“Looking to buy a job, little girl?” Tan Kai flicked the ash off his cigarette and said, “The jobs I have don’t come cheap.”

Song Suisui nodded. “I know. Since I came to you, I’m naturally prepared.”

“You can call me Old Tan. Since you’re being so straightforward, I won’t beat around the bush either.” 

With that, Old Tan began introducing the jobs he had available.  

He didn’t have many—just two. One was a temporary position at a state-run restaurant, and the other was a full-time role as a procurement officer at Xinghai City’s Machinery Factory.  

The temporary job was cheaper, costing only 500 yuan, while the full-time procurement position was priced at 880 yuan.  

After listening, Song Suisui didn’t hesitate and chose the full-time job.  

Her choice surprised both Old Tan and the young man beside him.  

After all, 880 yuan was an exorbitant amount in this era.  

“Can you really come up with that much money?”  

Old Tan was skeptical. Despite Song Suisui’s makeup, her clothes were still the same old ones she always wore.  

She didn’t look like someone who could afford 880 yuan.  

But having worked in the black market for so long, Old Tan knew better than to judge by appearances. Maybe this girl really did have the money!  

So he only asked out of habit.  

“I can’t…” Song Suisui watched their stunned expressions and chuckled. “I can’t pay in cash, but I can sell you something and then use the cash to buy the job.”

Hearing this, Old Tan and the young man beside him couldn’t help but raise their eyebrows.  

“You’re that confident in your goods?”  

Song Suisui took a box out of her bag, opened it, and handed it to them. “Whether I’m confident or not, you’ll know once you see what I have!”  

By then, Old Tan wasn’t even listening to her words—he was too busy staring at the pair of watches in Song Suisui’s hands.  

The watches she brought out were no cheap items. They were high-end imported goods from the Friendship Store, a brand Old Tan recognized—expensive and highly sought after.  

In big cities, they could definitely fetch a good price.  

After examining them, he looked up and said, “Just two watches? That’s not enough.”  

“Who said there are only two? I have five pairs of these watches in total.” 

The moment he heard she had more, Old Tan’s eyes lit up. These watches were excellent—whether resold, used as gifts, or worn personally, they’d be a mark of prestige.

Half a month later, he was planning to go to Shanghai, where there were plenty of wealthy people—demand would definitely outstrip supply. 

But as for the price? He was certainly going to negotiate. What if he could drive it down?  

Seeing that he was tempted, Song Suisui wasn’t in a rush to name her price. Right now, he was the eager one, not her. So she decided to let him make the first offer before assessing.  

“180 for the men’s watch, 130 for the women’s—how about that?” Old Tan tested the waters.  

Song Suisui knew there was still room for negotiation, but considering her future plans, she said, “Since this is my first time doing business with you, Boss Tan, how about this—I’ll sell each pair of watches to you for 500 yuan.”

Five hundred per pair meant five pairs would total 2,500 yuan. Old Tan thought that was too expensive—there wouldn’t be much profit.  

After some “fierce haggling,” they finally settled on 350 yuan per pair.

Five pairs came to 1,750 yuan. After deducting the cost of the job, she still had 870 yuan left.  

Song Suisui did the math and sighed inwardly. As people from this era say—if you’ve got the guts, business is the fastest way to make money.  

After pocketing her 870 yuan, she handed the remaining four pairs of watches to Old Tan.  

“How do we handle the job transfer?”  

“You free this afternoon, girl? If so, I’ll contact the seller and arrange for you to complete the handover.”

“I’m free. But are you sure there won’t be any issues with the job afterward?”

Old Tan chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. This job actually belonged to a young girl who’s selling it because her stepmother signed her up for rural labor behind her back. If she didn’t sell it, her stepbrother would’ve taken it for free…”

As Song Suisui listened to the backstory, she couldn’t help but feel like the girl selling the job had the makings of a protagonist from a period novel.  

But what did that have to do with her? As long as she got the job, that was all that mattered.  

Going to the countryside? Not a chance. 

“Though after she leaves, you might have to deal with some harassment from her stepmother for a while.”  

Tan Kai gave her a heads-up.  

“Pfft—is that all? I’m not scared of that.”  

“Good. So, do you want to do it this afternoon or pick another day?” 

“No time like the present—let’s do it today!”  

“Alright, I’ll have someone notify them. Be at the machinery factory gate around 2 PM.”  

Song Suisui nodded, then grinned and asked, “Hey, Boss Tan… do you buy pork?”

“Of course, I buy anything. But how much pork do you have? And is it safe? I won’t take sick pigs!”

Hearing Tan Kai’s words, Song Suisui felt that this man at least had some principles.  

“Don’t worry, the pork I have is freshly slaughtered—guaranteed fresh. It’s just that the quantity is a bit large, and I’m afraid you might not be able to handle it.”  

“Oh ho~ You’ve got quite the bold tone, little girl! Tell me, how much pork are we talking about?”  

“Hehe~ Ten pigs in total, each around three hundred jin.”  

“You’re serious?” Tan Kai was genuinely surprised.  

“Of course.” Song Suisui answered firmly.  

After all, those ten pigs had all come from the blind boxes she opened this morning.  

Today’s blind box had given her a makeup case, five pairs of watches, and ten pigs.  

To be honest, she wasn’t quite used to her Slacker System suddenly being so generous.  

Song Suisui and Tan Kai agreed on a price of three mao per jin for the ten pigs, with delivery set for that night at a rundown house in the eastern part of the city.  

At three mao per jin, one pig weighing three hundred jin would cost ninety yuan, so ten pigs would come to nine hundred yuan.  

Adding that to the eight hundred seventy yuan she had just earned, she now had one thousand seven hundred seventy yuan in cash.  

And that wasn’t even counting her other savings. The thought of having so much money gave her an even greater sense of security.  

No matter the era, you can lack anything except money.  

With the deal settled, Song Suisui left.  

After all, Boss Tan and his friend were busy filling the room with smoke, and she had no intention of staying to inhale secondhand fumes.  

Secondhand smoke is even more harmful than firsthand smoke.

Time to scram~  

Getting from the Song family’s place to the machinery factory required taking five bus stops, so it was actually quite a distance.  

But to avoid worrying her family, she hurried back home for lunch.  

When she got close to home, she ducked into an empty alley and took out the five-layered pork belly she had obtained from her first blind box.  

As she approached the house, she noticed the lock on the front gate was already open—someone was home. She pushed the door and went inside.  

After finishing her job handover, Song Niannian had also been looking for work. Unfortunately, jobs in the city were scarce as hen’s teeth—once a position was filled, it was gone.  

In her past life, when she had achieved success, she’d heard rumors that Xinghai City’s black market had people dealing in jobs.  

But back then, she had only caught snippets of conversation. Xinghai City was huge, and she had no idea which black market those people were even referring to.