“Comrade Xiao Lei, we want two thousand jin of grain. The price can be the same as on the black market. Do you have that much?”

Even though Xiao Lei was introduced by a trusted acquaintance, Qiao Jiuru still cautiously stated her needs.

She had more than enough money to buy this much grain—five or even ten thousand jin wouldn’t be a problem. What worried her was that buying too much might draw unwanted attention.

Two thousand jin? That’s not much.

“Sister Comrade, do you want coarse grains or refined grains?”

Xiao Lei needed to clarify. Two thousand jin of refined grain wasn’t difficult, but it would need to be delivered over a few days.

“One thousand jin of coarse grain, five hundred jin of rice, and five hundred jin of flour. I need it by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow morning or tomorrow evening?”

“Preferably tomorrow morning. I can pay an extra cent per jin.”

“Alright, no problem. Do you need anything else?”

“Do you have cotton?”

“Yes. How much do you want?”

“Thirty jin.”

“Sister, thirty jin is a bit much. I can only get you twenty jin.”

“That’s fine. Do you have powdered milk and malted milk?”

“Yes. How much do you want?”

“Five cans of powdered milk and ten cans of malted milk.”

“There are ten cans of malted milk, but only three cans of powdered milk.”

“Do you have eggs? I’d like two hundred.”

“Alright, two hundred eggs.”

“Do you have chickens? I want ten.”

“Yes, I’ve noted that—ten chickens.”

“What about pork? I want an entire slaughtered pig.”

“There’s pork, but since you need it so urgently, I may not be able to get you a whole pig. At most, half.”

“Half is fine. It must be cut up properly in strips.”

“No problem.”

“If there’s pork, there should be pork fat. I want twenty jin of pork suet.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“If you have mung beans, soybeans, black beans, and red beans, I want five jin of each.”

“We only have mung beans and soybeans. No red beans or black beans.”

“Do you have overseas Chinese coupons? I want ten sheets.”

“Yes, we have those.”

“Do you have live fish and live shrimp? I want fifteen live fish, and as many live shrimp as possible.”

“We have those too.”

“Twenty jin of brown sugar.”

“Noted.”

“If you have cloth, any color is fine. I want fifty feet.”

“Do you want defected cloth?”

“Yes.”

…

Xiao Lei quickly and firmly jotted everything down.

Soon after, he rushed to find the boss to prepare the goods—this was a big order.

Even though it was such a huge order, the total only came to just over 1,600 yuan for Qiao Jiuru.

She paid a deposit of 100 yuan.

Finally, Qiao Jiuru gave Xiao Lei a delivery address and told him to deliver everything there by 5:00 a.m. the next day.

That place was one of the properties her grandmother had brought as part of her dowry, and the house was still under her grandmother’s name.

Xiao Lei didn’t even go home. He informed Guangsheng and immediately headed to their supply base to prepare the goods.

It was getting late. Lu Baoguo, Guangsheng, Qiao Jiuru, and Su Huaiyuan had exchanged farewells and were about to ride their bicycles home separately, when Qiao Jiuru suddenly called them back.

“Brother Lu, Xiao Guang, I just remembered something. This afternoon, Brother Zhang told Huaiyuan and me that he’s worried about Huazhu traveling so far alone to the countryside. It’d be best to have someone escort her. Do either of you know someone trustworthy? We’ll cover all food, lodging, transport, and lost wages—and we’ll also offer a ten-yuan thank-you gift.”

Qiao Jiuru had nearly forgotten this important matter.

She had been so focused on hoarding supplies, worrying that the children wouldn’t have enough to eat or wear.

Thankfully, she remembered just as she was about to get on her bike.

Her concern wasn’t unfounded.

Lu Baoguo, who often traveled for work and had nearly joined the Public Security Bureau after retiring from the military, knew how dangerous things were out there.

“Professor Qiao, respected elder, where is the young lady going, and when?”

To their surprise, even before Lu Baoguo could respond while still thinking of candidates, Guangsheng spoke up first, indicating he knew someone who could help.

“The day after tomorrow, to Baigou Village, Mentou Township, Huaxian County, Tong City, Jisheng Province.”

When Qiao Jiuru heard this might work out, she immediately and excitedly gave her younger daughter’s exact destination.

“Perfect. My wife’s cousin’s son is stationed near Jisheng Province. He’s heading back to his unit the day after tomorrow—he can escort her on the way.”

Coincidentally, that cousin’s son had just come from the countryside to Beijing that afternoon to catch a train back to his unit, and he was currently staying at their home.

“Xiao Guang, that’s perfect. Then we’ll trouble this comrade for the help.”

Perfect.

This really was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan were overjoyed and thanked Guangsheng repeatedly.