“She’s truly a good person! You two kids are lucky to have met her right from the start.”
Liu Yuexiu was genuinely moved—her daughters had been fortunate to run into kind people.
“Hehe, right? Aunt Fang is so warm-hearted. She’s helped us with so many things for our little business.”
As the saying goes, a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring. That’s why Lin Xiaohe always thought of her whenever they got something good.
After eating, everyone washed up and got ready for bed. They were used to early nights—staying up even a little later made their eyelids heavy.
“Bedtime—got to get up early tomorrow.”
…
At dawn
Lin Xiaohe was cooking congee. “Xiaogu, go check on Aunt Xiang. If she’s up, ask her to come over.
Also Granny Zhao and Er Ya Jie. We need to split the meat—it won’t keep long. If it spoils, that’d be a huge loss.”
“Okay—I’m going.”
Xiaogu splashed water on her face, ran her fingers through her hair, and headed out.
Just as she reached Aunt Xiang’s door, she ran into the person she least wanted to see.
Qian Sancao stood at the gate with her hands on her hips, hurling insults into the yard.
“Old Fourth’s wife—are you dead? I’ve been calling forever and you don’t move! There’s so much work to do, and you expect me to do it all myself? Who’s ever seen a daughter-in-law not work? Get up now!”
Not a sound came from inside.
Xiaogu curled her lip and slipped into Aunt Xiang’s yard while no one was looking.
“Auntie, are you up?”
“I’m up, I’m up—what’s going on?” Wu Xiang was pulling on clothes as she hurried out. “Is something wrong at home?”
“No, Auntie—we got some meat and wanted to see if you wanted some. If you do, we’ll trade it to you first.
I still need to tell Granny Zhao—there’s plenty, so don’t worry.”
“Of course! I’ll be right there!” Wu Xiang’s face flushed with excitement—the taste of that meat from the other day was still fresh in her memory.
In a famine year, bellies were empty of oil and fat—being able to eat something good was a blessing.
But with spending like this, their savings wouldn’t last. She’d have to find a way to bring some money in.
Wu Xiang was torn between joy over the meat and worry over her thinning pockets.
Still, securing the meat was the priority. She told her husband and hurried to the ancestral hall.
Remembering her sister-in-law had mentioned wanting some, she set aside a portion for her too.
By the time she got there, Granny Zhao had already arrived with her money.
“Sis, I couldn’t find Er Ya Jie or her family—nobody was home. I don’t know where they went.”
“That’s fine—we’ll save a portion for them.”
She laid out all the meat available for trade.
Both women’s eyes went wide—so much meat!
The only time you’d see this much was on the meat-distribution table at New Year, and even then, each family only got a jin or two at most.
Wu Xiang was so shocked her voice stammered. “Th-this… all for trade?”
“Yeah, Auntie—meat doesn’t keep long. I want to trade it all today. How much do you want? Everything here is up for grabs.”
“Aunt Deshan, you go first—I’ll take whatever’s left. My family’s big, we’ll finish it all. I can even send some to my eldest.”
“Alright—then I won’t stand on ceremony with Aunt Zhao!” Wu Xiang thought it over—two jin for her family, two for her sister-in-law’s—that should do.
“Okay—I’ll take the rest.” Lin Xiaohe kept two jin for herself and set aside three jin for Auntie’s family.
That left about fifteen jin.
Aunt Xiang took 4 jin—the rest went to Granny Zhao.
“Auntie, Granny—2 yuan a jin. Does that work?”
That was the black market price. Last night, after she’d said she’d be trading this much meat with the villagers, Lin Cai had quickly thought over the going rate.
The supply store sold for 0.70 to 1 yuan, while the black market was usually around 2 yuan.
He hadn’t been in a while, so he didn’t know the current price.
Lin Xiaohe went with 2 yuan a jin—these were neighbors and friends, and they’d all been good to her.
Both women knew she was giving them a fair deal.
They didn’t say much—just made a mental note to keep looking out for this family.
Lin Xiaohe held the heavy wad of 30 yuan and felt even more secure—she could make money on both sides now.
Life would only get better from here.
“Come on, let’s hurry over—otherwise we’ll miss the timing.”
Oh—she still needed to ask Aunt Fang where she got that cart. If it wasn’t too expensive, they’d get one too.
Yuya was already waiting. The moment they arrived, they picked up the goods and were ready to go.
“Oh—we’d also like some chestnuts. Yuya, can you manage that? If so, twenty jin in exchange for a jin of lard.”
“Sure!” Yuya’s eyes lit up. “Could I swap it for those spicy sticks you brought yesterday instead?”
“They’re so delicious—I want more.”
“Deal—we’ll trade for those. And the rest—still the same?”
They’d bought a small notebook yesterday, so she could jot things down now.
“Same as yesterday.”
“Alright—it’s settled.”
Time was tight—they grabbed their things and hurried off.
No time to waste—they’d be late.
Meanwhile, Granny Zhao wasn’t idle.
She had no way to preserve the meat—it wouldn’t last two days. She kept three jin for herself, set aside three for her eldest son’s family, and planned to trade the rest for something useful.
Her family was running low on grain—a few jin of meat could get quite a bit of it.
Wu Xiang, on the other hand, shared some of hers with her sister-in-law.
“Sis, don’t go blabbing about this outside. Keep it quiet—eat it behind closed doors.”
“Oh, don’t worry—I’m not stupid. I’m not gonna go shouting it around.”
“Good—just be careful.”
“Will do—I’m heading home to shut the door and enjoy some meat.”
She was grinning from ear to ear! She’d never come across meat this good before—and it was all thanks to her sister-in-law thinking of her!
This sister-in-law was a good one. She rummaged through her things and found 4 yuan.
“Xiaohao, go give this money to your aunt—got it?”
“Yeah, yeah—I’m going.”
Wu Xiang watched the money arrive so quickly and smiled with relief—that’s why she was willing to help her sister-in-law out.
Even though she could be a bit scatterbrained and acted like a big goof, she never hesitated when it came to things like this.
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