Before long, a plate of fragrant fried eggs was placed in front of Liu Haizhong. Seeing that there was food, Liu Haizhong poured himself a glass of wine and continued drinking.
The second aunt watched anxiously from the sidelines. For her son's sake, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and speak.
"Honey, why don't you go...?"
"Where are you going? Tell me!"
Liu Haizhong was already preoccupied with something, and seeing his second aunt stammering, he became even more furious.
"Don't be angry when I say this. If you think it's okay, then listen to it. If you don't think it's okay, then just pretend I didn't say anything."
The second aunt gave a heads-up to prevent her bangs from suddenly sticking out and hurting someone.
"I've noticed that when other people are missing something, they go to the black market and nothing bad happens. Why don't we make a trip there too?"
After the second aunt finished speaking, she looked at Liu Haizhong cautiously. Seeing that Liu Haizhong was still drinking, she felt relieved.
Liu Haizhong was also considering his wife's words. His son had finally been admitted to a vocational school, and it would be unreasonable if this matter wasn't handled well, especially with the Sun family's Zhuyu as an example.
He'd had quite a bit to drink tonight, and perhaps emboldened by the alcohol, Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth and made the decision without hesitation.
"Alright! I'll ask Yan Bugui to leave the door open tonight so I can go out for a stroll. You'd better keep your mouth shut."
"Yes, ma'am! We'll do whatever you say. Don't worry, I guarantee no one will know."
Auntie Er said cheerfully.
...
In the middle of the night, a dark shadow flashed by, moving from the backyard of the courtyard house to the frontyard. When the shadow reached the front gate, it saw that the gate was unlocked and was relieved.
The shadowy figure gently opened the courtyard gate, waited for the person to come out, then quietly closed the gate before disappearing into the night.
In the pitch-black night, the shadowy figure staggered to the nearby small black market, where only faint lights appeared when it arrived.
If you look closely with the light, who else could this person be but Liu Haizhong? Even though Liu Haizhong's face is covered, his unique figure gives him away without a doubt.
"Buy or sell?" the black market man at the door asked.
"Buy it!" Liu Haizhong replied.
"If you want to buy it, pay 10 cents, and don't cause trouble inside."
"Why!"
After paying the fee, Liu Haizhong successfully entered the black market. As a complete novice, he didn't know who to look for and could only wander around aimlessly, hoping to find someone selling tickets.
Liu Haizhong, who was spinning around aimlessly, quickly attracted the attention of the black market operators. Just as he was about to spin around for the third time, the black market operators approached him.
"I've seen you wandering around here for ages, what do you want to buy?"
"Who are you……."
Liu Haizhong asked in confusion.
"Don't worry about what I do. Just tell me what you want to buy. I know this stuff inside and out and can give you some pointers."
"I'd like to buy some tickets, can you tell me where I can buy them?"
Liu Haizhong didn't want to keep wandering around anymore; now that someone knew, it saved him some trouble.
"If you had said so earlier, I would have had tickets. Tell me, what kind of tickets do you need?"
Hearing that there were tickets, Liu Haizhong felt like he had finally found his people and didn't have to wander around aimlessly anymore.
"I need meat coupons, grain coupons, liquor coupons, vegetable coupons... Do you have all of these coupons?"
Liu Haizhong brought up several different types of tickets in one go, but that's exactly what the black market people do. They casually rummaged through the tickets and pulled out a stack of them, handing them over.
"Take your time choosing! We'll settle the bill after you've finished."
Liu Haizhong never expected that the problem he had been racking his brains over but couldn't solve was as simple as drinking water for this person. He didn't care about anything else and immediately started working on it.
After Liu Haizhong finished selecting the tickets, the black market personnel counted them and then said...
"It's all settled, it's a little over 28 yuan in total, just give me 28!"
"Okay, I'll get the money right away."
After paying the money, the transaction between the two was considered complete. Liu Haizhong carefully put the ticket into his shirt pocket and prepared to go home.
"Next time you need tickets, just come and find me. My name is Daozi. Just ask at the door."
"Okay, I understand."
After saying that, Liu Haizhong turned around and was about to leave when someone suddenly shouted at the entrance of the black market.
"Lei Zi is coming! Lei Zi is coming! Everyone run!"
Hearing the shouts, the entire black market descended into chaos. Some people abandoned their wares and turned to run, fearing that this man named Lei would devour them.
Liu Haizhong stood there dumbfounded, at a loss for what to do!
The knife next to him was alright; it even gave a reminder.
"What are you standing there for! The police are coming, run!"
Liu Haizhong then realized he was in big trouble and turned to run in the opposite direction.
"This way, that way is a dead end. If you try to run there, you're just asking to die!"
After throwing down his last words, Daozi had already run quite far away; he had done all he could.
Liu Haizhong then followed Daozi's footsteps and disappeared into the night.
I don't know where this is. There are alleys everywhere, and flashlights are sweeping around randomly from time to time. I can hear people shouting that they have been arrested.
Liu Haizhong was very tired, extremely tired! His lungs felt like they were on fire, but he dared not stop to rest. As soon as he heard a sound, he would run.
Slowly, after an unknown amount of time, there was no more movement in the depths of the alley. Liu Haizhong knew that he had probably passed this hurdle tonight, but he didn't dare to leave. Instead, he found a step and sat down.
Liu Haizhong didn't emerge from the depths of the alley until dawn.
Once I left the alley and figured out the direction, I realized it was quite far from the courtyard house. No wonder I was so tired from running last night. But hard work always pays off; it's not like I missed out.
"hey-hey!"
A hint of smugness rose in Liu Hai's heart as he strode confidently toward the courtyard.
...
At the entrance of the courtyard house, Aunt Er was pacing back and forth anxiously, waiting for her husband to return, while secretly blaming herself.
"If I had known, I shouldn't have let him go. What are we going to do now?"
"Hey, Auntie, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"
"Oh! It's his third uncle! My husband, Lao Liu, went out early this morning. I'll wait for him."
Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui's heart skipped a beat. "Could something have happened to Old Liu?"
What was Liu Haizhong doing outside? Yan Bugui knows all the inside stories! He was the one who left the door open last night. It seems I need to be more careful in the future and not follow in Liu Haizhong's footsteps.
At this moment, Yan Bugui was imagining Liu Haizhong's tragic end and did not notice that the anxious look on the face of his second aunt beside him had been replaced by a look of smug satisfaction.
Because the second aunt had already seen a familiar figure walking from afar, she didn't have time to think and quickly went to greet him.
"Honey, you're back! Are you alright? I, I..."
Before the second aunt could finish speaking, she choked up.
"Alright, everything's fine now! Don't cry, there are still people at the gate! Don't let them laugh at us."
"Uh-huh!"
The second aunt nodded in agreement.
"Hey! Old Liu, are you alright?"
At the gate, seeing Liu Haizhong return, Yan Bugui asked in surprise.
"What could possibly be wrong with me! I got up early today to exercise, and I just got back."
Yan Bugui thought to himself, "I don't believe you for a second! You must have been hiding somewhere and just came out now!"
After a quick greeting, Liu Haizhong and his wife headed towards the backyard. He needed to go back to wash up and eat; otherwise, he'd be late for work, and he wouldn't have time to chat with this stingy old man.
Seeing that everyone had left, Yan Bugui could no longer ask any questions and could only return home disappointed.
But Yan Bugui always had a question in his mind.
What exactly did Liu Haizhong experience that night?
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