Chapter 287 Police Station Midnight Ambush

In a courtyard in Zhongjianzi Hutong.

This courtyard house is one of the many houses owned by Mr. Fu Zuo. A few years ago, there was a big fire around the house. The most feared thing in a large courtyard house is a fire, and many people were burned to death in this fire.

So this courtyard has been idle for a long time, surrounded by broken walls and ruins after the fire, like a haunted house.

Precisely because this place is unpopular and unnoticed, it is used by Lin Sanqi and Mr. Fu as a grain trading place.

Today, this haunted house entertained a group of nobles from the former Qing Dynasty. What was originally planned to be a product promotion meeting has now turned into a family gathering for the old and young.

Ten people, young and old, squeezed into the main room.

Everyone kept calling him Prince Cheng, Duolo Beile, Gushan Beizi, Zhenguo Gong, and Fuguo Gong.

Fortunately, they were all wearing Zhongshan suits. If they were wearing zombie costumes and had rat-tail braids, people who didn't know would think it was still the Qing Dynasty.

These old people would bow to each other when they met their peers, and kowtow to their elders, just like watching a Qing Dynasty palace drama. Lin Sanqi laughed so hard watching from the side, as if he had encountered living history.

Only Lin Sanqi knew that this group of princes and ministers of the previous dynasty were like grasshoppers in autumn, and they would not be able to jump for many more years, especially those whose hands were stained with the blood of the people.

However, this group of old people are also very tenacious, like cockroaches that can't be killed.

In 2013, Lin Sanqi saw someone online claiming to be a descendant of Emperor Qianlong. He wore dragon robes all day long, regarded himself as a big shot, and even held a grand ceremony to worship his ancestors at the Temple of Heaven. It was hilarious, like a psychopath.

Fortunately, it was the diverse society that saved his life, otherwise if you tried it in the buzzing era, humph.

Lin Sanqi was watching these former princes and nobles as if they were watching a monkey show, but Fu Zuo couldn't help but:

"Everyone, please be quiet. Time is precious. Do you still want food?"

In terms of seniority, Fu Zuo was not the highest among those present. There were people from the Yi and Zai generations among them.

But because Mr. Fu is the emperor's younger brother, according to the rules of the previous dynasty, he can be granted the title of prince. Therefore, he has the highest title among those present, and his words naturally carry weight.

When Prince Fu shouted "stop", the scene immediately became quiet.

As a result of the silence, many people could hear their stomachs rumbling. It was obvious that the lives of the princes present were not as good as they seemed.

Prince Fu was a loyal and honest man. He did not laugh at anyone, but continued:

"Call everyone to Zhongjianzi Hutong. You all know what's going on. Time is precious. Let's take advantage of the cover of darkness. If anyone wants food, they can trade with the little brother behind me."

Everyone looked at Lin Sanqi.

Lin Sanqi swallowed his saliva. He was not a coward. The group of people before him had once been powerful figures. Their eyes were filled with vigilance, scrutiny, curiosity, and even... contempt...

In their eyes, Lin Sanqi was just a low-class person and a grain dealer.

Lin Sanqi also bowed to everyone and said, "Nice to meet you. My last name is Wang, you can just call me Xiao Wang."

At this time, an old man jumped out and asked in a soft voice:

"Xiao Wang, I heard that you can only exchange one small yellow croaker for 50 kilograms of white flour here. Isn't that a bit too much? You can't even get a fraction of what you got during the Republic of China."

"That's right, 50 kilograms of food is too little. At least give us 500 kilograms..."

"I won't accept such an exchange..."

With one person taking the lead, the others started talking in a chaotic manner, appearing to be quite excited.

Lin Sanqi wasn't upset. It was a seller's market right now. He had food, so why worry about not being able to exchange it for gold? He could just go to the black market, albeit a bit slower.

"Don't worry, uncles, aunts, and brothers. I don't need to tell you how precious food is right now, do I? If you could get some food, I don't think you would be here in Scissors Alley today, so there's no need for us to test each other.

