"Mm." She would go out and buy some groceries later. Eating like this would take a toll on their health.
She had seen the state of the kitchen. There was indeed very little food, not even any refined grains. The rice in the pot was probably their last bit of it.
"Xingguo, you should eat some too," Bai Jiu said, taking the bowl of porridge.
Bai Xingguo shook his head. "No need. You guys eat. I’m not hungry." He had eaten such good food that morning; he wasn’t really hungry.
It wasn’t like Bai Jiu hadn’t seen him act like this before. The two children had been exactly the same at first—reluctant to eat anything of value.
"If you’re not going to eat, then neither will I," Bai Jiu said. She set her bowl down and stared unblinkingly at him.
Bai Xingguo knew his younger sister well. She had a gentle temperament, but she was incredibly stubborn. If things didn’t go her way, she would dig her heels in until the bitter end.
"Alright, you win. I’ll eat, okay?" He figured he would just eat a little less and add more broth to his portion. It would taste just as good.
Zhengyang and Xiuxiu exchanged a glance. They were all too familiar with Uncle Xingguo acting like this.
"Mother, I want to eat meat. Can you go buy some meat later?" Zhengyang chimed in, playing the part of a naive child asking for luxuries. "I also want pastries. We’ve finished all the ones at home, and I want more."
Not to be outdone, Xiuxiu added, "I want canned fruit! And I want big steamed buns! You can’t forget about me, Mother."
Bai Jiu was deeply moved by her children’s performance, but Bai Xingguo looked troubled.
The family had very few grain ration coupons. Normally, any meat or cloth coupons they received were traded away for more grain coupons. Now that his nephew and niece wanted meat, he genuinely had no way to buy it for them.
"Okay, Mother will go buy some later. You two stay home and take care of Grandpa and Uncle Xingguo, alright?" Bai Jiu smiled and patted the children’s heads, playing the part of a doting mother.
Bai Xingguo wanted to say something, but he was afraid his sister would misunderstand. The best he could do was give her money. However, he was also worried she might do something dangerous, so he offered, "Jiu, why don’t you stay home and look after Father and the kids? I’ll go buy the food."
The black market was no place for his little sister. At worst, he would just have to run to a black market further away and hurry back before Mother and the others returned.
"No need, I’ll go. I have an acquaintance at the supply and marketing cooperative," Bai Jiu replied. "Xingguo, stay home and help me watch the kids and Father. When Father wakes up, it’s best you give him a sponge bath. The fever medication will make him sweat profusely, and if he doesn’t get cleaned up, his condition might worsen."
If her brother went, how was she supposed to use her spatial dimension? She definitely couldn’t let him go.
"Then take this money. If it’s not enough, I have more." Seeing her determination, Bai Xingguo knew arguing was pointless and simply handed over his cash. Besides, his sister had changed. She had never been this assertive before, and he much preferred her new personality.
"Alright." Bai Jiu didn’t stand on ceremony. If she didn’t take the money, he would only feel guilty.
They had plenty of days ahead of them anyway. Since she had the means, she certainly wouldn’t let her maternal family live in poverty. Setting everyone else aside, she was determined to nurse Father Bai back to full, rosy-cheeked health, just like Xiuxiu and Zhengyang.
After finishing her bowl of porridge, Bai Jiu didn’t waste any time. She grabbed a woven bamboo basket and left the Bai’s home.
This place was quite far from the supply and marketing cooperative she used to frequent. One was in the east, and the other was in the south. The town was relatively large, so walking back to the eastern cooperative would take a full two hours. It was as far as walking back to her village. No wonder she hadn’t received much detailed information about the Bai Family earlier, only a general overview.
There was also a cooperative here in the south, and Bai Jiu didn’t plan on walking too far. She would buy whatever she could, and for anything unavailable, she would simply take it from her spatial dimension.
The southern district was quite bustling, and the cooperative was currently packed with people. As soon as she walked in, Bai Jiu noticed it was much brighter than the eastern branch. All the goods were neatly displayed in transparent glass cabinets.
She started by purchasing larger household items like pots, pans, and bowls, as well as towels, since she hadn’t brought the ones from her own home. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were essential, and she also picked up four or five enamel mugs. In the blink of an eye, she spent over sixty dollars, not to mention a stack of industrial coupons. Fortunately, she had an abundance of ration coupons stockpiled in her dimension, so she wasn’t worried about running out.
After sorting out her daily necessities, Bai Jiu moved on to snacks. She bought the maximum allowable quantities of pastries, puffed rice sticks, and the like. Here, these items were strictly rationed per person. Each customer was only allowed to buy three pounds—not an ounce more—even if the store had plenty of stock. Bai Jiu had no choice but to settle for three pounds of each item. Even so, her basket was already half full. Considering everything except the pots and basins were small items, it was clear just how much she had bought.
Staples like grain and meat were completely sold out for the day; there weren’t even any coarse grains left. They had likely been snapped up first thing in the morning. She sighed inwardly at how tough times were.
After buying a few cans of preserved fruit, Bai Jiu left the cooperative.
Finding a secluded spot with no one around, she pulled a fifty-pound sack of rice directly from her spatial dimension, along with a jug of cooking oil. She also took out some meat and five or six soup bones. She only grabbed twenty pounds of flour because she simply couldn’t carry any more. She was going to have to carry the fifty pounds of rice by hand as it was.
Fortunately, she had some unmarked woven sacks in her dimension, though she couldn’t remember how they ended up in there. She also took out a whole chicken and some dried goods, which hardly took up any space.
Once everything was packed up, Bai Jiu hurried back home, carefully avoiding people along the way. When she arrived, Mother Bai and the others still hadn’t returned.
"You’re back!" Bai Xingguo said as he opened the door. Seeing his sister standing there with her large basket filled to the brim, he added, "Why did you buy so much? Quick, hand it to me."
He stepped behind her and took the basket off her shoulders. The moment the weight transferred to him, he nearly dropped it. It was incredibly heavy! Just how much hardship had his little sister endured over the years to be able to carry this?
"Maybe I should carry it," Bai Jiu said, taking in his struggle. She hadn’t expected her brother to be so physically weak.
"No need, no need," Bai Xingguo insisted. He was a grown man, after all. Even though he wasn’t married yet, he was still two years older than her. How could he let his younger sister outdo him?
Bai Jiu was the second oldest child in the family, with two younger brothers below her. As the only daughter, she was heavily doted on by the Old Bai Family. If they hadn’t been constrained by their social status, the Bai Family never would have married her off to Gao Zhijun.
Speaking of which, the Bai Family still didn’t know about Gao Zhijun’s disappearance, and Bai Jiu had no intention of bringing it up. In her eyes, whether this son-in-law existed or not made absolutely no difference.
After shutting the door, Bai Xingguo carried the goods into the kitchen. As Bai Jiu unpacked the items one by one, his eyes grew red and teary. In the past, the family had never lacked things like this. But now, it had been ages since they had even eaten a simple bowl of white rice.
"Jiu, you must be out of money. I’ll have Mother give you some when she gets back," he said. There was no way the dozen or so dollars he had given her could cover all these supplies.
Bai Jiu hadn’t expected her brother’s mind to work so differently from most people’s. Instead of questioning how she bought so much, he was only worried she had emptied her own pockets. "There’s no need, Xingguo. I have money."
She did indeed have money. There was over a hundred thousand dollars sitting in her spatial dimension. In this era, as long as she wasn’t funding any massive business ventures, that amount of money would last her a lifetime.