Jiang Ruyu was unaware that a big bad wolf was eyeing her. She was thinking about how to legally do some things that were currently illegal, such as disposing of the things in her system and exchanging them for money.

She lived in an inner room partitioned off from the main house on the west side. To make it less dark during the day, she had a window at the back of her room. The room wasn't big, but it was spacious enough for her. As soon as you entered, there was a single bed made of old wood against the west wall. To the south of the bed was a desk, and at the foot of the bed was a large wardrobe, which was part of her mother's dowry. Speaking of her mother, Jiang Ruyu realized that she hadn't visited her maternal grandfather at her uncle's house in a long time. She would have to go see him next Sunday.

She's been using the check-in system for almost a month now, and the scars on her forehead have completely disappeared. She hasn't experienced any side effects, and she even gave the ointment the system provided to her grandmother, whose joints get uncomfortable on cloudy or rainy days.

The system inventory now contains 125 jin of flour, 110 jin of rice, 5 jin of sesame seeds, 5 jin of soybeans, 5 apples, 2 jugs of soybean oil (1 jin per jug), and 1 jug of sesame oil (1 jin per jug).

Aside from the usual three turns and one sound, there was also fifty yuan in cash, five sets of various stamps, five jin of White Rabbit milk candy, five jin of assorted candy, six pieces of pork belly (one jin each), a three-jin old hen, a ten-jin old goose (both plucked), two tin thermos flasks, a two-jin piece of beef leg, a five-meter-long piece of pink and blue floral cotton cloth, two bars of handmade soap, a box of face cream, and twenty hairy crabs.

This is all she owns right now. There are many things she doesn't dare to take out, for fear that her grandmother will ask. She can only cut a little bit of pork belly every few days and bring it back, saying it's a worker's benefit and doesn't require coupons. Each time it's only two or three ounces, but her grandmother hasn't said anything.

She didn't have much money. Most of it came from the New Year's money she received when her parents and grandfather were still alive, as well as rewards for doing well on exams. After her grandfather died and her parents passed away, she stopped receiving New Year's money. Her grandmother raised the three of them alone and was used to being frugal. Although there was her father's pension and subsidies, as well as the government compensation for her mother's passing, her grandmother was used to living frugally and always said that the money was a guarantee for the three of them in the future and should not be touched easily.

Grandma had no selfish motives towards them. She and her brothers knew how much money the family had. Grandma didn't hide it from them and said that when the three siblings got married, each of them would receive a gift, without any favoritism.

When her father passed away, he was already a regimental commander. His pension was 650 yuan. The military and the government jointly subsidized 300 yuan for the support of her three siblings and grandmother. Her mother and father had a savings of more than 600 yuan. When her mother passed away, she was also implicated and the relevant unit also subsidized 200 yuan. Her grandmother has not touched that money over the years. A few years ago, she still worked and earned money, but she rented out her job when she got older.

She couldn't touch the money at home, so she wanted to have some extra cash. However, everything was under state control, and you needed ration coupons to buy anything. Supply was limited. There was a black market, but most people didn't dare to go there. If someone like her, who had a job, went there and got caught by patrolling police officers or street personnel cracking down on the black market, she would not only lose her job but also be criticized and educated. In severe cases, she could be demoted or even executed.

Besides, her father was a martyr, and she couldn't take the risk; if something happened to him, it would only bring shame to him. Anyway, she wasn't looking to get rich, just to earn some spare money. Otherwise, her backpack would just keep piling up with stuff, and there wasn't enough room to store it all.

When she got off work on Saturday, Jiang Ruyu took a piece of pork belly weighing one and a half pounds, three pounds of flour, and some celery from the fresh food counter home: "Grandma, Jiang Hui and Jiang Lin, let's make dumplings tonight."

"Really, sis? Dumplings? What kind of filling?" Jiang Lin jumped over.

"How about celery and pork filling?"

"I think it's a good idea, haha!" Jiang Hui, who is usually quite composed, suddenly became like a child when talking about eating dumplings, looking silly.

Grandma Jiang originally wanted to ask her granddaughter where the meat and grain coupons came from, but seeing her two grandsons, who had grown into young men, looking as happy as children, she held back the words that were about to spoil the mood and instead picked up the celery to remove the leaves.

The four of them, grandmother, grandchildren, and grandchildren, happily made dumplings together. A pound and a half of meat sounds like a lot, but in reality, it wasn't much. They could only add a little more celery. Grandma Jiang was used to being frugal, and she couldn't bear to throw away the celery leaves, saying she would save them to make noodles.

Grandma Jiang didn't use all two jin of flour; she scooped out one jin and added one jin of cornmeal to knead the dough. With four people working together, they finished making two steamed dumplings in less than an hour.

Grandma Jiang's water was already boiling. After the dumplings were cooked, they were simmered in boiling water for a while and then brought to a boil again before they were ready to eat. Jiang Ruyu also made a dipping sauce, simply adding a few cloves of garlic, a red chili pepper, a little soy sauce, a little white vinegar, and a little sesame oil. She even licked the sesame oil bottle for Jiang Lin, making him grin like an idiot.

Once the dumplings were cooked, Jiang Ruyu filled a large bowl and asked Jiang Hui to take it to his uncle's house: "Go, let your uncle and the others have a taste, and let Yangyang try something new too."

Jiang Hui got up and took the dumplings. Jiang Jian's family was also eating. There was nothing fancy about it, just ordinary multigrain porridge, a plate of stir-fried shredded pork with chili peppers (the shredded pork was so little you could hardly see it), steamed buns, and a plate of dried radish. The only special thing was that the children had a bowl of steamed egg custard.

"Uncle, have you eaten? My family made dumplings. Here's a bowl for you to try."

Jiang Jianguo stood up, and Jiang Kai took the bowl from him: "It must have been your sister's idea. Your grandma wouldn't be willing to make dumplings. This is good, you are at the age when you are growing, so you should eat something good."

"You're absolutely right, it was my sister who brought it back."

"I smelled the aroma early this morning, and now that I'm here to eat, I won't be polite," Jiang Kai said with a deliberately teasing smile.

"No way, these are for my nephew to try, you can't take them." Jiang Hui joked for a few moments, then took his own bowl and went home; he was really craving dumplings.

The two trays of dumplings were completely devoured by Jiang Hui and Jiang Lin, those two half-grown boys who were practically bankrupting their fathers. After finishing, the two brothers slumped in their chairs, their bellies bulging, and didn't move.

"Look at how ambitious you are! From now on, let's eat dumplings once a month, okay, Grandma?" Jiang Ruyu said, looking at her mother-in-law.

Grandma Jiang glared at her: "Each person only gets five ounces of meat a month, and our family only gets two pounds of meat a month. We eat dumplings once a month, and the rest of the time we eat vegetarian food every day. Can you manage that?"

"Then don't worry about it, I can buy meat without a ration coupon."

"You brat, where can you find meat without a ticket? Did you go to that run-down house in Jixiang Hutong? Huh? You're really bold!" In her excitement, Grandma Jiang grabbed her granddaughter's ear.

Jiang Ruyu immediately begged for mercy, baring her teeth: "Grandma, Grandma, let go! I didn't go. What Jixiang Hutong? I don't even know what kind of place that is. I really didn't go. The meat I was talking about that doesn't require a ticket is from a colleague of mine whose dad works at a slaughterhouse. She can get offal like that. We can't eat real meat, but eating offal can help us get some oil and fat."