“Dad,” Lin Zhiyi called softly.
“Come in, quickly. Have you taken care of everything? What are you planning to do? Are you going to divorce Shiyu…”
Before they had even reached the living room, Lin Dongshan could not help but start asking questions.
His daughter had lost her mother at a young age, and he had raised her all by himself.
Although she had become somewhat spoiled, he had always felt that he owed her for not being able to give her the same maternal love other children had.
“Dad, Youwei should still be asleep, right? Let’s keep our voices down and not wake her,” Lin Zhiyi said, tugging lightly at Lin Dongshan’s sleeve.
Lin Dongshan was completely puzzled by her sudden behavior. This was the first time his daughter had ever shown consideration for her younger sister.
Could it be that Zhiyi needed Youwei’s help with something?
The thought flashed through Lin Dongshan’s mind, and he immediately realized that there really was something she might need help with.
If she truly decided to terminate the pregnancy, they would have to find her a good room at the city hospital where she could rest properly.
Youwei’s supervisor was well acquainted with people at the city hospital, so asking her for help would certainly be the right choice.
“Alright, alright.”
However, Lin Zhiyi’s next words gave him quite a shock.
Eager to get to the black market, Lin Zhiyi decided to keep things brief. “Dad, I’ve decided to go to the countryside with Shiyu. His family will take good care of me.”
“There’s one more thing, and you have to promise me.”
Lin Dongshan had just opened his mouth to persuade her otherwise when she interrupted him.
“Tomorrow morning, pretend you have a headache and call Lin Youwei at the hospital. Tell her to take you for an examination. As for why, I’ll explain it to you later.”
Lin Dongshan was utterly confused. He could not understand how, in the span of a single day, his daughter seemed to have lost her mind.
At a time like this, she was suddenly asking him to do something so strange.
But one thing he did know was that his daughter was not going to divorce that boy from the Wei family, and his grandchild would be spared as well.
Lin Dongshan refilled Lin Zhiyi’s empty cup, his face still full of worry. “Zhiyi, listen to your father. The countryside really isn’t a place for you. You can’t go.”
“Dad, I still have other things to do. You have to promise me what I just asked.”
There was no room for refusal in Lin Zhiyi’s tone.
In the original novel, Lin Youwei had repeatedly encouraged Lin Zhiyi to divorce Wei Shiyu.
After Lin Zhiyi divorced Wei Shiyu and terminated the pregnancy, Lin Youwei secretly signed up to go to the countryside on the very last day.
Because she had been reborn, she knew exactly where they would be sent, even down to the specific production brigade.
This time, since Lin Zhiyi had decided to go to the countryside with Wei Shiyu, she would not allow Lin Youwei to go with them at this critical moment.
Lin Dongshan’s hand froze as he set down the kettle. It was the first time he had ever seen such a serious expression on his daughter’s face.
Whenever she wanted to go somewhere or buy something in the past, she would always smile sweetly, cling to his arm, and act coquettishly.
“Alright.”
Lin Dongshan did not continue trying to persuade her. He could not, and would not, refuse her.
“Dad, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself, and I’ll be back soon.”
Seeing his daughter like this, Lin Dongshan finally felt somewhat reassured.
If there was one thing she was certainly good at, it was taking care of herself.
Besides, there was still that boy from the Wei family.
“Wait here. I’ll go prepare some things for you.”
But Lin Zhiyi did not linger and immediately left. The money the Wei family had given her was already more than enough.
“Oh, this child. She left so quickly without even waiting for me to bring her the money.”
By the time Lin Dongshan came back out, Lin Zhiyi was already nowhere to be seen.
With a creak, the door opened.
The black market in the city only opened around three or four in the afternoon, and the timing was perfect.
At the intersection, Lin Zhiyi hailed a car and headed straight for Hunshan Road.
Ten minutes later, she got out of the car and arrived at the entrance to the black market.
Before leaving the Lin family home, she had taken a silk scarf from the basket she carried with her and wrapped it around her head, leaving only her eyes exposed.
As soon as she entered the black market, she saw that quite a few people were dressed similarly.
Unlike the neat and orderly state-run supply and marketing cooperatives, the black market was filled with small stalls selling all kinds of goods.
The first thing that caught Lin Zhiyi’s attention was the eggs.
In this era, eggs were a rare commodity. Many people could only afford to eat them during holidays, and they were even scarcer in the countryside.
She immediately bought both baskets of eggs from the vendor.
The vendor kindly offered to deliver them to her home, but Lin Zhiyi only told him to leave them to one side because her husband would come to collect them later. As she spoke, she reached into her basket for the money.
Before entering the black market, she had found a man who looked trustworthy, given him some money, and asked him to help carry her purchases.
She had no intention of exhausting herself before she even went to the countryside.
Although she had discovered that her body in this life was in better physical condition, she still did not intend to waste her energy on such things.
The moment Lin Zhiyi discovered that she possessed a golden finger space, she had guessed its purpose. It was practically an essential feature for the protagonist of a countryside novel. Otherwise, as a pregnant woman in that era, she would likely have had a difficult life.
A while later, a man did indeed arrive holding the handkerchief Lin Zhiyi had left behind to collect the eggs she had purchased.
When the vendor saw that the pattern on the handkerchief was the matching half of a pair of mandarin ducks, he did not ask any questions and handed the goods over.
Lin Zhiyi wanted to see whether there was any pork available, but as she walked farther ahead, she constantly felt a pair of eyes fixed firmly on her back.
She did not pay much attention to it, assuming it was the man who had just collected the eggs.
After walking more than ten steps, Lin Zhiyi finally spotted some pork, and it was black pork!
People who came to the black market most often bought pork, eggs, and fine grain, as these were also among the hardest goods to find through regular channels.
A large, heavily built man had just emerged carrying half a black pig, and everyone’s attention immediately turned toward it.
Lin Zhiyi hurried over to him. “How much is it per jin? I’ll take all of this.”
The large man stopped in his tracks. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. Do you have any more?”
The man looked as though he could hardly believe what he had heard. “You really want all of it?”
Lin Zhiyi knew exactly how good black pork was. Even in modern times, it was something people often had to make a special effort to find.
Black pork was rich in high quality protein and could help improve physical strength and immunity, as well as help with anemia.
“If you have more, I’ll take that too!”
Lin Zhiyi’s words immediately delighted the large man. “Sis, come with me.”
The black pig had been raised privately by his family so they could sell it at a good price on the black market, and he had not expected to encounter someone who truly recognized its quality.
“Sis, including this half, I still have a whole half pig at home. You can see the quality of the meat yourself. Normally, it would cost two yuan and fifty cents per jin, but if you take both, I’ll give them to you for two yuan and ten cents per jin.”
It was his first time selling this kind of meat, so he had not dared to bring too much. He had only brought two halves this time because if they did not sell, the meat would simply go to waste.
“Alright!”
Lin Zhiyi did not haggle any further. Black pork was already more expensive than ordinary pork, and this was likely the greatest discount the man could offer.
Lin Zhiyi inspected the rest of the meat, paid him, and then told the large man to leave. She said that her husband would come to collect it later and that she would wait there.
“When is your man coming to collect it?”
Lin Zhiyi was just about to ask who he was to be so nosy when she realized that the voice sounded strangely familiar.