Chapter 23 First Trip to the Black Market

Entering her room, Shen Chuning entered the space again. The crops had grown taller.

She estimated that they would be ready for harvest in about a month.

When she first entered the space, she thought the land was large, but after becoming familiar with it, she realized it was only half an acre, with a yield of about one thousand kilograms at a time.

Although not much, the high yield from such a small piece of land was impressive.

The next day.

Shen Chuning woke up early, intending to make breakfast for her father and brothers.

Unexpectedly, Big Brother woke up even earlier and had already prepared breakfast.

A large pot of sweet potato and corn porridge, without a single grain of rice.

Shen Chuning knew this was her father and brothers’ usual breakfast.  She picked up a bowl to serve herself.

Shen Zhengxu quickly stopped her, “Little Sister, eat this.”

He pushed a bowl of goat’s milk, a white flour bun, and a boiled egg in front of Shen Chuning.

Shen Chuning glanced at them and continued to scoop up the corn and sweet potato porridge.

She took a sip.

Shen Zhengxu became anxious, “Little Sister, don’t eat that, it’s not good…”

“Big Brother, I’ll eat what you eat,” Shen Chuning calmly put down her bowl.

The corn and sweet potato porridge was indeed unappetizing.

The corn wasn’t finely ground, making it coarse and irritating to the throat. The sweet potatoes weren’t fresh but dried sweet potato slices from last year.

Because they couldn’t bear to throw away the rotten parts, the dried sweet potatoes were mixed with rotten ones, tasting bitter.

Shen Zhengxu felt a mix of emotions.

He knew his sister, though spoiled, was decisive.

She wouldn’t change her mind easily.

He could only say, “Okay, Little Sister, Big Brother won’t make breakfast for you separately anymore. But the milk and bun have been exchanged, you have to eat them, otherwise it’ll be a waste.”

Shen Chuning blinked her watery eyes, took the bowl of goat’s milk, poured it into the sweet potato and corn porridge, crushed the bun and egg and mixed them in, smiling, “Let’s eat together as a family.”

Looking at her smiling face, Shen Zhengxu felt that no matter how much they pampered her, it wasn’t too much.

After breakfast, Father Shen and Shen Zhengxu went to work.

Shen Zhengliang took a day off from the team and went to town with Shen Chuning.

Shen Chuning had only learned to ride a bicycle the previous day. Although she could barely ride, she couldn’t carry anyone.

So Shen Zhengliang rode, and she sat on the back seat.

Shen Zhengliang didn’t go empty-handed.

He carried a backpack, covered with old cloth.

Inside were dried mushrooms they had collected and dried, and rabbit skins from rabbits they had caught.

The most valuable items were two lingzhi mushrooms and a wild ginseng root they had found.

There were originally two wild ginseng roots, one of which Shen Chuning had already eaten.

Shen Chuning was excited for her first trip to the black market.

Shen Zhengliang stopped his bicycle outside an ordinary house.

An old man, about sixty years old, was skillfully weaving baskets under a pear tree in the yard.

Shen Zhengliang approached familiarly, “Old Man Li, is Brother Chen not home? His door is closed.”

Old Man Li looked at Shen Chuning, “Are you bringing this woman to find Brother Chen?”

Shen Chuning, as instructed by Shen Zhengliang, had smeared her face with soot and wore a simple blue headscarf, looking like a thin rural woman.

Shen Zhengliang smiled, “Old Man Li, this is my sister.”

Shen Zhengliang slipped two dimes into Old Man Li’s hand.

Old Man Li said, “Brother Chen is chatting at the third house east of our village, the one with the osmanthus tree at the entrance!”

“Thank you, Old Man Li.” Shen Zhengliang thanked him politely and took Shen Chuning towards the east of the village.

On the way, Shen Zhengliang told Shen Chuning about the black market.

It was a time of strict crackdown, and the black market’s location changed frequently.  They needed to find a contact person, exchange a password, and the contact person would tell them the current location.

Old Man Li, who was weaving baskets, was the black market’s contact person.

Brother Chen was the black market’s manager in this area.

Approaching the black market, Shen Zhengliang’s expression became more serious, “Ningning, once we’re in the black market, don’t speak.  Tell Brother what you want to buy quietly. Brother will buy it for you.”

Shen Chuning nodded obediently.

Entering the small courtyard, Shen Chuning found the black market completely different from her imagination.

The courtyard was bustling, with many people selling and buying things, but there was no sound.

Everyone communicated using simple hand gestures.

No wonder she hadn’t heard any noise outside; she thought Second Brother had found the wrong place.

Shen Zhengliang went to the cotton stall and, after bargaining, bought twenty kilograms at one yuan and eighty cents per kilogram.

Cotton at the supply and marketing cooperative cost one yuan and twenty cents per kilogram, but required coupons, which weren’t needed here.

Shen Chuning intended to sell grain at the black market.

But after wandering around, she didn’t see anyone selling grain.

She whispered to Shen Zhengliang, “Second Brother, why is no one selling grain?  No one is selling meat or eggs either. Didn’t they say the black market sells everything?”

Although Shen Zhengliang didn’t know why his sister cared, he patiently answered, “Grain, meat, and eggs are valuable commodities. The manager is worried that selling them openly would cause a rush.

So those with these goods are directly acquired by the manager, and buyers purchase from the manager.”

Shen Chuning nodded, “Second Brother, can you take me to see the manager? I want to buy some meat and eggs for Brother Yubai.”

Hearing that his sister was buying things for Zhou Yubai, Shen Zhengliang didn’t hesitate and took her to see the black market manager.

He had brought wild ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms to sell to the manager.

Although these were good things, ordinary people couldn’t afford them. Only the black market manager had sales channels, so whenever the Shen family found these valuable items, Shen Zhengliang would bring them to the manager.

Inside the house, they didn’t need to be silent like in the courtyard.

The black market manager, Chen Tao, was a forty-year-old man with a rough and generous appearance.

When Shen Zhengliang brought Shen Chuning in, he was talking to another person carrying a backpack.

After finishing his conversation, someone took the person to the back of the house.

Shen Chuning guessed they were weighing the goods.

Chen Tao then approached Shen Zhengliang, “Comrade, it’s been a while. What valuable goods have you brought this time?”