Chapter 9: Asking About Work
The older woman’s family hadn’t tasted meat in a very long time. Whenever she managed to buy a tiny scrap from the market and bring it home, it was never enough to truly satisfy her household’s cravings.
“Sister, how much do you want for all of this?” the matron asked eagerly.
“I’ll need coupons with the cash,” Sheng Wanyan replied. “The brown sugar is one yuan. The game is three yuan per animal—each one is about two pounds. The rice is thirty cents a pound, the white sugar is one and a half yuan, and the fresh eggs are ten cents each.”
Sheng Wanyan quoted her prices smoothly, and the matron instantly knew she wasn’t being cheated. In fact, these rates were practically identical to the standard black market prices, except here she didn’t have to shoulder the terrifying risk of getting caught by a patrol in a dark alley.
Viewed that way, the deal was an absolute bargain. The matron hurried to fetch her private cash stash, bringing out a small hand scale from her room to weigh the goods. In this decade, almost every household kept a scale to ensure they weren’t being shortchanged; when every single grain of rice was considered a precious treasure, accuracy mattered.
The old woman had no intention of letting a single item slip through her fingers. These goods were incredibly rare and difficult to source, and she was far too sharp to pass them up. As she weighed the items, she noted that nothing was short. If anything, the pheasant actually weighed half a pound over.
Sheng Wanyan waited patiently until the verification was complete. The matron handed over the exact cash and coupons, settling the transaction on the spot.
Sheng Wanyan chose not to ask about job openings immediately. She knew she needed to complete one or two more successful transactions before the woman would completely lower her guard.
“Sister, next time…” the matron began, her eyes filled with deep anticipation as she looked at the empty basket. After all, food was life.
“If you’re interested, I can bring another haul around the same time next week,” Sheng Wanyan offered.
“Next week?” the woman pressed. “Could you perhaps make it in two days instead?”
Sheng Wanyan let out a deliberate sigh, rolling her eyes slightly to play the part. “I’ve been running myself ragged trying to help my niece secure a city job lately, so my schedule is incredibly tight.”
She threw the comment out casually, and the old woman paused, a thoughtful look crossing her face. She began mentally scanning her circle to see if anyone was selling a position, but she couldn’t think of any close friends looking to vacate a spot.
However, she did know of someone else in their residential compound. The daughter-in-law of a family living on the floor above her was currently pregnant and secretly planning to sell her factory position. The woman had secured the job entirely through her own merits and connections, rather than inheriting it from her husband’s family or her own parents. Because of this, passing it down to either side of the family would inevitably ignite a massive wave of internal jealousy and resentment. Selling it to an outsider was the only way to avoid a lifetime of family drama.
Furthermore, her husband held a high-ranking position within the factory administration. Since she was facing a difficult pregnancy, her husband was terrified of any medical complications and refused to let her continue working. Given his high status, the extended family didn’t dare to openly protest her decision or force her to hand the position over for free.
Still, the matron wasn’t sure if Sheng Wanyan’s family could actually afford it. Secure city jobs were incredibly rare and commanded a premium.
“Listen, girl, the family living right above me is actually looking to sell a position,” the matron whispered, leaning in.
Hearing this, Sheng Wanyan knew her gamble had paid off perfectly.
“It’s a desk job in the Propaganda Department over at the Cotton Mill,” the woman continued. “The work is straightforward—just drafting articles and writing reports every day. But they have strict educational requirements, and the price tag isn’t small.”
Sheng Wanyan didn’t care about the prestige of the job; as long as it kept her from being sent down to the countryside, she would take anything. “What are they asking for it? My niece is a recent high school graduate.”
Hearing that the niece held a high school diploma, the matron nodded approvingly. That completely satisfied the educational criteria. “Their family is demanding three hundred yuan cash plus fifty kilograms of refined grain. If you don’t have the grain, they want four hundred yuan flat.”
Sheng Wanyan calculated her options. Sourcing fifty kilograms of refined grain from her space was a non-issue, but she was currently short on cash. She only had about eighty yuan on her, meaning she would need a couple of days to gather the rest.
Moreover, she didn’t intend to pull the entire sum from her own secret stash. She planned to “borrow” the money from her father. After all, the Sheng family knew exactly how much allowance the original owner had saved; if she suddenly produced hundreds of yuan out of nowhere, it would rouse intense suspicion.
