During times of famine: I have a spiritual spring space

One moment Zhuang Lihui was a penniless pauper who couldn't even afford a single yuan, and the next he was a tycoon with 25 yuan in his hands.

That's right! 25 yuan is a lot of money in rural areas.

You should know that farmers in this era earned work points. One work point was worth about 1 to 2 cents. Even if you were to earn 2 cents, and you worked your full work points every day without taking a break, you would only earn 6 yuan a month.

"Brother, if you need corn again, come to me. I'll make sure you don't lose out. It's better than going to the black market." After saying that, he gave me his detailed address.

"Okay, I'll contact you if I get it."

Zhuang Lihui readily agreed, since he wouldn't have to take any responsibility anyway, so what was there to be afraid of?

Whether or not to sell to this guy in the future depends on his situation and mood at that time.

Then, he walked away humming a song only he could understand.

Since we're already here, shouldn't we take a stroll around the county town?

He has no ration coupons now, so even if he goes to the supply and marketing cooperative, he can only look at the goods. The shops in the county town are much more numerous than those in the commune, but now they are mostly joint public-private enterprises or state-owned enterprises.

Zhuang Lihui, carrying a large bag of corn, stepped into a blacksmith shop.

It contains hoes, rakes, knives, shovels, and other traditional farming tools.

"Comrade, can I trade some corn for a few tools?" Zhuang Lihui asked directly, seeing that there were no other customers in the shop.

He didn't have any tickets, but then he suddenly remembered that he had food.

In today's situation, grain is the only hard currency! Besides, his use of grain to exchange goods is a form of barter, not a business transaction, much less speculation.

Upon hearing this, the shop owner and employees all turned their eyes to the bag Zhuang Lihui was carrying.

"Xiao Yang, close the door quickly!" the shop owner hurriedly instructed one of the employees.

Their family was also running out of food and they were worried about where to find it! It was basically impossible to buy food from the grain station; they only released a tiny amount each day, which was like throwing a stone into the sea.

The only option is to take a risk and try your luck in the black market.

Unexpectedly, someone brought food to our door. It was like a pillow being delivered to someone who was sleepy.

"Comrade, what kind of grain is this?" The shopkeeper quickly approached.

By this time, the blacksmith's shop had already closed. In principle, bartering isn't considered speculation, but it's always best to be cautious.

Moreover, they closed the door because they didn't want anyone to suddenly barge in, see them, and then compete with them.

"Corn, top-quality corn, you can take a look first," Zhuang Lihui said to them.

The shop owner opened the bag, reached inside, and pulled out a handful.

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the handful of corn in the shopkeeper's hand; the kernels were plump and even had a sheen.

This corn looks like top-quality.

They could smell the aroma of corn without even bringing it to their noses.

"Good corn, good corn! Comrade, we'll take this corn. And you can pick any 10 pieces of ironware from the shop, how about that?" the shopkeeper asked.

The half-bag of corn in front of me weighs about ten kilograms.

There are only three people in their shop, including the manager, which is enough for them to share.

Zhuang Lihui nodded: "Okay."

Seeing that Zhuang Lihui agreed, the store manager and two employees were overjoyed and began to divide the half bag of corn. The store manager would definitely take the lion's share, taking half, and the remaining half would be split equally between the two of them.

Zhuang Lihui began selecting tools: hoes, shovels, plows, rakes, hacksaws, iron pots...

In the past, it would have been difficult to exchange ten or so kilograms of corn for two farm tools, let alone ten. Moreover, there were large farm tools like plows, which were simply out of the question.

But now, food is so precious.

If you don't change, plenty of others will.

"Could you help me move this?" Zhuang Lihui couldn't very well perform a magic trick in front of people and put the tools into his spatial storage, could he?

"Xiao Yang, Xiao Li, you two lend a hand to this comrade," the shop manager instructed.

Xiao Yang and Xiao Li had no objection to receiving a share of the grain.

Zhuang Lihui led them to a secluded spot, to a hidden corner, and said, "Thanks! Let's leave it here! Our village's oxcart will pass by here soon."

The two shop assistants, unsuspecting, put down the iron tools that Zhuang Lihui had chosen.

"Then we'll head back now."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Zhuang Lihui nodded.

After they had gone far away, Zhuang Lihui looked around and, not finding anyone else, put all the tools into his spiritual spring space.

With the tools in hand, Zhuang Lihui wasted no time and entered the spiritual spring space to begin his farming plan, planting corn once again.

This time, he planted a whole acre of land.

Even with the help of the spiritual spring, he still got blisters on his palms and his hands went limp.

We'd need to get an ox, and if possible, a farm tractor for mechanized operations. But these days, getting a farm tractor through legitimate channels is almost impossible, unless you steal it.

Around nine o'clock in the evening, Zhuang Lihui's acre of corn was ready to be harvested.

This speed is even faster than when he played QQ Farm in his previous life. Of course, that's assuming he doesn't use fertilizer, since the fertilizer in QQ Farm is too overpowered, even more exaggerated than the magic spring.

Looking at the acre of corn, Zhuang Lihui felt a little tired, and dreamed of the scene of pulling peanuts when he was a child in his previous life, which made his scalp tingle.

The corn in this acre looks like it will yield no less than 2000 jin.

In later generations, perhaps only corn produced in experimental fields could achieve such yields.

Zhuang Lihui rubbed his arms and gave up.

He flashed out of the spiritual spring space and headed towards the alley where the black market was located. When he was almost there, he took out a bag of corn from the space and carried it on his shoulder.

"Selling things? Pay two cents." At the alley entrance, someone stopped Zhuang Lihui.

Zhuang Lihui didn't waste any words; he knew the rules. He took out two cents and handed it over.

"Go inside! Don't shout," the other person warned.

"OK!"

Zhuang Lihui carried the bag of corn into the black market. The alley, which was several dozen meters long, was lined with stalls on both sides. There were quite a few people browsing the black market, many of whom were there to buy grain.

Here, Zhuang Lihui saw a lot of food, including potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, rice, flour, mushrooms, pheasants, and so on. However, the quantities were small, and there were several people competing for each item; to the uninitiated, it would look like a mini-auction.

He kept walking until he finally found a spot next to a stall selling antiques. Most of the antiques from this era must be genuine, right?

After all, the real ones aren't worth much, just a few dollars each, so there's no need to fake them.

As soon as Zhuang Lihui put the bag of corn on the ground, the "stall owner" next to him looked over and asked with a smile, "Young man, what are you selling?"

"corn!"

The other person's expression changed, and they instantly strode over.

"Corn? Let me see."

He noticed the whole bag was full of corn, and his eyes widened immediately. His tone became more ingratiating: "Young man, I'll trade you an antique for one of these items, 10 pounds of corn. Pick whatever you like."

Without even thinking, Zhuang Lihui refused, saying, "No trade. What would I do with antiques? You can't eat or drink those things."

Moreover, exchanging 10 pounds of corn for one piece of clothing—how could you even bring yourself to say that?

Do you know how much corn kernels cost per pound now?

To put it bluntly, an antique might not even be worth a pound of corn!

They really think I'm a "college student"!