Yan Xue had heard plenty about this Grandpa Wang, who even bullied children.
He lived not far from the Liu family, and sometimes when Grandpa Liu had extra game from hunting, he would share some with them. That’s why Liu Daniu’s wife had asked him for help.
But this man wasn’t just the type to take without giving—he even stabbed you in the back when it mattered most, which was quite rare.
When Liu Daniu’s wife heard what had happened, she was furious, but she couldn’t exactly go and pick a fight with an elder. To her surprise, the elder took the first shot—as soon as he got home, he started cursing Liu Chuncai and Yan Xue, accusing them of trying to steal his business. A classic case of the guilty party filing the first complaint.
When word got back to the Liu family, Liu Daniu’s wife was so angry she nearly lost it. After that, whenever she ran into anyone from the Wang family, she couldn’t even muster a polite expression.
Now, the two of them had crossed paths again on the small train. Clearly, Grandpa Wang was heading to town to sell his goods again. Yan Xue kept a faint smile on her face, revealing nothing.
Grandpa Wang recognized Yan Xue too. He snorted coldly, then sat down and dropped his woven basket by his feet with a heavy thud, nearly cracking the floor.
Just as he set it down, the train attendant came by. "It’s crowded at the end of the year. If you can put your things on the rack or under the seat, please do." His eyes immediately landed on the old man’s basket.
Grandpa Wang had no choice but to lift the basket onto the overhead rack. The attendant then pointed at the sacks on the floor. "Whose are these? Move them too."
The sacks were too heavy to lift up, so Yan Xue simply laid them flat and shoved them under the seat.
The attendant said nothing more, only reminding everyone to keep an eye on their belongings before moving on. But Grandpa Wang’s gaze lingered on the sacks. "Are those pine nuts?"
Yan Xue smiled. "Don’t worry, I won’t steal your business."
"You wouldn’t have the skill anyway," the old man huffed, his face sour as he fell silent.
The train was indeed packed at year’s end. After just two stops, even the aisles were full of people, and the constant clucking of poultry made the carriage feel like a miniature market.
When Yan Xue got off, it took considerable effort to haul the two sacks onto her sled and drag them to the door. Getting them down was another challenge.
Seeing her struggle, the attendant quickly grabbed one sack for her.
Yan Xue thanked him and turned to retrieve the second one, only to find Grandpa Wang and a young man already lifting it down. "Can you hurry up? Everyone’s waiting to get off. You’re blocking the way!"
His tone was sharp. After dropping the sack onto the sled, he hoisted his basket onto his back and strode off without another word.
The young man looked awkward. Yan Xue gave him a polite smile. "Thank you." Once he left, she dragged the sled to a corner and carefully inspected everything.
She didn’t believe for a second that Grandpa Wang had helped out of kindness. Even if he was annoyed at her for holding up the line, it wasn’t like him to lend a hand. Yelling and cursing from the train would’ve been more his style.
Sure enough, she found the problem. The sack Grandpa Wang and the young man had carried had a small tear in one corner—about an inch long, with a clean cut, as if made by something sharp. If she hadn’t checked and just dragged the sled away, the pine nuts would’ve slowly spilled out, the small tear making it hard to notice at first.
Did he really think she was some clueless little girl he could mess with however he pleased?
Yan Xue almost laughed in disbelief.
Back in her past life, when she’d worked in the market, she’d seen every dirty trick in the book. She tied a knot around the torn corner of the sack and headed to the purchasing station as if nothing had happened.
A sign outside listed the items they were buying and their prices. Yan Xue scanned it and saw that the most valuable were furs and medicinal ingredients like ginseng, deer antler, bear bile, and gastrodia tuber.
Pine nuts were much cheaper at thirty-five cents per pound. But quantity made up for it—selling both sacks still netted her over forty yuan.
That was nearly Qi Fang’s monthly salary, and it was just her share. No wonder Li Shuwu had rushed his side job so much that it ended up harming Guo Chang’an.
