Chapter 13

“Here’s the key to the courtyard. Find a time to move everything out. Once you’re done, just leave the key under that stone by the door,” Jiang Manyue said, handing the courtyard key directly to Zhou Laosan.

After all, the place was empty—there wasn’t a single valuable item inside unless she brought something in herself.

That suited Zhou Laosan perfectly. With so many pairs of leather shoes, it would be too conspicuous to move them during the day. He had been thinking of asking Jiang Manyue for the key anyway, so he could come at night to collect them.

“Oh right, there might be another batch of leather shoes in a few days. Maybe even some canned food. Are you interested?”

Since discovering the supermarket could supply her endlessly, Jiang Manyue figured canned goods—though previously limited in quantity—could now be added to her list of resellable items.

Zhou Laosan’s eyes lit up. “Canned food? You mean meat?”

Jiang Manyue thought for a moment. “Yeah, there’s meat. And fruit cans too. Take your pick.”

“I’ll take both!” Zhou Laosan responded quickly. “Meat and fruit, I want them all. Canned food is hard to come by. If you ever get more, don’t even ask—I’ll buy the lot.”

Just like that, Jiang Manyue secured herself a long-term business partner. Feeling quite satisfied, she casually asked about the going price of canned food.

She hadn’t seen canned goods in the black market before, and she hadn’t really paid attention to the prices in state-run stores either.

The original owner of her body, although fond of snacking, wasn’t particularly crazy about canned food—thought it was expensive and not filling enough. Better to spend the money on a couple more pounds of sweet rice cakes.

So honestly, Jiang Manyue had no idea how much canned food cost in this era, let alone its black market value.

Zhou Laosan, sensing she had a solid supply line and wanting to build trust for future business, didn’t try to cheat her and gave her a fair price.

“Meat cans go for three yuan each, fruit cans two yuan. Anran, how many can you get?”

Jiang Manyue calculated briefly. The prices were reasonable. She figured she could start by bringing out 500 meat cans and 200 fruit cans, then gradually offload more.

“I’ll give it a try. But I probably can’t get too many—canned food’s not easy to come by. At most, a few hundred.”

That was already more than enough. Zhou Laosan, eager to secure the deal, immediately offered a deposit.

“Anran, here’s twenty yuan. Take it as a down payment. You have to make sure I get those cans!”

Afraid someone else might offer a higher price and snatch the goods, Zhou Laosan didn’t hesitate to put down money upfront.

Jiang Manyue accepted it without fuss. She knew she could get the canned goods, so taking the deposit just reassured him.

“Don’t worry, Third Brother. If I get good stuff, you’ll always be first in line. This partnership’s been smooth so far—makes it easier to keep working together, right?”

Her words reassured Zhou Laosan, and the two shared a knowing smile.

“If you still want more leather shoes, I can bring another batch next time. Not too many, maybe a hundred pairs of each.”

Zhou Laosan didn’t mind. Leather shoes always had a good market. As long as he could sell them, he’d take them.

They finalized the next deal the same way—Jiang Manyue would contact Zhou Laosan once the goods were ready, and he’d come to the courtyard to pick them up.

Once the arrangements were made, Jiang Manyue left first. Zhou Laosan shut the door behind her and, still feeling a little paranoid, covered the shoe boxes with another layer of old newspaper to keep them hidden.

Having just made nearly five thousand yuan, Jiang Manyue was in a great mood. She decided to bring something home for her family.

Even though it wasn’t the kind of happiness she could openly share, bringing something back to make everyone happy still felt like a nice gesture.

After some thought, she decided to take a big slab of pork from the supermarket for her parents’ house and a smaller piece for the Lu family.

On her way from the county back to the production team, she ducked into a secluded spot to take out the meat.

Carrying the hefty cut, she headed to her family’s home—just in time to see her mother, Miao Xianghua, coming in from the vegetable plot.

“Mom! Look what I brought you!”

Hearing her daughter’s voice, Miao Xianghua looked up—and saw the massive slab of pork. Her jaw nearly dropped.

“Heavens, where’d you get such a big piece of meat?”

It was a huge slab, with a generous two-finger-thick layer of fat. Miao Xianghua couldn’t believe her eyes.

“The state-run butcher had extra pork today—they slaughtered one more pig than usual. Prices were lower than normal too. I happened to have a bunch of meat ration coupons, so I used them all and bought this to give you guys a proper meal.”

As she spoke, Jiang Manyue stuffed the pork into her mother’s hands, wrinkling her nose slightly at the grease on her own fingers.

“Ay, you really know how to spend money. Just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean you should buy so much! How long do you think it’ll take us to finish this? And the weather’s getting warmer—we can’t even smoke it properly!”

Miao Xianghua grumbled a bit, but she was secretly delighted. Just looking at that much meat made her eyes crinkle with joy.

“If we can’t smoke it, then let’s just eat it all. Our family has plenty of mouths to feed—this will make a great meal.”

Jiang Manyue had timed it perfectly. This season wasn’t ideal for smoking meat, and they didn’t have enough salt to preserve it either. So, Miao Xianghua really had no choice but to cook it all.

“You’re too generous. If we could’ve smoked this meat, we’d have something good for the harvest season—it’d be great for replenishing energy!”

Miao Xianghua was still a little distressed. What a shame they couldn’t save it for later.

“Come on, Mom. Don’t worry about it. When harvest time comes, I’ll figure out a way to get more meat for the family. Just go ahead and cook this batch.”

Hearing her daughter’s concern for the family warmed Miao Xianghua’s heart. The meat didn’t feel so wasteful anymore.

“Alright, we’ll feast on meat today! You go rest inside, Manyue. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

She shooed her daughter toward the house and grabbed the meat to head into the kitchen.

“I won’t eat here, Mom. I brought some meat for my in-laws too—not a lot, just enough for four people. I’ll go back and have my share with them. That way, it saves a portion here too.”

Miao Xianghua immediately shook her head. “No way! You brought meat for us, and you don’t even get a bite? How is that fair?”

After some back-and-forth persuasion, Jiang Manyue finally convinced her mother to let her go. But in her heart, Miao Xianghua still felt her daughter had gotten the short end of the stick—and the Lu family had lucked out.

Jiang Manyue coaxed her mother back into the kitchen, then returned to the Lu household. Once she reached a quiet corner where no one could see, she pulled out the smaller piece of meat and walked right in, bold and casual.

No one was home. Li Guifen had probably gone out to work. Jiang Manyue fetched some water to clean the meat and then went straight to cooking it.