“Who can’t make money? You can make money too. You sell tea eggs, and aren’t you earning more than those people with formal jobs?”

She must be sourcing these eggs from the countryside.

Eggs at the supply and marketing cooperative cost 5 cents each, but if she buys directly from the countryside, they’d be maybe 1 cent cheaper, so 4 cents per egg.

She sells them for 10 cents each.

Adding in the cost of tea leaves and coal, let’s estimate another 1 cent per egg — she’s still making a net profit of 4 cents per egg.

She cooks 50 eggs in one pot.

In the past, whenever Li Shuping passed by after work, there were barely any left in the pot, meaning she could sell out.

Ten eggs bring in 40 cents; five batches of 10 eggs make 2 yuan.

That’s 2 yuan a day, 60 yuan a month!

That’s even more than Lin Guodong’s salary. It’s really one of those things where you don’t realize it until you calculate — and then it shocks you.

Zhou Cuilan froze for a moment.

Everyone in the alley looked down on her because she sold tea eggs on a street stall.

When they bought from her, they always acted condescending, as if they were helping her out of charity.

This was the first time someone told her that her little business actually made more money than those salaried workers.

The secret she had hidden for so long was just uncovered like that!

Seeing her expression, Li Shuping knew Zhou didn’t want people to know she was making good money — she just wanted to quietly rake it in.

So Old Madam Li smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Li-jie, you really have sharp eyes.” Zhou Cuilan gave her a thumbs-up. “Since you’ve figured it out, I won’t hide it anymore. Yeah, running a street stall can be better than having a formal job. Like here at the alley entrance, nobody chases away stall vendors. There’s a lot of foot traffic when people go to and from work. My eggs basically never go unsold. The only downside is I can’t set up when it rains.”

“Don’t you need any kind of license or permit?” Li Shuping asked.

“We street vendors don’t need those. It’s not like we’re opening private shops. As long as we don’t set up outside big workplaces or on Central Street, no one bothers us.”

As Zhou spoke, she looked at Li and asked, “Li-jie, are you asking all these details because you’re thinking of setting up a stall too?”

Li Shuping nodded. “I have the idea, but don’t worry — I won’t sell tea eggs.”

Zhou laughed. “I knew you weren’t the type to compete with others. Right now, selling food is still profitable. State-run restaurants have bad service and poor flavor, and no one’s really opened private restaurants yet. People get tired of eating at home and want something new.”

“I know the stalls selling fried cakes, pancakes, and spicy soup around here all do pretty well.”

“There are stalls selling spicy soup?” Li Shuping looked surprised.

“Oh, business is great. Thirty cents a bowl — plenty of people buy it.”

Li Shuping’s heart stirred hard.

After wandering outside a while, Li Shuping went home to make lunch.

Old Lady Yuan was still sitting outside the door stitching shoe soles. When she saw Li Shuping, she smiled and greeted her, “Shuping, you’re back.”

“Auntie, is your family cooking lunch now?”

Old Lady Yuan smiled and nodded. “My daughter-in-law’s cooking. Come eat with us at Auntie’s place at noon.”

Chunbao’s mom, who was picking vegetables in front of her house, heard this and silently cursed, “What a phony.”

“No thanks, Auntie. We still have leftover millet porridge from this morning; I’ll just heat that up for lunch. Oh, Auntie, does your family still need to borrow soy sauce?”

Old Lady Yuan froze slightly, then quickly smiled and shook her head. “No need — my daughter-in-law went to the supply and marketing cooperative this morning to get some.”

“Oh, you got some? Then you can return the soy sauce you borrowed from me yesterday. I’ll go get a bowl now.”

The smile on Old Lady Yuan’s face stiffened.

So, this Li Shuping was asking whether they still needed to borrow soy sauce just to set up asking for it back?

Most crucially, she actually dared to ask for the soy sauce back!

Liu Mingxiang, who had been scolded that morning, stood at her kitchen door and mocked, “They say distant relatives aren’t as good as close neighbors, but just lending her a little soy sauce and she’s already demanding it back. Never seen anyone so stingy.”

Li Shuping paused in her steps, frowned, and said to Liu, “You young people don’t understand. There’s an old saying: ‘Borrow and repay, you can borrow again; borrow and don’t repay, and your whole family will perish!’ You think I’m stingy and can’t spare a little soy sauce? I’m doing this for Auntie Yuan’s family’s own good.”

