Chapter 45: With Fire Comes Hope

For clothing, there were four items. Yan Yu only dared to sell one.

The door curtains pulled down from her uncle, eldest brother, and Sister Daya’s rooms each sold for 3.4.

The candle holder from Sister Daya’s room sold for 19.

The little straw hat borrowed from the Hu family’s youngest daughter sold for only 1.4. Poor thing, sold for so little, and she’d have to go back and spin a kind lie about it.

Just as Yan Yu was hesitating over whether to sell the little straw mat her mother had laid on the ground, time was up. The Free Market started flashing again.

She clicked in, and Disaster-prone Sister appeared in the video.

“Cough… cough…” The connection had barely established when a string of coughs rang out.

“Sister, what’s wrong? Are you sick?” Yan Yu’s heart tightened.

“The wind’s been strong these past few days… caught a bit of it… cough, cough…” The woman’s complexion was terrible, huddled shivering under Yan Yu’s family’s cotton quilt.

“I’ve taken medicine already, but it’s not kicking in yet.” She forced a smile.

“I have medicine too! For colds! Quick, let’s trade for it!” Yan Yu hurriedly showed her packet of medicine.

“Chinese medicine… cough… has to be boiled… my lighter… won’t spark… cough cough…” The woman spoke with difficulty.

Yan Yu was at a loss, stamping her feet, unsure what to do.

“Xiaoyu, what’s wrong? Something happened?” Li Xuemei noticed her daughter’s anxious face and asked worriedly.

“That Disaster-prone Sister is sick, she looks really bad, her face’s scary pale… She said she already took medicine, probably Western meds… I wanted to trade her this medicine too, no harm mixing… but she says her lighter’s broken… she can’t get a fire started…”

“That won’t do! Sick people need hot water! She can’t be without fire, not in that damp environment… she needs to warm up.” Li Xuemei glanced at the brazier burning strong beside them, and suddenly had an idea.

“Girl, you think this burning charcoal could be traded over?” She wasn’t referring to the uncollected charcoal still in the dirt pile, but the glowing red coals in the brazier.

Trading burning coals?

Yan Yu thought: desperate times, desperate measures. “Let’s try.”

“Sister, grab whatever you can! See if I can trade you these burning coals!” she shouted loudly, afraid the woman, dizzy with fever, wouldn’t catch her words.

“Okay…” Thankfully, though weak, the woman could still manage.

Li Xuemei struggled with two long sticks, trying to pick out big chunks of charcoal from the brazier. After several failed attempts, she finally got a few out.

The fire climbed up the sticks, making her quickly drop them, ignoring the burning pain on her hands.

“Xiaoyu, here.”

Yan Yu ran over. The woman on the other side grabbed two sticks of sausage.

Trade confirmed.

The charcoal on the ground was gone, leaving only two unpackaged sausages lying on the dirt.

There was no time to care whether the sausages were clean.

Yan Yu quickly asked, “Sister, how is it? Did the fire catch?”

“The fire… went out… wuwuwu…” The woman couldn’t hold back any longer, covering her mouth and sobbing.

It was too hard. Just staying alive was too hard.

Li Xuemei couldn’t see, but hearing the tone, she asked anxiously, “Yu, did it work?”

Yan Yu’s eyes brimmed with tears, her voice choked, “Mom… the charcoal got there… but the fire went out…”

“The fire’s out…” Li Xuemei was first disappointed, then suddenly rallied, “Quick! Tell her to blow on it! Don’t cry, we’re not at our wit’s end yet! Try again! Blow, see if there’s any embers left.”

Yan Yu quickly held back her tears and passed on her mother’s words urgently.

The woman on the other side, as if feeling hope, mustered all her strength and blew hard.

Little sparks, faint and flickering.

“There’s something! There really is!”

No need for her to say it, Yan Yu saw it too.

Just then, Yan Lao’er came back from relieving himself.

When nature calls, there’s no controlling it.

“What’s up?” He was still carefree, jogging over to watch the excitement.

“Hurry and grab some dry grass with me!” Li Xuemei ordered urgently.

“Dad! Quick! We need it!” His daughter pressed him too.

Yan Lao’er rushed to yank grass from all around.

While yanking, he wondered, who’s the unlucky one this time? Even grass is this scarce?

Something good? Hah! We’ve got plenty!

Once the dry grass and a small pile of charcoal were traded over, Yan Yu got four more sausages in return.

This time, Li Xuemei was mindful, placing a small basin on the ground.

No more letting the sausages roll in the dirt.

The woman struggled, blowing and fanning with whatever she could find.

Finally… after all her effort, the fire caught.

She fetched two small iron buckets, distributed the charcoal between them, and placed them at her sides.

The firelight lit up her face, driving away the pallor.

“Thank you!” she choked, nearly thinking she couldn’t hold on any longer.

The moment the fire rose, it felt like life itself brightened.

She fetched a metal kettle and a small clay pot, setting them on the glowing buckets.

She twisted open bottled water, pouring one after another.

“We forgot to trade the medicine over too.” Yan Yu regretted, “Sister, let’s do another trade. This time, I’ll give you the rest of the charcoal too.”

In the rush, they’d only traded over part of the charcoal.

They could always burn more charcoal here, but looking at the woman, she clearly needed it more.

“Cough… little sister… what do you want in exchange?”

“Sister, if you have enough water, trade me some. If not, something else is fine. Oh, right! Did your shelf change? Any new stock?” Yan Yu lifted the four medicine packets for her to see.

“Two for colds, two for diarrhea. I think you’ll need both.”

The woman’s face was full of gratitude, “My store… got some bottled water and… cough… an inflatable boat… also canned fruit.”

“Canned fruit!!!” Yan Yu gasped, utterly envious.

At that moment, she understood how the uncle felt whenever he heard about new items in her official store.

She couldn’t help drooling a little.

The woman said, “I’ve got two barrels of water… you can have both… and a can of fruit too.”

She looked a bit embarrassed. She had two cans in total but wanted to keep one for herself. It had been ages since she’d had canned fruit.

When she used to get sick, her mom would always buy her some. Made the medicine feel less bitter…

Yan Yu, after all, wasn’t really a child. Deep down, she was an adult who could read the room.

Besides, the craving on the woman’s face was too obvious.

“Next time for the canned fruit. I just traded fruit juice from the uncle earlier.” Yan Yu gathered up the items, then added, “Sister, these medicine packs have been sitting a while, might not be super potent. I marked the ones for diarrhea to avoid confusion. This is all the charcoal we have left today. My dad just burned it. If you need more in the future, we can supply it long-term.”

“Two barrels of water… hope that’s okay.” Yan Yu mumbled to herself.

Li Xuemei quickly had Yan Lao’er line up all the wooden buckets, jars, and bamboo tubes.

Their biggest goal this time was water. They’d prepared thoroughly.

(End of Chapter)