Yang Yiyang turned to look around. Apart from herself, there were only the salesclerks, with no one else in sight.
Only then did she realize they were talking to her.
"I just wanted to ask if you have any defective items here that don’t require coupons. I’d like to trade something for them."
After saying this, she reached into her pocket and, using her thoughts, retrieved three very beautiful hair clips.
Then she handed them over to the women.
Two of them immediately had their eyes light up.
Yang Yiyang thought, It seems I guessed right. "If you don’t have any, you could also exchange them for some coupons."
"These are the latest styles from Haishi. You can’t buy them here."
The three of them exchanged glances, and one of the younger girls said, "You didn’t steal these, did you?"
Yang Yiyang looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Have you ever seen such beautiful things before? If you’ve never even seen them, where do you think I could have stolen them from?"
That left the girl speechless.
"My aunt, who married into Haishi, sent these to me. The shipping alone cost quite a bit of money."
"If I hadn’t suddenly gotten injured and spent all my money, I wouldn’t be willing to part with them."
At this, all three of them broke into smiles.
"How do you want to trade?"
The fish has taken the bait. "My aunt said these sell for 2.5 yuan each in Haishi. Right now, I urgently need money and coupons to buy some daily necessities. If you want them, just make an offer."
"Can the three of us discuss it first?"
Yang Yiyang nodded and walked over to the entrance.
The three of them huddled together and began discussing.
"I really like them. They’re so pretty. If I wear one to a blind date, I’m sure it’ll work out. But 2.5 yuan is too expensive."
Another girl said, "She clearly looks like she’s short on money. If we bargain with her, she might be willing to lower the price."
The third woman added, "Right. So, how much do you think is appropriate?"
The one who spoke first said, "They’re so beautiful. If we offer too little, she might not sell. I could tell from her expression when she took them out that she’s really reluctant to part with them."
"Do you think she’d accept 1 yuan?"
"No more than 1.5 yuan. If it’s any higher, I won’t be able to afford it."
"Let’s ask her first."
Actually, from where Yang Yiyang was standing, she could just barely overhear their conversation, and she happened to catch the words "1 yuan" and "1.5 yuan."
"Comrade, come in for a moment. We have something to discuss with you."
Yang Yiyang pointed at herself, as if to ask, Me?
All three of them nodded.
Yang Yiyang walked back inside.
The youngest of them asked, "What’s the lowest price you’d be willing to accept for these?"
Yang Yiyang put on an expression of reluctance and hesitation. "Are you offering money and coupons, or items?"
Seeing their puzzled looks, she added, "I want to buy some daily necessities, but I don’t have coupons. If you have items that don’t require coupons to exchange, then I’ll lower the price to 1.5 yuan each. If you’re paying with money and coupons, it’ll be 1.8 yuan."
After a pause, she added, "If I weren’t in urgent need of money, I wouldn’t be willing to sell them."
"With shipping costs, each of these costs at least 2.8 yuan."
Hearing this, the three of them thought, If the price is cut in half, only a fool would refuse.
The oldest one said, "We have some defective items here. If you want, I can show them to you."
Meaning they wanted to trade with items.
Yang Yiyang did indeed need a batch of daily necessities from here, so she nodded.
"I’ll take you to the warehouse in the back to have a look. Let me know what you need."
The storefront outside wasn't very large, but there were quite a few warehouses inside. Then again, at this time, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative sold just about everything.
She was led to a corner. "These are all defective items. They're actually usable, just a bit damaged during shipping. But they don't require coupons, and they're half price."
What a great deal, Yang Yiyang thought. I should grab more, and if it's not enough, I can just pay the difference.
So she took a thermos liner with a bit of enamel chipped off the outside, two enamel cups also with some enamel chipped off—not very pretty, but still new—three bars of soap, three towels, one pack of toilet paper, three toothbrushes, and one tube of toothpaste.
"Miss, if it's not enough, can I just pay the difference?"
Actually, there were many other things she considered necessities, like fabric, shoes, pillows, and quilts, all of which needed to be bought, but she just didn't have enough money.
"Let me calculate for you: thermos liner, 1.5 yuan; two enamel cups, 1.5 yuan; three bars of soap, forty-five cents; three towels, seventy-five cents; one pack of toilet paper, thirty cents; three toothbrushes, thirty cents; one tube of toothpaste, fifty cents."
"That totals 5.3 yuan. Your hair clips are 4.5 yuan, so you just need to pay an additional eighty cents."
Yang Yiyang promptly paid the eighty cents.
"Do any of you ladies have coupons? I can exchange them for money. Preferably meat coupons and grain coupons."
She spent another yuan to exchange for one jin of meat coupons and three jin of grain coupons.
"My aunt also sent me a few very beautiful silk scarves. I heard they came from Gangcheng. Do you want them?"
"If you do, I can bring them for you to see tomorrow."
The three women exchanged glances again, thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea if they were nice.
"Then bring them first. If we don't like them, you can't blame anyone."
Yang Yiyang smiled and said, "Of course not."
With that, she left, carrying her things in a worn-out burlap sack.
When she reached a secluded spot, she stored most of the items in her space, leaving only two cups, a bit of toilet paper, towels, toothpaste, and toothbrushes in the bag.
At least she had meat coupons now. If she used them sparingly and only ate steamed buns, she could manage for a few days!
Later, at the hospital cafeteria, she would exchange all her meat coupons for meat buns and store them in her space, taking them out whenever she wanted to eat.
By the time Yang Yiyang returned to the ward, Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang had come again.
"Oh, Fourth Sister-in-law is doing much better, able to go out shopping now."
"Having money really makes a difference. Let's see what you bought."
Yang Yiyang hadn't expected her to snatch the bag without warning. Before she could react, Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang had already grabbed the bag and opened it to look inside.
"Heavens, you bought so many things?"
"Having money to spend really is different, isn't it?"
Yang Yiyang was already fuming inside, but Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang kept on with her sarcastic remarks.
"Your eldest brother's towel just wore out, and he asked me to buy a new one. I never thought Fourth Sister-in-law would buy so many. I'll just take one back for him to use."
Yang Yiyang clenched her fists but ultimately held back from punching her in the face.
"Fine, if Eldest Sister-in-law wants it, take it. But you'll need to give me fifty cents and a towel coupon. If you don't have a coupon, since we're family, just give me eighty cents."
Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang immediately jumped up. "What? You dare ask me for money?"
She acted as if it were an honor for her to take a liking to Yang Yiyang's things.
Yang Yiyang said, "What? Eldest Sister-in-law, you're not trying to get something for free, are you? Or do you think you can act like a robber, snatching whatever you see?"
Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang's expression turned extremely unpleasant as she said sharply, "How can you say something so unpleasant? Isn't this just a gift from the newlywed fourth sister-in-law to her sister-in-law?"
She thought to herself, "Just a lousy towel, and you think I'd stoop to snatching it? You think too highly of yourself!"
Yang Yiyang replied, "Oh, then when we got married, how much did Eldest Sister-in-law give as a wedding gift, or what kind of congratulatory present did you send us?"
"If you haven’t prepared anything, we wouldn’t mind a small red envelope either. After all, Zihao and Eldest Brother are real brothers. We wouldn’t mind even five or eight yuan, and we wouldn’t mind ten or twenty yuan either."