Rebirth in Famine: She Thrives by Lucky Space

Chapter 9 - 9 Deep Thoughts

The kang cabinet was locked, Jiang Xinyu took out the key from around her neck and opened the lock.

The first kang cabinet contained a few pieces of cloth. They all looked like heavy cotton cloth, and there were also two sets of clothes without patches. I plan to make two sets of clothes for myself when I have time. At the very bottom of the cabinet, I found a wooden box.

Jiang Xinyu took it out, knowing that this was the family’s possessions, including the fifty yuan funeral subsidy given by the county, all kept here.

The first thing Jiang Xinyu noticed inside the box was a silver hairpin, two silver rings, and a pair of earrings.

On one side, there were also two cloth tickets and two food tickets, each worth ten jin. There were five kerosene tickets and one oil ticket. These were compensations from the county. Then she saw those brand new five banknotes.

Next to them was a roll of money. Jiang Xinyu took it out and counted: five banknotes, five two-yuan bills, ten one-yuan bills, five five-mao bills, and the rest were 20 two-mao and one-mao bills. There were also paper tickets of five fen, two fen, and one fen, along with coins.

This money was the entire family estate.

Jiang Xinyu put it directly into her space, considering today’s situation. Her life would not be peaceful unless this job was no longer in her hands.

She also put away the new cloth in the cabinet. The second cabinet held the cotton quilts and cotton clothes of the old couple, all washed and dried, which Jiang Xinyu also locked up. The third cabinet had the old couple’s old clothes, all clean and neatly arranged. She took a glance and closed it again; this cabinet was often opened and not locked.

Then she propped up the window. This window was not a modern double-opening glass window but a wooden frame with folds, pasted with straw paper, which could be propped up from the bottom.

The clothes had soaked enough, and after another hour, the clothes were hung up to dry.

The water jar was almost empty, so she carried the bucket to fetch water.

Along the way, she saw many people, the older ones gathering together, and the younger ones together.

When Jiang Xinyu was fetching water, a young man came over wanting to help, but she refused him, deciding to work harder herself. It was a critical time and she couldn’t afford to be misunderstood by others.

She stumbled a bit as she filled the water jar, and since there was nothing to do at home, decided to gather firewood.

Judging by the position of the sun, it should be almost noon. Without lunch, noon wasn’t different from any other time.

She equipped herself fully, preparing to go to the small valley where she had regained consciousness. It was deep in the mountains, and last time she hadn’t seen anyone, which was conducive to her smuggling.

On the mountain road, she encountered a few young girls, Jiang Xinyu just smiled and passed by.

It felt like she walked for more than an hour before reaching the place. There was a watch in the space and also an electronic watch she had used before, but she couldn’t take them out to use; time in the space was still, and she couldn’t even check the time privately.

She started cutting branches with a machete. Estimating that there was already a bundle on the ground, she sat down and summoned a meat bun to eat.

After resting a bit, she resumed work, encouraging herself in her heart: it’s not scary to go slow, but scary to stop; work, work, otherwise winter won’t pass.

Even when her arms felt too heavy to lift, she didn’t stop, fearing that once she stopped, there would be no end to the work.

Seeing the ground covered with branches, she estimated it was around four o’clock, finally deciding not to cut anymore.

Gathering all the branches together, she waved her hand to collect them into her space; it was much more than the five bundles from yesterday.

Not daring to linger, she gathered up a lot of leaves as well, collecting them all, and finally carried a full basket of leaves back home.

Upon returning home, she saw that there was no one in the village; it was mealtime, so she hurried home, put down the basket, washed her hands, and headed to the cafeteria with a bowl.

When she arrived, many people had finished eating, only two or three children were left in line. Jiang Xinyu was the last, seeing the thin porridge, she didn’t speak and lowered her head, holding it to take home.

Before reaching home, she saw Wang Ailing at her doorstep.

”Sis, have you finished eating?”

”Yeah, I came to find you before dinner, but the house was locked. Did you go to gather firewood?”

”Yes. Come in, Sis.”

”I wanted to help you fetch water, but my eldest cousin came to pick up my mom and me to go to my grandma’s house.” Wang Ailing looked at the clothesline with bedding and clothes, knowing this girl hadn’t been idle, which was right.

”Sis, it’s really no problem. I can handle fetching water. I’m starving, let me eat first.”

”Go eat, I’ll build the fire for you.”

Jiang Xinyu accepted without fuss. She put the bowl on the table, took out a bowl of pickles, and sat down to drink the porridge in large gulps.

After eating, washing the bowl, the two sat by the kitchen. ”Xinyu, I heard about this morning’s breakfast. Don’t get involved between the village leader and the village party secretary, let them do as they please.”

”Sis, I know. I may not be smart, but I’m not stupid.

Sis, I want to ask your opinion. Last night, Kong Mengjie came over to find me, wanting me to give her the job, offering me ten yuan, and five yuan per month for the next two years.”

”Ha! She’s really audacious,” Wang Ailing said with sarcasm.

”She told me that she would do better than me if she went to work in the county, her father is the village leader. I feel she’s threatening me, wasn’t the incident this morning just an initial warning?”

”Yes, you guessed right. Kong Mengjie is quite the actress, but she’s dark-hearted.”

Jiang Xinyu nodded, ”Yes, that’s what I think too.

Sis, I promised her I’d give her an answer in a few days. Could you help me ask around if there’s anyone interested in buying this job? I’m afraid I can’t keep it, might as well sell it. Whoever pays more, I’ll sell it to them. After all, it’s a lifetime job, and they can live in the county, not be rural anymore.”

”Xinyu, have you really thought it through?”

”Yes, I told you yesterday, I was thinking about selling the job so I wouldn’t be bothered by others and I’d have money to spend.

I heard that working in a textile factory is really not good, breathing in tiny cotton fibers could cause diseases in the future.”

”That’s just what people say when they can’t get in, speaking sourly. Not just anyone can enter a textile factory.

Xinyu, you don’t have the physique to work in the fields, you should take the job at the textile factory and in two or three months, you can leave here and live in the county.”

Jiang Xinyu shook her head, ”No, I can adapt slowly. It’s just me, and with the cafeteria, I won’t starve.

Sis, I’m just afraid someone will plot against me. Then I’d have to suffer my whole life.”

This was what Jiang Xinyu had figured out while cutting wood today. She didn’t want to live a crazy life forever.

”Alright, I’ll help you ask around discreetly.”

”Sis, no need to be discreet. Just ask openly. Oh right, just say that I’m in poor health, need to buy medicine.”

”Nonsense, who curses themselves like that?”