Xiao Jiu had only visited two houses in the plastic factory's residential compound and had already sold so much. She figured there must be other wealthy customers like these two in the compound, so she quickly walked around the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fighting nearby. Seeing that the police had already arrived, she went deeper into the mud-brick houses to avoid unnecessary trouble.
The bungalows in the plastic factory's residential compound were probably inhabited by the factory's leaders and officers. The staff in the dormitory-style apartment buildings were packed with people, probably because they were new hires who applied for the apartments later. The earlier hires were allocated adobe houses. Although the adobe houses were a bit dilapidated, they were actually warm in winter and cool in summer, spacious, and had heated brick beds. If it were her, she would definitely choose the adobe houses.
It's true that places were huge back then. A single plastics factory covered two or three hundred acres, with staff quarters, office areas, and factory buildings. Of course, she was currently in the staff quarters; she couldn't enter the factory area.
The biscuits were sold four more times, with each family receiving five jin (2.5 kg), and the family made a profit of twenty yuan plus four jin (2 catties) of grain coupons.
Then she started selling brown sugar, rock sugar, and yellow sugar cubes, which were more expensive than biscuits.
"Big sister, I don't need the sugar coupons, but you have to give me grain coupons or meat coupons."
She doesn't lack sugar, nor does she need sugar coupons, but she lacks grain coupons and meat coupons, so simply selling them for money is definitely not enough; we must at least bring her some coupons.
At the supply and marketing cooperative, brown sugar cost 70 cents a pound, and white sugar cost 80 cents. At that time, there were various types of brown sugar, including local brown sugar, fine brown sugar, sandy brown sugar, and Cuban brown sugar.
At the supply and marketing cooperative, no matter what kind of sugar you wanted, even if it was just sugar cubes, you had to give them a ration coupon if you bought it by weight.
She brought out the most ordinary brown sugar, sold in bulk, so it cost one yuan per kilogram.
She sells rock sugar and brown sugar together, both for one yuan per pound. This time she carried twenty pounds, twenty bags, five pounds of which were all mixed together. It's a mix of three kinds of sugar, since the price is the same anyway. You can buy three kinds of sugar in one bag, which is very cost-effective.
To buy a pound of sugar, you had to give her four ounces of grain coupons. She looked at them and found that the coupons she received were mostly local grain coupons.
No matter what kind of coupons they are, she spends money every day, so local grain coupons are fine with her.
"This is way too expensive! One yuan a pound? Why don't you just rob us?"
Xiao Jiu didn't expect to encounter an unreasonable person right away. Luckily, she hadn't let her taste it yet, otherwise they would have had to eat it together.
"Hey, why did you leave? I haven't bought it yet!"
"Big sister, didn't you think it was too expensive?" Xiao Jiu smiled somewhat helplessly.
"Then you have to give my child a piece to try. How am I supposed to know if your candy is good or not if you don't let us try it?"
Xiao Jiu ignored her completely and turned to leave. But the unreasonable woman wouldn't have it and ran out of the building shouting.
"Help! Catch the speculators! There's a little girl here, she's secretly selling candy."
"What bad luck!" As Xiao Jiu ran, she took the bamboo basket off her shoulder and put all the sugar inside into her spatial storage.
There was nothing she could do; that woman's voice was too loud. She didn't even know if the police in the front yard had left. If she got caught, she'd be in deep trouble.
After running out of the mud-brick house, she turned a corner and hid in the shadows, thus entering a space. Then, countless footsteps came chasing after her.
The old woman was still shouting, "Crack down on speculation and profiteering! Down with these peddlers who exploit loopholes in society! That peddler doesn't look very old. He's a capitalist tail that must be cut off. Who knows who's protecting him? Aren't there enough people arrested in the black market? I think he should be arrested too."
"Li Yaohui's family, that's enough, that's enough. You're not hungry enough, but you've run around all day with a lot of energy. I heard your family bought some grain this month? What, you're so full that you can't stand seeing others doing well, huh?"
"Pah! Cao Bangzi's son, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by 'can't stand to see others do well'? Are you still regretting not running into that sugar vendor? What kind of thinking is that? Do you support speculation and profiteering?"
"Stop spewing nonsense! When did I say I support speculation and profiteering? Explain yourself clearly, or we're not done here today!"
...
