This One Was Worth It

This program was produced by Tomato Listening. Episode 48: This One Was Worth It!

It was as if their goodwill had been trampled on.

Dong Tiantian frowned and asked irritably, "These pieces of junk are either missing an arm or a leg. What use are they besides being chopped up for firewood after you take them back?"

"Come on, you can take them back to the village and have a carpenter fix them up. Then they'll be usable."

Zhao Xianglan spoke earnestly. "Wouldn't you have to pay someone to fix them? Wood is the cheapest thing in the village. When carpenters make furniture, what they charge for is their craftsmanship. If you have the strength to haul these back, you might as well have a carpenter make new ones directly. I really don't know what you were thinking."

Dong Mimi looked at Zhao Xianglan as if she were an idiot.

Lin Yuzhu was glad she had the name Immortal Sword. She had bought meat buns to fill her stomach first; otherwise, she would have been standing here hungry while watching them argue.

Thinking of the pork buns from earlier, Lin Yuzhu swallowed again. The meat buns from the State-Run Restaurant really were good—thin wrappers, plenty of filling, and oil dripping out with every bite. They were tender and juicy. Even after eating three in a row, she still wanted more.

The next time she came across someone selling buns, she would buy some again.

Lin Yuzhu looked as though she were a deity from another world. Thinking about Zhao Xianglan, she was furious inside, but wore a disappointed expression as she said unhappily, "Forget it. I guess I worried for nothing. I paid for this pile of stuff at the Scrap Station, you know!"

So she was bringing up money now?

Dong Mimi snorted. She was not short on money, but she did not want to spend it so passively. She snorted again and said, "Wasn't that your own decision?"

Zhao Xianglan pressed her lips together, her eyes already filled with anger. In her view, she had given ground again and again, only for the other side to push their luck.

Seeing her like this, Dong Tiantian stepped closer to Dong Mimi. The atmosphere between both sides instantly turned tense.

Wang Yang looked from one side to the other. Sensing that they might start fighting, he hurriedly stepped forward to play peacemaker again and said mildly,

"It's just a few things. A few of the guys can carry them back."

"Come on, everyone. Get over here and carry a little!"

Several male educated youths reluctantly came over to help. None of them looked very happy. They had not even recovered from the exhaustion of the autumn harvest—who wanted to do more labor?

The things Zhao Xianglan had gotten were all broken solid-wood furniture. They looked nice enough, but they were heavy, especially that table missing one leg. It was even heavier.

Lin Yuzhu had no idea how the three of them had transported all this junk from the Scrap Station. Looking at Zhou Nan's clothes, filthy and wrinkled, she shook her head. Was Zhao Xianglan a little slow in the head?

Not long after they set off, the male educated youths had to take turns carrying the table. After several switches, every one of them looked unhappy.

Zhao Xianglan's face was dark, and she was filled with grievance. She had paid and put in the effort, yet no one appreciated it. At that moment, she could not stand anyone, and the one she disliked most was Lin Yuzhu. It was not because she had caused things to turn out like this. Lin Yuzhu sneezed several times in a row, tightened her clothes around herself, and thought she ought to add another layer.

They finally came across an Ox Cart. When the old driver saw their tables, chairs, and benches, he shook his head and refused. His ox was precious to him.

Lin Yuzhu thought, If he wouldn't take them, then he could take me. Smiling, she gave the old man a handful of hard candy and asked whether he could give her a ride.

The old man held the candy in his hand and agreed with a chuckle.

When Li Xiangwan saw that, she quickly handed the old man a handful of red dates. Delighted, the old man saw how fresh and lovely the girl looked and agreed to take her along as well.

And so, Lin Yuzhu and Li Xiangwan climbed onto the Ox Cart and left together.

The Dong Sisters had no snacks on them besides Walnut Cookies. How could they bear to give those away? They asked the old man whether he could give them a ride if they paid him.

The old man hurriedly shook his head and said sternly, "Aren't you forcing me to make a mistake?"

"Uh, besides, my ox can't pull any more people."

The Dong Sisters were speechless and could only watch the Ox Cart leave.

Zhao Xianglan and Zhang Yanqiu wished they could drag the two people off the cart. Their minds were filled with one frantic question: Why?

Li Xiangbei watched the Ox Cart disappear into the distance, his mouth growing increasingly bitter. Wang Yang patted him from the side and comforted him, "You probably won't be mad anymore in a couple of days."

"Mm."

Ever since the hand-touching incident, Li Xiangwan had deliberately distanced herself from Li Xiangbei and Wang Yang. The three no longer ate together. Zhang Yanqiu and the Dong Sisters happily welcomed the two men back to eat with them, but the two grown men could not even make a meal, so they could only start eating with Qian Yuan again.

After Li Xiangwan learned about it, she felt even more awkward and paid even less attention to Li Xiangbei.

Looking at Li Xiangbei's lonely appearance, Lin Yuzhu thought, Comrade Zhou Nan, if you're smart, hurry up and take advantage of this opening!

A melodramatic annual drama unfolded one scene after another in her mind. They returned to the Educated Youth Dormitory in high spirits.

As soon as Lin Yuzhu entered the room, Wang Xiaomei trotted over and asked, "Have you eaten? Do you want me to heat something up for you?"

Lin Yuzhu shook her head, tossed the basket behind her aside, then collapsed onto the kang and said tiredly, "Ah, no need. I already ate."

