Chapter 71: Postage Stamps for Hair Clips

An Yinan pondered for a while, then took a pen from her backpack and spent half an hour sketching and calculating. During this time, Liu Mei went to the State-run Restaurant and brought back a serving of pork stewed with vermicelli, as well as four Steamed Buns.

She asked the girl at the register to watch her spot for a moment, saying she would go later.

"Liu Meijie, please give this to the older woman and tell her I want two job quotas at the Textile Factory: one for a Textile Factory Worker in the workshop and one for an Office Clerk in the office. If the Textile Factory can agree to this, I will give you the second half of the textile craft. If they refuse, it doesn't matter; without me, no one will be able to figure out the second half in three to five years."

An Yinan was very confident when she said these words; that factory did not belong to the older woman, but was a State-run Textile Factory.

She could not demand a share of the profits like she could with a private textile factory.

It was a one-time deal, relying on Liu Mei's connections and the older woman's connections, but it would only be this once.

She wanted to give the Textile Factory Worker job to the eldest daughter-in-law of the Captain's family, who was also Brother Li's wife and Huzi's mother.

Her craftsmanship was impeccable; the clothes she made for Huzi and Mother Li had fine, dense stitches and perfect seams.

Even with her own picky eye, An Yinan could not find any major issues.

Moreover, in Quanshui Village, the Captain's family had taken good care of her; there was not much she could do to repay them, and this was an opportunity.

It was unrealistic to ask her to give the textile craft to the Textile Factory for nothing; now, an exchange between the two was the best possible outcome.

"Alright, I will go to my mother-in-law's place tonight. Next time you come to the County, I will give you an answer," Liu Mei replied happily.

She had not expected that this young girl knew so much and even understood textile techniques; if she were placed in a textile factory, she would be considered a Technician.

"Liu Meijie, I'm going to the State-run Restaurant this afternoon to buy some buns, so I won't be going back with you later." After eating with Liu Mei, An Yinan left.

Everything that needed to be said had been said, and there was no urgent business.

An Yinan went to the Waste Recycling Station. There were not many people in the courtyard this time, and the old man was rarely not lounging on his reclining chair; instead, he was sitting on a wooden chair by the wall, basking in the sun.

"It's cold out, don't fall asleep," An Yinan said as she walked over. After hearing her, the old man pointed toward the backyard.

"The firewood you wanted is all ready; go to the backyard and get it yourself."

An Yinan nodded, "Understood."

When she reached the backyard, this time there was a bronze vessel, two scrolls of calligraphy and painting, and five pieces of porcelain. Outside the large wooden crate, there was also a pile of wood. An Yinan looked at the wood and saw it was all high-quality timber; she didn't recognize many of them, but since they were specifically picked out by the old man, they were naturally not ordinary items.

She first put the antiques into her space, then placed half a bag of rice, half a bag of white flour, twenty buns, one jin of peanuts, and one jin of white liquor inside.

She put all these things into the crate that had held the antiques.

Only then did she carry a pile of wood and walk out. People outside were still picking through things one after another; some young people came hoping to find a bargain, while some elderly people came looking for cheap items.

"I'll leave this wood here; this time I need to find more newspapers to paste on the walls." An Yinan was not shy; she placed the wood casually next to the old man and went to the area with old books to rummage through them, finding a few more complete books on mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

She placed these books by the wood, and as for the newspapers, she didn't bother looking through them, simply moving them over in stacks.

"How many layers of walls are you pasting?" The old man took one look—pasting walls? These newspapers were enough to cover four or five rooms.

An Yinan scratched her forehead, "Where are there more?"

"You still want more?" Fine. The old man's voice was quite loud, and everyone looked over.

An Yinan was a bit helpless, "We built four houses together, and all the bedrooms need to be pasted; I'm not buying them just for myself."

The old man coughed twice to hide his embarrassment, lest this little girl call him out for being ignorant.

"There's a stack behind the door in that room; go move it over."

An Yinan found it and brought the newspapers over. She calculated that not only was it enough, but there would be a little less than half left over, which she could use to wrap things later if she picked the clean ones.

"These, two yuan." The old man pointed at the newspapers and books, then pointed his finger at the wood.

The older women who had been frantically picking out kindling paper heard this and thought it was so expensive; they hurriedly and secretly put back quite a bit...

This old man was quite proud and aloof.

An Yinan didn't say anything, fearing she would anger the aloof old man, and hurriedly handed over two yuan respectfully. After the old man recorded it in his ledger and waved his hand, An Yinan hugged the stack of newspapers, which were almost blocking her eyes.

After walking out of the courtyard, she found a small grove on the side and stored all the newspapers into her space.

It had been over twenty days since she sent the letter to her godmother, and the reply should have arrived, so An Yinan thought about it and went to the Post Office.

"Hello, sister. Is there a letter for An Yinan from Quanshui Village?"

The sister heard the familiar voice and hurriedly looked up. Wasn't this the little girl who gave her the hair clip the other day?

"An Yinan? Yes, yes, yes. Wait a moment, I'll get it for you." The staff member was exceptionally enthusiastic today.

She handed over three letters and three packages directly.

Fine, it seemed these people were determined to keep up with her...

Returning the favors was a bit difficult.

"Um, little girl, do you still want those stamps? No money needed, can we trade for hair clips?" The staff member was a bit embarrassed.

Her showing off had led others to discover the hair clips, which resulted in today's exchange.

From now on, let alone the City, it was estimated that these stamps could no longer be found in the entire province.

"Sure, how does sister want to trade?" An Yinan asked with a smile.

Actually, it didn't matter to her, but those stamps had commemorative value and could be donated later.

"Ten sets for one hair clip?" The staff member was a bit shy.

"Sure, how many are there?" An Yinan was stunned; this was too cheap...

"There are sixty sets..."

Once An Yinan heard this, she thought, fine. Under the cover of a large basket, she quickly took out six hair clips, and each one was different; she rarely made the same thing.

"These are six hair clips."

The staff member was stunned; she hadn't expected it to be so straightforward, and she hadn't expected this little girl to carry hair clips with her—was she going to sell them? Actually, she had been prepared to haggle; originally, trading for five hair clips would have been enough to share among them, but now there were six, and she could even keep one for herself.

"Good, good, good. I'll get the stamps for you right now." The staff member hurried to the storage room and brought out sixty sets of National Mountains and Rivers All Red.

"In the future, if there are new stamps, could you please help me save ten sets, sister? Is that okay?" An Yinan thought about it; she didn't run to the Post Office every time and was afraid of missing the release of some stamps. She didn't care about whether they appreciated in value; she mainly liked collecting things, especially items that witnessed history.

"Of course!" The staff member nodded hurriedly. This was her job, and besides, the little girl was very generous. If she could give her something else later, she would never show off again...