What's the problem with food now? Food is life! Beyond the 49-mile mark, ask around every day to see where food is available nationwide. If you have friends or family out in the country, ask them what the situation is like there.

You are all members of the Qing Dynasty's royal family, so you naturally know the price of grain during a famine. It's no exaggeration to say that the price changes every day. Today, you think 50 catties for a small yellow croaker is too much of a loss, but do you believe that tomorrow a small yellow croaker can only be exchanged for 30 or 20 catties?

In feudal society, once a natural disaster or man-made disaster occurred, a direct manifestation was a soaring price of food.

At that time, the big grain merchants would sell the grain at several times the price. They would sell grain that cost dozens of wen per dou for thousands of wen. The backers behind the big grain merchants were the royal relatives present.

So this group of old guys are pretending to be ignorant even though they know the truth. They are very mean and seem to be bullying Lin Sanqi because he is young.

After hearing what Lin Sanqi said, many people fell silent.

Mr. Fu Zuo also chimed in:

"This transaction is entirely voluntary. No one is being forced. Those who want food can trade with Comrade Wang. Those who don't want it can just consider it a get-together. But I have to say this: Comrade Wang has limited food, and he won't be waiting until it's sold out."

There was another round of discussion at the scene, and it was obvious that everyone had their own little plans.

Lin Sanqi then took out a box of medicine from his pocket:

"Besides food, I have penicillin in my hand. It's imported from America and has a higher purity. One tube contains 800,000 units. If you split it up and use it, it can save many people. I'm also giving it away for a big discount today."

When they heard about penicillin, many people stood up. Obviously, no one present was a fool and they knew how precious penicillin was.

"Xiao Wang, right? How are you going to exchange this penicillin?"

"It's still the same old rule. 10 bottles of penicillin for a small yellow croaker, 100 bottles for a large yellow croaker. Don't think it's too expensive, I brought this back from thousands of miles away. The most important thing is that this medicine can save lives, it's more valuable than food."

In an era of lack of antibiotics, the idea that penicillin = life-saving medicine is deeply rooted in people's minds.

The key point is that after liberation, due to external blockade, penicillin was almost unavailable even in hospitals, and even if you had money you couldn't use it, which shows how precious this medicine is.

Therefore, no one raised any objection to Lin Sanqi's harsh transaction ratio.

Lin Sanqi was secretly calculating in his mind, 10 bottles of penicillin only cost 5 yuan, but he had to exchange them for a small gold bar worth 20,000 yuan. What does it mean to be shady? He is really a shady guy.

The profits in the pharmaceutical industry are truly huge profits among huge profits.

At this time, someone in the crowd questioned:

"Comrade Wang, how can you guarantee that you can deliver the goods on time? You don't want us to pay first and then pick up the goods, do you?"

The person who said this must have downloaded an anti-fraud app and is very vigilant, fearing that he would be cheated of his money and end up losing everything.

Lin Sanqi laughed:

"Don't worry about this, everyone. If you want to trade tonight, we will exchange money for goods. I won't delay the delivery of the supplies you want, and you don't have to tell me that you're short of money and owe me money first.

Of course, I also want to state that my food is limited and first come, first served. Don't regret it when you sell it out. Don't worry, if you don't want it, I'll sell it on the four major black markets. There's plenty of people who will buy it."

Fu Zuo continued to help Lin Sanqi cover up:

"To avoid unnecessary trouble, tonight's transaction will be conducted privately. Whoever wants a certain amount of food will go to the backyard and trade one-on-one. After the transaction is complete, you can simply take the food and leave through the back door. No one is allowed to ask."

When everyone heard this, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Chinese people always believe that wealth should not be shown off.

If you trade a large amount of grain and people know about it, believe it or not, all your poor relatives will come to borrow grain tomorrow.

