Chapter Four: Yang Haiying

Li Yaoyao hesitated for a moment, but in the end she still meant to tell Ye Fan about it.

So be it if she sold it.

With such a vast sum of money, the villagers could live decent lives; as a sent-down educated youth, she would not have worked in vain.

Just as she was about to write a note to Ye Fan, she discovered that an extra slip of paper had already appeared inside the wooden box.

“That jade pendant must be very important to you too, so don’t sell it. I’ll send you some food shortly. Take it to the town and sell it, but only accept old coins and the like in exchange. As for the price, you can decide.”

Old coins?

Li Yaoyao remembered that Ye Fan had indeed said that they lived in an age of prosperity. As the saying went, gold was hidden in times of chaos, while antiques were gathered in times of peace. In their era, antiques were worth even more than gold.

Thinking of it that way, it truly was a viable path.

Though everyone here was poor, most households still had one or two old belongings tucked away.

With that in mind, Li Yaoyao immediately wrote Ye Fan back.

“Okay!”

When she closed the wooden box and opened it again, the note was gone, and in its place was a bucket of instant noodles. Then came another, and another. For the rest of the time, Li Yaoyao stayed home organizing things, neatly stacking the many buckets of instant noodles Ye Fan had sent over.

Before she knew it, the afternoon had passed, and the neatly arranged buckets of noodles filled more than half the room.

She also discussed roughly how they would divide the proceeds with Ye Fan. He was not doing charity; he needed to make a profit as well.

Altogether, he had given Li Yaoyao one hundred and fifty buckets of instant noodles. Since he had bought them through the shop’s supply channel, the cost was around six hundred and fifty.

As for Li Yaoyao’s side, Ye Fan told her to collect antiques, preferably copper coins, because their market price was relatively stable. Ye Fan had looked it up online: the most common copper coins from the former dynasty were worth about twenty yuan apiece.

As for the exact selling price, Li Yaoyao could decide herself. She only needed to give him one hundred copper coins, or antiques of equivalent value, and all the extra instant noodles would belong entirely to her.

“With so much stuff, the selling price will definitely be more than one hundred copper coins. I can share the extra with the villagers!”

Li Yaoyao was delighted.

But soon, she ran into a problem.

How was she supposed to carry so many things into the county town to sell them?

While she was still hesitating, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded outside.

Then came knocking at the door.

“Yaoyao, are you in? It’s me, Yang Haiying.”

Yang Haiying?

Li Yaoyao remembered her. She was Yang Kairen’s daughter. Hadn’t she gone to the city to work? Why was she back?

Without time to think further, Li Yaoyao went to open the door. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she first shut the bedroom door behind her.

“Sister Haiying, why are you back?” Li Yaoyao said warmly after opening the door.

Standing outside was Yang Haiying, clutching several banknotes in her hand, her expression rather troubled.

“My dad said you gave everyone in the village food today. I came to thank you. Take this money.”

As she spoke, Yang Haiying stuffed the money into Li Yaoyao’s hands.

Li Yaoyao quickly refused.

“How could I? I came to the village to help everyone live better lives. I haven’t really done much anyway, and I already feel bad enough about it.”

“My dad said you didn’t wear that jade pendant today, and he guessed you probably sold your family heirloom to buy food for everyone. I’m useless, and I only have this little money on me. I’ll have everyone think of a way to raise some money later and buy your jade pendant back.”

Yang Haiying spoke earnestly, and Li Yaoyao felt a warmth in her heart.

Everyone still cared about her.

But very soon, an idea surfaced in her mind.

“Sister Haiying, is your husband at home? I have something I’d like to ask you both for help with.”

She wanted to take the instant noodles into the city to sell them, but she could not possibly manage so much alone. If she brought others along, the trip might be much easier.

Besides, Sister Haiying’s husband was tall and strong, and he could help ensure the noodles were safe.

Most importantly, Sister Haiying was trustworthy.

“Of course!”

Yang Haiying did not hesitate and agreed at once.

Though she did not know what it was about, she was willing to trust Li Yaoyao. Ever since Li Yaoyao came here, she had done so much for everyone. Whenever there was anything she could help with, she ought to lend a hand.

“Come in with me, Sister Haiying.”

Yang Haiying followed Li Yaoyao into the room, and when she looked inside, the bedroom was packed full of instant noodles.

“So this is the noodle soup my dad mentioned?”

Yang Haiying was surprised. In these famine years, the educated youth here could still get hold of so much good food.

“I need to take these to the county seat to sell them. I can’t handle it all by myself, so I’d like to trouble you to help me.”

Li Yaoyao said this, and worried the other woman might refuse, so she added, “It won’t delay your work. We’ll split the money after they’re sold.”

“Oh, why are you being so polite? I’ll go home right now and call my man over.”

After hearing that, Yang Haiying did not hesitate. She waved a hand and hurried off to fetch her husband.

“Sister Haiying, it’s already getting dark. Let’s go tomorrow.”

Amused, Li Yaoyao pulled Yang Haiying back. What would they buy in the county at this hour of the night anyway?

“Take these back and have them at home.”

Li Yaoyao took out five buckets of instant noodles and handed them to Yang Haiying.

“How can that be? I came to thank you in the first place, and now I’m taking things from you too. That wouldn’t be right...”

Yang Haiying clearly felt too embarrassed to accept, but Li Yaoyao insisted on giving them, and with such enthusiasm it was hard to refuse. In the end, she could only accept them with a flushed face.

After seeing Yang Haiying off, Li Yaoyao finally lay down in comfort.

Too many things had happened today, and she wanted a proper rest.

Holding the jade pendant in her hand, she felt incomparably calm.

The pendant had been passed down from her mother. They said it had been handed down for more than ten generations. If she were truly to sell it, she would actually be rather reluctant.

For some reason, Ye Fan’s name suddenly surfaced in her mind.

He could have sold the pendant, taken a fortune, and hidden it from her. But he did not. Instead, he considered that the pendant was important to her and returned it.

What kind of man was Ye Fan?

How tall was he?

What did he look like?

As she thought about it, she drifted into a daze.

Only when strange noises suddenly came from outside the door did Li Yaoyao’s thoughts snap back.

“Who is it?”

Startled, Li Yaoyao instinctively reached for a stick beside her.

The figure outside clearly heard her, but showed no sign of running away; instead, it kept approaching.

“Li Yaoyao, I saw what you gave Yang Haiying. Share some with me too.”

From outside came the voice of a middle-aged woman.

Wang Dahua?

Li Yaoyao recognized her at once.

She was the village’s notorious she-devil, a woman who had once run with bandits in her youth. After banditry was wiped out in the country, she had lived in the village ever since by stealing, cheating, and swindling.

“These things are to be sold. I can’t give them to you!”

Li Yaoyao raised the stick in front of her and threatened her.

“Sold? You’re the one I ought to sell! In this day and age, you managed to get hold of so much food—how many times have you sold yourself already?”

Wang Dahua no longer bothered to hide. She rushed straight up to Li Yaoyao.

“Today you either give me some, or I’ll take you to the county seat and make you into something to be sold!”