As the sky brightened, the free market was already bustling with people.

Farmers from nearby villages brought vegetables they couldn’t finish at home, eggs they were reluctant to eat, and wild goods they gathered from the mountains to sell at the free market.

Locals also hurried over early, hoping to buy some cheap produce to take home.

Li Shuping was pushing her tricycle through the market — she knew this place well.

To save a few cents on vegetables, she often got up early when the market opened, walking more than ten minutes west to shop here.

“Beef! Beef! Fresh beef, slaughtered just after midnight!”

Hearing the vendor’s cries, Li Shuping was immediately intrigued.

Pork was already rare at the free market, let alone beef.

She quickly followed the voice and saw a crowd gathered around a cart selling beef.

“How much is the beef?” she asked.

“Ninety cents per jin (about 500g), no meat ration tickets needed, absolutely fresh! This was one of our brigade’s oxen, but it fell from the mountain and broke two legs. The vet said it couldn’t be saved, so we slaughtered it to sell and raise money for a new ox. It’s all good meat.”

As for the offal, bones, and trimmings, they had already been divided up among the village families.

“Ninety cents? That’s too expensive! Pork at the supply and marketing cooperative is only seventy cents per jin!”

“Yeah, it’s too pricey — lower it a bit!”

People around started grumbling.

As good as the beef was — and ticket-free! — it was still a luxury. They wanted some, but the price wasn’t very appealing.

The middle-aged man selling the meat, likely the brigade leader, shook his head firmly. “Can’t lower it. If we do, the brigade won’t have enough to buy a new ox. You all know pork is seventy cents per jin, but this isn’t pork — it’s beef, and we’re not asking for tickets.”

Seeing the seller refuse to budge, many of those gathered started to leave.

Some still tried to bargain.

“We come to the free market for bargains. You’re selling beef for more than the cooperative price — who’s going to buy it? If you lower the price a bit, we’d each buy a jin or two.”

“Yeah! Look, you haven’t sold a single jin yet. If you keep it this expensive, you’ll have to haul it all back. Isn’t that just a hassle?”

While others haggled, Li Shuping was inspecting the beef on the cart — poking here, pressing there, nodding with satisfaction.

Yes, this was good, fresh beef.

When the supply co-op sold beef, it was eighty cents per jin, but the quality wasn’t nearly this good, and this didn’t even require tickets. At ninety cents a jin, it was worth it.

“I’ll take ten jin of tenderloin, please,” she said.

The bargaining voices fell silent. Both the seller and the would-be buyers stared at her in shock.

“Y-you… cough cough… how much did you say you want?” The brigade leader from the Honglian team nearly choked on his own spit.

Li Shuping blinked.

She thought she’d been clear.

“Ten jin of tenderloin.”

“Alright! I’ll have someone weigh it for you right away. Dunzi, hurry up and weigh ten jin of tenderloin for this auntie!” The brigade leader beamed, calling to the young man helping him.

The women who had been trying to bargain were not happy.

Just when they were about to bring the price down, here came this “Cheng Yaojin” (an interrupter) ruining their efforts!

She’d agreed to buy at ninety cents a jin — and ten jin at that.

No way was the seller going to lower prices for them now.

“Can you even finish ten jin of meat?” someone muttered sarcastically.

Looking at her plain clothes, she didn’t seem like someone wealthy. Buying nine yuan’s worth of beef in one go — maybe she was a servant for some big leader’s family?

Li Shuping smiled sweetly and shot back, “Don’t worry. If I can’t finish it, I won’t trouble you to help me.”

“…!” The other woman was left speechless.

“Auntie, look! Ten jin — the scale is perfectly balanced.” The young helper held up the scale for her to see.

“Good, good, good,” Li Shuping said happily, handing over nine yuan.

“Auntie, I’ll load it onto your cart.” The young man placed the beef in her tricycle’s basket.

“Alright, thank you,” Li Shuping said with a smile and pushed her cart away.

