Chapter 22: Black Market (Part 3)

It was surprising that Zhao Xiulan had such precious fine grains in her possession and was selling them at such low prices.

Even if he bought them now and resold them later, he could make a significant profit!

Seeing the man’s silence, Zhao Xiulan thought her prices might be too high, and he didn’t want them after all! After all, she didn’t know the specific prices of grain on the black market and was just estimating based on her own calculations.

Thinking of lowering the prices a bit, Zhao Xiulan heard Guo Aidang, full of excitement, saying, “Girl, I’ll buy them all from you with money and coupons!”

Although it would cost him a lot to buy them all at once, having grain in hand was better than anything else!

Especially these fine grains! Even if he gave them away, it would still be prestigious!

“Deal!” Zhao Xiulan nodded in agreement. Selling to one person or two, it was all the same! Selling everything at once would reduce the risk for her!

“Alright… girl, let’s find a secluded place to make the transaction, okay?” Guo Aidang suggested.

It was better to be cautious during the transaction, or else if they were caught, they would end up in jail.

Finally, the two found a secluded place with no one around. Guo Aidang took out money from his pocket: twenty-five yuan for ten jins of rice, twenty-five yuan for ten jins of flour, and thirty yuan for ten jins of noodles, totalling eighty yuan.

Guo Aidang handed eight unity dollars (eight 10-yuan notes) to Zhao Xiulan and then took out some coupons from his pocket. “Girl, this is all the coupons I have. Do you think it’s enough? If not, I can try to borrow some from my colleagues…”

Zhao Xiulan looked at them. There were five jins of grain coupons, half a jin of meat coupons, half a jin of oil coupons, one jin of sugar coupons, two feet of cloth coupons, and ten yuan of industrial coupons!

After calculating, Zhao Xiulan thought it was enough!

“It’s enough,” Zhao Xiulan nodded. “Thank you so much!”

Zhao Xiulan took out the items from her basket and handed them to the man. Guo Aidang checked the grain and, seeing no problem, quickly put the items into his own basket.

After the transaction, as they were preparing to leave separately, Guo Aidang asked again, “Girl, do you have anything else? If you have other good stuff, we can trade. If you have more grain, you can save some for me, and I’ll try to raise more money and coupons for you! Of course, I’m willing to pay a little extra!”

As long as he could get fine grains, Guo Aidang was willing to spend more money. He knew he had already taken advantage of Zhao Xiulan by buying so much fine grain today, and he was afraid that if he tried to lower the price again, Zhao Xiulan wouldn’t want to sell him any more fine grains.

Although Zhao Xiulan still had grain now, she thought that since she had already taken out so much this time, if she took out more, Guo Aidang might become suspicious. She had to be more careful and not expose too much.

So, Zhao Xiulan said, “Not right now, but if you want, I can go back and get some for you. I have rice, noodles, and even eggs and rapeseed oil. Take a look and see what you want!”

Guo Aidang was thrilled to hear that besides fine grains, there were also eggs and rapeseed oil. Fine grains might be difficult to come by, even on the black market, but eggs and rapeseed oil were even harder to find.

Fortunately, he had casually asked, or else he might have missed out!

Guo Aidang hastily said, “Girl, get me some of everything you have!”

“Then, shall we meet here again tomorrow?” Zhao Xiulan suggested.

(End of Chapter 22)