Gu Bin looked at his beloved car with satisfaction, touching and wiping it from left to right. He was showing off to Xie Yan, but after talking for a while, no one next to him responded. When he turned his head, he saw this guy sighing and looking down!

Gu Bin was a little startled. What was wrong? Was he hurt by what he had just said?

He walked over and gently patted Xie Yan's shoulder. "What's wrong? Did you run into some trouble? Or did I say something wrong?"

Xie Yan snapped out of her reverie and shook her head. "It's nothing, it's nothing. I was just a little distracted. Don't you still have things to buy? Go buy them first, I'm going to check the post office!"

"Why don't you come with me to the post office first and see if they have anything for you?"

Seeing that Xie Yan was unwilling to talk about it, Gu Bin did not press the matter further. "I won't go to the post office. I just received a letter from home a few days ago."

Xie Yan nodded, "Okay, I'll go first then. Buy everything you need and wait for me here. We'll go together when I get back. Oh! By the way, here's some money for you. Buy two jin for me, or one jin, I'll call it a jin! One jin of peach shortbread!"

Gu Bin took the money and patted Xie Yan's shoulder with pity. "Poor thing! Since getting married, he's become so stingy when it comes to buying things!"

It's so good to be alone! Being single means less burden, and I can eat whatever I want!

After leaving the department store, Xie Yan didn't go to the post office first. Instead, he wandered around, quietly observing to see where the black market was.

He had wandered around almost half of the county town without seeing any sign of the black market, and he had even gotten hungry from walking. He could only sigh and dejectedly head back.

I already said I'm not destined to be a protagonist, and look, I can't even find a black market!

As they passed a small fork in the road, a short, lean man grabbed them. "Cousin, I've been looking for you for ages! What are you doing here?"

Xie Yan looked surprised and questioned the other person with his eyes: Cousin? Me?

Isn't this a common tactic used by human traffickers? Is it now common to abduct men?

Seeing the man winking at him, Xie Yan understood!

So this is the black market! He immediately exclaimed enthusiastically, "Oh dear, look at my brain! I got lost just wandering around? Thank goodness you came to find me, cousin! Otherwise, I don't know when I would have found the right way!"

The two walked inside arm in arm, looking like best buddies. If someone were to pass by at that moment, they would never guess that the two had just met.

After walking for a while and seeing that there was no one around, Xie Yan lowered his voice and asked, "How did you know what I came here for?"

The lean man, Xiao Wu, was speechless. This big, clumsy guy had been walking around him, looking around as he went. He figured the guy was looking for them, but even after he stepped forward, the big guy still walked right past him twice. What a character!

While inwardly complaining, he smiled broadly and said, "Oh dear, I just thought you looked so dignified, you're definitely not an ordinary person, and you're even wandering around here?"

Xie Yan rolled his eyes inwardly. The last sentence was the key point! But he wasn't stupid enough to argue, so he smiled and followed the man inside, asking, "What's all over here?"

Xiao Wu glanced at the person in front of him sideways and asked, "What do you want?"

Xie Yan lowered his voice: "Do you have meat? And oil or something?"

Xiao Wu: "The items are available, but they're not cheap; they're definitely more expensive than outside!"

Xie Yan nodded, "I know, I understand!" If things here are really too expensive, then he would have to consider melting down a gold bar, but that doesn't seem realistic! Where would he find such a high temperature?

Then the only remaining, slightly risky option is to sell the gold bars on the black market. The little money I have on me is simply not enough to cover my expenses!

He's completely living beyond his means! Having no income whatsoever is making him very anxious! He can't afford to live off his savings.

He'll definitely ask his wife when he gets home today, "How much does a teacher make a month? And do they have any tickets?"

I don't know if it's enough to cover his expenses!

When Xie Yan entered the black market, he saw a small stall. Everyone had their heads down and remained silent. Even when they did talk, they did so in a very low voice.

He looked around and saw an oil stall over there, so he walked over and asked, "How much is your oil?"

The stall owner was a thin, dark-skinned man. Looking at Xie Yan, he said in a low, hoarse voice, "One yuan a pound. This is top-quality red sesame oil (a particularly delicious and fragrant oil, a natural sesame oil; this is a local dialect term)."

I know about this oil for thanking guests; it really is delicious. In my past life, a friend brought me a small bottle from his hometown, and we were reluctant to eat it! We would only add a couple of drops when mixing cold dishes.

I didn't expect to run into this place today. I must buy some to take home. It seems there really is sesame here. It looks like Yu Yue grows sesame in his little plot of land near his home. So he won't lack sesame oil in the future! That's great!

The price was more than double what it was outside, but they didn't require a ticket! Xie Yan bought ten jin directly. If he had more money, he would have bought the other two pots from the stall as well.

This is truly a rare opportunity! After thinking it over, Xie Yan gritted his teeth and bought the other two pots, totaling thirty jin. He put them directly into the basket he had brought with him, planning to secretly put them back into his spatial storage in a secluded spot later.

He wandered around to other places and saw a butcher. He bought two jin of pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat and exchanged it for two or three cloth coupons. This cost Xie Yan thirty yuan. When he thought that he only had a little over three hundred yuan left, Xie Yan felt anxious.

It's so frustrating! If he can't find a way to make money soon, he'll definitely be so worried that he won't be able to sleep at night.

After leaving the black market, Xie Yan went straight to the post office to see if there was any letter from home, mainly to see if they had sent him money.

He had come all this way just to take a look, but he didn't expect there to actually be a letter from him. Xie Yan held the envelope in both hands and felt that there seemed to be something inside!

Xie Yan felt much better after being upset about spending money today! It's all money, after all!

By the time he arrived at the Baihuo Building, it was already lunchtime. Xie Yan was starving; he regretted not having arranged to meet here.

It would be so much better to meet at a state-run restaurant!

The moment Gu Bin saw Xie Yan, he wanted to curse him out. "If you have something else to say, just say it! You've made me wait here like an idiot, I'm almost starving!"

She glared at Xie Yan fiercely, snorted heavily, turned around arrogantly, and pushed her new car away.

Xie Yan knew he was in the wrong today. He had thought the black market would be easy to find, but who knew it was hidden so well, making him search for so long. (Black market owner: If we didn't hide it well, were we just waiting to be raided by the police? What are they doing? Speculating and profiteering! Couldn't we have hidden it better?)