Using things they bought over there for themselves was fine, but if they were trading them to others, they had to avoid exposing anything.
Lin Xiaohe unwrapped the bar of soap and noticed there were words printed on it.
“Xiaogu, bring me the kitchen knife.”
“Coming—what do you need it for?”
“This soap has writing on it. I’m going to shave it off so no one notices anything off.”
“Oh, I see! If we scuff it up, will people still want it?”
“They should. It’s still good stuff—barely any missing. Just a little uneven on one side.”
Lin Xiaohe carefully shaved off just the area with the writing, going lightly and smoothing it out.
“See? It’s fine—looks just like new.”
“Then we can wrap it in newspaper from the scrap yard, and it’ll be a perfectly good bar of soap.”
“To the scrap yard? When are we going?” Xiaogu’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“We’ll see when we have time—definitely not in the next couple days.”
“Sigh!” Xiaogu propped her chin in her hands and sighed dramatically.
“Alright, stop being silly. We’ll keep it simple for lunch—I think we still have flour. Let’s make some dough drop soup.
Pick through the wild greens we set aside this morning and throw them in the soup. Crack a few eggs in there too—it’ll be delicious.”
They’d lost a bit of time this morning, so no steaming rice—something quick to cook would do. They still had to head over to the other side in the afternoon.
“Okay, I’ll go do that. Sis, isn’t it amazing? The wild greens we bring back from over there aren’t bitter or astringent at all.”
“Of course—otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to sell out every day.”
After lunch, the two gathered their things and headed over.
“Sis, we’re so busy today—do we still need to go see Aunt Fang this afternoon? We haven’t given her the remaining four tubes of honey.”
“Oh—right! I almost forgot!”
Lin Xiaohe smacked her forehead—she’d nearly let that slip. Good thing Xiaogu remembered.
“Then we’ll have to make another trip this afternoon. Let’s hurry—no wasting time.”
“Sis, it’s not urgent—we could go in the evening. We’ve never seen what it’s like over there at night.”
Xiaogu’s eyes were full of curiosity—they’d never been there after dark. Maybe it’d be different.
“Okay.”
When they reached the familiar spot, Yuya was waiting in the same place—though she didn’t have her trousers rolled up to go in the water this time. It was getting too cold—not worth getting sick over.
“Xiaohe Jie, you’re here! My grandpa went for a walk—should be back soon.”
“Here—this is for you.” Before leaving, Lin Xiaohe had packed some spicy sticks, candy, and jelly in a plastic bag.
“This is everything you asked for—the salt and lard are all here.
We didn’t split anything—you can divide it up when you get back.”
She didn’t know which chickens and eggs belonged to whom, so it was easier to leave everything undivided.
Lin Xiaohe had already decided: she’d only deal directly with Yuya’s family, and they’d handle the rest of the village.
That way, things were much simpler.
“So many good things!” Yuya’s eyes sparkled as she stared into the basket.
She drooled over the glistening lard for a moment, then her gaze shifted to the spicy sticks.
“Are these all for me?”
“Yes—thanks to all your running around every day. This is your pay—and there’s more to come.”
Lin Xiaohe stuffed everything into her arms. “You can try it. If you like it, I’ll bring the same next time. If you don’t, I’ll bring something else.”
“Yay! Xiaohe Jie, you’re the best in the world!”
Yuya’s face was practically splitting with joy. “Hehe, let me have a taste.”
She fumbled with it for a while but couldn’t tear the package open.
“How do you open this?”
“Ah, let me try.” Lin Xiaohe took it, fiddled with it for a moment, and opened it—thank goodness she’d had experience.
The moment it tore open, a spicy, savory aroma hit them.
All three of them swallowed at the same time.
“So fragrant!”
“So fragrant!”
“So fragrant!”
They all exclaimed in unison—it was truly mouthwatering.
Yuya took a big bite straight away, hissing from the heat, but she couldn’t stop.
“So delicious!”
“I love these!”
“Glad you like them—I’ll bring more next time.”
When Old Man Shen arrived with a pouch full of chestnuts, he caught the spicy, savory scent.
“What’s that smell? So fragrant.”
“Hehe, it’s a snack Xiaohe Jie brought me—so, so fragrant.”
She pulled out a clean bag. “It was so good I licked the bag clean.”
“You little glutton. Xiaohe, I just picked these chestnuts—they’re still fresh.
Take them home and try some—fresh chestnuts are delicious even raw.”
Lin Xiaohe accepted them with a smile.
“Thank you, Grandpa Shen.”
“Don’t mention it—it’s nothing special, just a few chestnuts.”
“Everything we’re trading today is in the basket, Grandpa Shen—you can take it back.”
Every morning, Lin Xiaohe took Yuya’s family’s basket with her and returned it in the afternoon.
It worked out perfectly—very convenient.
“Alright, I’ll take my granddaughter back now—get this stuff distributed to the villagers so they can rest easy.”
“Okay—same amount tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, Xiaohe—I’ll make sure it’s done.”
The villagers all raised quite a few chickens—dozens per household—but at the rate this girl was buying, they’d run out soon.
They’d have to figure out how to raise more. They couldn’t let this opportunity slip to another village and regret it later.
The mountains were full of wild greens and grass for chickens—raising more wouldn’t be a problem.
The kids would just have to work a little harder, collect more pigweed and wild greens to feed the chickens.
If running around a bit meant the family ate well, what kid wouldn’t be willing?
Once they were out of sight, the sisters headed home hand in hand.
They made two more trips to fetch water.
“Let’s peel these chestnuts—once they dry out, the inner skin is a nightmare to remove.”
There were chestnuts in the mountains on their side too. In better years, if you were diligent, you could gather some.
This year, the nuts hadn’t even grown before they’d dried up.
Who knew the chestnuts over there would grow so well—each one big and plump.
“Okay.”
Fresh out of the shell, the outer skin wasn’t hard.
You could dig it open with a fingernail.
“Sis, try it! The skin peels right off—just press lightly from the bottom and the inner skin comes off clean, just like peeling anything else.
Things over there are different. Ours are tougher—I used to just eat them whole.”
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