The river port in Yang County is quite large. There are endless cargo ships docked nearby, and there is also a lot of open space around for parking trucks, tractors, etc. This area is even more lively and bustling than Yun Huaying had imagined.
Han Zheng parked the bicycle in the nearest bicycle shed, took the mask prepared by Yun Huaying, put on a straw hat, and led her into the black market through the nearest entrance.
It is said to be an entrance, but in fact it is just a small door that is only wide enough for one person to pass through. Sitting at the door is a middle-aged man with ordinary appearance but shrewd eyes.
Han Zheng first took out his seal and deliberately changed his voice, lowering it very low. "I brought a friend here. She's a new visitor and needs a pass."
Yun Huaying handed the other party the ten yuan she had prepared earlier. The other party took the money first, then took out a dark green seal the size of a fingernail from a drawer next to her and gave it to her. He said, "Use this seal to enter. If it is lost or stolen, you will bear the consequences yourself. We are not responsible at all."
"Okay." Yun Huaying replied softly.
"Come in."
The other person pointed at the dark door in front without looking at them for long.
Han Zheng walked in front, Yun Huaying followed closely behind. When they opened the door, there was a narrow passage. Fortunately, there was an oil lamp hanging in the passage, so the light was still bright.
After passing through the passage and opening a second door, a tall, burly man stood on the other side of the door and asked mechanically, "Seal?"
The two men simultaneously took out their respective seals. The other glanced at them and pointed to the crowded trading area in front. "Your timing is quite coincidental. A batch of goods from the south just arrived ten minutes ago. There are woolen fabrics and sneakers."
Yun Huaying nodded, looked at Han Zheng, and the two of them went directly in the direction he pointed.
The interior of this river port black market is a long street, or more accurately, a street stall mall. The sellers set up stalls directly on the street, and all kinds of goods are piled on the stalls. There are indeed many varieties of goods, much more than those in state-owned stores.
Seeing a crowd gathered in front of a large vendor, several women were arguing loudly about something. Yun Huaying craned her neck to take a look and saw that they were fighting over wool yarn. There were red, yellow, blue, green, and purple colors. The colors were much better than the wool yarn sold in state-owned stores. She asked the vendor next to her, "How much is the wool yarn?"
"17.5 per pound, pure wool yarn, new from the Guangdong Province Cotton Mill."
The prices were a little higher than in state-owned supermarkets, but they didn't require receipts, and the colors were prettier. Yun Huaying saw the older woman next to her grab a handful of red wool. She was very excited and leaned over to ask, "Sister, how is the quality of this wool?"
"Very good, the color is nice, it's soft, and it's pure wool, not acrylic." The other party answered her.
"Sister, can I touch it?"
"You can touch it, but you can't steal it from me." The elder sister was on guard against her.
Yun Huaying's lips twitched slightly: "Don't worry, I'm just testing the quality. If it's good, I'll pick out a few kilograms of other colors."
Seeing that she didn't want the red one, the elder sister let her touch it without worry.
Yun Huaying touched it gently. The yarn was indeed softer than acrylic yarn, but much thicker than the yarns of later generations. However, it was still the best yarn available. She thanked the elder sister and turned to the man standing behind her, "Do you want to buy it?"
"Huaying, can you weave?" Han Zheng asked in a low voice, with a different light in his eyes.
Yun Huaying saw this and immediately poured a basin of water to extinguish his thoughts. "I don't know how to knit. Even if I buy wool, I have to ask Lin Shan and Jiang Yuan to help me knit."
Since she wouldn't, Han Zheng made a decision: "I won't buy it."
Seeing that the women in front were about to start a fight and divide up all the beautiful red wool, Han Zheng immediately stepped forward, intending to help her grab it: "Hua Ying, what color do you like? Do you want red?"
His voice was quite loud, and when the female comrades in front of him saw that he was coming to snatch it, their eyes widened, as if they would fight him to the death if he tried to snatch it.
"I don't want red."
Yun Huaying quickly extinguished the flames that were about to ignite, pointed at the green and purple that were thrown aside, and pulled Han Zheng's sleeve, "Purple and green, give me two kilograms of each."
Seeing that she didn't want red, the women comrades took the initiative to leave a little space and let Han Zheng go to get green and purple yarn. An enthusiastic woman also threw a roll of apricot-yellow yarn next to her and said, "Little comrade, this apricot-yellow yarn is quite good. It's suitable for you young women to knit scarves and gloves. We only have half a pound left, so we're giving it to you."
"Thank you, big sister."
Yun Huaying accepted her kindness, and after Han Zheng helped her get enough, she immediately went to the stall owner to weigh the goods.
She bought a lot, so the stall owner offered her a woven bag. When she was paying, Han Zheng asked the vendor, "Brother, we want to buy a watch. Does anyone here have one?"
"Little brother, you've asked the right person. My brother has two new watches, one for his and one for his, both semi-automatic, from the Kyoto Shuangling brand."
"How much?" Han Zheng was concerned about the price.
"Don't worry, little brother, the price is absolutely fair."
The man patted him on the shoulder and called out to a stall not far away, saying, "Go talk to my brother in person. He has some good stuff from Guangdong Province, all new goods not available here. If you buy a lot, he'll give you a discount."
The two of them followed the man's brother to his stall. Valuable items like watches were not displayed on the stall, so he took them out of his briefcase and said, "These two watches are new. A friend from Guangdong Province asked me to sell them the other day. No watch tickets are needed. Come take a look at the goods first."
The two of them took turns inspecting the goods. Han Zheng noticed that Yun Huaying was interested in other things on the stall, so he discussed with the other party, "Brother, let's buy some other things. The price will be cheaper later."
"Okay, you choose first."
The other party agreed. He had just noticed that the two men bought several kilograms of wool at the eldest brother's stall and were very generous.
He then quietly took out his hidden treasures and said, "Hey, are you interested in this gold jewelry?"
The thing was in a cloth bag. He was very cautious with it and only exposed the side of the golden hairpin, but it attracted Yun Huaying's attention.
Seeing that she was interested, the man cleverly approached her, blocked the view of others, handed the cloth bag to her, opened the bag, and showed her the entire hairpin.
After seeing that it was a gold-inlaid sapphire dragonfly hairpin, Yun Huaying's pupils shrank. She reached out and gently turned the hairpin. Seeing the familiar flowing cloud pattern carved on the end of the handle, she was shocked. She quickly pulled up the cloth bag to cover the jewelry, but her face remained calm. She pretended to be uninterested and said, "Brother, this gold hairpin is very beautiful and exquisitely crafted. It's not the work of an ordinary goldsmith. I'm a little interested in it, but I don't want to cause trouble because of it."
"Comrade, you're overthinking it. We know the rules in this business and only do pure business transactions. We won't do anything else that will ruin our source of income." The other party spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
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