Chapter 3: The Golden Finger
[Welcome to the Eternal Exchange Market.]
A mechanical voice rang out, but Su He remained quite calm.
She had already transmigrated into a book—at this point, she was unfazed by anything.
A large glowing screen appeared in front of Su He. It displayed various icons: Clothing, Food, Housing, Transportation, General Goods, Electronics, Communications, Books…
Unfortunately, all of the icons were grayed out.
Su He couldn’t even be bothered to click on them. “Just tell me the rules.”
[This exchange market only accepts currency transactions. The exchange rate is adjusted based on the currency issuance date, using the 2022 currency of Huaxia as the baseline. The currency from your current era exchanges at a rate of 1:100.]
Su He raised an eyebrow. So basically… it’s a pay-to-win system!
Too bad the original host hadn’t left her a single cent, and all the financial control of the Su household was tightly held by the old lady—Old Madam Su—who could squeeze water from a stone.
Su He mentally said “close,” and the glowing screen vanished.
She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she suddenly felt much more comfortable. Could it be because the exchange system had activated?
This “golden finger” seemed promising, but only if she had money.
Now the question was: how could she get some?
While pondering that, she stepped into the outer room—thud!
Something dropped and hit her squarely on the forehead.
Su He reached up and wiped it off—instantly feeling horrified.
Only then did she notice a swallow’s nest on the beam above her head. A chubby little swallow had just crawled back into it.
Su He: “…”
Everyone else who transmigrates gets luck like a koi fish; why did it feel like she was possessed by the god of misfortune?!
As she silently grumbled, her gaze was drawn to a splash of red.
Next to the swallow’s nest, there was a red cloth tied around the beam—it was wrapping a copper coin used to ward off evil.
She wasn’t thinking of stealing the good-luck charm itself. Instead, it reminded her that Su Xiaoman had several shuttlecocks (jiànzi), each with copper coins at the base for weight.
If she could get a few of those, the money issue might be solved.
But her relationship with that little girl wasn’t great—asking directly definitely wouldn’t work.
Just then, a little girl with short hair and a tuft sticking up came bouncing out of the west room. It was Su Xiaoman.
Her big deer-like eyes widened as she planted her hands on her hips. “What are you sneakily doing over there? Hiding snacks?”
Su He: “…”
Your whole brain is just about food, huh?
But wait—why did this little girl come out of the west room?
“Second Girl, want to eat a poached egg?”
Su Xiaoman pouted. “Grandma’s the one who controls all the eggs. Where’d you get a poached egg?”
Su He opened the cupboard and took out the bowl with the remaining poached egg.
Su Xiaoman’s eyes lit up instantly. She swallowed hard and reached out for it.
“Wait,” Su He said. “Grandma gave this to help me recover. Why should I give it to you?”
Su Xiaoman rolled her eyes. “I knew you weren’t that kind!”
She didn’t like this so-called long-lost sister one bit. Always walking around with a gloomy face, acting all superior.
Her original sister was way better—she always figured out ways to sneak her treats from under Grandma’s nose.
Su He smiled sweetly. “How about this—your shuttlecocks are really pretty. Let’s trade. One poached egg for ten shuttlecocks.”
Su Xiaoman’s eyes darted around. “Ten’s too many. Five, tops!”
Su He hesitated a little before saying, “Alright, five it is.”
Su Xiaoman ran back to her room and picked out five worn-out shuttlecocks from her treasure box to give to Su He.
The little girl felt secretly thrilled—she thought she’d made a great deal.
Rooster feathers were the hardest part to find. Last time she tried to pluck some from Old Zhang’s rooster, the bird nearly pecked her to death.
Little did she know, Su He was absolutely overjoyed inside.
She had expected to get only one copper coin at best—but ended up with five!
Even though they were all Jiaqing Tongbao coins in rather mediocre condition, money was money. Who needed a bicycle when you could have cash?
Su He kept her word and handed over the poached egg.
Su Xiaoman took a bite and wore a blissful expression. “Poached eggs are sooo tasty! Do rich people get to eat them every day?”
Su He glanced at her and said lazily, “Mm-hmm. One with every meal—and they toss out the ones they don’t eat.”
