Chapter 34 Market
After school let out for the holidays, Gu Yihan focused all her energy on the house.
She cleared away the weeds in the backyard and then took out a large quilt from her spatial storage and spread it on the bed in the bedroom.
I tidied up the kitchen, took some rice, noodles, oil, salt, and some firewood, and prepared to cook at home.
Gu Yihan took two eggs out, locked the door, and then knocked on her neighbor's door: "Bang, bang, bang."
"Who is it?" came an old woman's voice from inside.
Gu Yihan called out to the person inside the door, "Auntie, I'm your neighbor on the right. I just moved in yesterday!"
When Aunt Wu opened the door, she saw a pretty little girl with fair skin and a bit of baby fat.
Gu Yihan saw that the other person was an elderly woman in her fifties wearing a machine factory uniform. She casually handed her the eggs she was holding.
"Auntie, my name is Gu Yihan. I'd like to buy some chicks and vegetable seeds. Do you know where I can buy them?"
Holding the eggs the little girl had given her, she said warmly, "Oh, little girl, your Aunt Wu has lived here all her life, I know everything."
Gu Yihan listened as Aunt Wu said, "Her son is a level 7 worker in a machinery factory, and then she talked about how well her grandson studies, and how her daughter-in-law works in a textile factory."
She talked and talked for a long time, but never told her where to buy chicks and seeds.
Gu Yihan felt like she had run into a shady character and awkwardly interrupted her, saying, "Aunt Wu, where can we buy these chicks and seeds?"
Aunt Wu, unfazed by the interruption, continued, "What a coincidence! Tomorrow, take the tram to Qingyun Town and get off. There's a farmers' market there every five days, where everything is from the local people, and the government has approved it."
Upon learning the address, she quickly said, "Thank you, Aunt Wu. I just moved here and haven't had time to unpack yet. Let's chat sometime!"
After saying that, Gu Yihan turned and left, moving surprisingly fast, because she was genuinely afraid that Aunt Wu would go on and on.
Aunt Wu watched the young girl named Gu Yihan walk so fast and muttered, "It's good to be young, so nimble on your feet."
Gu Yihan got up early the next day, cooked extra rice porridge, and put the rest into her spatial storage.
She drank the porridge and ate the meat buns. She had almost finished eating all the buns in her space. When she had time, she would have to make some more and put them in her space.
She carried a basket to the bus stop, looked at the sign, found the tram, and rode it for 30 minutes before finally arriving in Qingyun Town.
After getting off the bus, I didn't see a large market, but I did see children playing.
Gu Yihan took a piece of hard candy out of her pocket and handed it to the child: "Little friend, do you know where the market is around here?"
The child saw the candy in front of him, then looked at the pretty lady who gave it to him, took the candy and said, "Go straight through this alley, turn left at the intersection, and you'll see it."
Gu Yihan happily patted his head: "Sister, thank you."
She walked in the direction the child pointed, and soon saw a lot of people. Gu Yihan walked and browsed, and found that there were quite a lot of different kinds of things for sale.
She walked up to an old man selling seeds and asked, "Grandpa, how are the seeds sprouting?"
The other party said cheerfully, "Young lady, these are all seeds we saved from our own garden. We selected the best ones to sell, and we guarantee they will germinate."
Gu Yihan squatted down and selected several easy-to-grow plants, mainly because she had never farmed before and wanted to buy some that were easy to grow. She then handed him the money.
Seeing a stall selling chicks, she went over and asked, "Auntie, how much is one of these chicks?"
The auntie said, "One chick costs 10 cents. How many do you want, little girl?"
Gu Yihan is also considering how many to buy, but she doesn't know if the neighborhood committee will allow it. She has to test the waters first; if they don't allow it, she'll figure out a way.
The auntie thought she was complaining about the price since she didn't answer: "It's a good deal. An egg costs 7 cents, and we still have to hatch these."
Gu Yihan handed over 50 cents: "I want five." She carefully placed the chicks in the basket, worried that she might accidentally kill them.
Gu Yihan walked around the market but didn't find anything she wanted to buy. She was alone and wouldn't need to buy much anyway.
As I was heading back, I reached the end of the market and saw an old man selling dogs from a basket.
