Black Market 

“Don’t laugh.” 

Meng Yuanzheng looked a bit embarrassed. In the dim light, it was hard to tell if he was turning red. He took a couple of steps forward to block the snake’s body from Lin Miaoyin. He then reached out and tightened his clothes, which were about to fall off, to prevent anything from showing. 

Lin Miaoyin put on a serious face. “Alright, I won’t laugh. I’ll hold it in.”  

Her eyes then wandered over his body. 

She couldn’t help it—he was such a tall, striking presence right in front of her. It was hard not to look. 

Meng Yuanzheng used to have a good life and had fair skin and tender flesh, but things had changed since he moved to the countryside. Especially in summer, his neck and chest were tanned in varying shades. 

Yet he still had broad shoulders and a slim waist; he really did look good. 

Meng Yuanzheng was very uncomfortable, his eyes flickered, and he coughed lightly, “Why don’t you go to the kitchen? I’ll handle things here.” 

Thinking of the dark kitchen, what if another snake ran out? She suddenly became alert and said decisively, “No, I’ll stay here. The snake’s dead now, I’m not scared.” 

Meng Yuanzheng took the kerosene lamp and squatted down to take a look. “This snake is not poisonous. Do you want to eat it?” 

“What?” 

“This meat is edible.” 

“This…” 

Seeing that she was a little scared, Meng Yuanzheng added, “It’s delicious.” 

Lin Miaoyin’s eyes lit up. Meat is so precious these days. All the game in the mountains has been hunted. A snake delivered to their doorstep—of course they’d eat it! Besides, this one looked pretty plump, about as thick as a child’s arm and nearly a meter long. 

“Let’s eat it! But… I don’t know how to cook it.” She squatted beside Meng Yuanzheng. In her eyes, the snake corpse had become a piece of fat meat and was not scary at all. 

Meng Yuanzheng reached out, pinched the snake’s tail, and lifted it up. “Let me do it; just prepare some seasoning.” 

“You know how to cook?” Lin Miaoyin was surprised.  

“I didn’t know how to cook before,” Meng Yuanzheng said. 

Lin Miaoyin looked at him strangely, it would be surprising that he would know how to cook, she thought.  

“Don’t be so stubborn. This snake is not like chicken, duck, or fish. It’s not that easy to deal with. Let’s take it to my father and brother.” 

Her original intention was really to ask Father Lin and the others for help, but Meng Yuanzheng seemed to think that she was implying he was incompetent. 

He glanced at her, pressed his lips together, said nothing, and then walked away with the snake. 

Lin Miaoyin stood up, looked at Meng Yuanzheng’s smooth back, and fell into deep thought. There seemed to be something wrong with him. 

She turned around and saw the disgusting blood on the ground. She was about to find a shovel to remove it, but before she could take any action, Meng Yuanzheng came in with a shovel. He quickly scraped the surrounding area clean with the shovel and shoveled out the mud.

Since when was he this diligent? He started cleaning without even putting on his clothes. Something is really wrong.

It’s a good thing he’s diligent, so she doesn’t have to do much herself. 

Feeling pleased on what she’s thinking, and the prospect of eating snake meat tomorrow, Lin Miaoyin happily went to cook. 

She poured water into the pot, lit the fire, and started searching for seasonings. After searching through the kitchen, she only found some dried ginger and basic seasonings like salt, soy sauce, and dried chilies.  

The snake meat was left in a wooden bucket, covered with a bamboo sieve. After setting the water to boil, she nervously went back into the house to grab some pickled vegetables, still recalling the snake she had just seen coiled in the corner. She closed the lid of the jar and left in a hurry. 

The sweet potato porridge was bubbling as she sliced the pickles. Just then, Meng Yuanzheng came in with a bucket of dirty clothes. After setting it down, he started tending the fire without a word. 

As Lin Miaoyin was cutting, she suddenly remembered something, “You should go put on the ointment that Comrade Zhu gave you.” 

