บท 24: Chapter 24: The Rosewood Box
บรรณาธิการ: Henyee Translations
"Bai Xue looked at a pile of money bills, took out two from twenty ten-yuan bills, and handed them to Wang Cheng, saying,
"Uncle, this is your ten percent profit! In the future, when we settle accounts, just keep ten percent for yourself before giving me the rest! Saves trouble!" After saying this, she put away the other money bills and casually stuffed them into her coat pocket.
Wang Cheng couldn't help but be impressed by this young girl. Seeing so many money bills, she showed no reaction and just casually put them in her pocket, willingly giving him the money she promised without hesitation. Such exceptional composure; she is bound to accomplish great things in the future.
"Alright! When will you come again?" Wang Cheng put the money in his pocket and asked.
"It depends on when my goods arrive! Oh, by the way, uncle, if there are no money bills, small yellow fish and big yellow fish can be exchanged too! Just exchange them at bank prices!" Bai Xue casually mentioned.
Currently, the bank price for gold is seven yuan per gram, a small yellow fish is thirty-three grams, equating to two hundred and thirty-one yuan. Two packs of cigarettes can nearly exchange for one small yellow fish, it's so worthwhile.
"Really? That's great news." Wang Cheng couldn't contain his joy upon hearing this.
He knew someone who had a lot of yellow fish but didn't dare sell them to the bank. After all, in these times, who's buying gold? Food is more valuable than gold nowadays.
Now it's great, he can find that person to exchange the gold for some supplies.
"Uncle, if you have bicycle tickets or sewing machine tickets, those can also be exchanged for supplies!" Bai Xue added.
She urgently needed a bicycle now, and with some money in hand, she was even more intent on buying a bicycle to ride, as walking back and forth was exhausting.
"Alright! Uncle will remember." Wang Cheng nodded.
As mealtime approached, Bai Xue didn't stay longer. Although she had five jin of food coupons in hand, she didn't plan to eat at the restaurant; there wasn't any good food! It was better to go home and cook.
So, she bid farewell to Wang Cheng and walked out.
Instead of going home immediately, she went to the recycling station, intending to find some textbooks for her younger siblings.
Two younger sisters were in first year middle school, and two younger brothers had to start from third grade, so she planned to find them some textbooks to study on their own.
Pingyang Town wasn't very big; with a bit of searching, she could find the recycling station. After putting on thermal pants, a sweater, and snow boots, she didn't feel as cold anymore and patiently searched until she found it.
Upon entering, she saw an old man watching over the place.
"Mister, I'm here to find some notebooks to wallpaper my walls!" Bai Xue dared not say that she was looking for textbooks, being somewhat familiar with these times.
"Go in and look for yourself!" The old man didn't even lift his head, casually responded and let her in.
Bai Xue went in, seeing tables, chairs, wardrobes, and cabinets—some missing a leg, some damaged.
She didn't pay attention to those household items; after all, buying them now had no place to store them, and the house was so small, nine people could barely fit, so why buy household items?
She picked out two sets of third-grade primary school and two sets of first-year middle-school textbooks and was ready to leave.
As she passed by the broken furniture, she caught sight of a small, exquisite redwood box and immediately liked it, so she walked over and picked it up. It was only twenty centimeters long, but seemed quite deep.
Bai Xue opened it to find it wasn't as deep as it seemed from the outside. She reached in and lightly pushed on the bottom of the box, and to her surprise, there was a hidden compartment, making her like it even more.
The hidden compartment, however, didn't contain imagined small or big yellow fish, antiques, or jewelry; it was empty. Bai Xue picked up the textbooks, placed them on the box, and carried them out together.
"Mister, how much in total?"
"Just toss me a yuan!" The old man looked up briefly and then went back to his business.
Luckily, Bai Xue had some spare change from her hospital discharge, so she took out a yuan, put it on the counter, and walked out with her things.
In this cold weather, carrying so many things was really freezing her hands, but not carrying them was not an option. What if someone with ill intentions noticed all the stuff she suddenly had upon returning to the village?
She thought for a while and headed towards the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a sack to hold everything.
At the supply and marketing cooperative, the fabric counter still had the same big sister, who was still knitting a sweater. There wasn't anyone buying anything at the cooperative.
She walked in, and several shop assistants all looked up at her. Seeing it was a little girl, they all lowered their heads and continued with their own work.
"Big sister, I want to buy a sack!" Bai Xue adjusted the books she was carrying and said to the big sister at the fabric counter.
"Ten cents each! No tickets needed, how many do you want?" Her hands didn't stop as she spoke.
"Then I'll take ten!" Bai Xue pulled out a yuan from beneath the redwood box, placed it on the counter, and said. It wasn't easy to find a place that didn't require tickets, so she decided to buy more! If not for fear of arousing suspicion, she would have bought even more.
The big sister at the fabric counter was momentarily stunned when Bai Xue said she wanted to buy ten sacks, and she looked up to assess her.
"These sacks are usually handwoven by rural folks. Judging by your clothes, you don't seem like a city person. Why are you buying so many? Can't you weave them yourself?" she bluntly asked.
"Yes!" Bai Xue simply replied, acknowledging that during this era, while many didn't have enough to eat, city folks living on commercial grain had more cloth tickets compared to rural folks, leading to slight differences in attire.
"Wait, I'll get them for you!" The big sister was about to stand and fetch them.
"Big sister, do you want this?" Bai Xue whispered, using the books as cover to take out a smoked chicken from the supermarket.
"Well, I can't carry ten sacks, so come help me get them!" The fabric-selling sister said loudly, pretending nothing was amiss.
Bai Xue knew she was worried about being seen as engaging in speculative trading, so she swiftly followed her into the warehouse.
"Little girl, is that smoked chicken? I can smell it!" Once in the warehouse with the door closed, the big sister eagerly asked.
"Yes!" Bai Xue replied.
"Sell it to me! I want it!" Because Bai Xue initially asked if she wanted it, the fabric-selling sister directly expressed her eagerness.
"Five yuan, plus cloth tickets!" Bai Xue didn't specify how many cloth tickets, wary of overstepping and scaring her off.
"Alright! I'll give you three feet of cloth tickets additionally!" The fabric-selling sister readily agreed.
Her family hadn't eaten meat for ages, and with the New Year approaching, even with some meat tickets in hand, it was impossible to get any meat.
"Big sister, do you have any fabric that doesn't require tickets? If so, can you let me have some? I can get more meat for you!" Bai Xue assessed the situation and attempted to tempt her.
"What kind of fabric do you want?" the fabric-selling sister asked casually.
"Cotton fabric would be great! Mainly for making cloth bags to store grain," Bai Xue replied honestly.
"How about flawed cotton fabric? I have some kept aside for others, but if it works for you, I'll give it to you first!" Having gained a benefit, the fabric-selling sister wasn't stingy.
"Sure! Thank you, big sister! I'll get the smoked chicken out for you right away!" Bai Xue was delighted. Although she had cloth tickets, getting something without using them was even better, wasn't it?
"Alright!" The big sister beamed at Bai Xue, her eyes filled with joy.
"Here you go!" Bai Xue handed over the smoked chicken, and the big sister hadn't seen where she'd pulled it from, given that Bai Xue was carrying so much.
The fabric-selling sister took the smoked chicken from Bai Xue excitedly, sniffed it thoroughly, then carefully stored it. "Here's five yuan and three feet of cloth tickets. Let me fetch the fabric for you!"
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