Chapter 15 – Taken for Granted
After dinner, Lu Xia didn’t bother to clean up the table. Instead, she took a basin and went outside to wash up before returning to her room and lying down to sleep.
She didn’t even “wake up” when Lu Chun and Lu Qiu entered the room.
Of course, Lu Xia wasn’t actually sleeping. It was June, summertime, and it was still early, around seven o’clock, so it wasn’t dark yet.
She simply didn’t want to face them.
Her family probably wanted to give her some time to come to terms with reality, so they let her be.
Yes, she knew that her family always believed she would accept everything calmly because they saw her as a sensible child who never complained. No matter how they treated her, she wouldn’t get angry.
As the eldest, Lu Chun had new clothes, and as a boy, Lu Dong also had new clothes.
So Lu Xia had been wearing Lu Chun’s hand-me-down clothes since she was born.
But by the time it was Lu Qiu’s turn, the clothes Lu Xia had worn were too worn out to be worn anymore, so they had to buy new ones.
Thus, all the children in the family had new clothes except for Lu Xia.
When she was younger, she felt dissatisfied, but her parents’ long-standing favoritism and indifference had made her accustomed to it.
So she couldn’t be bothered to think about it or complain. She became the obedient child her parents wanted her to be.
She used to think that no matter what, her parents loved her, so she was willing to endure and make sacrifices for the sake of the family. But now, such thoughts seemed laughable.
They took her sacrifices for granted and trampled over her without hesitation. Since the original host left, she wouldn’t consider them as her family anymore. Anyway, she didn’t have much time left in this family. She would endure a few more days and treat them as strangers in the future.
That evening, neither Lu Chun nor Lu Qiu spoke after entering the room.
Lu Chun felt a little guilty because she knew that this time it was because of her tearful plea that their mother agreed to give her Lu Xia’s job.
In order to achieve that, Lu Chun had even signed her up for the countryside program herself.
So she felt a mix of emotions, not knowing how to face Lu Xia.
But deep down, she was relieved that she didn’t have to go to the countryside. She also felt happy at the thought of soon having an office job.
As for Lu Qiu, she was still young, only 13 years old this year. She knew about what was happening in the family and that her usually obedient second sister had been b*llied again.
Silently in her heart, she vowed not to be like her second sister in the future. She would hide anything valuable carefully, or else it would be taken away from her.
Lu Xia didn’t care about what the two of them were thinking. After lying down, she pretended to fall asleep and entered the space, checking the stockpile of grains.
She felt fortunate that she had used old burlap sacks to store the grains to save money. If she had used plastic bags, she probably wouldn’t be able to take them out in this era.
She also noticed the numerous vegetables growing in the field and picked the ripe ones.
Setting them aside, she thought about picking all the vegetables in a few days and planting grains instead.
After all, there were too many vegetables, and she couldn’t consume them all. It wouldn’t be cost-effective to grow them. Today, she had inquired and found out that vegetables were only two or three cents a catty, even on the black market. If she bought them from the supply and marketing cooperative, they would be even cheaper. She decided it wasn’t worth it.
In the future, let’s grow more grains. When she gets to the countryside, she can also plant some fruits because, after all, fruits are expensive.
She also thought about the things she had to do tomorrow.
After contemplating in her mind, she finally came out of the space.
The original host’s body was too weak, and she felt tired after walking for a day. So as soon as Lu Xia came out, she went to sleep for a while.
When she woke up, everyone in the family was already awake. Lu Xia didn’t want to face them and was afraid of giving herself away, so she stayed inside.
After a while, when everyone had left, she finally got up.
As expected, when she came out, she saw that there was still food left for her on the table. After eating, she headed to the light bulb factory.
*
Chapter 16 – Transaction
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When she arrived, Director Wang had already arranged for someone to wait for her.
Upon arrival, she was taken directly to complete the procedures.
With Director Wang present, the handover process was swift. Since Lu Xia had not officially started working, many formalities were skipped, and the handover was quickly completed.
Lu Xia’s name for the job acceptance was changed to Director Wang’s niece, Wang Xiaoyu.
After the handover, Director Wang gave her the money and tickets. Lu Xia opened and checked them. The money was just right, and there were plenty of tickets. Finally satisfied, she nodded and left the light bulb factory.
She didn’t mention anything about the possibility of trouble from the Lu family. She assumed he understood, and since he dared to make the purchase, he should be able to handle it.
So she didn’t have to worry about him.
After leaving, she put the money into her storage space. Lu Xia was ecstatic. She didn’t expect the job to be resolved so easily, and now she finally had money in her hands!
After calming down, she headed towards the vicinity of the black market.
Instead of going to the black market immediately, she took a walk around the area first. After two rounds, she noticed a secluded alley next to an abandoned house. It seemed like no one had lived there for a long time, with half of the yard’s walls and house collapsed.
But Lu Xia felt it was perfect. It was secluded, with few people around, and the surroundings were suitable for hiding.
Although it was daytime now and a bit inconvenient, she also couldn’t easily come out at night.
Well, she would have to manage during the daytime and be cautious.
Seeing that there weren’t many people nearby, Lu Xia placed the grains from her storage space in the abandoned yard. She didn’t place them openly but hid them behind intact walls, making them invisible from the outside.
After finishing, she quickly headed to the black market. From a distance, she saw the person from yesterday scanning the area, recognizing Lu Xia in her previous appearance, and immediately running over.
“Miss, you finally came. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Lu Xia’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing his words. “What’s the matter? Did your boss make a decision?”
The person directly replied, “Of course. Yesterday, our boss had a taste of your grains. They are indeed top-quality rice. He also accepted the price you mentioned. Whatever amount you have, he will take it.”
Lu Xia smiled upon hearing this. “Great. I have 1,500 catties of rice, 1,500 catties of flour, and 1,000 catties of corn. If it’s acceptable, we can proceed with the trade. I’ve already arranged for them to be delivered here, and they’re waiting.”
“What? They have already been delivered? Where are they? I’ll go find the boss right away!”
Lu Xia provided the location, and she saw him immediately running off to find the boss.
Lu Xia retraced her steps.
Upon returning to the yard, she was relieved to find that no one had tampered with the grains during her absence.
She also noticed some fallen stones from the collapsed wall and stored a good amount of them in her storage space, just in case.
After a while, a group of people approached, led by a man in his thirties who looked very scholarly, like a university professor. However, seeing the person beside him who Lu Xia had met before showing great respect, she knew that he must be their boss.
Once the boss arrived, he saw the dozens of bags of grains piled up in the yard and smiled with satisfaction before greeting Lu Xia.
“Is this the young lady? Fengzi already informed me. I won’t waste any more time. It’s not convenient during the day, so let’s make it quick. Shall we start with the inspection of the goods?”
This was exactly what Lu Xia wanted. She also knew that it wasn’t convenient during the day, but she had no choice. After all, she couldn’t change the situation too much; it wouldn’t be good if the Lu family found out.
She immediately agreed, “Sure, let’s go with what you said, Big Brother. The delivery personnel on my side are anxious. Once they receive the payment, they have other places to go. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait until tonight.”
Upon hearing her words, the boss gave her a meaningful look and then turned to the people behind him, saying, “Let’s begin.”
**TN
1 Catty – 0.6 Kilogram
Size of Space – 5mu of land – 3333 square meters
Thanks for the chapter (-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥
Thanks for the chapter.
At least she is smart enough to pretend there is someone backing her. I would’ve pretended that I was someone hired to be an intermediary with no relationship in case they manage to track me down (the going to the countryside would have helped the ruse.