The thief swiftly withdrew his hand the moment she spoke.
As Nan Haitao turned, he also sensed the abnormality beside him. His gaze swept over the two men behind him, then looked at Chen Lishu with a hint of confusion.
Seeing the unfriendly stares from the two men, Chen Lishu pretended not to notice their actions. She stepped forward, walked past them, and stood beside Nan Haitao. Pulling her headscarf down a bit, she revealed a surprised expression and said, "It's me, don't you remember? I bought something from you before."
Nan Haitao came to his senses, "Oh, it's you."
Upon seeing that the two genuinely knew each other, the men glared at Chen Lishu and left reluctantly.
Seeing them leave, Chen Lishu's shoulders slumped, and she finally relaxed.
"Thank you just now," Nan Haitao said with a smile to Chen Lishu after the men had gone.
Chen Lishu waved her hand, "It's nothing. Just be more careful when you go out in the future."
Nan Haitao's gaze fell on the handbag in her hand, and thinking of the street corner she had just turned from, he asked with a smile, "Are you going to sell something or buy something?"
Chen Lishu instinctively wanted to say she hadn't done anything, but meeting his knowing gaze, she pulled at the corner of her mouth and reluctantly said, "Selling something."
"Oh?" Nan Haitao raised an eyebrow, seemingly interested in what she was selling.
"What are you selling? May I take a look?"
This person is truly something; Chen Lishu couldn't find a word to describe him, feeling he was a bit too familiar.
Seeing his expectant look, Chen Lishu could only open her handbag a little, revealing a dark blue corner inside. "Work clothes, do you want to buy them?"
Her original intention was to tease him a bit, but unexpectedly, he reached out, grabbed a piece of fabric, fiddled with it, and then nodded, saying, "I can consider it."
Hearing that he wanted to buy, Chen Lishu asked uncertainly, "Really?"
Nan Haitao didn't answer, instead asking an irrelevant question, "So it wasn't actually about your younger brother getting married and needing a sewing machine, but to make these that you bought it?"
Chen Lishu frowned, "Does that have anything to do with you buying clothes?"
Nan Haitao smiled, "Just asking out of curiosity."
After saying that, he then said seriously, "How much are you selling these work clothes for?"
"Eighteen per set plus five feet of cloth coupons, ten yuan for a single piece." Chen Lishu then explained the prices in detail, and finally said, "The price can be negotiated if you buy more."
"However much you have, I'll take it all. What's the lowest price you can give me?"
Take it all? Chen Lishu choked and asked uncertainly, "I have over two hundred sets, you can take them all?"
"Mhm," Nan Haitao replied with a noncommittal hum.
"I don't have many people making them. If you're in a hurry..."
"No hurry, just notify me when they're done."
Seeing that he had gone this far, Chen Lishu said, "Since you're taking them all, I'll definitely give you the most favorable price. Fifteen per set, but the cloth coupons cannot be reduced."
Nan Haitao was surprised that Chen Lishu was so straightforward. He nodded, took out a pen and paper from his shirt pocket, wrote down his address and phone number, and handed them to Chen Lishu. "You can call me if there's anything. I didn't bring enough money today. Tell me your address, and I'll bring the deposit to you some day."
Chen Lishu took the paper he handed her, carefully put it away, and then told him her address. Seeing that he had noted it down, he turned and left.
Chen Lishu still felt like she was dreaming even after walking a considerable distance. Selling over two hundred sets of clothes so easily felt somewhat unreal.
When she reached her doorstep, she happened to meet the postman who was delivering mail. Seeing that the letter was from Gu Xingdong, she was very happy. She thanked the postman and closed the courtyard gate to go inside. Without even taking off her outer coat, she eagerly opened the envelope to read.
As she read, Chen Lishu's delicate brows furrowed unconsciously.
"...A new member recently joined our family, a little yellow cat, about the size of a palm with a tuft of white fur on its chest.
I named it 'Da Wang' (King). It's cute when it's little, but it's a male cat after all, and needs to be a bit more spirited, don't you think? At the same time, I've found that you and it have many similarities. You're both soft to the touch, especially when you open your moist eyes and purr to me, making my heart melt..."
When did she purr?! Chen Lishu no longer bothered to change her clothes. She found paper and a pen and directly wrote a letter back to Gu Xingdong.
First, she briefly described the recent events at home, then she strongly protested his comparing her to a kitten.
After finishing the letter, Chen Lishu couldn't help but feel a bit curious about the 'Da Wang' she had never met.
Putting the letter into the envelope, Chen Lishu got up to change her clothes, washed her hands, and then took out the large bones she had brought from home, planning to boil some stock to make wontons for dinner.
Meanwhile, on the other side, after several days of effort, the Gu family had collected over five hundred catties of grain. To avoid being discovered, the father and sons loaded the grain onto their handcart at night and pushed it to town.
Chen Lishu and Gu Xingping were already asleep. When they heard the knock on the door, they woke up instantly. They pulled the light cord to turn on the light, quickly put on their clothes, and went to open the door.
When Chen Lishu saw the several bags of grain on the cart, she was a little surprised. She then let them put the grain inside, cautiously peeked out along the doorframe, and quickly closed the courtyard gate.
"Besides the grain, there's half a bag of dried goods inside," Gu Xingguo said, pointing to the opening of one of the half bags after the brothers carried the bags into the room.
"Mhm," Chen Lishu nodded, then turned to pour them water. "It must be cold out this late. Dad, eldest brother, please sit down. I'll pour you some hot water to warm yourselves up."
In the twenty-to-thirty-degree-below-zero weather, after walking more than twenty li, the father and sons were indeed frozen.
After drinking the water, their bodies warmed up considerably. Gu Shoufu was the first to stand up. "We have to rush back. This much grain is also hard work. Fourth son, stay behind to help your third sister-in-law."
After seeing Gu Xingye nod, he took his other two sons home.
"Fourth brother, you should get some rest too. We'll talk about anything tomorrow." After seeing them off, Chen Lishu closed the gate and said, and then the three of them returned to their rooms to sleep.
The next day, Gu Xingping went to school. Chen Lishu went to the state-run restaurant where Liu Yong worked. They agreed that Liu Yong would come to see the grain after his shift before setting a price, and then Chen Lishu returned home.
In the evening, Liu Yong arrived on his bicycle. He had initially expected to get maybe one or two hundred catties of grain, but upon arriving and seeing over five hundred catties, he was somewhat dumbfounded, realizing he had spoken too boastfully earlier.
"Sister, this, this is a bit too much."