Chapter 97: Selling Wooden Hairpins and Fridge Magnets

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Selling Wooden Hairpins and Fridge Magnets

Speaking of the missing cat poster, Yun Zhen recalled her endless stream of fortunate encounters. Was there truly an immortal protecting and blessing her from behind the scenes?

She shook her head and sighed with emotion. "To think that I merely went up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables and picked up an inconspicuous wooden bracelet, yet it ended up changing the fate of our entire village. If I couldn’t travel to the Immortal Realm, our family would have frozen to death in that dilapidated house the day we ran out of firewood and food."

The rest of the villagers wouldn’t have lasted more than a few days, either. They would have frozen to death, and their houses would have collapsed! Taoyuan Village would have been reduced to a ghost town! Just thinking about that scenario sent chills down her spine. Fortunately, heaven always leaves a way out.

"No matter which immortal is helping me from the shadows, I am grateful to them for giving us a chance to survive." Yun Zhen brought her palms together, closed her eyes, and silently paid her respects to the great deity of the bracelet.

"Father, Mother, Xiaobao, come try these pastries." Lowering her hands, Yun Zhen distributed the pastries from the giant snack pack to her parents and daughter.

The family of four happily enjoyed the milky pastries and drank the sweet, delicious yogurt. Living inside the tent, they were shielded from the biting wind and freezing snow, while the flames in the stove CRACKLED merrily. They had never felt so secure. No matter how fierce the blizzard outside was, they didn’t feel threatened at all.

After finishing the pastries and yogurt, Yun Zhen returned to her own tent to sleep. Fearing that carrying Xiaobao back and forth would expose the child to the cold, she left her with her parents for the night.

The next day, Yun Zhen woke up early.

The blizzard outside had slightly weakened. The occasional gust of wind still made people shiver, but the snowflakes drifted through the air much more gently than last night’s frantic flurry.

The villagers were already up and had stoked their stoves until the fires blazed brightly, warming up their homes. They brought out the soap the Goddess had brought them to wash their faces, and used the toothbrushes and toothpaste to clean their teeth.

They lived in clean houses. On their beds was the new bedding the Goddess had brought from the Immortal Realm. Though their wooden tables, chairs, and benches were old and worn, they had been wiped completely spotless. The stoves were kept immaculate, and the firewood and coal were neatly stacked. Looking around their pristine environments, the villagers felt they themselves were too filthy by comparison. Thus, everyone began washing their hands and feet thoroughly every single day. They even learned the daily habit of brushing their teeth.

The only exception was their clothes, which were still a bit dirty. However, the garments were stuffed with cotton, effectively blocking the wind and keeping them warm.

"Goddess! You’re awake so early? Are you heading to the Immortal Realm?" Granny Wu stepped out of her house and saw Yun Zhen. With a sincere and reverent expression on her face, she asked out of concern.

"Granny Wu, you’re up quite early too. I’ll be going to the Immortal Realm in a bit," Yun Zhen replied to the old woman with a smile.

The village chief came out to check the weather, his face lighting up with joy. "The weather today is good enough for us to work. Everyone, hurry up and build the stone walls to enclose the tents. Once that’s done, we can finally take a break." He immediately sent his four sons door-to-door to wake everyone up for work.

Yun Zhen returned to her dorm.

After washing up, she went to the cafeteria for breakfast, attended her classes, collected and sold scrap, and finally went to work at the restaurant.

As she was leaving the restaurant, Brother Yang said, "Yun Zhen, there’s a delivery order for University City College of Arts and Sciences today. I’ll give you fifty yuan if you drop it off."

"Sure thing, Brother Yang! You can count on me," Yun Zhen promised.

She was going to earn an extra fifty yuan today! How wonderful!

Carrying the takeout container, she went to the entrance of University City College of Arts and Sciences and placed it on the stone steps. In her other hand, she held a bulging animal-skin sack packed with wooden hairpins, fridge magnets, and two jewelry boxes.

She waited for a long time but didn’t see Su Yue. Not daring to go inside the school to look for her, Yun Zhen felt a bit disappointed. It was her first time going to Jiuzhou Mall, and she didn’t know the way. She had hoped Su Yue would be around to point her in the right direction.

