In my 40s, the trading system took me flying

Xu Xiaoya stood in front of Xu's mother covered in dust, and her mother was so angry that she almost didn't want to recognize her daughter.

"Xu Xiaoya, look at your face!"

Xu's mother took a towel and wiped Xu Xiaoya's face. Her chubby face was covered with ash, but her big eyes were particularly bright, making it hard to get angry.

Xu Xiaoba, who had been beaten up, subconsciously wanted to protect Xu Xiaoya, but failed to stop her because his butt was too painful.

"Aunt, we took my sister to roast sparrows!"

Xu Xiaoba was afraid that Xu Xiaoya would be punished, so he hurriedly explained. Xu's mother angrily scolded him, "You also know that Xiaoya is your sister? Look at her face. If it was any dirtier, she would go out and beg!"

Xu Xiaoya was not afraid either. She hugged her mother's arm and said, "Mom loves me the most!"

Her little mouth was as if smeared with honey, and her pair of talking eyes were full of affirmation.

Xu's mother couldn't help laughing, and she helped Xu Xiaoya wipe off the black dust on her face.

"You, you, even if I don't punish you, your grandma will punish you!"

Xu Xiaoya shrank her neck.

She believed what her grandmother said. She was very proud of her and seemed to agree that she was a good child who would not be as naughty as other children of her age.

Xu Xiaoya stuck out her tongue, and her face was wiped clean. The outer coat of her clothes was also taken off. She was lying on the kang in her small cotton-padded jacket with floral patterns, and in front of her was the steamed buns that Xu's mother had just made.

Xu Xiaoya pinched the soft steamed bun, tore off a piece and stuffed it into her mouth. The steamed bun made with pepper leaves and lard was so fragrant that it could make your tongue fall off.

Even though the flour was a mixture of two kinds of flour, it still smelled very fragrant. This was because Old Mrs. Xu was afraid that the steamed buns made with coarse flour would hurt Xu Xiaoya's throat, so she sifted it several times to make sure to get the finest flour.

The main focus is on the whole family, and only the one in front of Xu Xiaoya is white flour.

"eat!"

Xu Xiaoya had just taken a bite when she heard the sound of swallowing saliva. She tilted her head and saw Xu Twelve, who was four years older than her. The little guy was so greedy that his saliva was about to fall to the ground, but he didn't even try to snatch Xu Xiaoya's steamed bun.

This is a rule that the Xu family has developed over a year.

Xu Xiaoya is the only girl in the family and the only ancestor who can communicate with the ancestors to exchange for good things. Exchanging things is too harmful to the body, so they spontaneously give the best food to Xu Xiaoya.

Fortunately, Xu Xiaoya is not someone who eats alone. Even if she can exchange things and share a lot of pressure at home, the twelve boys are not a joke.

It is said that the youngsters can make their fathers poor. Although they are not all youngsters, there are twelve grandsons and eight strong laborers.

This family can finish half a bag of coarse noodles in one meal.

The Xu family’s grandchildren may have only tasted the steamed buns made from fine flour, but they have definitely never really eaten enough.

"Give!"

Xu Xiaoya broke off half of the steamed bun and stuffed it into Xu Shier's arms.

Xu Twelve excitedly held the flower roll in his hand, but still refused: "Sister, you eat it!"

Xu Xiaoya waved her hand directly: "I still have some, you have to eat it before you can help me take the beating!"

Xu Twelve: ...

The feeling disappeared in an instant.

Ever since Xu Xiaoya started speaking fluently, it seems that all the brothers in the family have been tricked by her.

Without the psychological burden, Xu Twelve devoured the steamed bun whole, then moved to Xu Xiaoya and said, "Sister, my father said he wants to go to the city. Do you think he can take me with him?"

Xu Xiaoya looked at the wishful thinking Xu Twelve.

She still remembered that the last time she went to the city, she encountered a riot and almost lost her life. She guessed that her uncle and the others had psychological trauma and would definitely not bring the child with them when they went to the city again.

Sure enough, during dinner in the evening, Old Mrs. Xu discussed with her sons that since the Chinese New Year was approaching, they needed to prepare some New Year's goods. The most consumed items were table salt and fine grains, so they needed to go to the city to buy some.

"Mom, this time it's just my brother and I going into the city!"

Xu Laoyao took the initiative to speak.

He was really scared. He was lucky last time, but he might not be so lucky next time.

This time, Old Lady Xu said, "No need. You are all strong laborers. If you go into the city, you might be captured and killed by those cruel soldiers. This time, I will take Xiaoya with me. We will only buy some fine grains and salt. I can carry them!"

Old Mrs. Xu is in good health. A month ago, the villagers went out to purchase supplies. At that time, every household bought a lot. The reason why the Xu family did not have enough salt was because the harvest of cabbage and radishes this year was very good, and Old Mrs. Xu made a lot of pickles.

All the salt has been used up. If we don’t replenish it now, there may not be enough to eat during the New Year.

When the whole family heard that only Old Mrs. Xu was going to the city, they were all unhappy.

Especially since Old Mrs. Xu also wants to bring Xu Xiaoya with her.

To be honest, Xu Xiaoya was indeed shocked at first, but then she figured it out, especially when Old Lady Xu winked at her.

Xu Xiaoya knew what Old Lady Xu was planning. She crawled over to her and hugged her arm: "Let's go see Grandpa!"

After my uncle returned, he bought a lot of delicious food for Xu Xiaoya, which caused Xu Xiaoya's affection for my uncle to increase sharply.

Old Mrs. Xu nodded: "Okay, okay, grandma will take you there!"

No one can change the decision made by Old Lady Xu.

