She quickly ran to the counter, weighed the remaining half bag of White Rabbit creamy candies, and was dumbfounded after: "How is this possible? Why hasn't it decreased?"
Su Xiaoxiao couldn't be bothered to waste time with her and turned to leave with her two younger brothers.
She decided to avoid this supply and marketing cooperative as much as possible in the future, to keep Zhang Dongmei, that mad dog, from biting people at random.
Thinking about the rebate mechanism in the game, Su Xiaoxiao felt a bit better and couldn't wait to get home to study it carefully.
"Finish all your homework first, and then I'll check. I know exactly how many candies you have in your pockets. You're allowed a maximum of two a day. Eat more, and I'll spank you until your butts blossom."
The two little brothers covered their butts, nodding vigorously; why had their third sister suddenly become so fierce?
The Su Family had six members in total. The eldest brother and second brother worked at a steel factory and a towel factory, respectively. They lived at the factories most of the time and only came home on rest days.
The family had three rooms, which were built when their dad was the village head. The west room was shared by the eldest and second brothers. The middle one belonged to Su Xiaoxiao, and the largest, east room, belonged to Liu Cuilan and the two little brothers.
When the eldest and second brothers weren't home, the two little brothers would stay in their room.
After arranging things for them, Su Xiaoxiao turned and entered her own room, sat by the bed, and opened the game interface by tapping in midair.
The colorful game interface unfurled before her, and a string of notification sounds chimed in her ear.
One glance at the bottom right corner, and wow, over 99+ notifications.
What were all these?
Tossing them aside, she opened a message at random.
It was a purchase request: Seeking to buy an old kerosene lamp, price varies between 50 to 200.
Kerosene lamp?
Right now, a kerosene lamp was only one yuan each at the supply and marketing cooperative, and they didn't require any ration tickets.
Su Xiaoxiao felt eager to try, but a pat of her pocket immediately dampened her spirits—she didn't have a cent, let alone a yuan.
Suddenly, she remembered there was a kerosene lamp at home.
Worth a shot!
If she succeeded, she'd be a rich woman; if not, she'd simply remain broke.
With that thought, she dashed into the east room, where the two little brothers were bent over the table, doing their homework, with a kerosene lamp resting in the corner of the table.
At the noise, their first reaction was to hide their homework.
But before they could act, Su Xiaoxiao, with sharp eyes and quick hands, caught them.
"What are you two up to?"
Su Xiaoxiao narrowed her eyes at them, her instincts telling her they were up to no good.
"D-doing our homework." The two little rascals responded in unison.
"Why so guilty while doing homework?"
Her suspicious gaze hovered over them, finally landing on the table corner where Su Jianwu's arm pressed down.
"What are you hiding there? Move your arm."
"Nothing, just my homework."
Sensing something fishy, Su Xiaoxiao pulled out the workbook from under Su Jianwu's arm without hesitation.
At first, she was stunned to see the workbook: "Why are the pages different colors?"
She flipped through it; the booklet consisted of about a dozen sheets, crookedly stapled together. The cover was plain white sheets, with yellowed, coarse straw paper in the middle, and the last few pages were barely-used old newspapers.
Upon hearing this, Su Jianwu immediately boasted, his back straightening: "This semester, my brother was elected class monitor. The classmates gave him these sheets as a gift, so we could staple them into workbooks and save money by collecting once a week. Sis, aren't we smart?"
Su Xiaoxiao rubbed her temples, realizing the two little troublemakers were gathering workbook paper from classmates, one sheet each, to make their own notebooks.
They were so young and already exploiting their positions for personal gain. What would they become when they grew up?
She immediately gave each a knuckle flick on the forehead: "I'll buy you notebooks, don't exploit your classmates anymore."
Then, she noticed the workbook contained an essay titled "My Sister."
Feeling gratified, she thought her affection for these two little brothers hadn't gone to waste.
With a smile, she turned a page, only for her face to darken.
It read: My big sister is twenty years old, with a round face, black braids, and dimples when she smiles...
With a slap, she smacked the notebook onto the table, making it tremble.
"Tell me, how did our big brother turn into a big sister? And a round face? Show me where in our family there's a round face?"
It had to be said, the Su siblings all resembled their mother Liu Cuilan, with uniform oval faces and double eyelids, each more attractive than the last, especially Su Xiaoxiao, renowned as a beauty for miles around.
Finally, blushing, the little brothers confessed they had copied the homework.
After giving them a good scolding and repeatedly warning them to rewrite it properly, Su Xiaoxiao eagerly took the kerosene lamp back to her room.
She opened the interface and sent a friend request to the account that posted the buying message.
The recipient seemed to be online, approving it instantly within two seconds.
Antique Collector: Hi beautiful, do you have a kerosene lamp for sale?
Starving Su: Yes.
As she sent the message, she used the photo function to take a picture and send it over.
Antique Collector: Wow, this one is well-preserved. I'll offer you the highest price, 200. Deal?
Starving Su: Deal.
Just after she sent the message, the other party immediately sent an address.
Antique Collector: Here's the address, I'll give you a 50 down payment; after the goods arrive, I'll pay the remaining 150.
Starving Su: No problem.
In no time, the other party sent a red envelope, and a "ding" sounded as she accepted. Her wallet balance instantly became 51.3 coins.
Staring at the string of numbers, Su Xiaoxiao found it incredible that the received money was directly converted to coins at the currency exchange rate.
This meant a penny from this era could be exchanged for a coin, and a yuan from modern times was only worth one coin, suggesting a currency exchange ratio of 1:100.
She excitedly rubbed her hands together, aimed the kerosene lamp at the shipment interface, and clicked confirm. With a whoosh, the lamp disappeared right before her eyes.
The shipment information updated quickly on the interface, showing the goods had been collected.
Su Xiaoxiao was thrilled, eager to withdraw the coins to test, but after searching, she annoyingly found there was no withdrawal button at all.
Coins could only be spent in the game shop or traded with other users.
Momentarily disappointed, she quickly revived in full spirits. Although withdrawal wasn't an option, the shop contained almost anything imaginable, and even unavailable items could be requested via a global purchase message.
This was just too awesome.
She swiped the game interface, eyes fixed on the eight-coin dish of sweet and sour pork ribs, drooling uncontrollably.
She had only had a dry cornbread bun to eat that day; her craving for meat had reached its peak.
But how was she supposed to explain suddenly appearing with a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs to her family?
As she fretted, someone kicked open her door.
Her mother, Liu Cuilan, stormed in fiercely: "Su Xiaoxiao, where's our kerosene lamp?"
Kerosene lamp? It had already been sent off?
As her gaze inadvertently caught the darkening sky, the expression on Su Xiaoxiao's face slowly froze. Damn, she sold the kerosene lamp; what would they use to light the night?
Watching Liu Cuilan skillfully pick up the feather duster, Su Xiaoxiao quickly and smoothly pleaded: "Mom, let me explain—err, I mean, explain."