Yan Xue tucked the money away, folded the empty sacks, and tied them to the sled before heading to the supply and marketing cooperative.
This time, she didn’t hesitate—she bought herself a pair of insulated boots first, then fabric and cotton for making clothes and bedding.
She skipped items like towels, washbasins, and thermoses, which she could get at the forestry center’s store. After some mental math, she gritted her teeth and splurged two hundred and fifty yuan on two wristwatches.
The popular "three rounds and a sound" referred to bicycles, sewing machines, watches, and radios. She didn’t know how to use a sewing machine, bicycles were useless in the forestry center, and radios didn’t work during the day without electricity. A small table clock would’ve been cheaper—just a few dozen yuan—but since both she and "Qi Fang" would be out working most of the time, watches were more practical.
She kept the watches close to her body, packed the rest of her purchases into the sacks, and tied them to the sled before making her way to the small market to see if there was anything she could buy for the wedding banquet.
As soon as she entered, she ran into Grandpa Wang again. This time, instead of frozen mushrooms, he was selling black fungus.
A young man stood in front of his stall—early twenties, average height, dressed in the forestry center’s loose blue-gray uniform. He wasn’t bad-looking, but his small, puffy eyes dragged his appearance down, giving him a somewhat dull expression.
The young man squatted there, studying the fungus for a long time without reaching a conclusion. Finally, he asked Grandpa Wang, "Would this be good as a gift?"
Clearly, he was one of the newer hires at the forestry center, still green. Anyone with experience wouldn’t need to buy fungus—they’d find a way to get it themselves.
The old man immediately turned on the charm, picking up his scale. "Perfect for gifts! These are the best spring fungus—thick and hearty, expands a lot when soaked. Not like summer or autumn fungus—you need a whole handful just to get a decent amount, and even then, it’s not worth eating."
Without waiting for the young man to confirm, he scooped up a portion and weighed it. "How’s this? One and a half pounds."
The young man wasn’t much of a talker. Instead of refusing, he hesitated before finally mumbling, "Just one pound is enough."
"One pound? That’s too little for a gift—it’d look stingy."
Grandpa Wang ignored him, already reaching for newspaper to wrap it up. Just as he tilted the scale to pour the fungus, a slender, pale hand reached over and grabbed a handful.
Following the movement, his eyes landed on a familiar petite figure.
Yan Xue sifted the fungus in her hand, her smile playful. "You call this spring fungus?" Her tone teased, as if to say, Nice try.
Grandpa Wang’s heart sank, but then he reminded himself there was no need to worry.
If a forestry worker like this young man couldn’t tell good fungus, what would a little outsider girl like her know? She must’ve found the tear in her sack and was here to pick a fight.
But he wasn’t afraid. She had no proof it was him. If she accused him without evidence, he could just as easily say she was lying.
The old man shot her a sidelong glance. "If it’s not spring fungus, what is it? Autumn fungus?"
He pushed the scale toward her, gesturing for her to put the fungus back. "If you want to buy, wait your turn. If not, scram. This is someone else’s order—you can’t just grab it."
"It’s fine, you can serve this young lady first," the young man said good-naturedly, completely oblivious to the tension between them.
Yan Xue didn’t put back the handful of wood ear mushrooms she was holding. Instead, she examined them with a critical eye. "Why does this not look like spring ear to me?"
"Are you here to pick a fight?" Grandpa Wang slammed the scale back into his bag.
The old man’s raised voice immediately drew the attention of nearby onlookers. Since he was elderly, suspicious glances naturally fell upon the two young people.
The young man, clearly uncomfortable under the scrutiny, lowered his voice in an attempt to mediate. "Let’s talk this out calmly, alright?"
"Am I the one not talking calmly? She’s the one causing trouble!" Encouraged by the intervention, Grandpa Wang only grew louder. "What, you think an old man like me is easy to bully?"
