Jiang Wanting still didn’t know the market price for lingzhi, so before Cui Ni took her to the cafeteria, the two of them first went to the agricultural market.

The market was quite small. In Jiang Wanting’s memory, she had shopped at agricultural markets in Pingcheng before, and those were several times larger than this one. But that didn’t stop her from finding what she was looking for.

Jiang Wanting quickly spotted a stall selling lingzhi—a tiny stand with three pieces of lingzhi on display. The boss sat behind it, watching the people passing by.

“Boss, how much for this piece of lingzhi?” Jiang Wanting stepped forward and asked.

The boss glanced at the two girls and ignored them as if he hadn’t heard.

“Boss,” Jiang Wanting called again, “how much for the lingzhi?”

The boss waved his hand impatiently. “Go away, go beg somewhere else. Don’t cause trouble here.”

“We’re sincerely asking for the price, not causing trouble,” Jiang Wanting said earnestly.

The boss looked them up and down. One was a girl in her teens, and the other didn’t look much older—thin, scrawny, with patched-up clothes. Apart from being somewhat pretty, they didn’t look like they had money to buy anything. “Do you even have money to ask?” the boss said, still unfriendly.

Jiang Wanting glanced down at her outfit. She couldn’t blame the boss—standing next to Cui Ni, the two of them looked like a pair of little beggars. Her clothes were full of patches, and Cui Ni’s had been torn in several places during their earlier struggle. They looked downright pitiful.

“Boss, I actually want to sell lingzhi. Do you buy it?” Jiang Wanting changed her approach.

This time, the boss finally looked at them properly. “Show me first. If the quality’s bad, I won’t take it even for free.”

Jiang Wanting pulled out two pieces from the tattered sack. The boss frowned as he looked at them. “You just carried them in this? They’re all broken—how can you sell them like this?”

“My family’s poor. We really don’t have anything better to carry them in. But I promise these were freshly picked from the mountains this morning,” Jiang Wanting explained eagerly. “I fell on the way here and broke them. If you buy them, we’ll come again in the next couple of days with unbroken ones.”

The boss twisted his brows as he inspected the pieces. “How much do you want for them?”

As soon as Jiang Wanting heard this, she knew the boss was planning to scam them. “How much are you offering? If the price is fair, I’ll sell them to you right away. If not, I’ll go ask at the herbal medicine shop. My family’s poor—we’re counting on this to eat.”

The boss scoffed. “Your lingzhi isn’t intact, the caps are thin and small, and the color isn’t great. At most, I’ll give you one-fifty for these pieces.”

“How much would intact ones sell for?”

“For this quality, no more than three yuan if they’re whole,” the boss said.

Jiang Wanting pointed at one of the pieces on the boss’s stall. “So you’re saying this one sells for three yuan?”

The boss paused, then immediately denied it. “Yours can’t compare to mine!”

“Why not?” Jiang Wanting pieced her broken chunks together and held them next to the boss’s. “Look, the color is the same—brown. The thickness is about the same, around one centimeter. The width is identical, half a handspan long. You just said intact ones sell for three yuan. Isn’t yours intact?”

The boss scowled. “Fine, fine.” He dug into his pocket for money. “Here’s one-fifty. Now hurry up and leave. Bring me good ones tomorrow, and I’ll pay you a high price.”

As the boss took out money, Jiang Wanting also reached into her pocket.

“I’ll buy these two,” she said, counting out six yuan and handing it to the boss.

Both of them held out money to each other, and both froze.

“Wait—are you buying or selling?” the boss snapped. “Are you trying to trick me out of my prices? If you’re not serious, get lost! Keep messing around, and I’ll beat you!”

“Uncle, don’t be angry,” Jiang Wanting said meekly, her innocent look making it hard for the boss to actually hit her. “I really do want to sell.” She took the boss’s one-fifty and dumped all the remaining broken bits from her sack onto his stall.

Then, she placed her six yuan in front of the boss, took the two pieces of lingzhi from his stall, and put them into her bag. “Uncle, I’m also serious about buying. I’m paying you the high price you mentioned, and I’m giving you all those small pieces for free. When I find good-quality ones later, I’ll come sell them to you.”

After obediently finishing the exchange, Jiang Wanting quickly pulled Cui Ni away.

Once they were out of the market, Jiang Wanting let out a long breath. She handed the one-fifty to Cui Ni. “Here, this is the money from selling your lingzhi.”

Cui Ni happily counted the money. “So much! This is way more than before—I usually only get fifty cents. With this much, I can give my dad fifty cents today, tomorrow, and the day after. That way, he won’t hit me for three days in a row!”

“If you don’t bring money home, he hits you?”

“Yeah. My dad says I either bring money or food back, or else I’m in trouble.” Cui Ni’s eyes sparkled. “I really hope I can sell for this much every time from now on.”

“How about this: you keep picking the lingzhi, and I’ll handle selling it. We’ll split the money fifty-fifty. Sound good?” Jiang Wanting suggested.

Cui Ni nodded vigorously. “Yes! If we make money like this, I won’t have to go to the factory cafeteria anymore! Since we’ve already sold today, we don’t even need to go there now.”

Jiang Wanting suddenly realized—this little fool Cui Ni had been selling the lingzhi to the cafeteria all along. No wonder she wasn’t getting a good price.

But if they weren’t going to the cafeteria, where else could they sell these two pieces for a better deal?

