After Liu Yuzhi finished talking, she turned around to leave. Yun Qinghuan stopped her, “Mom, wait a moment.”
Turning back, she went inside and brought out the change Chen Granny had given her in the morning, handing it to Liu Yuzhi. “Mom, this is the leftover money from Chen Granny’s morning shopping, a total of three yuan and two jiao. She asked me to give it to you.”
Liu Yuzhi waved her hand, refusing to take it. “No need to give it to me. This was originally the money your parents gave you. I’ve used this money to buy groceries, and you can keep the leftover for yourself.”
Saying this, Liu Yuzhi felt guilty towards her daughter-in-law, using the money given by her in-laws to support the household.
The family was really tight on funds.
She planned to return the money to her daughter-in-law when they distributed the grain and money.
“Mom, the way you put it, we’re family. Families should share everything, and this money should be spent together. No need to distinguish between yours and mine,” Yun Qinghuan replied. Thinking about her upcoming submissions, she realized she might need money for postage. The original owner didn’t have much money, so she accepted the three yuan and two jiao. “Okay, I’ll take this money then.”
She held the three yuan and two jiao in her hand, feeling a bit helpless.
Who would have thought that she used to have so much wealth, enough for a hundred lifetimes, but after this transmigration, she only had three yuan and two jiao left.
Yun Qinghuan had known the importance of money since she was young. Holding onto this little money, she felt an urgent need to earn more.
Otherwise, she always felt a lack of security.
As she slept early the night before, Yun Qinghuan woke up when it was still dark the next day. She looked outside, instinctively wanting to check the time.
However, watches were particularly expensive in this era, and few households had them. Most people relied on their intuition to tell the time.
Yun Qinghuan suddenly found herself not accustomed to not knowing the exact time it was in this era.
‘If I remember correctly, they have clocks now. It seems like I need to quickly write articles to earn money, so I can buy a clock for the house to make checking the time more convenient.
‘Once I earn more money, I can buy myself a wristwatch.’
An’an was still sleeping, and Yun Qinghuan didn’t wake the child. Instead, she opened the door and went outside. She found that both Liu Yuzhi and Bai Naihan were awake. Bai Naihan was in the yard, holding something to exercise his arm strength, wearing a tank top that was sweaty, and she couldn’t tell how long he had been exercising.
Liu Yuzhi was sweeping the yard with a large broom, also taking the opportunity to feed the chickens and ducks.
In this era, the land was collectively owned, and the grains grown, aside from the portion submitted, were distributed according to the amount of work done. However, each household had a piece of private land where they could grow vegetables without interference.
The number of chickens could be based on the household size. Generally, two people could raise one chicken and one duck. Because Bai’s family had five members, they had two chickens and two ducks, all females kept for laying eggs.
They seemed to be extra careful not to disturb Yun Qinghuan, moving quietly.
Liu Yuzhi noticed that Yun Qinghuan was up and smiled at her, “Why are you up so early? Wouldn’t you like to sleep a bit more?”
“I’ve had enough sleep. I couldn’t sleep well. Mom, I want to go to town today.”
Yesterday evening, she copied two more manuscripts. Today, she planned to go to the town market to mail two copies to different newspapers. She would keep one as a draft, in case the initial submissions were unsuccessful, and she needed to polish them before submitting to other newspapers.
Hearing about her plan to go to the market, Liu Yuzhi said, “Indeed, you should go out and relax a bit. Mom will give you another two yuan later. If you want to buy something, go ahead.
“And try to go early, or the sun will be too hot around noon.”
Yun Qinghuan smiled and said, “Mom, no need to give me money. The three yuan and two jiao from yesterday are enough.”
Even though money was scarce in this era, it still had value. Three yuan and two jiao could buy a dozen steamed buns.
Afraid that Yun Qinghuan might hesitate to spend money, Liu Yuzhi gave her another two yuan, saying, “Don’t be reluctant to spend; there’s still money at home.”
In the morning, they had corn porridge and a few freshly baked pancakes. Though not too greasy, the pancakes were crispy and fragrant. They tasted quite good. An’an also had a good sense of timing. Just after she finished cooking, as she was about to call him to come and eat, he rubbed his eyes and woke up.
After the meal, Yun Qinghuan prepared to wait at the village entrance for the ox cart. With limited transportation options, many people either walked or paid a penny to ride an ox cart to the town.
Seeing Yun Qinghuan going to the market, Bai Jin’an’s eyes lit up; he obviously wanted to go too. However, being sensible, he didn’t speak up.
Seeing his expression, Yun Qinghuan smiled and waved at the child, “Let’s go.”
An’an joyfully bounced over and looked up at her, “Mom, are you really taking me?”
“Why say such things?” She ruffled the little one’s hair.
As the two were about to leave, Yun Qinghuan glanced at Bai Naihan sitting alone in the wheelchair.
He was looking in their direction, with four tiled houses behind him and tree leaves blowing into the yard. The area around his feet, where he spun the wheelchair, seemed lonely.
Suddenly, Yun Qinghuan’s heart softened.
Thinking that Liu Yuzhi had already brought pancakes and corn porridge for him in the morning, and she didn’t plan to come back for lunch, she felt a sudden pang of sympathy.
She wanted Yun Qinghuan to enjoy the market without worrying about rushing back to make lunch. She even suggested that if Yun Qinghuan got hungry, she could eat at the state-owned restaurant and handed her two crumpled grain coupons.
No one knew how long these grain coupons had been kept, but it was clear that Liu Yuzhi was reluctant to use them.
Although the family was clearly not well-off, struggling to make ends meet, Liu Yuzhi did her best to provide the best for Yun Qinghuan.
To say that it wasn’t touching would be insincere.
At this moment, thinking that there would be no one at home for lunch, it felt a bit unfair to leave Bai Naihan alone. Yun Qinghuan decided to take the child and head out. “Naihan, come with us to the market.”
Bai Naihan hesitated, “No need, with my leg like this, I don’t want to delay your shopping.”
“It’s okay, what’s the delay? Come on.”
Saying this, Yun Qinghuan pushed him forward without allowing any refusal.
At the village entrance, quite a few people were already waiting to go to the market. Some recognized Yun Qinghuan and greeted her, and she responded to each one.
Most of those heading to the market at this time were young people, as the elders in the family were usually busy working in the fields and reluctant to spare time for the market.
After waiting at the entrance for a short while, a cloud of dust rose in the distance, and Old Li came with his ox cart.
Only a few people were willing to ride the ox cart, so there was still room available. Old Li’s cart was normally used for transporting manure, and as it approached Yun Qinghuan, the smell of cow dung became apparent. Dry dung was still stuck on the cart.
Yun Qinghuan felt a bit repulsed.
However, the others were all accustomed to it, paid a penny to Old Li, and quickly found a good spot to sit.
When most people were seated, Old Li looked at Yun Qinghuan and knocked on the wooden frame beside him, “Girl, hurry up and get on. We’re about to depart!”
Helpless, remembering that the town was more than twenty miles away, and walking there would take two or three hours, risking sore feet, Yun Qinghuan had no choice but to choose the ox cart.
∞
Translator Note
Next release
– Dec. 27
[Advance Chapters]
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