How much is this for?
As he walked, Xu Damao saw that someone was actually selling calligraphy and paintings, and they looked like antiques.
"These are all family heirlooms, I'm not selling them. If you have any grain, you can trade them," the person opposite said in a low voice.
"How do we change it?" Xu Damao asked.
"Each painting costs 20 jin of cornmeal. There are five paintings here in total. If you want them all, you can take them for 80 jin of cornmeal," the man replied.
Don't think the other party has suffered a loss. We haven't reached the era of cultural revolution yet, and there are still many antique paintings and calligraphy passed down in China. But now, food is hard currency; without food, people can't survive.
"How about 5 jin for each painting?" Xu Damao didn't know how to bargain, so he cut the price in half.
"Are you causing trouble?" the man asked, somewhat displeased. These paintings and calligraphy works had been passed down through his family for a long time, but now that they couldn't be eaten, he had no choice but to part with them with a heavy heart.
"Take a look and see if I'm causing trouble." Xu Damao squatted down and showed the other person what was in his pocket, which was full of cornmeal.
"That's too little. These five paintings are only worth 25 jin (12.5 catties), not enough to feed my whole family for a month. Add some more." Seeing that Xu Damao really had food and wasn't joking, the other party started bargaining.
In the end, Xu Damao traded 35 jin of cornmeal for five paintings. Over the years, Xu Damao had also consulted some old gentlemen and gained some understanding of the antique business. Moreover, in those days, antique prices hadn't risen, and no one was specifically making fakes, so Xu Damao wasn't worried about the authenticity of the paintings.
After wandering around again without finding what he wanted, Xu Damao found a spot in the middle of an alley, squatted down, opened his bag, and waited for customers to arrive.
People who come here to buy grains usually buy ten or twenty kilograms at a time. It's not that they don't want to buy more, but they're worried that buying too much will arouse suspicion on the way back. Besides, if anything happens, such a small amount of grain can easily be stolen.
From the moment Xu Damao sat down, people started coming in to buy grain. Later, Xu Damao took advantage of the space in the bag to put some more in; otherwise, it would have been sold out in about 10 minutes.
"Do you have sweet potatoes here?" someone asked, coming closer.
That voice was so damn familiar. Even though his head was covered and his voice was muffled, Xu Damao knew it was Yan Fugui the moment he heard it. What was this guy doing here? You see, another reason Xu Damao came to this black market was that it was a bit far from the courtyard house, so fewer people came here, and he wanted to avoid running into acquaintances while selling his wares.
There was nothing he could do. He could recognize Yan Fugui's voice, and Yan Fugui could definitely recognize his own. Xu Damao could only wave his hand to indicate that he didn't have any sweet potatoes.
"How much is this cornmeal per pound?" Yan Fugui opened the bag in front of Xu Damao and looked inside.
And so, Yan Fugui asked the question, and Xu Damao answered with his hand. Yan Fugui kept nagging, insisting on a lower price, which almost made Xu Damao pack up and stop selling.
"Alright, alright, this price is fine. I'll take all of these. Give me the bag too, you won't need it." Yan Fugui ended up taking one of Xu Damao's bags as well.
This guy, people usually buy in batches of ten or so kilograms, but he bought more than 30 kilograms at once. But with such a large family, it's not enough for a month.
After selling everything, Xu Damao wandered around the market again, looking for anything unusual. While he was wandering around, he ran into Yan Fugui, who was haggling with someone over a price for fatty meat. After several attempts to bargain, he completely angered the other person, who then refused to sell it to him.
"When did Old Man Yan become so generous with meat purchases?" Xu Damao thought to himself.
As I was wandering around, a rapid whistle suddenly pierced the silence of the night from the alley entrance.
As the whistle rang out, the once quiet black market was like a calm lake thrown with a large stone; everyone initially looked in the direction of the sound.
Suddenly, as if by unspoken agreement, everyone started shouting, "The police are coming! Run!" Then the crowd began to surge, and many people ran towards the end of the alley where no whistle had yet sounded.
At this moment, some people started throwing away what they were carrying in order to run faster, while others carried dozens of kilograms of things and rushed along with the crowd. Xu Damao vaguely saw a man who looked like Yan Fugui, who was picking up the things that others had thrown away.
As they ran, the person in front suddenly stopped, and then a voice came from the alley behind them: "Run back quickly, there are people here too." The group of people started running back again.
Xu Damao was in the middle of the crowd, initially running along with everyone else, but upon hearing the commotion, he didn't hesitate to climb onto the wall of the alley. He had nothing on him, and in one swift motion, he scaled the wall, then turned and jumped into the weeds.
When the people behind saw someone climbing over the wall, they remembered that there was only weeds on the other side, so they immediately followed suit and all started climbing. To be honest, the wall wasn't very high, and it was easy for the average person to climb, but it was difficult for those carrying a lot of things.
Xu Damao, who had just jumped onto the wasteland, noticed that a number of flashlights had suddenly lit up on the other side of the grassland, and then he heard dogs barking.
"Damn, this is ruthless!" Xu Damao thought to himself. Normally, Gong'an rarely cracks down on the black market; even when they do, it's usually just to drive them away. He never expected them to trap him like a turtle in a jar today, not even letting the smallest fry escape.
Fortunately, he still had a space. So, he ran towards a dense thicket of grass and entered the space to hide.
Xu Damao ran away, but his men were doomed. One by one, they all followed Xu Damao and jumped over the wall, only to be met with flashlights, dogs, and guns. They all walked right into the trap.
Yan Fugui was carrying a lot of things on his back and had picked up some things that others had left behind. He finally managed to climb onto the top of the wall, and just as he was about to jump down, he found that the area below was completely covered by construction workers.
"Should you come down yourself, or should we help you down?" one of the commanders asked.
"Could you please keep the grain for me? My whole family is starving. I came here to exchange for grain, why are you treating me like this?" Yan Fugui pleaded.
"Get down!" A young man jumped up and pulled Yan Fugui down.
Tonight, the security department mobilized several hundred people to completely surround the area; not even a fly could get out.
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