Therefore, Lin Sanqi deliberately arranged a one-on-one transaction. Outsiders did not know who took how much food. It also made it convenient for Lin Sanqi to keep taking out food without being suspected of having so much stock in such a small room.

"Okay, let's do it this way."

"Hurry up and start, I still need to go back to sleep."

This group of old men and young men always wanted to show off wherever they went and take advantage of others verbally. Lin Sanqi didn't care and pretended to turn around and leave. Suddenly, in full view of everyone, a gun fell from his body.

In the surprised eyes of everyone, Lin Sanqi casually picked up the gun:

"Oh, sorry, this belt is too loose and things always fall out of it. Okay, I'll wait in the backyard. Anyone who wants to trade can come over."

We are not fools, so we can naturally understand that this is Lin Sanqi's warning.

People always have imaginations. In this era, anyone who dares to smuggle food and medicine is no exaggeration to be called a desperado. Those who have ulterior motives will be discouraged.

With "Prince Fu" in person, everyone in the room soon began to calculate how much they wanted to buy.

For these former princes and nobles who had not yet been severely beaten by society, money was not a problem. Gold and silver were also piled up like mountains in their own secret cellars.

Although not as exaggerated as that of Shanxi merchants, the amount accumulated by several generations of the family is definitely an amount that ordinary people can't even dream of.

If it were in the past, they would really be reluctant to dig it out and trade it, but now they have been hungry for two years and have begun to learn their lesson. They know that keeping money is useless and life is the most important thing.

Lin Sanqi came to the backyard and found a table and two chairs in the room. Because there was no electric light, a kerosene lamp was lit on the table.

The first person to come in was a middle-aged man. He didn't look like a playboy, but rather a businessman because his eyes were constantly moving around.

The man was quite polite. After entering the room, he put down a wooden box, which made a silent sound on the table and seemed very heavy.

"Master Wang, these are 50 large yellow croakers that we collected. I want to exchange them all for penicillin."

50 large yellow croakers are equivalent to 5,000 bottles of penicillin. They are definitely big customers, and they are a king bomb right from the start.

Lin Sanqi was shocked. "No, you're taking penicillin as a meal? What are you going to do with so many medicines?"

The middle-aged man chuckled and said, "I used to run a pharmaceutical company."

Lin Sanqi understood immediately, everything was self-explanatory. It turned out that this man was also a middleman like him.

Since he is a middleman, he naturally has his own way to make a profit. For the precious penicillin, he would have no trouble selling even 500,000 bottles, let alone 5,000 bottles.

"Okay, if you're straightforward, I'll be straightforward too. Wait a moment."

After a while, Lin Sanqi came over from another room with several cardboard boxes. "5,000 bottles of penicillin, please count them."

When the middle-aged man saw the penicillin, his eyes lit up, so he clapped his hands, and several young men came in and left with the boxes.

"No need. I trust the person introduced by Zuo Ye. Xiao Wang, if I want penicillin again next time..."

Lin Sanqi chuckled and said, "Just contact Mr. Fu. I have as many as you want!"

"Okay, straightforward guy!"

The first transaction was completed, and Lin Sanqi harvested 50 large yellow croakers, which was about 31 kilograms of gold. Calculated based on the gold price in later generations, that was 10 million yuan.

What is the cost? 0.5 cents per bottle, and 5,000 bottles is only 2,500 yuan.

Lin Sanqi's ability to make money is comparable to that of a money-printing machine. His confidence is now inflated. He wants to grab the collar of the Hermès belt guy and shout:

Who else???

The second person to come in was a little old man, about fifty years old, with a good temperament. His clothes were very worn but clean, but his head full of white hair showed that his life was not so satisfactory.

After the old man came in, he looked at Lin Sanqi coldly and threw a small cloth bag in front of Lin Sanqi.

That expression was as if he was dismissing a beggar. Anyone with eyes could see that he looked down on small traders like Lin Sanqi.

"Take it and see how much food you can exchange for it?"

