Chapter 584: Black Market II

The man didn't explain further, only saying: "Found them in the mountains. Some are old, picked them and brought them along."

Hearing this, she asked: "Besides these, what else do you have?"

The man didn't look up again, but took out a paper package from the basket at his side: "Everything else has been traded away. Apart from these fiddleheads, this is all that's left."

Saying so, he opened it.

Liu Chuxue saw clearly what was inside, and her eyes lit up at once. Lowering her voice, she said: "This is—these are ginseng seeds?"

The man hadn't expected the woman before him to recognize them, and gave a slight nod: "Yes."

These had been collected quite a while ago. He'd brought them along this time, thinking that if by chance someone wanted them, it would be some income: "Want them?"

Liu Chuxue tried hard to keep herself composed: "How much?"

Liu Chuxue glanced at the things on the ground: "Including these fiddleheads of yours that have already gotten old, name your price. If it's reasonable, I'll take them all."

The man was an honest sort. He removed the covering from his basket, letting Liu Chuxue see the fiddleheads inside clearly: "Three yuan in total?"

Liu Chuxue didn't bargain. Although those ginseng seeds were only a few, the man probably didn't think them all that precious, but for her they were something one could chance upon but not seek out. With her space in hand, she wasn't worried about not being able to grow them.

The man was clearly very satisfied.

The reason Liu Chuxue wanted those fiddleheads was that she knew fiddleheads reproduce through spores, and spores usually grow in the sporangia on the underside of the fronds. By late September, fiddleheads were past their peak growing season, and the sporangia would release spore powder. She thought she'd try opening those sporangia that hadn't split yet to see if she could get spore powder. If she could, who knows, she might achieve fiddlehead freedom in the future.

Of course, the main thing was those few ginseng seeds.

Walking further ahead, she really didn't come across anything she wanted, but just for those few ginseng seeds, this black market trip wasn't for nothing.

She gathered her thoughts and headed toward the exit. The exit was also guarded by people, the purpose being that should there be a surprise inspection, they could send out a signal in advance.

Thinking of the fish and grain in her space, Liu Chuxue walked up to one of the men and asked: "I don't suppose you'd take fresh fish here?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but enough for the man to hear clearly.

The man glanced at her: "How much do you have?"

Liu Chuxue figured that at the latest, the day after tomorrow they'd be leaving Harbin. Although there was the Songhua River here, the fish might not fetch as good a price as in Jing City. But once she sold this batch, she could just slip away, and the risk would be relatively smaller: "Three thousand jin of fresh fish."

Hearing this, the man was somewhat skeptical: "You sure?"

Liu Chuxue nodded: "Sure."

The man couldn't decide on his own: "Wait a moment."

Saying so, he said to his companion: "I'm going over."

With that, he scurried off and vanished.

About ten-odd minutes later, the man came running back in a hurry: "Come with me."

Liu Chuxue wasn't afraid. After all, she had martial skills on her side, and wasn't worried they'd try any tricks.

After many twists and turns, they entered a small courtyard. Under a red maple tree in the yard sat a burly, dark-faced man.

The man leading the way stepped forward and introduced: "Boss, this is the woman I mentioned."

The dark-faced man looked Liu Chuxue up and down: "You really have that many fish on hand?"

Liu Chuxue didn't want to waste words with him, so she set her basket down and took out the fish she'd specially moved out of her space earlier. Of course, she'd tampered with them when taking them out—the fish were dead, but they looked very fresh: "Every fish I have is over three jin."

The dark-faced boss sat up straight at once and stepped forward to inspect the fish in the basket.

Seeing it was indeed as Liu Chuxue had said—good-sized and fresh—he confirmed with her once more: "Are you sure you can supply three thousand jin of fish of this quality?"

Liu Chuxue nodded: "Sure."

The man was a decisive sort: "Alright, I'll take them all. Where's the goods?"

After all, these weren't like other things—the longer the time, the less fresh they'd be.

The reason he dared to take on all three thousand jin of fish in one go was that National Day was coming up, and the major factories in the city naturally wanted to get some benefits for their employees, so the demand was naturally high. These past few days, plenty of well-connected people had come to him, asking for his help.

Talk about a pillow arriving just when sleep was needed.

Liu Chuxue hadn't expected him to be so straightforward. She'd come with a purpose, so naturally she'd taken note of this area early on: "There's a stretch ahead, not far from the river, with a few houses whose courtyards have collapsed badly. Do you know the place?"

The moment she mentioned it, the big man knew exactly where she meant: "I know it."

The man glanced at Liu Chuxue, thinking: Who would have thought the woman before him was bold yet careful. That place was indeed not easy for people to stumble upon, and it wasn't far from him either. Most importantly, vehicles could get in, making transport convenient: "Alright then, when can I go look at the goods?"

Liu Chuxue thought for a moment: "In an hour, you can head over. But before that, shouldn't we settle on the price?"

The man nodded: "Of course. But different varieties fetch different prices. If all your fish can match the quality of what's here, I'll give you the highest purchase price for that type."

Liu Chuxue naturally didn't have any particularly precious fish on hand. After the man looked at the fish in her basket, aside from the snakehead at eight mao, the rest of the fish were taken at six mao per jin.

To tell the truth, this price was already quite generous. After all, fish really didn't fetch much these days—most people still preferred meat.

Once the price was agreed, Liu Chuxue told them she'd bring her own containers for the fish, then left first.

She'd only swept that courtyard with her spiritual sense on the way here, so she needed to get there early to deal with it.

About ten minutes later, she arrived at the place. The courtyard wall of the innermost courtyard had already collapsed halfway, but the house inside was still relatively intact.

She found a hidden and reasonably clean room, and decided on this one.

She hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Thinking that once the deal was done she'd go check the riverside, and if she could collect some river fish into her space, that would be for the best.

Their side moved fast—they arrived right on time.

Hearing the movement, Liu Chuxue released her spiritual sense to look outside, confirmed the dark-faced boss wasn't playing tricks, and directly put out the fish she'd prepared.

After going out to bring them in: "All the goods are here, absolutely fresh."

Although they weren't river fish, anything produced by the space naturally had quality that couldn't be wrong, definitely no worse than what was pulled from the river.

So after the dark-faced man inspected the goods, he assumed in his heart they were river fish.

After confirming there were no issues, he waved his hand and told everyone to start weighing quickly.

Many hands make light work. The fish were weighed quickly—two thousand jin of snakehead, and fifteen hundred jin of other fish in total. Twenty-five hundred yuan in hand.

The dark-faced boss was probably thinking there'd be chances for future deals, so besides the money, he also gave Liu Chuxue a small box of jewelry: "These aren't worth much, just take them as a token of our regard. If you have more goods to bring in the future, let us know."

Liu Chuxue naturally accepted with a smile. Once money and goods were settled, she quickly left the place.