Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

After Qin Huairu left, it was Qin Xueru's turn, but even so, Qin Xueru couldn't hold on any longer...

Niu Dazhuang tucked the blanket around Qin Xueru, who was limp all over, and whispered in her ear, "You go to sleep first, I'm going to the black market."

Qin Xueru could barely lift her eyelids, and she hummed in response.

After leaving the room, I first put the bicycle under the window into my storage space before going out the main door.

"Clang..." The small copper bell hanging on the gate rang.

"Damn it!" Niu Dazhuang forgot about that and quickly stepped out the door.

After leaving the alley, I released the bicycle from my spatial storage, quickly hopped on, and headed to the black market outside Qianmen.

This is where the makeup skills I learned from the magician came in handy. With a small mustache and some eye bags pasted on, not only at night, but even during the day, no one who didn't know me would recognize me as Niu Dazhuang.

Niu Dazhuang looked around and saw that there were quite a few people selling grains, mostly coarse grains. They were either sweet potato flour or cornmeal.

Niu Dazhuang squatted in front of a small stall, reached out and grabbed a handful of corn grits to check their moisture level.

"This is absolutely dried-out, popcorn-filled corn. How much do you want?"

"Why is this market full of whole grains?"

"The people living nearby are all ordinary folks, so of course they're exchanging refined grains for coarse grains. If you want to buy refined grains, you'll have to go to Princess Tomb. But by the time you get there, it should be closed up by now."

There are roosters for sale on the black market, but Niu Dazhuang's space can't hold any goods.

Niu Dazhuang was a little reluctant to go back, but then he thought about it again and realized that this place was close to Xianyu Hutong.

We've been raising fish for so many days, it's time to haul in the nets. Let's get started.

After observing the three children for so many days, Niu Dazhuang roughly determined that Sun Yibo was a spy.

I rode my bike to Xianyu Hutong, put the bike away in my storage space, took out my homemade grappling hook, and rode through Xianyu Hutong to the south end of Buxiangzi Alley.

He used a grappling hook to climb onto the wall of Sun Yibo's house. After waiting for the wall to be climbed onto the roof, he climbed onto the eaves and looked into the house through the window.

With everything ready, Niu Dazhuang threw a stone into the yard.

A normal person's reaction would be to turn on the light first, and then ask who it is.

Niu Dazhuang heard footsteps inside the house, but the lights were still off. After a while, the door opened a crack.

Now, by the moonlight, Niu Dazhuang could see clearly that Sun Yibo was holding a pistol in one hand, looking around the yard warily. Finding no one there, he looked at the wall.

Niu Dazhuang quickly pulled his head back. Sun Yibo opened the door this time, took a flashlight, and shone it around.

Finding nothing unusual, they returned to the house.

Sun Yibo was quite cautious. After entering the house, he didn't turn on the lights. Instead, he said loudly to Lin Yongmei, "It's okay, go to sleep." While saying this, he pointed to the roof.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Sun Yibo whispered again, "Go look for a place tomorrow. It's probably not safe here anymore."

Lin Yongmei responded softly, "You've been exposed?"

"It shouldn't be. If I were exposed, the people who came in would be from the Six Doors."

"Then let's move. Think about it, moving for no reason will only arouse suspicion. I suspect that petty thieves are scouting ahead tonight."

After thinking for a moment, Sun Yibo said, "Hmm, your analysis makes a lot of sense. Xiaomei, tell me, how dangerous is our job? We're on edge all the time..."

"Teacher Sun, please stop talking. I will not agree."

"Xiaomei, this isn't the first time you've done this, why are you making yourself suffer like this? Why do you look down on me, a colonel?"

As for my achievements, you should know that I should have been a major general long ago. After this mission, I'll definitely be promoted. How could I possibly mistreat you?

"Teacher Sun, please have some self-respect." With that, Lin Yongmei took her bedding and went to sleep in the west room.

They thought Niu Dazhuang had left, but in fact, Niu Dazhuang hadn't left at all; he had heard everything they said.

Niu Dazhuang stayed on the roof for a while longer until he heard Sun Yibo's breathing become even before he came down.

Niu Dazhuang didn't want to go back and bother Uncle San, so he rode his bicycle to Dongwang Hutong to find Ye Chunmei.

Well, when Niu Dazhuang knocked on the door in the middle of the night, it terrified the two sisters.

Ye Chunlan, holding a kitchen knife, and Ye Chunmei, holding a rolling pin, stood trembling behind the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"I am Dazhuang."

Recognizing Niu Dazhuang's voice, the two sisters relaxed, opened the door, and Ye Chunmei immediately complained, "You bastard, you almost scared us to death!"

"Chunmei, keep your voice down. Let's talk inside." Ye Chunlan was the most experienced.

Upon entering the house, Ye Chunlan immediately asked, "Is there something urgent that you've come over in the middle of the night?"

Niu Dazhuang said apologetically, "I'm sorry, it's nothing. I went to the black market tonight and didn't want to go back, so I came here."

"What did you go to the black market for?" Chunmei asked, seeing that his hands were empty.

"I made some money and wanted to improve my life, but it turns out the black market outside Qianmen doesn't sell fine grains. I saw them a few days ago."

"You're so stupid." Ye Chunmei said, tapping Niu Dazhuang's head with her index finger.

"How am I stupid?"

"Have you forgotten where we sisters work? We buy refined grains from the black market."

"No, isn't your factory a joint venture, producing according to plan?" Niu Dazhuang genuinely didn't understand the intricacies involved.

"It's being produced according to plan, but not exactly according to plan. How should I put it? You explain it to me, sister."

Ye Chunlan picked up the conversation: "It's true that we produce according to plan, but we also need to have a surplus. This is to prepare for unexpected situations; no unit wants to be short of supplies. This is called unplanned flexible materials. It's not just our unit; cake factories, bread factories, and so on are all like this."

That's how it is. We can also use this portion of our flexible resources to exchange for other units' flexible resources. For example, right now, our unit wants to build a staff housing complex, but we're waiting for approval from higher authorities, and we don't know when that will be.

We'll use this surplus material to exchange for the materials needed to build the family compound.

"Oh, is that so? I was so stupid. I didn't worship the living Buddha in front of me, but instead went to the black market and got rejected. How much is it per ton?"

"Dazhuang, are you still asleep or something? You're buying a ton of flour? Can you even finish it all? Oh, you're not going to resell it on the black market, are you?" She finished speaking and looked at her second sister Ye Chunlan's expression.

I thought to myself, I'm about to get my second sister to agree with me. But with this whole thing, she's got a bad impression of you, and things will get complicated from here on out.

Niu Dazhuang shook his head. "I'm storing grain for famine relief, not for resale. I just made some money a few days ago, so I wanted to exchange it for grain. Having grain in hand makes me feel less anxious."

"That's more like it, but Dazhuang, this flour can't be stored for too long. It will get damp in the summer and then get infested with bugs."