The next day, Xu Laoyao sent them out of the village. When they were about to enter the town, Xu Laotai asked Xu Laoyao to go back, and she carried Xu Xiaoya into the city.

This time, the feeling was obviously much different than the last time I went into the city. Not only were there fewer people on the streets, but most of them were women, children, and the elderly. There were almost no young and middle-aged people.

Old Mrs. Xu did not stay in the town directly.

"My dear grandson, is the money that grandma put in your treasure still there?"

Old Mrs. Xu held Xu Xiaoya in her arms and asked nervously.

Xu Xiaoya nodded. How could the money be lost?

After confirming that all the money in the house was there, Old Mrs. Xu got on the ox cart to the county. It cost her a little money and saved her a lot of effort.

Ox carts are slow, but they are cheap and covered with straw, so they are not too bumpy.

The county is some distance away from the town, and there are some checkpoints on the road. Fortunately, they are not set up by the Japanese. They are just soldiers blocking the road with wooden stakes, and they don’t collect tolls. They all have a lot of paper in their hands, with portraits on them.

"Sir, we are honest farmers, not bandits!"

Someone was detained and knelt on the ground, trying to explain desperately, but was beaten up in return and then thrown into a pile of people aside.

No wonder Old Lady Xu didn't let Father Xu and the others come. These soldiers obviously did it on purpose, because they said they were catching bandits, but as long as they were young and middle-aged men, they were all detained. No matter what they said, it was useless.

Women, children and the elderly were allowed to pass.

Old Lady Xu smeared Xu Xiaoya's little face with soot from the bottom of the pot, and rubbed her hair. After making sure that her overly blessed image could not be seen, she got off the ox cart and passed the checkpoint.

After passing the checkpoint, the ox cart was full of people again, all of them looked sad and couldn't even utter a word to complain.

This was the second time that Xu Xiaoya had witnessed the cruelty of this era. She curled up in Old Lady Xu's arms, her eyes cold.

In my previous life, I had only seen descriptions of this situation in books and movies, but only after experiencing it myself did I realize how severely this era oppressed ordinary people.

It’s hard to live!

No matter how much they sighed along the way, they still had to go on the road they had to go. When the ox cart arrived at the county, everyone on the cart got off and left. Old Mrs. Xu confirmed with the old man driving the ox cart that the old man would not leave the city today and would stay overnight before leaving.

After agreeing to get on the bus at the same place where they got off at noon the next day, Old Mrs. Xu picked up Xu Xiaoya and left.

Although Old Mrs. Xu has always lived in the mountains, she also worked outside when she was young, otherwise Old Man Xu would not be so obedient.

"Let's find a deserted place to take out the mountain products, sell them, and then go buy more!"

This county is much larger than the town. There are not only women, children and the elderly on the streets, but also many young and middle-aged people, and there are many more shops on the roadside.

Smelling the aroma of the food, Xu Xiaoya nodded vigorously.

During this period, Old Mrs. Xu asked Xu Xiaoya to store all the valuable things in the house in the space, and she specially prepared a lot of mountain products for this trip to the city.

Time stands still in the space, so there is no need to worry about food spoiling. Old Mrs. Xu also cooked a lot of meals and kept them in the space, so she doesn't have to buy food when she goes out.

Saved a lot of money.

Although they said they were selling things, they didn't go door to door to sell them. Instead, they went straight to the grocery stores. This place is close to the mountains, and many grocery stores sell mountain products, and the prices they offer are quite fair.

As a hunter village, Huaishu Village has a fixed grocery store cooperation. Old Mrs. Xu carried a basket on her back and held Xu Xiaoya in her arms and went straight to the grocery store. Her face was proof that the owner of the grocery store knew her.

"Sister-in-law, why are you here?"

On weekdays, they would go to Huaishu Village to collect mountain products. This was the first time that Old Lady Xu took the initiative to come to the door to sell goods.

"It's the end of the year, and we're running low on coarse salt. We were worried you wouldn't go into the mountains, so we came to your house!"

Old Mrs. Xu had found a reason, so she handed the backpack to the grocery store owner. The owner checked and found that the things were very clean and dried.

"Looking at this stuff, I know my sister-in-law is a very particular person. I won't be polite with you. I'll take all these mushrooms. The price is 20% higher than the last time I went into the mountains!"

The grocery store owner was very happy and took the initiative to raise the price.

Old Mrs. Xu was so happy that she showed her teeth: "Why do we only recognize you, Mr. Huang, and your family? Because of your character, we will sell you the mountain products we get in the future!"

Boss Huang was also happy. After weighing, he asked Old Lady Xu how much coarse salt and fine grains she wanted to buy, and then simply packed them all for her. As a result, the money from selling the basket of mountain products she brought was not enough, and Old Lady Xu even had to add some more.

"Why has the price of salt increased again?"

Old Mrs. Xu paid the money with a heavy heart.

Boss Huang lowered his voice and said, "Who says it's not true? We are also a small business. We can't compete with those salt merchants. They say there is a war in the provincial capital and everything is going up in price!"

Prices change every day.

The price of coarse salt and sugar has really risen like crazy, and ordinary people can hardly afford them.

You can do without sugar, but you cannot do without salt, otherwise you will lack strength.

What a sin!

Old Mrs. Xu was not a vague person. She looked around and bought some things that were missing at home. Her backpack was not even full.

"Sister-in-law, we are old acquaintances. I'm not trying to scare you. Recently, there have been a lot of soldiers coming to our county, and it's very chaotic at night. If you stay at the hotel, you'd better be careful!"

As soon as Boss Huang gave the reminder, he heard a commotion outside.

Then a gunshot was heard.