Lin Xiaohe took one down, then glanced to the side and was immediately drawn to something else.
She picked one up too—it was a transparent pack containing 10 colorful hair ties.
They had these back home too.
Xiaoxuan had a pack—she’d heard it was from the supply store and really hard to get; it wasn’t always in stock.
Last year, Xiaoxuan had given her one, and she was still using it.
They were yellow rubber bands wrapped in colorful thread. After a long time, they’d get really loose—you’d have to wrap them around many times to hold your hair.
When they got too loose, you’d cut them, shorten them, and tie a knot—still usable.
She hadn’t expected to find these here too—and so cheap! 2 yuan per pack, with 10 in each.
They could last for years.
What a deal!
“Sis! Look what I found—a flashlight!”
Xiaogu was crouched down, rummaging through the bottom shelf.
Lin Xiaohe crouched beside her to take a look. “Looks like it. This must be pretty expensive—definitely not 2 yuan.”
“Kids, looking for a flashlight? The one you’re holding is 15 yuan, comes with one battery.”
“That clear one on the top shelf, the one with all the colors—that’s also a flashlight. 5 yuan each, comes with a strip of batteries.”
The shop owner picked up a small flashlight from the counter and demonstrated. It had just one button—press once to turn it on, press twice for max brightness, press again to turn it off.
“The batteries don’t last long, but the free strip usually has about five.”
Lin Xiaohe took a closer look. The batteries were tiny—only as big as a pinky fingernail.
But it was cheap!
Though small, it was quite bright—more than enough for home use.
Lin Xiaohe picked through them for a while and finally chose a blue one.
“Boss, could you help us put the batteries in so we can test if it works?”
“Sure.” The shop owner took it and installed them in no time. “Go ahead—try it out. If there’s any problem, it’s yours for free.”
Lin Xiaohe switched it on and off several times, making sure there were no issues, before putting it down with satisfaction.
Almost no one in the village had a flashlight! And here they were, so cheap and easy to buy.
She’d heard you needed industrial ration coupons and had to wait for stock—they were a real pain to get.
“Together with these two things, that’ll be 9 yuan total.”
The shop owner glanced at them and grabbed the smallest bag.
Lin Xiaohe happily paid. What a deal! A flashlight for only 5 yuan, plus all those spare batteries—enough to last a good while.
“When you run out of batteries, you can come buy more—2 yuan per strip.”
The shop owner packed everything up.
She said that, but she’d never actually had anyone come back for replacement batteries.
This stuff was cheap—no adult bought it as a serious flashlight; it was just a toy for kids.
It wasn’t durable either—kids would drop it and bump it around, and it’d break before the batteries even ran out.
It was really just a child’s plaything.
“Sis, what else should we buy?” Xiaogu held the red polka-dot hair tie in her hand, unable to take her eyes off it.
“Nothing else. Let’s go home.” They still had a fish at home—no need to buy meat today.
“Okay~”
…
Taian Village
Yuya was drinking her white rice porridge, her face practically splitting into a grin.
“Dad, do we have anything else we can trade? I wonder if we could get some salt and sugar?”
“You can ask her. If she’s willing, I’ll go up the mountain again to look for beehives.
We’ve still got some dried mushrooms at home. It rained these past couple days, so we should be able to find more up there. As long as they’re willing to trade, we’ve got goods to offer.”
Shen Shan sat on the doorstep with his bowl in hand. “We’re running low on salt. If they won’t trade salt with us, we’ll have to find a chance to go down the mountain.”
But there was something he’d been puzzling over. Their place was a long way from the foot of the mountain—a round trip took over a day.
His daughter didn’t know the distance, but he did—he went down every few months.
A grown adult going down empty-handed still took a full day. How could those kids, carrying loads of wild greens, make the trip every day?
They definitely weren’t from the bottom of the mountain. Could there be another village hidden in these mountains?
Or were they some kind of spirits in disguise?
Yuya had no idea her father was thinking all this. She finished her porridge in a few gulps. “Dad, I’m going to wait by the pool now.”
“I’ll come with you.” With doubts in his mind, he didn’t feel comfortable letting his daughter go alone. Better he accompany her.
Lin Xiaohe had no idea anyone was suspicious of her. She packed a small basket with two bamboo tubes—one containing half a packet of salt and the other half a jin of sugar.
Beside them, she placed two jin of rice in a red plastic bag.
“Xiaogu, you coming?”
“Yeah!”
As soon as they reached the pool, they found someone already there.
“You’re finally here! Are you trading again today?” Yuya tossed aside the grass she’d been idly pulling and ran up cheerfully.
“Yes. Today we’ve brought some grain, a little salt, and some sugar. Would you like to trade?”
Yuya hadn’t expected such a pleasant surprise—she jumped up and down with joy. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Her voice cracked with excitement. This was even better than grain!
“Dad! Come over here—stop chopping wood!”
Shen Shan walked over. “What is it?”
“Xiaohe Miao brought salt and sugar today! Let’s trade right away!”
Shen Shan’s eyes lit up too. “Is it brown sugar? Your mother’s about to give birth—stocking up on brown sugar would be good for her recovery.”
Lin Xiaohe shook her head. “No, it’s white sugar. But if you want brown sugar, I can bring some next time.”
Shen Shan was a little disappointed but didn’t say much. “What do you want in exchange?”
“Same as yesterday, or anything else your mountain produces.”
Wild chicken and rabbit couldn’t be sold over there, but they could eat them at home. The family needed meat to build up their strength too. Xiaogu had already told her those things couldn’t be taken over to sell.
Good thing they’d brought them straight to Aunt Chen’s place first—otherwise, she and her sister might have ended up in trouble.
“Alright, I’ll go back with Xiaoyu to get the stuff. Can you wait here a bit?”
“Sure. We’ll walk a little further ahead and come back around that time. If you get back and don’t see us, just wait a moment.”
She also planned to take her sister to dig up a couple more yams. They were a bit hard to dig, and there wasn’t time in the morning.
Yams sold well. She could dig more—even if they didn’t sell, they could eat them at home. They counted as food!
“Got it. We’ll be back in about half an hour.”
Shen Shan agreed and took his daughter back.
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