Xu Kuo stopped wasting words with Liu Zi and turned a corner to see the black market inside.
Xu Kuo had only heard of it before, but had never seen it in person.
The people here are probably afraid of getting caught, so they keep everything except for things they can't hide in their pockets, which is why most of them look furtive.
However, after looking around, Xu Kuo realized that most of the people here only sold eggs, and some sold grain coupons or other items.
Xu Kuo was somewhat disappointed. He had thought there would be rice, flour, and cooking oil in the food, but he hadn't expected that the famine would cause such a shortage of food.
Xu Kuo did consider buying from grocery stores or supply and marketing cooperatives, but those places required not only money but also coupons.
Xu Kuo hadn't earned many work points before, so naturally he wouldn't get any grain coupons. Coupled with his empty pockets, he had no choice but to come to the black market.
The prices on the black market are a bit higher, but no tickets are needed.
Xu Kuo strolled around the area, and everyone's eyes were drawn to his hands.
Some people even started drooling, after all, this pound of meat was just too tempting.
Before long, a woman carrying eggs approached Xu Kuo.
"Brother, where did you buy this meat? The meat in the grocery store isn't as good as the piece you have. Tell me where you bought it. We haven't had any meat at home for months. If you have any more, I'll go buy some too."
"Sister, I didn't buy this meat."
Xu Kuo couldn't reveal the specifics of how he got there, and the man, being sensible, couldn't hide his disappointment upon hearing this.
"Brother, you have quite a lot of meat in your hands. Could you spare some for me? I'll trade you some eggs in return."
Xu Kuo hesitated for only a moment before shaking his head.
Although eggs are a good thing and highly nutritious, if I suddenly brought a basket of eggs home, the two women in my family would probably be so scared that they wouldn't dare to sleep.
In the end, Xu Kuo decided to start by bringing home the most basic necessities like rice, flour, and cooking oil, so that they could gradually accept them.
Since Xu Kuo refused, the elder sister was somewhat disappointed, but she did not continue to pester him.
When the others saw that Xu Kuo wouldn't even trade the eggs, they gave up on the idea.
Helpless, Xu Kuo had no choice but to spend 10 points to refresh the system panel since he couldn't find what he wanted.
Today's Products:
Premium flour (20 jin remaining) - Price: 5 points/jin
Northeast rice (20 jin remaining) - Price: 5 points/jin
Refined lard (5 jin remaining) - Price: 4 points/jin
Premium bananas (5 jin remaining) - Price: 4 points/jin
Seeing that he had the items he wanted on the list, he planned to redeem them when he was almost home.
Just as Xu Kuo was about to leave, a cold notification sound suddenly rang in his ears.
[Ding! A Western-style fan has been detected, worth 100 points. Would you like to exchange it?]
Having experienced similar situations before, Xu Kuo was somewhat surprised but not astonished this time.
A Western-style fan? It seems this criminal organization does have some treasures.
Thinking of this, Xu Kuo was no longer in a hurry to leave. He had just roughly calculated that if he were to replace all these things on the system, it would take quite a few points.
So Xu Kuo slowly turned around again, wondering where this Western fan might be.
Just then, Xu Kuo suddenly noticed a refined-looking man in the corner. He seemed to have a fan in his hand, but it was just for cooling off.
However, the man had some not-so-fresh wild vegetables laid out in front of him, making it look like he was selling wild vegetables.
With the system's help, Xu Kuo confirmed that it was indeed the fan the man in front of him was holding.
Xu Kuo walked slowly to the man.
"Brother, where did you buy that fan?"
The system thought it was a good thing, but the man clearly didn't know its value.
"You mean this fan? I found it while tidying up the house."
The man clearly noticed Xu Kuo's interest in the fan in his hand, but he was puzzled as to what was so good about this tattered fan, since it didn't even help to cool him down.
"Brother, the fan you have is quite beautiful. How about this: I'll trade half of the pork I have for this fan. What do you think?"
Those around were surprised to hear this; no one expected that the man, who hadn't changed anything before, would now want to exchange it for a broken fan.
The man looked at the piece of meat in Xu Kuo's hand and swallowed hard, but he wanted something else even more.
"I'm really sorry, but what I need most right now is money."
Upon hearing that money was required, Xu Kuo was also in a dilemma. He had meat in his hands, but he really didn't have any money.
"To be honest, my child's tuition is due next month, and I'm a bit short on cash, so I'm trying my luck on the black market. I can tell you really like this fan, so here's your five cents!"
If it were today, 50 cents wouldn't be much money, but the key is that he can't afford to spend a single cent right now.
Just then, an old man nearby overheard their conversation and, seeing Xu Kuo in a dilemma, immediately stepped forward.
"Young man, I have money here. If you sell me that meat, you'll have money to buy this fan!"
That's a good idea, but the old man is shrewd and keeps trying to negotiate a lower price with Xu Kuo.
"Look how destined we are, how about I give you eight cents and you give me all this meat?"
"Eight mao? Grandpa, are you kidding me? Pork at the supply and marketing cooperative is selling for a dollar now. I have a whole jin (500g) of pork here, and the quality of my pork is even better than theirs. Don't even think about buying a jin of my pork for eight mao."
Although Xu Kuo lived in modern times, he still inquired about the basic prices of goods.
Sure enough, he didn't go near bad people wherever he went. When the old man heard that Xu Kuo was knowledgeable, he then offered him another 10 cents.
"Look, everyone's been out for ages and hasn't done much business yet. Since you like this fan so much, why don't you sell it to me?"
The others also tried to persuade Xu Kuo, saying that if it weren't for the 100 points in the system, Xu Kuo wouldn't be arguing with people here.
"How about this, let's ask that guy over there to use his scale. I'll sell you half a jin, and you give me 5 mao. This is already the lowest price. If you don't agree, I won't sell it to you."
Although the others were also envious of the piece of meat in Xu Kuo's hand, none of them could afford to pay that much money.
Upon hearing this, the old man, though it didn't meet his expectations, agreed because it was still the market price and the pork was of such good quality.
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