Lin Sanqi wasn't angry either. Who's ever seen the God of Wealth angry? If you have the guts, throw your money at me and kill me. Anyone who makes a sound is a coward!

When I opened it, I saw small yellow croakers and big yellow coins, but more of them were gold bracelets, gold chains, gold rings, etc.

"Comrade, I see that many of these jewels are old items, but they can only be counted as ordinary gold in my hands. Look..."

The old man looked impatient: "Stop talking nonsense. Do you care about these golden people?"

Lin Sanqi was asking for trouble, thinking that it was probably another poor prince who had to endure it for the sake of money!

After weighing, Lin Sanqi calculated that one large yellow croaker, one small yellow croaker, and the jewelry together amounted to two small yellow croakers.

"Comrade, I'm going to give you 650 kilograms of food. Would you like flour or rice?"

"Only 650 pounds?"

This impoverished prince was obviously a little worried. He then took out a thick cloth bag from his arms and gently placed it on the table.

"Hey, you, take a look at the jewelry in here. How much food can I exchange for it? And give me some penicillin."

Lin Sanqi opened the cloth bag and took a look, and his mouth was watering. There was no other way. It was not only women who had no resistance to such shiny things, but men as well.

There was a small cloth bag inside the cloth bag. When I opened it, I saw two pairs of green, transparent jade bracelets and two pairs of white, mutton-fat jade bracelets that seemed to be covered with a layer of grease.

Even under the dim light of an oil lamp, the eight bracelets can still sparkle with dazzling light, which shows how extraordinary they are.

The old man saw Lin Sanqi's inexperienced look and snorted:

"Let me tell you, these four pairs of bracelets were all made by the craftsmen of the Imperial Household Department back then. See those green bracelets? The two with the red strings were once worn by the Empress Dowager. They were later given to me by my father and mother when she got married. You can't buy them with money!"

In fact, jade was not that precious in the Qing Dynasty or the Republic of China. Only Empress Dowager Cixi and Miss Song San liked it. It took more than 30 years for the price to be driven up.

The ancients still liked mutton-fat white jade, which was a good thing that could be a family heirloom.

Lin Sanqi himself had no ability to appreciate antiques. He later checked Baidu and learned that antique counterfeiting was quite popular in the Republic of China. He was really afraid that these bracelets were made of glass.

So Mr. Fu was invited over.

Fu Zuo saw the four pairs of bracelets on the table. Without looking closely, he cursed inwardly, "What a waste of money..."

"Enahai, you are really willing to give up these things. These are all things from the palace. Are you going to pawn them too?"

The old man was very nice to Fu Zuo: "Fifth Master, my family is so big, and there are so many brothers who rely on me. I can't do anything about it."

Fu Zuo was a little angry: "Forget about your family, but what about your bad friends? You are so poor that your family property is almost gone, and you still support others for the sake of face. Are you angry?"

The old man was dissatisfied: "Our status as men depends on this. Why would we live without it?"

Lin Sanqi understood what he heard. It turned out to be another old playboy. At the same time, he thought to himself, this old man is also a fool with good fortune.

He has squandered his fortune now and sold everything he can. Then, he can turn things around and become powerful again.

This is the so-called truth that blessings often lie hidden in misfortunes, and misfortunes often lie hidden in blessings.

Since there is no problem with the thing, Lin Sanqi doesn't mind helping the old man to be a proletarian for once. Let Lin Sanqi be the rich villain.

Such a glass-type imperial green jade bracelet, such a white, smooth and delicate mutton-fat jade bracelet like solidified fat, would not have been sold at an auction for less than tens of millions of yuan.

"Alright, old comrade, since this is your heirloom, I won't let you suffer any loss. For the four pairs of bracelets, I'll give you a ton of flour and 200 bottles of penicillin. What do you say?"

When the old man heard this, his face lit up: "Okay, I'm satisfied with this price, deal."

