Travel through famine years and awaken a post-apocalyptic survival system.

……

"Brother, this place is so beautiful! All the houses are brick and tile, much nicer than our mud house. And their clothes are so pretty."

The younger sister stared at the houses on the street and the pedestrians on the road, sighing to herself.

Zhao Qingsong glanced around.

They really did look like beggars.

Life isn't easy in the city these days either; most people wear patched clothes, but not as many or as tattered as the clothes worn by those guys.

They are city dwellers, after all.

"Don't worry, things will get better for us."

He sighed and led the group to the inner city, asking around until they found the nearest hospital.

Municipal People's Hospital.

It's 700 meters from Fuchengmen, which isn't too far.

……

At the hospital, Zhao Qingsong inquired about the registration fee, which was 3 cents. After registering for his father, he went to queue up to wait for the doctor.

After more than half an hour, it was finally their turn to get in line.

……

The doctor had just finished treating the previous patient and looked up when he saw several people come in.

"Who is seeing a doctor? Where does the discomfort lie?"

Zhao Qingsong helped his father sit down and continued the conversation: "Doctor, this is my dad. He worked on the reservoir construction project and developed a chronic illness. He came to see me."

The doctor was probably in his forties.

He hummed in response.

They began by inquiring about the patient's condition.

Taking your pulse, measuring your blood pressure, listening to your lungs...

After a flurry of activity, he put away his tools and frowned, asking, "Why didn't you come sooner? It's gotten so serious; there are sounds in his lungs, and he already has pneumonia."

This is very serious.

Upon hearing this, the mother became anxious: "Doctor, what should we do? We are from the countryside and we don't have any money for treatment. We were just hoping that it would pass if we just toughed it out."

The doctor looked at the group's clothing and sighed.

"So how do you plan to treat him? I suggest hospitalization and IV drips for his condition. If that's not acceptable, I'll prescribe some anti-inflammatory Chinese medicine for you to take home and decoct."

He interrupted his mother just as she was about to speak.

"Doctor, please treat me as you see fit. We've already borrowed the money."

The doctor nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Okay, the hospitalization fee is 1 yuan per day. Blood, urine and stool tests are free. X-rays cost 4 yuan. We'll decide on medication based on the results. Penicillin costs 45 cents per bottle. Your father will probably need 6 bottles a day. That would be about 16.2 yuan for three days. With other medications, it might cost close to 30 yuan."

He paused for a moment and then sighed, "If you had come sooner, you wouldn't have spent so much money at all."

Upon hearing the amount of 30 yuan, the mother's expression changed instantly, and she tugged at her son.

It means it's too expensive.

The father hesitated, saying, "Let's get some regular medicine! This is too expensive."

Zhao Qingsong ignored them and said directly to the doctor, "Doctor, could you please write a referral for us to be admitted to the hospital?"

"Okay!"

The doctor agreed and gave him a hospital admission form: "Here, go and complete the admission procedures first, then go for the tests. The X-rays won't be available until tomorrow, so let's give him an IV drip today."

"good!"

After everything was settled, the group took their belongings to the nurse to complete the hospital admission procedures.

I paid 1 yuan for the hospital fee and was assigned to a three-person room, but my father was the only occupant.

……

After Zhao Qingsong saw that everything was arranged, he looked at his mother and said, "Mom, you stay here with Dad while he gets his IV drip. I'm going out for a bit. Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

One advantage of hospitalization is that the costs don't have to be paid in full upfront.

It should be fine to make it to tomorrow.

He can get the money out today.

The mother was also a little worried: "But...where are we going to get so much money?"

"I told you, don't worry about the money."

He handed her the last 64 cents in his pocket: "Take this money. Dad's condition has improved to the point where he can eat nutritious meals. Order him a bowl of pork liver soup or something else for lunch. Don't skimp on the money."

"Little sister, I'm going out for a bit. Don't wander off, okay?"

"Okay, brother!"

The younger sister agreed.

Seeing this, Zhao Qingsong put down three more loaves of bread before leaving the hospital.

His parents watched him walk away, their hearts filled with worry.

……

After Zhao Qingsong came out, he strolled around the neighborhood.

He doesn't have much money right now and needs to liquidate what he has, otherwise he won't be able to buy more goods.

where to go?

Who should we sell it to?

After hesitating for a while, he found a suitable candidate.

These days, no one is more informed than an older woman.

Having made up my mind, I began searching for a target.

You need to find older women who wear clothes with patches but made of relatively good quality fabric; these people tend to have higher spending power.

It wasn't that we didn't have money, but that we lacked cloth coupons.

