Chapter 3

Lin Yonggang was startled when he heard what she said.

“Sis, you can’t do that kind of thing. That’s speculation and profiteering. If you get caught, you’ll be made into an example.”

Looking at the boy in front of her, genuinely concerned for her, Lin Yun didn’t know how to explain it to him. She could only say, “Just tell me if there is or isn’t. I know what I’m doing, I won’t be reckless.”

Seeing the boy deep in thought, Lin Yun couldn’t help but feel a flicker of hope—only to hear him say a second later, “Nope, never heard of anything like that.”

Lin Yun didn’t believe him. “You hang out with those village boys all day, and you don’t know anything?” After all, during this time, most of the people doing business were the so-called “delinquents” and “troublemakers” according to their elders.

“Sis, I really haven’t heard anything like what you’re saying. Sure, they’ve sold stuff before, but that’s not something you’d be able to do.”

“You didn’t even explain it yet, and already you think I can’t do it? Don’t underestimate me.”
Even though she said that, Lin Yun honestly didn’t feel confident either. In her past life, she was just an ordinary girl with no exceptional skills, and her understanding of rural life mostly came from movies and TV shows.

Still, she couldn’t let him see her uncertainty now.

Lin Yonggang didn’t mind. He started explaining what his friends had been doing:
“They do go sell fish, but do you know where those fish come from? There are only a few ponds around here, all owned by the commune. Then there’s the reservoir, but all the fish in there were stocked by someone.”

At that point, Lin Yun understood—those fish were stolen.

“So how do they sell them? Is there a fixed place?”
She couldn’t bring herself to steal fish, but she could at least find out where they sold them and then think about what she could sell.

“There’s no fixed place. They just go door to door with the fish and ask. This isn’t the city—no one really buys vegetables, people grow their own. Fish counts as meat, so a few folks are interested.” Lin Yonggang sounded like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“But sis, I’m telling you, don’t even think about it. Last year, they stole fish from the reservoir, and someone saw them. One guy went missing and never came back. I heard they might’ve been beaten to death and fed to the fish.”
His voice dropped as he spoke, as if scared someone might hear.

“You didn’t go with them, right?”
After these few days together, Lin Yun had started to feel some affection for this cheap little brother who genuinely cared about her.

“Of course not. Besides, with Mom around, would I even dare?”

“Is fish the only thing people sell? What about loaches, eels, or wild game? Eggs?”

“People catch those themselves—why would they spend money on them?”

“What about handicrafts?”

“What kind? Bamboo baskets? Chairs? Pot scrubbers? No one buys those either. Everyone just makes them at home. When Dad’s not busy, he makes that stuff. Every household knows how to. Even the ones who don’t wouldn’t spend money—they just ask a neighbor to make some and maybe trade a little something for it.”

Everyone in the village knows each other—no one draws such clear lines.

Lin Yun was a little speechless. She swallowed back the idea she was about to blurt out—selling little decorative items.

Damn. Turns out people here have very different standards for “handicrafts.”
She couldn’t make any of the things he just listed.

From this conversation, Lin Yun realized she had oversimplified things. At first, she just thought this was a land of golden opportunities. But just like a gold rush, you need the right tools to dig.

And right now, Lin Yun had neither money nor skills.

The kind of black-market trading she remembered from before wasn’t impossible, but it required specific conditions—especially geographic ones. Right now, in this rural village, those conditions simply didn’t exist.

She asked and learned that the nearest town was dozens of kilometers away. Back then, it was normal to walk a whole day just to get somewhere.

So for now, Lin Yun gave up the idea of heading to town to do business. But she felt it was only temporary—what she needed first was some kind of transportation to get her out.

After this chat with Lin Yonggang, she had a clearer picture of what it really meant to “make money.”
In this time period, especially in her current environment, it was far from easy.

Over the next few days, Lin Yun kept thinking about ways to earn money.
She still believed rural life had its merits—there were resources around—but it was just hard to find a market.

She finally started to understand why the protagonists in time-travel stories always got cheats or golden fingers.
In a setting like this, you really needed one.
She even wondered—since she’d already transmigrated, maybe she had one too and just hadn’t discovered it yet?

But after trying various things for several days, she confirmed—nope. She definitely didn’t have one.

Still, she wasn’t just sitting idle. Every day she helped the family work to earn labor points and came home to eat sweet potato rice cooked by Lin Yumei.

Even though land had already been allocated to households, things still had to be done step by step. The commune still required collective labor.

At moments like this, Lin Yun regretted never learning to cook.
Then again, even if she could cook, there wasn’t much to cook with. A clever cook can’t work without rice.

That morning, she got up and heard from the radio that it was June 17th, 1982, lunar calendar April 26th.
There was no clock or calendar in the house—Lin Yun relied on the radio to keep track of time.

It was only 6 AM.
In her past life, she’d still be dreaming at this hour.
But now, she was in the countryside, where everyone got up around 5 AM to work the fields.
It got too hot by noon, so most people worked from 5 to around 11, then started again in the afternoon around 3 or 4 depending on the weather.

Lin Yumei, who shared her bed, had already gotten up without Lin Yun even noticing.

Expressionless, Lin Yun flicked the straw off the bedsheet and got up to wash.

“Sis, let’s go up the mountain together today.”

“Where are Mom and Dad?”

“Mom’s out working. Everyone’s got their own fields now, but there are still some communal fields, so she went to work on those.”