Fu Zuo didn't say anything, shook his head and went out again. A few young people came in and carried the food away, while the old man held a few boxes of penicillin and walked towards the back door humming a little tune.

Then the third person came in...

In one night, Lin Sanqi received more than 260 large yellow croakers, more than 500 small yellow croakers, and a pile of various jewelry and antiques. It was a great harvest.

This amount is already astonishing, but Lin Sanqi is far from satisfied. This gold can only be considered a comfortable life at best, and is far from enough to complete the original capital accumulation.

Fortunately, there were many Manchu loyalists who were taken advantage of in the old city. Later, the news spread in a small circle, and friends introduced friends, and the news spread quickly.

Everyone knows that food and medicine can be bought in Zhongjianzi Hutong, and they will not refuse anyone and will give you as much as you want.

Eventually, things started to get out of control.

Just like a concert, they originally planned to hold only one, but because there were so many people buying tickets, Lin Sanqi had to add more shows.

Every night, a group of people come in and a group of people leave Zhongjianzi Hutong.

When they came, they carried boxes with them, and when they left, they loaded large and small bags onto cars and pulled their things away. Some even drove trucks.

Do you really think all the aunties in Dongcheng District are dead? Over time, it will naturally attract attention.

Lin Sanqi was also too proud and had forgotten the lessons he learned when purchasing in the three provinces of South China. This kind of illegal and disorderly behavior must be dealt with in another place, otherwise it will be exposed after a long time.

This is the case in remote rural areas like South China, and in the capital, this kind of surveillance has reached its peak.

Of course, it was the street offices and police stations that attracted attention, but it was not as exaggerated as the national public security departments.

Aunt Qian from the Jingshan Subdistrict Office and Chief Qin from the police station were lying in ambush at the entrance of the alley with a group of people, staring at the courtyard house with number 20.

Aunt Qian was a little nervous. "Lao Qin, what do you think these people are doing? Could they be gathering enemy agents? Should we ask for support from higher-ups?"

Director Qin waved his hand, but his eyes were fixed on the gate:

"No need for support. Based on our reconnaissance over the past few days, this group of people are likely engaged in speculation and profiteering, most likely trading grain. This is an economic crime and not too dangerous. We'll find out today."

Aunt Qian breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this, but a street worker nearby had his eyes light up:

"Captain Qin, if they were grain dealers, then the confiscated grain would belong to our street for distribution, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the staff nearby lit up.

Civil servants these days have no privileges. They all get a fixed salary, and their food rations are the same as those of workers, or even less. After all, workers do heavy physical work, while civil servants are ordinary staff members.

So all the staff members of the street office were hungry, and when they heard about food, their stomachs started to growl.

If the subdistricts were to distribute the dirty food, wouldn't they have the final say on how to distribute it? Besides a small portion going to the needy, wouldn't the majority be distributed by the subdistrict staff themselves?

Director Qin chuckled and said, "Then divide it into three parts. One part will be handed over, one part will be kept by our police station, and one part will belong to your street office."

The more than 30 people in ambush nodded repeatedly after hearing this. This meant that everyone who saw it could get a share. After working hard for half a day, they could finally have a full meal, so everyone became more motivated.

In the darkness, a policeman suddenly ran out of the alley:

"Captain, we caught three people at the back door. We found 2,000 kilograms of food and 500 bottles of penicillin in their truck."

When Director Qin and Aunt Qian heard this, their heartbeats instantly accelerated. Everyone now knew that they had caught a big fish.

Director Qin stood up immediately, holding a pistol in his right hand, and shouted at the people behind him:

"Everyone, please pay attention! Charge into the yard now and capture all the criminals. Don't let any of them escape. Deputy Director Zhang, wait for them at the back door. We're going to solve a major case today."

good! ! !

At Chief Qin's command, an agile policeman immediately climbed over the wall and opened the gate. People from the street and police station immediately rushed into the courtyard.

(End of this chapter)