Everyone wore expressions of righteous indignation, yet there was nothing they could do about Old Mrs. Su.
After all, this was indeed a family matter of hers. At most, people could only curse behind her back and cut off contact with her family.
Old Mrs. Su’s words were not wrong—this was the new China, and the old clan-based ways were no longer in practice.
“Everyone, lend a hand and help clean up my eldest brother’s courtyard at the village entrance.”
“These orphans and widows, with Lihua still sick, would take forever to tidy it up themselves.”
The crowd responded, and those who lived nearby hurried home to fetch sickles and hoes, rushing ahead to the village entrance.
This left Wang Lihua and her daughters trailing behind.
Only after putting a considerable distance between themselves and the Su family’s second branch did Fifth Great-Uncle pull out a handkerchief wrapped around money from the inner pocket of his padded coat.
He unfolded the handkerchief, counted the money, and handed two-thirds of it to Wang Lihua.
“Take this. Go see a doctor first. You can pay me back when you’re better and have the means.”
Wang Lihua initially hesitated, as after taking the medicine Su Erbao had given her twice, she could feel her body recovering. A few more days of the medicine would likely restore her fully.
Seeing her reluctance, Su Erbao discreetly pinched her lower back, signaling her to accept it.
Realizing what needed to be done next, Wang Lihua gratefully accepted the five yuan.
Third Grandpa also fished out a stack of small bills from his pocket, totaling two yuan, and handed them to Wang Lihua.
Wang Lihua thanked him profusely as well and instructed Su Dabao and Su Erbao to express their gratitude.
With many hands, the work went quickly. By the time they reached the village entrance, the small courtyard had already been tidied up, and a few nimble-fingered aunties were cleaning the inside of the house.
Several older women who had heard about the situation brought over some food supplies.
Though not much, it was given without expectation of repayment—a gesture of goodwill, enough to sustain them for a while.
Wang Lihua wiped her face, etching this kindness into her heart, and vowed to repay it if given the chance in the future.
Third Grandpa had his daughter-in-law bring over bedding and three sets of bowls and chopsticks, while Fifth Great-Uncle sent his youngest son with an iron pot.
After everyone left, the mother and her two daughters sat on the bed and couldn’t help but laugh together.
Among them, Su Erbao was undoubtedly the happiest—she had taken the first step toward rewriting her mother and sister’s fate.
Tomorrow, she would take the second step.
The braised pig’s trotter soup and rice from last night were stored in Su Erbao’s Storage Space, remaining exactly as they were when placed inside.
After dinner, Wang Lihua took her medicine again, and the three of them huddled on the bed to chat.
When the village had electricity lines installed, the eldest grandfather had already passed away, so there were no electric lights in the courtyard. Su Erbao bought candles and a lighter from the System Mall, placing the candles on a nearby table.
While Wang Lihua and Su Dabao chatted, Su Erbao browsed the System Mall.
Private businesses were still not permitted at the time, but black markets existed. In her previous life, her sister had caught wild chickens to sell at the black market, and Su Erbao had gone along twice, so she knew the location.
Tomorrow, when she went into the city, she would definitely need to exchange goods for money.
The money in her Xixi wallet could only be used to buy items in the System Mall and couldn’t be withdrawn.
To convert it into cash, she would have to sell items from the System Mall.
After browsing for a while, she came across cotton quilts and bought two. Then, an idea struck her—tomorrow, they could sell cotton at the black market!
The weather was so cold, and buying cotton required cotton ration tickets, so cotton was bound to be in short supply.
She searched for loose cotton and found it was very expensive—over a hundred yuan for six jin.
Thinking of the cotton quilt she had just bought, she simply placed an order for five more of the cheapest quilts.
A 200×230 quilt weighing 12 jin cost only 62 yuan each.
After buying the quilts, she also purchased scissors and burlap sacks to make it easier to pack and dismantle the cotton.
Seeing the suddenly appearing quilts and burlap sacks, Wang Lihua and Su Erbao were stunned for a moment.
Su Erbao picked up the gleaming scissors and shared her idea.
She didn’t explain where these things came from, sticking to yesterday’s explanation.
She wanted them, so they appeared.
Wang Lihua and Su Dabao wisely didn’t ask questions and quickly joined in the work.
Such large and thick quilts—who knew how long it would take to dismantle them! There was no time to waste on asking questions!
The mother and her two daughters buried themselves in the task. Without a watch, they had no sense of time, only knowing that when they finished dismantling the quilts, the temperature outside was at its lowest.
Before bed, Su Erbao habitually opened the System Mall and saw a watch featured on the recommendation page.
After some thought, she realized that not having a watch to tell time was indeed inconvenient, so she searched for a watch engraved with “Serve the People.”
The watch was very cheap, only 12.6 yuan each. She bought three at once, so all three of them could keep track of time.
However, the watch was battery-powered and would last at most a year or two.
But that was enough. If they had money in the future, they could always buy new ones here.
With dreams for the future in her heart, Su Erbao gradually drifted into sleep.
The next day, as dawn broke, the mother and her two daughters got up.
After brushing their teeth and washing their faces in the courtyard using hot water stored in Su Erbao’s Storage Space, while Wang Lihua wrote a letter of complaint by candlelight, Su Erbao bought bread and milk from the System Mall.
After breakfast, the three set off early, walking to the town to catch the bus.
On the way, Su Erbao finally remembered to ask Wang Lihua how much cotton cost per jin these days.
Wang Lihua thought for a moment, “With a cotton ration ticket, it’s 1.5 yuan per jin.”
Hearing this price, Su Erbao’s heart sank.
Even without a ration ticket, selling at 2 yuan per jin, her 12 jin of cotton would only fetch 24 yuan—a huge loss compared to the 62 yuan she spent!
Why hadn’t she thought of this last night? And she had bought a full five quilts!
Unwilling to give up, she asked again, “What about cotton quilts?”
Wang Lihua knew this too, as she had previously asked at the supply and marketing cooperative, “With a ticket, a quilt costs 20 yuan.”
Su Erbao looked up at the sky in despair—this was even worse than selling the cotton separately.
“But last night’s quilts were so big and thick. Without a ticket, they could sell for 30 yuan each.”
Wang Lihua added this, finally realizing the situation.
It was all because they were too excited last night, focused only on dismantling the quilts together.
Su Dabao looked from one to the other and suddenly spoke a heartbreaking truth, “So all our hard work last night was for nothing?”
Wang Lihua and Su Erbao exchanged glances, neither wanting to say another word.
It really was for nothing—and a money-losing effort at that.
Arriving in town and boarding the bus, Su Erbao specifically asked the conductor for the time and secretly adjusted the watch she had been keeping in her padded jacket pocket.
When they got off the bus, she glanced at it—it took less than an hour to travel from the town to the county seat.
It took them an hour to walk from the village to the town, which meant it took less than two hours to get from the village to the county seat.
Yet Su Dagui often used the excuse that the journey home took too long, and would not return home even once a month.