This child…”
Just then, the village chief’s wife came in from the kitchen carrying bowls and chopsticks.
“Huh? Where’s Little Tang?”
“She left.”
Looking at the basket on the table, he added:
“She said it’s for the children.”
Without even checking what was inside, the village chief sat back down on the edge of the bed, preparing to serve himself food.