“Alright, I’ll head back and discuss it with the family,” Sheng Wanyan said decisively. “If we can manage it, I’ll bring the cash and the grain over the day after tomorrow. Regardless of whether we take the job, I’ll make sure to bring a fresh batch of wild game for you.”
The old woman beamed with delight; this was exactly the assurance she had been hoping for. “Wonderful! I’ll be waiting for you right at the building entrance at three o’clock the day after tomorrow.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded, adjusted her bamboo basket, and swiftly made her exit. Finding a secluded alley, she ducked into her space, wiped away the sallow makeup, and changed back into her original clothes.
After counting her earnings, she noted she had cleared 20.5 yuan from the matron, bringing her total real-world cash to 82.1 yuan. In this era, that was a substantial sum. Sheng Wanyan knew she shouldn’t rush; stability and caution were her highest priorities. Slipped into a bamboo storage box within her space, the money was secure. She then pulled three fresh pheasants from her farm stash, arranged them in her basket, and headed home.
The moment she crossed the threshold, Grandpa Sheng’s eyes fell onto the heavy contents of her basket. He knew instantly that she had snuck out to the black market.
“Don’t you dare go back there!” the old man barked, his face darkening. This girl was getting entirely too bold, daring to frequent the black market during such a volatile time.
“Grandpa, I was incredibly careful,” Sheng Wanyan soothed.
“We aren’t starving at home! If you want to eat meat, tell your father to go wait in line at the butcher shop,” he scolded.
Seeing that her grandfather was genuinely furious, Sheng Wanyan quickly offered a compliant smile to calm him down. “Alright, alright, I understand. I won’t go back there.”
Grandpa Sheng shot her a deeply skeptical look. He knew his granddaughter possessed a hidden streak of sheer stubbornness. “Stop making me worry.”
Hearing those words, Sheng Wanyan froze for a fraction of a second. In her previous life, the old patriarch of the Sheng empire had used that exact same tone, saying those exact same words to her when she pushed herself too hard at the office. The memory made her throat tighten.
“What are you just standing there for? You’re going to chop your own hand off,” Grandpa Sheng grumbled, snapping her out of her daze. Seeing her holding a heavy kitchen knife limply, he reached over and snatched it from her grasp. “Get out of the kitchen! Go sit in the living room and rest.”
Sheng Wanyan opened her mouth to argue, but the old man glared her into submission. Defeated, she retreated to the living room to help her grandmother with the mending.
Grandma Sheng, wholly distrustful of her husband’s culinary skills, worried he would ruin the precious pheasants. She abandoned her sewing and hurried into the kitchen to take over. “Step aside, old man. I’ll handle the soup.”
The biggest drawback of living in a crowded, tube-shaped apartment building was that the moment someone stewed meat, the rich aroma would instantly drift through the communal hallways, alerting every neighbor on the floor.
“What on earth is the Sheng family cooking today? It smells incredible!”
“That scent is absolute torture!”
Down the hall, Aunt Li caught the savory aroma, and the coarse, steamed corn bun in her hand suddenly tasted like cardboard. She huffed in frustration. What was so spectacular about eating meat? It wasn’t as if her family couldn’t afford it if they wanted to!
“Grandma, I want to eat meat too,” the little Li family girl sitting across the table whispered, swallowing hard.
“Eat, eat, eat! All you ever think about is your stomach!” Aunt Li snapped, slamming her chopsticks down. “A useless girl wanting meat? Why don’t you ask me for the moon while you’re at it?”
The little girl instantly went quiet, bowing her head to avoid a beating.
When Father and Mother Sheng returned home from their shifts and saw a giant pot brimmed with rich pheasant soup, their eyes locked onto Sheng Wanyan.
“My girl, you have to stop going to the black market,” Father Sheng urged, though he happily fished out a chicken wing and began eating with relish. “If you ever crave meat, just tell me and I’ll find a way.”
Despite his appetite, his heart was anxious. What would they do if she was caught by a patrol?
“I was extremely careful, Dad. I just happened to cross paths with a vendor by pure luck, and no one saw me,” Sheng Wanyan explained smoothly.
Mother Sheng wasn’t mollified by the excuse and shot her a lethal glare, silently ordering her to behave herself.
Sheng Wanyan felt entirely helpless against her mother’s temper. In her previous life, her mother had been a gentle, refined socialite; here, she was a fierce woman who didn’t hesitate to enforce discipline. Facing her mother’s gaze, Sheng Wanyan felt an instinctive urge to shrink back—a clear case of absolute bloodline suppression.
