Before anyone could react, he grabbed the basket, slung it over his shoulder, and ran away from the crowd. He had no choice; he had sensed someone watching him when he was selling the last basket of persimmons. It was like a thief was after him.

Indeed, some people in the crowd saw the little girl run away and quickly followed her.

Sensing someone was following me, I quickly ran to the public restroom and slipped into my spatial dimension. I put down my basket and backpack, changed my clothes, washed my face, and realizing it wasn't the time to go out, I sat on the bed in the study, emptied the money from my backpack onto the bed, and began sorting it, muttering to myself as I did so:

"When I first started using baskets, each basket had 50 dried persimmons, and each backpack held 30 jin (15 catties) of dried persimmons, which was 150 persimmons. I made three trips, so three backpacks held 450 persimmons. That means I sold a total of 500 dried persimmons today. Each one was sold for 5 yuan. Wow, this is the first time I've ever earned money since I came into this world! I need to count them quickly so they don't fall apart."

So, the one-cent coins were put together, the two-cent coins were put together, and the five-cent coins were put together. There were no one-cent coins or two-cent coins. After counting, it was indeed five dollars. No wonder people were eyeing it.

I checked my watch; half an hour had passed, and it was almost noon. I had to hurry back. I also wrapped ten persimmons in oil paper to share with my older siblings when I got back.

After leaving the space, I ran home as fast as I could, then slammed on the brakes at the door and cried out, "I'm back! Did you miss me?!"

Upon entering, I saw Third Brother assisting Sister Nan, who was preparing lunch.

Since my eldest brother turned ten, he's basically been the one cooking lunch at home. When my sister Nan turned ten, she took over the cooking, but this year it'll soon be my third brother's turn. Uncle Shen said:

"In the Shen family, men and women are treated equally. No man is exempt from the kitchen. Not only must he be able to enter the kitchen, but he must also know how to cook. Otherwise, when the women are not at home, what will they eat if no one cooks for them? They have to learn."

After the New Year, Third Brother will first learn to start a fire with Sister Nan. After learning for a month, he will start learning to cook. Anyway, take it slow and be taught step by step. If he still can't learn, then he's a fool. As for whether it tastes good or not, we'll talk about that later. As long as he's familiar with it, that's fine.

Shen Nan was chopping vegetables, so he didn't turn around. He only said, "Mianmian's back. Go wash your hands quickly. We can cook another dish and then we can eat."

Third Brother, however, noticed what was in her hand and asked, "Mianmian, what are you holding?"

"I was out playing with my classmates when I heard there were persimmon cakes for sale at the market behind the hospital. So I rushed over to check it out. Third Brother, you have no idea how many people were buying persimmon cakes today! This is what I managed to snag."

The older brother then came out of the house and asked, "How much per pound?"

"They're not sold by weight, but by the piece, one cent each. This one is ten cents."

"My goodness, this is so expensive!" the third brother exclaimed in surprise.

"Is scarcity what makes something valuable?" the older brother said.

"Mianmian, do you still have any pocket money? How about I give you some?"

"No need, Sister Nan. Mom gave us quite a few more. She doesn't usually ask about flowers, but I saw some persimmon cakes for sale today, and I was craving some. Since they had them, I bought some. We'll eat them together after dinner."

"You eat it yourself, I'm not eating it."

"I won't eat it either."

I won't eat any of them.

"What don't you want to eat?" Just then, Fourth Brother ran back from outside, overheard our conversation, and asked.

"This isn't Mianmian going out..." Third Brother said.

"Oh, so that's what happened. I knew about it, and I was planning to buy some myself, but I found out too late. By the time I got there, all the persimmon vendors had already left," Fourth Brother said.

After hearing my fourth brother's words, I thought to myself that I was running fast and afraid of being recognized, so I quickly said:

"Shall we eat together? It tastes better when we eat together."

"Okay, okay, they're all pretty fluffy, she's buying ten," said Sister Nan.

After finishing the meal, I distributed one to each person, and also went to my mother's room to find some oil paper to wrap one up. I handed it to my sister Nan and said:

"Sister Nan, this is for Aunt Zhou. Take it home tonight and give it to her. Big brother, you have to keep an eye on Aunt Zhou and make sure she doesn't give the persimmons to Third Brother and Fourth Brother at the end."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on you, big brother."

Shen Dong knew that his third and fourth brothers were the youngest in the family, and their mother doted on them more, but not excessively. For example, if there was something good left, and it was the last piece, she would share it in half between the two brothers.

"Don't worry, Third Brother won't eat," Shen Xi said.

"Fourth Brother doesn't eat either," Shen Bei also said.

"Hmph, who knows?" He turned his head away.

After dinner, I went back to sleep. Then I went down to the army base to find Uncle Fang. I lost terribly this afternoon. After dinner, I lay in bed but couldn't fall asleep for a while, thinking:

This year is 1956. I remember watching "Bright Sword" and seeing that Comrade Li was among the first batch of students to go to school. I was able to look up some information online at the time, which said that they went to school from 1954 to 1957, meaning they graduated in 1957. That means Dad will graduate next year. When it comes to job assignments, given Dad's current rank, he will meet the requirements for accompanying his family to the military no matter where he is assigned. It all depends on where Dad is assigned and whether the military hospital will release him. After all, Mom is very capable.

If we're stationed near the city, that's fine, but if we're in some remote, desolate area, we definitely won't be able to get there anytime soon. In other words, what I can be pretty sure of right now is that I have about a year and a half left to stay here.

If I were to go with the military, the unit would definitely be some distance from the city. Although I know some martial arts, my parents would definitely not agree to me going out. Besides, the military must have its own regulations.

It will be difficult to enter the city then, let alone secretly sell things. If I live in the wilderness with the army in a few years, it will be even more difficult. In other words, I can only be sure that I can sell things for about a year. Although they will be cheaper, I can still sell them. So I'll sell them. The only things I can sell are chicken and duck eggs. That's fine. I'll earn less. Starting next Sunday, I'll go and buy a basket of eggs in the morning. I don't need too many, just 50 eggs will do.

From the moment he decided to buy eggs until July 1957, when my father received his transfer order from the army, he sold eggs 80 times, counting 40 Sundays a year. He sold them on the back street of the hospital and in Liuzhi Hutong, each time selling a basket of eggs, for a total of 4,000 eggs.

When the weather was cold, eggs were sold 28 times for three cents each; when they were usually one cent each, they were sold 48 times, for a total of about 45 eggs sold. Before and after the Lunar New Year, persimmon cakes were sold four times, about 300 persimmon cakes each time, for a total of 1200 persimmons sold.