Backed by her uncle, Xia Xiaolan and her mother were living quite comfortably.
Especially with the harvest season approaching, every rural household was busy gathering crops. The Xia family had more fieldwork than they could handle and no time to cause trouble for Xia Xiaolan and her mother in Qijing Village. Xia Xiaolan’s egg business in town quickly found its rhythm after a few days. Her straightforward manner, striking beauty, and principled yet generous business approach made her well-known – workers at both the Agricultural Machinery Factory and Meat Processing Factory knew about the “Egg Beauty” who had appeared outside their factories selling fresh eggs.
Initially making daily trips to Anqing County, within two days she had sold nearly 2,000 eggs. Though cycling constantly between the countryside and town was tiring, her efforts were fruitful, averaging about 10 yuan profit per day. With limited capital and no connections, Xia Xiaolan could only slowly implement her many money-making ideas. She didn’t think the daily earnings were too little, and Liu Fen was quite satisfied.
In the evenings when Xia Xiaolan returned home, mother and daughter would count the day’s earnings. Emptying the cloth bag onto the table revealed mostly loose change – one-yuan notes, five-jiao notes… the smallest being fen notes. Xia Xiaolan swore she’d never seen as many fen-denominated bills in her previous life as she had these past few days!
Liu Fen organized all the money, feeling like it was a dream:
“Is money this easy to make? Don’t others know about this?”
Liu Fen’s question was good – it showed she was starting to think.
Xia Xiaolan smiled: “Even knowing it’s profitable, not everyone can do this business.”
The 1980s were indeed full of opportunities, but not everyone became a millionaire. When the opportunity came, you needed both courage and luck! Like Xia Xiaolan’s business – surely others in Qijing Village envied it, but firstly, they were tied up with harvesting grain, and secondly, those who had the manpower needed Xia Xiaolan’s do-or-die courage – business always involved profits and losses, and egg trading was not only hard work but also highly risky. What if the eggs wouldn’t sell? What if they all broke during transport? Nearly a hundred yuan in capital could be lost in an instant.
Even if Xia Xiaolan lost money, she could start over – having once risen to an executive position in a multinational company, such small setbacks couldn’t discourage her.
But for rural people in ’83, losing nearly a hundred yuan – money that took half a year to save – would be devastating. How many such losses could those without substantial savings endure?
Xia Xiaolan put away the money, “The egg business won’t be good for much longer. Remember I asked Uncle to help collect eels? I want to try selling them in the provincial capital.”
The Liu family’s paddy fields easily yielded dozens of jin of loaches, crucian carp, and eels – the countryside had plenty of them.
Loaches tasted muddy if not prepared properly.
Paddy-raised crucian carp only became popular in future times – who wanted to eat them now? Oil-consuming, full of bones, little meat… They weren’t even among the “Four Major Domestic Fish,” showing how unpopular they were. The phrase “carp crossing the river” was commonly used to describe trending things, imagine how numerous they were!
Eels were different – they were considered highly nutritious and always commanded good prices.
Even now, they nearly matched pork prices, though they weren’t easy to sell in Anqing County unless taken to the provincial capital.
With crucian carp and loaches selling cheaply, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered with them. She just had Liu Yong tell people in Qijing Village that besides eggs, she was also buying eels. But everyone was busy harvesting rice, and aside from children bringing a few jin to sell occasionally, there weren’t any large transactions. She wasn’t in a hurry – eels could be caught until October.
Even the despised crucian carp and loaches, Xia Xiaolan knew how to prepare.
Though her cooking skills were average, her experience was vast – having eaten all kinds of regional cuisines while entertaining clients.
The loaches and crucian carp Liu Yong had brought home had cleared out their mud and sand. Adding a drop of vegetable oil to the wok, she pan-fried the crucian carp until golden brown on both sides, then added water and simmered on low heat. The fish meat melted into the soup – it just took some effort. Xia Xiaolan had everyone drink the fish soup. She particularly focused on Liu Fen and Taotao – Liu Fen was as thin as a famine victim, and without calcium supplements, Taotao might, unfortunately, take after the Liu family’s height.
She cooked the loaches with chili sauce, adding tofu and garlic sprouts before serving.
The Liu household’s meals were well-arranged, and Aunt Li Fengmei was extremely pleased with Xia Xiaolan.
However, these days Liu Fen couldn’t accompany Xia Xiaolan to town. With mother and daughter staying here, they couldn’t let Liu Yong and his wife handle the rice harvest alone – Liu Fen needed to help too.
“Be careful when you go to town alone.”
Before Xia Xiaolan left, Liu Fen was also heading to harvest rice. They needed to cut the rice stalks before sunrise and thresh the grain – all by hand with no machinery.
“I know, Mom! Don’t work too hard.”
Xia Xiaolan cycled toward town. She had nearly saturated the egg market at both factories these past days – people couldn’t buy so many eggs every day. Carrying over 400 eggs and making two trips to Anqing County daily, today during her second trip she still had about a hundred eggs left after waiting long at the Agricultural Machinery Factory.
Xia Xiaolan decided to try a different location.
She usually avoided shortcuts, but having been delayed selling eggs today, she decided to cycle through a small alley.
She didn’t know that after selling eggs in town for several days, the “Egg Beauty’s” reputation had spread. Being beautiful and carrying cash from egg sales daily, some people were plotting against her.
Xia Xiaolan had grown a bit careless, after all, she’d carried those big scissors for several days without encountering any trouble.
The main street was just beyond the alley. As she pedaled hard, someone grabbed her bicycle basket:
“Sister, why such a hurry? We want to buy eggs!”
The sudden stop nearly threw her off. The basket on the back of the bicycle hit the ground hard, and Xia Xiaolan’s heart ached – who knew how many eggs had broken!
One person quickly blocked her path in front.
Two other men held her bicycle. Xia Xiaolan stood straight, the scissors already gripped in her hand, hidden by her sleeve.
The situation looked bad – three thuggish young men, their lecherous gazes scanning her from head to toe. Though she was covered completely in long sleeves and pants for sun protection, their predatory looks made her feel naked… This clearly wouldn’t end well. Unlike most girls who might freeze in fear, Xia Xiaolan didn’t waste words. She opened her mouth and screamed:
“Help! Thugs are assaulting a woman! Help, they’ve trapped me in the alley!”
Xia Xiaolan’s shrill voice startled the three thugs.
One rushed to cover her mouth, but she jabbed at him with the scissors, making him howl in pain:
“You bitch, you think we haven’t checked you out? You two, hold her down quick! You dare stab me with scissors, you bitch!”
Xia Xiaolan backed against the wall, swinging the scissors while continuing to scream. She kept people at bay, shouting “thugs assaulting a woman” and “help,” with the bicycle as an additional barrier – for the moment, no one could get close.
One thug lost patience and yanked the bicycle away.
Xia Xiaolan kept screaming while smirking coldly. When someone grabbed her wrist, she aimed the scissors at their eyes.
The man pulled back quickly, getting just a scratch on his eyelid. Enraged, he grabbed Xia Xiaolan’s braid, dragging her forward while another knocked the scissors from her hand.
“You bitch, acting like some chaste woman – everyone knows you’re loose! Xia Xiaolan from Dahe Village!”