Chapter 55: The Courage to Survive

Tang Xin didn't mind at all; she simply said she could go to the commune alone. Of course, Li Sheng wasn't at ease, so he came up with a plan. He borrowed a bicycle from the brigade and had Li Kai take his sister-in-law for a ride to the commune.

That bicycle was the brigade leader’s treasure—the only one in the entire Harvest Brigade. Without Li Sheng’s connections, it would have been impossible to borrow it from the brigade office. So, when Tang Xin stepped outside, she saw Li Kai in the courtyard fiddling with the bike, his excitement comparable to when the two children learned they'd been accepted into school and would receive twenty cents of pocket money each month.

Tang Xin understood well enough. In this era, owning a bicycle was a great source of pride.

“Mother, is there anything you’d like me to bring back for you?” she asked.

Mrs. Fang immediately shook her head. “Just go and enjoy yourself. No need to buy anything for us—don’t waste money. You’re such a thoughtful child, and I know you mean well, but don’t be extravagant. If you have some money, save it. For a woman, having her own private savings is her foundation after marriage.”

She was not her birth mother, yet words like these were more caring than a mother’s. Tang Xin was not annoyed at all by Mrs. Fang’s nagging; instead, she listened with a smile, nodding vigorously. “Yes, Mother, I understand. Thank you.”

She heard and accepted the advice, but whether she would follow it was another matter entirely.

It was rare to have the chance to visit the commune, so Li Kai also brought a basket, planning to buy some necessities for the household. Tang Xin carried a canvas bag, the one she had brought with her when she first came to the countryside. The bag looked small, but it was full of compartments—perfect for her plan to fill it up and claim she bought everything herself.

This was one reason she didn’t want to go to the commune with Li Sheng. She could find an excuse to send her young brother-in-law away and secretly take care of her own business. If she went with her husband—well, she’d be glued to his side the entire time.

So, Tang Xin carried her little basket, tucked her beloved small bag inside, and rode off on the bicycle with her underage brother-in-law, heading not just to the commune, but all the way to the county town.

Yes, not the commune, but the county—that was Tang Xin’s idea. After all, if she was going out, why settle for the commune? The county town would be far more interesting.

This was also part of why Li Kai was so excited. After several days of his sister-in-law’s enthusiastic lectures, he had already come up with countless business ideas in his mind.

He couldn’t wait to see the county town for himself, and if possible, try his hand at some practical experience. After all, hadn’t his sister-in-law said that theory must be put into practice to be truly useful?

Indeed, having a bicycle made a world of difference. With Li Kai pedaling and Tang Xin riding behind him, they reached the commune in less than half the time it would have taken him on foot.

It was Tang Xin’s idea to stop by the commune first to pick up a few things before heading to the county. She still had some ration coupons that were about to expire—if she didn’t use them, they’d go to waste.

Tang Xin handed over five yuan and two meat coupons. “Let’s split up. I want to check at the post office to see if there’s a parcel for me. You go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy meat. Here are two pounds’ worth of meat coupons—use them all. With whatever money is left, buy things that don’t require coupons, like big bones or pig’s feet. Don’t miss out on anything you can get. After you’re done, bring me the change.”

Li Kai was stunned—not because she asked him to return the change, but because he had never held so much money in his life, nor had he ever been told to buy so much meat.

His heart ached at the thought. Two whole pounds of meat! In their family, it would take a year to save up that many meat coupons. Even a strong worker like Old Third Gu would only get a couple of ounces at the end-of-year work-point calculation.

To spend two pounds’ worth all at once? Li Kai thought he might go mad, or maybe he was hearing things and his sister-in-law hadn’t said that at all.

Seeing his bewildered expression, Tang Xin explained further, “These meat coupons are about to expire, so it’d be wasteful not to use them. I saved them up over time.”

Indeed, the original Tang Xin had spent some time saving those coupons, and it was fortunate she’d transmigrated when she did. Otherwise, with the original’s temperament, those coupons and money would have been coaxed away by Meng Jia in no time.

“Hurry and queue up. There will be a lot of people at the supply and marketing cooperative, and if you’re late, there’ll be nothing left.”

She had already asked Li Sheng about this the night before and learned that this was truly an era of scarcity—money was useless without places to spend it. Fresh pork wasn’t available every day at the cooperative, and whenever it was, people fought to buy it.

Fortunately, Li Sheng was well-informed and knew that there would be meat for sale today, so Tang Xin had her little brother-in-law bring her over early in the morning. He also taught her that people in this era preferred fatty meat, so things like bones were less popular and didn’t require coupons.

As Tang Xin listened, she sighed deeply, once again marveling at fate. Without Happy Farm, how long would she survive in this world?

Once she’d sent Li Kai off, she found a secluded corner, focused her mind, and entered Happy Farm.

She’d already decided to take some things out from the farm on this trip—some she’d claim she bought, others she’d say were sent from the provincial capital.

Every time she leveled up, the rewards were diverse and perfectly suited to the trends of this era. With everything the processing workshop produced, she could bring out quite a lot this time: filling pastries and biscuits, rare treats in the countryside; brown sugar, white sugar, all sorts of milk candies and sweets, salt, chestnut cakes, red bean cakes, tofu, and more.

She also took out ten pounds of rice and flour—otherwise, her mother-in-law would never let them eat refined grains together. She prepared a few other things as well and headed to the post office. Her earlier claim about checking for parcels wasn’t just an excuse—she didn’t have enough money or coupons to buy much at once, so she decided to say her family had sent her things.

After a long wait in line, Li Kai finally found his sister-in-law, only to see her arms laden with bags and parcels.

He was nearly frightened to death.

Today, for the first time, he felt truly impressive: he’d bought meat, pig’s feet, big bones, and the vendor threw in some offal because he bought so much. He’d felt quite proud of his own generosity.

But then he saw all the fancy things his sister-in-law had bought—things that looked nice but wouldn’t fill a belly—and he began to worry. When they got home, their mother would surely scold him, not her, for wasting money.

Cautiously, Li Kai said, “Sister-in-law, this should be enough. If you buy any more, we won’t even be able to carry it all.”