"Well, there's nothing you can't find on the black market, from the common food and cloth tickets to the coal, tofu, and egg tickets, as well as vegetable tickets, soap tickets, and fried dough stick tickets. We even have some really weird tickets here."
Wan Feng nodded. "I just want cloth coupons, Brother Zhao! What's the price of cloth coupons on the Hongya black market? How much can they be bought in quantity?"
Brother Zhao recalled, "Cloth coupons are a very volatile commodity. Currently, the price fluctuates between 1.2 and 1.4 mao per foot. This year, the highest price was 1 mao, and at the end of last year, it was nearly 3 mao. The few cloth coupons sold by people from the countryside were all collected by a handful of people. They were the only ones who had them, but I don't know how many there were, probably no more than a thousand feet."
Most of the cloth coupons on the black market now come from rural farmers. The farmers' cloth coupons mainly come from state allocation and some rewards at the time. On average, one person can get seven to ten cloth coupons a year.
This mainly depends on the cotton production of that year. If the cotton harvest is good, each person will get more. If the harvest is poor, each person will get less.
Because of their low income, farmers usually did not make a new set of clothes in a year, so they would secretly take their cloth coupons to the city to sell. At the most expensive time, they could sell them for more than 20 cents per foot.
People in the city received more cloth coupons than farmers, but they were almost never enough. It was still okay on ordinary days, but if a child was getting married, they had to start saving cloth coupons a year in advance. If they didn't save enough, they could only borrow them from everywhere or buy them on the black market.
The black market was spontaneous at first, and gradually developed to a certain scale. Although the country's crackdown was relatively severe, there was still an endless stream of people who took risks.
The scale of a thousand feet is really not that big. If Luan Feng processes this amount by herself, it would be enough. But if she wants to open a clothing factory, this amount of stuff will be of little use.
"Brother Zhao! Tomorrow is the 26th, which happens to be Saturday. I'll come to you at one in the afternoon and ask you to take me in to have a look."
After agreeing on a meeting place with Brother Zhao, Xia Qiulong left with Brother Zhao.
Not long after Xia Qiulong and his companions left, Liang Wan's carriage arrived.
In business, as long as you have built up your reputation and have your own brand effect, customers will blindly trust you and flock to you to give you money selflessly.
Lao Liangtou has been growing melons in the countryside all his life. Although he is famous locally, his brand effect is definitely not as great as the one Wan Feng has created in the county in just a few years. This can be seen from his sales volume.
In just over an hour, nearly 700 kilograms of melons were sold out before ten o'clock, without any pause.
In those days, the most popular phrase among rural people when going to a restaurant was "two taels of liquor and two cents for a dish." Wan Feng gave Liang Wan one yuan, which was enough for his whole family to eat and drink. As for whether this guy would leave the money and go home hungry, Wan Feng didn't care.
Wan Feng went home first on Yang Hong's tractor.
A few days ago, a heavy rain in the northern mountainous area filled the Biliu River Reservoir upstream of the Inna River with water, making the reservoir dam a little overwhelmed, so the reservoir decided to release half of the water temporarily.
Wan Feng almost died after this release of water. If Luan Feng had not desperately dragged him out, he would probably have gone to the East China Sea to become the Dragon King's son-in-law.
This flood discharge was a disaster for Wanfeng, but it was a blessing for the people living along the river, because a large number of fish also swam downstream. Countless silver carp and carp flowed out of the reservoir and flooded the upstream and downstream of the Inna River. After the water level calmed down, they became the target of people on both sides of the river. The Inna River was filled with people from upstream to downstream.
When Wan Feng returned to the brick factory, someone told him that people by the river were going crazy fishing. Upon hearing the news, he immediately pushed his bicycle with two baskets on it and rushed to the river.
At this time, he stopped at the foot of the cliff in front of the rubber dam.
The foot of the cliff was filled with people, men, women, young and old, and the scene was bustling and noisy.
Because of the deep water here at the rubber dam, many big fish are washed here and stay and are reluctant to leave, so the amount of fish gathered here is quite abundant.
There were many people on the shore eager to try, and everyone pretended to be a fisherman.
These fishermen are not professional fishermen, so their methods are all kinds of strange.
Some people use nets, and the most common people use cannons.
The gunpowder, which is composed of sulfur, nitrate and charcoal, is placed in a can or wine bottle. The bottle mouth is sealed with mud, a fuse less than an inch long is inserted, lit, and then thrown into the water.
The bottle explodes at a depth of about two or three meters when it enters the water, killing fish with the shockwaves.
There are many tricks to using a cannon to catch fish. The fuse must not be too long or too short.
If it's too short, the bottle will explode before it hits the water or just after it hits the water, basically creating the effect of a firecracker - you hear the bang.
If the fuse is left too long, the bottle will sink to the bottom and will not produce the maximum killing effect.
The optimal depth for a bottle explosion is about one to two meters.
Don't look down on this traditional way of fishing. If there are a lot of fish, a row of cannons will be fired across the river and the surface will be covered with white fish.
At this time, the eyes of people by the river are all red. Those who are good at swimming will go into the water to pick up the fish, while those who are not good at swimming can only be anxious. After picking up the fish on the surface, they will dive into the deep water to fish them out.
This kind of fish does not belong to whoever sets the firecracker, but to whoever catches it. Therefore, many people catch fish in vain by the river.
Wan Feng is not a good swimmer. Even if there are many fish in the river, he will not be jealous. But he believes that in the end, no one will have as many fish as he does.
"It's time to collect the fish. Silver carp is three cents a jin, common carp is four cents a jin, and red carp is five cents a jin. From five to ten jin, we'll take as many as you can get."
He came here to collect fish.
The reason why it needs to be more than five kilograms and less than ten kilograms is very important.
Silver carp and carp weighing less than five kilograms are usually considered fish. The meat is too tender and will not taste good if it is not stewed properly. Fish weighing more than ten kilograms are considered fish because they are too big and few people can afford to spend more than one yuan to buy one.
So Wan Feng wants ones in the range of five to ten kilograms.
The reason why silver carp is not as valuable as carp is that silver carp itself has a strong fishy smell. If it is not handled properly and the fishy smell cannot be removed, it is simply inedible.
A shirtless man in his thirties brought a nearly two-foot-long silver carp to Wan Feng and said, "Son, weigh this fish, how much does it weigh?"
Wan Feng deftly hooked the fish's gills with the hook on the scale, and when the scale was balanced, he twisted the weight rope. "Ten pounds and four ounces, three cents and a penny. Sell it?"
"Of course I'll sell it. Why would I bring it here if I didn't?"
Three cents is not a lot of money for farmers. If they can get it for free, they will be foolish not to sell it.
Wan Feng put the fish into the basket and counted out three cents and gave it to the man.
People continued to deliver fish, including silver carp and carp. In about an hour, Wan Feng collected nearly 100 kilograms of fish.
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