Uncle Zhao said: Girl, come with me. Anran followed him and came to a small warehouse.

Uncle Zhao pointed inside and said: You can choose one for yourself. Then he stood aside and said nothing more.

An Ran looked around and found nothing she wanted. She chose a washbasin stand, a cabinet for food, and asked for a backpack and basket. She asked Uncle Zhao to come with her to the yard, where she squatted down with a small stick and began drawing on the ground. When she was finished, she asked, "I want two cabinets like this. Uncle, can you make me one?"

Uncle Zhao's eyes lit up when he saw her drawing. The cabinets they used now were rectangular, with doors that opened upwards. But An Ran's drawing was a wardrobe with side doors, something no one here had. If they could create a wardrobe like that, it would bring in more money and be very popular.

Uncle Zhao said excitedly but a little embarrassedly: "Girl, I can beat this cabinet. But I have something to discuss with you. I want to beat the cabinet into this shape. I don't want to pay for it. Is that okay with you?"

An Ran thought it was something, so she told Uncle Zhao: Uncle, you can hit me as much as you want, it's nothing. As for the cabinet, I have to pay for it. If you don't accept it, then I don't want it. After that, she stood up and was about to leave. She didn't want to take advantage of others. She owed them enough favors and didn't know how to pay them back!

Uncle Zhao stopped her and said, "Girl, don't go. Uncle will take the money, isn't it okay? But I have to give you something, you can't refuse." An Ran thought about it and nodded in agreement, then asked Uncle Zhao to calculate the total amount.

Uncle Zhao calculated and told her: Girl, these are 75.35 in total. I saw that you forgot to choose the small stool, so I will give you two. You are not allowed to refuse, otherwise I will not do it.

An Ran said: "Okay, thank you uncle," then she took out the money and handed it to Uncle Zhao, asking him to count it.

Uncle Zhao didn't order anything, but took it and said: You are an honest girl, I trust you and you don't need to order anything, my son will be back soon, I will ask him to deliver these to you.

An Ran saw that there were not many things and she could carry them by herself, so she refused and said: "No need, uncle, I can carry these. When the cabinet is finished, please send it to me."

At this time, a lady in her twenties, looking pale and weak, walked out of the house.

Uncle Zhao introduced An Ran, saying, "This is my eldest daughter-in-law, Lin Cuicui." Then he called out, "Eldest daughter-in-law, this is the new An Zhiqing, who's here to buy cabinets." An Ran politely called out, "Hello, sister-in-law." Lin Cuicui replied weakly, "Hello, An Zhiqing," then nodded and went into the kitchen. An Ran asked, "Uncle, Sister Cui, what's wrong?" Uncle Zhao sighed and said, "Ah, eldest daughter-in-law, you were already weak, and you've become even weaker since getting pregnant. You went to the hospital, and the doctor said, 'You should eat something nutritious.'" At this point, he fell silent.

An Ran understood what he hadn't finished. Although Uncle Zhao could make money making cabinets, who could afford to buy cabinets all the time? Only newly arrived educated youth, or those from wealthy families getting married, could afford new cabinets. Business was rare. Furthermore, things in that era were very durable; you could buy them once and use them for a lifetime. Furthermore, there weren't as many delicious foods back then; many things were unavailable. For example, even brown sugar was hard to find, even with coupons.

An Ran thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Zhao, I have some brown sugar. I can trade it with you and give it to Sister Cui." An Ran said this because she knew Uncle Zhao wouldn't want it if she gave it away for free, and she didn't want to give it away for free. What if other people found out and came to blackmail her? She was most afraid of trouble!

Uncle Zhao's eyes lit up. They couldn't buy brown sugar even if they had money, let alone brown sugar tickets, which they rarely had.

Uncle Zhao said: Girl, you exchanged with me, do you have any left? If not much, there is no need to exchange.

An Ran said: "Don't worry, uncle, I have some, and I don't drink much. I also have brown sugar tickets, which I can exchange with you." After saying that, she took out a brown sugar ticket and handed it to Uncle Zhao.

Uncle Zhao did not refuse. He took the brown sugar ticket and gave her three yuan, including the price of a pound of brown sugar. Anran took it, took the things she bought and said, "Uncle, I'll go back first and come back to give you the brown sugar later." After saying that, she ran away with the things.

Lin Cuicui walked out, looked at the gate and said: An Zhiqing is such a nice person.

Uncle Zhao heard what his daughter-in-law said and said: Yes, this child is good, very honest, you can help us if we need you in the future. Lin Cuicui nodded and said: Don't worry, Dad, we are not the kind of people without conscience, whoever is good to us, we will remember...!

An Ran carried the things she bought and trotted all the way back to the educated youth site. Although she could carry them, the original owner was really too short, and she always felt like the things were going to fall when she carried them.

The new educated youth looked at An Ran and came back with a bunch of things. Fu Xiaoxiao and Chen Manman hurried over to pick her up, and Cao Mo and Tang Lin also came over to help. Tang Lin asked: Comrade An, where did you buy this?

An Ran said: You can put it next to the house for me, and then answered Tang Lin, I bought these from Uncle Zhao's house, if you want to go, you can come with me.

Cao Mo asked: "Comrade An, why do you put things here? Shouldn't you put them inside?"

An Ran shook her head and said: I asked the village chief and the team leader, and they said I can live there myself. This house can be sold or rented, so I bought it. I have no home and I want to have a home here.