Chapter 20: Black Market (Part 1)

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhao Xiulan found a secluded place and then entered her storage space to look through the information about the 1960s.

The 1960s were a period of planned economy in our country. In an era of extreme scarcity of goods, the state implemented planned distribution of essential goods such as food, clothing, and other necessities for urban and rural residents, issuing these coupons according to population.

In the end, it was all because of poverty! Goods were extremely scarce, unlike the 21st century where goods were abundant and could be bought with money.

But not all purchases required money and coupons. In the black market, these goods were not restricted, and some were sold only for money without the need for coupons.

Some country folks, when in need of money, would take the grains allocated to their families to the black market to exchange for money. Buyers didn’t need coupons, just money. Similarly, grains could also be exchanged for various scarce coupons. In short, people came here to get what they needed.

However, due to the scarcity of goods, private transactions were not allowed by the state, and control was very strict. Once caught, one would face serious consequences. Goods in the black market were naturally much more expensive than those in normal supply and marketing cooperatives.

Even so, in times of extreme scarcity of goods, people would still go to the black market to trade for food. No matter how dangerous it was, having food to eat was more important than starving to death. When forced, who would care about so much? The most important thing was to fill one’s stomach!

After roughly understanding the situation, Zhao Xiulan came out of the storage space.

Although she had everything in her storage space, it didn’t quite match the things of this era, so she couldn’t easily take them out.

She wanted money and various coupons, but she could try her luck at the black market! After all, she had plenty of grains in her storage space, so taking out a little would have no impact.

In this era, many people were short of food!

If she took grains to the black market for exchange, she should be able to get some money and coupons.

With this in mind, Zhao Xiulan secretly took out ten jins of flour, ten jins of rice, and ten jins of noodles from her storage space. [[1 jin = 500 grams = 0.5 kg]]

The things in her storage space were bought directly from the production areas in order to hoard enough goods. Many of them were packaged in plain white bags without any logos.

Otherwise, Zhao Xiulan wouldn’t dare to take out anything with traces of the 21st century.

After packing these things in a basket, Zhao Xiulan began to look for the location of the black market in the county town.

It was impossible to ask others about the black market. Zhao Xiulan hadn’t been here before, so she didn’t know where it was.

But based on her common-sense judgment, this kind of thing certainly couldn’t be done openly. So, by wandering around in secluded places, she should be able to find the black market and someone to trade with!

As expected, according to Zhao Xiulan’s judgment, she walked into an alley and saw several people peeking around.

Although the black market was prohibited, many people didn’t have enough food and couldn’t survive. Sometimes, they had to take risks to exchange for some food!

Seeing those thin and shabby-looking people, Zhao Xiulan didn’t approach to inquire.

She wanted money and coupons, but feared that even if she took out grains, others might not have money or coupons to give her!

Not everyone coming to trade in the black market could produce money! For those who were desperate and had neither money nor food, it was very likely that they would snatch the grains directly from others when they were presented!

Zhao Xiulan didn’t discriminate against the poor; she just felt that it was better to be cautious in the black market!

After observing for a while, Zhao Xiulan finally saw a man with gold-rimmed glasses, wearing black worker’s clothes, and with a slightly slender figure.

(End of Chapter 20)