Chapter 37

Liu Yu ran, but her vision went dark as she completely didn’t recognize the roads of the county town. So, she stopped by the street and asked an old lady for directions. “Hey, ma’am, I want to ask you something! Where can I buy grain in Qinghe County?”

Liu Yu adjusted the burden on her back, which had twenty pounds of grain—about ten kilograms. It weighed her down and after a while, her shoulders started to hurt.

The elderly lady, with a kind heart, pointed in the distance at a grain store. “The state-run grain store! They have rice and flour, and I heard recently they even have Fuxiang flour! But it’s in short supply, so if you want to buy, you better hurry!”

Liu Yu glanced around, swallowed her saliva, lowered her voice, and asked, “Ma’am, I mean, where can I buy grain without a food coupon?”

That was where she might be able to make a deal.

The old lady immediately understood, and in a low voice, asked, “Plump girl, are you trying to sell some grain?”

It wasn’t surprising that the old lady asked this—if someone could get this fat, their family clearly wasn’t lacking in food. Liu Yu’s physique didn’t look like someone who was starving.

Selling grain privately was something that couldn’t be caught, so Liu Yu had to be cautious. She quickly denied it and tried to distance herself: “It’s not exactly like that, ma’am, I…”

But before she could finish her sentence, the old lady grabbed Liu Yu’s sleeve and pulled her into a secluded corner.

Once they were sure no one was around, the old lady spoke in a low voice: “Plump girl, you look like you’re from the countryside. If you have grain to sell, would you sell it to me?”

Ah, so there was a buyer knocking on the door!

“I have grain.”

Liu Yu didn’t beat around the bush. She took off the basket from her back, pulled out a sack of corn kernels, and held a handful up to the light for the old lady to see. “These are just the leftover corn kernels from home, not ground into flour… The corn is good! Look how beautiful it is!”

The old lady’s eyes lit up. Corn kernels were easy enough to grind into flour using a stone mill—though it was a bit of a hassle, corn kernels were much cheaper than corn flour. This was a rare good deal—something that might not come by for another eight hundred years!

“Plump girl, how much corn do you have? I’ll take it all!”

The old lady was so happy that her eyebrows and eyes practically flew up.

Liu Yu’s mind was working quickly. “It’s just twenty pounds. Right now, coarse grain like corn flour is selling for two cents a pound. I’ll sell you these good corn kernels for one cent a pound!”

That was half the price!

The old lady was even happier, her mouth nearly splitting to the back of her ears. She pulled two ration tickets from her pocket and handed them to Liu Yu. “Okay, okay! I’ll take it all! Give it all to me!”

“You’re generous, and I’m straightforward!”

Liu Yu took the money with one hand and handed over the grain with the other.

The old lady was thrilled with the cheap grain, and she couldn’t stop smiling. She grabbed Liu Yu’s sleeve and continued, “Plump girl, if you have more grain to sell in the future, come find me, okay? We’ve got a lot of kids at home, and the monthly ration is never enough.”

Getting a regular buyer was a good thing, and Liu Yu nodded. However, she remained cautious: “Alright, but you can’t tell anyone about this! If you spill the beans, I won’t sell to you next time!”

The old lady was so pleased that, despite her old age and gray hair, she was carrying the twenty pounds of grain and walking fast!

Liu Yu watched in admiration from behind and gave a big thumbs-up, thinking to herself, “The elderly in these times are really strong.”

With a good start, Liu Yu made two yuan, more than what Liu Jian and his wife worked all day to earn!

Liu Yu grinned, determined to sell all the hundred pounds of grain she had brought today!