Chapter 24: A Mahagony Box

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Bai Xue looked at the pile of bills and took out two of the $10 dollar bills and handed them to Wang Cheng.

“Uncle Wang, this is 10% of the profits for you! In the future, just keep 10% of the profits for yourself before giving it to me! It’s more convenient this way!”

After saying that, she took the remaining money and stamps and casually put them into her pocket.

Wang Cheng looked at this young woman and could not help feeling impressed. The young woman did not react at all when she saw so much money. She even casually put it in her pocket. Also, she paid his commission without a second thought. With such an extraordinary bearing, she would definitely be able to do something big in the future.

“Okay! When will you come over next time?” Wang Cheng took the money and put it in his pocket.

“Depends on when I can get more stock! By the way, if the clients don’t have money, I don’t mind accepting yellow croakers! Just charge them according to the bank rates!” Bai Xue said.

The current bank rate for gold was $7 per gram. A small yellow croaker was 33 grams, which was $231. Two boxes of cigarettes could be exchanged for a small yellow croaker. It was quite a good price.

“Really? That’s great.” Wang Cheng was overjoyed.

He knew someone who had a lot of gold in his hands, but he did not dare to sell them in the bank. People hardly sold gold privately these days. Food was more expensive than gold.

This was perfect. Wang Cheng could talk to the potential client and see if he still wanted to get supplies.

“Uncle Wang, I want stamps for a bicycle and sewing machine as well, so I don’t mind exchanging for those,” added Bai Xue.

She urgently needed a bicycle. Now that she had some money in her hands, she wanted to buy a bicycle to ride even more. It was too tiring to walk back and forth.

“Alright! Got it.” Wang Cheng nodded.

Seeing it was time for lunch, Bai Xue did not linger. Although she had five catties worth of food stamps in her hands, she did not plan to eat in a restaurant. The food here was average, so she would rather go home and cook on her own!

Hence, she bid farewell to Wang Cheng and walked out.

Instead of going home immediately, she went to the waste collection center. She wanted to find a few textbooks for her younger siblings.

Her younger sisters were in Grade 7 and her younger brothers could only start from Grade 3, so she found textbooks for them to learn by themselves.

Pingyang Town was not very big, so she simply had to look around to find the waste collection center. Since Bai Xue was wearing thermal pants, a sweater, and snow boots, it was not that cold anymore. She patiently looked around for a while and found it.

Inside, there was a man guarding it.

“Sir, I’m here to find some books to fix my wall!” Bai Xue did not dare to say that she was looking for textbooks. She knew a little about this era.

“Go in and look for it yourself!” The man did not even raise his head. He continued looking at something as he let her pass.

Bai Xue walked in. There were tables, chairs, benches, wardrobes, and bedside cabinets. Some were missing legs or smashed.

Bai Xue did not look at the furniture. Anyway, there was no place to put them now. The house was so small that the nine of them could barely fit in. It made no sense to buy furniture.

She picked out two sets of textbooks each for her brothers and sisters and prepared to leave.

When she passed by the used furniture section, she turned her head and saw a small mahogany box. At a glance, she liked it. She walked over and picked it up. It was only 20 centimeters long, but it looked quite deep.

Bai Xue opened it to take a look. It was not as deep as it looked from the outside. She reached in and gently pushed the bottom of the box. The box actually had a secret compartment. This made her like it even more.

There were no yellow croakers or antique jewelry hidden in the secret compartment and contained nothing at all. Bai Xue picked up the textbook, put it on the box, and carried everything out.

“Sir, how much is it?”

“Just leave a dollar there!” The man glanced up and went back to his work.

Fortunately, she had received change when her father was discharged from the hospital. She took out a dollar and placed it on the counter. Then, she carried her things and walked out.

On such a cold day, her hands were really cold from carrying so many things. If she did not carry them back home, people would ask questions when people later discovered all this new stuff in her house.

She thought about it and walked towards the supplies cooperative. She could at least buy a sack to store it.

When they arrived at the supplies cooperative, the same lady was manning the counter, still knitting. There was no one buying anything at the cooperative.

She walked in and the sales assistants looked up at the same time. Seeing it was just a little girl, they lowered their heads and went back to their own things.

“Big Sis, I want to buy a gunny bag!” Bai Xue said to the lady manning the fabric counter as she lifted her things.

“10 cents a piece! No stamps accepted. How many do you want?” She did not stop what she was doing.

“Then I’ll take 10!” Bai Xue took out one hand from under the mahogany box and took out a dollar to put on the counter. It was not easy to buy things without stamps. Since she would have to use them in the future, she may as well stock up!

If not for the fact that she was afraid that others would suspect that she was up to no good, she would have bought more.

The cloth seller was stunned when she heard that Bai Xue wanted to buy 10 pieces. She raised her head and sized her up.

“These sacks are made by people from the countryside. You don’t look like a city person. Why did you buy so many? Don’t you know how to make them yourself?” She spoke frankly.

“No, I don’t!” Bai Xue replied. In this era, although people did not have enough to eat, people in the cities have access to higher-quality goods in general, so there would be a slight difference in their clothes.

“Wait! I’ll go get them for you!” The lady was about to get up to get the bags.

“Do you want this?” Bai Xue asked softly. Using a book as a cover, she took out a smoked chicken from the supermarket.

“Well, I can’t carry 10 pieces on my own! Follow me in and take them!” The cloth seller said loudly as if nothing had happened.

Bai Xue knew that she was afraid that others would see her and say that she was an opportunist, so she followed her into the fabric stockroom.

“Is that smoked chicken you have? I can smell it!” After entering the fabric stockroom and closing the door, the lady asked impatiently.

“Yeah!” Bai Xue replied.

“Sell it to me! I want it!” Bai Xue had asked if she wanted this, so the lady promptly said yes.

“$5 and cloth stamps!” Bai Xue did not say how many cloth stamps in particular, out of fear she might scare the lady.

“Alright! I’ll give you another three feet worth of cloth stamps!” The cloth seller said readily.

It had been a long time since her family had eaten meat. It was almost the new year, and she could not get any meat even with the meat stamps she possessed.

“Do you sell cloth that doesn’t need stamps? If you do, can you let me have some? I can even get meat for you!” Bai Xue noticed the lady’s reaction and could tell she was open to her proposal, so she tried to tempt her.

“What cloth do you want?” The lady asked.

“Cotton! I mainly want to make bags to store food!” Bai Xue told the truth.

“How about the defective cotton cloth? I saved some for some other people! If it’s okay, I’ll give it to you first!” After Bai Xue offered her chicken, the lady decided to return the favor.

“Alright! Thank you! I’ll give you the smoked chicken now!” Bai Xue was happy. Although she had cloth stamps in her hands, it was far better to buy fabric without using her stamps.

“Alright, alright!” The lady looked at Bai Xue with surprise in her eyes.

“Here you go!” Bai Xue took out the smoked chicken. The lady did not see where she took it out from. She was carrying so many things in her arms.

The lady took the smoked chicken from Bai Xue and sniffed it. Then, she carefully put it away. “Here’s $5 and the cloth stamps. I’ll bring you some cloth!”