Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Token of Love the Male Lead Gave Her? She’ll Sell It for Cash Tomorrow! Su Mian and the two children cleaned every nook and cranny of the house, inside and out. The tiny, shabby place was only thirty square meters, yet it took Su Mian nearly three hours to get it clean. Once she was done, Su Mian plopped down on a stool and picked up the palm-leaf fan beside her, fanning herself. It was unbearably hot. Or maybe it was because she was fat—Su Mian was panting hard. She had no idea how the person who’d taken over her body had managed to put on so much weight. That heartless woman! Su Mian could let everything else slide, but why on earth had she made her fat? Just then, someone held out a handkerchief to her. Su Mian looked up and saw Erbao. Her face was a little dirty, but you could still tell she was a pretty, delicate-looking girl. She watched Su Mian nervously, the hand holding out the handkerchief trembling slightly. It was clear how frightened she was of her own mother. A little girl who couldn’t speak, had low self-esteem, and knew her mother didn’t like her. Su Mian couldn’t even imagine how much Erbao had suffered over the years. She reached out to take the handkerchief. Unexpectedly, Erbao instinctively covered her head and crouched down, as though bracing herself for her mother to hit her. Su Mian let out a quiet sigh, then reached out and gently stroked her daughter’s head. Feeling Su Mian’s touch, Erbao slowly lowered her hands and looked at her with curiosity. “Good girl. Weren’t you bringing Mommy a handkerchief? How about helping Mommy wipe her sweat? Mommy’s hands are dirty.” Su Mian smiled at Erbao, keeping her voice as gentle as she could so she wouldn’t frighten her sensitive, timid daughter. This was the first time Erbao had ever heard her mother speak so gently to her. Only four years old, she longed desperately for a mother’s love. Even though her mother often hit and shouted at them, Erbao still wished so much that her mother would love her. So she clutched the handkerchief tightly and raised her hand to wipe the sweat from Su Mian’s forehead. Su Mian narrowed her eyes and smiled at Erbao. “Erbao did such a good job. You wiped all Mommy’s sweat away.” Encouraged, Erbao instantly grew more confident and began wiping the sweat from the other side of Su Mian’s face. Just then, an untimely rumbling sound came from Su Mian’s stomach. She had no idea what lengths that woman had gone to in order to make her fat, but she’d certainly given her a huge appetite. It hadn’t been long since she’d eaten a steamed bun, and already her stomach was growling with hunger. Dabao had heard it too. He immediately went over to the table and brought Su Mian the only steamed bun left. There was just one bun remaining, and it was getting late. It would be hard to go out and find food now. But she couldn’t let the two children go hungry. They were still so young, and they were clearly malnourished, judging by how thin and weak they looked. “Mommy, eat.” When Su Mian didn’t take the bun, Dabao reminded her. Both children were good kids. Although they were afraid of Su Mian, they were still too young to hate their mother. All they knew was that Su Mian was their mother, their only family. Whether or not Su Mian treated them well, they would still love her. So even though there was only one bun left, both children offered their last bit of food to Su Mian. Su Mian’s nose stung. She took the bun, broke off a little piece, and put it in her mouth. Then she split the rest in half and handed one piece each to Dabao and Erbao. “Mommy, eat. I’m not hungry,” Dabao said, refusing to take it. Seeing that her brother wouldn’t accept his share, Erbao naturally didn’t dare take hers either. “Go on and eat. Mommy has a way to get us food. You two eat a little first to tide you over.” As she spoke, Su Mian pressed the pieces of bun into their hands. The children trusted what adults told them, so they took the bun and began to eat. They’d been hungry for a day and a night, with almost nothing to eat besides water. So the few steamed buns and mantou they’d gotten that day were gone in no time. Su Mian searched through her memories, trying to remember if there was anything valuable left in the house that she could exchange for money. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something. She hurried to the corner by the head of the bed and knocked on a brick in the wall. It was hollow. She ran to the other side of the room and grabbed a kitchen knife, then clanged it against the wall a few times. The brick immediately came loose. After pulling it out, Su Mian reached inside—and sure enough, she found something. It was a pocket watch, the “token of love” that the male lead, Lu Zheng, had given Su Mian. Even when things had been at their worst, Su Mian hadn’t been willing to pawn the pocket watch for money. It had been hidden away for so long that Su Mian had almost forgotten about it. Luckily, she’d suddenly remembered that this had happened in the original story. “Babies, we’ll have food now. Mommy will take this pocket watch to sell tomorrow.” Su Mian held the watch in her hand and spoke excitedly. Pocket watches like this were extremely rare. Most were imported, and they were seldom seen in China. Su Mian was already thinking about how much she could get for it. Private businesses were only just beginning to emerge, and most people looked down on private business owners, so few people were doing it. But at the very least, selling things privately was no longer illegal. So Su Mian planned to go to the trading market tomorrow and see if she could sell it. If she could get a little money to solve their immediate food problem, she could then make some small trinkets to sell herself. That ought to be enough to support the two children. Speaking of which, Su Mian had always been exceptionally handy. Whether it was cooking, weaving bamboo baskets, sewing clothes, making hair ornaments, or any other delicate handiwork, she could make anything she tried look beautiful. Back then, Su Mian didn’t even need to do fieldwork to earn work points. Her skillful hands alone brought great returns to the brigade. The person who had taken over her body had only cared about pushing the novel’s plot forward. There was no way she could copy even a fraction of Su Mian’s skills. But now there were no more brigades. Every household fended for itself, and people no longer earned work points. Even ration coupons were gradually disappearing from the market. Looking at the two children gazing at her with bright eyes, Su Mian decided that even if she didn’t sell the pocket watch tomorrow to scrape together some start-up money, she still had to find something to do. But when she looked at her own heavyset body, she couldn’t help thinking it would be hard to find a decent job. After all, the children were still so young. She’d feel safer keeping them by her side. Never mind. Even if she had to sell the watch cheap, she had to get rid of it and solve their immediate problems. But people had no strength when they didn’t eat, so she still needed to find something for them to eat that night. That damn transmigrator had left absolutely no food behind before she went. While cleaning, Su Mian had already searched every inch of the house, inside and out. There wasn’t even a single grain of rice. The neighbors all kept their distance from Su Mian’s family. Borrowing some rice or flour from them was probably out of the question. Everyone living here was desperately poor. They were all struggling to get by—how could they possibly have extra grain to lend Su Mian?