Chapter 29 : Going to the Black Market

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Su Mo went to the post office and bought a few newspapers, spending a total of 30 cents.

At that time, most newspapers cost 4 cents a copy, and the People’s Daily was a little more expensive, at 5 cents.

Seeing that Su Mo bought so many newspapers, Lu Changzheng asked, “Are you buying them to paste on the walls?”

Isn’t it common for people to buy old newspapers from scrap yards to use as wallpaper? Is it because his wife likes cleanliness and wants to buy new ones?

But honestly, it isn’t necessary. The walls in the house are all painted white, so they are clean and don’t need any wallpaper.

“No. I’m going to submit an article to a newspaper, so I bought some newspapers to study the writing style first.”

Su Mo thought about it and decided not to tell Lu Changzheng that the original owner had a “special correspondent” certificate and could receive a manuscript fee. Although she was confident in her writing, she wasn’t sure if her article would be selected, so she thought it best to wait until she actually got the manuscript fee before telling him.

“My wife is so amazing.” Lu Changzheng immediately began praising her.

“I haven’t even started writing yet, and you already know how good I am?” Su Mo glared at him.

“Other wives can only read newspapers slowly, but my wife can not only read fluently, but also write. If that’s not impressive, then what is?”

“You are poor.”

“Wife, where else are you going?”

It was already past three o’clock, so if they weren’t going anywhere else, they should head back. He wanted to take his wife home so she could get familiar with the environment.

“How about we go to the free market and have a look?” Su Mo hesitated, seeing that Lu Changzheng was in his military uniform again.

Lu Changzheng: …

Why does his wife always want to go to the black market?

Although he didn’t reject the idea of the black market, he didn’t want his wife to go there. First, it was unsafe, if she was caught one day, it would be troublesome. Second, it was still risky. His wife, with her appearance, could easily attract unwanted attention.

But seeing his wife’s behavior, he realized it was likely she would go there secretly after he returned to the army.

Instead of waiting for her to figure it out on her own, it would be better to take her there now and show her the dangers firsthand.

“Okay. But you have to promise me that you won’t go there alone. If you want to go, wait for me to come back. If there’s anything you want, just write to me or send me a telegram, and I’ll get it for you.” Lu Changzheng’s expression was serious.

“Okay.” Su Mo agreed, though without much sincerity.

Lu Changzheng sighed, “Wife, I’m serious. The free market here isn’t as mature as in Haishi, the management is chaotic, and the risks are much greater.”

The bigger the city, the more black markets there are, with more competition and better management, so the risks are lower. In large cities, black markets focus more on credibility because there are more choices for the buyers.

But here, there’s only one black market, which is basically a monopoly. Buyers don’t have options, so sellers are naturally more arrogant.

Su Mo was silent.

“I’ll take you there now, and you’ll understand when you see it.” Lu Changzheng was helpless.

Wanting to return to the army quickly, he decided to bring his wife along and keep an eye on her.

Lu Changzheng rode his bike with Su Mo, and after a few turns, they arrived at the yard of a small bungalow.

Su Mo: ????

Is this the black market? It doesn’t look like it.

The original owner’s family of three had good jobs and plenty of remittance vouchers, so they didn’t need to go to the black market at all.

Thus, Su Mo had no impression of what the black market actually looked like.

Seeing Su Mo’s confusion, Lu Changzheng explained, “This is the home of my high school classmate and comrade-in-arms. His parents passed away two years ago. When I came back this time, he asked me to come and check on the house.”

“While you were in the hospital for a couple of days, I came here to clean up. I found some of his old clothes. Come change into them before we leave.”

He then pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the gate.

Luckily, he had tied the key to his keychain, or it would have been difficult to manage this time.

The yard wasn’t large probably around 10 to 20 square meters and the bungalow had about three or four rooms.

Lu Changzheng opened the door of the bungalow, asked Su Mo to sit in the living room, and went to change clothes in one of the rooms. Since Lu Changzheng had just cleaned up, the room was quite tidy.

Su Mo looked around and found that this place seemed like a good spot to stay.

It seemed to be located behind a factory. Many people passed through the area, but there were very few people actually living nearby. Su Mo noticed that there seemed to be only three or four families in the area, and they were quite spaced apart.

After changing clothes, Lu Changzheng came out and rode his bike with Su Mo to another street. He looked around along the way, then stopped in front of a small courtyard with an open door.

The two of them looked inside and saw an old man weaving bamboo baskets in the yard.

“Uncle, do you know where Uncle Wang next door moved to?”

The old man looked up at the two strangers and asked, “Who are you to him? What do you need from him?”

“We’re from the Red Star Commune. We’re planning to get married in a few days and wanted to invite Uncle Wang to the banquet.”

The old man understood immediately. It turned out that the couple was getting married and had come to buy things, so he mentioned the name of the street.

“If he asks who told you, just say it was Uncle Chen.”

“Okay, I understand. Thank you, sir.”

After Lu Changzheng spoke, he rode his bike with Su Mo toward that street.

Su Mo was confused. “What are you doing? This feels like a spy meeting.”

“The black market often moves around. I’m just asking where it is right now.”

“Oh. How did you know he’d know? Have you been asking this family all the time? Aren’t you worried about getting caught?”

“Of course not. People asking for directions in the black market change often. Usually, there’s one on every busy street. There’s often a strange sign or something black by the door. That’s how you spot it.”

