Chapter 15: The Talkative Man

“Junzi^[1]Zhu Jianjun’s Nickname, look at that girl over there—she really can eat! That big bowl of noodles, and it’s gone in just a few bites!”

Zhu Jianjun followed Liu Quan’s gaze and looked over, just in time to catch Wen Nuan raising her head. Their eyes met, and the atmosphere instantly became a little awkward.

It was clear that the two men had been talking about her, and she had overheard the entire conversation.

Zhu Jianjun awkwardly chuckled, nodded slightly, and quickly shifted his gaze. He then nudged Liu Quan with his hand.

“Let’s go. We’ve finished eating, so why are we still sitting here like fools?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, let’s go, let’s go!”

Liu Quan, realizing what had happened, felt a little embarrassed. He awkwardly flashed a smile at Wen Nuan, but she didn’t acknowledge the two of them.

She hadn’t expected to encounter Zhu Jianjun in this life. In her previous life, because of Zhang Zhenzhen, Zhu Jianjun had made a lot of sarcastic remarks at her expense.

This time around, she wouldn’t give him any opportunity to bully her again!

“That girl is so cold! Not even a smile! Though, she’s pretty good-looking.”

Even after leaving the state-run restaurant, Liu Quan kept muttering to himself.

Zhu Jianjun, listening to Liu Quan, couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed. He wasn’t sure why, but he vaguely sensed that the girl seemed to hold some kind of hostility toward him.

“Alright, you’re such a chatterbox for a big guy. Hurry up and let’s go home!”

“Hey, who are you calling a chatterbox?”

The two of them playfully bickered as they left. Afterward, Wen Nuan packed the leftover red-braised pork and dumplings into her lunchbox. This would be her dinner for the evening.

The bamboo house in the space had a preservation function, so whatever state the food was in when placed inside, it would come out in the same condition. This made Wen Nuan not worry about the food spoiling.

After leaving the state-run restaurant, Wen Nuan took a detour to the nearby Dove Market. Unlike the black market, which typically operated at night for late-night trading, the Dove Market had various goods sold by vendors from all around, offering a wide range of items.

The Dove Market was different. It usually operated from 9 AM to around 3 PM, with vendors mostly being locals from nearby villages or elderly women from households, exchanging eggs, grain tickets, and such. Occasionally, there were some selling wild goods.

Wen Nuan came here today hoping to try her luck. She had already bought most of what she needed, and as for things like quilts, the Wen family had some ready-made ones.

However, the cotton for the cotton clothes and pants hadn’t been sorted out yet! Although it was summer now, what if there were people in urgent need of money and willing to sell their cotton?

The Northeast winters were extremely cold, with temperatures often dropping well below minus twenty degrees Celsius. Without cotton clothes and pants, one couldn’t survive the harsh winters.

If she couldn’t find any cotton here, she would just have to figure it out once she got to the Northeast.

The foreign trade stores did sell down jackets—lightweight and warm—but they were too expensive. Not only did they cost five hundred yuan, but you also needed foreign exchange certificates.

So Wen Nuan didn’t even consider that option. Even though her space had gathered quite a few treasures, deep down, she was still poor.

Moreover, wearing a down jacket in the countryside would attract unnecessary attention! She didn’t want to face the scrutiny of others, especially in places where women gathered, where there was too much gossip.

Walking into the Dove Market, most of the stalls were already packing up. Even those that hadn’t closed yet didn’t have much left on display.

“Granny, excuse me, do you happen to know if anyone’s exchanging tickets here?”

Wen Nuan approached a stall selling cabbage and softly inquired.

“You want to exchange tickets? You look unfamiliar. You’re not from around here, are you?”

The old woman continued packing up her things while sizing Wen Nuan up, her eyes showing a hint of caution.

“Granny, your eyes are sharp! I live over at the machine factory area. I’m out today buying some things, since I’m heading to the countryside soon. I thought I’d stop by and try my luck—looking to exchange for some cotton tickets.”

Upon hearing this, the old woman seemed to relax a bit.

