"My goodness, is this rice or a piece of steel?"
Looking at the cleaver in her hand, which was already chipped from chopping, Ding Yun primarily doubted whether this grain of rice could even be eaten!
How could something so hard be cooked into soft, sticky rice, no matter how it was boiled?
And the most pressing issue now was, how could such hard rice be cut into small portions?
The hardest thing at home was probably this cleaver. She couldn't possibly buy an expensive cutting machine just to eat this grain of rice.
That would be too much of a loss.
Besides, she wasn't sure if a cutting machine could actually cut through this grain of rice. Wouldn't that be an even bigger waste if it couldn't?
So after some hesitation.
Ding Yun finally decided to give up for the time being.
As for where to put this grain of rice, due to the relatively small size of their house, she could only move it to her bed, cover it with a quilt, and then stop opening any more blind boxes. Instead, she went to prepare lunch.
She couldn't help it. Just opening one grain of rice had been troublesome enough, and she didn't know where to hide it. If she opened more strange foods, how would she live?
There was no place to hide them at home.
An hour or so later, after lunch was ready, her daughter Yuan Meng, who was in the fifth grade, returned from school. Originally, they should have eaten lunch directly, but before the child could sit at the table, her in-laws arrived.
And as soon as they entered, they asked about the stolen money.
They asked if the matter was true or not.
To avoid affecting her daughter's mood, Ding Yun had to serve her daughter a bowl of rice and some dishes, telling her to eat in the bedroom. Then, she explained the situation to her in-laws.
Of course, there were complaints and mutterings during the process.
However, after the complaints and mutterings, they then asked Ding Yun what she planned to do next. She was unemployed, and the money from her severance package was stolen. They didn't know if it could be recovered, and how she would live in the future.
Regarding this, Ding Yun actually only had two choices.
Either become a self-employed individual and start her own business.
Or work for a private enterprise or individual.
As for finding another "iron rice bowl" job, that was pure fantasy. There were laid-off workers everywhere, and even those with education and skills couldn't necessarily find jobs. How could she, who had neither education nor skills? If Yuan Hai hadn't passed away and given her his job, she wouldn't even have a job.
So, she only had those two options.
There was no problem with that.
And working for others was definitely not as good as doing it herself. Moreover, this was the golden age of economic development. If she didn't seize this opportunity now, while it wouldn't be impossible to start a business later, it would definitely be much more difficult than now. Coupled with the fact that she had this golden finger that allowed her to open blind boxes, it would definitely cost money. How many blind boxes could she open with the meager salary from working? Therefore, Ding Yun, with almost no hesitation, directly stated that she wanted to become a self-employed individual.
Although her in-laws had no objections, they repeatedly expressed their hope that she wouldn't touch the money set aside for the child.
If she wanted to be self-employed, she should start by setting up a small stall to test the waters, and not expect to rent a storefront and do all sorts of things right away.
After such repeated instructions.
The couple declined Ding Yun's invitation to stay for dinner and went home. Seeing her grandparents leave, Yuan Meng, who had already finished lunch but hadn't come out, excitedly ran out.
She hugged Ding Yun's arm and pulled her inside.
"Mom, there's something on the bed! A really, really big grain of rice! It's so big, a super big grain of rice!"
Well, because their house was small, ever since Yuan Hai passed away, the original owner had been sleeping in the same bed with her daughter. They only had one bedroom. Coupled with the large size of that grain of rice, even covered by the quilt, it couldn't hide the fact that there was something under the quilt. So Yuan Meng, who ate lunch in the bedroom, naturally discovered the grain of rice.
Then she didn't listen to what Ding Yun and the others were talking about at all.
The whole time, she was excitedly playing with that grain of rice.
After her grandparents left, she even pulled Ding Yun into the room, gesturing with her hands as she walked to prove how big the grain of rice was. Ding Yun, feeling very conflicted, walked into the bedroom with her daughter, constantly thinking in her mind how she should explain this grain of rice.
In the end, she could only force out a reason that sounded somewhat plausible but was very awkward:
"Mom made this for you. Isn't it fun!"
Fortunately, the child was young and easy to fool. She didn't find anything wrong with Ding Yun's explanation. After all, the original owner had often made toys and sandbags for her daughter. This time, it was just a bit bigger.
Children were very easy to accept things.
Especially after hearing Ding Yun say that it was made especially for her, her mood became even happier. She immediately lay down on the grain of rice and smiled thankfully.
"Thank you, Mom! I really like it!"
"It would be great if it were smaller, though. It's so big I can't move it. By the way, Mom, can I bring my classmates home to play? I want to show them this too. This is absolutely unique, no one else has it!
Can I? Please!"
Which child doesn't want to be unique? After Yuan Meng knew that this thing was made especially for her, her first thought was that only she had it, not even her classmates in the whole class or even the whole school. She felt it would be a waste not to invite her friends over to show off.
Ding Yun wanted to let out a wail like a marmot at this.
What a disaster!
Should she agree or not?
If she didn't agree, would her daughter be very disappointed? If she agreed, how would she explain it if the news got out?
At the same time, seeing that Ding Yun hadn't agreed, Yuan Meng thought Ding Yun was unwilling. She quickly grabbed Ding Yun's arm and started to act cute, begging her.
At this point, Ding Yun had also come to terms with it.
Things that didn't belong to this world would probably be opened from blind boxes in the future, and she couldn't always hide them. Besides, she needed to recoup her costs.
Most importantly, this was not high-tech.
At the same time, information flow was not very developed back then.
Saying that this grain of rice was made by herself using rice and glutinous rice, she might be able to fool them.
So after hesitating for a while longer, Ding Yun agreed to her daughter's request, allowing her to bring her classmates to see it that evening after school and show off their unique rice.
Then she began to ponder how to deal with this grain of rice. Although she could use the excuse that she made it herself from rice and glutinous rice to fool them, keeping the grain of rice was still a hidden danger. Therefore, the best way was to find a way to eat and digest it.
Destroying the evidence was the safest way.
Perhaps it could even become the starting point of her career, officially beginning her life as a self-employed individual.