He quickly found a suitable candidate, who was also alone.

Too many people make it unsafe.

……

"Big sister!"

After walking about a hundred meters, Zhao Qingsong still went up to greet him.

The older woman turned her head and smiled, "Young man, were you calling me?"

"Yes, that's right!"

Once she realized it was someone calling her, the woman beamed from ear to ear: "Oh my, young man, my daughter is about to graduate high school. You can call me 'big sister,' but you have to call me 'auntie'!"

Being called younger made her feel good, but she was still aware of her own limitations.

Zhao Qingsong scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly, "Oh, well... I'm sorry! My dad said I should be polite when I go out, otherwise it's impolite."

"Hehe, you wanted to see me about something?"

The older woman smiled nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qingsong looked around and took out the cloth he was holding. "Auntie, we're really starving. I'm thinking of selling this cloth to get some food. Do you know where there's a black market?"

He didn't take out much, only about three meters.

Nine feet of cloth is enough to make a set of autumn clothes.

The woman's eyes lit up upon hearing this: "Oh my, this work cloth! Nice one! Where did you get it?"

"Well... my eldest sister works at the No. 1 State-Owned Cotton Mill. You see, I don't even wear these clothes myself; I save them to exchange for money to buy grain!"

Zhao Qingsong was rambling on and on.

After listening, the woman looked him over and nodded slightly: "From the state-owned cotton mill! No wonder, these days, only they have a lot of fabric."

I touched the fabric and felt a little tempted.

"Um... young man, how much are you planning to sell this fabric for?"

Zhao Qingsong raised an eyebrow.

Hooked.

He chuckled and said, "I don't know either. This cloth is 58.5 cents a foot at the department store. My sister said it can't be sold for less than 1 dollar."

In the past, a foot of cloth cost two or three mao.

Asking for 40 cents these days isn't unreasonable, is it?

Upon hearing the price, the woman didn't hesitate: "Young man, how many do you have? I'll take them all. Let's go check in the alley."

One dollar per foot.

Not cheap, but not expensive either.

"Okay, that saves me the trouble. I have nine feet here!"

He followed the other person into the alley with a smile.

His eyes scanned his surroundings.

……

Once inside the alley, the woman unfolded the cloth and examined it carefully.

"This isn't a defective piece of fabric!"

She thought it was defective fabric from a cotton mill, but it turned out to be good fabric, so it wasn't expensive at all.

"Yes, it's not a defective piece of fabric!"

The woman nodded.

After checking again and confirming that there were no problems, I paid the money.

"Here, this is 9 yuan, I'll take it all."

"Oh, thank you so much, Auntie."

Zhao Qingsong took the money and stuffed all the fabric into the other person's hands.

The woman is folding the fabric and carefully stuffing it into the shopping basket.

Seeing this, Zhao Qingsong smiled and asked, "Auntie! Can I ask you something?"

"Ah! What is it? Tell me!"

"I'd like to ask if there's a black market around here? I want to buy some food. We're starving."

Seeing this, the older woman sighed, "These days, everyone's life is tough. I do know two places on the black market, but be careful if you go by yourself."

She couldn't help with the food either.

We don't even have enough food for our own family to eat!

"I know! Now the only place to buy food is on the black market."

Seeing this, the woman told him the addresses of the two black markets.

"Go early, the place will be closed up at dawn. Also, be careful and don't get caught by the gangsters."

"Okay, I understand, thank you, Auntie. You're busy, I'll be going now!"

I said hello and left the alley.

……

After Zhao Qingsong came out, he went to another alley and disappeared into the main road.

They came out from another alley.

"I know the address of the black market. I'll go check it out tonight. I'll sell what I have first."

Once the next steps were decided, the sales pitch began.

While looking for older women to sell fabric, he also went to authorized stores to purchase goods, and even went to scrap metal recycling stations several times, using the pretext of buying firewood to find a lot of older clothes.

Without food coupons, there was no way to eat in the city.

I had to make do with bread, but it was a bit sweet, and eating too much of it made me feel uncomfortable.

By the end of the day, quite a lot of cloth had been sold.

All the fabric I got from the steel mill has been sold.

I received 51 yuan.

The purchase cost more than 30 yuan.

At this time, he had a total of 235 feet of fabric in his warehouse. He didn't choose the best quality fabric, nor did he choose the worst quality fabric. Fabric that was too expensive would be difficult to sell, and fabric that was too cheap would be hard to sell.

This type of durable workwear is the best-selling.

Today was quite fruitful.

It was already evening, and it was time to go to the hospital.