This price is very reasonable, especially when various supplies are scarce during the Chinese New Year.
The woman was taken aback and asked, "Just money? No tickets?"
“Yes, no coupons needed, just money. Dried rabbit meat is only 50 cents a pound, which is a great deal. You know, fresh rabbit meat is already 30 cents a pound, and you also need 2 ounces of grain coupons for each pound,” He Tiantian said. “We are a family from the countryside who hunt for ourselves. We can’t finish it all, so we take it out to exchange for some money. If you want it, you don’t need to queue up to sell the meat, and you can have a prosperous New Year.”
The middle-aged woman was tempted. Yes, even if she had the money and a ration coupon for one pound of pork, she could only buy one pound of pork this New Year. She could save a little from her salary if she was frugal, but she didn't have any extra coupons. Thinking of this, the middle-aged woman said, "Alright, I'll take one to try."
"Okay." He Tiantian took the money and started weighing it. "It weighs three jin and six liang in total. You can give me one yuan and eighty cents."
The middle-aged woman looked at the large piece of dried rabbit meat, which only cost 1.8 yuan and didn't require meat coupons. It was indeed a great deal. She readily counted out the money and gave it to He Tiantian, saying, "Here's 1.8 yuan. Take it. It's so cold outside, you've had a hard time too."
"That's right, we're all poor people, please be kind enough to help us, we really can't make ends meet," He Tiantian said, feigning poverty, and then accepted the money from He Tiantian.
Overwhelmed with sympathy, the middle-aged woman picked up the rabbit, smelled it, and found it to be authentic. She asked, "Are you coming again tomorrow? I'll buy some more."
He Tiantian quickly shook her head and said, "I dare not stay in one place for too long. If you want to buy, hurry up, I won't be selling here tomorrow."
When the middle-aged woman heard He Tiantian say that, and smelled the aroma, she thought of her mother at home who hadn't eaten meat in a long time. So she gritted her teeth and said, "Then give me another one, a small one. I didn't bring that much money with me today."
"Okay!" He Tiantian flipped through them, took out a smaller one, weighed it, and said, "This weighs two pounds and eight ounces. You can give me one dollar and forty cents."
The middle-aged woman didn't dare linger there. People were passing by on the main road outside the alley, so she quickly took out 1.4 yuan, grabbed two rabbits, and left under the cover of night.
He Tiantian followed the same method and sold more than 20 rabbits and four pheasants in just over an hour.
It was already past five o'clock, and He Tiantian was preparing to head home. Just as she climbed over the wall, she heard noises coming from her parents' room; they were probably getting up. He Tiantian quickly went into her room, counted her money—forty-two yuan and fifty cents in total. The items in the Snake King's protective space could probably still fetch two hundred yuan.
With these two hundred yuan, her life in Qijia Village would be much more comfortable. Not having tickets wasn't a problem; with Niu Lili and Niu Dajun around, and their extensive connections, they could easily get tickets—it would just cost a little more money.
He Tiantian followed the same method, selling her wares at several supply and marketing cooperatives in Nanshi. In three days, she sold over eighty wild rabbits and more than twenty dried pheasants, leaving only a dozen or so rabbits and two pheasants. He Tiantian planned to clear them all out first thing tomorrow morning so they wouldn't take up any more space in the Snake King's barrier.
As before, He Tiantian arrived near the supply and marketing cooperative. Just as she was about to take out some items to lure people into the alley to do business, the Snake King suddenly warned her, "Don't take them out. A few people are coming. They don't seem to want to buy anything; they seem to want to catch people."
He Tiantian was startled, probably because her speculative activities had attracted the attention of some people, and quickly ran to the other end of the alley.
Sure enough, within a minute, several people arrived and checked each alleyway entrance.
"We've checked all the alleys here, nothing," a man's voice said. "What's the situation over there?"
He Tiantian's heart was pounding! Luckily, the Snake King reminded her, otherwise He Tiantian would have been caught red-handed.
"Yesterday my mom said there were people speculating and profiteering around here, and she told me to report it so I could catch them and get credit," one of the young men said. "I don't know why she didn't come; she probably went somewhere else. After all, it's a risky thing to do, and she wouldn't dare stay in one place for long!"
Everyone agreed, realizing that they wouldn't risk their lives in one place either.
"Alright, let's search around the other supply and marketing cooperatives now. Everyone be alert, our chance to make a great contribution is right in front of us," one person suggested. If they could catch this person, they would be in for a great achievement.
The city has been very quiet lately, and their work has been uneventful, lacking the excitement and high spirits of the past. With the New Year approaching, they're determined to pull off a big heist, achieve great success, and earn a reward for a happy holiday.
Although the Snake King could temporarily use magic to make her invisible, in front of so many people, tomorrow these people would not only arrest her for speculation and profiteering, but also add another charge: feudal superstition!
What a bunch of sons of bitches! Probably just as shameless and vicious as Zhou Sihai.
He Tiantian's petite frame couldn't withstand these two major accusations!
He Tiantian quickly left this place and went to other places, hiding here and there. She finally sold ten wild rabbits. She sold all the pheasants and didn't sell the remaining ones. Anyway, they would be brewed by the Snake King and wouldn't go bad.
It was getting late, so He Tiantian went home to tally up how much money she had made over the past few days!
The calculation showed it was about the same as she had estimated—two hundred and twenty-three yuan! She carefully put it away in her suitcase. When she left Nanshi, she would leave fifty yuan for her parents, and with their wages and various coupons, they could probably live quite comfortably.
It wasn't convenient to carry much on the road, so He Tiantian only brought pine nuts, dried jujubes, and persimmons—not much at all. Now that she's home, she secretly put quite a few more into the bags. However, her family wasn't focused on the food, so it didn't attract anyone's attention.
After He Tiantian processed the wild game, she could finally rest at home without any worries.
However, thinking about how tired her parents must be at work, He Tiantian changed her clothes, put on her blue floral cotton pants and cotton-padded jacket, and started making breakfast in the kitchen.
This cotton-padded coat was a new one that Wang Shuping made for He Tiantian. She was worried it would be too small, so she made it a bit loose. He Tiantian felt it was too loose on her, so she took matters into her own hands and altered it to make it smaller.
When altering the cotton-padded coat, He Tiantian used a few clever tricks: she fitted the shoulders just right, made the arms thinner, straightened the trouser legs, and accentuated the waist. After putting it on, He Tiantian's figure was immediately apparent, and Wang Shuping and Grandma Qi praised her highly.
However, Wang Shuping privately instructed that these cotton-padded coats were only to be worn at home; if going out, they should wear a large outer coat over them. This was partly to prevent the coats from getting dirty, and partly to avoid being seen as indecent. (To be continued.)
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