Lu Rao stared blankly at the young man in front of her.
In fact, he was two years older than her.
Three years ago, she had passed through this alley and saw him being bullied by a group of older kids. She had casually stepped in and saved him.
Later, she found out he and his brothers came from very difficult families, so she occasionally asked him to run errands for her and gave him extra payment.
She didn’t expect he would be willing to give so much for her.
Lu Rao suddenly remembered a passage from the original plot.
Before Jiao Shuxin returned to the city with the army, a well-known Shanghai street thug suddenly rushed out and fired a shot at her.
The young man was shot dead on the spot by passing patrol officers. Before dying, he kept shouting:
“She can’t be a spy! The Lu family used to save the country—none of them could be traitors! You’re framing her!”
In the novel, his death was summarized in one sentence:
“The hideous scar on his forehead was as ridiculous as his life.”
Lu Rao looked at the burn scar on the boy’s left temple, mostly hidden under his hair, and suddenly reached out to touch his head.
“Guo Shu, don’t be a thug anymore.”
After saying that, she turned and left.
The boy stood behind her, tears slowly gathering in his eyes.
……
After leaving, Lu Rao went to the underground parking lot of a department store owned by the Lu family and retrieved two small cars.
They were Chevrolet cars bought by Lu Zhenxing when he was alive—older than Lu Rao herself. When things turned bad, they were stored here and never used again.
However, the steward had them maintained every year and even kept license plates on them. Lu Rao occasionally drove them out secretly.
After she drove the cars out, the people she had arranged to meet arrived.
Two young men under thirty—both had made their first fortune with Lu Fengtang’s help, and now worked as junior procurement officers in state-owned factories.
Lu Rao handed them the car keys.
“I need you to go to Suzhou and buy as much good food as possible. Store it at Yuefu Alley No. 49. Then hire a few trucks to transport it back while it’s still fresh.”
She also gave them two stacks of money and tickets, along with two envelopes.
“The envelopes are your payment. Any remaining money from purchases, return it to me. You have until noon tomorrow.”
The two men took everything without asking a single question and left immediately.
Suzhou was only about an hour’s drive from Shanghai, and they could make multiple trips in a day.
Lu Rao liked Suzhou cuisine, especially Huaiyang dishes, and used to sneak there every year.
Now that she was going to the countryside, she naturally had to stock up.
After finishing the food arrangements, she felt much lighter.
She went to the supply and marketing cooperative and began buying supplies for going to the countryside. Some of the ration tickets she had obtained last night could only be used locally, so she needed to spend them all.
She also used the subsidies from the educated youth office and Zhai Bingfeng. She even bought some items for him and arranged a courier to deliver them.
For her own supplies, she bought enamel basins and cups, two thermos bottles, floral bedding sets, towels, pillowcases, two pairs of Liberation shoes, and several pairs of cloth shoes.
Most of her belongings at the Lu house were too luxurious for rural life, so she replaced them with ordinary items suitable for the countryside.
She also bought several jin of gray and black wool.
She didn’t know how to knit, but she had plenty of sweaters and hats. She could just pretend to knit and then wear the finished ones from her space.
After leaving the supply store, she went to the Friendship Store and used foreign exchange coupons to buy imported biscuits, chocolates, milk powder, and a new radio.
It would be her entertainment in the countryside.
She stored everything in the Yuefu Alley courtyard, then found a quiet corner, took out her motorcycle, and headed to the post office.
She needed to mail some supplies to her destination in advance—something Lu Fengtang had advised her to do.
“Father’s wisdom must be obeyed.”
She also didn’t want to carry too much luggage on the train, so she obediently chose to mail packages.
She parked the motorcycle, took out several large bundles, and wrapped her head and face in a silk scarf, revealing only a narrow slit for her eyes before walking into the post office.
She made several trips.
When the postal staff saw the pile of packages, they were stunned.
“You’re sending all of these?”
Lu Rao nodded. “Please help me calculate the cost.”
The staff counted the packages in disbelief.
“I’ve never seen a sent-down youth mail so many things…”
She muttered, then kindly reminded her:
“Young lady, it’s better not to be too flashy when going to the countryside. Don’t show off wealth.”
Then she smiled again after seeing her disguise.
“Though with how you’re dressed, no one would recognize you anyway.”
Lu Rao smiled and handed her a piece of chocolate.
“I understand. But I’m not a sent-down youth. These are for relatives in the countryside.”
The staff froze.
She had assumed wrong.
She happily accepted the chocolate and assured her the packages would be handled properly.
In total, the packages weighed 402 jin. Shipping from Shanghai to Heilongjiang cost 0.2 yuan per kilogram.
Total cost: 40 yuan and 2 jiao.
The nearby customers were stunned when they heard it.
That was almost two months’ salary for them.
But no one could see Lu Rao’s face under the scarf.
She quickly left and went to send a telegram.
It was addressed to Jiao Shuxin’s biological mother, He Guanglan, asking her to come to Shanghai immediately to enjoy “good fortune.”
According to the plot, Jiao Shuxin was supposed to trick her biological parents when Gu Yumeng prepared to leave for Guangzhou.
But now, Gu Yumeng’s train tickets had been taken by Lu Rao for Lu Fengtang.
He would never leave the country as planned.
Since the plot had changed, Lu Rao would simply bring them all together to face the collapsing new reality.
And that “spy” had close ties with He Guanglan—so she deserved whatever came.
【Master, female lead detected 20 meters ahead! Female lead detected!】
The system shouted excitedly.
Lu Rao looked up and immediately saw Jiao Shuxin at a telegram counter.
She was covering her mouth with a handkerchief, eyes darting nervously around.
Lu Rao couldn’t help but laugh.