Chapter 16
At this time, the only people in the family compound who were left were the unemployed old men and women, and some shift workers who had just come down from their posts, hissing with cold and rushing home with their heads down.
Xu Di was fully armed, with a basket on his arm containing bundles of leeks, half a pound per bundle. There are eggs on top, placed one next to the other. It's pink and looks pleasing to the eye.
After entering the family compound, Xu Di felt guilty like a thief. He didn't even dare to walk in the middle and walked on the side.
"What do you do? I'm talking about you, the one with the basket."
Xu Di was stunned for a moment, and then his hand was grabbed.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for someone."
Xu Di bit his cheek and calmed down.
"Looking for someone, who?"
The person who was pulling Xu Di was an old lady. She looked quite old, but her hands were quite strong.
Xu Di took a look at the old lady. She was neatly dressed without any patches on her clothes. It looks like the conditions are good, maybe I can give her a good start.
"Auntie, I'm looking for my cousin. My mother said she lives in this yard and asked me to send her something."
"What's your cousin's name? Which building does she live in?"
The old lady was quite vigilant and interrogated Xu Di as if he was a spy.
"My cousin's name is Dahua. She lives in this yard. I've been here before. I remember it."
Xu Di accidentally exposed the eggs and leeks in the basket and quickly covered them up.
The old lady had sharp eyes and when she saw the eggs in the basket, her expression became thoughtful.
"Since we can't find your cousin, give me your egg and we can talk about it."
Xu Di reluctantly followed the old lady to the wall, feeling happy that her deal was going to be successful.
"How do you exchange these eggs? What else is in the basket?"
"Eggs are six cents each with a ticket, seven cents each without a ticket. And leeks are half a pound in a bundle, fifty cents a bundle."
The two of them already had a tacit understanding, and Xu Di stopped pretending.
She had inquired about the prices. Leeks were not available in the grocery store, but cabbage was seven or eight cents per pound.
Chives are a rare commodity, and selling them for fifty cents a bundle is not too expensive. There are not many green leafy vegetables in Beijing in winter.
"The eggs are OK, but the chives are not cheap."
"Auntie, these are grown on the kang. Burning firewood every day is very tiring. Besides, there are not many crops per crop. It's better to earn some hard-earned money, don't you think?"
Xu Di appropriately played the victim. She had no other golden fingers and relied on these leeks and eggs to save money.
"Okay, give me twenty eggs and two bundles of leeks. What do you want in tickets?"
"Meat coupons, cloth coupons, industrial coupons, tobacco coupons, alcohol coupons, anything is fine. We rural people are short of all kinds of coupons."
Xu Di doesn’t have any tickets, so he can’t buy anything without them.
"Okay, I have industrial coupons and wine tickets, and I'll give you two dollars and twenty cents."
"Okay, thank you, ma'am."
Xu Di rubbed his hands, took the money and ticket, counted them, and found they were just right.
He carefully picked out twenty eggs from the basket and took two bundles of leeks.
"Your eggs are big, and the chives are fresh. If you still have them in a few days, come back here and I'll exchange them for them."
"No problem. This crop is over. It will take a few days before there is more."
Xu Di packed up his things and planned to move to another place.
With this experience, Xu Di carried a basket and shuttled back and forth in the nearby housing estates. He sold more than 300 eggs and more than 50 bundles of leeks.
It was getting late and Xu Di's feet were numb from the cold, so she decided to go home.
I found a dead end that no one was paying attention to, entered the space, changed my disguise, and warmed up.
On the floor of the space was a small pile of banknotes and coins; these were her day's spoils.
"One dollar, fifty cents, twenty cents, ten cents, five cents..."
Xu Di was sorting and counting at the same time.
The total sales amounted to forty-six dollars and eighty-four cents, plus some tickets. How much do workers earn a month nowadays? She earned a month's salary in one day. She should be secretly happy.
At this rate, she could sell about a thousand dollars worth of merchandise in about a month!
"Haha...there is hope. There is hope for work!"
Xu Di couldn't help laughing, and after talking to herself for a while, she put the money and tickets into a box in the space. This was where she kept her private money.
After leaving the space, Xu Di went to the bus stop and prepared to take the bus home.
Because of the long distance, when we got home, all the Xu family members had returned.
"How are you? Are you tired? You come back so late. No, just don't do it."
Xu's mother felt a little distressed. The child had not been around since she was a child, and she always felt that she owed her.
"Mom, I'm not tired, it's just a little far. Besides, it's only a month, and if I don't go to cover for someone else, my classmates will ask me to participate in sports, and I have no excuse not to go."
"That's right. Tell me, these young men nowadays don't do their jobs and criticize and fight this and that every day. When will this end?"
Xu's mother really couldn't stand it. What happened to those people? They didn't kill anyone or set any fire, so why should they be criticized?
"Mom, don't say this outside, you'll get into trouble!"
Mrs. Xu was shocked. How could her mother-in-law dare to say anything?
"I know. I'm not stupid. How can I say that outside? Okay, Xu Di is back. Let's eat."
Xu's mother was also angry. Today, some Red Guards came to their kitchen and said that the girl who washed the vegetables had a problem with her background and wanted to be taken away for criticism.
If the security department hadn't arrived in time, the person would have been taken away. Really, the eldest sister’s ancestors were landlords, but she never enjoyed any of the wealth, and the family property is about to be squandered by her father.
After dinner, Xu Di helped to clean up the dishes, washed up, and went into the house to sleep.
There were no entertainment facilities at that time. Besides, she had been running all day and was tired.
Xu Di locked the door and entered the space.
The leeks have been harvested and tied up, but we’ll have to wait a few days for the next crop.
After feeding and giving water to the chickens, Xu Di didn’t have the energy to grind cornmeal today, so he ate a tomato to satisfy his craving.
He picked up all the eggs and then left the space.
The next day, Xu Di finished his breakfast and went out again.
This time I changed the location and couldn’t appear in the same place frequently. She moved from one place to another after each shot, being very careful.
She didn't wear the dog-skin hat today, but instead wore a flowery headscarf used by her grandmother, her grandmother's gray coat, and still wore a mask.
Today went relatively smoothly. I met several big customers, each of whom bought fifty or sixty eggs and four or five bundles of leeks.
Xu Di finished work a little early. She was hungry and didn't have time to eat lunch, so she ate an egg cooked in the space. It was nothing special.
Finding an opportunity to enter the space, Xu Di first ate an egg, then picked a cucumber and ate a tomato.
I felt better after I had food in my stomach. I was so hungry.
It’s the happiest moment again, counting money.
Because I met a big customer, I sold a lot more today than yesterday, a total of 80.7 yuan, and some tickets.
Xu Di has been leaving home early and coming back late for several days in a row. Her family has gotten used to it, and she herself has gotten used to it too.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and Xu Di cannot go out. It is a good time for her to rest at home. She has been very tired these days, and her arms are sore.
A basket of leeks and eggs is quite heavy.
Tomorrow, she wanted to visit the Liang family and give them some leeks and eggs to keep in touch.
I will graduate next year. If the supply and marketing cooperative or department store has any job openings, I should tell her for the sake of our friendship.
Before going to bed, Xu Di thought about tomorrow's plan, and soon fell asleep.
When Xu's mother passed by Xu Di's door and heard the snoring inside, her heart ached. She said she was not tired, but now she was so tired that she was snoring!
Perfect misunderstanding!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