As a result, the people who came to arrest them didn't catch them. Instead, the two women started pulling each other's hair and grabbing each other's breasts, rolling around on the ground together. The scene was so gruesome that a group of men watched and shook their heads.
Actually, they weren't that keen on arresting people. It's just that no one is having an easy time these days. Why is the black market like a wildfire that can't be extinguished and keeps springing up again?
Isn't this a time of hardship, when everyone is starving? Farmers taking their surplus food and local produce to the city to exchange for necessities with other residents is considered speculation and profiteering. How is it considered a remnant of capitalism?
We are all ordinary people, with only one mouth and two eyes. What's wrong with wanting a little food and for our families to eat a little better?
This isn't the first time Li Yaohui's wife has reported someone like this. Anyone with a brain knows she's only turning her back on people because she didn't get any benefits. She's used to taking advantage of others, and if she doesn't get any substantial benefits, she might turn around and accuse them at any time. No wonder this wife is so unpopular in the compound.
Xiao Jiu listened to these people walking further and further away in the space before daring to step out of the shadows. Of course, she didn't carry a bamboo basket, as that would be too conspicuous.
Then he went around to the backyard of Li Yaohui's house, took out a few stones and threw them at her window.
Call her petty or malicious, but she will never let such a mean-spirited person off easily. If you won't let me have an easy time, how can I let you off?
Amidst the clattering of glass and the woman's shrill curses, Xiao Jiu, in high spirits, strolled leisurely out of the residential compound with her hands in her pockets.
It doesn't matter if the family compound can't be sold. She'll just wander around the streets with a bamboo basket on her back. She won't put anything in it right away. She'll wait until someone comes up to her and she'll find out if they're reliable before taking things out. If she finds that the person's eyes are wandering, she'll only find some useless things when she opens the lid. What can they do to her?
In those days, there were very few streetlights, the public security was poor, and there were no entertainment activities, so there were fewer people on the streets after dark. After eight o'clock, there were almost no people. She took advantage of this time to sell three bags of candy for three yuan, plus one jin and two liang of grain coupons, and then planned to head home.
In an attempt to conceal their entry into the space, they inadvertently stumbled into an alley filled with clutter. Before even entering the space, they heard a whistle in the distance, followed by a group of people running towards them, with the two leaders seemingly carrying something.
It was dark at this time, and there were no lights in the alley, so even if she stood in the dark, no one could see her.
It was unclear whether these people were from the black market. As the whistler got closer, two of them split up from the left and right forks in the road and casually threw what they were holding in her direction. The whistler behind didn't even see their throwing motion and ran after them.
After hearing no sound from around her, Xiao Jiu quietly followed the two places where the items had fallen and easily found the two bundles. Then, without anyone noticing, she transferred them to her own space.
She picked it up, she didn't steal it. It's like a free lunch; why not take it?
They then quickly left this troublesome place.
Eager to know what was inside, she immediately found a secluded grove of trees and entered the space.
As soon as they entered, they heard a woman struggling, her feet stomping on branches and leaves, and a man making threatening remarks.
Holy crap! What incredible luck! I actually ended up at the crime scene!
The woman kept resisting, and the man lost control and knocked her unconscious. Then she heard the sound of a belt being removed.
Xiao Jiu found this kind of person disgusting the most. She then grabbed a handy wooden stick from her spatial storage and smacked the man, who was about to commit a crime, on the back of the head.
After the man groaned and swayed, nearly fainting, he shook his head to see who was behind him when another blow came crashing down on him. This time, he not only lost consciousness but also had his eyes shattered, with shards embedded in them.
"He's actually a refined scoundrel, ugh, scum!"
She touched his neck and felt he was still breathing. Xiao Jiu glanced at the thing he pulled out of his crotch and felt disgusted. Then she went into her space, took out a pot of freshly boiled water, and poured it on him without any mercy.
"Tsk tsk, you still can't wake up even after being splashed like this, looks like you're really unconscious."
She didn't care whether he was dead or not, and ignored the blood coming from his forehead, back of his head, and corners of his eyes. She went straight to search his body and unexpectedly found some money and bills.
Seeing the watch on his wrist, he took it off without hesitation.
When her gaze fell on his feet, she subconsciously grabbed a plastic bag from the space around her and used the plastic bag to pull out the insoles.
Upon seeing that there were indeed a few ten-yuan bills hidden inside, Xiao Jiu became very excited.
