Chapter 18

After a day of rest, Xu Di started going out to sell eggs and chives again.  Earning dozens of yuan a day was incredibly tempting.

You have to understand, at this time, a regular worker only made about thirty yuan a month.

Like her father, he was an eighth-grade machinist, earning a bit more.  But how many eighth-grade machinists could there be in a factory?

This time, Xu Di changed locations again, she wouldn’t appear in the same place twice.

Her luck was good this time, and she sold quickly.  Xu Di didn’t even know how much she had sold.

It was getting late, Xu Di straightened her dog fur hat and prepared to go home.

“There, that’s the one wearing the dog fur hat, she’s selling eggs and chives everywhere.”

Maybe she was too excited, the auntie’s voice was quite sharp.  Not only did the people wearing red armbands hear it, but Xu Di also heard it.

“Oh my god, I’m done for.”

Xu Di muttered to herself, she glanced at the short and stout auntie, and cursed in her heart, “It’s just that I didn’t give you a discount of twenty cents, you actually went to report me, you’re so uncultured.”

Fortunately, she had a young body, she was physically fit and could run fast.

“Stop, don’t run…”

She would be crazy not to run, if she was caught, it would be terrible.

Xu Di ran into an alleyway, the terrain there was complex, she could find an opportunity to hide in her space.

The person in front was desperately running, the people behind were desperately chasing, neither side wanted to give up.

There was a corner ahead, no one on either side, Xu Di seized the opportunity, ran past, and then hid in her space.

“Huff, huff…”

Lying on the ground in her space, Xu Di felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest.

Outside, the few people wearing red armbands also chased after her.

“Where did she go?  Why is she gone?”

“Maybe she ran that way, let’s go chase after her.”

The few people chased after her towards the other side of the alleyway.  This alleyway was a maze, they didn’t know where she ran from, there was no trace of her.

“What a waste of energy, my legs are about to break.”

“Right, I haven’t run this much in a long time, she’s as fast as a rabbit, she really took off.”

They didn’t catch her, and they were exhausted, so the few people grumbled and left.

Xu Di changed her clothes in the space, tidied her hair, her braids had come undone from running.

Coming out of the space, Xu Di walked out of the alleyway, she asked for directions for a long time before she found the bus going back home.

“Did you work overtime? Why are you so late, your dad went to the bus stop to pick you up twice.”

“Yeah, I had something to do, I was out late, I made you worry.”

Xu Di felt a bit guilty, she had sold well today, she was a bit greedy.

She couldn’t do that anymore, now, she wasn’t just by herself, she had the Xu family behind her.

“Sister, did a dog chase you? Why are your cheeks so rosy?”

“Stinky boy, how do you talk to your sister?”

Xu’s mother raised her hand and slapped Xu Jun, he was a mischievous little rascal.

“No, I was chasing the bus.”

Xu Di’s heart finally settled when she got home.  She also felt a bit cold, maybe she had sweated from running earlier, she was in a hurry to come back, she didn’t let her sweat dry before coming out of the space, hopefully, she wouldn’t get a fever at night.

Before going to bed, Xu Di boiled a big bowl of ginger water and forced it down, pinching her nose.

She sweated a lot under the thick quilt at night, and when she woke up in the morning, her nose was stuffy.

“Did you catch a cold? Do you have a fever?”

“Mom, I don’t have a fever, my nose is just a bit stuffy, I’ll drink some more ginger water later.”

Xu Di knew that in the 1970s, there were no cold medicines or antibiotics.

They usually just took painkillers, like aspirin, which was said to have side effects, she didn’t know if it was true.

After breakfast, everyone went to work, and Xu Jun disappeared.  Xu Di wanted to stay home and rest for a day, but she was afraid that people in the family courtyard would see her, and then she wouldn’t be able to explain herself.

“Sigh, it’s true that one lie leads to another.”

Xu Di muttered to herself, she slung her bag over her shoulder, gathered her courage, opened the door, and a cold wind hit her face.

“It’s so cold!”

Xu Di decided that she would find a place to enter her space later, she wouldn’t go out to sell goods today.  She was still a little nervous, the aftereffects of being chased yesterday hadn’t subsided yet.

Mainly, she had a bit of a cold, and she didn’t want to freeze outside all day and make it worse.  At this time, pneumonia could be fatal.

She left the family courtyard area, got on the bus, got off after two stops, there was a park nearby, it was convenient for her to enter and exit her space.

In the middle of winter, there weren’t many people in the park, most importantly, there were many blind spots.

Not surprisingly, there was almost no sign of life in the entire park.

Xu Di found a blind spot and entered her space.

It was so warm, the temperature in her space was comfortable.

Xu Di first picked a tomato, she didn’t wash it, she just took a bite.  The tomato flavor filled her mouth, it was juicy and delicious.

The only downside to her space was that there was no place to sleep, Xu Di could only sit on the ground, it was a bit uncomfortable.

The crops in her space were ready for harvest again, the wheat she had planted later was also ripe.

She had gotten the wheat seeds from Grandpa in the countryside in the fall, and some were dug out of mice holes.

She had dug up over ten mice holes, getting three or five jin of wheat.  She planted them all, and they actually grew, she would be able to harvest quite a bit.

She picked up a sickle and started cutting the wheat.  After cutting it, she had to thresh it, to separate the wheat grains from the stalks.

Xu Di got busy and lost track of time.  She only realized that she had been working the whole time and forgotten about time when her stomach started growling.

Not having a watch was really inconvenient, she wasn’t used to wearing a watch in her previous life, but her phone was always with her.

Now, a watch cost dozens of yuan, a good one cost over a hundred, and you needed a watch ticket.

She sold eggs and chives, and people didn’t give her many tickets, mostly some uncommon ones.  Cigarette tickets, liquor tickets, and grocery tickets, she couldn’t possibly get a watch ticket or a bicycle ticket, those were in high demand.

It was said that you could sell the tickets for the three major items for dozens of yuan each on the black market.

Xu Di stopped thinking about it, she left her space, walked out of the park, and went into a nearby supply and marketing cooperative to ask what time it was.

“It’s 3:15.”

The saleswoman proudly raised her arm, revealing the shining watch face on her wrist, her pride was evident.

Xu Di gave a polite smile and thanked her.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late.

Her stomach was growling with hunger, but there was nothing to eat at this time, the state-owned restaurants had already passed their meal times.

Xu Di took out a snack ticket and bought a bag of almond cookies at the grocery counter.

She put the cookies in her bag and took the bus home.

There was nobody home, Xu Di ate two almond cookies with hot water, and her stomach finally stopped growling.

Xu Di put the rest of the cookies in her space, otherwise, if they were discovered, she wouldn’t be able to explain herself.

Since she was home early, Xu Di went to bed to rest, she straightened her back.

She had been bending over to cut wheat, her back ached.

She fell asleep in a daze, until Xu’s mother came home from work, Xu Di heard the sound and woke up with a start.

“Mom, you’re back from work? What time is it?  I came back a while ago, I fell asleep on the bed.”

“It’s past five, if you’re tired, rest for a while, I’ll wash my hands and cook.”

Xu’s mother thought that Xu Di was tired from working, after all, she had been snoring loudly at night.

“I’m not tired, I’ll help you, what are we having for dinner?”

“Cabbage and potato stew, steam some rice cakes, and make a side dish of pickled vegetables.”

Xu Di followed Xu’s mother into the kitchen, in the northern winter, it was basically just cabbage, radishes, and potatoes, there wasn’t anything else.

The two of them cooked together, and they were quite quick.