Li Tingyun thought to herself: Of course the rice is this good. It was processed with the crop-processing machines inside my space, so naturally it doesn’t have all the impurities that rice from this era does.
She nodded and said, “Naturally. Everything I have here is top quality.”
The older woman scooped up a handful of rice and rubbed it between her palms. Instantly satisfied, she smiled.
“Alright then, give me thirty jin of rice too!”
Although the woman hadn’t asked the price, Li Tingyun still felt she should say it first.
“My rice is one yuan and four mao per jin,” she said. “Auntie, can you accept that?”
Compared to the supply cooperative, this man’s goods were definitely more expensive—but they were also much better quality.
The older woman hesitated briefly before nodding. “Fine, pack it up for me.”
Li Tingyun responded cheerfully and quickly weighed out thirty jin of rice for her.
Earning forty-nine yuan from that one customer, Li Tingyun happily pocketed the money, tasting for the first time the joy of making money herself.
After the older woman left, another elderly lady stepped forward and asked, “Young man, for your rice… do you accept ration tickets?”
Li Tingyun froze for a moment.
This was an era where ration tickets were needed everywhere. Besides money, tickets were naturally in short supply too.
Because the original owner had been frugal, she had accumulated quite a few tickets and savings without spending much of either. But even so, Li Tingyun still lacked both money and tickets.
She nodded and said, “I can accept some tickets, but I mainly prefer cash.”
The elderly woman looked quite old, with white hair. She took a small cloth pouch from her clothes and pointed at the rice.
“Give me ten jin of rice.”
She handed Li Tingyun two one-kilogram refined grain ration tickets along with eight yuan and four mao.
Li Tingyun accepted them, stored them away, and efficiently scooped out ten jin of rice for her.
After that, more people noticed how good Li Tingyun’s rice and eggs looked and came over wanting to buy.
The basket wasn’t very large. If she kept pulling dozens of jin of rice out of it nonstop, people might grow suspicious.
So Li Tingyun said, “The rice is sold out for today. I only have eggs left now.”
The customer looked unwilling to give up, but seeing how unusually large her eggs were, he bought all the remaining eggs instead.
Once the basket was completely emptied, Li Tingyun decided not to stay any longer and slung the basket onto her back to leave.
At the alley entrance, one of the young men saw her coming out and handed her a cigarette.
“Big brother, your goods looked really good. Do you still have more stock? I’d like to take some too.”
Li Tingyun accepted the cigarette and tucked it behind her ear.
“I do still have some,” she replied. “How much do you want?”
The phrase how much immediately implied she had quite a large supply.
The young man’s eyes lit up. “How much do you still have?”
Li Tingyun pretended to think about it before saying, “Still a little. Depends on how much you need.”
The young man immediately said, “Big brother, wait here a moment. I’ll go ask our boss.”
Before Li Tingyun could answer, he dashed into another alleyway.
The remaining youths smiled politely at her. Li Tingyun nodded back and waited in place.
Before long, the young man returned and said, “We want one thousand jin of rice and three thousand jin of eggs.”
Li Tingyun nodded calmly. “I still have about that much grain left.”
The youth continued asking, “Do you have any other kinds of food?”
Li Tingyun thought for a moment before replying, “I also have duck eggs. I can get pork too, and I’ve got white flour.”
“Good.” The young man smiled. “Bring one thousand jin of each of those as well.”
Li Tingyun agreed.
After settling on a location for the exchange, Li Tingyun turned and left.
Once she reached a deserted area, she entered her space and removed all the disguise items before heading back the way she came.
The bustle of the county town gradually faded behind her.
Once she reached the mountain road where no people could be seen, Li Tingyun took out her pink electric scooter from the space and rode off.
Back in modern times, she had never needed to worry about making money for the family.
Now that she had suddenly earned money herself today, she felt incredibly excited—as if even walking came with a breeze behind her.
Although the amount she earned today wasn’t huge, only a little over one hundred yuan total, she was already very satisfied and eagerly looking forward to earning even more next time.
The scooter moved quickly. After only half an hour, she could already see the outline of Shuangbanqiao Village and faintly make out her own house.
Once she got close enough, Li Tingyun got off the scooter, stored it back into her space, and walked the remaining distance home on foot.
It was around lunchtime now, also the time villagers got off work. People from the fields were gradually returning home.
Quite a few sharp-eyed villagers noticed Li Tingyun carrying a basket and kept peering curiously toward it.
But with the cloth covering it, nobody could see what was inside.
Soon she reached the large banyan tree at the entrance of the village—the symbolic landmark of Shuangbanqiao Village.
Several children were playing beneath it.
At a glance, Li Tingyun spotted Dabao standing beneath the tree in her little dress, as well as Erwa crouching on the ground with the other children, poking at something with a little wooden stick.
As she got closer, she heard someone saying to Dabao, “Dawa, come play house with us too!”
Dabao shook her head. “No way. It’ll dirty the dress my mother bought for me.”
Seeing how carefully Dabao treasured the dress, Li Tingyun smiled to herself.
At that moment, Erbao turned around, about to say something, when he suddenly spotted Li Tingyun behind them.
His face immediately lit up in delight.
“Mother!”
Dabao followed his gaze and also saw Li Tingyun. She happily ran over and threw herself into her arms.
“Mother, you’re back!”
Erbao did the same, clutching something tightly in his hand as he hugged Li Tingyun’s leg.
“Mother, I missed you so much.”
Smiling, Li Tingyun rubbed both children’s heads and said, “Come on, let’s go home and eat. Mother bought delicious things for you.”
“Okay!” Erbao nodded enthusiastically and raised his little fist. “Mother, this is for you.”
“What is it?” Li Tingyun asked with a smile as she lowered her head.
The moment she looked carefully, her expression changed instantly.
It was the earthworms Erbao had been digging up earlier.
This Erbao really knows how to torment his mother, Li Tingyun complained inwardly.
Still, she gently coaxed him, “Good boy, Erwa. Let the earthworms go, and Mother will give you delicious food right now.”
Erbao loved eating. The moment he heard there was food, he obediently released the earthworms into the grass and looked up at Li Tingyun with a grin.
Li Tingyun reached into the basket—though in reality she was reaching into her space—and grabbed a handful of fruit candies for him.
“Share these candies with your little friends.”
Watching the other children stare longingly at the candy, Dabao hesitated and said, “Mother, if we share them all, then we won’t have enough left for ourselves.”