Chapter 9: A Sweep of the Black Market

Early the next morning, when Jiang Yuman woke up and saw that Fu Jingchen was no longer in bed.

She thought to herself that he must have gone to handle matters related to being sent down to the countryside. When she went downstairs, she didn’t ask too much about it. After having breakfast, she also left the house.

At this time, the authorities were cracking down on black market activities, and there were often people wearing red armbands going around making arrests.

If someone was caught, they would be paraded through the streets, so the black market opened very early.

Thinking about her plan to visit the black market that day, Jiang Yuman had deliberately stored a scarf and hat in her spatial ability.

After leaving the house, she found a narrow alley and put the scarf and hat on, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Then, she put on a dull grey coat, slung a basket covered with cloth over her arm, and when she came out again, it was as if she had transformed into a completely different person.

The basket was empty, primarily serving as a distraction. When she took money out of her space, she could pretend to have pulled it out of the basket to avoid raising suspicion.

Carrying the basket, Jiang Yuman hurried to the black market, her disguise carefully prepared.

Unlike the bustling streets elsewhere, although the area was crowded, everyone seemed to have tacitly disguised themselves. It wasn’t uncommon to see people like Jiang Yuman, with only their eyes exposed.

As luck would have it, as soon as she entered, she saw a woman by the side of the road selling eggs.

Eggs were a good thing—they could be boiled, fried, or even steamed. They were also great for braising meat or making fried meatballs, so they had many uses.

According to the woman, these were free-range eggs, laid by chickens at her home who were fed grains.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuman bought both baskets of eggs without hesitation.

Eggs were quite a rare commodity these days. The woman was initially curious about why Jiang Yuman was buying so many, but when she saw that Jiang Yuman was heavily pregnant, she didn’t say anything further.

It made sense for a pregnant woman to need eggs to replenish her body after giving birth, so buying so many wasn’t really unusual.

Country women usually only ate one egg every couple of days after giving birth, but city wives were different—they would eat eggs regularly.

The two baskets of eggs weighed a total of 60 jin!

Jiang Yuman explained that her husband would come later and asked the woman to move the eggs to a small alley.

She then reached into the basket, but instead of grabbing eggs, she took out money from her space and counted it out to the woman.

As soon as the woman looked away, Jiang Yuman immediately put all the eggs into her space.

These items wouldn’t spoil in there.

She had already tested it with boiling water the previous evening. She put something in at night, and when she took it out in the morning, it was exactly the same.

In the space, time was frozen.

Of course, two baskets of eggs wouldn’t be enough for a family’s supply for two years in the countryside, but for now, this was sufficient. If more was needed in the future, she could buy more.

After leaving the small alley, Jiang Yuman continued wandering through the black market, hoping to find some meat.

Her luck was good; just as she turned around, she saw a young man carrying half a pig’s carcass from a narrow alley.

Everyone at the black market was eyeing the meat and fine grains, and as the man just came out, all the onlookers focused their attention on him, peering through the small openings in their disguises.

Jiang Yuman quickly approached and lowered her voice. “How much per jin? I’ll take all of it.”

The young man was stunned. “All of it?” His tone was filled with disbelief.

“Yes, I think this much is still too little,” Jiang Yuman replied.

Hearing this, the other people who had followed and were hoping to ask quickly dispersed.

Since she had bought it all, there was no room left for them.

They couldn’t help but whisper to themselves, amazed by her boldness. Buying so much meat and still feeling it wasn’t enough?

Most of them would only buy a jin, and that would be salted, enough for three meals at most.

The young man said, “Sis, this pork was originally one yuan per jin, but if you take it all, I’ll give it to you for 0.95 yuan per jin.”

Jiang Yuman nodded. The original host had worked at the supply and marketing cooperative, so she knew this price was indeed higher than what they typically sold.

But the pork at the cooperative wasn’t so easy to get. If you didn’t queue up early enough, you’d end up with very low-quality meat.

Unlike the fresh half a pig’s carcass in front of her.

Seeing how straightforward Jiang Yuman was, the young man lowered his voice. “Sis, my family still has half a pig’s carcass that hasn’t been brought to sell. Would you like it?”

These pigs had been raised secretly back in their hometown, and he had put a lot of effort into it. He was hoping to sell them at the black market to make some money.

