Chapter 6 Big Fish Are Hard to Sell
The middle-aged man may come to the black market frequently, so he did not react to Zhang Ze's words.
He frowned, not very satisfied with the price: "It's a bit expensive, it's almost the same price as pork."
Zhang Ze smiled and said, "This is mandarin fish. It's hard to fish and catch. The yield is very small. You can't buy it even if you want to. And pork costs 92 cents, but you need a meat ticket. Here, pork costs more than one dollar without a ticket."
"These fish weigh over two kilograms each. If I had a scale, I would definitely sell them for one yuan per kilogram."
"And this fish is easy to cook. You just need to put two slices of ginger in and steam it, sprinkle some salt and soy sauce, and finally add some chopped green onions and drizzle with hot oil."
"It tastes so fresh and tender, I guarantee you'll want to eat more after having it."
There was no soy sauce for steamed fish in those days, so soy sauce could only be used as a substitute.
As for lowering the price, he won't do it unless it's absolutely necessary, unless he can't sell any single piece.
He was not sure about the specific market price of mandarin fish, but he knew that his price should be moderate. It might be a little expensive compared to other fish, but it was not unacceptable.
Just like he said, mandarin fish is rare in the market of Yuewan County.
Moreover, the target audience of this thing is not ordinary people. For most people, one pound costs about 81 cents, which is not as cost-effective as buying pork, at least it is more oily.
“Can I see the fish?” The middle-aged man thought for a moment and thought that if the fish really weighed more than two kilograms, it would be okay.
"Of course." Zhang Ze grabbed another mandarin fish and handed it to the approaching middle-aged man. At the same time, his men also stood up. "The spines on the back of mandarin fish are poisonous. Be careful when you handle it."
Of course he stood up to guard against the middle-aged man taking the fish and running away. Although he was well-dressed, who knew if he was doing sneaky things behind the scenes.
Fortunately, Zhang Ze was overthinking it. The middle-aged man grabbed the fish and felt the weight, then nodded with satisfaction, knowing that it was indeed over two kilograms.
"Okay, I'll take this one."
Having successfully obtained two dollars, Zhang Ze was delighted. This first business deal was better than he had imagined.
The first deal was completed, and soon two more people came to buy the remaining fish.
These three fish weighed just over two kilograms each, and Zhang Ze earned a total of six yuan.
I still need to prepare a scale next time. Even if the fishing space can give the weight, if he says 2.3 kg or 1.8 kg, how can the customer believe it without seeing it with their own eyes! Not everyone has a pair of deft hands and can tell the weight of something as soon as they pick it up.
After selling the three fish, Zhang Ze left the black market with the bucket, found an empty spot and secretly put a few fish into the bucket.
This time he released three mandarin fish weighing more than 1.5 kilograms but less than 2 kilograms, and two weighing more than 4 kilograms, and then returned to the position where he had just sold fish.
People around him were a little surprised to find that he had returned, and what surprised them even more was that there was a mandarin fish in his bucket.
"What's in your bucket?" Soon, a new group of people came over to ask.
"Small mandarin fish weigh more than 1.5 kilograms and cost 1.5 yuan per piece. Large ones weigh more than 4 kilograms and cost 4 yuan."
"Give me a dollar and a half."
Three mandarin fish weighing more than 1.5 kilograms were still sold quickly for one dollar and fifty cents, but no one wanted two weighing more than 4 kilograms.
In order to sell it, he later lowered the price to three dollars and fifty cents.
Zhang Ze knew that the fish was too big to be finished in one meal.
It is difficult to preserve fish without a refrigerator, and it would be a pain to spend three or four dollars to buy a fish at one time, so larger fish are not as popular as small ones.
Later, he gradually took out all the mandarin fish weighing less than three kilograms to sell, and also put the ones weighing four kilograms in the bucket.
However, a total of sixteen mandarin fish weighing less than three catties in the fishing space were sold out, and not even a single one weighing four catties was sold.