"Haha, I knew it! There are only a few places to hide money, either here or there..."
Xiao Jiu didn't stand up. Instead, she pulled down the man's pants again, and despite feeling disgusted, she rummaged through his underwear. Sure enough, there was a pocket sewn into his underwear, and she found five more ten-yuan bills inside.
Although the money was a bit filthy from his actions, it was free money, so why not take it? He put it in a plastic bag and threw it in a corner of his space, planning to wash it with disposable gloves and let it air dry before using it again.
Just as she was about to wake the victim, she spotted the bicycle not far away.
Xiao Jiu excitedly slapped her thigh, "Wow, there are even bicycles! That's great!"
She knew that bicycles could be registered in the city, but that didn't stop her from reselling them for money!
There was a briefcase hanging on the handlebars, but she didn't even look at it and put it directly into her storage space.
Then he looked at the girl lying unconscious on the ground. She looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old and quite pretty. No wonder this person had taken a liking to her.
Why did he decide on a whim? Because he could tell he had just gotten off work; he hadn't even taken his briefcase off. And this woman was carrying a bag, so she was probably walking alone at night.
Seeing that the woman wouldn't wake up anytime soon, and realizing she couldn't stay there any longer, she first put the girl into her own space, then quickly moved to a new location, finally hiding in the green belt of a public middle school. There was a road in front, tall trees for cover, and hardly anyone around.
She released the girl, but because she couldn't wake her up, she pinched her philtrum and gave her acupuncture, finally managing to wake her up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she kicked Xiao Jiu in the stomach, scaring Xiao Jiu so much that she rolled away and hid to the side.
"Sister, sister, look carefully before you kick! I saved you. I carried you for two miles, I'm exhausted. I knocked that bastard unconscious."
The young woman still had red handprints and tear stains on her face, her hair was messy, and her clothes were torn to shreds. After she understood what Xiao Jiu meant, she quickly looked around at her surroundings, and the next second she looked at herself.
"It's okay, you're alright, don't be afraid. He didn't succeed. If I hadn't been resting in the bushes, I might not have been able to save you. I knocked him unconscious from behind and quickly carried you away. Luckily you're thin, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to carry you!"
"Thank you, thank you, sister," the young woman said several times, and felt that it wasn't enough, so she wanted to sit up and kowtow to her.
Startled, Xiao Jiu quickly pulled her up. "Are you still able to walk? Quickly pack your clothes. Where do you live? I'll go back with you. It'll be more dangerous on the road later. Look, there's hardly anyone around now."
The young woman then remembered, "My bundle, mine!" Upon seeing the bundle behind her, she immediately clutched it tightly to her chest.
She could tell from the clasp of the bundle that it hadn't been opened, but there were drag marks on her body and the bundle, especially around her toes where they were worn out. She really had been carried on someone's back!
He immediately looked at Xiaojiu with gratitude and stood up with her help.
With Xiao Jiu's help, she tidied her clothes and hair, though her face looked a bit bruised and swollen. Fortunately, the young woman found a silk scarf in her bag and put it on her head, which made her look less disheveled for the time being.
"Why are you in the woods in the middle of the night?" Seeing Xiao Jiu's patched-up clothes, he immediately looked at her with sympathy.
Judging from the young woman's attire, Xiao Jiu knew that her family must be well-off, so she didn't explain further.
"Come on, I'll take you home first. If you get back too late, your family will worry."
Both of them were very thin, but one was tall and the other short. Because they were both so polite to each other, neither of them asked about the other's identity along the way, except for words of thanks and gratitude. It wasn't until they dropped her off at the entrance of the post office's residential compound that she turned around without any hesitation.
"Little sister, wait a minute, I don't even know your name yet. My name is Ye Zhen, and I'm a telephone operator at the city post office. I had to walk at night today because of some special circumstances, and I never expected... But luckily, I met you. You saved my life, you're the savior of my whole family. If you don't mind, why don't you come to my house? At least you'll have a place to stay, so you won't end up... homeless?"
Seeing Ye Zhen's cautious questioning, as if afraid of hurting her self-esteem, she knew that this older sister had not saved her in vain and was a grateful person. However, she had no intention of repaying the kindness.
"My name is Tao Tao, Tao as in pottery jar and Tao as in peach. Sister Zhen, please go home soon, we'll meet again someday."
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