He was worried about taking too much at once, so he had only brought half.

Hearing Jiang Yuman say it wasn’t enough, and seeing that she didn’t seem like the type to cause trouble, he asked her.

“Yes!” Jiang Yuman’s eyes immediately lit up.

She made a request: “You move the meat to the alley. I’ll have my husband come and pick it up. And I’ll take the other half of the pig as well.”

She had just mentioned it casually, not expecting any pleasant surprises.

“Alright,” the young man said, carrying the meat into the alley. After weighing it and receiving the money, he quickly left.

Jiang Yuman looked around to make sure no one was watching, then used the same trick again to store the meat in her space.

After waiting a little while, the young man returned, once again carrying half a pig’s carcass. As before, he held the money in one hand and the goods in the other.

Seeing the pork had disappeared, the young man didn’t think much of it, assuming Jiang Yuman’s husband had come by earlier.

He was happy to take the money and felt lucky, not expecting such a smooth transaction with such a straightforward and generous customer.

Once the transaction was complete, the pork was once again stored in the space.

Jiang Yuman continued her walk, buying white flour and rice.

If anyone was selling something, she bought it all.

She needed to stock up enough for her family’s two-year supply in the countryside, and buying everything in one day was crucial—one or two items wouldn’t solve the pressing issue at hand.

She wasn’t worried about attracting attention. At this time, the people here were simple and honest. Everyone was a little uneasy buying things in the black market, so they didn’t have the time or interest to spy on others.

Moreover, since everything was stored in her space, Jiang Yuman wasn’t worried at all.

After taking a round through the market, her space had already accumulated quite a few items—rice, flour, meat, eggs, later, red sugar and rock candy.

The red sugar was especially important. It was essential for women during their time of the month, and also for herself during the postpartum recovery period.

When it came to her own needs, Jiang Yuman didn’t hold back.

Unfortunately, red sugar was a scarce item. Even after searching the entire black market, she only managed to find half a jin.

But just because this black market didn’t have it, didn’t mean the others wouldn’t.

The provincial capital was so large; it wasn’t limited to just one black market.

For the rest of the day, Jiang Yuman switched her hat and continued to scour two more black markets, stocking up on eggs, rice, and flour.

For pork and red sugar, whenever she saw them, she bought them all.

She even encountered someone selling beef. The beef seemed to come from a cow that had fallen to its death, as it was rare for cattle to be slaughtered easily.

Beef was also one of her favorite foods, so she bought ten jin of it as well.

Although she was lazy, her love for food and her excellent cooking skills were her strengths.

With all these supplies, even though they wouldn’t be able to eat them immediately when they went to the countryside, she could at least guarantee three meals a day for the whole family.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yuman continued her shopping spree. By the time the morning passed, her space was already filled to nearly one-third of its capacity.

Just these food items alone had cost almost seventy-five yuan.

As for clothing and other necessities, Jiang Yuman moved on to the next shopping center.

With the coupons her parents-in-law gave her, she took out the work tickets and first arranged for a big iron wok.

There were no large iron woks in the countryside now, and the dishes cooked in them just didn’t taste as good!

She also picked up an aluminum lunch box, a Red Star water cup, a thermos, pots, bowls, chopsticks, and other essentials.

It was autumn now, and with the harvest season upon them, gloves, face and body care products couldn’t be overlooked.

The family’s luggage couldn’t be too much, as once autumn passed, winter would follow. So she also needed to buy thread for stitching clothes.

She bought a large amount of plain cloth and soft, comfortable cotton fabric.

She also picked up needles, thread, buttons, and other small items.

As for cotton, Jiang Yuman wasn’t in a hurry. There should be markets in the area where they would be going to the countryside, so she could buy it later when needed.

She didn’t worry about explaining the origins of these things to the family.

When the others had to go out, she would simply say she was going to buy things. It was easy to resolve when she was alone at home.

After buying all these daily necessities, the 1,800 yuan she had brought back from her family was now completely used up.

Finally, her things occupied more than half of the space.

Jiang Yuman felt like a little hamster hoarding food for the winter. Looking at the plenty of supplies in her space, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With these things, she wouldn’t be afraid when they went to the countryside