OLD CHINESE CURRENCY

1.00 one yuan
0.10 one jiao / mao
0.01 one fen
1.11 one yuan one jiao and one fen
1 jin = 500 grams = 0.5 kilogram

Twenty jin of sweet potatoes for two people wouldn’t last more than a few days.

The new grain hadn’t been harvested yet.

Once Xia Dajun came back, he would definitely try to bring Liu Fen home—but would the Xia family forgive Xia Xiaolan? Liu Fen was already thinking about going back to her parents’ home the next day to see if she could find a solution.

The Liu family was poor too, but Xia Xiaolan’s uncle was the kind of poor man who was generous to a fault. He wouldn’t just stand by and watch his niece starve.

She was still calculating when Xia Xiaolan returned, her arms full of dry branches, eyes bright as she announced they were having roasted sweet potatoes. Seeing her daughter in such good spirits, Liu Fen felt that no matter how hard life was, it was worth enduring.

“All right,” she said softly.

“Mom will roast them for you.”

But when Xia Xiaolan poked the firewood aside, a clutch of wild duck eggs was revealed.

Liu Fen’s face lit up. The eggs were about the same size as chicken eggs—clearly picked from the reed marsh. With these, Xia Xiaolan could finally nourish her body a little. She was so thin now that a strong gust of wind might knock her over.

Liu Fen’s heart ached just looking at her.

“I’ll boil one for you.”

The ramshackle old house didn’t even have proper cookware. In the countryside, people weren’t picky—boiling an egg in an enamel mug would do just fine. But Xia Xiaolan stopped her.

“Not yet. We can’t eat these now. Our good days depend on these duck eggs.” she said seriously.

“Everyone in the village is busy worrying about the crops and hasn’t had time to cut reeds yet. I want to collect more eggs and take them to the county town to sell. Tonight we’ll go to the reed marsh again. If we can catch a couple of wild ducks, even better.”

Liu Fen had never done anything like this before.

The Xia family hadn’t split households. Any eggs they saved were usually taken to town by her mother-in-law or sister-in-law to sell. It took two hours to walk from Dahe Village to the county town, and people didn’t go unless they had a reason.

But Xia Xiaolan was persuasive, and Liu Fen—used to yielding—found herself unable to argue back.

They each ate a sweet potato. Thinking ahead to selling eggs in town, Liu Fen figured they’d need at least two baskets. She went out and gathered some reed stalks, then wove two small baskets herself.

“No tools, and I didn’t soak the reeds.” she said, dissatisfied.

“They won’t last a month.”

She pressed the baskets down in the river with stones to soak them, still unhappy with her workmanship.

Xia Xiaolan, however, already thought they looked like handicrafts. After all, neither version of Xia Xiaolan knew how to weave baskets.

Since they’d be egg thieves that night, mother and daughter hurried to sleep once the baskets were done. The door wasn’t locked—just braced with a plank. There was no bed inside. Xia Xiaolan spread clean reeds on the floor instead.

Thankfully it was August. Otherwise, this drafty old shack would have frozen them sick.

With no alarm clock and worries weighing on her mind, Xia Xiaolan didn’t sleep long. She woke to soft rustling sounds. Liu Fen had already fished the reed baskets out of the river.

“Sleep a bit more.” Liu Fen whispered.

“Mom will go look first.”

Reed leaves sliced skin like fire. If duck eggs were easy to get, someone would have taken them long ago.

It was hard work, and Liu Fen didn’t want her daughter to suffer. The original Xia Xiaolan had been delicate, barely accustomed to farm labor.

Xia Xiaolan shook her head. “We go together.”

Two people would be faster—and safer. They didn’t even have a flashlight, relying only on moonlight.

Fortunately, the moon was bright tonight. Tomorrow would surely be a clear day.

Carrying their small baskets, they deliberately searched remote areas. Wild ducks startled into flight wherever they went. They finally found a nest—only to discover it was empty. When they found their first clutch of eggs, they startled the dog guarding the cattle shed.

The solitary old man guarding it shouted sharply, “Who’s there?!”

A flashlight beam flickered. Liu Fen instinctively stepped in front of Xia Xiaolan, her face burning with shame.

“…Uncle, it’s me. Just picking a few duck eggs to nourish the child.”

