People in the alley: A woman dressed as a man shouldn't be foolishly filial, Zhuang Chaoying

After tidying up Tu Nan and Xiao Ting and putting them to sleep, Zhuang Chaoying lay in bed, tossing and turning, feeling the emptiness around her.

Without Sister Ling by his side, he really felt a bit out of sorts, and even falling asleep became difficult.

He reached out and set the alarm clock to one in the morning, then placed it beside his pillow. In the quiet night, his thoughts gradually became blurred, and he drifted off to sleep in a daze.

"Ring ring ring!" The alarm clock suddenly rang.

Zhuang Chaoying woke up with a start, hurriedly covered the alarm clock with the blanket, and quickly turned it off, her heart pounding.

Fortunately, the child was a sound sleeper and was not woken up, which relieved him.

He couldn't help but recall watching a TV series where Zhuang's mother was sick and Xiaoting was asked to take care of her. The show even mentioned that children sleep lightly and Xiaoting could take care of her in the middle of the night. Humph, that's all nonsense.

When he was a child, he was so strong that even thunder couldn't wake him up; it's only when a child is asleep that they die.

Zhuang Chaoying put on her clothes and a hat, and carefully locked the door.

Using the original owner's memories, he groped his way through the darkness and finally found the black market.

The guards at the gate saw that he wasn't carrying anything, sized him up, and then let him in.

The rule here is that you don't need an entrance fee to buy things, but you have to pay one cent to sell things.

Zhuang Chaoying walked along a street and saw stalls lined up one after another.

Most of the stalls sold food, like pastries, as well as household items. Work uniforms and leather shoes issued by work units were neatly displayed, along with plenty of grain coupons, cigarettes, and milk powder. There were even radios, televisions, and old furniture—a truly diverse and abundant selection. However, he couldn't find the old item he wanted.

Just as he was about to reach the end of the street, he suddenly saw a man wearing glasses and a liberation cap squatting there, with some plates and bowls on his stall.

Zhuang Chaoying spotted a bronze incense burner at a glance.

[System, how much can I get for this incense burner system?]

[Replying to the host: The Republic-era replica Xuande incense burner is slightly deformed. The system will purchase it for 1,000 yuan!]

Good heavens, a thousand yuan! Zhuang Chaoying was startled and tried her best to calm herself down.

Seeing that he had been staring at him for so long, the middle-aged man asked, "Which one have you taken a fancy to?"

Zhuang Chaoying pointed to the incense burner. "How much does this burner cost?"

"This stove costs five yuan."

Zhuang Chaoying frowned. A day's wage was only a little over one yuan; this was too expensive. "Two yuan!"

The middle-aged man waved his hand. "Why don't you look elsewhere? Are you really serious about buying?"

"Brother, if you're serious about buying, this kind of business is all about negotiation. I've stated my price, and if you don't agree, we can talk about it again!"

"Three dollars and fifty cents, take it if you want, otherwise just keep looking around."

Zhuang Chaoying simply pulled out a five-yuan note and handed it over. "I'll take it, here's your change."

This could earn you nearly a thousand dollars if you resell it; you can't miss out.

Zhuang Chaoying picked up the replica incense burner, weighed it in her hand, and found it to be quite heavy.

The middle-aged man gave him his change. "One dollar and fifty cents, take it. Come back if you need anything else."

After taking the money, Zhuang Chaoying put the incense burner in her pocket and quickly left.

After Zhuang Chaoying walked away, the man next door lit a cigarette and said with a smile to the middle-aged man, "Old Wang, you're open for business today."

The middle-aged man chuckled, his face beaming with pride. "If only there were more people like this! I bought these in the countryside for two cents a piece of scrap, and sold them for three dollars and fifty cents. Haha, I made a killing!"

Zhuang Chaoying was in high spirits after his successful trip, and for safety reasons, he took a detour before going home.

When he got home, he found the children were still asleep. He quietly took off his clothes and lay down on the bed.

[System, that replica Xuande incense burner has been sold.]

[System acquisition successful.]

Immediately afterwards, a thousand yuan appeared in Zhuang Chaoying's hand. Looking at the stack of money in his hand, he thought to himself, "If only I had a place to store all this money."

Could you please keep this money for me?

Yes, it can be stored on the system shelf, which can hold ten items.

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Chaoying thought that being able to deposit ten items was quite good, so she quickly deposited the money and then felt relieved.

,,,,,,,,,

Lin Gong's voice called from outside the door. "Teacher Zhuang, Teacher Zhuang, it's me, Wu Feng."

Zhuang Chaoying was still sound asleep when he was suddenly awakened. He sat up with a start and quickly replied, "I'll be right there, Engineer Lin, please wait for me."

He looked down and immediately blushed, realizing something extremely embarrassing.

He actually experienced the kind of phenomenon that only normal young men would have this morning.

Could it be the effect of that gene-optimized sugar pill?

This sugar pill not only made him feel energetic, but it also restored his youthful physical functions.

Even the situation from this morning has returned to normal?

It's incredible.

Engineer Lin is still waiting for me outside. I don't have time to think about all this nonsense right now. I need to get ready quickly.

No, let's just get dressed and cover up this embarrassing situation first.

He frantically grabbed his clothes and put them on, his heart pounding as if he had done something wrong.

Fortunately, the strange reaction in his body returned to normal within a few minutes. He breathed a sigh of relief, quickly put on the rest of his clothes, tidied his somewhat messy hair, and prepared to go out to meet up with Lin Gong.

Zhuang Chaoying opened the door and saw Lin Gong standing in the yard, his bicycle already parked to the side. "Lin Gong, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"It's okay, let's go!"

Lin Wufeng rode his bicycle with Zhuang Chaoying on the back. The cold wind blew against his face, and he turned up the fur collar of his coat.

Before long, they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative.

There were already quite a few people queuing at the supply and marketing cooperative, and the two of them joined the queue at the back.

They bought some side dishes.

Sitting on the back of Lin Gong's bicycle, Zhuang Chaoying looked at the pedestrians coming and going on the road and thought to herself that she still had to buy a bicycle. It was really inconvenient not having a car, otherwise she would have to trouble others to go grocery shopping together in the morning.

Back in the courtyard, Zhuang Chaoying got out of Lin's car and said, "Thank you, Lin."

"Don't be so polite, we're neighbors. If you keep being so polite, I'm going to get angry."

"Okay, then I won't be polite."

Back in his room, Zhuang Chaoying found that Xiaoting and Tunan hadn't gotten up yet. He checked the time; it was only a little past six, so there was still plenty of time.

He turned around and quietly bought twelve pan-fried buns from the system store, spending four cents.

It's great that the system doesn't require tickets!

He left four for Huang Ling, thinking she would be hungry when she came back from her night shift.

He and his children devoured the rest of the pan-fried buns in no time.

After the children finished eating and went to school, he also prepared to go to work.

When Huang Ling returned, she walked along thinking: I wonder if Chao Ying cooked for the children. I hope the children don't go to school on an empty stomach.

Stepping into the kitchen, I saw fresh vegetables.

Then she opened the pot lid and found that there were actually four pan-fried buns inside.

She was stunned. The money she gave Chaoying was not enough to buy pan-fried buns. What was going on?

Could it be that Chao Ying saved up her food rations at school?

She felt touched but also a little sorry for him, thinking that she would have to give Chaoying ten yuan for food next month. He always helped his family, so it was definitely not enough for him.

Give him another five yuan this month!