Chapter 21

Lin Yun was truly shocked after hearing everything. Until now, she hadn’t dared to believe that external forces alone could leave such deep scars on a person. But now the truth was right in front of her. From the original host’s memories, Lin Yun only knew that she had been ill as a child—but not that it had been this serious.

After learning all this, seeing Lin Chuntian’s shoulders made Lin Yun feel even worse, which was why she wanted to borrow an ox cart.

The next day, Lin Yun and her two younger siblings went to town together. Each of them carried a basket on their back, which was much easier than carrying the large snakeskin bags from before. Inside the baskets were the centipedes they had been collecting over the past few weeks. Once sold, they would bring in another considerable amount of money.

There were a lot of things to buy on this trip. Although the past half-month had been the peak of the farming season, many villagers still went out at night to collect centipedes. Two different buyers had come to the village during that time, but the prices they offered were much lower than what Lin Yun could get selling directly in town. Lin Yun figured part of the reason was because those buyers came directly to the village, but another reason might be the sudden surge in the number of centipedes being found locally.

So Lin Yun decided to bring their own centipedes to town to sell. Aside from the better price, it was also to prevent word from spreading that their family had made a fortune.

With the busy season finally over, Lin Yun felt it was necessary to treat herself and her family. Besides, she also wanted to stock up on a few things in town—after all, the new school term was just half a month away.

Perhaps because the busy farming period had toughened her up, Lin Yun didn’t even feel the four- to five-hour journey was that exhausting. Compared to the double rush of the previous days, this trip was actually pretty relaxing.

When the three siblings arrived in town, they headed straight for the procurement station. The owner clearly remembered Lin Yun. “Yo, little lady, did you go dig for coal or something? How’d you get so tanned?”

Lin Yun wasn’t offended by the remark. She just smiled brightly and replied, “Well, the busy season just ended, you know?”

The boss nodded in understanding, then they all started weighing and counting the centipedes they had brought. “You guys are seriously impressive—just three of you doing the work of an entire team.”

“What else can we do? Our family’s poor, so we have to come up with other ways to survive. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even have food to eat. If only we could eat city food like you, big bro. Then we wouldn’t have to dig around in the dirt anymore,” Lin Yun replied, showering the boss with flattery. She complimented his sharp eye, his good fortune, and called him an example of someone they should all strive to be—hardworking and successful.

The boss beamed from ear to ear at her words. Once he was sufficiently buttered up, Lin Yun casually asked, “Big bro, look at the state of our clothes—they’re practically in rags. Do you happen to know where we could get some cloth coupons? We want to buy some fabric, otherwise my little brother won’t even have clothes to wear when school starts. We’ve got the money from selling centipedes, but no coupons.”

The boss looked at her with surprise, and Lin Yumei, hearing Lin Yun’s words, was so startled that she tugged on her sleeve and whispered, “Er Ya, are you crazy? You can’t just go around asking about that kind of stuff!”

Lin Yun ignored her and calmly kept her eyes on the boss.

He hesitated for a moment, but seeing Lin Yun’s expression remain steady, he suddenly said, “Little lady, you came to the right person.”

Then he led the three siblings inside the procurement station. The boss went behind the counter and pulled out a thick stack of ration coupons, fanning them out on the table. Lin Yun was stunned—after all, she had only asked on a whim. She figured anyone who could run a semi-private shop like this must have some connections, so it was worth asking.

And anyway, the laws against illegal trading had already been relaxed—so she wasn’t too worried.

She hadn’t expected to stumble upon an actual black market dealer.

Seeing her shocked expression, the boss chuckled heartily. “I’ve been here for a long time. Back then, I didn’t deal in this kind of stuff,” he said, motioning toward the centipedes and wild animals.

He didn’t explain exactly what he used to do, and Lin Yun didn’t ask further—she wasn’t particularly interested.

“Back then, everyone was poor. A lot of people had coupons but no money, and that’s how I slowly got started.” Lin Yun understood that well. Her own family hadn’t had any coupons either—when Zhao Lanxiu finally got some, she exchanged them for food right away. Otherwise, they’d have starved.

If it weren’t for Lin Yun, their home wouldn’t have seen anything new at all.

“These here still have some time left. These others are close to expiring, so they’re cheaper.” The boss took out another smaller stack of coupons.

Lin Yun saw that they had expiration dates—some needed to be used by the end of the month, some by the end of the quarter—otherwise they’d be worthless.

Naturally, she chose the cheaper, almost-expired ones. After all, it seemed ration coupons would be phased out starting next year. “I’ll take a look at these,” she said, examining them carefully.

In the end, Lin Yun bought six feet of cloth coupons, one soap coupon, one scented soap coupon, one oil coupon, and one meat coupon. She also saw coupons for batteries and household items, so she bought a few of those as well—just in case. She didn’t know exactly what household items they’d need, but it felt necessary.

Seeing Lin Yun spend so freely, Lin Yumei initially wanted to scold her—tell her that even if you had money, you shouldn’t spend it like that. If everyone splurged like her, who would have anything left to save? But as she watched Lin Yun keep buying more and more types of coupons, she became a little numb to it all.

When she handed over the money, the boss sighed with admiration. “Little sister, you’re someone destined for big things. I’ve seen all kinds of people come through here, and you’ve made the boldest purchase of them all. Impressive!”

Lin Yun didn’t take his flattery to heart. Once she felt she had enough coupons, she took Lin Yonggang and Lin Yumei to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Maybe because the holiday had passed, the place was a lot less crowded than before—at least it wasn’t as jam-packed as Lin Yun had imagined.

Once inside, they were all dazzled by the wide variety of goods on display behind the counter. Lin Yonggang and Lin Yumei couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

While buying the coupons earlier, Lin Yun had felt a long-lost thrill—like going on a shopping spree in the modern world. And now, seeing so many items laid out in front of her, she was getting a little excited too.

Behind the counter sat a woman who looked up when she heard their voices. She saw them gazing around curiously but said nothing.