"Dad, where did Mom go?" Wang Minzhi looked around for a long time, but only her sister-in-law was cooking in the kitchen. She didn't know where her mother was.
“Minzhi, your mother went to exchange grain for me. Alas, there was no harvest in the fields this year, and there is really not enough food at home. We have eaten everything edible in the fields and on the mountains, and several people in the village have starved to death. I really have no other choice, otherwise I wouldn’t have come to bother you.”
Wang's father didn't speak, but his third uncle spoke first. He spoke while crying, describing the situation in the village as a grown man.
To be honest, Wang Minzhi has always lived a good life and has never suffered any injustice. Before, her family was well-off, and she had her brother to take care of her; when she was looking for a job, her classmate Li Tong helped her; now, in this situation, others are struggling to even have a decent meal, but she has Xu Damao, and sometimes she can even secretly eat meat to improve her life.
Today, seeing her childhood support and respected uncle crying uncontrollably over food, Wang Minzhi realized how fortunate she was.
Xu Damao, as a man, didn't think there was anything wrong with a grown man crying in this situation. He had frequently traveled to the countryside recently and witnessed firsthand what famine was like; people starving to death was commonplace. Even more remarkably, things beyond human comprehension had happened.
This is why Xu Damao, knowing Li Xuewu was not a good person, was willing to work under him. In this era where people could truly starve, morality could no longer be the standard by which ordinary people were judged.
Wang Minzhi couldn't stop crying as her third uncle described the situation in the village.
"Third Uncle, how old is Tiger this year? Is he old enough to find a wife?" Xu Damao asked, trying to divert his wife's attention.
“Sigh, she’s 18. In this situation, which family would dare to have another person? In the countryside now, if your family has enough to eat, plenty of families would be willing to marry off their daughters,” said the third uncle.
As the group chatted, Wang's mother went home.
"Sigh, now every household has no coarse grains to exchange. I went to many acquaintances' homes and only managed to get this little bit." The bag that Wang's mother was carrying probably weighed only about twenty pounds.
Nowadays, every household is short of food, so they like to replace their refined grains with coarse grains such as cornmeal so that they can eat them for a longer period of time.
Everyone was disappointed. The Wang family had some grain, enough to support their third uncle's side. But they couldn't afford to give them any more, so they were thinking of exchanging it for more coarse grains.
"How about this, my third uncle can rest here tonight. I still have some spare rooms at my place. I'll try to figure out how to get a few more," Xu Damao said.
"Da Mao, is this safe?" Wang's mother looked at her son-in-law with hope.
They knew that this son-in-law knew many people and had a wide network of connections; even now, during times of famine, he would occasionally bring some grain and meat home.
"It's alright, I'll go take a look first. It would be great if I could help, but if I can't, my third uncle won't blame me," Xu Damao said.
"No, no, you are our family's saviors now." Even her own sister, in this era, few people would be willing to help by giving her food. It's not that family ties have faded, but rather that in the face of survival, everyone is struggling to take care of themselves.
Xu Damao planned to go to the black market that evening, not to buy grain as the Wang family had hoped, but to sell it. He had previously spent a lot of money to hoard a considerable amount of grain, and now he planned to sell it off gradually.
With Xu Damao's words, the whole family felt much better, and the oppressive atmosphere in the house gradually disappeared.
After dinner, Xu Damao and his wife returned to their courtyard house. It wasn't completely dark yet, but everyone in the courtyard had their doors tightly shut and were asleep. It turned out that everyone was now skipping dinner to save food and going to bed early.
Back home, after closing the door, Xu Damao couldn't wait to hug Wang Minzhi, and then the ground shook violently.
"Da Mao, are you going out again tonight?" Wang Minzhi asked with concern as she hugged Xu Da Mao afterward. Since last year, Xu Da Mao had been going to the black market every few days, and she was always a little worried.
"I'll go see if I can get some coarse grains. Don't worry, I know people there. Besides, everyone's having a tough time right now. If someone shuts down the black market, many people in the capital won't be able to survive."
At that time, not only ordinary people, but also many law enforcement officers went to the black market to find food.
Xu Damao comforted his wife, but what he said was also true.
At this time, as long as the exchange and trade did not disrupt the economic order on a large scale, the government tacitly approved it. Each time Xu Damao went there, he would openly carry at most about a hundred catties of grain, no more than two large sacks. Occasionally, if he sold very well, he would secretly take some out from his spatial storage and put it in the sacks, and most people would not notice.
Those who ship thousands or tens of thousands of kilograms of goods out of the country—not to mention that Xu Damao doesn't have that much space to ship every day, even if he did, he wouldn't dare. His space is relatively weak, and Xu Damao is also worried that the state apparatus will target him.
In the early hours of the morning, Xu Damao climbed over the courtyard wall and slowly walked along it towards the black market. As he approached his destination, he could clearly see other people heading in the same direction. However, everyone was perfectly in sync, not greeting each other, all wearing headscarves, and silently continuing forward.
When they arrived at the location, Xu Damao took out the prepared food from his spatial storage and followed the black market manager's directions inside.
Xu Damao didn't rush to find a place to sell his goods. Instead, he carried his bags and walked around the market first.
It's called a market, but it's really just an abandoned alley. Guards stand at both ends, constantly watching for law enforcement. If anything seems amiss, they'll sound an alarm, and everyone will climb over the wall to escape. One side of the wall is abandoned rooms, the other is overgrown with weeds; once someone hides inside, they're completely undetectable.
Therefore, this black market wasn't the closest to Xu Damao's house, but it was the place he frequented most, simply because it was safe. Due to its unique structure and security, it had become the largest market in the vicinity.
The alley was about 300-400 meters long, and every few meters there was a person squatting against the wall with a bag, basket, or frame in front of them, all of which were goods to be sold. There were small amounts of grain, chickens and ducks, and even wild boar meat. If you only looked at the black market, you would have no idea how severe the famine was outside.
However, these chickens, ducks, fish, and meats were all obtained illegally and belonged to the commune. Some communes, truly lacking grain, would secretly find ways to "lose" some and then exchange it for grain on the black market. Others would organize people to go up the mountain to hunt wild boars and then trade them for grain.
But now the amount of food available for exchange is decreasing and becoming increasingly expensive.
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