“Dajun’s family?” Old Wang squinted at the two of them, their hair full of grass bits.

Everyone in Dahe Village knew Xia Xiaolan had been thrown out of her home. Old Wang didn’t like her much—problematic reputation aside, she had never shown respect to elders. But Liu Fen was pitiful, and Xia Xiaolan’s forehead was still wrapped in blood-stained gauze.

After a moment’s thought, he handed the flashlight to Liu Fen.

“Return it tomorrow.”

Liu Fen’s eyes reddened with gratitude.

Xia Xiaolan thought, Dahe Village isn’t full of bastards after all.

“Thank you, Grandpa Wang,” she said sincerely.

He looked surprised, glanced at her once more, then led his dog back to the shed and left them alone.

With the flashlight’s help, the nearby duck nests were thoroughly raided. After several hours, they collected seventy to eighty eggs, filling both reed baskets. Liu Fen was still in a daze.

Besides the eggs, they also found a nest of newly hatched ducklings.

“They can be raised,” Liu Fen said happily. Seeing their downy feathers already grown in.

Xia Xiaolan thought of their dilapidated house—good for guarding against gentlemen, useless against villains—and shook her head.

“Even if we raise them, who knows who they’ll end up benefiting. Sell them too.”

Liu Fen felt reluctant, but feeding themselves was already a problem. Raising wild ducks would only attract trouble.

Back home, they checked the eggs one by one. Including the twelve Xia Xiaolan had gathered earlier, they had eighty-two unhatched eggs. They didn’t wait for dawn. Mother and daughter set off immediately for the county town, digging two sweet potatoes out of the ashes as their rations.

Roasted sweet potatoes were novel the first time—rustic and fun.

By the second meal, Xia Xiaolan was already sick of them. Luckily, she had endured much hardship as a child. Otherwise, if some pampered rich girl had transmigrated here, she’d have gone mad on the first day.

Survival came first. Only by surviving in this era could she hope for a better life.

With that belief, Xia Xiaolan pressed on. By the time they reached the county town, the sky was just beginning to brighten. Dahe Village was poor, but Qing’an County had some economic foundation. It had a large meat processing plant and an agricultural machinery factory, supporting many workers. Even the cattle from Dahe Village were sold to the meat plant.

Even meat plant workers could sometimes get scraps of meat, but eggs were hard to buy. The surrounding townships raised more pigs and cattle than poultry.

“Where should we sell?” Liu Fen asked.

The black market revolved around the two factories. The meat plant was profitable, and its workers had money. Liu Fen suggested selling nearby.

Xia Xiaolan shook her head. “Let’s go to the agricultural machinery factory.” There were more workers there, and she was more familiar with that kind of factory environment.

By the time they arrived, it was fully daylight. Workers streamed in on bicycles. Xia Xiaolan spotted others selling goods—some holding chickens, others carrying freshly dug sweet potatoes.

Perfect. No one else is selling eggs today.

They had barely set down when an auntie carrying a vegetable bag approached.

“Selling eggs?”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t play coy. “Wild duck eggs. All fresh. If you like them, I’ll sell them cheaper than chicken eggs.”

Same size as chicken eggs and cheaper, how could that not be a bargain? Who cared if the texture was a little different? Market chicken eggs cost twelve fen per jin with grain coupons. Farmer-sold eggs didn’t need coupons but cost fifteen fen. Xia Xiaolan had already asked around. With a polite greeting and a sweet tongue, no one treated prices like a state secret.

Seeing the aunt hesitate but not leave, Xia Xiaolan smiled.

“Less than ten eggs—one jiao three fen each (0.13). Ten or more—one jiao two (0.12). Over twenty—one jiao one (0.11).”

The tiered pricing left the aunt momentarily stunned. Who turns down a bargain? She ended up buying twenty-one eggs. She knew how to seize a bargain but she wasn’t reckless either.

Xia Xiaolan collected two yuan and three mao, even rounding off the remaining one fen.

She handed the money to Liu Fen, who still hadn’t fully processed what just happened.

Nearby vendors glanced over at Xia Xiaolan. The girl was strikingly beautiful, almost bewitching—and yet she spoke and acted with crisp decisiveness. No one had expected that.

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