With her maternal uncle backing them, life for Xia Xiaolan and her mother had grown noticeably easier. Especially now, with the busy farming season upon them. Every household in the countryside was racing to harvest their grain, and the Xia family barely had enough hands to manage their own fields. Let alone spare the time to run to Qijing Village to harass Xia Xiaolan and her mother. For the moment, at least, peace reigned.

Taking advantage of the lull, Xia Xiaolan began transporting eggs into the county to sell. Within just a few days, business fell smoothly into rhythm.

She spoke crisply and confidently, carried herself well, and most importantly was that she was strikingly beautiful. She had clear principles when doing business, but within those boundaries, she was generous and fair.

Soon, workers from both the Agricultural Machinery Factory and the Meat Processing Plant all knew there was now an Egg Beauty selling exceptionally fresh eggs outside the factories.

At first, she made one trip a day to Anqing County. In less than two days, she had sold nearly two thousand eggs. Riding her bicycle back and forth between the countryside and the county town was exhausting, but the results were worth it! She earned around ten yuan a day on average.

Her startup capital was small, and she had no connections. No matter how many money-making ideas Xia Xiaolan had in her head, she had to take things step by step. She didn’t think ten yuan a day was little at all. Liu Fen, on the other hand, was downright delighted.

That evening, mother and daughter sat together to count the day’s earnings. Xia Xiaolan poured the contents of the cloth bag onto the table. Mostly small bills. One-yuan notes, fifty-cent notes… even fen bills.

Xia Xiaolan swore that in her previous life, all the paper money she had ever seen denominated in “fen” combined didn’t add up to what she’d handled in just these few days.

Liu Fen carefully straightened the bills, feeling as though she were dreaming.

“Is money really this easy to earn? Don’t other people know?”

It was a good question—proof that Liu Fen was beginning to think for herself.

Xia Xiaolan smiled. “Knowing there’s money to be made doesn’t mean everyone can do it.”

The 1980s were full of opportunities, but not everyone became a millionaire. When opportunity came, you needed courage—and luck. Just like this egg business. People in Qijing Village surely envied her, but first, they were tied up harvesting their crops. Second, even if they had the manpower, they needed Xia Xiaolan’s do-or-die resolve.

Business always carried risks. Selling eggs was hard work, and the danger was real. What if the eggs didn’t sell? What if they all broke on the road? Nearly a hundred yuan in capital could vanish in an instant.

If Xia Xiaolan lost it all, she could simply start over. She’d once climbed her way up to an executive position in a multinational corporation—this kind of minor setback couldn’t shake her.

But to rural families in 1983, losing nearly a hundred yuan meant losing more than half a year’s savings. How many failures could an ordinary household afford?

After packing away the money, Xia Xiaolan said, “The egg business won’t last much longer. Didn’t I ask Uncle to help collect eels? I want to try selling them in the provincial capital.”

In the Liu family’s rice paddies alone, it was easy to catch dozens of pounds of loaches, crucian carp, and yellow eels. The countryside wasn’t short on them.

Loaches, if not handled well, had an earthy taste.

Crucian carp—only in later years would they be hyped up. Right now, who wanted to eat them? They soaked up oil, had too many bones, and barely any meat. They weren’t even counted among the “four major freshwater fish.” The phrase *“like crucian carp crossing the river”* said it all—there were simply too many of them.

Eels were different. They were considered nourishing and always fetched a good price.

Even now, eel prices were nearly on par with pork. But they didn’t sell well in Anqing County—unless you took them to the provincial capital.

Crucian carp and loaches sold cheap. Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered, so she asked Liu Yong to spread the word in Qijing Village that she was buying eels in addition to eggs. But with everyone busy harvesting rice, only children occasionally brought in a few pounds. There was no large-scale supply yet—and she wasn’t in a hurry. Eels could be caught all the way through October.

Even the despised crucian carp and loaches weren’t wasted in Xia Xiaolan’s hands.