“Really looking to exchange for cotton tickets?”

“Of course, I am!”

The old woman pondered for a moment before pointing to a man in his fifties not far ahead and said:

“That’s Zhang. He’s the one who handles this kind of thing. You can ask him.”

“Alright! Thank you so much, Granny. You’re really kind!” Wen Nuan said gratefully.

The old woman smiled and didn’t reply, quickly finishing packing up her things before hurrying off.

Wen Nuan walked directly toward the man the old woman had mentioned.

“Uncle, do you have cotton tickets?”

Zhang turned around upon hearing the voice but didn’t see anyone at first. Puzzled, he then heard the voice again, and looking down, he finally spotted Wen Nuan.

It wasn’t that Wen Nuan was too short; honestly, although she was slightly malnourished, she was about 1.57 meters tall now!

The real reason was that Zhang was extremely tall—standing at nearly 1.9 meters, he looked like a human-sized telephone pole.

“Sorry! I didn’t see you for a moment,” Zhang said, then chuckled. “You’re quite brave, young lady, coming all the way to Dove Market to look for tickets by yourself!”

Wen Nuan smiled and replied, “You’re being too polite. Everyone here is just doing legitimate business. It’s broad daylight—what could possibly happen to me?”

“The little lady’s quite clever, but I don’t have any cotton tickets. It’s not the season for that right now,” Zhang said, noticing the disappointment in Wen Nuan’s expression.

Despite the setback, Wen Nuan didn’t let it bother her too much. Since she was already there, she figured she might as well inquire about other tickets.

“Well then, what tickets do you have?” she asked.

“What do you want? Tell me what you’re looking for, and I can let you know if I have it,” Zhang replied, leaning forward a bit, his tone casual.

Wen Nuan thought for a moment. She didn’t need a watch, but a bicycle… That was something she could use. The Wen family didn’t have a spare bicycle for her, and although she wasn’t planning to buy one right away, it wouldn’t hurt to at least get the ticket for it.

“Do you have bicycle tickets? Also, I want to exchange some national grain tickets,” Wen Nuan asked, her tone casual but hopeful.

“I have eleven bicycle tickets, and national grain tickets are one dime per pound. How much do you want to exchange?” Zhang replied, eyeing her carefully.

The price seemed fair to Wen Nuan, especially considering she would be staying in the countryside for five years. The more grain tickets, the better.

“I’ll take one bicycle ticket, and as for the national grain tickets, I’ll take all you have!” Wen Nuan said confidently.

Zhang’s interest piqued at her words. He hadn’t expected such a big customer to show up so late in the day.

“Really? You want all of them? I have a hundred pounds of national grain tickets!” he said, his voice rising with a hint of surprise.

“Only a hundred pounds?” Wen Nuan asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

To be honest, Wen Nuan was quite disappointed. She had expected at least two or three hundred pounds of national grain tickets.

“A hundred pounds of national grain tickets is quite a lot,” Zhang said, trying to convince her. “You don’t know how hard it is to get national grain tickets these days. This hundred pounds has taken me two months to gather!”

Wen Nuan scoffed, clearly not believing his words, but didn’t press the issue.

“Alright, fine. A hundred pounds is a hundred pounds. And I’ll take the bicycle ticket too. But since I’m buying so much, can you give me a discount?” she asked.

“Discount? No way. This is the lowest price. You can ask around, no one in the whole city will give you a better price than mine!” Zhang replied confidently.

His words were firm, but Wen Nuan remained unsure. Perhaps others didn’t have a lower price than his, but she knew for sure it wouldn’t be higher. After all, the price of grain tickets was relatively transparent.

“Alright, then it’s settled.”

Wen Nuan took out thirty yuan from her pocket and handed it over. In one hand, she passed the money; in the other, she received the tickets.

After confirming the amount, the transaction was complete.

Wen Nuan counted the tickets—there were indeed one hundred, one for each pound, not a single one missing.

She casually put them in her pocket, but in reality, she stored them in her space.