18: Chapter 18: Fussing 18: Chapter 18: Fussing Lin Dong casually wiped his mouth and stared at the thing Lin Xia was holding.
“Big sister, brother, isn’t that the Lingzhi?”
He rembered seeing Haizi’s dad soaking it in alcohol.
Seeing his big sister nod with a smile, he excitedly tried to say sothing but choked on his own spit, “Cough!
Cough!
Cough!”
Lin Chun imdiately went over to pat Lin Dong’s back, laughing uncontrollably while he did, “What are you getting so worked up for!”
Finally, Lin Dong stopped coughing, his face red from holding his breath as he retorted, “I wasn’t getting excited!
I choked on my own spit!”
Lin Xia saw the boy’s eyes were round with excitent and said soothingly, “All right!
My Dongzi really did choke!”
Lin Dong deliberately glanced at Lin Chun with a raised chin, “Good thing my big sister knows !”
Lin Chun, still in good spirits, laughed and didn’t continue to argue with him.
Seeing Lin Dong relax, Lin Xia gave another smiling instruction, “Dongzi, big sister has a task for you.
Later, use the basket I brought back from Aunt’s house yesterday, the one that had the hazelnuts, and take so mushrooms, walnuts, etc., to their family.
Oh, and pack so pears too!”
She wasn’t sure if Hongli had collected mushrooms or anything when he went up the mountain to gather hazelnuts, but she had picked quite a few herself, and since there was an extra basket, she didn’t want to take advantage of his family.
Lin Dong fetched the basket from the yard, packed it almost full, and then took off with it.
Lin Chun and Lin Xia looked out the window into the yard, shaking their heads with a smile as they watched Dongzi’s bounding silhouette.
He really was still a kid at heart!
Qian Chunli entered the house right behind Lin Qiu, seeing that not even a fire had been lit in the kitchen stove.
She glared at Lin Qiu, but upon catching the teasing gaze of Lin Xia, she ultimately held her tongue and went straight into the Eastern House.
Lin Xia pulled Lin Qiu into the room and imdiately asked with concern how her first day at work had gone.
Even though Lin Qiu had worked all day, she didn’t feel tired and looked spirited, “Sister Zhao had start by attaching buttons!
She said that if I did well, she’d let learn to sew on a machine later!”
Lin Xia had no objections to Liu Lanying’s arrangents and encouraged Lin Qiu, “That’s great!
Take it slow!
Our Xiaoqiu is so skilled, you’ll definitely learn it fast!”
Dinner that night was prepared by Lin Xia and Lin Qiu together.
Lin Qiu tended the fire and cooked the rice, while Lin Xia stir-fried the dishes.
Lin Xia took so of the mushrooms she had gathered, tore them into pieces, blanched them in water, and then stir-fried them.
Even though it wasn’t at, the crunchy texture was quite satisfying!
Lin Dong returned from their aunt’s house with news that Yu Hongi’s boyfriend Cao Jianbin had co back from a business trip from the provincial capital and brought back lots of nice things for Hongi.
Lin Xia knew this Cao Jianbin, a man keen on research, but in her previous life, he and Hongi hadn’t ended up together.
She just listened with one ear and didn’t take it to heart.
After dinner, washing up, once everyone had fallen asleep, Lin Xia entered the Jade room again.
As soon as she stepped in, she felt sothing was off.
Yet, the piles of hazelnuts on the ground looked the sa, and it seed like there was no change to the dead tree stump or the Lingzhi growing on it.
It took her a mont to figure out what was different—the fog in the room had thinned out a bit.
Why was that?
Lin Xia instinctively felt it had sothing to do with the things she had put into the room today, but it was hard to say exactly which item was responsible.
She could only wait to explore in the future, and she also didn’t know whether the thinning fog was a good or bad thing.
Actually, she had once wondered if there was sothing behind the jade bi.
Having inadvertently opened this Jade room, she wasn’t afraid anymore but still harbored a profound reverence, and since her entry was a matter of consciousness, she currently couldn’t do anything to the jade bi itself.
