With the blind box store closed and the supermarket open, Ding Yun's daily life became much more relaxed. Previously, when she ran the blind box store, many items inside couldn't be revealed publicly, so she had to personally select and sort each one before it could be shipped to the store. Afterward, she still had to process the blind box products that couldn't be sold before they could be offered for sale, keeping her busy all day. As the pile of unsellable items grew, so did her stress and anxiety.
But now, because the blind boxes contained no items from other worlds, only products from this world and this era, with brands belonging to this era, Ding Yun didn't need to inspect what was inside. Whatever she got, she directly put into her storage ring and brought it to the supermarket for employees to sort and stock. This allowed her to relax for the entire day. She no longer had to check accounts and reconcile statements daily; once a week or every half month was sufficient. Her free time rapidly increased from less than two hours a day to having nothing to do. With money no longer a concern and plenty of free time, Ding Yun finally had the opportunity to look for a house, move, and leave her original twenty-square-meter apartment for a new commercial property. She also increased her time spent with her daughter.
However, as the old saying goes, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Ding Yun had been quite busy recently and hadn't had much time to accompany her daughter. At most, she would occasionally buy her daughter toys to appease her. During that time, her daughter was very happy to be with her, talking non-stop during meals and eagerly showing Ding Yun her test papers when exams came, displaying a clear lack of attention.
Recently, Ding Yun has had more free time. She spends it with her daughter, studying and doing homework together. Consequently, she has now been "disliked" by her daughter. People are often insatiable. When she had little money and spent all her time with her child, she was criticized for not providing a better living condition. Now that she has money and is busy, she's accused of lacking affection. When she supervises and manages, her daughter finds it annoying. When she neglects things, she's labeled as cold and irresponsible. It's difficult to balance everything in this world and maintain the right degree. To avoid her daughter's annoyance, Ding Yun has to restrain herself and bother her daughter less.
To avoid constant boredom, she also specially opened many mental entertainment blind boxes that were characteristic of this era. It was then that she discovered that something similar to VCDs already existed. She had opened many LD discs and even an LD player. It wasn't until she obtained these items that Ding Yun made an effort to research and learned that this technology had been invented and sold as early as the late 1970s but had never been widely promoted due to its high cost. Or rather, even with promotion, few could afford it. With the salaries at the time, an LD player costing over ten thousand yuan was an extravagant purchase for most.
CDs and VCDs came out after LDs, not only improving the technology but also significantly reducing the cost. Consequently, LDs became obsolete. However, in an era before VCDs, LDs were the only option for public viewing, and even with slightly lower picture clarity, it was better than having nothing to watch. Of course, this was just one of Ding Yun's many ways to pass the time. She also read novels and comics. She even secretly took out her personal holographic game helmet while her daughter was at school, plugged in a previously drawn game chip, and played holographic games. With these mental recreational activities, her days were no longer dull.
It must be said that the feeling of being busy with work every day is entirely different from being busy with entertainment. The former is physically and mentally exhausting, and time feels exceptionally long. The latter might cause slight physical and eye strain, but the spirit is exceptionally joyful, and time feels like it's flying by. It feels like just a moment, and a day is gone. Just a moment, and a month has passed. Just a moment, and she had been in the original body for a year. Her daughter was in the fifth grade, two or three new branches had opened, and she had even found many suppliers.
That's right, Ding Yun no longer supplied her stores with cheap, inexpensive items from her happy blind boxes, such as rice and vegetables. She still used blind boxes for items that were hard to find or had higher profit margins. For lower-profit items, she switched to using suppliers. This not only saved her trouble but also minimized the risk of her secret being exposed. Previously, when she only had one store, it was easier for her to deliver goods herself without raising suspicion. But as the number of stores increased, it would be very strange for the owner to be the sole supplier and for Ding Yun herself to not go out much. By hiring suppliers for ordinary goods and procuring only the hard-to-find items herself, there was less room for suspicion.
On the morning of October 27th, 1986, Ding Yun, as usual, returned after delivering goods, bringing the newspaper and milk left at the door into the house. The milk was for her daughter. The newspaper was something she subscribed to herself. This was still the era of print media. To learn about the latest information, one had to subscribe to newspapers. As for accessing information via dial-up internet, that would still be a few years away. Although computers existed, China had not yet joined the global internet. Computers were far from being widespread, and Ding Yun had no interest in them at this time, so she couldn't be bothered to install them. Therefore, newspapers were the best option.
However, Ding Yun didn't immediately read the newspaper after bringing it back. She waited until after breakfast and then sat on the sofa to peruse it. On the front page of the social section of the local newspaper, she saw a story she had been following about six months ago, or almost a year ago. It was the case of a tomb robbery. When the incident first occurred, even though Ding Yun was extremely busy, she eagerly read the newspaper daily, wanting to know the follow-up and whether the group that stole the original body's money had any connection to the tomb robbery. However, there was no news for over half a year, and Ding Yun had almost given up.
Unexpectedly, new information had surfaced. Seeing content that interested her, Ding Yun immediately began to read carefully. She then learned that the reason the case had dragged on for so long was primarily because national treasure-level cultural relics had been stolen and sold. They had been tracking the items and the individuals involved, and it was only recently that everyone involved had been apprehended, and the national treasure-level cultural relics had been recovered. This finally allowed the case to be closed and reported.