Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

54. Renting an apartment

"You just want food, don't you? People come begging for food every day, it's so annoying. I'm starving myself, how can I give food to others?"

Su Jinru looked at her own attire and realized that she did indeed look almost like a beggar.

Her anger subsided a bit. These days, there are beggars everywhere, and people living in the county town are harassed by them the most.

Can understand.

Su Jinru explained, "Big brother, I'm not a beggar. I have food. Do you want some?"

The other person was about to close the door, but upon hearing the word "grain," they immediately stopped and looked Su Jinru up and down.

Do you have food?

"Yes, I have!"

"How to sell it?"

Su Jinru pointed to the empty house by the door.

"If you rent this house to me for two days, I'll give you a pound of rice."

The man looked at Su Jinru, then at his dilapidated house.

A pound of rice costs six yuan on the black market.

Is his dilapidated house really worth so much money for just two days' rent? Is she lying to me?

The man looked incredulous.

Su Jinru leaned closer, took a handful of rice out of the cloth bag, and held it out to him.

The man's eyes widened.

It really is rice. Because it's new rice, freshly milled, it has a strong rice aroma.

The man took a deep, ecstatic breath.

"I haven't smelled rice in a long time. I never knew rice could smell so good! It's the most fragrant and best thing in the world."

“Take a close look at my rice. The grains are plump, crystal clear, of better quality, and more fragrant.”

"So? Are you interested in renting this place?"

The man nodded quickly, "Rent, rent, rent, of course I'll rent it. I can rent a pound of rice for two days, twenty days, oh no, thirty days is fine too."

"Okay, then take everything out of there and clean it thoroughly, making sure it's not damp."

"Not damp, not damp, very dry."

"Okay, go home and get something to hold rice, then I'll give you the rice."

"Come in, come inside." The man warmly welcomed Su Jinru into his home.

Su Jinru also felt it was inconvenient to be outside, so she followed him inside.

This was a house with a yard, and Su Jinru stood in the yard without going inside.

The man went inside and talked to the people inside. After a while, a woman came out of the house carrying a basin and followed by a child. The man also came out, carrying a scale.

Su Jinru poured all the rice from the cloth bag into the woman's basin.

"This is one jin (500 grams). If you have a scale at home, you can weigh it."

The man weighed it and said it was just right, because he had weighed the basin before and, excluding the weight of the basin, it was exactly the right weight.

The woman was overjoyed as she looked at the white rice.

"Little sister, our surname is Niu, so you can call me Sister Niu and him Brother Niu. What should we call each other?"

"My name is A-Feng." Su Jinru didn't want to tell the other person her real name, so she made one up.

"Ah Feng! I wanted to ask you, do you still have any rice? We'd like to buy a little more."

Su Jinru thought for a moment.

"You want to buy it?"

"Yes, I want to buy it. Do you still have any left?"

How many do you want to buy?

How much do you have left?

Su Jinru had originally promised to sell the rice to Daben Township, but now even that wasn't enough for their dozen or so production teams to share.

But now she needs this Brother Niu's help, and everyone's struggling, so she'll sell some to them! If it can save a few more people, then she'll save a few more.

"Ten catties, one yuan per catty. But I don't have it with me right now, I'll go get it and bring it to you later."

The couple exchanged a glance.

"One yuan per jin is much cheaper than six yuan per jin on the black market. This price is reasonable and within an affordable range."

The two nodded: "Okay, one yuan it is."

Su Jinru: "I've already given you a pound of rice. I need that house by the door now, please clean it up for me."

The couple had smiles on their faces.

"We've piled up some miscellaneous items, we'll clear them out right away, please wait a moment."

Su Jinru: "I have something to do right now. I'll be back in an hour. You can take your time cleaning up! Make sure it's clean. I'll bring you ten kilograms of rice on my way back."

"Alright, alright, one hour is enough. Go ahead and do it! We'll clean up right away."

Su Jinru left the Niu family and went to the post office in the county town.

Su Jinru said to a young female staff member behind the counter, "Comrade, I would like to make a phone call."

The staff member glanced at Su Jinru and, seeing that she was obviously from the countryside, looked at her with disdain.

"One cent per minute."

Su Jinru took out 50 cents and placed it on the counter.

The staff took out a landline phone and placed it on the counter.

"You do it yourself."

"Could you please help me find the phone number for the Daben Township government?"

A staff member tossed a directory of Nanyang County to Su Jinru.

Back then, a township had only one telephone, and a county town had only a dozen or so.

Su Jinru found the phone number for the Daben Township government and started making calls.

The post office staff were surprised that this seemingly unsophisticated woman could read and make phone calls herself.

The call connected, and a man's voice came through.

"Hello, I'm looking for Jin Gui. Is he here? It's very important," Su Jinru said succinctly.

"Wait a moment," the other person said.

They waited for a full three minutes.

The staff would give a reminder every minute.

Su Jinru slapped another 50 cents on the counter, and only then did the staff member stop looking at her with disdain.

Jin Gui's voice finally came from the other end of the phone.

"Hey! Who are you? What do you want?"

“Brother Jingui, this is Aru. I’ve already made the arrangements. It’s four o’clock now. You need to come to the county town before seven o’clock.”

The other party exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Aru, you bought the grain? How many kilograms?"

Su Jinru glanced at the staff member: "This is the post office, it's not easy to talk when there are too many people here, it's over five thousand."

Jin Gui understood: "More than five thousand catties of rice?"

"Yes. I'll give you an address now, you can write it down."

Jin Gui shouted from the other end of the line, "Quickly, bring me paper and pen!"

No. 27, Lihe Road.

“No. 27 Lihe Road, I’ll remember that.”

"Remember, be there before seven o'clock, bring a cart and plenty of militiamen, just in case something goes wrong on the way."

"Aru, thank you, you've worked so hard! I won't say any more, I need to hurry up and get ready."

The phone call lasted five minutes; Su Jinru left five cents and walked away.

No matter when, as long as you have money, you can stand tall.

Su Jinru went to the department store and bought a Plum Blossom brand women's watch, an alarm clock, and some household items, all of which she put into her space.

Then she went to Brother Niu's house, knocked on the door, sold them ten kilograms of rice, and received ten yuan in return.