Zhang Hongmei felt quite disappointed watching the jeep drive away. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so too do people experience joy and sorrow; all good things must come to an end!

Zhang Xingguo was really good to me. Like an enlightened father.

Back in the courtyard, these three main rooms and four side rooms were my own, but I didn't feel at home, I didn't feel a sense of belonging.

I'll go see Brother Jianguo tomorrow; Auntie brought him some food.

I spent the whole day cleaning the house. I also received money left by Zhang Xingguo, in an envelope, probably because he was afraid I wouldn't take it.

Thinking of the old man's adorable expression, I couldn't help but smile.

There's still a fair amount of grain left, and since I don't plan to stay in the city for long, I'll put it away. I guess I'll keep it for myself.

She may seem carefree on the surface, but she is actually very meticulous.

The flowers in the yard were bundled up with straw from the space to prevent them from freezing in winter. These must have been planted by the fastidious Zhang Shouyi.

I'll come back again when the flowers bloom and tidy up the yard properly, planting more flowers.

The next morning, he arrived at the textile factory carrying a snakeskin bag.

"Grandpa, I'm looking for Liu Jianguo. Could you please call him for me? I'm a girl from his village."

The gatekeeper looked at Zhang Hongmei and kept thinking to himself, "This child doesn't seem like someone from the countryside; she's even whiter and fatter than people from the city."

"Little girl, wait a minute, I'll go call him for you."

"Thank you, sir. I'll wait here."

A moment later, Liu Jianguo came running over in his work clothes.

"Hongmei, I knew it was you who came."

"Brother Jianguo, how are you doing? My third aunt is really worried about you."

“Our cotton mill has been working overtime all the time. We were supposed to have a normal vacation this month, but now we can’t. We’re working even longer overtime hours than before.”

"Brother Jianguo, are you tired?"

"It's really tiring. I'm in the maintenance team, and I have to be in the workshop every day. I have to run over wherever there's a problem. I've even lost weight."

“My third aunt brought you a lot of delicious food, it’s all in the bag. Oh, by the way, my second sister got into junior high school, she’ll be going to school in the county after the New Year.”

"That's great, my second sister is really doing well. How are the two younger ones?" The two younger ones are much older than her, so she spoils them.

"It's going well, and I'll be going to primary school next year too."

"Luckily, I have my younger sister at home, otherwise my parents would be lonely."

Zhang Hongmei didn't respond; it wasn't her place to talk about Daya's matter.

"Also, thank you, Hongmei. I used the watch ticket you gave me to buy a watch. You see, it has a plum blossom design."

"You're welcome. It's inconvenient for you to be at work without a watch. Brother Jianguo, I'll head back now. You go to work quickly, and I'll come see you again next time."

"Then take care, are you going home tonight?"

"No, I have a place to stay in the city, don't worry, I'm leaving now."

Zhang Hongmei strolled over to the food supply station, where she had a lot of miscellaneous ration coupons in her hand. But having a lot of coupons is useless if you don't have anything to buy.

"Comrade, do you have meat and eggs?"

The saleswoman looked at Zhang Hongmei in surprise, "Meat and eggs? You don't even have tofu?"

Seeing Zhang Hongmei's puzzled expression, the kind saleswoman explained to her, "We haven't had any meat for six months, and eggs are only available once a month, with purchase limits."

Where did Wang Xiaoshun get so much meat yesterday? Was it from the black market?

When will the soybean oil be available?

"There should be supplies available at the beginning of the month, or before the Lunar New Year."

There was no fish or anything like that, because none of them had a fishy smell.

In the end, I only bought two jin (1 kg) of glutinous rice strips and left.

There were many people queuing to buy grain at the grain station. Zhang Hongmei was not a resident of the city and did not have a grain purchase certificate. When it was her turn and she only took out her grain coupons, the salesperson frowned and said, "You can't buy grain without a grain purchase certificate."

Zhang Hongmei was stunned, but refusing to sell to her wouldn't work. She moved aside and watched others continue buying grain.

I noticed that the person's grain purchase certificate indicated four jin of refined grains. However, what they received was cornmeal.

The same thing happened to the rest of the line. And the people at the back of the line didn't have any cornmeal left at all.

"The supply of refined grains has been suspended. We will notify you of the next supply schedule."

Those who couldn't buy fine grains complained bitterly, but no one dared to stand up and voice their grievances.

Zhang Hongmei left the grain station and stood on the street, looking at the passersby with a sense of bewilderment.

"Little girl, what are you doing here? I've been looking for you."

Zhang Hongmei frowned as she looked at the man in the black market. She couldn't trade here anymore; it was such a strange coincidence that she kept running into him.

Zhang Hongmei turned and left, ignoring him. She decided to live a low-key and honest life. If she wanted to make a move, she would have to put on makeup before going out, so that no one would recognize her.

Sun Changquan looked at Zhang Hongmei walking away with a puzzled expression. He shouldn't have mistaken her for someone else, right? Could he really have mistaken her for someone else? Surely his eyesight is accurate, right?

There are still six days left. Should I go out by myself? I still have three wild boars, two big and one small.

Why not give it a try? The letter of introduction only says "city," it doesn't specify anything clearly, maybe I can actually get away with it.

I went straight to the train station after thinking about it.

"Comrade, is there a train to H City?"

"Yes, it's at 2 PM, and I'll arrive at 5 AM the next morning. The fare is 3.5 yuan."

Zhang Hongmei took out some money and handed it to the ticket seller, saying, "Here's your letter of introduction."

He then pulled out the letter of introduction. The ticket seller glanced at it, frowned, mainly because the handwriting on the certificate was too illegible, but since it had an official stamp, she decided to leave it as is.

Zhang Hongmei bought a train ticket and checked the time; she still had three and a half hours left.

It's cold now, and there's no heating in the station, but it doesn't feel cold because there are so many people. However, the smell is indescribable.

Let's go for a walk outside.

After exiting, I discovered a black market on the street next to the station.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Hongmei decided to go and take a look.

A few people huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. As soon as Zhang Hongmei entered, someone came up to her and asked, "Comrade, what do you need?"

Do you have pork?

"Pork?" The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The others who had come with them also left.

What's going on? "Comrade, wait a minute? Don't you have any?"

"Comrade, I really don't have any. I haven't seen meat in half a year. Besides, I can't afford it. I heard a few days ago that pork appeared on the black market for five yuan a pound. Who can afford that?"

Five yuan? How can it be so expensive?

"I reckon a whole pig would cost around four yuan. I can't afford that." He shook his head and left.

Why are they still selling pork when it's so expensive? I don't know. Maybe I should save it for later. But this pig is too fat; it's hard to explain. I don't know how, so I'll have to ask Er Lengzi to butcher it for me.

If that doesn't work, sell one big and one small, and keep one.

There's no need to ask anymore; rice and wheat flour are even less likely to be available.

Zhang Hongmei was feeling down, so she decided to go back to the train station. It was hard to bear seeing someone so thin and frail outside.