Reborn:1983

Chapter 14: The Egg Beauty

The r****h stewed with the large pork marrow bone was a success. The meat clinging to the bone had practically melted away. The broth was a milky-white, and the r****h pieces were soft and tender, free of tough fibers.

Poured over steaming rice, even six-year-old Tao-tao managed a large bowl. Grown-ups naturally ate even more. Xiaolan insisted on adding a dish of stir-fried duck eggs. Liu Yong reminded her they were her business capital and told her not to make it a habit.

Xiaolan thought that directly offering money for room and board felt awkward; she could only subtly improve the family meals. They couldn’t truly freeload.

Tender chives, freshly cut from the garden, stir-fried with the wild duck eggs. The pungent aroma of the chives masked any potential gaminess from the eggs.

“Just like Xiaolan said, adding a bit of vinegar when beating the eggs makes them so tender and fluffy, almost like chicken eggs!” Li Fengmei praised.

Liu Fen beamed with pride. Everyone said Xiaolan was useless, lazy, and her beauty bred trouble. But Liu Fen had never given up on her daughter. Now, seeing her become sensible brought immense joy.

Xiaolan also found the meals at her uncle's house surprisingly good. While she'd eaten far more luxurious things in her past life, considering the general standard of living in rural China in 1983, Liu Yong’s table was quite generous. This was partly due to Liu Yong’s current earning power and his genuine willingness to care for Xiaolan and her mother.

After the late afternoon meal, Liu Yong headed back to the fields. This time, Li Fengmei went too. Liu Fen wanted to join, but Liu Yong told her to stay home and weave more straw baskets. “Xiaolan’s window to make money is these next couple of days. Don’t delay her plans!”

Xiaolan took the new “28-bar” bicycle out for a spin to reacquaint herself with the controls. In her past life, without elder support, she’d relied on scholarships and sheer grit. She vividly remembered biking dozens of kilometers for work in freezing winters. Later, with promotions came expense accounts and company cars… eventually, her own car. She hadn’t touched this kind of old-fashioned bicycle in nearly twenty years. She was rusty at first, but soon got the hang of it.

Tao-tao watched longingly, but at six, he was far too small to ride alone. Xiaolan could only put him on the rear rack, letting the little boy cling to her waist as she pedaled him around the village. They were stopped by a familiar-looking woman.

“Xiaolan! My Daya said you’re buying eggs? What’s the price?”

Xiaolan dismounted to greet her properly.

“Auntie Chen (Fourth Aunt), yes, I am buying eggs. Seeing how busy everyone is with the harvest, and how easily eggs spoil in this heat before anyone can get to town to sell them, I thought I’d buy them up and take them to the county myself. Of course, I need to earn a little for my trouble. How does 0.12 yuan per egg sound?”

Auntie Chen (Fourth Aunt) frowned. “I heard they sell for 0.15 yuan each in town…”

Xiaolan smiled disarmingly. “Prices in town fluctuate, Auntie. Honestly, sometimes it’s 0.15 yuan, sometimes less. If I can’t sell them all, or if some break on the way, I’m taking a big risk buying too many.”

It was hard to be angry with a smiling face. Who ran a business aiming to lose money? There was always loss and breakage. Besides, Qijing Village was a long way from town. Making the trip normally was one thing, but during harvest, losing half a day was unthinkable! Who had the time?

“Alright, sold! I’ll go home and get the eggs.”

Every household kept a few laying hens; the eggs paid for salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other essentials. Summer, with its abundance of grass seeds and insects, kept the hens plump and productive. Two hens could easily lay over twenty eggs in half a month. Auntie Chen brought Xiaolan more than twenty eggs and was paid on the spot. Word spread quickly through the village that she’d sold eggs to Xiaolan, officially launching Xiaolan’s egg business.

Liu Fen instinctively sped up her basket weaving.

Over the next day and a half, Xiaolan bought up almost all the eggs in Qijing Village, and even people from neighboring villages brought eggs to the Liu house.

