People in the alley secretly take out their homes' excess agricultural and sideline products and unused second-hand products and sell and exchange them. No tickets are needed to buy things here, and some things that need to be sold urgently are even cheaper than the market price.

If she didn't think doing business was more important, Fan Hua would really like to go shopping. She missed this free market that didn't require tickets!

Geng Ailing was also shocked. She didn't expect the people here to be so bold. "Lihua, I feel a little uneasy. What should I do?"

"What's there to worry about? Come on, let's find a place to rest for a while and wait for your cousin's store to open." After saying that, he took Geng Ailing and hid behind two baskets of vegetables.

Coincidentally, they hadn’t been squatting for long when they saw Geng Ailing’s cousin smiling and escorting a middle-aged man out of the yard. The man didn’t forget to rub himself before leaving, and his eyes were full of obscenity…

Geng Ailing's face turned pale instantly. This was indeed her cousin!

As soon as the man left, Geng Ailing's cousin's face immediately fell. She rolled her eyes at the man before closing the door.

"Sister Ai Ling, now you believe what I said! It's called a barber shop, but it's actually..."

Geng Ailing immediately covered Fan Hua's mouth, "Lihua, let's go back!"

Seeing how distraught Geng Ailing was, Fan Hua said nothing more and took her hand and walked out of the alley.

Suddenly, Fan Hua stopped and her eyes stopped on a second-hand sewing machine.

"Excuse me, how much does this sewing machine cost?" Fan Hua asked.

"One hundred dollars!" replied the man standing behind the sewing machine.

Fan Hua took Geng Ailing's hand and took a closer look. It was a Butterfly brand and the condition looked very good. She wondered how it would perform in use.

Seeing Fan Hua's interest, the man immediately said enthusiastically, "Comrade, I have a piece of rag here. You can try it. To be honest, I have only used this sewing machine for four years. My wife has always taken good care of it. If I hadn't urgently needed money for my wife's medical treatment, I wouldn't have thought of selling it here."

Fan Hua took the rag from the man's hand, pushed it a few times, and found that the sewing machine was indeed very easy to use.

"Eighty, I'll buy it, is that okay?" Fan Hua asked.

Geng Ailing stretched Fan Hua's sleeve and whispered in her ear, "Lihua, do you really want to buy it? Do you have that much money?"

Fan Hua patted the back of her hand gently and gave her a soothing look.

The man was troubled for a moment, then he gritted his teeth and said, "Alright! I see you really want it, so eighty is fine!"

"Can you help me find a cart to transport it home? I'll give you an extra dollar. We live on Wusi Road."

After hearing this, the man nodded immediately and said, "No problem, I can push it over to you now."

Fan Hua took out ten yuan and handed it to the man, "I didn't bring that much money today, so I'll give you ten yuan first, and I'll give you the rest after I send you home."

The man said he had no objection and followed Fan Hua and the others back home, pushing his sewing machine.

Fan Hua felt that it was a good decision to take Geng Ailing to visit her cousin today. She got such a great bargain. She had been worrying about where to get a cheap sewing machine, but today she was lucky enough to come across a second-hand sewing machine that was about half the market price. It was really worth it!

After the payment and goods were settled, Geng Cuihua looked at the sewing machine that suddenly appeared in the living room and was still a little dazed. "Lihua, tell me the truth, how much money did you steal from home?"

"It's just two hundred. After spending it yesterday and today, there really isn't much left. Sister Ailing, we have to find a way to make money next time!"

Geng Ailing's attention was all on the two hundred yuan that Fan Hua stole from home. In that era, the total savings of an ordinary rural family was only two or three hundred yuan. This time she took all the money that Li Dazhu left for her, which was only more than one hundred and thirty yuan, including thirty yuan that her cousin sent her in advance for her to buy tickets and spend on the road.

"Lihua, why did you take so much money from home? Is there any money left in your family after you took it?"

Fan Hua laughed dryly. It really takes many lies to cover up one lie. "Don't worry, there's more."

Geng Ailing was skeptical. She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and took out forty fifty cents from the money wrapped in the handkerchief and handed it to Fan Hua, "Lihua, this is the money for buying a sewing machine today. Take it and we will split it."

Fan Hua rejected the money and said, "Sister Ai Ling, I want to buy this sewing machine myself. You don't have to pay for it, or we won't be able to split it in the future. Let's use this one together first, and I'll buy you another one when I make money."

"Girl, you are really wasteful with money. Don't forget that I spent more than 30 miles on a mattress and a thin quilt yesterday. Fortunately, the weather here is warm, so I can use a coir mat and don't need a thick quilt, which saves a lot of cotton. Otherwise, you would have spent all the money by now!"

Fan Hua didn't expect Geng Ailing to calculate it so clearly for her. She was used to spending lavishly in the past and never worried about money. She really didn't take the money too seriously. She believed that the initial investment was necessary, and every penny she had spent so far was not wasted.

However, after Geng Ailing's reminder, she remembered that she had used all the cloth coupons Zheng Zening gave her yesterday to make bed sheets and quilt covers. Fortunately, Geng Ailing brought a small mattress and sheets from home, otherwise the cloth coupons from yesterday would not be enough.

"Sister Ai Ling, do you still have cloth coupons?" She was eager to buy cloth to make clothes.

"I still have three 2-chi tickets, which are enough to make a piece of women's clothing." Geng Ailing told the truth.

"Forget it, let's go to the department store this afternoon to see how much the ready-made clothes here cost and what styles are popular!"

Fan Hua sighed. She was still very short of cloth coupons. She was too embarrassed to ask Geng Ailing for the last two. She decided to go back to the black market to look for some.

"Okay, then you take a rest first, I'll go cook some porridge." Geng Ailing said and went to the kitchen to busy herself.

Fan Hua sat in front of the sewing machine, holding her chin in her hand, worrying about how she was going to make money from making clothes. Suddenly, an idea came to her mind...

After dinner, the two went out again, this time their destination was the busiest department store in Guangzhou.

Geng Ailing looked at the magnificent building in front of her, and felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. She didn't know how to walk. She hurriedly tidied her clothes and hair, and then followed Fan Hua into the department store. She admired Fan Hua's calm and casual appearance.

Geng Ailing leaned close to Fan Hua and whispered in her ear, "Lihua, don't you think we don't fit in here? Why do you look so calm?"

Fan Hua held Geng Ailing's hand and said with a smile, "Don't be nervous, we are not here to steal. If you can afford it, buy it. If you can't afford it, it's not against the law to take a look. Just consider it as a way to broaden your horizons!"