Chapter 7 Black Market

"Okay, I'll take it." Old Lady Ji said bluntly, "My family is running out of food, and I came here to borrow some food from you. I'll pay you back."

"Borrow food? I don't have any surplus food at home. Mom, you don't know that food is in short supply in the city right now. The monthly supply of food was sold out in a flash. My family is also tightening their belts to make ends meet. How can we have any surplus food? I want to buy some more food!"

"Then let your sister stay here for two days."

"Mom! I'm not lying to you. Now we can only go there to buy food! But you know the price there has increased several times. How can I afford it?"

Old Lady Ji stared at Shen Xiangbei, as if to confirm whether he was lying. In fact, everyone knew that Shen Xiangbei should be telling the truth.

Shen Ruoqing thought for a moment and asked, "Fourth brother, how much is the grain price there?"

"When I went there a few days ago, the price of rice had already risen to two yuan per pound, and it must have risen again now. Coarse grains are also sold for sixty cents per pound. Mom, I'm not lying to you, my family really doesn't have any extra food to lend you."

Shen Ruoqing knew he was telling the truth. She didn't expect that the price of rice had risen to two yuan per catty. This made Shen Ruoqing a little eager to make a move. The rice in the system was only sold for ten cents per catty. This was a price difference of twenty times! There is a way! But where is the black market? Old Lady Ji thought about it. The food was distributed in August. Now there is more than a month. It is definitely not possible without food. I am afraid that I can only buy some on the black market.

"Then fourth brother, please help buy 50 kilograms of grain and some flour for your younger sister." Old Mrs. Ji pushed out a stack of money, a total of 24.67 yuan.

"Mom, this isn't enough..." Shen Xiangbei looked embarrassed. How could this money be enough to buy 50 kilograms of food, not to mention flour? "That's all I have. You can buy whatever you want." This was clearly asking Shen Xiangbei to pay a little more.

"Mom, are you taking advantage of us?" Su Jieru couldn't help herself and started to retort, "You come to our house every now and then to ask for money, and now you want us to use this little money to buy you 50 kilograms of food, and you want white flour. How can we do that? Our life is not easy. Don't forget, I am not marrying into your family, but your Shen Xiangbei is marrying into my family!"

"Jie Ru, how can you talk to your mother like that?" Shen Xiangbei pulled Su Jie Ru. If these words got out, would their family's reputation be ruined?

"What did I say wrong? Didn't your mother come to our house every now and then to ask for money? Yes, our life is better than your brother in the countryside, but she can't come to our house to ask for money like this, can we still live a normal life?"

"Jie Ru, calm down first. What did I tell you before?" Shen Xiangbei pulled Su Jie Ru into the inner room.

"Mom, aren't we making things too difficult for Fourth Brother?" Shen Ruoqing was a little embarrassed. It was not a pleasant feeling to come over and be pointed at and scolded for asking for money.

"Wait, your fourth brother will help."

Sure enough, after Shen Xiangbei came out, Su Jieru stopped shouting.

"Mom, you know, it's not easy for everyone these days. Jieru was scolded by her boss at work a few days ago and she's in a bad mood. Please don't mind."

"Then go buy some food. I'll sit here and wait for you." Old Mrs. Ji didn't care about what Su Jieru said before. If she was thin-skinned, she would have died long ago.

"Brother, can I go with you?"

"That's dangerous, dear, why are you following them? Just stay here with me, your wife."

"If my fourth brother can go, why can't I? Mom, I want to go and see for myself."

"Little sister, there's really nothing to see there. Just wait for me at home." Shen Xiangbei also advised.

"Fourth brother, just let me go. I can also help you carry food. Mom, just let me go. With fourth brother here, nothing will happen to me."

After much haggling, after Shen Ruoqing's repeated assurances, Mrs. Ji finally gave in.

Shen Xiangbei set off with Shen Ruoqing. After many twists and turns, they ended up in a small alley.

"Little sister, you can't go in the front anymore, just wait for me here, if someone with a red cloth on his arm comes, run back home quickly." Shen Xiangbei warned, and this time he would not take Shen Ruoqing with him no matter what she said. However, Shen Ruoqing only wanted to find the location of the black market, so if Shen Xiangbei didn't want to take her, then he didn't have to take her.

Shen Xiangbei walked to the entrance of the alley in front, exchanged a secret signal with the person at the entrance, and went in.

Shen Ruoqing thought about it and decided that he couldn't just come here for nothing. He walked a little further to change his hairstyle, put some dust on his face, and bought a black coat from the system mall for 9.99 yuan to cover himself up. He felt unsafe, so he bought a mask for 1 cent. He also took a large bamboo basket, which he also bought from the system mall for 50 cents each, and walked into the black market.

Following Shen Xiangbei's instructions and giving the secret signal, the gatekeeper stretched out a hand.

"What are you standing there for? Aren't you selling something? Pay the stall fee, two cents. No money? Pay after you finish selling the things."

It turned out that one had to pay for selling things. Shen Ruoqing gave two cents and walked in quickly.

Shen Ruoqing observed for a while and found that most people in the black market set up their stalls anywhere, covering up their goods. They would only show the goods to others after someone came forward to ask.

Shen Ruoqing followed suit and put out the things. He covered the bamboo basket with a layer of cloth and waited quietly for people to come and inquire.

After a while, someone came up and asked, "Comrade, what are you selling?"

"Rice, flour, and instant noodles, it depends on what you want." Shen Ruoqing spoke in a deliberately rough voice.

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"What? Let me see." Shen Ruoqing took away the cloth, revealing what was inside.

"Why is this rice so white? Is this Fuqiang rice flour? And these noodles look good too. Why are they so priced?"

"Rice is two yuan per pound, flour is two yuan and a half per pound, and noodles are also two yuan and a half per pound." Shen Ruoqing whispered the price.

"Your price is a bit high. I need ten kilograms of rice, two kilograms of noodles, and one kilogram of flour. Can you give me a lower price?"

"The total is 27.5 yuan. I'll charge you 27 yuan, which is a 50-cent discount. As you can see, all the products here are good quality, so it's normal for the price to be a little higher."

In fact, the price is not expensive, because the quality is so good, but 50 cents off is 50 cents. The visitor was very happy and quickly paid and left. Later, many people came one after another and sold out all the things in the bamboo basket. Shen Ruoqing added goods twice in the middle, but then stopped. After all, there was only one bamboo basket, and it was not good to sell too many things because others would notice the problem.

Shen Ruoqing sold a total of 60 kilograms of rice, 45 kilograms of flour, and 30 kilograms of noodles, earning a total of 306 yuan. After deducting the cost, he made a total profit of 291 yuan.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw his fourth brother coming up to his stall.

Shen Ruoqing panicked for a moment, then comforted herself that Shen Xiangbei might not recognize her.

"Comrade, do you have any white flour?"

Shen Ruoqing was about to say no, but then he changed his mind and secretly put another 5 kilograms of flour into the bamboo basket.

(End of this chapter)