There is a pond under the road. Perhaps people, animals or vehicles have accidentally fallen into it before, so people built a half-person-high wall on the side of the road with stones. It is right opposite the bend and is surrounded by trees. There are few pedestrians passing by. Meng Tao can use this place to store several sacks of fruit into the space, and then wait for the bus to come and block the way for getting on the bus.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, I finally got on the bus to the county town.

Arriving at the county town at six in the evening, Meng Tao first found a hotel that looked suitable and registered for accommodation in a single room. Then she went to the street to find food and go shopping. Zhou Cuiling took her to visit the streets in the area. She had never been to the county town. There was only one straight street in the small county town. There was nothing to see. She just took her to get to know the place.

I returned to the hotel at around nine o'clock, washed up, turned off the lights and rested, then entered the space for a routine inspection. Although it was called an inspection, it was actually very difficult because there were too many things in there, and there was not even a place to meditate.

She felt conflicted every time she entered the space recently. She always felt that this pure place in the world had been vulgarized too much by her. Everything was crammed in, making it overcrowded. Alas, it was the pressure of life. She hoped that the gods would not blame her.

When life gets better in the future, she will definitely restore the stone platform to its original state.

At six o'clock the next morning, Meng Tao checked out of the hotel, took the travel bag she took out from the space, and rushed to the district to catch the train. She had planned to spend a few days outside before returning to the village. Anyway, the farm work was not busy at this stage, and there was not enough work for the men. Most of the female members who went to work gathered together to chat about family matters, so it didn't matter if she was missing.

The provincial capital is a bit too far, so her current goal is Pingjiang City.

Pingjiang City is also a big city. Its population and prosperity rank second only to the provincial capital in Province D.

Meng Tao wants to go there and work as a fruit vendor.

At 9:30 in the morning, Meng Tao arrived at the regional railway station, bought a ticket, ate a bowl of shredded pork noodles at a state-owned restaurant near the station, returned to the waiting room, and at 10:40, she boarded the train to Pingjiang City.

This time the train ride was smoother and there were no delays. After six hours on the train, we arrived in Pingjiang City at five in the afternoon.

They found a collective hotel near the train station and went to the service desk to get a single room. There was a young waitress at the counter who seemed to be preoccupied. She was absent-minded and forgot things. Meng Tao asked her if she could help move some things as someone might deliver them to her later. The waitress rolled her eyes and said, "You can handle your own business. I don't have time to help. Besides, we have other things to do. We can't sit here all the time."

Meng Tao didn't say anything else, just nodded to show her understanding, took the key and went upstairs, checked into the room and put her things away, then went to the bathroom to wash up, changed into Meng Taohua's old clothes, then locked the door and went downstairs, and sure enough, she saw that there was no one at the service desk.

Meng Tao stood in front of the service desk for a long time before walking out.

There is a time period when she "needs" to move things out of the room, which can explain it clearly.

Meng Tao found a state-owned restaurant to have dinner, then walked around the streets and alleys and slowly looked around. She determined that one of the alleys was a place for private transactions, a black market under the cover of night. She took out a scarf, wrapped her head and face, leaving only her eyes exposed, and walked in.

After walking a few steps, a tall woman came towards her. As if she bumped into her by accident, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sister. You look unfamiliar. You don't live here, do you? Are you here to visit your relatives?"

Seeing that there were still a few people around looking at her warily, Meng Tao knew that the tall woman might be a lookout, equivalent to guarding the door. She shook her head and deliberately changed her voice and replied, "I'm not looking for relatives, I just want to come in and take a look. I have something."

As he said this, he patted the shoulder bag he was carrying, which was heavy with three or four fruits in it.

The tall woman said “oh” twice and walked away with a smile as if nothing had happened.

Meng Tao continued to walk deeper into the alley and gradually saw people doing business. Many of them had their heads and faces covered like her, while others were calm and normal.

This can be considered a black market of a certain scale. There should be a lot of repeat customers because the residents in the alley have opened their doors for business. Various stalls are set up directly at the doorsteps, and the elderly and children help to move things. Some elementary school students even sit at their doorsteps and do their homework while watching the stalls.

This scene seems like another world, completely unlike the strict control situation under the planned economy.

Meng Tao saw stalls selling grain, cloth and ready-made clothes, as well as milk powder, candy, daily necessities, meat, vegetables and dried goods. Almost everything was available there. She soon found what she was looking for: a fruit stall.

On the left is an old two-story building. The first floor is made into an old-style shop, the kind that has to be opened and closed with wooden boards integrated together. Now the door is half open, and a fruit stall is placed next to the door. You can see it clearly, with apples, pears, bananas, mangoes, purple grapes, oranges, etc.

As Meng Tao approached, a man in his thirties came over and asked, "Young lady, do you want to buy some fruit?"

Meng Tao: “…”

I'm wrapped up like this, how can you tell I'm a little girl? "Are you the boss?"

The man nodded: "Yes."

Meng Tao smiled and said, "This fruit is really beautiful. I'll take a look. I also sell fruit."

"What kind of fruit do you have, girl?"

“Oranges, navel oranges, sugar pears, and late peaches.”

"Oh, those are just very common fruits."

Meng Tao: "This is a new variety from Mengzhou. It sounds like an ordinary fruit, but when you eat it, the taste and feeling are absolutely beautiful and unforgettable."

The fruit owner laughed and thought to himself that this girl was more boastful than me. He had been in the fruit business for many years and had never heard of any new varieties from Mengzhou.

Meng Tao took out an orange from her bag, broke off half of it with the skin and flesh, and gave it to the fruit owner: "Try it, this is the new variety from Mengzhou."

The fruit shop owner ate a slice of orange, and his expression was just like Meng Zhehan's at that time. He was afraid of the sour taste at first, and frowned. Then his expression changed in an instant, and his brows relaxed and his eyes brightened. He kept putting the remaining slices of orange into his mouth and ate them up, staring at Meng Tao with an unsatisfied look:

"Girl, where are your fruits? How many of these new varieties from Mengzhou did you bring? Can you sell some to me?"

Meng Tao: “…”

The man from the underworld was indeed a very experienced person. He saw through her at a glance and knew that she was a fruit vendor and had already shipped the fruits over.

Silently, he took out a navel orange, a pear, and a late-ripening peach from his bag, handed them to the fruit owner, and asked him to continue tasting: "How many do you want? What's the price?"

The fruit owner held up some fruits and motioned Meng Tao to follow him into the house. Two old people and a young woman came out from the inner room. The fruit owner asked the young woman to cut up some fruits with a knife. The family tasted the fruits and were all delighted and praised the fruits highly. After the old lady ate two orange halves, she took the fruit bowl away, saying that she would leave it for her beloved grandson.

The fruit shop owner smiled at Meng Tao and said, "Sorry, I am being rude."

"It's okay." Meng Tao replied.

The young woman wiped a chair with a rag and asked Meng Tao to sit down. The fruit shop owner asked her to make a cup of tea for the customer, and then continued the previous topic: "We all do this. I won't hide it from you. Someone ordered our local fruits from me to take overseas. I have been looking for some good quality and delicious fruits. Today, your fruit, as you said, is absolutely satisfactory! How many do you have? Can you sell them to me? The price is negotiable."

"I hitchhiked here. I didn't bring much with me, just a few hundred kilograms. I planned to check out the market here first."

"Yes, you are a smart man. I want hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of this kind of fruit. You name a price."

"I don't understand the prices here. How much can you offer? We can just take the average price." Meng Tao said. She learned a trick from the middle-aged man in the orchard. She was too lazy to calculate and just took the average price.

(End of this chapter)