Chapter Eight: The Madwoman
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“Here it comes!”
During the day, Ye Fan had set up a small bed in the shop, planning to live there from now on. At this moment, seeing the clasp on the box flicker faintly, he didn’t even have time to put on his slippers before eagerly opening it.
He had been holding in his excitement all day!
Waiting and waiting, the whole day felt like a year had passed without seeing her.
Upon opening the box, the first thing that caught his eye was a blue cloth pouch that looked quite old-fashioned. It was bulging—obviously full of money!
Ye Fan happily picked up the pouch and opened it. Sure enough, there were many copper coins—he counted over thirty! There were also more paper bills, similar to those from the Great Unity era.
He slapped his forehead. “How could I forget? Old currency is valuable too!”
“I have to tell Yao Yao. Next time we go to the city, we’ll exchange some for new bills with consecutive serial numbers!”
As Ye Fan dreamed on, he unfolded a note—and was instantly stunned!
Why had the other party stopped trading?
He hurriedly wrote a note to ask.
The reply came quickly.
“I think selling instant noodles in the city is too exhausting.”
Exhausting?
Ye Fan had chatted with Li Yaoyao before and knew she was one of the educated youth sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, wanting to lead the villagers to prosperity. How could she be complaining of exhaustion after just one day?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
This wasn’t her nature; something must have happened.
Drawing on years of reading online novels, Ye Fan immediately thought of several possibilities.
It must be that batch of goods that caused trouble for her!
He slapped his thigh in regret. The packaging on those instant noodles all had writing on them. The villagers couldn’t read, but in the city, that could be a problem.
What if someone with ill intentions reported them...
The more he thought about it, the more serious it seemed. Ye Fan quickly sent another note.
“Has someone found out about the box? Did the authorities come investigating?”
On the other side, Li Yaoyao closed the box, originally not wanting to deal with Ye Fan anymore. But seeing the box’s clasp flickering more anxiously, she couldn’t help but open it again.
“I just feel that going out to sell things is too tiring.”
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She thought it over and felt selling was dangerous, but she didn’t want to give up the food—after all, the villagers were still hungry. So she added, “Maybe I can think of another way, ask the villagers if they have any old items. I’ll even give you my jade pendant. I really don’t want to go out selling anymore. It’s okay if we have less food.”
Ye Fan felt a bit anxious upon receiving the note. Yao Yao mentioning the jade pendant meant she was in serious trouble.
“Yao Yao, although we haven’t known each other long, we’re friends who can confide in each other. Let’s not talk about selling stuff for now. If you have worries, you can tell me. We’ll figure out a way to get through this together.”
“You see, we’re from two different worlds. What I say, could I even go around telling others? They wouldn’t believe me!”
“Besides, we’re working together now. You can solve the village’s hunger, and I can make money. It’s a win-win. When difficulties come, we should face them together.”
Li Yaoyao read Ye Fan’s sincere words, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face.
“When we were selling instant noodles during the day, a few thugs came over. They wanted to extort management fees and even harassed me and Sister Haiying…”
Li Yaoyao recounted everything that had happened that day, emphasizing that the older brother of one of the thugs, Pi San, was about to be released from prison. She was really afraid of their retaliation.
Reading her note, Ye Fan breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a few thugs—much better than the authorities discovering the box.
“We’ll have to find another way to sell from now on. We can’t just go to the city like this; it makes us easy targets. We should start in the village, helping the villagers grow wealthy first. Then everyone will be willing to stand with you. Even if Pi San comes looking for trouble, they’ll back you up!”
Ye Fan had read many rural life novels and understood the truth behind the saying, “Possessing treasures invites trouble.” Only by becoming strong could one earn more; otherwise, they’d just be easy prey.
Actually, he had many ideas for gaining strength—like becoming famous or climbing on influential people’s coattails—but for now, he thought uniting the villagers was the most practical. Other plans would require further research.
“I’ll have some healing medicine delivered. You can give it to Sister Haiying and Brother Ke’ang.”
Ye Fan paused, then added, “I’ll also buy some pepper spray online. If they dare to come after you, you can use it to defend yourself!”
“Online? What’s that?”
“It’s the internet, a way to send messages and orders across thousands of miles. I place orders with merchants online, and they send me packages by courier.”
“Huh? How do you pay? What if the money gets lost in the mail? What if you pay first and the store doesn’t send the goods?”
“What exactly is this pepper spray you mentioned?”
...
Seeing Li Yaoyao’s questions, Ye Fan couldn’t help but laugh. For someone from the 1980s, many of these terms were completely unfamiliar. He patiently explained for a while, which also helped distract her and ease her fear.
Just then, the delivery guy arrived. Ye Fan had bought several bottles of medicine for treating injuries. At first, he wanted to put them in the box, but then thought better of it. For safety, he tore off the packaging and wrote instructions himself.
“The medicine’s delivered. Hurry and give it to Sister Haiying and the others. Your Brother Ke’ang’s method of using furnace ash to treat wounds isn’t reliable—be careful not to get infected!”
“All right, I’m going now!”
“Stay safe!”
Ye Fan closed the box and remembered how, back in college, he once sent sanitary pads to his online crush. He chuckled to himself.
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He was truly curious about Li Yaoyao. She was so kind-hearted and brave to go alone to the countryside as an educated youth. He admired her deeply.
“Maybe next time ask for a photo?”
In this age, where people want to see a girl’s legs after just ten chat messages, or flirt for a while before asking for nudes, Ye Fan thought a photo was completely normal.
...
Li Yaoyao took the pouch of medicine and stepped outside. It was pitch dark, and she was a little scared. Fortunately, Sister Haiying’s house was at the east end of the village, just a few minutes’ walk.
When she arrived at Yang Haiying’s house, she saw Xue Ke’ang crouched over, digging through furnace ash!
“Sister Haiying, Brother Ke’ang, stop messing around!”
Li Yaoyao placed the medicine on the table. “My... friend sent me some wound medicine recently. You should use this!”
“No way!”
Yang Haiying quickly waved her hand.
In these times, medicine was precious. How could they accept such a costly gift?
“It’s no trouble at all. The instructions are on the paper. Please use it!”
“My friend also said that using furnace ash on wounds isn’t scientific!”
Li Yaoyao’s slender figure darted past Yang Haiying’s hand and ran outside.
“Hey~”
Yang Haiying wanted to call her back but didn’t want to make a fuss late at night. She could only watch as Li Yaoyao’s figure disappeared beyond the yard.
After delivering the medicine, Li Yaoyao felt indescribably happy. She softly hummed a tune as she walked through the dark alley.
Yang Haiying and her husband felt partly compensated for Li Yaoyao’s injury.
Also, singing while walking at night helped her muster courage.
But soon after she left, rounding a corner, she suddenly collided with a madwoman!
“You little bitch!”
The madwoman, hair disheveled, lunged at Li Yaoyao!