Based on the information pieced together from everyone's conversation, Song Yan walked north from the supply and marketing cooperative for about four miles. She saw a cluster of ruins in the distance, and people carrying goods could be seen emerging from there. This must be the black market. Finding a secluded spot, Song Yan went into her spatial dimension to change her clothes, put on a mask and straw hat before emerging. With her basket on her back, Song Yan went to wander around. There were vendors selling pork, cotton, wheat flour, cornmeal… all sorts of odds and ends. There were vendors selling spinach and bok choy, and when she inquired, she found they were one cent per pound. One stall had some pretty good-looking small radishes, two cents a pound. These were all common items found in gardens nowadays, nothing special.
Song Yan first took out persimmons. Since she didn't have a scale, she decided to sell them individually. As soon as Song Yan spread a cloth on the ground, displaying about twenty red, yellow, and green persimmons, a woman came over.
How much are these persimmons?
“Five cents each,” Song Yan replied.
"Too expensive! Can two of them even weigh a pound? That's more than a dime a pound!" The woman's shout attracted the attention of several people.
Another old man came over and asked, "What kind of things grow in the garden don't cost a few cents a pound?"
"These are grown in the greenhouse, it took a lot of effort. The persimmons in the orchard are still a long way off! These persimmons are delicious, you can smell them if you don't believe me." Song Yan picked up a green one and handed it to the old man to smell. "These 'Thief-proof' persimmons are really delicious." The green persimmons are called "Thief-proof" in this area.
Actually, you don't need to bring it up close; you can smell the fresh fragrance of persimmons just by standing next to it.
"Would two of them weigh a pound?" the old man asked.
Next to her was an old woman selling cornmeal. Seeing that Song Yan didn't have a scale, she said, "I'll weigh them for you." She picked up two persimmons and placed them on the scale. "They weigh a good pound and a ounce." She held up the scale handle.
Persimmons cost about ten cents a pound, which would normally be expensive. They're just selling them because they're fresh. "I want ten," the old man said. He started picking them. Only then did he notice that the persimmons were almost all the same size. He simply picked them one by one.
After selling ten persimmons, a large portion of the cloth display was gone. Those who wanted to buy some were anxious; persimmons are truly a rare treat these days!
"I want five."
"I want ten."
Song Yan kept taking things out of the basket, closing the lid after each takeout. She needed to be able to retrieve them from her spatial storage. But she couldn't take too many… and soon the basket was empty. She felt a little disappointed about not being able to buy anything.
"Is there anything else?" a young woman asked.
"Also, I'll go get it. If you're not in a hurry, just wait." With that, Song Yan picked up the basket and left.
This area was clearly burned down. Song Yan moved behind a high wall, and when no one was around, she entered her spatial dimension, counted her earnings, and found she had sold a little over five yuan. After staying there for more than ten minutes, she came out carrying a basket on her back, with two large crates at her feet. She met two people coming by and offered to pay them one cent to help carry the basket over. It wasn't far, and the two agreed. There really were people waiting for her. Song Yan put down her basket and said, "I have some good stuff here, do you want it?" She pulled a gray rabbit out of a crate. These days, meat was highly sought after. This rabbit looked quite plump. Someone weighed it in their hand to see how heavy it was. Song Yan ignored them and started laying out persimmons.
Some people who wanted to buy persimmons started stuffing them into their pockets. "Look, six here, I'll give you three cents."
"Okay."
How much for the rabbit?
"Three yuan and fifty cents." "That's too expensive, can you make it cheaper?"
Song Yan was busy selling persimmons and didn't reply. A middle-aged woman carrying a rabbit asked, "Auntie, could you weigh this rabbit for me? How heavy is it?"
People are generally easy to talk to these days, so the old lady selling cornmeal weighed it for me. "Five and a half jin."
A bystander remarked, "It's quite heavy!"
Black market meat is nine cents, and a five-and-a-half-pound rabbit is three yuan and fifty cents, which works out to less than seven cents, plus you get a rabbit skin! What a bargain! The middle-aged woman picked up the rabbit and handed Song Yan four yuan, "Give me ten persimmons too."
"Okay." Song Yan quickly counted the persimmons.
"Are there any rabbits left?" It seemed like a good deal, and someone wanted to buy one.
Song Yan took two more rabbits out of the basket. Because there were many people surrounding Song Yan, the old lady selling cornmeal next to her sold several more pounds, which put her in a good mood. "Let me weigh them," she said, and started weighing them. "This one weighs five pounds and three ounces, and this one weighs five and a half pounds."
A man picked up the five-and-a-half-pound one and said, "Here's your money."
Song Yan took the five yuan and gave him one yuan and fifty cents in change…
After selling out, Song Yan wandered around again and came back, only to sell out quickly once more…
When Song Yan left, she gave the old lady selling corn two persimmons. "They're worth a dime, you can keep them to sell!"
"It's nothing." She really was fine. Selling items doesn't increase the space's area, but it generates profit; giving away space for free increases the area's size. Song Yan isn't losing out either way.
"Thank you so much. I'm packing up and leaving now. My grandson is too young, and his mother can't look after him all by herself." The old lady packed up and left.
Song Yan wanted to buy something, so she wandered around and came across a stall selling secondhand goods. It was genuine secondhand stuff—some rough porcelain jars and pots. She bought a few to use in her spatial dimension. There was even a compass; it would be useful, but it cost two yuan, quite expensive. Song Yan bought it anyway. There were also stalls selling chicks, two mao each. She bought ten, along with some millet to feed them…
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