Chapter 4 Trading
Ye Qian walked into a house and knocked on the door, and an old lady came out.
The old lady looked puzzled and asked, "Who are you looking for?" She was very cautious when facing someone she didn't know.
Ye Qian showed the small basket to the old lady and asked, "Do you want some noodles?"
The old lady grabbed Ye Qian's arm in surprise and said, "Yes, girl, come in quickly." After saying that, she did not forget to look outside to see if there was anyone.
"How do you sell this?" asked the old lady.
"Auntie, I'm charging the black market price of 1.5 yuan per jin (approximately 500g) plus 500g of food coupons." The old lady knew the price wasn't high and bought all the 20 jin (approximately 500g) of noodles in her backpack. Before leaving, Ye Qian also asked for the specific location of the black market, so as to avoid running around like a headless chicken, which would be even more dangerous.
Ye Qian found out the location but didn't rush to go. She decided to go back and tidy up the space and prepare some supplies before going. Then she ran to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a lot of yellow paper to wrap the supplies. On the way back, she took in the scenery of this era, stopping and walking along the way, and the fragrance of the earth filled the air.
The morning passed in a flash, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon when she returned home.
When I opened the door and saw the clean and tidy room, I felt very happy.
He put down the backpack, walked to the water tank, scooped some water into the basin, washed his face, and the towel was covered with yellow dust.
Um.
So dirty.
…
After a busy day today, she only ate two steamed buns and was already hungry. But it was still dark, and if someone came in looking for her and saw her eating something, it would be difficult to explain. So she took out a meat bun and ate it secretly to fill her stomach. She would have a good meal after dark.
After a long day of walking, I was tired. I closed the door, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep in no time. When I opened my eyes again, it was already past 11pm. Of course, I woke up hungry. I sat up and took out the fried chicken and Coke from the space and started eating.
Um.
It feels so good.
After finishing the meal, I felt it was not enough, so I added a can of eight-treasure porridge and ate a few skewers of barbecue. After sorting out the garbage, I could only lie down again.
There weren't many entertainment facilities in the sixties, and I couldn't sleep anyway, so I might as well go into the space and organize the supplies to be sold tomorrow.
Brown sugar and white sugar, each weighing two kilograms, were wrapped in yellow paper, 50 portions each. There were still 10 boxes of unbranded noodles, which didn't need to be sorted for now. The flour and rice were also unpacked and packed into cloth bags, each weighing 5 kilograms, for a total of 30 bags. We couldn't just buy all the fine grains; we should buy more coarse grains. Ye Qian also packed a lot of coarse grains: cornmeal, sweet potato flour, and sorghum flour, each weighing 5 kilograms, for a total of 30 bags each.
Looking at the organized supplies, Ye Qian dusted her hands and decided to leave it at that. She knew this small town might not be able to handle more. After completing her preparations, she had another good night's sleep.
…
Wake up the next day.
Ye Qian decided not to repeat yesterday's mistake and must eat breakfast in the morning, after all, she had to do physical work today.
I drank a bowl of century egg and lean meat porridge.
not enough.
Ate an egg.
Um.
It's not enough.
Two more red bean paste buns.
Only then did I feel a little full in my stomach. I hadn't eaten meat for a long time, and there was no oil in my stomach. I felt hungry soon.
After checking the time, it was already past 9 o'clock. She put on her backpack, locked the door, and left. As she was about to reach the county town, Ye Qian found a corner and placed the supplies she had prepared yesterday in the backpack. She even put on a disguise so that if she was discovered, she could change her disguise and escape quickly.
Ye Qian donned a wig, put on makeup, and put on an old dress that belonged to the original owner's mother. The journey to the county town took over an hour, and thankfully, she wasn't foolish enough to fill her backpack before leaving. After yesterday's experience, she wasn't quite as frightened today.
Arriving in the county town, Ye Qian went straight to the black market. It was easy to find, tucked away in the alley behind the scrap yard. Once inside, she found a spot to sit down. Based on her experience reading novels, she knew she could just sit there and expose her food, and she knew she wouldn't be asked. She bravely tried it, opening the cloth covering her backpack, revealing a corner of the noodles. A passing uncle's eyes lit up, "Girl, are you selling this food?" Sure enough, someone asked.
"Uncle, what do you want?" The uncle heard this and said, "Whatever you have, I'll take it."
"I have six cans of noodles, 20 kilograms of white flour, and 20 kilograms of rice. Are you sure you want them all?" Ye Qian finished speaking, and the uncle immediately showed surprise. These were all fine grains: "I want them all."
After the transaction was completed, the old lady who had been watching from the sidelines came over and asked, "Girl, do you have any food left?"
Ye Qian looked at the lady in front of her, and then said: "Auntie, if you want, can you come in the afternoon, right here?" After hearing this, the lady smiled and agreed.
She still had a lot in her space, but her small backpack couldn't hold much. It didn't make sense to sell so much food and then take it out again immediately. She also wanted to go somewhere else, so since she wasn't in a hurry to leave, she could come back again.
After leaving the black market, Ye Qian walked into Gong Qiao She, went to the candy counter, and asked the salesperson, "Would you like some noodles?"
The salesperson's face suddenly became nervous, and she reached out and grabbed me, "Girl, do you have noodles?"
Ye Qian was startled by her pulling and opened the cloth on the small backpack: "Take a look, do you want it?"
The saleswoman took one look and said, "It's fine grain. How much is it?"
"One dollar and fifty cents per pound, plus five ounces of food coupons." Ye Qian always quoted prices based on the black market.
Seeing the elder sister hesitate, Ye Qian didn't rush. Supplies were in short supply right now, so having some was good enough. So what if it was expensive? You could bargain or something. If you didn't want it, there were plenty of people who wanted it. The elder sister knew it would be hard to get it back if she missed out. She gritted her teeth and said, "Give me 20 pounds." The noodles came in 5-pound buckets, so she took out 4 buckets straight away.
Ye Qian said, "I still have 8 buckets of noodles, look." The eldest sister immediately understood what she meant and said softly, "Wait, I'll call someone over." Turning around, she saw the eldest sister called the saleswoman who sold cloth and the saleswoman who sold daily necessities over, and each of them took 4 buckets of noodles.
After paying, the elder sister said, "Sister, come to me next time if you have something else."
Ye Qian agreed, but she was still quite scared of such blatant speculation.
This county town is so small, it would be difficult for her to hide if someone wanted to catch her, but she has no money or ticket on her, so she can only take this risk.
In this way, he moved from place to place, and on the way he went to the black market to trade with the woman he had arranged in advance. In one afternoon, he sold a lot of food and exchanged it for a lot of food coupons. Some people who didn't have food coupons used other coupons to replace them.
In one day, I sold four boxes of noodles. I didn't sell much flour or rice, just a few bags. But I did sell dozens of kilograms of whole grains. But that's understandable. Who would eat such fine grains when they don't even have food? Five kilograms of flour can be exchanged for dozens of kilograms of whole grains.
Ye Qian put the money directly into the space. There is no place safer than space.
(End of this chapter)
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