Liu Mingxiang: “?”

“Of course, Auntie Yuan is such a kind old lady, obviously someone who builds up virtue for her grandchildren. She’d never do something like take advantage of others or borrow and not repay.”

“Right, Auntie? Don’t you agree?” Li Shuping smiled at Old Lady Yuan, clearly waiting for her to confirm.

Old Lady Yuan’s cheeks twitched furiously. “Yes, yes.”

What else could she say?

If she denied it, she’d be admitting she was a shameless old woman who borrowed and didn’t repay, bringing misfortune on her descendants.

She had taken advantage of people for decades — and now she stumbled on someone she thought would be the easiest to take advantage of.

This was a huge blow to Old Lady Yuan.

“Pfft…” Chunbao’s mom quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

She had thought Li Shuping looked gentle and easy to bully, but clearly she had misjudged.

This was the first time she had seen someone make the shameless Old Lady Yuan eat a loss — it was just too satisfying.

Qin Ye stood at his kitchen door.

This was also the first time he’d seen Granny Yuan fail to take advantage of someone.

Granny Yuan was a master at this — even he, with his poor family, had been taken advantage of by her.

Qin Ye’s family was the poorest in the whole courtyard.

His father was a drunk who, when drunk, would beat his wife.

When Qin Ye was four, his mother had finally run away after one too many beatings.

Instead of stopping, Qin Ye’s father drank even more — and beat the children.

He had once been an accountant at the cotton mill, but four years ago, due to drunken negligence, he messed up the books and was fired.

Fourteen-year-old Qin Ye also began to make ends meet and support his father, Qin Ye was working odd jobs.

He poked his head out and caught sight of a kind, gentle-looking woman who resembled the girl he had bumped into earlier — especially around the eyes.

She was probably that girl’s mother.

Li Shuping came over carrying a bowl.

Old Lady Yuan gritted her teeth and told her daughter-in-law, Huang Qionghua, to bring out the soy sauce.

Huang Qionghua shot a glare at Li Shuping.

This was the first time their family had ever borrowed something and actually paid it back — and it was also the first time her mother-in-law had slipped up.

Carefully, Huang Qionghua began pouring little by little, terrified she might pour too much.

Li Shuping grabbed her hand and gave it a firm tilt — half the bottle of soy sauce splashed right out.

“That’s too much! Too much!” Huang Qionghua cried.

Li Shuping pulled her hand back. “Not too much, not too much — just right. I just made fresh soy sauce yesterday and only used a tiny bit myself. After you borrowed it, only half the bottle was left. You’re returning half, so it’s exactly right.”

With that, Li Shuping carried off her half-bowl of soy sauce and left.

Huang Qionghua and her mother-in-law watched her back, stomping their feet in frustration.

That was their soy sauce!

After lunch, Li Shuping took a short nap, then grabbed a basket and a sickle and headed out.

Around this time of day, the shepherd’s purse (wild greens) was fresh and tender.

She wanted to go to the riverside on the outskirts to pick some, planning to make shepherd’s purse dumplings for breakfast the next morning.

They lived in an area full of factory buildings, close to the suburbs.

When they wanted to eat some wild greens, it was convenient to just walk out to the outskirts — only about half an hour on foot.

Li Shuping had nothing else to do, so she took her time walking, treating it like a bit of exercise.

About forty minutes later, she reached the riverside.

Across the river lay green hills, vegetable plots, and rice paddies.

“What a beautiful view,” she murmured.

Standing beneath the blue sky and white clouds, surrounded by the green mountains and clear water, Li Shuping felt her mood lift and brighten.

No matter what troublesome people or messy things the Lin family stirred up, right now, she was completely at ease.

There was plenty of fresh shepherd’s purse along the riverbank, and Li Shuping began picking as she walked.

When she reached a patch of reeds, she noticed something red among them — it looked like a red piece of clothing.

Could it be that someone washing clothes by the river had dropped it into the water?

The fabric still looked pretty good.

Li Shuping, being thrifty by nature, figured she might as well fish it out and take it home.

She found a long tree branch and stretched it out, carefully hooking the red cloth in the reeds.

She caught it and gave a hard tug —

But instead of just the fabric, a swollen, bloated hand flipped up from the water.

“Ahhhh—!”

A piercing scream sliced through the sky, startling the waterbirds along the river.