Chapter 47 (Chapters 56, 57, and 58 Combined)

For Lin Yilan, the first half of 1980 passed by in the blink of an eye.

During this semester, unable to find profitable projects or new plans, and constrained by circumstances at the school and her department, she had stopped taking on design work from outside clients. Instead, she began doing business, just like all those other people who had somehow found themselves back in the 1980s.

Yes, that is correct! You read that right!

Lin Yilan felt like she must have lost her mind; otherwise, why on earth would she be doing business?

Yet, she truly had no other choice.

"Sigh..."

Resting her chin in her hands, Lin Yilan squatted by the roadside, gazing blankly at the endless stream of bicycles on the street as she began to reminisce about the past few months.

The semester had started in March. She had presented the review documents from her previous rural project with the Hong Kong architectural firm to the school and department leaders, ensuring that the private design projects she took on had no quality issues. Officially, she stopped taking outside design work under the "persuasion" of the school leadership. In reality, she stopped because she couldn't secure any projects, and coupled with the fact that making money was much slower than she had anticipated, she decided to quit after careful consideration.

After behaving herself for a month, she requested a few days off from her department during the Qingming Festival in April. Armed with a newly acquired border pass, she took a train all by herself to Shenzhen. Upon arrival, she contacted Shi Hongxing, successfully scaring the wits out of him as he was busy overseeing construction projects there.

It was also at that time she realized that becoming a profiteering "reseller" was not as simple as it seemed. Even if she managed to source goods, there was a high probability they would be confiscated by train conductors along the way. Moreover, that journey exposed her to the raw, untamed nature of this era and the absence of the rule of law, making her feel uncomfortably close to human trafficking and robbery.

"Either you find someone with strong connections, or you grow some guts and aren't afraid of being caught and thrown behind bars. Otherwise, you'd better not even think about bringing goods back to Beijing to sell."

That was the sarcastic remark and warning Shi Hongxing gave her after learning of her naive plan.

Lin Yilan thought about it: she didn't dare ask her grandfather for help, nor did she want to end up behind bars, and she valued her little life far too much. So, she returned to Beijing looking thoroughly defeated, with only a few clothes she had bought for herself.

When summer arrived in May, she began trying to figure out how to get into the snack business, just like the protagonists in other novels.

The problem was that in her past life, she was an overworked corporate slave who only had time for takeout deliveries, and her family didn't even light the kitchen fire once a month. In this life, she had zero talent for cooking...

So how on earth was she supposed to sell food?!

Summoning the indomitable spirit of a cockroach, she finally managed to track down a place where she could source pre-made snacks to sell.

The only catch was that the person supplying those snacks was Du Ronglan.

She hadn't heard that name in almost a year. When Lin Yilan first heard it, she didn't react immediately, only finding it vaguely familiar. But when she woke up startled from her sleep in the middle of that night, she finally remembered that Du Ronglan seemed to be the female protagonist of the novel she had transmigrated into.

She was well aware that she could never go to Du Ronglan to source snacks.

This wasn't a matter of swallowing her pride. If she went to Du Ronglan's family and they recognized her, her grandparents would likely find out soon after, followed quickly by her parents, and then she would be completely finished.

However, Du Ronglan's family made the best-tasting snacks available for wholesale in Beijing. Given how few options there were, if she refused to choose the best one, she might as well forget about doing business altogether.

Thus, she came up with a workaround: hiring someone as an intermediary.

Every time she needed to restock, she hired a person to pose as the boss, while she simply tagged along as an assistant to stay out of the spotlight and avoid drawing attention. Besides, her order volumes were too small to come into direct contact with the actual owner.

Consequently, from mid-May until now—a full month—Lin Yilan had been selling tea eggs.

An old saying went, "Those who make missiles earn less than those who sell tea eggs."

It was precisely this phrase that had inspired her, cementing her determination to sell tea eggs.

"Step right up, come on over—"

"Passing by, don't miss out! Fragrant Beijing-style Du family tea eggs!"

"Catching a train, seeing off friends and family, bring a few tea eggs along to make your journey full of flavor!"

Wearing a straw hat and holding a palm-leaf fan in her hand, Lin Yilan shouted loudly at the top of her lungs.

Today, she had deliberately woken up early to snatch a prime spot near the railway station.

An uncle passing by with a gunny sack stopped right in front of Lin Yilan.

"How much for a tea egg?"

Lin Yilan held up four fingers, "Forty cents."

The uncle gasped, "These tea eggs of yours are way too expensive! Pork only costs a little over seventy cents a jin these days."

Lin Yilan lazily fanned herself, "Uncle, the price of pork you're talking about must be from your hometown. Recently, pork in Beijing has gone up to nearly ninety cents a jin. Besides, these tea eggs are thoroughly braised—each egg has to simmer for better ⅐ of a day, and the braising spices and firewood all cost money. So forty cents each is actually quite cheap."

She adjusted the angle of her straw hat and raised her hand to gesture, "If you buy two, I'll knock five cents off for you; buy three, and I'll knock off a dime!"

Torn with regret, the uncle touched his pocket, "Then give me two. Can buying two get a dime off?"

