This kind of attitude from salesclerks wasn’t something Li Tingyun had never encountered in her previous life. She had just never expected to find people like this in an era supposedly known for its simplicity and honesty.
She immediately sneered, “Even things sold in department stores vary in quality. Aren’t you proof of that yourself?”
Because of Li Tingyun’s double meaning, the saleswoman instantly realized she was being compared to low-quality goods. Her face flushed red with anger.
Seeing the woman so furious she couldn’t even speak, Li Tingyun scoffed and turned to leave when someone from the neighboring counter called out warmly.
“Miss, come take a look over here! We just got a new batch of fabric—excellent quality!”
The neighboring shop had noticed the argument earlier. Seeing Li Tingyun about to leave, they quickly tried to attract her business.
Li Tingyun paused and glanced back at the previous saleswoman.
The woman stood there with her arms crossed, sneering coldly at her.
Clearly, she thought Li Tingyun was too poor to afford anything and had only come to the department store to pretend to be wealthy.
Li Tingyun smiled faintly and turned into the neighboring stall instead.
This saleswoman was completely different from the last one—warm and enthusiastic rather than snobbish.
There was a saying: people fight for pride just as Buddha accepts incense. Originally, Li Tingyun hadn’t planned on buying clothes, but now she suddenly wanted to.
The fabrics and styles between the two shops weren’t all that different. After casually browsing, Li Tingyun pointed at two ready-made outfits and asked the saleswoman to wrap them up.
The saleswoman happily packed them into bags while chatting, “Miss, are these for your parents? You’re so filial.”
Li Tingyun casually agreed a few times.
She bought one outfit each for Father Yi and Mother Yi: Zhongshan-style jackets made from dacron fabric paired with loose trousers. Altogether it cost twenty yuan and two fabric ration coupons.
To her, it wasn’t expensive at all.
The original owner had saved up quite a bit of money and ration tickets while hoping to return to the city, but she had always been reluctant to spend any of it. Even when visiting the county town, she barely spent money on herself.
She had been stingy even toward herself, much less toward the children.
After putting the clothes into the basket on her back, Li Tingyun walked outside and happened to see the neighboring saleswoman who had been waiting to see her embarrass herself.
Because the woman had already labeled Li Tingyun as some poor country bumpkin, she naturally believed there was no way Li Tingyun could afford anything there.
So when she saw Li Tingyun not only buy something, but buy two full outfits at once, shock immediately appeared on her face.
The saleswoman from the friendly shop obviously noticed as well and sarcastically called out, “Miss, remember to come to our shop next time! We don’t believe in looking down on people here.”
Li Tingyun pressed her lips together in a smile. Seeing the neighboring saleswoman’s face turn the color of pig liver, she calmly turned and left.
Passing through the food section, Li Tingyun didn’t even bother glancing around.
Things like fruit candies, crisp pastries, and puffed rice sweets already existed in her space. She had stocked up on all of them before transmigrating, so there was no need to buy more.
After leaving the department store, she felt a little hungry.
Li Tingyun found a breakfast stall and ordered a bowl of rice porridge and one fried dough stick.
After paying five cents, she found a seat and sat down. She wanted to taste how the porridge and youtiao from this era differed from modern ones.
When the food arrived, Li Tingyun was nearly stunned.
This fried dough stick was incredibly generous!
One stick was thicker than two modern ones combined.
The porridge was thick and hearty too. The only problem was that she liked adding white sugar to her porridge, but in this era white sugar was precious. Of course, the shop wouldn’t leave it out for customers to freely use.
While nobody was paying attention, Li Tingyun secretly took out some sugar from her space and sprinkled it into the porridge.
After eating half a fried dough stick with the sweet porridge, she was already stuffed.
She placed the leftover youtiao into the basket—though in reality she was storing it inside her space—and left the breakfast stall.
Although the county town was more prosperous than the market town, it didn’t take long to finish wandering around it.
As she passed through a narrow alleyway, Li Tingyun paused.
She noticed several young men chatting at the entrance of the alley. The moment they saw her stop, they instantly fell silent and looked at her warily.
If it had been an ordinary alley, they wouldn’t have reacted so cautiously to an ordinary-looking woman like her.
What else could this be if not the legendary black market?
Still, she didn’t recklessly rush in. Keeping a calm expression, she simply walked away.
After twisting through several streets and confirming nobody was following her—and after making sure nobody was nearby—Li Tingyun entered her space.
Worried that being a woman might attract trouble, she quickly disguised herself.
She found a wig in the space and put it on.
After wearing the short-haired wig, darkening her face with makeup, sticking on a fake beard, and stuffing thick cotton padding inside her loose clothes, she transformed into a fat, hunched-over man.
Following the same route back, Li Tingyun returned to the alley entrance.
The same young men were still there. They looked unfamiliar with her now, though their eyes still carried caution.
Relying on the few fragmented memories left by the original owner, Li Tingyun made a few hand signals to the youth who looked like the leader.
The young man nodded and let her pass.
As soon as she entered, she heard the youths resume chatting behind her.
After walking farther in and turning a corner, she finally saw it—
Many people had set up tiny stalls on the ground. The stalls were small enough that they could be packed up and carried away at a moment’s notice.
There were quite a few stalls, and plenty of buyers too, but the entire place was astonishingly quiet. Despite so many people, hardly a sound could be heard.
Li Tingyun followed suit.
She set down her basket, sat to one side, pretended to rummage around inside, and casually placed eggs and polished white rice into it before lifting one corner of the covering cloth.
While waiting for customers, Li Tingyun observed the surrounding stalls.
Quite a few people were also selling eggs, but none of theirs were as large as hers.
As expected, products from her space were superior—even the eggs were larger than ordinary ones.
Before long, someone noticed her basket.
An older woman crouched down, carefully inspected the eggs, and quietly asked, “Big brother, how much are these eggs?”
Lowering her voice, Li Tingyun gestured with her hand and said, “Seventy cents per jin.”
The woman looked shocked. “Seventy cents? Why so expensive? That’s pricier than the supply cooperative!”
“Auntie,” Li Tingyun said as she picked up one egg, “look at these eggs. They’re large and high quality. Do the supply cooperative’s eggs look this good?”
The woman examined the egg and had to admit it really was much larger than the cooperative’s eggs. One egg could practically equal two normal ones.
“Alright then,” the woman said. “Give me ten jin of eggs!”
“Coming right up!”
Li Tingyun responded cheerfully and quickly began taking eggs out of the basket.
The woman had brought her own scale and weighed out ten jin of eggs.
Just as she was about to pay, she spotted the polished white rice inside the basket. Her eyes immediately lit up.
“Big brother,” she whispered excitedly, “your rice is so white?”