Afraid of delaying her work at Sister-in-law Liu’s place, she found a kind-looking passerby to ask for directions. "Hello, could you tell me how to get to Jiuzhou Mall?"

"Turn left up ahead, then walk straight until you hit the snack street. You’ll see a large gate sandwiched between two yellow buildings. Just go through that gate, and you’ll be there," the helpful woman directed her.

"Thank you!" Yun Zhen expressed her gratitude.

She followed the woman’s directions and soon spotted an extraordinarily bustling street. The aroma of food, mingled with all sorts of strange and foreign scents, floated through the air above the snack street. The vendors here didn’t seem to need to hawk their wares. They simply minded their own business, and customers would approach them on their own to buy things.

On the snack street, Yun Zhen saw starch sausages—the same kind Su Yue had treated her to last time. She also noticed many people holding cups filled with a liquid that looked similar to milk tea, walking out of a shop with a red sign.

She lingered in front of a barbecue stall for a long time.

"It smells so good!" she thought. "The people here are too extravagant! They’re actually using an entire pot of oil just to fry a bunch of vegetable leaves, along with red-and-white meat and other ingredients I don’t recognize. But the smell is just too tempting. What kind of spice is this pungent, yet so mouth-watering?"

Suddenly, a rich, milky aroma wafted over. Yun Zhen looked up. Having learned to read with Mr. Gao, she could now recognize many characters. "Tianxiang Cakes?"

She marveled at how massive and beautiful the pastries were. They came in all sorts of shapes—round, square—and boasted incredibly bright colors! There were even diced fruits and various little snacks placed on top. Experiencing such an eye-opening sight for the first time, Yun Zhen couldn’t tear her gaze away from the cakes.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She didn’t have a single cent on her. Right now, she needed to focus on selling her wooden hairpins, fridge magnets, and jewelry boxes. Once the New Year came around, she would buy a few of these cakes for the village so everyone could share them. For some reason, Yun Zhen felt that these types of cakes were perfectly suited for a large crowd to enjoy together!

"Candied haws?" Yun Zhen then spotted strings of bright red candied haws stuck into a straw pillar. Round, brilliantly red, they looked festive and beautiful.

Ever since she entered the snack street, Yun Zhen’s eyes hadn’t rested for a second. She looked here and there, filled with curiosity and shock, appearing entirely like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. Forcing herself to look away, she reminded herself that she still had no money. She had to sell her goods first!

She passed through a tall, grand gate. Was this the Jiuzhou Mall that the helpful lady had mentioned earlier?

Looking up, she indeed saw an endlessly tall skyscraper standing straight and imposing in front of her. She rubbed her sore neck from staring so high up. Even though she had seen many high-rise buildings in this world, she was still awe-struck by the masterful, almost heaven-defying skills of the craftsmen here! To think they could build a structure this high—if one looked down from the very top, would people look like a swarm of ants? The tallest restaurant in her home county was only five stories high. This building had to be dozens of stories tall. It was too terrifying!

She took a closer look and saw four massive characters "hanging" on the building: "Jiuzhou Mall!"

Just as she expected, the streets flanking the mall were lined with street vendors. There were also people selling small accessories, with a whole bunch of colorful trinkets hanging on display. With people constantly coming and going, this area was even more bustling than the entrance to Su Yue’s school. Perhaps, when the students went home for their holidays, she could bring her crocheted dolls to sell here. They might sell even faster!

Amidst the crowded stalls, she finally found an empty patch of ground. She spread out the yellow cloth she had scavenged and neatly arranged the wooden hairpins from her animal-skin sack in rows, followed by the fridge magnets and jewelry boxes.

An old woman selling popcorn next to her asked, "Young lady, are you selling wooden hairpins? Did you buy these online, or did you make them yourself?"

Yun Zhen looked up and greeted her politely. "Hello, ma’am. I hand-made all these wooden hairpins myself. They’re not bought online."

The old woman kindly advised, "When you set up a stall, you need to write the prices clearly. Young people these days don’t talk much, and they don’t like asking for prices. If your pricing isn’t transparent, how will they know whether your goods are expensive or cheap?"