The next day, Lin Xia got up early for work and, unsurprisingly, bumped into Yu Hongi on the road she had to take to get to work.
Yu Hongi had a white scarf with gold threads wrapped around her neck, making her look even more beautiful, with rosy lips and white teeth.
Lin Xia greeted her and then rode off on her bicycle with her head down.
She guessed that the scarf must have been brought back to Yu Hongi by Cao Jianbin from the provincial city, but she didn’t know where to source such items.
If she could bring so back, she could sell them at the gates of each factory area—surely they would sell.
However, she first needed to sell the Lingzhi before she had the capital.
Yu Hongi saw Lin Xia’s cursory greeting and downward gaze, absorbed in thought, and noticed that she didn’t see any change in her nor offer any complints.
She cleared her throat with a cough, “Lin Xia!
Do you think my scarf looks nice?”
Lin Xia glanced at her and smiled, “It’s beautiful!
Sister Hongi, you definitely didn’t buy this scarf around here, did you?”
“Of course not!
Cao Jianbin bought it in the provincial city.
He said that these gold-threaded ones are very fashionable there now!”
“Ah!
Big cities are really trendy!” Lin Xia agreed with her, taking the opportunity to ask, “How much did it cost?
Can you buy it anywhere?”
…
Lin Xia found out from Yu Hongi that Cao Jianbin bought the scarf at a state-run store.
She had an idea—she wanted to take a trip to the provincial city soti!
In her previous life, she had once visited the provincial city, and the prosperity there was incomparable to her small county town.
If she wanted to sell the few stalks of Lingzhi she had to soone else, it would not only be difficult to do in her ho county, she was also afraid her father and the others would find out!
And in the city, because it was not far from her ho, it would probably be difficult to sell there as well.
So, why not go to the provincial city to sell the Lingzhi, get the money, and then see if she could bring sothing back to sell?
Even just making a profit on the markup would do!
With the Jade Room, she didn’t have to worry about transportation!
Yu Hongi reached the factory, and as expected, she was surrounded by young won and wives, who complinted her on how nice the scarf looked and asked where she bought it.
When they heard that it was her significant other who had brought it back from the provincial city, they expressed regret that it wasn’t available for sale in their area.
Lin Xia listened and watched silently from the sidelines, and she felt even more that this was a good avenue for making money.
Even if she brought them back, it wouldn’t be a problem if she couldn’t sell them within her own factory!
There were many factories in the Lin District, and won loved beauty, none wanting to fall behind others when it ca to wearing attractive garnts.
Lin Xia was a woman of action; taking advantage of the midday break, she rode her bicycle to the forestry shop to look around and noticed that their state-run store indeed didn’t have the kind of gold-threaded scarves that Yu Hongi wore.
They only had nylon scarves, which looked really unattractive in terms of design and color.
Lin Xia also took the ti to visit the train station to check out the train schedules and fares to the provincial city.
There was an evening train that would arrive in the provincial city overnight; the fare was three yuan and fifty cents.
It was indeed cheaper compared to later, but after spending money on Lin Qiu’s job and purchases, Lin Xia only had eight yuan, two dis and three cents left in her pocket.
With unexpected situations possible when traveling, she had to reserve enough money for the return trip.
So, subtracting seven yuan for the journey, she only had one yuan, two dis, and three cents left.
What if she couldn’t sell the items in her Jade Room?
Lin Xia had originally wanted everything to proceed clandestinely, without alerting anyone, and she hadn’t even let Lin Chun and the others catch a hint of her plans.
Now it seed impossible; she would need to be away for at least a day and two nights, and she couldn’t keep it secret.
What kind of excuse could she find to stay out for two nights?
Lin Xia was not ignorant of her elder brother Lin Chun’s staunch conservatism, but with things having co to this point, she had no choice but to muster her energy and try to get him to understand.
Reviews
All reviews (0)