Chapter 38: Large-Scale Shopping

Pulling a cart made it difficult to move around, so the group found a place to set down their grain and waited for others to come and inquire about trading.

A thought struck Liu Yinyin, and she turned to Jiang Cuihua. “Mom, can you help me watch over the grain and handle the trades? Anything is fine. I want to check the market to see if there’s any cotton or coarse cloth available.”

She wanted to make another cotton quilt and two new cotton-padded jackets.

Last time, Gu Cheng had mentioned trading with an aunt in the village for cotton, but there had been no news about it yet.

But that was fine. As she always said, in these times of scarcity, stockpiling extra cotton was always a good idea.

Jiang Cuihua was worried about her. “I’ll go with you.”

Liu Yinyin quickly refused. “There’s so much grain—how could Third Brother handle it all by himself? Don’t worry, I won’t go far. I’ll be back soon.”

Her real intention was to secretly swap out some of the grain.

Jiang Cuihua was still uneasy about leaving the grain unattended. After a brief hesitation, she relented and reminded her, “Alright then, but be careful—there are a lot of people around.”

“I got it,” Liu Yinyin responded loudly.

She avoided the crowded areas and strolled leisurely through the market.

Before long, she spotted her target—two men in their thirties who looked like brothers.

Both had troubled expressions, as if they were facing some difficulty.

They had brought a cart full of grain, though it was unclear what they intended to trade for.

Liu Yinyin walked over and got straight to the point. “Big brother, how are you planning to trade this grain?”

The older of the two glanced at her. Seeing her fair skin and well-dressed appearance, he thought she looked like a city girl.

Lowering his voice, he replied, “We need money.”

In other words, they wanted to sell their grain for cash.

A flash of surprise crossed Liu Yinyin’s eyes—they were directly selling grain?

Noticing her change in expression, the man quickly explained, “Our mother is sick, and we urgently need money for her treatment and medicine, so…”

If they weren’t truly desperate, they wouldn’t be selling their grain.

Liu Yinyin suddenly understood. No wonder—they were trying to raise money for their mother’s medical expenses.

“How much are you selling it for?” she asked.

“Fine grains are 0.33 yuan per jin, and coarse grains are 0.12 yuan per jin.”

This was more expensive than the supply and marketing cooperative, but buying grain there required ration coupons, so the higher price made sense.

The brothers had brought 100 jin of rice, 100 jin of wheat, and 200 jin of corn cobs to sell.

Liu Yinyin did a quick calculation. If she bought everything, it would cost exactly 90 yuan.

That was a significant amount of money, but she still wanted to make the purchase.

So she told them, “I’ll buy it, but you’ll have to help me deliver it to my family.”

Even if she weren’t pregnant, there was no way she could carry so much grain alone.

The man was delighted and quickly asked, “Miss, how much do you want? I’ll have my brother deliver it for you.”

Clearing her throat, Liu Yinyin said, “I’ll take all of it.”

“What?” The man was shocked. “That’s a lot of grain—it won’t be cheap.”

He was worried that she might not have enough money. After all, 90 yuan was no small amount.

Liu Yinyin casually replied, “I know. But… I just recently split from my family, and we don’t have enough food. No matter how expensive it is, I have to buy it—we can’t go hungry.”

Since she was a pregnant woman, the brothers weren’t worried about being deceived. They immediately agreed to the deal.

After all, they needed to sell the grain anyway, so it didn’t matter who they sold it to.

With that, the brothers tidied up their cart and followed Liu Yinyin.

When Jiang Cuihua saw how much grain Liu Yinyin had bought, she was startled. She nudged her meaningfully, trying to get her attention.

But Liu Yinyin pretended not to notice and quickly stuffed nine large-denomination banknotes into the man’s pocket.

The brothers counted the money and, confirming the amount was correct, hurriedly left.

Jiang Cuihua, puzzled, asked, “Why did you buy so much grain?”

Liu Yinyin smiled. “Well, we bought it to eat, of course! Gu Cheng has a big appetite. The little bit of grain we got from the village won’t be enough.”

Jiang Cuihua shot her a glare. “If you didn’t have enough, you should have told me. We have grain at home. Do you know how much this must have cost?”

Liu Yinyin couldn’t possibly take more grain from the Liu family. “Mom, don’t worry. Gu Cheng gives me all his money—it’s enough.”

“…Still, you shouldn’t waste money.” Hearing this, Jiang Cuihua’s expression softened significantly.

“How is buying grain wasting money?” Liu Yinyin countered.

Jiang Cuihua waved a hand dismissively. “Fine, I can’t win against you. But listen—now that you and Gu Cheng are married, you should discuss things with him before making big decisions. Don’t do everything on your own.”

Liu Yinyin agreed with the sentiment, but… there were some things she simply couldn’t tell Gu Cheng directly.

By the time they finished, Liu Yinyin had bought 400 jin of grain, and all the grain she had brought with her had been exchanged for other supplies.

6 jin of rice and 4 jin of premium flour were traded for a clay stove and an earthenware pot. 36 jin of corn grits were exchanged for 3 jin of cotton and a piece of coarse cloth.

She traded 2 jin of premium flour and 30 jin of dried sweet potatoes with an old uncle in exchange for three large grain storage jars, each with a capacity of about 50 jin.

Seeing that she had traded so much, the old uncle generously gave her two small pickle jars as a bonus.

There were too many items—one cart wasn’t enough to carry everything.

So, Liu Yinyin spent 20 cents to hire the uncle, who had finished selling his jars, to help transport everything home.

Since all the items she traded for were essential household supplies, Jiang Cuihua, though feeling a pinch in her heart, couldn’t find anything to criticize.

After all, only her son-in-law’s family could afford such trades. If any other village woman had done this, she would have surely been called wasteful.

As they were about to head home, Liu Yinyin stopped by the market once more and bought a jar of rapeseed oil and 2 jin of homemade grain liquor from a local villager.

By then, all the grain Jiang Cuihua had brought had been traded away. The group returned home with a full load.

Once they arrived, they piled all the newly acquired goods in the yard, waiting for Gu Cheng to return and organize them.

After everyone left, Liu Yinyin shut the gate. With a single thought, she secretly purchased an additional 100 jin of rice, 100 jin of wheat, and 300 jin of corn cobs from the system.

The system was quite convenient, offering goods from this era—otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.

With enough grain stocked up, Liu Yinyin smuggled out 2 jin of cotton, a piece of coarse cloth, and 2 jin of rapeseed oil from the system as well.

Gu Cheng wasn’t the type to engage in idle chatter, so he likely wouldn’t discuss how much grain she had traded at the market with the Liu family.

Of course, even if he found out, Liu Yinyin could easily make up an excuse—she could say she wanted to avoid Jiang Cuihua nagging, so she spent some money to have the grain delivered home.

After all, selling grain to raise money for a sick mother’s treatment was the perfect cover story.

As she thought about it, Liu Yinyin felt both relieved and a little anxious.

That afternoon, when Gu Cheng returned from work, he brought home a watermelon.

Pushing his bicycle into the yard, he was immediately taken aback.

“Whoa…” Gu Cheng exclaimed in surprise, “You traded for this much grain?”

He knew that Liu Yinyin was going to the market to trade today, but he hadn’t expected her to bring back so many supplies.