“It’s that obvious? Aren’t they worried about getting caught?”

“Evidence is needed to arrest anyone. They pretty much know who is on the county’s revolutionary committee and who the secret informants are. If you ask them, they won’t tell you anything.”

Su Mo fell silent. It was more complicated than she expected, completely different from how it was portrayed in the novels.

In those novels, the heroine could easily find the black market. But if Lu Changzheng hadn’t been guiding her, she probably wouldn’t have found it even if she searched all day.

He was truly cannon fodder. Without his halo, finding a black market was much more difficult.

The two entered the street the old man had mentioned. Not long after, a woman passed by and enthusiastically asked, “You two look unfamiliar. Which store are you looking for? I know this place well and can help you.”

“Uncle Chen sent me here. I’m looking for Uncle Wang.” Lu Changzheng responded.

“Oh, you’re looking for Old Wang. Turn left, then right ahead. There’s a crooked tree at the door,” the woman said.

“Okay, thank you, auntie.”

Lu Changzheng rode on as the woman directed. When they passed a courtyard gate, it suddenly opened, and a strong man came out and said to them, “This way.”

Lu Changzheng stopped, and they pushed their bikes into the yard. Su Mo looked at the gate and noticed there was no crooked tree. It was all part of the deception.

Once inside, the strong man closed the gate and said, “Park the bikes here, pay ten cents, cover your faces, and follow me.”

Su Mo pulled out a silk scarf to cover her face, while Lu Changzheng used a handkerchief.

Su Mo sighed inwardly. The black market was so tricky. She needed to think twice about selling anything there.

They followed the strong man into the house. One of the rooms had a large closet. The strong man opened the closet door to reveal a secret passage. After entering through the secret door and passing through another room, they finally arrived at the black market.

It was a large courtyard, with guards at almost every corner. There were many people inside, all with their faces covered and speaking in low voices. Despite the number of people, it wasn’t noisy.

“You two can shop on your own. When you’re done, come back and find me here,” the strong man said before heading into a room behind him.

Inside the room, there were several strong men, likely waiting for customers.

It seemed the black market boss was quite powerful and had many followers.

The two took a quick tour of the yard. Su Mo noticed most of the goods being sold were food, mostly grains. There were only three meat vendors, one selling pork and two selling live chickens.

“Do you want to buy some rice?” Lu Changzheng asked, remembering that his wife loved rice.

“No, I have food coupons,” Su Mo replied. She still had a lot of rice in her space and could produce her own food, so buying more wasn’t necessary.

“How about some meat to take back? We’re registering today, so we should treat everyone to some meat,” Su Mo suggested.

The two headed to the pork stall and bought 4 pounds of premium pork belly. They split it into two portions: one for the Lu family and the other to treat everyone at the educated youth site.

Meat from the black market didn’t require tickets and cost 1.6 yuan per pound, which was twice the price at the supply and marketing cooperatives.

The 4 pounds of meat cost 6.4 yuan, which Lu Changzheng paid for.

“I want to exchange some meat and cloth coupons here,” Su Mo said quietly.

“I still have 10 feet of cloth coupons and 8 pounds of meat coupons. I’ll give them all to you. If you need more, I’ll exchange for some more.”

Su Mo calculated that, with the 16 feet of wedding allowance, she would have 26 feet of cloth coupons, enough to make cotton-padded clothes. She also had 3 jin of meat coupons, plus those Lu Changzheng gave her, which would last for a while. Moreover, she still had a lot of ham, bacon, sausages, and canned food in her space, so she wasn’t in a hurry to exchange them.

“If my writing is really selected, I won’t have any problems with money in the future.”

“That should be enough. No need to exchange more.”

Lu Changzheng, wanting to know the prices of bicycles and sewing machines in the black market, found a scout and asked.

The man looked at them, called someone over, and led them into a moderately sized room.

This room seemed to be where the black market sold its own goods. Several large shelves were filled with items.

A man who looked like a small boss approached and asked, “You want to buy bicycles and sewing machines?”

“Yes. I’m looking for a Forever 26-model bicycle and a Shanghai-brand sewing machine. Do you have them in stock?” The 26-model bicycle is more suitable for women.

“Yes, but it’ll take two days to get them. The Shanghai brand is more expensive.”

“How much?”

“The bicycle costs 258 yuan, and the sewing machine costs 238 yuan,” the little boss quoted.

Su Mo quickly calculated. In the supply and marketing cooperative, a Forever 26 bicycle was priced at 158 yuan with a ticket, and a Shanghai sewing machine was 138 yuan with a ticket. In the black market, they didn’t require tickets but added 100 yuan to each price, which was a huge markup.

“If you need them, pay a 100 yuan deposit now.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it and come back,” Lu Changzheng said.

He planned to check the city’s supply and marketing cooperative the next day. If the items were available, he’d buy them there. If not, he’d have to buy them at the inflated price on the black market.

The two of them looked around a bit more, found nothing else to buy, and decided it was getting late, so they prepared to head back.

By now, there were more people in the black market. They found the strong man who had led them in earlier, followed him, and unexpectedly ended up at another yard, where their bicycles were stored too.

Su Mo: …

This black market was nothing like what was written in the books. The black market boss was probably a former spy.

After Lu Changzheng paid 10 cents, the two of them rode their bikes out of the yard.

Exiting this courtyard, they found another street. It seemed the black market really connected everywhere.