Chapter 221: Black Market Touch

“The Party Secretary’s position was removed by the commune. He must be feeling awful and extremely angry. He’s probably blaming Luo Qiao for it.”

“This is where Uncle Dezhen is wrong. Luo Qiao has been the victim all along. If he wants to blame someone, he should blame his own daughter for harming him. He’s really not thinking clearly.”

After arriving in the city, Luo Qiao first found a place to enter her space and change her outfit before going to the black market. It was time to deliver this month’s fish. Since He Yujie wasn’t there, she told Ning Rui to meet for the transaction at the old abandoned house outside the city in the evening.

Ning Rui was still a little curious and asked, “How did you transport them here?”

Luo Qiao replied, “Hasn’t your boss told you that curiosity kills the cat? I’ll wait for you there at 9 PM sharp.”

Early this morning, before dawn, Luo Qiao had gone up the mountain to prepare the fish. This time, she deliberately collected over ten times the usual amount, carefully picking out the small fish and throwing them back into the pond, keeping only those weighing over 1.5 pounds.

With her letter of introduction, she wanted to travel around and find places to sell. Perhaps the black markets in bigger cities could offer better prices.

She had two purposes for this trip: first, to go south and use the money she had to see if she could trade for some goods and accumulate some startup capital, second, to go to Beijing and reveal the identity of her substitute, leaving her birth parents to deal with the consequences as they saw fit.

After walking around the black market, she didn’t find anything she needed. In a corner near the back, she came across a young boy selling medical books, all thread-bound editions.

Luo Qiao came closer and carefully examined the books, asking softly, “Are these books for sale or for ^[1]‘trade’ – exchange for somethingtrade?”

The boy looked up at Luo Qiao and said, “I want to trade them for some fine grains and brown sugar.”

Then, as if remembering something, he added somewhat embarrassedly, “I know these aren’t worth much. If you like them, just give me whatever you think is fair.”

Luo Qiao asked, “Where are your parents?”

Hearing this, the little boy looked at Luo Qiao warily and said, “This has nothing to do with them.”

After saying that, he started to pack up the books in the ground, ready to leave. Luo Qiao reached out and gently held the little boy’s arm, she said, “Don’t be afraid. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll take all these books. I’ll give you ten pounds of fine grains and one pound of brown sugar. Is that okay?”

The little boy’s eyes widened, and he asked with somewhat disbelief, “Really? Can I get that much?”

Luo Qiao said, “These books must be family heirlooms. Won’t you regret trading them away like this?”

The boy looked at the medical books reluctantly, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Right now, my mother and sister are waiting for food to save their lives. If these books can save my sister’s life, it’s worth it.”

After hearing this, Luo Qiao felt an inexplicable emotion stirring in her heart.

Looking around at the people in the black market, she said, “Put these books away and let’s go somewhere else. Even if I give you the grain now, you might not be able to safely take it out of this black market.

Don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. For each of these books, I’ll give you ten pounds of fine grain, plus one pound of brown sugar and some red dates. If you agree, let’s leave this place first.”

The boy listened to Luo Qiao’s words, thought for a moment, and then seemed to make a decision. He quickly gathered up the ragged cloth, stood up, and followed Luo Qiao out. He didn’t know why, but his instincts told him that the person before him wasn’t bad.

Now that his grandmother had injured her arm and couldn’t go out easily, if he didn’t bring back some fine grain soon, his mother would likely run out of milk, and his sister would be crying from hunger all day.

The grain his grandmother had traded for last time was supposed to last his mother for a while, but unexpectedly, his second aunt and uncle had stolen all that was left. His grandmother even injured her arm trying to stop them.

Luo Qiao and the little boy left the black market together. Luo Qiao asked, “Where do you live? I’ll take you there and give you the things. You’re still small, and you won’t be able to carry it all by yourself.”

The boy had four ancient medical books in his hands. At ten pounds of fine grain per book, that would be forty pounds. This little boy looked to be only eight or nine years old, and he probably couldn’t carry forty pounds very far before getting tired.

If he encountered someone with bad intentions on the way, it could be dangerous.