The alley's walls were dry one moment and damp the next, and time passed like water. Xiangyu had many ideas for making money, but her body was too small to put them into practice on her own. She knew many people went to the south to bring back trendy items to sell, like jeans and cassette tapes. However, in her previous life at this time, she was too young and clueless, and in this life, she was still unsure. She remembered when stamps were once popular, as well as buying and selling antiques and paintings, but those required expertise. There was also trading foreign currency, but she wasn't sure if it was illegal, and in an era without the internet, it wasn't easy to learn about such things.
In the midst of such ordinary yet fulfilling days, the Spring Festival arrived in the blink of an eye. Everything was supplied based on food coupons, and Grandma had already made preparations, buying fish, meat, eggs, flour, sugar, tofu products, and everything else, sometimes queuing up in the middle of the night, so Xiangyu never saw her when she woke up. Xiangyu still shared a bed with her grandmother, who always warmed her cold little feet between her legs, and Xiangyu could feel her grandmother's soft arms, sleeping especially peacefully.
During the New Year, children were the happiest. Xiangyu's mother bought her a green satin jacket and tied two big red bows in her double ponytails, and even put a red dot on her forehead with lipstick. Xiangyu felt like a New Year doll. What was even funnier was that Zhou Siping's family dressed him in a big red satin jacket and gave him a melon hat. The two of them, hand in hand, were adorable, wandering around the alley, going to their neighbors houses to eat a few candies, and then to Aunt Lu's house to watch TV. The adults and children in the alley laughed and joked, saying that the two of them were a perfect match. Zhou Siping's parents also gave Xiangyu two yuan in a red envelope, while Zhou Siping lingered at Xiangyu's house, eating several pieces of pork belly before being dragged back home by his family. Then, in the evening, the children were sent out to each household to deliver apples, oranges, dumplings, fruit sweet soup, and various other items. After dinner, everyone watched the Spring Festival Gala, and then went out to set off fireworks and firecrackers. The children held string firecrackers and sparklers, while Zhou Siping held a long sparkler, looking particularly cool. It wasn't until everyone's faces were red with laughter that the children became tired and sleepy, and New Year's Eve was over.
Xiangyu had never been very healthy as a child, so this life, she paid a lot of attention to going to bed early, getting up early, exercising more, drinking more water, and eating well. Although the effects were not immediate, she did become a lot stronger. She read a lot of books, studied English with Hanxing and Siping, and persisted in painting. Grandma, like in her previous life, would slap her hand whenever she held a pen or brush with her left hand, insisting she switch. "Lady, when you sit with your classmates, and you use your left hand while they use their right, if you collide, you'll cause trouble!" Xiangyu smiled and stopped insisting, switching to her right hand. Although the conditions in dual-income families were not bad, material goods were indeed scarce at that time. In her previous life, she had never cared, but in this life, she paid attention and often found that when she came home for lunch after school, Grandma would always prepare a meat dish for her, but she always said she had already eaten. After a few times, Xiangyu noticed that Grandma would secretly eat some vegetarian dishes or pickled radishes by herself. So, every lunchtime, for example, if there were pork ribs, Xiangyu would always tear off a piece and put it in Grandma's mouth, and after a few times, Grandma would wait for her to come back for lunch together, sharing the little bit of meat and fish, although there were only the two of them, it was still harmonious and happy.
But Xiangyu always had on her mind how to earn some money. Many methods she remembered were mostly inaccessible, but she remembered that buying stocks or subscription warrants seemed to make people a lot of money. This wasn't illegal, didn't require special skills, and seemed secure, but she couldn't remember when exactly this happened, but it should have been in the past two years. So, she needed to spend some time convincing her parents and grandma.