Jiang Xinyu gritted her teeth. "Okay, I’ll take it."
"There’s also two old bridal chests left from ancient times here. Look, you can’t beat the quality, it’s made of rosewood."
"Comrade, how much for these chests?"
"If you want them, sixty for both. They’re old furniture, good wood, but not many people like them.
Do you need a table for the kang bed or a ground table for dining?"
"A ground table." Jiang Xinyu was calculating the money in her hand, so her expression was a bit pained.
"Don’t worry, I can lend you some money."
Jiang Xinyu didn’t reply to Wei Kaiyun but kept looking at Old Yang.
"Comrade, do you need food? Can I exchange it for grain?"
"Sure, with Xiao Wei, I’ll give you the black market price. What do you have?"
"Cornmeal. Refined, no husk."
"I’ll give you one dollar per pound."
"Alright, I can buy it then." Jiang Xinyu exhaled in relief.
Then she picked out a ground table, one kang table, four chairs, a bowl rack, a dressing table, and finally the owner gifted four stools. Altogether it cost four hundred and two.
"Comrade, I don’t have four hundred and twenty pounds of cornmeal, how much will you give for rice?"
"Yes, special grade rice."
"Two dollars a pound."
"Okay, I understand. I’ll give you two hundred pounds of rice and the remaining twenty dollars."
"That’s great, I’ll throw in a pair of kang cabinets for you."
"Great, but can I deliver it to you the day after tomorrow, comrade?"
"No problem, with Xiao Wei here, I completely trust you."
"Old Yang, since that’s the case, have someone deliver it and set it up. She’s just a young lady and can’t manage it."
"No problem, I’ll go find someone right now."
"Old Yang, you take care of it first, I’ll take Xiao Jiang to buy kang mattresses."
"Kang mattresses? I have new ones in storage, just cost price for you, eight dollars each."
"Alright, thank you, comrade." Jiang Xinyu felt relieved, since she got all the major things she needed.
"You two sit for a while, I’ll go call someone."
"Old Yang, we won’t stay, we’ll go wait at the house, it’s at Xiao Song’s place next to the public security bureau."
"Alright, go ahead, it’ll be delivered within an hour."
The two left, Wei Kaiyun casually said while riding the bike, "Jiang Xinyu, where do you have so much rice?"
"It’s not stolen, nor robbed. Don’t worry, there’s no problem with its origin."
"You’re still selling grain in these times?"
"I have a bit left, enough for me to eat for a few months. Besides, I eat at the canteen at noon, not much morning and night. I also have cornmeal, no worries about food."
Director Wei, does the house have a cellar?"
"Yes, it’s under the wing room."
"That’s good. I still have lots of yams, cabbage, radishes at home. I’ll bring them over when I start working."
"How will you transport them?"
"Our village has ox carts, donkey carts."
"If it’s inconvenient, I can find a vehicle to transport them."
"We’ll talk about it then. It’s not urgent.
Director Wei, if you need brooms, where do I buy them?"
"At the supply and marketing cooperative."
They returned to Jiang Xinyu’s home. "Director Wei, go ahead and get busy, I’ll wait for the furniture myself."
"No problem, I took the afternoon off."
Jiang Xinyu didn’t say anything more and started cleaning.
When they moved out, they cleaned thoroughly, so Jiang Xinyu quickly finished her cleaning.
When the furniture arrived, it was set up directly, even the kang mattresses were put in place.
Jiang Xinyu looked happily at the house, this was the feeling of a home.
It was already five in the afternoon. Since everything was organized, Jiang Xinyu thought about heading home.
"This late? You’re a girl, aren’t you tired?"
"Tired, but I’m uneasy being outside. Don’t worry, I’m fine."
Wei Kaiyun observed Jiang Xinyu’s resolved expression. "Fine, you can go back, I’ll ride the bike and take you home."
"No need, that would be too much trouble for you."
"If you don’t let me take you, then stay and leave tomorrow."
"Director Wei, biking to our village takes about an hour, right?"
"No worries, let’s go."
Jiang Xinyu didn’t refuse further, thinking she’d repay the favor later.
Wei Kaiyun didn’t even take an hour to reach the village, which was quiet at this time. Jiang Xinyu opened the door and invited Wei Kaiyun inside.
"Director Wei, would you like to eat before leaving?"
"No need, it’s late, I’ll be leaving."
"Wait, Director Wei, can you take the rice back to Old Yang?"
"I’ll go down to the cellar, Director Wei, you wait up here."
Jiang Xinyu brought out four bags of rice, then packed them into burlap bags in the dark.
Just when Wei Kaiyun was getting anxious waiting, Jiang Xinyu called from below.
The two bags of rice were indeed two hundred pounds and quite heavy.
After coming up, Jiang Xinyu found two more burlap bags and added a layer.
She placed one bag on the front beam and another on the rear seat.
Jiang Xinyu felt pretty bad about it; carrying a weight of two hundred pounds was indeed tough.
"Don’t worry, just help me well in the future."
After Wei Kaiyun left, Jiang Xinyu finally relaxed, saw it was past seven, and hurried to start a fire, feeling it was quite a tiring day.
She took a bath, then started chopping firewood. Without watching the fire, she prepared food.
Rice, steamed egg, braised pork.
It wasn’t until nearly ten that Jiang Xinyu managed to eat dinner.
After eating her fill, the bed was warm, lying down made her feel the soreness all over her body.
After lying down for a bit, she drifted into a sweet dream.
Early next morning, before seven, there was a knock at the door.
Jiang Xinyu was instantly annoyed, but she could understand Kong Mengjie’s feelings. So she put on the cotton coat she found last night.
"Jiang Xinyu, what time did you get back yesterday?"
"Are you the police station? You’re meddling quite a bit."
"So, when can I start working?" Jiang Xinyu decided not to fuss with her.
"Next Monday, you and Wang Ailing can go together. Bring your luggage, after reporting, you can start working right away."
"Would I lie to you?"
"What about my household registration?"
"I forgot to ask, you’ll have to inquire when you start work. I was exhausted yesterday walking all day, don’t knock again." She finished and closed the door yawning.
"Alright, I’ll come find you in the afternoon."
Jiang Xinyu: What do you need to find me for?
Going back inside, she didn’t feel like lying down again, so she decided to start a fire, the house was quite cold.
Jiang Xinyu was wary of anyone coming over again, so she didn’t cook, just had a bowl of milk powder and a sugar bun. This time, there was no chance to eat eggs.
Indeed, Jiang Xinyu guessed right; she just finished eating, and without having cleaned, the door was knocked again.