Huang Xiaomei chatted with her for a few more sentences. When she looked again, Lin Yuzhu was already asleep on the kang. Feeling a little guilty, she thought Lin Yuzhu must have been exhausted by yesterday's ordeal. She stopped bothering her, quietly left, and even pulled the door shut behind her.

After the door closed, Lin Yuzhu slowly opened her eyes and eagerly slipped into her space. She had been thinking about that bag for nearly the whole morning and had only now found time to search through it properly.

She went through the entire bag, not even overlooking the hidden compartments.

After taking everything out, Lin Yuzhu stared at the small pile of Little Yellow Fish and a stack of Big Black Ten on the floor, her eyes gleaming.

Never mind the Little Yellow Fish for now. A stack of brand-new Big Black Ten was already an incredible find.

Lin Yuzhu specifically checked the year. They were from 1953, and several even had consecutive serial numbers.

Lin Yuzhu's heart pounded. Touching the large bump on the side of her head, she thought, This was definitely worth it.

Lin Yuzhu did not know much about collecting currency. She had only learned a little back then from listening to several bosses chat over drinks.

Big Black Ten had great collectible value. The older the year, the more valuable it was, and the condition of the banknotes also had a major effect on their price.

A pristine Big Black Ten had been hyped up to prices ranging from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand. Lin Yuzhu carefully counted the notes. There were a full forty of them, and she grinned from ear to ear.

She had to keep these. When she became an old ancestor, and the younger generations came to pay their New Year respects, she could hand each of them a few. How impressive would that be? Just thinking about it felt wonderful.

Lin Yuzhu wondered whether the two people who had thrown away the bag had traveled through time too. How else had they gotten so many brand-new Big Black Ten?

To some extent, very few Big Black Ten were circulating on the market now. Notes this new had most likely been deliberately collected.

Among the people she knew, the only one with that kind of foresight was the female lead. Lin Yuzhu herself was a transmigrator—could the female lead have been collecting Big Black Ten at the Black Market too?

It was not impossible. Still, it was all guesswork, and no matter how much she thought about it, she could not figure it out.

Lin Yuzhu put the matter aside, stored the money away, and placed it in the Warehouse for safekeeping. If the Warehouse could preserve fresh crops, surely it could preserve some banknotes.

Thinking about it that way, the Warehouse really was such a cute little thing. The system was speechless. One Little Yellow Fish from 1973 could be exchanged at the bank for a little over 260 yuan, but at the Black Market, it had already been driven up to more than 500 yuan, perhaps even higher.

For large transactions at the Black Market, people generally used gold bars. Compared with carrying around a huge bag of cash, the big shots preferred gold bars. They were inconspicuous and convenient.

As for the previous statements from the gold department, those were just for ordinary citizens to hear. More shrewd households also knew to stash gold and would not sell it easily.

The sort of setup in novels where a bag of rice could be exchanged for a gold bracelet was not impossible either. What if someone really did run into a fool?

In short, gold could be traded at the Black Market. As for whose hands it eventually ended up in, that was beyond Lin Yuzhu's ability to find out. Happily, she counted the Little Yellow Fish before her. There were exactly twenty of them.

Lin Yuzhu touched the bump on her head again. It still ached faintly. It was the equivalent of having a one-and-a-half-pound brick smashed at her. Luckily, she had dodged a little. Delighted, she left the space and fell asleep.

She slept deeply and sweetly.

When she woke up, she heard what sounded like an argument in front. She quickly got up to watch the excitement.

Lin Yuzhu arrived a little late. Zhao Xianglan and the Dong Sisters had already gone through one round of arguing.

At this point, Zhao Xianglan could no longer be bothered to maintain her usual image as a caring big sister. She looked ready to tear off all pretenses and said, "This is the rule at our Educated Youth Dormitory. When furniture is bought, everyone has to chip in. If you don't believe me, ask the older educated youths."

"Hmph, I don't care what rules you had before. I'm not listening."

"You bought this junk without even asking us. Why should we willingly accept it?"

"Anyway, I'm not paying."

After saying that, Dong Mimi disdainfully kicked the broken stool missing a leg and added, "So petty. You treat this kind of junk like treasure!"

Zhao Xianglan felt deeply humiliated by her words. Li Xiangwan and Lin Yuzhu had often provoked her before, and now the words "so petty" made all of her resentment explode at once. She shrieked, "You think you're so noble? Then why did you come all the way to the countryside to be educated youths?"

"Wasn't it just because of men?"

"You came all this way just to throw yourselves at them?"

"Pah!"

"Shameless!"

"You put on airs every day, acting like your family is so well-off?"

"If your family is so well-off, why are you clinging to those men?"

"If your family is so well-off, why fuss over the money for a broken table and broken stools? Have you paid back the grain He Yuanfang lent you yet?"

"You're relying on a bit of looks to play dumb and flirt around, and you think everyone else is stupid? I think your family can't even afford to feed its camels, yet you're still pretending to be rich!"

Li Xiangbei and Wang Yang's family backgrounds were practically common knowledge. Everyone knew more or less about them.

The moment Zhao Xianglan finished speaking, the Dong Sisters instantly erupted. Zhao Xianglan's words were like knives, stabbing into their hearts one cut at a time, as though she had ripped away their last shred of dignity and left them furious with shame.