In the darkness of night, Meng Tao put the jeep into storage, took out his bicycle and rode into the city.

Zhang Ma opened the door and saw Meng Tao. She was surprised and delighted: "Hey, kid, where did you come from? Why did you get home so late?"

Then he looked behind Meng Tao and asked, "Where is Comrade Xiao Shen?"

Meng Tao smiled and said that Shen Yu was too busy to come over, and that she had come from the provincial capital in the "boss's" car. The "boss" had already taken the goods and left, so she would stay to visit relatives and friends and would go back to Linshui Village tomorrow.

Zhang Fu, Zhang Xiaodi and Zhang's father came out of the house upon hearing the noise and greeted Meng Tao happily. They had all finished dinner. Zhang's mother asked Meng Tao what she wanted to eat. Meng Tao said she wanted to eat noodles, so Zhang's mother went to the kitchen to make noodles.

Meng Tao handed the cloth bag in her hand to Zhang Di. Inside the bag were two bags of candies and biscuits, four picture books, several soft copybooks, a tin pencil case full of pencils and ballpoint pens, four red apples, and two or three pounds of cherries wrapped in newspaper.

Zhang Di took the bag and said thank you politely. Then he immediately asked Meng Tao why she didn't bring Xiao Wangcai with her. He hadn't seen Xiao Wangcai for a long time and was afraid that Xiao Wangcai had forgotten him.

Meng Tao replied that she really left in a hurry this time, and she must remember to bring Xiao Wangcai back next time.

Zhang's father dragged Zhang's brother into the house to do his homework. Meng Tao and Zhang Fu were sitting in the living room talking. Zhang Fu talked about a batch of five-year-old Huadiao wine that their winery had ready for sale, which were packed in jars of two catties, five catties and eight catties, about a thousand jars. He asked Meng Tao if she wanted to buy some. Of course she wanted to. Huadiao wine is not only for drinking, but also for cooking. The longer it is stored in the cellar, the more mellow it is. He told Zhang Fu not to worry about the money and to try to get as much as possible, and he could eat it all.

He also asked Zhang Fu to discuss with his uncle to rent a few more large warehouses near the winery's small warehouse.

Zhang Fu asked puzzledly: "Why do we need so many warehouses?"

Meng Tao: "It's useful. We can not only store wine, but also other things in the future."

"What else?"

"Anything is fine, all kinds of goods. Last time you called me, you said the two brothers of the Tian family went to the south. Do you know what they went to do?"

"Well, I haven't had time to tell you yet: Tian Zhiyuan and Tian Laoliu brought back a lot of stuff from the south. I saw them selling them on the black market. You know what, they were all daily necessities. They were only a little more expensive than those in department stores, but they didn't require tickets. Many people rushed to buy them. Their business was booming!"

"I saw it too. They even sold it to the black market in Mengzhou. But because they had a disagreement with the gangsters in the black market, they were beaten out and robbed by the gangsters. They lost both their money and goods."

"Really? You deserve it!"

"A black market of a certain size is usually controlled by dark forces, who set the rules. Everyone is trying to survive, and as long as they don't go too far, they can live in peace. Once the business gets bigger, they will naturally have a say in the black market. How you behave in society sometimes depends on the situation.

Tian Zhigao taught Tian Zhiyuan how to be a trader. From the current perspective, this business has a very good prospect and is very profitable. If they can do it, we can do it too.”

Zhang Fu was stunned for a moment: "What should we do? This trader has to travel far and wide, and only when he has connections can it work."

The Tian brothers are like headless flies, doing small things. They can make some money, but not too much. They have little capital and cannot make a difference. We can form a small team, five or six, or a dozen people. We need to find trustworthy, smart people who don't hate money. We can carry the goods and sell them in the streets. It is definitely better than setting up a stall in the black market, and we can definitely make a lot of money. How about it? Let's work together?"

Zhang Fu scratched his head and said, "It's easier said than done. Guangshi is thousands of miles away. I've never been there. I'm afraid it won't be possible for me to find a way to buy goods."

"I will be responsible for purchasing goods from Guangshi, and you will be responsible for sales."

"Ah? You, a little girl, run so far? What if you get kidnapped? No way!"

"Who dares to kidnap me? He's lucky that I don't kidnap him and use him as a slave."

Zhang Fu thought that Meng Tao was naturally strong and could kill a wild boar with just a swing of a hatchet. If he gave her a big stick, she would probably have no problem knocking down a few men. He couldn't help laughing.

"Okay, you always have the right ideas, I'll listen to you, let's work together!"

"I'll be in charge of purchasing, and you'll be in charge of selling. Hire a few more people who are trustworthy. It's time to test your vision."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. We have to pay half of the purchase cost. I don't have cash, can I use small yellow croakers to make up for it? If it's not enough, I bought seven or eight pieces of porcelain last month. Can you tell me how much they are worth?"

When Meng Tao heard that there was more porcelain, she went to the inner room with Zhang Fu to take a look. Sure enough, there were four exquisite small plum bottles, in pairs, and a complete set of purple clay tea sets, including one pot and four cups. Meng Tao examined them carefully and preliminarily determined that they were porcelain from the Song and Ming dynasties.

Meng Tao explained to Zhang Fu that even if she was mistaken about these porcelains, there must be some authentic ones among them. Even if they are not valuable now, they will definitely appreciate in value after a few years. In other words, they will be worth a lot of money.

However, Zhang Fu said that he did not want to collect them and would not keep them, and he needed money now, so he gave them all to Meng Tao. The two of them then exchanged them according to the originally agreed price. Zhang Fu got 6,000 yuan, which he gave back to Meng Tao, and they became partners in the trade.

Aunt Zhang cooked a bowl of shredded pork noodles and brought it in, with two poached eggs. By the time Meng Tao was full, Aunt Zhang had already made the room for her, and she stayed at Zhang's house that night.

The next day, after breakfast, the Zhang family went to work and school. Meng Tao wrapped a pile of porcelain in newspaper, put it in a large bamboo basket, and went out to the county hospital to visit Lin Erhu. Zhang Fu took her to the hospital on a tricycle. Meng Tao asked Zhang Fu to inform Zhang's father and mother that she would not go there for lunch at noon and would go directly back to Linshui Village.

After Zhang Fu left, Meng Tao walked into the hospital, found an empty corner, put a bamboo basket of porcelain into the space, and then she breathed a sigh of relief: God knows how cautious she was, she was afraid that she would accidentally break one or two hundreds of years old porcelain, which would be a huge loss, as this was a lot of money.

Going upstairs to the surgical ward, they saw Lin Erhu lying on the hospital bed, still sleeping with his eyes closed, but his overall condition was much better. Ge Xiangqin was no longer nervous or sad, and looked very energetic, even with a smile on her face. She held Meng Tao's hand and told her that Lin Erhu had woken up once the day before yesterday, and his condition had been getting better in the past two days. The doctor said that Lin Erhu had a strong vitality, so there was no need to worry, and he would get better slowly.

Meng Tao was also relieved, and sat and chatted with Ge Xiangqin for a while. When Ge Xiangqin was not paying attention, she stuffed a pill into Lin Erhu's mouth and added a few drops of pine needle dew into the thermos.

(End of this chapter)