The woman’s chapped, red face was full of disbelief. She stifled a scream and asked again, “How much?”
“Ten yuan. There are two bags here. Do you want them?”
“Two bags, twenty?” she asked cautiously.
“Yes, twenty. I also have brown sugar and noodles. You’re weak and anemic; drinking some brown sugar water will do you good.”
Wang Yufang pinched herself. At this time, only with a baby’s birth certificate could one buy one jin of brown sugar or two jin of pork ribs. Normally, even if she queued for two days outside the supply and marketing cooperative, she wouldn’t be able to buy brown sugar to supplement her health!
“How much… how much?” Her voice trembled.
“Brown sugar is 0.68 yuan per jin, white sugar 0.8 per jin, noodles 0.24 per jin, eggs 0.6. What do you need?” Sang Zhi’s pricing was fair, even cheaper than the outside market in some cases.
“Ding, warning! Warning! Host violated system rules. Please stop abnormal transactions immediately, or you will face penalties.” Sang Zhi spoke calmly.
“There are also candy at one cent per piece, salted kumquats three cents per small bag, take them home for your child.”
“Warning, warning! Host violation, ding…”
Sang Zhi had always been rebellious and disliked being threatened, even if it was by a newly bound divine system. She wanted to see what kind of punishment there could possibly be. The thought passed, and her body tilted—Wang Yufang, not understanding, quickly caught her.
Her body went numb—an electric current ran from head to toe, extremely uncomfortable. But it wasn’t fatal; she gritted her teeth and endured it. Her body swayed, fine sweat beading on her forehead, and it took a full two minutes before she returned to normal.
“You okay?” Wang Yufang asked, concerned.
Sang Zhi shook her head. “I’m fine, just a minor thing. Should I pack the items for you?”
The woman was both relieved and hesitant. A windfall had fallen from the sky, yet she was afraid to take it. She looked at Sang Zhi suspiciously, wondering if there was some hidden agenda.
At that moment, the little daughter in her arms stirred slightly, making a barely audible sound. She kissed her daughter’s forehead, then looked up with determination.
“I want it all!”
She was completely absorbed in the immense joy, not even realizing how Sang Zhi knew she had another child at home. Sang Zhi helped her pack everything into the basket and covered it with dry straw. After this transaction, Sang Zhi had twenty-six yuan in hand. Her daring move had paid off.
Word of her goods quickly spread. Seeing the variety and quality, a crowd gathered. A streetwise young man squatted in front of her, asking the price of eggs.
Sang Zhi didn’t even look up. “Two mao each, one yuan fifty per jin.”
“WTF! You’re cheating me! I just heard you sell to her six mao per jin. I don’t care, but you have to give me that price too!”
Sang Zhi wasn’t here to make money—she was purely earning merit points. But she didn’t give everyone a discount; otherwise, it would disturb the market. Compared to other stalls charging eight or nine mao per egg, her two-mao price was fair.
The man just wanted to take advantage. Seeing her easy to bully, he threw a few coins down and grabbed the eggs. Sang Zhi wouldn’t let him; during the struggle, she jabbed a needle in reverse.
The man saw the needle and tried to laugh—it was just a sewing needle. Trying to hurt someone? Perfect, he even needed an excuse to extort people. But soon the smile vanished. The needle was embedded deeply; it didn’t hurt much, but his hand lost all feeling.
He shook it stubbornly. “My hand! My hand is ruined!”
The man hopped around like a frog, tried everything, but the hand stayed numb. Seeing the silver needle stuck in his hand, he finally felt fear. He wanted to rough up Sang Zhi, but seeing her holding another needle, ready to strike again, he backed down.
“Sister, I didn’t recognize you! Don’t take it out on me—I rely on this hand to feed my family!” His screams were terrifying in the night.
The commotion drew the attention of two men keeping watch. Their eyes fell sharply on him.
“You again! How many times this month have you caused trouble? If you want to die, go die somewhere else, don’t drag us down!”
This was already a shady place; causing trouble helped no one. Sang Zhi saw the men’s hesitation and gave them face by putting the needle away.
A few minutes later, the man regained feeling. Wounded but still wanting compensation, he didn’t get the chance to ask before being dragged away. Sang Zhi had made her mark—no one dared provoke her again.
Her prices weren’t fixed. To the sickly and weak, she charged less than market price. If someone was short on money, she gave extra while keeping her own costs covered.
That night, no one matched her energy. The system, sensing her determination, only pinged reminders for merit points without shocking her further.
Everyone earns merit points differently; some more, some none. But overall, she gained over 600 points that night.
At midnight, when the rooster crowed, the market dispersed. Having sold all her goods, she walked home briskly.
Wang Yufang hurried back and from a distance saw two figures—a woman and a young boy—pacing anxiously at the alley’s end.
“Mom!” The boy ran toward her. Seeing she was safe, he sighed in relief and went to take the basket, only to be stunned by its weight.
“Yufang, what’s wrong?”
Wang Yufang’s mother-in-law couldn’t see clearly and couldn’t hear her grandson or daughter-in-law, so she thought something had happened and reached out to feel around for them.
“Mom, it’s okay, we’ll talk about it at home,” Wang Yufang said, squeezing her mother-in-law’s hand to signal her to follow back home.
After Wang Yufang’s husband passed away, the military leadership, out of consideration, allowed them to continue living in the family housing. But both Zhao Jia and her daughter-in-law were strong-willed and didn’t like causing trouble for the military, so they moved back to their old house.
As soon as they entered, she had her son boil water while she took out the tightly wrapped substitute milk powder to prepare for the child. Even though her mother-in-law couldn’t see, she could hear the clinking and clattering inside and realized that her daughter-in-law had made a good haul, letting out a sigh of relief.
Wang Yufang fed the baby girl with the bottle. The little one was so hungry she had no energy; thinking it was still rice water, she shook her head in refusal, but when she smelled the faint scent of milk, she greedily sucked it down.
The woman gently held her daughter and told her mother-in-law about what had happened at the black market.
“We’ve met a good person,” Wang Yufang nodded. Indeed, who could argue with that? Recently, she hadn’t slept a single night in peace, all for her child’s food.
Zhao Jian took out the items from the basket one by one.
“Mom, we don’t have much money left at home. How did you buy so much?”
Wang Yufang carried the child over. Besides eggs, noodles, rice, flour, white sugar, brown sugar, and candy, there were now also soap, medicated oil, and headache powder—probably items that the young woman had secretly slipped in while helping pack the things. No family ties or obligation, yet she had given them such a big favor. Wang Yufang felt like crying again.
After Zhao Jian finished unpacking, he noticed something at the bottom of the basket wrapped in a handkerchief.
“Mom, look at this!”