Chapter 011 In exchange for you

"You're here."

"Don't worry, Sister Shen, no one is paying attention." Tang Yuan stepped forward and opened the bag he was carrying. "I picked some soybeans in the countryside. Do you want some, Sister Shen?"

"Soybeans?" Shen Wenyu opened his mouth and took out a handful of soybeans. "They are quite dry after being exposed to the sun. How much are they?"

"Two cents a pound," Tang Yuan held up two fingers. "It's a little more expensive, but it's dried in the sun, so it has less water and is lighter."

Shen Wenyu touched the soybeans in his hand again. They were indeed quite dry. They were big enough to be a dish and they were durable. It didn't matter if he bought more. "Okay, I'll take whatever you have."

"It should be ten kilograms." Tang Yuan pulled down the bag and placed it on the large scale used for weighing things at the waste station. It weighed a little more than ten kilograms.

She sold it to Shen Wenyu for ten kilograms, and made only two yuan in total.

After paying, Shen Wenyu took her to the waste paper area: "Last time you came, you told me you were looking for some plates and bowls. They are hard to find. Those that can be sent to the waste station are not good things. If they are really intact and usable, people will keep them at home. But I saw a box here, it feels pretty good, come and have a look."

As she spoke, she dug out a wooden box from under the waste paper area.

This thing is hidden deep inside. If she didn't know where it was, it would be difficult to find it.

"This thing looks a bit old." Tang Yuan took the box and looked through it carefully. Perhaps because it has been used for a long time, the color of the wooden box has turned white, and it is obvious that it has been used for many years.

But if you tell her it's an antique, she can't tell and can't understand it.

"Well, it's because it's old that I think it might be," Shen Wenyu said, looking at Tang Yuan, "What do you think?"

"I don't understand. It's just that such a big thing is not easy to hide. If you hide it too deep, it will easily corrode." Tang Yuan frowned. Although she wanted to pick up the leftovers, she didn't want to pick up all the garbage. The area of ​​the hut in the game was only that big. If she put everything in, it wouldn't be able to fit.

Books and paintings are easy to deal with, as they take up a certain amount of space and won't be too big. But if you put a few large items like boxes in there, they will be full in no time.

"Then hide it first, I'll take a look later," Shen Wenyu said, stuffing the box back into the waste paper pile and taking out the books and calligraphy he had prepared in advance. "Take these away, and I'll give you a few newspapers to cover them."

She deftly pulled out a small stack of newspapers and pressed them up and down so that no matter which angle you looked at it from, you could only see the newspapers.

Tang Yuan nodded, and when he turned around he saw a stamp album underneath. Thinking about the situation of stamps in those days in the future, he placed the stamp album directly on the newspaper.

"Oh, who lost their stamp album? It's worth a lot of money."

It's not that stamp albums become valuable in later generations, but that the stamps inside them are valuable in themselves. Each stamp is worth one or two cents, and dozens of stamps are worth at least a few cents.

Tang Yuan immediately took the newspaper and covered it with another layer: "Sister Shen, I found it."

"Here you go, you're so stingy," Shen Wenyu stood up with a pile of things in her arms, "Do you have a bag? Just put it in your bag, I don't have that many empty bags for you."

"Stingy, thrifty," Tang Yuan returned the words to her, lifted up his shirt, pulled out the stacked bag from his pants, shook it, and when he saw Shen Wenyu was about to put something into her bag, he immediately stopped, "This bag is still two cents heavy."

"You are the only one who can go to such lengths to make money," Shen Wenyu said unhappily, and put the pile of things in his hand on the scale. "Give me two cents for these things."

Tang Yuan smiled and immediately took out two dimes and handed it to her. Then he threw the things on the scale into the bag in his hand one by one.

She had taken everything she needed and was about to leave when Shen Wenyu grabbed her and whispered, "Can you find me some eggs?"

Tang Yuan turned around.

"You're from the countryside, right? You should have some leftover eggs there," Shen Wenyu pursed her lips. "Out there, eggs are six cents each. I'll give you seven cents. Find them for me. I'll take as many as you can."

Tang Yuan looked at Shen Wenyu, his eyes gleaming with brilliance: "Eight cents each."

Shen Wenyu gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, eight points is eight points. Come on, I'll be here anytime."

"No problem!" Tang Yuan said, picked up the bag on the ground and left.

Shen Wenyu watched Tang Yuan leave with a smile in her eyes: "Little guy, I can't stop you. Eggs are hard to store in this season. Eggs sold outside cost at least 7 cents each. You love to make money so much, you must make every penny."

Tang Yuan didn't know what Shen Wenyu was thinking. She was not from the countryside and had no channels to buy eggs, but she had already figured out the location of the local black market in the past few days.

She had saved some soybeans these days and had been planning to go to the black market, so checking out the eggs was just a side idea.

No matter whether the eggs are worth 6 or 7 cents, she will always make some money. At worst, she can make less by selling less.

After putting the newly bought waste paper back into the game space, she found a piece of clothing given by her stepmother and put it in her bag. When she was about to reach the black market, she took it out to cover her face and carefully entered the black market.

She came to buy eggs and also to sell soybeans.

In addition to the ten kilograms of soybeans sold to Shen Wenyu, she still had over a hundred kilograms of soybeans. She took thirty kilograms today, and not long after, she sold twenty kilograms.

