The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 143: Baizhu Village Black Market

A small yellow croaker, as golden as gold.

This made Jiang Cheng feel a little interesting. Although the gold could not be eaten or drunk, he could take it to a gold and silver shop and make it into jewelry for himself and his wife.

Moreover, the price of gold is so high in later generations that even if we don’t consider its collection value, two grams would be as valuable as the Yuan Datou they just took.

Jiang Cheng began to ask about the price. This time they didn't ask for a random price. A small yellow croaker weighed one tael, but these two were from before 1959.

Before 1959, one catty was sixteen taels. People in later generations who didn't know sometimes heard that half a catty was eight taels and said that you and he were half a catty and eight taels. They might feel a little confused in their hearts, wondering who was half a catty and who was eight taels. After all, eight taels was better than half a catty.

Because the small yellow croaker is weighed in the sixteen-liang system, and one small yellow croaker is only about 31 grams, the leader asked for twenty yuan.

After hearing the price, Jiang Cheng was tempted. It would be nice to use the money to buy jewelry for Zhou Lingying.

But since we are doing business, we have to bargain a little. After asking for a long time, I learned that there were still several small yellow croakers, so we negotiated a package price of 15 yuan each for all of them.

Don't think people of this era are stupid. If there is no channel, it is really difficult to sell gold. During the three-year natural disaster ten years ago, some people fled to other cities and exchanged a gold bracelet for more than ten kilograms of food, or coarse grains.

Moreover, it was obvious that the things of the people in front of him were of dubious origin. When questioned, they did not hide the truth from Jiang Cheng.

They didn't steal or rob, but found it while digging. In addition to Yuan Datou and small yellow croaker, there were also some bottles and jars.

These people were planning to go to Baizhu Village, which was a few miles away. From the name, you could tell there were a lot of bamboos there. There was a big black market in a bamboo forest.

And because it is close to the county town, many people from the county town also go there to buy things.

Jiang Cheng also looked at some bottles and jars, but he couldn't understand them. However, some of them were quite exquisite, so Jiang Cheng asked Zhou Lingying to come down and pick a few to put on the dressing table or on the table as decoration.

The few of them didn't have much left, mainly because they had sold the small yellow croaker, so they were satisfied. But they still planned to go to the black market in Baizhu Village, and Jiang Cheng also planned to go and see if it would be best to sell the prey in the car, so they took Jiang Cheng's car directly to the black market.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Cheng's car stopped at a small intersection, and on the way here he met some people who came to the black market.

It was at least a thousand meters from the small road, and the intersection was guarded by someone, which meant that Jiang Cheng and the others who came with him carried the wild boar and the large part of the yellow deer down and walked in. Otherwise, if Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying drove over like this, the black market owner would definitely give a signal, and today's black market would have to be cancelled.

The people who sold the yellow croaker to Jiang Cheng actually wanted to buy some meat to improve their living conditions. They felt sorry for themselves if they didn't eat something good after digging it up.

When the organizers of the black market saw someone carrying a wild boar, they immediately called for help. Don't think they were so enthusiastic out of kindness, but the black market needs to maintain its popularity and needs various in-demand items.

No one can come to buy things. All the people here are selling pickles and mountain products.

If people can’t buy good things, then buyers won’t want to come. If no one comes, then sellers may not want to come here to buy either.

So when good goods appear in the market, the organizers will be enthusiastic to help. And for valuable goods, they can also receive more management fees. However, there is a limit to the management fees collected by the black market.

It's the same reason as before. They won't charge a lot of management fees just because your products are good, in short supply and can sell for a lot of money. They understand that popularity is king.

There are really people selling pickles here, two or three cents per pound, and you may only have to pay one or two cents as management points, or even sell them first and then collect the money.

As soon as the wild boar appeared, it immediately attracted a lot of onlookers, and they found a place to gut it. The wild boar was large, and Jiang Cheng had no way to avoid getting dirty this time, but fortunately, there were people to help, and the gutting was fast.

After the internal organs were taken out, Jiang Cheng kept the wild boar stomach and gave the rest to the helpers. The scales at home were not brought in the car, but the manager had a scale that could be borrowed. Many people rarely come to sell things, so it is impossible for them to have a scale. Many people would ask the manager to borrow a scale after they have agreed on the price.

Even if some people don't understand the market when selling things, the managers here will tell you a rough reference price.

The wild boar and yellow deer were cut into pieces, but they were still quite large. When someone came to buy them, we agreed on how much they wanted and then divided them up.

Jiang Cheng handed the matter of selling meat over to Zhou Lingying. Jiang Cheng also wanted to stroll around here and take a look.

Maybe there are many mountains and forests here, and many people who sell mountain products are honest people who live near the mountains and forests.

Jiang Cheng saw a lot of things he wanted to buy, including wild mushrooms that had been dried in the sun, as there were no fresh mushrooms this month. There were also people selling chestnuts and grain.

"Uncle, what's in here?"

Jiang Cheng stopped in front of an old man who was selling things at a stall. In front of the old man was a jar, which emitted a fragrant aroma of bones.

"This is honey, wild honey," the old man introduced.

"How much is one pound?" Jiang Chenglai asked with interest.

In this era, there is no fake honey, and the credibility of wild honey is also very high. Because private transactions are not allowed, there are no individual beekeepers, and beekeepers all work in apiaries.

Unless someone steals honey and sells it, the black market is basically wild honey. And even if you buy honey from farmed bees, it is pure honey and a good thing.

"Three dollars a pound." said the old man.

Hearing the price, Jiang Cheng thought about it for a while, then nodded in agreement. Ordinary honey on the market is about one yuan, and it is particularly difficult to buy. If there is honey, it is given priority to old leaders.

What's more, the honey in front of Jiang Cheng is wild honey, which is more expensive than that from the apiary.

"Okay, I want all your jar of honey." Jiang Cheng said.

"Well, let's go to the front and weigh it. Young people know how to buy things and know what's good." The old man said happily with a grin. This jar weighs several kilograms and was taken from a large beehive.

Without professional tools, wild bees prefer to build nests in places like cliffs, so getting a jar of honey is quite risky.

Jiang Cheng took the old man directly to his meat stall to weigh it. Excluding the jars, the total weight was more than four pounds. Even if the honey was not poured out, many of the jars were of similar weight.

The old man said that it was more than four catties, and he generally wouldn't fool people. And if it was a little more than that, the old man would just count it as four catties.

Then the old man saw that the woman selling wild boar meat and venison was Jiang Cheng's wife, so he wanted to improve his diet today and bought two yuan of venison. He asked Jiang Cheng to pay only ten yuan.

After buying the honey, Jiang Cheng continued to browse the black market. In fact, there were many people bartering in the black market. He saw several people walking around with things in their hands. When they saw something they wanted, they would ask the stall owner if he was willing to exchange it.

However, the things that are exchanged are generally food and the like, some are coarse grains for fine grains, and some are fine grains for coarse grains.

(End of this chapter)