It was already daybreak, and Zhang Ze was afraid that someone might come and catch him for speculation, so he stopped selling and instead carried the bucket into the woods nearby.
I walked very fast, and fortunately there was no one following me.
The public security was not good those days. It was not until the crackdown began in 1983 that the public security environment gradually improved. It is better to be cautious.
Seeing that there was no one around, Zhang Ze put the two four-pound mandarin fish in the bucket, which had become much weaker, back into the fishing space, and then counted his morning catch.
A stack of money, with the largest denomination being one yuan, totaling thirty-two yuan and ninety cents, plus two five-jin and three one-jin regional food coupons.
As for meat coupons and cloth coupons, haha!
Generally speaking, those who can come to buy his mandarin fish have decent family conditions.
The little meat coupons distributed every month were probably not enough for his family to eat, so how could he possibly use them to exchange for fish? Exchanging them for a few food coupons was considered an extra gain.
Unfortunately, the six four or five-jin mandarin fish in the space couldn’t be sold, and he was too lazy to take out the eleven-jin one.
If all else fails, I can only take it to the recycling station to exchange for some eggs or something. There's no way I can suffer a loss. After all, I caught it at no cost, so I won't feel that bad.
Zhang Ze guessed that it might be related to the time period when the fish was sold. A real big boss would definitely be willing to buy big fish. After all, it is also prestigious to treat guests. But which big boss would come to the black market in the early morning?
He put the fish into the space, poured out the water in the bucket, and shook it a few times to get rid of the remaining moisture. Then he took off the clothes covering his face and returned to the black market.
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Compared to selling things, buying something on the black market is not a big deal even if you get caught. At most you will get a few verbal warnings.
Everyone has had a hard time these years, so some places have turned a blind eye to it.
Zhang Ze first came to a pork stall and asked, "How much is the meat?"
"One dollar with a ticket, one dollar and twenty cents without a ticket. Spare ribs are sixty-five cents with a ticket, eighty-five cents without a ticket."
After hearing the price, Zhang Ze had an idea of the value of the meat ticket. He pointed to a piece of lard that could be used to make oil residue and a piece of pork belly and said, "This lard costs two kilograms, and pork belly costs one kilogram."
It's better to come early, as there is still a lot of fat. If you come later, there will probably only be lean meat left.
In later generations, he actually doesn't eat much fatty meat, because there is no shortage of oil and water in the 21st century.
But now his body's instinctive desire made him salivate at the sight of these white fat pieces of meat.
Black pigs are still sold these days, and their meat tastes much more fragrant than white pork.
Then he looked at the spareribs with only a little lean meat, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not buy them.
The fat can be used to make oil residue, and there is pork belly. It is better to leave the ribs at home and buy them next time you want to eat them when you go out.
The pork seller quickly cut off a total of three pounds of meat. Zhang Ze handed him three dollars and sixty cents, then took the pork wrapped in paper and put it into the bucket.
Then he went to buy 20 kilograms of rice. He didn't plan to use the food coupons for the time being, so the price of rice was 23 cents, and 20 kilograms was 4.6 yuan.
Twenty kilograms of rice was a lot, so he spent five cents more and asked the rice seller for a small bamboo basket to carry on his back.
If you go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy rice with food coupons, the price is 1.8 cents per pound.
Then Zhang Ze saw a man selling eggs, charging more than one yuan per pound.
Thinking that eggs from the countryside are easiest to get, he didn't buy any, after all, they are expensive here.
He also wanted to buy sugar and cooking oil, which required tickets, but unfortunately there were no tickets available here.
Other agricultural products were available in rural areas, so he left the black market and went to the center of Yuewan County.
Mainly, he wanted to find out from the side whether there was a possibility for places like state-owned restaurants to buy fish now. If there was a good channel to sell fish, then he wouldn't have to come to the black market in the middle of the night next time.
(End of this chapter)
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