The two of them didn’t bother to figure out what price was hidden under the blue tag—they were already completely captivated by that sweet, fragrant white sugar!
At the price of three jin for ten yuan, even a deity couldn’t have drawn their attention away.
They exchanged just one glance, and without a single word, they understood each other perfectly.
“Grab a bag—fill it with sugar!” Lin Xiaohe was grinning so wide her mouth might split, feeling like a big spender. “Let’s just get ten yuan’s worth—we can afford it.”
“Hehe, can I have some sugar water when we get home?” Xiaogu’s eyes had crinkled into little slits. Sugar! That precious, precious sugar.
If you brought two ounces of sugar when visiting relatives, they’d treat you with extra respect.
Sugar was even rarer than meat all year round, and here it was, sitting out in plain white piles—and one jin of wild greens could buy three jin of sugar!
Not buying more would feel downright wrong.
“Sure, drink up! I’ll put three big scoops in for you.” With all that sugar, what was a little sugar water? They could have as much as they wanted.
The bags by the sugar bin were a bit small, so they split the three jin into two bags.
Each sister carried a heavy bag of sugar, their cheeks aching from grinning. All this sugar for only ten yuan!
“Alright, alright—we’ve bought enough good stuff for today. Let’s head home!”
Between the chicken drumettes, soy sauce, lard, and sugar, they’d spent 47 yuan.
“Do you need a bag? Large ones are eighty cents, small ones fifty.”
The cashier asked in a flat, emotionless voice, her eyes glazed over.
That’s just how it was in small towns—long hours, low pay, and dead-eyed exhaustion.
“No, no thanks!” Lin Xiaohe quickly waved her hand. Good grief—that expensive!
One bag cost as much as half a jin of rice. Way too pricey.
They had their basket anyway—they could just put everything in there.
No need to waste money on that!
They picked up their stored items from the front desk and loaded everything into the basket. The sugar went inside the iron wok—couldn’t have it touching the other stuff and getting dirty.
The walk home was light and bouncy. Who wouldn’t be thrilled?!
“Hehe~ hehehe~”
Xiaogu couldn’t stop herself—she kept letting out silly giggles.
Hehe (〃’▽’〃) They could eat meat, drink sugar water, and have white rice—how could life get any better?!
“Stop that silly laughing—people will think I’m out with a fool.” With life looking up, she could finally crack jokes too.
“Sis! What are you saying?” Xiaogu pouted, her bottom lip sticking out. But before she could hold it for long, she broke into another grin.
“Alright, let’s hurry up. When we get home, I’ll make you a bowl of sugar water, and we’ll stir-fry that little piece of meat.
Let’s steam some plain white rice. Tonight, we’ll cook those chicken legs too—two meat dishes in one day. We’re living the high life!”
“Hehe, don’t walk too fast, Sis—be careful with that sugar. If we dropped it, we’d be crying our eyes out.”
“Don’t worry, my hands are steadier than yours.”
When they reached the spot where they’d picked up potatoes and sweet potatoes last time, they saw a few elderly people rummaging through things.
“Sis, should we go check it out?”
Lin Xiaohe glanced at the sugar in her arms, then at the crowd over there, and hesitated. It wouldn’t be worth it if someone jostled her and spilled the sugar.
“Look at all those people, Sis. Last time we came, there was nobody here. Maybe there’s something good?”
“Alright, you stay back a bit.” Lin Xiaohe set their things down a safe distance away, rolled up her sleeves, and squeezed into the crowd to see what was going on.
Her eyes went wide when she saw it.
What was this—pumpkins and potatoes all over the ground?
They all looked pretty fresh—the potatoes were just a little wrinkled, and the pumpkins didn’t seem to have any obvious problems.
Why was everyone tossing them?
She waited a while and noticed the old folks had no intention of picking anything up—they were just sifting through the pile.
Not wanting to miss out, she grabbed a green plastic bag she found among the heap and started stuffing it frantically.
Pumpkins weren’t as filling as potatoes, so she went for the potatoes first. If she could still carry more, she’d grab some pumpkins too.
“Little girl, can you really eat that many potatoes? If they sprout before you finish them, they’ll be inedible.
These potatoes don’t look fresh—the sprout buds are already turning green. They’re about to shoot. Better not eat them.”
A few old ladies, watching her move with practiced speed, offered a word of caution.
There was never anything truly good in the discards—most of it had some kind of problem. What they were sifting through were the hidden good ones buried among the bad produce.
Some wholesale stalls would toss whole baskets of vegetables even if only half had gone bad—they couldn’t be bothered to pick through them.
With luck, you could find surprisingly fresh stuff.
Their families didn’t lack the money for vegetables, but finding something fresh and edible felt different—it was a thrill.
Lin Xiaohe paused for a moment. Potatoes weren’t edible once they sprouted? Back where she came from, nobody followed that rule.
As long as it hadn’t rotted into a stinky puddle, it was fair game.
The only things they threw away were the ones completely hollowed out by rot—the kind that oozed foul juice when you squeezed them.
She thought about it for a second, but didn’t stop filling her bag. Life was what it was on their side—who were they to be picky? Any food meant more people survived.
Sprouts were nothing—even half-rotten ones were worth taking.
Seeing she wouldn’t listen, the old ladies didn’t say more.
They were strangers after all—one reminder was more than enough. Any more and they’d just be annoying.
She packed the bag full, but couldn’t lift it at first.
Gritting her teeth, she managed to drag it along the ground—there was no way she could carry it properly. Good thing the bag was sturdy; otherwise, she’d have dropped half of it on the way.
Xiaogu had the basket on her back and the big iron wok in her arms, treading carefully with every step. Everything she carried was precious—if anything got damaged, she’d cry her heart out.
They struggled all the way to the spot where they’d cross over. After checking to make sure no one was around, the two of them vanished with a whoosh.
The first thing they did back home was sort through everything they’d brought. None of this could be left out in the open—they had to stash it all away, hiding things here and there.
They set aside a dozen potatoes—those were for Aunt Xiang’s family. A dozen potatoes should be enough for them.
The gleaming white rice was too conspicuous—it’d draw too much attention. The slightly ragged-looking potatoes were much more suitable.
“Dad, I’m thinking Aunt Xiang and Uncle will probably come by again tonight. When they do, you tell them you found a connection through the black market back in the day.
We’ll need to take something from them in exchange too—otherwise, it’ll be too obvious.”
Leave a Reply