When Gu Yihan walked over to look at the fluffy puppies, she was instantly attracted by one of the snow-white mixed-breed dogs.
She went over and hugged the fluffy little dog: "How much is it?"
"It's free, but you need two industrial tickets in exchange." The old man looked reluctantly at the dog in Gu Yihan's arms.
She didn't haggle and handed him two industrial tickets.
Gu Yihan was overjoyed. She loved dogs, but had never been able to raise one due to lack of resources. Now that she had her own house and yard, she could raise one as she pleased.
After returning home, Gu Yihan first built a nest for the puppy, put it in the nest, and stroked its incredibly soft fur: "From now on, your name will be Mao Mao."
Gu Yihan went to the backyard and built a simple chicken coop for the chicks out of wood. Since they were still small, it didn't need to be too big.
She made herself egg noodles, and after eating them, she lay in bed thinking about her savings. She also had to send 5 yuan to Grandma Gu every month. It seemed she still needed to submit articles to earn money!
I have to get up early tomorrow. We have a wood-burning stove at home, and she doesn't have any firewood, so cooking is a problem. I need to go and see where I can buy a coal stove to replace it.
Early in the morning, she ate some steamed buns from her spatial storage and drank some porridge that she had put in the space the previous morning.
After feeding Mao Mao and the chicks, I'm going to go to the recycling station to ask.
Upon entering the scrap metal recycling station, an elderly woman sitting on the right side, without even looking up, told me to find what I wanted and come over to be weighed.
Looking at the junkyard, Gu Yihan walked straight to the pile of broken copper and iron, because she wanted to find a stove to burn honeycomb briquettes.
She searched through the pile for ages but found nothing, and she was exhausted.
Even the old lady who collects recyclables couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "What are you looking for after all this time?"
Helpless, Gu Yihan said, feeling quite aggrieved, "I want to find an old honeycomb briquette stove."
The older woman looked at her as if she were an idiot: "Are you stupid? That thing is in high demand, it's been used to the point of being unusable, and people are reluctant to throw it away. You came here to look for it?"
Gu Yihan could only ask the old lady who watches over the scrap metal, "Auntie, do you know where I can find old items?"
The older woman didn't answer her directly, but instead asked her why she had come out to look for something on her own.
Gu Yihan looked at the old lady helplessly and said, "Auntie, isn't this because my dad took my mom and brother to my maternal grandfather's house?"
"It's too far, I won't be back before the New Year. The stove at home is broken, so I'll have to take care of things myself."
Hearing this, the older woman believed her halfway and approached Gu Yihan in a low voice, saying, "I have a relative who works at a coal mine, and her family has some old things."
Gu Yihan's heart skipped a beat, and she asked softly, "Do your relatives have any extra coal briquettes? I'd like to exchange some more, as I also have relatives who are short of coal briquettes."
The older woman, with a knowing look on her face, said, "Yes, we can exchange, but we don't want money, we want food."
She was short of money, but she had food. Gu Yihan said, "How about corn stubble?"
Upon hearing this, the older woman said, "Okay, where are you planning to exchange with?"
Gu Yihan thought for a moment and said, "At 10 pm, there is a big willow tree in Willow Alley. Go straight and you will find a dilapidated house. We can exchange things there."
"To replace 200 jin of corn stubble, you only need one old honeycomb briquette stove, and the rest can all be replaced with coal briquettes."
The woman was stunned when she heard "200 jin (100 kg) of corn stubble." She instinctively asked, "You want that much?"
Gu Yihan thought to herself, "I'll only change it this time, and I won't change it again. I'll definitely have enough before I go to work."
She asked doubtfully, "There aren't that many coal briquettes?"
The older woman waved her hand and said, "Yes, young lady, I won't take advantage of you. Corn stubble sells for 9 cents a pound at the grain store, and you need grain coupons."
“The old lady’s coal briquettes also require a ticket, so we’ll offset that. Then, the coal briquettes are 2.4 yuan per load (100 jin), and I’ll give you 6 loads. The rest can be used to buy a coal stove.”
Gu Yihan was also satisfied and said, "Okay." After agreeing on the time, she took the car home.
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