"Maybe this young lady just doesn’t understand—"
The young man tried to explain on Yan Xue’s behalf, but she wore a faint, mocking smile. "I merely asked a question. Why are you so defensive? Could it be I’m right?"
"Don’t talk nonsense!" The old man began cursing.
Yan Xue didn’t interrupt, letting him vent his anger until he ran out of steam. Only then did her smile fade. "Spring ear grows before the hottest days of summer. They’re large, thick-fleshed, gray-black in color, and have a high water absorption rate. Unlike summer ear, which is thin-fleshed, or autumn ear, which is small and absorbs less water. Did I get that wrong?"
Grandpa Wang hadn’t expected her to actually know her stuff. Stunned, he struggled to retort before finally blurting, "So what?"
"Then you should also know that spring ear is the highest quality of the three. Harvesters pick only the mature ones, leaving the smaller buds to grow. Only summer and autumn ear are harvested indiscriminately, big and small together."
Yan Xue might not be an expert in everything, but in her past life, she’d juggled earning a living with caring for her father. Short on time, she’d opened an online store selling mountain goods like honey, wood ear mushrooms, and ginseng.
It was precisely because of her familiarity with these products that she’d asked her grandma’s sister to help arrange a marriage for her, leading her to travel all the way to this freezing northern frontier.
She studied the old man, cutting him off before he could speak. "Let’s say you were too lazy to make a second trip and picked all the mushrooms at once. But these are far too dark in color."
She opened her palm, revealing the unevenly sized mushrooms, their deep black hue unmistakable. By her own description, they didn’t resemble spring ear at all.
Not just the young man who’d nearly bought them, but even bystanders began ignoring Grandpa Wang’s sour expression, pretending to browse while scrutinizing the goods.
Yan Xue dropped the mushrooms back into the pile. "The color doesn’t match spring ear, and the size doesn’t fit autumn ear. These must be the lowest-quality summer ear, right? Selling summer ear at spring ear prices? I wouldn’t dare buy them."
Without waiting for a reaction, she tugged her sled and walked away.
She had no proof about the sack incident earlier, but she hadn’t been planning to confront him over it either. He was the one who’d handed her an opening on a silver platter.
She hadn’t called the crowd either. Whether gossip spread or his business suffered was none of her concern.
Spotting wild boar meat for sale nearby, Yan Xue quickened her steps and pushed through the crowd.
Wild boar couldn’t compare to domestic pork in flavor—especially the lean cuts, which were tough and coarse.
But it didn’t require meat coupons, had no purchase limits, and was cheap. The fatty parts could even be rendered for lard. At just sixty cents a pound, Yan Xue bought over twenty pounds and loaded them onto her sled.
With little else left to buy, she wandered until afternoon before heading back to the forest railway station to catch the small train home.
As she boarded, her thoughts drifted to the ice skates worn by the girl who’d come looking for someone when Shan Qiufang saw her off. That reminded her of Liu Chuncai.
She’d later asked Qi Fang and learned that the Liu family kept their children from skating because Liu Chuncai had once had an older brother who’d fallen through thin ice and drowned.
The main branch’s ice-fishing holes were numerous and larger than those for fishing, making them more dangerous. Unlike Da Qiang—Shan Qiufang’s son—who’d been rescued in time, Liu Chuncai’s brother hadn’t been so lucky. Pulled out too late, he’d died within hours. No wonder the Lius forbade their kids from skating.
Not just the Lius—after that incident, parents everywhere kept a tighter leash on their children. Skating or sledding near ice holes, or on thawing rivers in spring, was strictly forbidden.
But if one wanted to skate, they didn’t necessarily need to go out on the ice…
With over an hour left on the journey, Yan Xue pulled out the notebook where she’d written her shopping list yesterday, propped it on her knee, and began sketching. Unnoticed by her, someone passing by hesitated before stopping in the aisle beside her.