Her cooking skills were average, but her exposure was broad. Back when she entertained clients, she’d eaten cuisines from all over the country.

The loaches and crucian carp Liu Yong brought home were cleaned thoroughly. She drizzled a bit of vegetable oil into the pot, pan-fried the crucian carp over low heat until golden on both sides, then added water and simmered it slowly. Once the fish had practically melted into the broth, she made sure everyone drank some.

She paid special attention to Liu Fen and Tao Tao. Liu Fen was thin as a famine refugee, and if Tao Tao didn’t get enough calcium now, his future height—judging by the Liu family genes—would be tragic.

The loaches were braised with chili paste and tofu, finished with garlic chives.

The Liu family’s meals were so well arranged that Aunt Liu Fengmei was beyond satisfied with Xia Xiaolan.

However, these past couple of days, Liu Fen couldn’t accompany her into the county. Since mother and daughter were staying with the Lius, it wouldn’t do for Liu Yong and his wife to shoulder all the farm work alone. Liu Fen had to help harvest rice too.

“Be careful going to the county by yourself,” Liu Fen reminded her.

Before Xia Xiaolan left, Liu Fen was also heading to the fields. Rice had to be cut before the sun rose too high, then threshed—there were no machines yet, everything was done by hand.

“I know, Mom. Don’t overwork yourself.”

Xia Xiaolan pedaled toward the county. After a few days, she had nearly saturated the egg market around the two factories—people couldn’t buy that many eggs every day. Carrying over four hundred eggs at a time, making two trips a day… today, on her second trip, she waited outside the Agricultural Machinery Factory for a long time and still had over a hundred eggs left.

She decided to try another spot.

Normally, she avoided shortcuts. But today she’d been delayed selling eggs, so she rode through a narrow alley.

What she didn’t know was that after several days of selling eggs, the reputation of the “Egg Fairy” had spread. Pretty, carrying cash every day—someone had begun plotting against her.

Xia Xiaolan had grown a little complacent. After all, she’d been carrying those large scissors on her for days and hadn’t run into any trouble.

The other end of the alley opened onto a main road. She pedaled hard—when suddenly, someone grabbed the basket on her bike.

“Hey, little sister, why the rush? We want to buy eggs!”

The sudden stop nearly sent her crashing to the ground. The rear basket slammed hard, and Xia Xiaolan’s heart clenched—she didn’t know how many eggs had broken.

One man darted in front of her, blocking her path.

Two others grabbed her bicycle. Xia Xiaolan straightened her back, her hand already gripping the large scissors hidden beneath her sleeve.

This was bad.

Three scruffy young men ogled her from head to toe. Though she was wrapped up in long sleeves and pants for sun protection, their filthy gazes stripped her bare all the same.

This wouldn’t end peacefully.

Unlike most girls who would panic, Xia Xiaolan didn’t waste a second. She opened her mouth and screamed:

“Help! Thugs are assaulting a woman! Help! They’ve trapped me in the alley!”

Her shrill voice startled the three men instead.

One lunged to cover her mouth. Xia Xiaolan stabbed forward with the scissors. He yelped in pain.

“Bitch! You think we didn’t investigate you?” he snarled. “You two, hold her down! Damn bitch—how dare you stab me!”

With her back against the wall, Xia Xiaolan swung the scissors wildly, never stopping her screams. As long as they couldn’t get close, she still had a chance. She shouted “sexual assault” and “help” over and over, the bicycle wedged between them buying her time.

One thug lost his patience and yanked the bike aside.

Still screaming, Xia Xiaolan sneered coldly. When someone grabbed for her wrist, she aimed straight for his eyes.

He retreated fast, but the scissor tip still sliced his eyelid. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he grabbed her braid and dragged her forward. Another man seized the chance to knock the scissors from her hand.

“Fucking bitch, acting all virtuous,” he spat. “Who doesn’t know you’re used goods? Xia Xiaolan from Dahe Village, right?”

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I might just do the same on Chinese New Year!

Comment: Mass Update for Chinese New Year!

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