Chapter 14

In this weird atmosphere, everyone came to the town.

After the village chief finished saying that if they wanted to go back by ox cart, they had to gather here before four o’clock, Song Ruan was the first to leave.

Her goal was clear, which was to check out the black market.

But she had never been to the black market before and didn’t know where it was. She didn’t know if she would be reported if she asked others, so Song Ruan had to walk around to see if she could find it.

After walking around for a while, the sun was too hot, so Song Ruan found a tree to sit down and rest, took out some water from the space to drink, and observed the situation nearby.

While she was drinking half a pot of water, she noticed several furtive people carrying large bags entering an alley across the street.

She observed for a while and found that a person who had just entered empty-handed came out with a bag on his back. She was sure that this must be where the black market was.

She walked to a deserted place, put the kettle into the space, took out a bamboo basket from it, and covered it with a piece of cloth. If she wanted to take something out of the space later, she could use the bamboo basket as a cover.

Carrying the bamboo basket on his back, Song Ruan walked into the alley across the street.

As soon as I entered, I saw a man sitting on a low stool at the entrance of the alley. He was doing nothing but observing the person who just came in. It seemed like he was a scout.

It seems that the black market is now safer than she thought.

After walking for a while, we could see more people inside, accompanied by the sound of low conversations.

Not noisy, but lively.

Suddenly, a young man walked up to Song Ruan and asked in a low voice, “Do you want to buy anything? I have oil, noodles, and meat.”

Song Ruan tilted her head: “How much?”

“All are based on the market price of the supply and marketing cooperative, but I don’t need tickets here. What do you think? These are all in-demand goods.”

Oh my.

In this period when food coupons are more valuable than money, it would be a real bargain to buy directly at the market price without using food coupons.

Song Ruan was very tempted, but she didn’t have any money yet: “I want to take a look first, and then buy it from you later, okay?”

“Sure, sure. I’m nearby. I should be here if you come over before dark.”

Song Ruan continued to walk forward and observe.

A well-dressed older woman chatted with a man carrying a large bag for a few words, then left disappointed. It seemed that she didn’t ask what he needed to buy.

It was her. Song Ruan approached the target person and asked her in a low voice, imitating the young man just now: “Do you want to buy anything? I have hares, pheasants and wheat here.”

The eldest sister’s eyes lit up: “How to sell it?”

Uh…she really hadn’t thought about that.

“Big sister, I see you have a kind face and I like you very much. Just treat it as making friends. If you want something, just name the price and I’ll sell it to you if it’s suitable.”

The eldest sister was amused by her, thought for a moment, and said, “Then the meat is 60 cents per pound, and the wheat is 40 cents per pound?”

“Okay!” Song Ruan said cheerfully, “How much do you want, big sister?”

“How many do you have?”

It seemed to be a big customer, so Song Ruan directly reported all the assets he had.

“I only have a wild rabbit and a pheasant here. As for wheat, there are only 10 kilograms in the bamboo basket. If you want more, I can get it for you.”

The eldest sister was a little disappointed to hear that there was only one pheasant. Her daughter-in-law had just given birth and she was planning to buy some more chickens for her to nourish her body, but they were particularly difficult to buy.

“I want both the rabbit and the chicken, but I only want 10 kilograms of wheat.”

“Okay.” Song Ruan put down the bamboo basket on his back, secretly put the things from the space into the bamboo basket, and then lifted the cloth on the bamboo basket. “The things are all here. There is no scale. This pheasant and rabbit weigh about 8 kilograms. I will charge you 7 kilograms. This bag contains 10 kilograms of wheat.”

“Then the calculation is, meat is 4.2 yuan, wheat is 4 yuan, big sister, you just need to give 8 yuan.”

When the elder sister saw how fat the chicken was and heard that it was a good deal, a satisfied smile appeared on her face and she quickly agreed.

The payment and goods were settled, and the customers were all happy.

Song Ruan was very happy with 8 yuan in her pocket. She didn’t expect that today would be so smooth. This made her full of motivation to make money.

She strolled around the black market again and found that everything was for sale, but most of them were vegetables grown in their family plots and saved grain and eggs.

The competition for grain was quite fierce, and Song Ruan only sold 30 kilograms later, earning 12 yuan, so a total of 20 yuan.

Seeing that they had almost finished their tour, Song Ruan returned to the place where they had just been to look for the young man.

“Do you still have the oil, noodles, and pork you mentioned? I want to buy some of them.”

The young man looked around and said to her in a low voice, “Come with me.”

Song Ruan thought about it and followed.

“That’s it. Tell him what you want to buy. I’m going out to solicit customers.” The young man took her into a small courtyard. The things for sale were displayed in the courtyard. There were quite a lot of them. It seemed that these people had quite a big business.

“What do you want to buy, little girl?” asked the owner of the pork stall.

Song Ruan approached the pork stall and asked, “How much is one pound of these pork bones?”

The boss looked at her curiously and replied, “This kind of ribs costs 40 cents a pound, and big bones like this one with little meat cost 20 cents a pound.”

People nowadays eat meat only a few times a year, so when buying pork they generally prefer to buy fat meat, followed by lean meat, and rarely buy bones.

Song Ruan nodded: “Then I want 2 pounds of large bones and 2 pounds of ribs. Boss, do you have pig offal here?”

“Yes, there are.” The boss looked strange, “But this kind of thing has a smell when it is made. It is not delicious. Do you really want to buy it?”

Nowadays, not many people buy things like pig offal, because people nowadays can hardly even get enough food and clothing. Few people are willing to buy spices for cooking, and they don’t do much research on how to cook pig offal to make it delicious.

But she will.

Finally, under the boss’s strange gaze, Song Ruan spent 60 cents to buy both the large and small intestines.

Song Ruan felt that he had made a good deal by using the money he had saved for a pound of pork to buy a bunch of delicious offal.

When the boss saw that there were people buying pig offal that was usually difficult to sell, he felt that he was making a good profit.

After buying, Song Ruan tried to ask, “Boss, do you buy food here?”

She thought the business model of their yard was a bit similar to a small supply and marketing cooperative, and she didn’t know whether they would accept grain.

The boss looked at the strange girl again and said: “We will buy it, but the price we charge is relatively low, otherwise we won’t make any profit.”

Nowadays, people usually sell it on the black market themselves, and rarely sell it to middlemen at low prices.

Song Ruan’s eyes suddenly lit up: “How much is the wheat?”

For someone like her who has little time and has a large quantity, it is most appropriate to sell to a middleman.

“0.25 yuan a pound.”

Well, that’s a bit low.

Song Ruan asked again: “I sell a lot, can the price be higher?”

“At most 0.28 cents.” After all, they have to attract customers and take risks, and the money has to be divided among several people.

“Okay, boss, how much can you eat?”

The boss was surprised to hear her tone: “You have a lot?”

Song Ruan nodded and said mysteriously: “I am also selling for someone else. That person has a lot of goods.”

The boss nodded without doubting anything. After all, this made sense.

“Then we need 200 kilograms first.”

Just like that, Song Ruan had 56 more yuan in his pocket.

On the way back, Song Ruan happily counted her spoils in the car.

She spent 40 cents on pork bones, 80 cents on spare ribs, and 60 cents on offal. In addition, she bought 3 yuan for oil and 10 yuan for flour.

In addition, she bought 1 yuan of spices and 4 yuan of sugar when she was shopping. Later, she bought 18 meat buns for 1.8 yuan.

The total cost was 21.6 yuan.

Her total income was 76 yuan, so she now had 54.4 yuan left in her pocket.