Chapter 13: If a person does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth

Zhao Xiu’e didn’t feel much better despite how badly her two sons needed her help. “Even if we forced that wretched girl to go to the countryside instead of you two, we can’t find her now anyway.” In her heart, Zhao Xiu’e had cursed Song Nanting a thousand times over.

Just then, a neighbor shouted, “You two really are too biased as parents. So your sons are people but your daughter isn’t? Nanting has been nothing but filial to you two, and this is how you repay her?”

“Exactly. These two must have hearts as black as coal.”

Zhao Xiu’e, already feeling terrible, got even more upset hearing this. “What do you people know? We gave birth to her and raised her. Isn’t it her duty to be good to us and support us? She’s a woman—sooner or later she’ll marry. And after marriage, she’ll still need her two brothers to support her. Otherwise, how will she survive in her husband’s family?”

She spoke with certainty, making the neighbors purse their lips in disapproval.

“The Pan family may not be the best people,” one neighbor said, “but at least Wei Dani never laid a finger on Nanting. Back at your place, she had to do tons of chores and still got beaten.”

“You’re right. Honestly, Nanting probably lived better in the Pan household than she ever did in the Song household.”

One thing led to another, and soon the neighbors were all talking about how horribly Song Nanting had been treated at home.

With a dark expression, Song Aiqiang dragged Zhao Xiu’e back inside the house and slammed the door shut. As if he didn’t know—these people were just jealous of his family. Someone had already stolen from them before, and he hadn’t even gotten the chance to figure out who. Now they were plotting against his family again.

The door shut, and the neighbors looked at each other.

The old lady next door, Wang Daniu, couldn’t help muttering loudly, “I always thought I was pretty heartless to my daughter, but compared to those two, I’m an angel.”

“No kidding. We all prefer sons, sure, but no one else goes so far as to abuse their daughters like that. Look at what this family’s done.”

“Poor Song Nanting.”

“Yeah, such a pretty girl—what a shame.”

Though whether that pity was genuine or not was anyone’s guess. Many of the people talking didn’t even like Song Nanting that much.

The reason was simple: Song Nanting was beautiful. Living in a big courtyard like this, many of the local young men had once fancied her. But mothers all want their sons to marry a good girl. Looks come second.

And a girl from a family like the Songs—full of problems—was nothing but trouble. Too pretty, too, and what if she seduced their sons? Fortunately, she’d gotten engaged to someone from the Pan family, so now everyone could just sit back and watch the drama unfold.

Inside the house, the mood was grim.

Song Nanshan and Song Nanfeng each clung to one of Zhao Xiu’e’s legs, begging her to let Song Nanting go to the countryside instead of them.

Off to the side, Song Aiqiang was furious. He slammed the table. “Enough crying. First, we need to find where Song Nanting even is.”

The brothers went blank.

Right—where was Song Nanting?

She was in the provincial capital.

There, no one knew her. She was crouched in an alley, scrubbing all the pots, pans, and bowls she’d taken from the Song house with dish soap, making sure they were clean before putting them into a basket.

She was bartering with two old ladies.

Even in the provincial capital, some families couldn’t afford new kitchenware. Buying second-hand was a lot cheaper.

Song Nanting pretended she’d come on hard times and was heading to stay with relatives, so she needed to secretly sell off these items. The old ladies didn’t believe her, but neither said anything.

And since the price was low, they were tempted.

“Comrade, how about you knock a bit more off the price?” one said. “We’ll buy the whole lot, how about it?”

Song Nanting smiled. “Sure, I’ll cut another dime off. But that’s the lowest I can go. Just the iron wok alone is worth more than that, don’t you think?”

“It is… but it’s all used…”

“You knew it was used from the start,” Song Nanting said, her smile fading. “You didn’t mind then.”

She picked up the basket and made to leave.

One old lady stopped her. “Girl, if someone reports you, that could be real trouble.”

Song Nanting raised her eyebrows—was that a threat?

She sneered. “Go ahead and try. I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m all alone now. If someone reports me and takes away my only chance to survive, I’ll take them down with me.”

Her tone was cold and dangerous. “If anyone wants to see me dead, I’ll make sure their whole family doesn’t live either.”

Her words chilled the old ladies to the bone.

“We’ll take it,” one quickly said. “We’ll buy it. The price is fine.”

One of them had already gone home to fetch the money. Truth be told, they didn’t want Song Nanting to walk away with the goods.

These days, buying an iron wok didn’t just cost money—you needed ration tickets too. Where else would they find a deal like this?

As for Song Nanting, she didn’t want to keep a single item from the Song household. The thought disgusted her. Selling it off quickly was the best option.

She handed over the whole basket after taking the money and hurried out of the alley.

Now that the kitchenware was sold, she had no plans to sell the grain and cooking oil.

That stuff was clean, and she might need it.

She also had two bicycle tickets and a ration coupon for cigarettes. She planned to use the cigarette coupons to buy tobacco and store it in her space—it would make good gifts in the future.

As for finding customers, the department store was the perfect place.

There were plenty of rich folks in the provincial capital—she didn’t believe she wouldn’t find buyers.

She first went to the department store and bought cigarettes using the tobacco coupons. Then she rummaged through the stack of ration tickets from the Pan family and unexpectedly found a wristwatch coupon. Without hesitation, she used some money to buy a Shanghai-brand wristwatch and strapped it onto her wrist.

As for the other coupons, she used every single one that was valid within the province to purchase goods and stashed them all in her space—absolutely nothing could go to waste.

Next, she headed to the third floor where they sold bicycles and waited for a while. Even though it wasn’t a holiday, someone actually came by to inquire about bicycles.

After a bit, she saw a young couple checking out the bikes. They touched a few but didn’t make a purchase.

The shop assistant rolled their eyes and barked, “What’s the point of looking at bikes if you don’t have a bicycle ticket?”

The condescending tone must have stung the couple. The young woman grabbed the man’s arm and dragged him downstairs.

Song Nanting immediately followed, chasing after them.

“Comrade, comrade, wait a moment!”

The two turned around. The woman, seeing it was a pretty young woman calling after them, became wary. “What do you want?”

Song Nanting ignored her attitude and whispered, “Bicycle tickets.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “You have them?”

Song Nanting nodded. “Yes. Two, in fact.”

From their clothes, it was clear the couple came from a well-off family. But even in rich families, getting a bicycle ticket wasn’t easy. Maybe they’d want both?

The woman and man exchanged a glance, visibly excited. “You really have them? How much?”

Song Nanting didn’t try to overcharge. “Eighty yuan each. But if you buy both, I’ll give them to you for one hundred fifty-five.”

“One fifty-five for both? We’ll take them! We can pay right now,” the woman said eagerly, ignoring the man tugging at her arm. “Are you selling or not?”

Song Nanting smiled. “Sure. Let’s head over there to make the exchange?”

Trading on a busy street was asking for trouble—they needed to find a quiet spot.

Seeing how fearless Song Nanting was, the couple felt reassured and followed her into an alley she had scoped out earlier for being low-traffic.

She pulled out the bicycle tickets from her pocket and showed them. “Cash for tickets, hand-in-hand.”

The woman told the man to take out the money. He hesitated. “Are we really buying these tickets? Maybe we should wait—my dad might be able to get them…”

“No more waiting. I’m buying now.”

Just thinking of the shop assistant’s attitude made the woman furious. “Who knows how long it’ll take your dad. I’m buying them now.”

She made the decision. The man handed over the money.

Money and tickets were exchanged.

But just then, someone suddenly shouted, “What are you doing? Don’t move!”

The three turned to look and saw a man with a red armband running toward them.

“Run,” said Song Nanting.