As Jiang Wanting left, the lingzhi boss in the agricultural market became the target of ridicule from the neighboring vendors.

“Hey, Song Zhiguo, how does it feel to get scammed by two kids at your age? Your wife’s gonna beat you to death when she finds out.”

“Hahaha, is this guy stupid or what? Selling two pieces of lingzhi for six yuan—normally he’d sell just one for fifteen or sixteen!”

“And now he spent one-fifty to buy a bunch of broken scraps.”

“Hahaha, I’m gonna start buying from you like this too!”

Song Zhiguo stared blankly for a long moment, looking utterly dejected. He packed up the remaining piece of lingzhi on his stall, along with the newly acquired broken scraps, into a box and headed to the mining factory’s cafeteria.

The cafeteria manager, Wu Yong, was Song Zhiguo’s brother-in-law.

When Wu Yong saw Song Zhiguo, he spoke with an air of superiority, “You’re here. Take a seat first—I need to go arrange some work.”

“Alright,” Song Zhiguo sat at his table and waited.

About half an hour later, Wu Yong returned. “Brother Zhiguo, I didn’t get any lingzhi today. I’ll have to push them harder.”

“No rush. I actually came to talk to you about Xiaoping’s job.”

“Oh, the cafeteria job? Still needs some waiting. Right now, it’s just pending approval from the labor department. If nothing goes wrong, it’s a sure thing. But Brother Zhiguo, you’ll need to cough up some more money to grease the wheels.” Wu Yong rubbed his fingers together. “Another fifty yuan should just about do it. It’ll definitely go through!” He looked at Song Zhiguo as if he could already see the money in his hands.

“Forget it. Don’t bother anymore,” Song Zhiguo said dejectedly. “Xiaoping’s gone. There’s no point now.”

“Gone?” Wu Yong exclaimed, then immediately glanced outside, shut the door, and lowered his voice. “What do you mean, gone? Gone as in…?”

“A couple of days ago, Xiaoping went with me to pick lingzhi… She fell…” Song Zhiguo couldn’t continue, covering his eyes as sobs wracked his body.

“This… this is… I’m sorry for your loss, Brother Zhiguo. But the job was halfway processed. If we suddenly drop it now, the money we already spent won’t be refunded,” Wu Yong stammered.

“Let it go. I don’t want it back. I just came to tell you not to waste any more effort on it.” With that, Song Zhiguo turned to leave.

Wu Yong stopped him. “Will you still be selling lingzhi after this?”

Song Zhiguo thought for a moment. “I’ll sell what I have left, then stop.”

As he watched Song Zhiguo’s retreating figure, Wu Yong breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

While Song Zhiguo remained drowned in grief over losing his daughter, Wu Yong had already placed three steamed buns on his desk, waiting for someone. He kept glancing out the window, but the small figure he expected never appeared.

After some discussion, Jiang Wanting and Cui Ni decided to make a trip to the provincial capital, Jincheng.

She spent fifty cents on two long-distance bus tickets, and after a two-hour ride, they arrived at the Jincheng Bus Station at half past ten in the morning.

The bustling city dazzled Cui Ni. “So this is a big city… it’s so beautiful!”

Outside the bus station, people streamed past—some carrying large bags, others with children on their backs. Their clothes were neat and tidy, with few signs of wear or patches.

Bicycles weaved through the streets, and cars sped down the roads.

Cui Ni clutched Jiang Wanting’s sleeve tightly, feeling a surge of fear. She looked up at Jiang Wanting. Though her clothes were just as out of place here, she carried herself with calm confidence.

“Sister, where are we going?” Cui Ni asked nervously, a fleeting worry crossing her mind that Jiang Wanting might even sell her here.

This place was far from unfamiliar to Jiang Wanting. In her past life, though she hadn’t lived in Jincheng, her mother’s influence had instilled in her high standards for quality and taste, so she had often shopped in Jincheng and Beijing.

In this life, she had arrived in Jincheng a full ten years earlier than before, but the city hadn’t changed much. So she answered easily, “To Wuyi Square.”

Cui Ni thought they’d have to walk much farther, but just ten minutes east of the bus station, they reached Jiang Wanting’s destination—the Jinyang Restaurant, right next to Wuyi Square.

Jiang Wanting walked straight in and asked a waitress, “Comrade, hello. I’m looking for your procurement officer in the logistics department. Could you pass the message along?”

The restaurant had just opened for the day, and the staff were busy with their tasks. The waitress paused and sized up the girl in front of her—and the shy little girl hiding behind her. “Who are you looking for?” The girl spoke politely and confidently, though her clothes were shabby. Probably someone’s relative.

“Anyone will do.”

The waitress’s expression cooled. “Then I can’t help you.” She went back to her work.

Jiang Wanting took two steps forward. “Comrade, I have fresh lingzhi. I wanted to ask if your logistics department would buy it.”

The waitress refused firmly. “We only procure directly from state-run markets and food companies. We don’t buy from private sellers. You’d better try somewhere else. Don’t block the entrance and disrupt our business.”

Jiang Wanting and Cui Ni were shooed out. Dejected, they sat on the steps outside. Jiang Wanting smacked her forehead twice.

She shouldn’t have used the tone and attitude from her past life to deal with people now. How could she have forgotten? The habits of her past life only suited the thirty-year-old Jiang Wanting—not this eighteen-year-old girl fresh out of the countryside, still inexperienced in the ways of the world.