After she said that, there was no movement behind her. She turned around and saw Meng Yuanzheng staring quietly at the flames in the stove, holding the fire tongs in his hand without moving. 

“Why are you so lost in thought?” She put down the knife and patted his shoulder. 

Meng Yuanzheng came back to his senses and looked up at her. “What’s wrong?” 

“I told you to put on the ointment.” 

“I’m tending the fire.”  

“Forget the fire—go put on the ointment!”  

She snatched the tongs away. Meng Yuanzheng put his hands on his knees helplessly and didn’t move. Lin Miaoyin almost wanted to kick him.  

“Look at your face; it’s in such a state. Why don’t you put some ointment on it? And you’re hurt on your back and body, too! You are not allowed to eat without applying medicine!”  

After scolding Meng Yuanzheng, he finally got up and went to his room to apply the ointment. 

Lin Miaoyin felt tired. Dealing with him was like dealing with her first love. Her first love was just as clueless, leaving her to care for him like a mother would for her son. And now, here was Meng Yuanzheng, acting exactly the same… 

By the time he came back, the porridge was done, the pickles were sliced and placed on the table. The two sat across from each other. 

After finishing a bowl, Lin Miaoyin put down her chopsticks with a sigh and asked cautiously, “So, do you want to eat some meat?” 

Meng Yuanzheng looked at her, confused. “Didn’t we just catch a snake?”  

“No.” Lin Miaoyin put her chopsticks down, leaned closer, and whispered, “I mean pork.” 

She stood up and closed the door, then came back, sat down, and continued, “The meat tickets at home have been used up a long time ago, and my parents can’t support us forever. We still have more than half a year left, and we can’t just eat sweet potatoes and pickles every day.” 

“I know you used to live in the city, and the food you ate must be much better than in the countryside. You have only had a few bites of meat in the past six months, so you must be craving meat.” 

She planned to lure Meng Yuanzheng into her trap. It would be easier to handle it with two people than alone, and she was not afraid of him reporting her. 

Meng Yuanzheng held the chopsticks and listened to her carefully. After she finished speaking, he said, “It’s quite tempting.” 

“Then let’s go get some meat!” 

“You have a meat ticket?” 

“No.” 

“Then do you have a way to get it?” 

“No.” 

Meng Yuanzheng raised an eyebrow, “Then why are you talking about it?” 

Lin Miaoyin quickly said, “There’s the black market.” 

“Black market?”  

“Yes, we don’t need food tickets; we just need to exchange for something or spend more money.” 

She thought she had made it clear, but Meng Yuanzheng frowned even deeper and said seriously, “No matter where you heard this from, never bring it up again.” 

“Why?” Lin Miaoyin asked, with a look of disbelief. 

Who is Meng Yuanzheng? He was a man who cried because he couldn’t eat meat when he first came to the countryside and even compromised by asking to marry the captain’s daughter to improve his life. Now that she took the initiative to team up with him to get meat, he refused without even thinking about it? 

“This is very dangerous behavior. If you’re caught, both the buyer and the seller will be dealt with. If you don’t think about yourself, you should think about your parents. Father Lin will be implicated as well. At best, he’ll lose his position as team leader; at worst, he’ll go to jail,” Meng Yuanzheng said in a low voice. 

It’s not that serious.  

She was a transmigrator. On one hand, she grew up in an era with a free economy, and on the other, she knew that in a year or two, the completely planned economy would start to change. So, the black market now was just the beginning of future freedom. 

“Fine, I won’t go, but why are you being so serious?” She was a little angry. 

Meng Yuanzheng was unmoved. “Just remember, don’t go to the black market.” 

“Can you stop controlling me?”  

“Your parents can, right? If you go, I’ll tell them.”  

Lin Miaoyin was furious. This scoundrel! She thought he had changed, but now she saw his true nature was still the same.  

“I’m full! You wash the dishes!” She stood up angrily, kicked away the stool, and went to take a bath. 

Author’s note:  

Don’t be fooled by how powerful Zheng Zheng seems now… 😝