After getting four dollars, she saw a man selling eggs with a basket on his shoulder.

She went over and saw the seller quoting prices: "We don't sell by pound, we sell by piece, 8 cents each. If you buy more, I can give you a discount, but if you buy less, it won't work. The eggs won't keep well in this weather, and I'm losing money too."

"You can't keep them there, and I can't keep them if I take them back either. How can I finish eating so many eggs?" The person who wanted to buy eggs began to bargain.

But the other party still disagreed, and in the end the deal was made at a price of only eight cents per piece.

Tang Yuan opened the bag of soybeans and squatted next to the man selling eggs to do business. The man looked at the eggs and also at her soybeans. Soon she sold another five kilograms.

Five pounds of soybeans were sold for one yuan, and five eggs were sold for 40 cents, which made the egg seller look at her several times.

Tang Yuan didn't care. He sold the last five pounds of soybeans in the bag, found out the lowest price for the eggs after bargaining, clapped his hands and was about to buy the eggs when he heard the noise coming from outside.

She turned her head to look, then stood up and ran quickly to the back of the alley.

There were many people running behind her. She turned around twice, took off the old clothes on her head that were used to cover her identity, and calmly blended into the crowd, pretending to be an ordinary person.

The egg seller ran past her and looked back at her.

Someone was running after him, searching the crowd one by one.

When passing by Tang Garden, he glanced at her and said, "Look at the bag."

Tang Yuan calmly opened the package, revealing the empty interior.

The other party took a quick look inside and then ran forward quickly. However, the people selling things had mixed into the crowd. There were people coming and going around, and many of them were carrying things on their shoulders. It was not easy to find the person again.

She went to the supply and marketing cooperative, picked out and bought the seasonings she needed, and thought about her next step.

She didn't expect that she would encounter arrests on her first day at the black market. This was definitely not her problem, but the existence of the black market was too obvious. A black market where people could be arrested at any time was an open market, and it was too risky to trade there.

But it's not a good idea to let her go to the countryside to collect eggs. The population mobility is too low these days. It would be fine if she stayed near the machinery factory, where people come and go, and no one would notice her. But if she went to the countryside, she, a stranger, would definitely attract unnecessary attention.

This might be fine ten years from now, but not now.

In this case, if you want to collect eggs, you can only go to places like the black market.

She walked among the crowd, listening carefully to the conversations of the people coming and going around her, listening to them talk about family matters, happy events, funerals, and the harvest in the countryside.

There is a railway station near the machinery factory, which makes the situation in the surrounding villages pretty good. The supply and marketing cooperatives and grain stations collect things from the villages from time to time, collect them and transport them out by train.

People walk a lot from the village, and the one-way journey takes at least one or two hours, and at most three or four hours. However, there are still people who take the trouble to deliver the produce grown in their own fields and the eggs laid by their chickens.

But the weather is hot and the eggs cannot be stored, so there are not many left at the purchasing station and not many are collected.

She stood by the purchasing station and quickly found out the price of eggs: 7 cents each if sold outside and 6 cents each if bought inside. Ordinary people needed to bring receipts to buy eggs.

It is very difficult to achieve consistency in buying and selling. If we collect too much today, we cannot sell it and it will go bad and be wasted. If we collect too little today, someone suddenly has enough tickets and buys a large batch in one go, then those who come later will not be able to buy any.

So if there is an urgent need, people will find a way to go to the black market.

It’s a pity that she can’t buy a storage grid now, otherwise she would have to stock up more eggs.

However, the current situation is also an opportunity.

She waited for a while at the door of the purchasing station, until the purchasing station announced that it would no longer purchase eggs, and then she quietly followed the person who was leaving with a basket of eggs after being rejected.

"Auntie, are you selling eggs?"

"How much?"

"Six cents a piece."

"This……"

"Auntie, you should sell it to the repurchase station at this price. Otherwise, if you take it back this year, why would you come back tomorrow? It's too much effort," Tang Yuan said. Seeing that the other party also had a shrewd look on his face and raised his head to bid, he lowered his voice and said, "Auntie, look over there."

The aunt followed the direction Tang Yuan pointed and looked towards the purchasing station. She saw many people leaving with their heads down and sad like her, and pursed her lips.

"Auntie, let's make a small profit," she said, holding her aunt's arm. "Go find them and tell them that your daughter-in-law is having a baby and needs eggs. I want to buy some more. They're 6 cents each. If you buy 20, I'll give you an extra dime."

"You're not going to do..."

"Hush," Tang Yuan covered her mouth, "How could I do that? I brought this for someone else, but they were afraid that if I talked too much, they would raise the price. Now it's only 6 cents a piece, which is 1 cent cheaper than the purchase price at the purchasing station. And we only have a few eggs, only enough for you to buy a few candies."

A few candies would be nice too… Auntie thought.

Anyway, she wasn't involved in any speculation, and there was a pregnant woman at home. Even if she was seen, it wouldn't be a big deal as she said she wanted to bring more eggs back.

"Shall I buy it?"

"Change!" Tang Yuan said seriously, "If I hadn't been in such a hurry to go out today and forgot to bring the cloth, I would definitely have exchanged it for the cloth."

The aunt looked at her and suddenly held her hand: "Don't worry, sister, I will definitely get it for you and give it to your family."