Shen Qing did not return to her room but instead went directly to the kitchen, where the dried fish was stored.

She carefully closed the kitchen door, then took the bamboo basket containing the dried fish and placed it in front of her.

Excitedly, she pressed “Yes” on the option to sell.

“23 pounds of high-quality dried fish, priced at 18 yuan per pound, total 414 yuan. You can check the balance.”

“You can purchase necessary items in the pharmacy and grain categories already opened in the mall. Friendly reminder: all items in the mall cannot be resold directly.”

Shen Qing watched as the dried fish in front of her suddenly disappeared, and the mall interface showed a balance of 414 yuan.

In China, Shen Qing frequently shopped online and was very familiar with how to use platforms like Taobao and Pinduoduo.

She first browsed the pharmacy section for a while, finding everything well-stocked, with prices comparable to those at Chinese pharmacies, which eased her mind.

Her little pet, Xiao Hua, was sick.

Although she had consulted a doctor, she didn’t understand traditional Chinese medicine, and now, with the mall, she could buy familiar medications, which made her feel more secure.

Even if Xiao Hua didn’t need it, with so many people in the house, she never knew when someone might need medicine, and if that happened, it could save a life!

She deeply appreciated the inclusion of pharmacy items in the mall’s free categories.

After looking at the medications, she moved on to the grain section.

Medications were crucial for life-saving situations, but grains were essential for daily survival!

At home, they only had flour and cornmeal, so Shen Qing started by looking at the flour.

Flour ranged from two yuan per pound to over ten yuan per pound, but even the two-yuan flour was quite good, which pleased her.

After happily reviewing the flour, Shen Qing moved on to the cornmeal.

White flour was refined and too noticeable if consumed exclusively; it was better not to say anything about it to the family, so she decided to buy more cornmeal.

Shen Qing’s mind was clear, but when she saw the price of cornmeal, all her reason flew out the window!

Why was cornmeal, the coarser grain, priced at five yuan per pound, while flour was cheaper?

It was more than double the price of flour!

With a balance of 414 yuan, she needed to reserve about 100 yuan for medication, which meant she had 314 yuan to buy food.

With 314 yuan, she could buy 62 or 63 pounds of cornmeal, but with the same amount, she could buy 157 pounds of flour!

157 pounds of white flour, when mixed with three pounds per meal, could last over a month.

That was premium grain.

Even a fool could see which was the better choice.

Shen Qing wasn’t a fool, but she didn’t dare to choose only white flour.

She planned to mix three pounds of white flour with one pound of cornmeal, creating a dish with a faint yellow hue and a delicate texture that still carried the corn’s fragrance.

If anyone asked, she’d just say it was white flour mixed with cornmeal.

After selling the dried fish, Shen Qing returned to her room, grabbed a cloth bag, and filled it with flour.

She bought only a small amount of cornmeal, about ten pounds, which she mixed with the cornmeal already in a burlap sack, stirring it evenly.

Even though the original cornmeal wasn’t very refined and had some corn fragments, it couldn’t be wasted.

Grains were precious, and nothing could be wasted.

Shen Qing had never agreed more with this saying.

She was also thankful that the previous owner of this house had kept all the grains in her room and strictly monitored them, allowing only Shen Qing to scoop out the right amount to give to Huo Bing or Jiang Shui for cooking.

This kept the family from knowing how much was left.

With the extra 100 pounds of grain and the 100 yuan balance in her account, Shen Qing finally felt a little more at ease.

But before this feeling could fully settle, she heard Huo Bing’s anxious voice from the next room: “Doctor, do you think her fever will worsen at night?”

“Yes, young lady’s fever is due to a cold. It will worsen at night. I’ll prepare three doses of medicine. Each dose should be boiled with three bowls of water, and she should take one dose at a time. If the fever doesn’t subside after three doses, we’ll need to consult another doctor.”

“Ah, is it that serious?”

The breathless voice belonged to Jiang Xiangdong, with a hint of surprise.

Shen Qing thought to herself, wasn’t that obvious?

She had neglected the situation for three days without care, and the food hadn’t been proper either.

It wasn’t just the three-year-old Xiao Hua who could get worse—any adult would too.

“Who will go with me to fetch the medicine?”

“I’ll go, I’ll go.” Jiang Xiangdong’s voice was decisive this time.

Shen Qing realized that Xiao Hua had a fever, and it was getting worse.

She opened the mall and found children’s fever medicine, priced at 37 yuan per box.

Then she found children’s antibiotics and cold medicine, priced at over 40 and 50 yuan per box, respectively.

Luckily, these didn’t need to be taken together, and she could choose one based on the symptoms.

The money was still too little, and she had bought too much grain.

She should have saved more for emergencies.

Saving alone wouldn’t work; she needed to earn money. Tomorrow, she would go into town to find a way to make money.

The mall could guarantee that she wouldn’t starve and would have medicine if someone got sick, but for meat, oil, salt, sugar, spices, fabric, and even vehicles for escaping disaster months later, she would need to earn money for all those things.

“Mom! Mom, come see how many little fish and shrimp I caught! We’ll cook them for dinner tonight!”

The excited voice from outside came from the fourth son, Jiang Xiangbei.

At the same time, a “ding” sound was heard.

“Detected fresh wild river shrimp, 3 pounds 4 ounces, 37 yuan per pound; fresh wild river fish, 7 pounds, 13 yuan per pound. Do you want to sell?”

When Shen Qing heard the price, she finally understood the difference between this mall and markets in China!

When she sold dried fish, the price at the market was at least 23 yuan per pound, but the mall offered 18 yuan per pound.

Fresh wild river shrimp was especially hard to find in the market, often priced at 67 yuan per pound, and fresh river fish was around 23 yuan per pound.

The price the mall offered wasn’t the selling price, but the buying price! And what it sold to her was at retail prices.

She realized that with clear pricing and free trading, whether buying or selling, everything was up to her, which felt fair and just. From the mall’s perspective, it was business, and business had to make money.

From her perspective, she could sell the fish and shrimp she didn’t need to the mall at high prices, then buy the grains and medications she needed at low prices. Not only did she not lose, but she also made a profit.

With this mall, Shen Qing was very content.

She went out to the yard, looked at the half-barrel of lively fish and shrimp, and saw them jumping happily.

Jiang Xiangbei, eager to show off, shouted, “Mom, look how many there are! I’ll smash the fish and feed them to our chickens so they’ll lay more eggs! Should we cook the river shrimp for Xiao Hua? But mom, you should know, these are mine, so I get to eat more!”

Xiao Hua was sick and couldn’t eat much, so he was willing to share some.

As he reached for the fish and shrimp in the barrel, Shen Qing quickly blocked him, “Stop!”

Jiang Xiangbei froze, looking up at his mother in confusion, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

In the afternoon, when third brother asked his sister-in-law to make an egg custard, Shen Qing hadn’t agreed, but let third brother do it himself.

She even had big brother run errands for the doctor.

Was she now supposed to let the sister-in-law smash the fish for shrimp?