The Honglian brigade leader huffed, “I’m selling this beef for ninety cents a jin. Buy if you want, don’t if you don’t — but stop haggling with me!”

Their endless chatter was giving him a headache.

The others: “…”

“Fine, fine, ninety cents it is. I’ll take half a jin.”

“I want half a jin too…”

Li Shuping planned to make two types of dumplings today: chive and egg, and celery and beef.

She bought seven jin of celery, thirty eggs, six jin of chives, plus ginger, garlic, and scallions.

With everything ready, she rode her tricycle out of the market. Passing by a small stall selling bamboo woven goods, she hit the brakes.

“Miss, take a look! I made these myself — they’re durable and not expensive,” an old man with dark skin called out to her.

Li Shuping got off her bike and picked up a round bamboo sieve to inspect it.

It was made of smooth green bamboo skin, neatly woven without splinters.

She stacked two together to check.

“Your sieves are well made! When you stack two, the bottoms don’t sink in.”

These round sieves had flat bottoms with raised edges about two finger joints high.

Li Shuping thought they’d be perfect for holding wrapped dumplings.

At home, she only had one bamboo tray for dumplings — not nearly enough.

She usually had to wrap them as she cooked, and when hosting many people, it became chaotic.

With several of these flat-bottomed sieves, she could pre-wrap a lot of dumplings.

Stacking them wouldn’t crush the dumplings, and they wouldn’t take up much space.

The old man smiled. “My father taught me this, so that’s how I make them. Some people don’t like it, but I think it’s fine.”

“How much for one?” she asked.

“If you like it, just two mao (twenty cents) each.”

“Alright, I’ll take all five.”

She paid one yuan for five sieves, and the old man cheerfully helped load them onto her cart.

Passing by the supply co-op, Li Shuping went in to buy a bag of premium flour, then stopped at the state-run breakfast shop to get some fried dough sticks.

“Xiaoyu, come out and help Mom carry the things!”

Lin Xiaoyu was stirring millet porridge and wondering when her mom would return when she suddenly heard her mother’s call.

“Coming!” She put down the spoon and ran outside.

Qin Ye also came out.

Lin Xiaoyu froze when she saw him, but Qin Ye silently hoisted the bag of flour onto his shoulder and carried it into the yard.

“Thank you, Xiao Ye,” Li Shuping said.

Lin Xiaoyu looked at Qin Ye’s back, then at her mom.

When did Mom get so familiar with Qin Ye, even calling him “Xiao Ye”?

“Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and move the rest!” her mom urged.

“Oh… okay…”

It was breakfast time, and several people in the yard were standing at their doors eating porridge.

Seeing Qin Ye helping Li Shuping carry things, they all looked puzzled.

“That Qin Ye — usually you can’t even get him to help move a table. How come he’s suddenly helping the lady in Room Five?” Huang Qionghua frowned.

Aunt Yuan shook her head.

She didn’t understand either — Li Shuping hadn’t been here long, so how had she managed to tame the thorny Qin Ye?

They hadn’t even seen them interact before.

Qin Ye was the notorious troublemaker of Building 23.

If you crossed him, he didn’t care if you were an elder — he’d pay you back double.

Two years ago, Aunt Yuan had borrowed two bowls of rice from his family, given by young Qin.

The next day, Qin Ye came demanding repayment.

When she tried to shrug it off, Qin Ye flipped their dining table — food and all — right onto the floor.

Her son fought with him but couldn’t beat the sixteen-year-old, who pinned him to the ground and thrashed him.

Eventually, the neighborhood committee had to mediate, both families apologized, and the two bowls of rice were returned.

Beyond his own family, Qin Ye had fought with several men in the compound.

His fighting style was pure ferocity — even if he couldn’t win, he’d make sure to bite off a piece of you.

So nowadays, no one dared provoke him.

Even the most mischievous kids avoided him when they saw him coming.