Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Cooperation, The Blooming of the Demon-Banishing Flower, and the Disappearance of the Little Sable

When Xu Lei got home that evening, he found out that Gu Qinghuan had given his wife 150 yuan. He’d originally thought that charging them 100 yuan in total would be enough, so he was surprised to find they’d made an extra hundred.

That night, he rode his bike over to the apartment building.

“Qinghuan, didn’t we agree on a hundred? Why did you give us two hundred?” The money felt hot in his hands—he didn’t dare accept it.

He might not make a lot of money, but his family was getting by. He knew very well what money he should and shouldn’t take.

Gu Qinghuan couldn’t help but smile to herself. These two really were a good match—both honest and upright.

“Uncle Xu, I went to the department store to check. Their pastries are all over one or two yuan per jin, and the Beijing Eight Delicacies start at two yuan. If I only paid you one yuan, wouldn’t you be losing out?”

“That’s because those go through several middlemen, and there’s a markup. The department store makes big money. We’re making them ourselves, so we just pay for the ingredients, and it’s not much trouble. Your aunt made them in just two days. She spent less than seventy yuan on ingredients, and with you paying a hundred, we still make over thirty yuan. That’s already really good.” Xu Lei didn’t treat her like an outsider at all, even telling her the cost.

Gu Qinghuan could only smile helplessly. Why was it so hard to give money away?

“Uncle Xu, let me put it this way. Actually, I’m not buying these pastries to give as gifts. I have a friend who’s in this business—you know what I mean, right? I give him the pastries to sell, so everyone makes some money. It’s mutually beneficial. Since I’m offering you this price, I can guarantee you’ll make a profit, so please don’t refuse. Also, the New Year’s coming up soon. Have Auntie make more and send them over. Let’s all make some money together!”

Of course, this “friend” was just someone Gu Qinghuan made up—she was the only middleman. She said this to put Xu Lei at ease and because she trusted his character.

Hearing this, Xu Lei more or less understood. He privately guessed that Gu Qinghuan’s friend was someone from the black market. People were always talking about crackdowns, but even he sometimes secretly bought things on the black market—otherwise, rationed food alone wouldn’t be enough.

So he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, just worried that Gu Qinghuan might get into trouble.

“Qinghuan, let me ask—can you trust this friend? I don’t want you to get dragged into anything.”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Xu. I don’t handle the sales, I just pass the goods along. Whether he makes a lot or a little is his business, nothing to do with me. Even if he gets caught, it won’t come back to me,” Gu Qinghuan said seriously.

Xu Lei finally relaxed. “That’s good! Alright, Uncle Xu trusts you. Let’s work together. With the New Year coming, earning a bit more means a better holiday.”

“Exactly! Don’t worry, I’ll take as much as you can make. But you have to make sure Auntie knows—quality can’t be compromised, and you have to use good ingredients. Actually, how about this: you can get the ingredients directly from me. I don’t need ration tickets for my supplies, so it’s more convenient. Have Auntie make a list, and I’ll have Lanting bring them over.”

She could just order directly from the vending machine—everything was clean, convenient, and high-quality, and no ration tickets were needed.

“That’s great. Your aunt was just worrying about spending all our ration tickets on pastry ingredients. We make money, but sometimes we don’t even have a ticket when we need one,” Xu Lei agreed readily.

“But if you’re providing the ingredients, the price needs to change. How about this: no matter what we make, we’ll just charge one yuan per jin for processing. If we make a hundred jin, we earn a hundred yuan. Easy to calculate, right?”

Compared to today’s profit on a hundred jin of pastries, he was already lowering his margin.

Gu Qinghuan didn’t stand on ceremony and nodded in agreement.

“Deal!”

“By the way, Qinghuan, are you not planning to go back to the Northeast for New Year’s this year?” Xu Lei asked, puzzled.

Gu Qinghuan was actually thinking about this. She should have gone back already, but things kept coming up, and now Xu Huaian still hadn’t returned. She was starting to worry, so she’d put the trip on hold.

Traveling back to the Northeast alone with two kids would be difficult. Leaving Lanting here to spend New Year’s alone didn’t feel right either—even though Ming Ruxue was around, they were both just teenagers.

She couldn’t stop worrying about the people back in Xujia Village, either. She was torn between both sides.

“I’ll wait a bit longer—let’s see if Huaian comes back first.”

Once they’d settled the pastry business, Xu Lei got ready to leave. Gu Qinghuan gave him a jar of her homemade pickled radish.

She had too many pickled vegetables at home and had already given some to Xiao Fengying and Ou Sumei, but there was still a lot left.

Plus, the vegetables she’d grown in her space had been harvested and stored away.

Speaking of which, she’d discovered a bug: the vending machine’s transfer station was basically a natural refrigerator. She’d been worried that the veggies from her space would rot if not eaten in time, and even a full fridge couldn’t hold them all.