Her starting capital was only a little over seventy yuan. She bought nearly 400 chicken eggs and 200 wild duck eggs. She needed to keep some cash on hand, so she temporarily stopped buying.

Liu Fen had never seen so many eggs piled together. The baskets were overflowing—a slightly overwhelming sight.

Liu Fen was deeply worried. What if she couldn’t sell them all? The family couldn’t possibly eat that many! Besides, who in this day and age could afford to spend dozens of yuan—more than a month’s wages for some urban workers—just on eggs?

“I’ll take 200 chicken eggs and 100 wild duck eggs to town tomorrow first.”

Xiaolan wouldn’t have dared buy so many if Anqing County didn’t have its two large factories. With thousands of workers between them, 300 eggs would be easily absorbed—if she could find the right channels. Relying solely on retail was inefficient. Xiaolan pondered finding better sales outlets… Officially supplied eggs were only 1.2 yuan per jin, but supply was severely limited. Not all work unit procurement departments could reliably get the subsidized eggs. The intricacies here were worth exploring.

Late into the night, even Li Fengmei pitched in, weaving baskets, cutting dry straw into short pieces, and stuffing the gaps with chaff to increase stability during transport.

Tao-tao was too excited to sleep, hoping Xiaolan would take him to town. But the little boy was destined for disappointment. Xiaolan and her mother set off at 5 AM.

Two people were safer. With Xiaolan’s striking looks, neither Liu Fen nor Liu Yong felt comfortable with her traveling alone.

The bicycle drastically shortened the journey. By the time they reached their previous egg-selling spot outside the agricultural machinery factory, the sky was fully light. The small market outside the factory was unusually deserted today. The farmers were busy with their fields; no one had time to come to town to sell things.

Xiaolan had barely parked the bike when a previous customer recognized her.

Her looks were memorable, her manner brisk and capable; people who dealt with her once didn’t forget her.

“Oh, back selling eggs again?”

“Auntie! Buying some today? I’ve got chicken eggs this time!”

“Still finishing the duck eggs I bought from you the other day.”

Xiaolan didn’t let a potential customer slip away. “Duck eggs are great for making century eggs or salted duck eggs. But for steaming, boiling, or stir-frying, chicken eggs are best.” She lifted the cover off her basket, revealing rows of neatly arranged eggs, seeming to beckon, “Come eat me!” The woman couldn’t help but swallow. She had salted the duck eggs she bought last time… maybe she should buy a few chicken eggs?

Xiaolan saw the hesitation.

“I usually sell chicken eggs for 0.15 yuan each, but since you’re a regular, I’ll give them to you for 0.14 yuan. The wild duck eggs are the same price as before.” State-run shops sold eggs for 1.2 yuan per jin. Depending on size, that was 8-10 eggs per jin—cheaper than Xiaolan’s price. But only if you could get them! Subsidized eggs were hard to come by!

The woman couldn’t resist Xiaolan’s persuasion and ended up buying ten eggs.

Business picked up as workers cycled in for their shifts. Standing there openly, her appearance naturally drew glances. She’d seize the moment to ask if they wanted eggs? Unlike the furtive country folk who sometimes sold things, she didn’t act like a criminal.

During the factory’s morning rush, Xiaolan sold almost all the eggs she’d brought.

“See? It’s actually pretty safe. Tomorrow, I’ll come to town by myself.” Someone needed to stay home to keep buying eggs. They couldn’t keep imposing on Li Fengmei; she had her own work. Once the nearby villages were tapped out, they’d need to go farther afield. Two people coming to town wasted one person’s labor.

Liu Fen was too shy to hawk goods like Xiaolan. The town runs had to be Xiaolan’s responsibility.

By a little after 9 AM, Xiaolan had sold every egg. She planned to try near the meat processing plant tomorrow. She hadn’t counted the pile of small bills yet, but given her buying price, today was definitely profitable. Despite her best efforts, a few eggs had still cracked—losses were unavoidable.

As the frantic rice harvest began, Xiaolan’s egg reselling business flourished. Some started calling her the “Egg Beauty” . But with that nickname and her rising profile, Xiaolan caught the eye of certain people!