Chapter 3: Making Money

The house was empty except for her. Liu Yinyin glanced at the sky; it was getting late, so she started preparing lunch.

Lunch was similar to breakfast—the main staple was wild vegetable cornbread.

As for the dishes… at this time of year, the crops in the fields had yet to mature. It was the season between harvests, and the family had little to eat aside from a few heads of cabbage, some radishes, preserved pickles, and last year’s dried vegetables.

Liu Yinyin stir-fried some pickles and braised dried string beans.

After some thought, she also picked three eggs from the large bowl in the cupboard to make scrambled eggs.

The farm work was exhausting, and the family needed some protein to keep their strength up. Otherwise, their bodies would wear out from overwork.

Jiang Cuihua knew exactly how many eggs were in the bowl. In the past, whenever the family cooked scrambled eggs, they would use at most three. Liu Yinyin couldn’t take more than that.

However… with just a thought, she spent six yuan in the system to buy a jin of eggs—eight in total.

She took one egg, mixed it with the original three, and cracked them into the bowl for cooking. The remaining eggs were stored back in the system’s warehouse.

Yes, Liu Yinyin had discovered that the system had a storage function, allowing her to keep unused items fresh.

However, the warehouse could only store items purchased from the system. Anything from the outside world couldn’t be placed inside.

Afraid that others might notice something strange, she didn’t dare take anything else.

By noon, the rest of the Liu family had returned from the fields for lunch.

After working all morning, everyone was too exhausted to speak. They simply sat down and started eating.

“Yinyin, how many eggs did you use for the stir-fry?” Jiang Cuihua, who had spent half her life cooking, immediately noticed that the amount of scrambled eggs looked off.

The family owned six hens, which laid about four or five eggs a day. However, most of the eggs had to be saved for trading for oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. They couldn’t just eat as many as they wanted.

The rest of the family didn’t seem to react much—or rather, they were secretly hoping for more eggs in the dish so they could have an extra bite.

Liu Yinyin’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected Jiang Cuihua to be so sharp-eyed. Forcing a smile, she said, “Mother, I only used three eggs…”

After a pause, she added with a sheepish grin, “But I picked the biggest ones, so it looks like there’s more than usual.”

Liu Yinyin felt a deep sense of caution—she had been too naïve. This incident had taught her a lesson; she wouldn’t dare use this method to improve the family’s meals again.

Her mother and two sisters-in-law were seasoned cooks. They could instantly tell if something was amiss.

Hearing her explanation, Jiang Cuihua sighed in relief. Her daughter wasn’t an inconsiderate child.

Liu Laifu waved his hand and said, “Alright, let’s eat.”

The sooner they finished lunch, the more time they had for a quick nap before heading back to work in the afternoon.

Like in the morning, Liu Yinyin was given two cornbreads with wild vegetables. Since she had eaten a large meat bun earlier, she wasn’t too hungry.

Thinking about it, she broke half of her cornbread and gave it to Liu Zhizhi. The little girl was seven years old and already helping with household chores.

Yet, like her younger siblings, she was only given one cornbread per meal—barely enough to fill her stomach.

When Liu Zhizhi saw the extra half cornbread in her bowl, her eyes lit up. “Thank you, Auntie!”

Liu Er’s wife curled her lips at the scene, thinking to herself: This little sister-in-law really knows how to put on a show—using the family’s food to buy favor.

If she couldn’t eat that much, she should just make less. That way, they could save on rations.

Once everyone had gone back to the fields, Liu Yinyin put on a straw hat, grabbed a basket, and headed out to gather wild vegetables.

She had the next couple of days off, so she needed to seize the opportunity to collect as many wild vegetables as possible to sell to the system and make money.

If nothing else, having extra money meant she could secretly buy some food to treat herself.

Otherwise… just thinking about the original owner’s long-term diet made Liu Yinyin shudder. Coming from the modern era, she knew she wouldn’t be able to endure such meals every day.

Liu Yinyin spent the entire afternoon in the mountains digging for wild vegetables. She only headed home when the sun was about to set.

She had been busy all afternoon and had a decent harvest—not just wild vegetables but also a good amount of wild mushrooms.

She sold everything except what was in her basket to the system. Her system balance skyrocketed from thirty-five yuan to two hundred eighty yuan.

If it weren’t getting so late, she wouldn’t have wanted to go home yet.

As night descended, the village grew quiet.

There were no phones or televisions in this era. The countryside didn’t even have electric lights. After dinner, everyone would just go to bed.

Liu Yinyin had been a night owl in her past life. It was still so early, yet she lay in bed, unable to fall asleep.

When she couldn’t sleep, her mind tended to wander. To be honest, her thoughts were a mess right now.

Perhaps… it was time to seriously consider how she would live her future life.

The Liu family… apart from Liu Er’s wife, everyone else treated her fairly well.

However, familial love could not withstand long-term strain.

Jiang Cuihua could protect her for now, but she couldn’t shield her forever.

Arguments and quarrels—no matter how strong a relationship is, it will eventually wear down.

But Liu Yinyin felt lost…

If not with the Liu family, where else could she go?

In this era, even leaving town required a letter of introduction.

Houses in the city, as well as jobs, were in high demand, with every position tightly occupied. Even having money wouldn’t guarantee a place to stay, let alone someone like her—a penniless nobody.

???

Suddenly, something came to mind. Liu Yinyin lit the kerosene lamp, got up, and opened the large chest at the foot of her bed.

This was her wedding dowry. Inside, there was a new cotton quilt along with a few sets of clothes belonging to the original owner.

When the Liu family brought her back, they hadn’t forgotten to take this chest with them.

Following the original owner’s memories, Liu Yinyin pulled out a pair of blue wide-legged pants. These were bought by Gu Cheng for the original owner when they got married.

Reaching into the inner pocket of the pants, she pulled out a few large-denomination banknotes.

She counted them—there were ten in total.

Of these ten, five were given by Father Liu and Mother Liu.

The Gu family was well-off, and Gu Cheng was a soldier with a generous monthly allowance. But Father and Mother Liu, wanting their daughter to have a happy life, had not demanded much in terms of a dowry.

According to village customs, they only asked for 80 yuan.

On the day of the wedding, they even gave her an extra 50 yuan as a nest egg…

The remaining five banknotes were left by Gu Cheng for the original owner when he returned to his unit.

No one else in the Gu family knew about this money. Otherwise… given the original owner’s personality, it would have most likely been confiscated by Gu’s mother.

This 100 yuan was now all the wealth Liu Yinyin had.

Was 100 yuan a lot?

In this era, it was indeed considered a small fortune.

Liu Yinyin carefully put the money away. Earning money in these times was no easy task—she absolutely couldn’t touch this money unless it was absolutely necessary.

For now, money wasn’t an immediate issue. The most urgent matter was finding a place to live.

She couldn’t stay with the Liu family forever.

With the system in her possession, it would be a huge waste not to use such a valuable resource.

But staying in the Liu household made everything inconvenient—even trying to improve the family’s meals required her to act cautiously.