The family found it strange how much Lin He knew. Lin He claimed she had read it in books, saying these things were all written down. Lin Er Niu, who couldn't read anyway, just commented, "How did He'er see so many strange and rare things in books? Da Bao, why didn't you see them? Besides, you've only been in school for a few days, how could you know so many characters?"

Lin He replied, "Big brother likes reading the books the teacher assigns, but I don't like those. I bought some popular fiction from the street to read. I asked the teacher about the characters I didn't recognize, and some books have pictures, which I can understand."

Lin Er Niu said, "I see. Buy more books to read in the future, and help your old man look up ways to farm." He thought to himself that sending the children to school was the right decision; they had learned so much useful knowledge in less than a month.

Lin He smiled secretly and agreed.

After staying home for a few days, the weather was fortunately good. It was market day in Huayu Town. Lin He thought the dried sweet potatoes were almost ready. She picked one up, tried the taste, and found it delicious. Perhaps because she made it herself, it tasted even better than the ones she had eaten in her previous life.

Fearing her judgment was subjective, Lin He had the whole family taste them. Everyone said they were good, especially the dried sweet potatoes. Since they weren't dried completely hard, they were very sweet and not tough. The sweet potato slices looked nicer, but they were drier and harder. After chewing for a while in the mouth, they also became increasingly tasty. They were excellent as snacks.

Lin He planned to take some with Da Bao to sell in town and see if anyone would buy them. The two sat in the ox cart driven by Old Man Qin to town. Many people were also heading to town along the road, and Old Man Qin would stop to give rides to people from Linjia Village, as Huayu Town wasn't too far. Most people wouldn't pay for an ox cart ride, so these rides were usually free.

Old Man Qin picked up a woman halfway there. As soon as the woman got on, Da Bao called out, "Second Maternal Aunt!" Lin He followed suit, and the woman acknowledged them. Lin He recognized this woman as the wife of one of her grandfather's brothers—a relative by marriage, one of their distant cousins. This woman had attended their house-warming banquet when they built their house, but she didn't usually associate with their family, so Lin He didn't know her well.

Seeing Da Bao and Lin He on the cart, the woman became overly solicitous. Noticing the basket in Da Bao's hand, her eyes darted around, and she said, "Da Bao, going to town? If you have anything good to sell, let Second Aunt take a look."

As the saying goes, the heart is reflected in the face. This woman had narrow, slanted eyes, somewhat resembling phoenix eyes, but not purely so. Her cheekbones were high, her lips thin, and her figure was small and slender. Her eyes darted back and forth constantly. Lin He sensed a sharp, unkind look about her and immediately felt resistant. She simply nudged Da Bao, who smiled and said, "Nothing much, just some embroidery Mom made. We're heading to town to deliver it and then buy a few things to take back."

The woman didn't believe Da Bao when he mentioned embroidery. Everyone knew the Lin Er Niu family had recently struck it rich, but nobody knew exactly how. She suspected they had found some treasure and didn't want others to know.

The woman's expression immediately soured. Though unconvinced, she couldn't exactly overturn their basket to look, could she? So, she sat still until they reached Huayu Town, where Old Man Qin let her off. Da Bao and Lin He found a spot by the roadside, spread a cloth on the ground, and laid out the dried sweet potatoes for sale.

Da Bao and Lin He stood by the roadside for a while. Some people stopped to inquire about the price, but upon hearing it was ten wen per jin and not knowing what the product was, they usually asked and then walked away, deeming it too expensive. Lin He felt this wouldn't work and realized she needed a good sales pitch.

Just then, a woman came over to ask the price. Lin He didn't state the price directly. Instead, she took a piece of dried sweet potato and offered it to the woman to try, saying it was fine whether she bought anything afterward or not. The woman thought that was reasonable and took a piece to taste.

The woman chewed it for a moment and found the taste quite good, suitable for making snacks for her children. She asked what it was. Lin He explained, "It’s a type of wild fruit my brother dug up on the mountain, which our family then processed ourselves. You can't buy this outside. Eating this wild fruit can strengthen the body and prolong life, you know."

Lin He wasn't exaggerating; in her previous life, the sweet potato was considered a valuable item, even capable of fighting cancer. Strengthening the body and extending life was certainly true. The woman thought it sounded good, but ten wen was still a bit steep—enough to buy a jin of corn flour. In the end, she bought half a jin.

In reality, the dried sweet potatoes, even half a jin, weighed quite a bit, considering it took several jin of fresh sweet potatoes to produce one jin of dried ones. Moreover, their own sugar and labor costs money, so Lin He felt ten wen wasn't expensive.

Once this woman made a purchase, quite a few people immediately gathered around to look. Lin He was generous, offering a small piece of dried sweet potato to everyone who came to sample it. If they liked it, they bought some; if not, that was fine too.

Lin He maintained a constant, gentle smile and didn't urge anyone to buy. Many customers found it amusing that such a young child possessed such composure. Most people who tasted it ended up buying some. The main reason was that snacks were scarce in those days, and the tasty ones were expensive, unaffordable for most farming households. A few wen for these dried sweet potatoes bought a good handful, which was nice to give to the children.

After selling for the whole morning, they had sold more than half. The dried sweet potatoes were nearly gone, but more sweet potato slices remained. Lin He guessed it was because the slices were large; if one bought a jin, there wouldn't be many pieces.

Because the dried sweet potatoes were in small pieces, they visually appeared to be a larger quantity, naturally making people more inclined to buy them. Plus, the dried sweet potatoes were harder to dehydrate fully, so some weren't completely dry, but they tasted very sweet. Lin He decided to bring more dried sweet potatoes next time and cut the slices into smaller pieces for sale.

Lin He noticed it was almost noon, and most market-goers were heading back. She figured not much more would sell, so she and Da Bao packed up their things, intending to walk back.

When they reached the town entrance, they saw Old Man Qin still waiting for them. They boarded the ox cart with him. Lin He said, "Grandpa Qin, didn't we tell you to go back first? It must have been difficult waiting here all morning."

Old Man Qin chuckled and said, "What's difficult about it? I just sat here chatting with people by the roadside, and the time flew by. I have nothing else to do going back. There's no farming in winter, and I get stir-crazy staying home."

Lin He smiled. Old folks were like that; they just didn't like being idle; giving them something to do was enough. On the ox cart, she and Da Bao counted the money earned from selling the dried sweet potatoes—it was one hundred fifty wen.

Da Bao was also thrilled. They had only come hoping for a bit of luck, not expecting people to actually buy the dried sweet potatoes. He thought they could sell all the sweet potatoes they had at home from now on.

Seeing the brother and sister happily chatting on the cart, Old Man Qin suddenly remembered something. He fumbled in his clothes and pulled out a cloth pouch, handing it to Lin He. When Lin He opened it, she found a full seven liang of silver. Lin He asked, "Grandpa Qin, what is this for? Why are you giving me money?"

Old Man Qin replied, "This is the money from selling the ox to you. Xiao Jun needed money for medicine when she was sick, and I had some left over. We're eating and staying at your place now, so we aren't spending much. I also know about your eldest uncle's situation; with winter coming, you'll need some money. Take this for now. It's of little use sitting with me, and I'll ask for it back if I need it later."