Then she remembered that the vending machine’s transfer station seemed to have a preservation function. She tried weighing and putting the veggies in the transfer station, and as long as she didn’t put them up for sale, they could stay there indefinitely and could be taken out whenever she wanted—super convenient.

Wasn’t this basically a bottomless fridge?

She divided the veggies into two parts: one for her family, and the rest—which Xu Huaian had grown extra—were for the animals in her space.

Gu Qinghuan stored them separately.

After Xu Huaian left, she had to manage the pasture herself, collecting wild chicken eggs, dove eggs, and flying dragon eggs every day.

She’d learned from Xu Huaian to use a strong flashlight to check which eggs could be incubated, then put those back in the nests.

The earliest eggs had already hatched into chicks, little flying dragons, and baby doves. There were dozens of wild chicks, plenty of doves, and about a dozen flying dragons.

With this steady supply of eggs and animals, she’d soon have all the wild chickens and flying dragons she could want.

The rest of the eggs, aside from what her family ate, had piled up—hundreds of them. Gu Qinghuan simply put them all up for sale.

This caused another stir online, with everyone speculating about her identity.

The rabbits were breeding fast, too. There had already been several litters, and she noticed a few more rabbits with suspiciously big bellies—probably pregnant again.

Speaking of rabbits, the one she’d given the three kids was being raised in a corner of the courtyard. Every morning, the first thing the kids did was feed them carrots, wilted leaves, and water.

They even cleaned up after the rabbits themselves, never troubling Gu Qinghuan.

With New Year’s coming, the wild boars in her space were fat and healthy. Gu Qinghuan figured it was time to slaughter one for the holiday.

Wild boar wasn’t as tasty as domestic pork, but after being raised on spiritual spring water, it should be pretty good.

She’d also try slaughtering a wild goat, a deer, and a silly roe deer.

While taking inventory, she suddenly remembered the little sable she’d brought in—she’d completely forgotten about it.

Where had it gone?

Gu Qinghuan searched her space up and down but couldn’t find it. The thing was just too small and easy to overlook.

According to the books, sables are nocturnal and hunt at night, sleeping during the day. That probably explained its disappearance.

Just as she was about to give up, she suddenly noticed a large, round purple flower blooming in the middle of the spiritual spring.

Could this be the demon-banishing flower the King of the Underworld had mentioned?

Curious, she went to take a closer look. Suddenly, a flash of dark brown light shot out from the flower, and something jumped onto her shoulder, startling her.

Looking closely, wasn’t it the little sable?

She’d forgotten all about it since bringing it in. It must have been sneaking spiritual spring water, judging by its sleek, shiny fur and lively appearance. It had even made the demon-banishing flower its own backyard, sleeping inside it.

Gu Qinghuan was both exasperated and amused. She grabbed the little thing and pulled it off.

The sable looked at her with a pleading expression, as if begging for mercy.

Gu Qinghuan held it in her arms, smoothing its fur and threatening, “That flower is very important. You’d better not mess with it, or I’ll stew you! I’ve never tasted sable meat before.”

The little sable seemed to understand, shivering in fear, then jumped out of her arms, ran a few steps, and turned back to signal her to follow.

Unbelievable—this little guy really was something else.

Gu Qinghuan followed to see what it was up to. It ran all the way to the red pine forest and stopped by a big red pine, skillfully digging open a small hole under the tree and crawling inside.

So that’s where it had been hiding! No wonder she hadn’t noticed.

Looking around, Gu Qinghuan saw animal fur and bones near the entrance—was that… a wild rabbit?

This sable really was bold, treating her pasture like its own backyard and even eating her rabbits!

Just as she was about to drag it out, it emerged from the hole holding something.

The little sable placed the object at her feet, looking up at her with a fawning, almost human expression.

Gu Qinghuan’s anger faded. She bent down for a closer look. Covered in dirt and unremarkable, it looked oddly familiar.

Wait—was this… ginseng? Though it had no rootlets, it was clearly ginseng, just missing the root hairs because the sable had damaged it while digging.

Wow, this was a big one—probably a hundred years old. Who knew where it had come from? Maybe it had been brought in with other things earlier.

The little guy even knew how to curry favor—not bad. Gu Qinghuan’s anger vanished instantly. A few rabbits in exchange for a century-old ginseng? That was a great deal.

She carefully wrapped up the ginseng and picked up the sable. “Since you’ve brought me a treasure, I’ll let it go this time. You can eat as many rabbits as you want, just don’t waste them. And don’t mess with my demon-banishing flower again, or I’ll send you back to the wild.”

The little sable seemed to understand, nodding repeatedly.

A sable that could find ginseng? She’d never heard of such a thing.

But seeing is believing—she’d witnessed it herself today.

“Little sable, help me look for more treasures in this forest,” Gu Qinghuan said, greedily hugging the sable.

The little sable yawned—humans were so troublesome.

It ran straight back to its burrow and didn’t come out again.

Gu Qinghuan wasn’t bothered. Happily, she went to bed with her newly acquired ginseng."