Chapter 13

Looking at the burly man who stopped her, Xu Zhixin remained calm.

Because the original owner had been to the black market, she knew that this strong man was the person in charge of guarding the alley in the black market and was also responsible for collecting the “entry fee”.

If you go to the black market to sell things, you have to pay some money, just like if you go to the vegetable market to sell vegetables, you have to pay some money to the person in charge of the market.

“Uncle, you look like you are here to sell something. Do you know the rules?” The burly man looked at Xu Zhixin and spoke. It was obvious that he did not realize that Xu Zhixin was a girl and really thought he was an uncle.

“I know, I know. I have to pay to sell things here. Young man, how much do I have to pay?” Xu Zhixin’s voice was the perfect voice of a man in his fifties, without any flaws.

“You have to pay two cents.” said the strong man.

“Two cents is a bit too much. I heard people say that you only need to pay one cent.” Xu Zhixin frowned slightly.

“Usually I only charge 1 cent, but you see you have so many things. Our boss has told us that if you sell more things, we have to charge 1 cent more,” the sturdy man replied.

Xu Zhixin thought that she would surely make hundreds of dollars from selling these things, so she would just give him a dime more. After all, a dime or two is a drop in the bucket compared to a hundred dollars. There was no need to bargain with him over a dime or two, wasting her breath and time.

“Two cents is all right.” Xu Zhixin took out two cents and handed it to the burly man, then entered the alley. After walking a few meters, she saw various things being sold on both sides of the alley, and people buying things in the middle of the alley.

This is the black market.

Xu Zhixin did not rush to find a space to put down her things to sell. Instead, she wandered around the black market, looked around, and listened carefully to the prices of various things in the black market. She soon learned that rice in the black market was 50 cents per pound, more than twice as expensive as the rice sold in the state-owned grain stores. The rice in the grain stores was sold at 20 cents per pound this year.

Eggs cost 1.2 or 1.3 cents each, while state-owned grocery stores sell eggs for 5 cents each. Eggs on the black market are more than twice as expensive.

As for cloth, solid cotton cloth is 40 cents a foot, printed cloth is 50 cents a foot, and Dacron is 80 cents a foot. But in this black market, solid cotton cloth is one dollar a foot, printed cloth is one dollar and twenty dollars a foot, and Dacron is one dollar and sixty dollars a foot.

The price is so much higher because there is one advantage of things on the black market, that is, no tickets are required, unlike outside where you need a ticket to buy a box of matches.

Meat is 70 cents a pound outside, but it’s 1.5 yuan a pound here. I don’t know the price of sausages because no one is selling them, but you can refer to the price of meat and set it at 2 yuan a pound.

After knowing the prices and what price she should sell the things she brought for, Xu Zhixin found an empty stall, put down the basket first, and was about to put down the basket on her back when business came to her.

“Uncle, how much do you want for this floral cloth?” A young woman stared at the floral cloth that Xu Zhixin had placed on the eggs, her eyes shining, and she obviously liked it very much.

“Girl, this piece of floral cloth of mine is one piece and two feet long. It will look great if you buy it and make a skirt out of it.” Xu Zhixin said immediately.

Her floral fabric is quite simple, with a white background and small lavender flowers. It looks really good when made into a skirt.

“One dollar and twenty cents per foot is too expensive. Can you make it cheaper, one dollar and one cent per foot?” the young woman bargained.

Xu Zhixin shook her head. “Sorry, young lady, it’s not cheap. The floral cloth on the black market is one piece and two feet.”

The young woman knew that Xu Zhixin was not lying to her. She came to the black market specifically to buy cloth to make skirts, so she had asked several people who had cloth how much it cost. They all sold it for one yuan and twenty yuan per foot, but none of those cloths were as beautiful as the one in front of her, and they did not suit her taste.

The young woman thought for a moment and nodded, “Okay, one dollar and two cents for one foot. How many feet of cloth do you have? Is it enough to make a skirt?”

“I have ten feet of cloth, which is more than enough to make a skirt.” Xu Zhixin replied.

“That’s good. Let me measure the cloth to see if it’s really ten feet long.” The young woman said as she took out a ruler from her hanging bag and started measuring the cloth.

Seeing this, Xu Zhixin did not stop her. People would definitely measure the cloth before buying it. Otherwise, the cloth was so expensive, and a little less would be quite costly.

The young woman finished measuring quickly and said with a smile, “It is indeed ten feet. I want all ten feet. Is that twelve dollars?”

“Yes, it’s twelve yuan.” Xu Zhixin nodded and smiled.

The young woman took out a ten-yuan Big Unity note and two one-yuan Tractor notes and handed them to Xu Zhixin, then left happily with the flowered cloth.

Watching the young woman’s departing back, Xu Zhixin packed the twelve pieces of rice and then put the large backpack on the ground. She thought that it was because she had special abilities and good physical strength, otherwise an ordinary young girl would not be able to carry 200 kilograms of rice for such a long time.

Two hundred kilograms is quite heavy for most people, especially for a girl.

“How much do you sell your rice and meat for?” A man wearing a Zhongshan suit with a pen in his chest pocket, who looked like he had some money, came over and asked.

Business is back! Xu Zhixin raised the corners of her lips and smiled happily.