Nimbly, Lin Yilan picked up two eggs with bamboo chopsticks and dropped them into a plastic bag, "No can do, only five cents off."

"Our prices are all fixed. If I lower it any more, I won't make any profit at all."

After taking the money, she handed the plastic bag to the uncle opposite her, "I specially picked two that absorbed the flavor well for you. You can eat them with rice or steamed buns."

"If they taste good, come back and buy more next time!"

Lin Yilan tucked the collected money into her waist pouch.

After taking a sip of water, she resumed her hawking.

"Come on, come on! Action speaks louder than thought! Take a look at these delicious tea eggs!"

Not far away, an elderly couple and their daughter-in-law were seeing off their son.

"Father, Mother, I'm sorry to trouble you with taking care of things at home during this time. This business trip of mine will take at least half a month." The son clutched his luggage, looking apologetically at his parents and wife.

He then turned to his wife, saying sheepishly, "Juanjuan, I'll have to trouble you to look after my parents as well."

Catching this with her sharp ears, Lin Yilan immediately turned her head to look.

Although the parents and the daughter-in-law had their backs to her, the watch on the son's wrist and the briefcase he carried were clearly not cheap items. Coupled with the poised demeanor of all four of them, they were definitely people of modest wealth.

Sensing that business was coming her way, she raised her voice.

"Heading out on a long trip, seeing off family and friends, walking by don't miss out! Crafted with a century-old secret recipe and carefully selected spices, an everlasting taste that leaves fragrance lingering on your lips—don't miss out on these tea eggs!"

"Tea eggs braised according to a century-old secret recipe!"

The wife among the elderly couple tugged at her husband's sleeve, "Buy a few for our son to take on the train. It's not easy for a young girl to be out here selling tea eggs in the middle of the day."

The young daughter-in-law also took a deep sniff nearby, "These tea eggs smell quite fragrant. Do you want to take a few onto the train?"

The son carrying the briefcase nodded, "Alright, I'll buy a few for the trip. Father, Mother, Juanjuan, do you want any?"

The husband of the elderly couple lowered his voice and said, "Let me check if they're hygienic first."

A smile bloomed on Lin Yilan's face as she felt a big sale coming.

Yet, why did this older gentleman's voice sound strangely familiar?

"The tea eggs here are definitely clean! If you don't believe me, feel free to take a look yourselves." Eager to make a sale, she brushed aside her reservations and stepped forward to pitch enthusiastically.

The four of them really did walk right up to Lin Yilan.

The son, who was paying, lowered his head to inspect the small pot in front of Lin Yilan. After a moment of scrutiny, he nodded with satisfaction, "Not bad, it really is quite clean."

Lin Yilan smiled smugly, "How many tea eggs would you like?"

"You're selling tea eggs, yet you still read and study?" The older gentleman, who had spoken the least, suddenly pointed at the open book resting in Lin Yilan's basket.

Lin Yilan turned her gaze to the book. It was the latest foreign architectural journal she had borrowed from the library.

She silently closed the book, chuckled awkwardly, and muttered, "Well, there aren't customers all the time, so I read whenever I have a spare moment."

The older gentleman continued in a peculiar tone, "Is that so? You must be very diligent then."

"Since you can read English books, why are you selling tea eggs here? With so much free time, shouldn't you be focusing on your studies?"

Lin Yilan scratched her cheek, suddenly feeling an uncomfortable prickly sensation all over. She turned back to the customers intending to buy tea eggs, "Um, are you folks still buying tea eggs?"

The son, who was footing the bill, glanced at his father, wondering why the old man was acting so strangely. He was suddenly being awfully warm and meddling a bit too much.

"Buying, buying! How much are your tea eggs?"

Lin Yilan held up four fingers, "Forty cents."

The son frowned, "That's a bit expensive. Can you make it cheaper?"

Lin Yilan repeated the exact same speech she had given to the previous uncle.

The older gentleman, who had finally quieted down, spoke up once more, "Oh my! You certainly know your market prices. I would have thought people like you only knew how to study all day long."

A surge of anger flared up inside Lin Yilan.

However, the older gentleman's wife shoved his arm, "What are you talking about?! Hurry up and apologize to the young lady right now."

Suddenly, the older gentleman did something completely unexpected to everyone present: he took a few steps forward, squatted down, and said through gritted teeth, word by word:

"Classmate Lin Yilan, didn't you say you were studying?! Why on earth do I see you here at the railway station? And selling tea eggs, no less?"

Caught completely off guard, Lin Yilan lifted her gaze and locked eyes with the older gentleman. When she clearly recognized his face, a whole stampede of alpacas stampeded across her heart.

Good grief, heavens above and earth below!!!!

Why on earth is Professor Wu here?！！！！

She forced out a few hollow laughs, wishing she could curl up into a tiny ball and vanish.

Yet—

Lurching to her feet, Lin Yilan ripped off her straw hat, bowed at a full ninety-degree angle, and said with utmost sincerity, "Professor Wu, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to lie to you."

Sigh, her very first time telling a lie in this life, and not only did it fail miserably, but she had managed to run straight into the exact person she had lied to.