Back in the courtyard house, Jiang Suisui took out the food she had packed from the state-run restaurant and had a simple dinner.

They got busy again, mincing the scallions, ginger, and garlic with a meat grinder and putting them in a bowl for later use. They took out two pounds each of lamb, pork, and beef, added various seasonings to each, and prepared the filling.

After finishing the preparations, Jiang Suisui locked the front door, turned on the living room light, and laid out all the prepared ingredients on the dining table. Then, she started making dumplings: lamb and radish dumplings, scallion and pork dumplings, and beef and carrot dumplings.

Seeing that all the dumplings were filled with meat, Jiang Suisui cut two bunches of chives in the yard and made a dumpling with chives, eggs and shrimp filling.

Jiang Suisui was very quick and efficient. In just over two hours, she had wrapped four kinds of dumplings, totaling about four hundred dumplings.

Jiang Suisui carried the wrapped dumplings to the kitchen, washed both sides of the large iron pot, filled it with water, and started to light a fire. Soon, the water boiled, and she put the dumplings in.

The iron pot was large, and Jiang Suisui was quick and efficient. In no time, she had cooked dumplings four times. All 400-plus dumplings were cooked through. Jiang Suisui sorted them, put them in a basin, and stored them in her space.

Jiang Suisui smelled the freshly cooked dumplings and couldn't resist the temptation. She took two from each bowl, put them in a small bowl, added vinegar and chili oil, and prepared to eat them as a late-night snack.

Put the freshly washed eggs into the iron pot, and Jiang Suisui set the time and started cooking the eggs. She also added two pieces of split wood to the stove.

Picking up a bowl from the stove, she started eating dumplings. The aroma was enticing. Taking a bite, she exclaimed, "Mmm, the skin is thin and the filling is generous, the filling is delicious! My cooking skills have improved again!" Jiang Suisui couldn't help but praise her repeatedly.

After tidying up and checking the traps and electric fences, Jiang Suisui dragged her tired body into a deep sleep.

Early that morning, Jiang Suisui got up and, after washing up, brought a bowl of hot pork and scallion dumplings to her neighbors, Grandpa and Grandma Li.

"Grandma Li, I managed to snag a piece of top-quality pork at the grocery store yesterday. I made some dumplings for you and Grandpa Li to try and see how my cooking is."

"Girl, I never knew you had this skill. Your Grandpa Li must try it." With that, Grandpa Li went to the kitchen to get chopsticks.

"What a glutton! Didn't you see Sui Sui is still here?" Grandma Li said to her husband who ran towards the kitchen.

“Grandma Li, you’re being too polite with me. This is Grandpa Li, who treats me like family,” Jiang Suisui said cleverly.

Watching the two of them together, Jiang Suisui felt a little envious. "A couple in their youth can become companions in their old age." The two elderly people used to quarrel often when they were young, finding fault with each other. But now that they are older, they are even more loving towards each other.

"Sui girl, the dumplings you made are delicious. Old woman, let me pick one up for you to try. The filling is just right," Grandpa Li picked up a dumpling and put it into Grandma Li's mouth.

"Sui Sui, I never knew you were such a good cook. I really didn't realize you were such a good girl."

Jiang Suisui smiled somewhat awkwardly, "Grandpa Li, Grandma Li, please eat first, we still have things to do at home."

"Sui Sui, wait a moment," she said, taking out two big, bright red apples from the kitchen. Apples were a rare commodity these days, especially ones this big and red.

“Girl, this is what your brother Li brought over yesterday. Your grandma Li was planning to bring it to you today, but since you’re here, just take it. It’ll save grandma Li the trouble of making a trip,” Grandpa Li said as he took the apple from Grandma Li’s hand and put it into Jiang Suisui’s hand.

Jiang Suisui hesitated for a moment.

"Take it, Sui Sui, this is a token of our appreciation," Grandma Li said kindly.

"Okay, then I'll accept it. Grandpa Li and Grandma Li, I'll be going now. Take care of yourselves," Jiang Suisui said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Jiang Suisui never told the two elderly people about her going to the countryside. Perhaps she didn't want to face the separation, or perhaps she felt guilty because the Jiang Suisui they loved as their "granddaughter" was dead, and this place was just a Jiang Suisui who had taken over their place.

Back in the courtyard house, Jiang Suisui changed her clothes and, carrying a basket, went to the black market north of Beijing. Through her trip to the black market yesterday, Jiang Suisui now knew what was most scarce and what could fetch the best price. It was now the mid-to-late 1960s, and people were no longer as short of food as they had been in the past. Although refined grains were still scarce, coarse grains were enough to fill their stomachs. With basic needs met, people began to have higher demands for clothing.

Especially the newly released material, "Dacron," a synthetic fiber fabric, quickly became popular in our country as soon as it appeared. Wearing a "Dacron" top is now considered to be at the forefront of fashion. It is wear-resistant, not easily deformed, and has rich colors that do not easily fade. Therefore, whenever state-run stores have Dacron on their shelves, long queues are formed at the door.

Some people can't buy it, so they have to find connections or go to the black market. As a result, the price of Dacron remains high on the black market, making more money than selling grain. Jiang Suisui now just wants to accumulate more wealth in the limited time she has.

When Jiang Suisui bought fabric at the fabric market, she bought a lot of "hidden treasures" of fabric, including some synthetic fiber fabrics, such as bed sheets. Jiang Suisui prepared them as soon as she got home yesterday, cutting off all the labels on the bed sheets with scissors, and choosing styles that were currently popular, such as floral, red, and pink.

That day, Jiang Suisui traveled to various black markets in Beijing. A piece of synthetic fiber fabric, which could be made into two shirts, was priced at thirty-eight yuan by Jiang Suisui. No cloth coupons were required. This was higher than the monthly wage of an ordinary worker, but it caused a frenzy in the black market. Fearing that it would attract new customers, Jiang Suisui limited the quantity sold: 20 synthetic fiber sheets in large black markets and 5 sheets in small black markets.

Jiang Suisui knew that there were hundreds of black markets of all sizes in the entire city of Beijing. Unfortunately, she only had one day, which was too far away for her to visit. She only managed to visit about twenty black markets in one day, and she couldn't even count how much money she had spent. She could only count it when she got home.

Back home, Jiang Suisui locked the front door, locked her bedroom door from the inside, drew the curtains, and turned on the lights.

Jiang Suisui took a pile of money out of her spatial storage and spread it on the desk, looking excited. It was another huge sum of money!

Ten yuan, five yuan, three yuan, two yuan, one yuan...

Jiang Suisui was utterly shocked that there were three-yuan notes. The three-yuan banknotes had been discontinued two years ago, and someone had managed to sneak the money in while Jiang Suisui wasn't looking. However, she ended up making a huge profit because of its special historical significance, making it a highly sought-after collectible for many collectors.

Jiang Suisui searched carefully and found five bills in total. "What a fruitful haul!" Jiang Suisui couldn't help but feel very grateful. She put these bills into a sealed bag and stored them separately in her spatial storage.