Chapter 51: Picking Up Bargains at the Ghost Market

He Yuzhu spoke in a hoarse voice, exhaling a puff of white mist: "The price follows the market, you name it. As for this stuff, I've got more than just this here."

The man with the knife-cut face's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together as he leaned in closer: "Five jiao in Big Ocean per jin, how about that?"

"A bit low! I know I'm selling it cheap, but I just want to make a friend out of you!" He Yuzhu rubbed his hands, which were red from the cold, deliberately mimicking the tone of an old hand in the business, and took the opportunity to stomp his feet, which had gone numb from the freezing temperature.

"Deal! How much do you have?"

"I have two hundred jin right now; if you want more, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"I'll take all two hundred jin!" The knife-cut face lowered his voice and glanced left and right, "Find a quiet spot to make the exchange?"

"Let's go." He Yuzhu stood up and led the other man, stepping heavily through the accumulated snow until they reached the back of a broken wall. "You wait here; I'll leave the goods in the alley and be back in three minutes. If I don't come back, you can take this bag of sugar for free, no money needed."

The knife-cut face nodded, shrinking his neck and tucking his hands into his sleeves to wait. He Yuzhu walked quickly for a distance, and seeing no one around, he moved his mind and took two hundred jin of brown sugar out of his space, then trudged back, deliberately stepping heavily.

"The young man has good strength!" The knife-cut face couldn't help but exclaim in admiration when he saw how steadily he could walk while carrying such heavy items.

"It's nothing! If I didn't have some skills, I wouldn't dare come here to make a living!" He Yuzhu panted heavily, but his face was full of confidence.

The knife-cut face didn't hesitate; he readily took a cloth bundle from his bosom and counted out one hundred and twenty heavy Big Ocean coins, which clinked as they moved.

"There you go, this small bag is on the house, let's be friends!" He Yuzhu waved his hand generously, then tucked away the Big Ocean coins and turned to disappear quickly into the dim alley.

The knife-cut face made a gesture toward the shadows, and several figures immediately flashed out. "Hurry, find two people to take the brown sugar back," he whispered.

A middle-aged man approached and asked while exhaling white mist: "Master Qian, will that guy come back tomorrow? It's not easy to find such a big seller."

The knife-cut face, addressed as Master Qian, looked in the direction where He Yuzhu had disappeared and mused: "It looks like he has plenty of stock. It's selling for one Big Ocean per jin in the Ghost Market, but he's letting it go for six jiao and even giving away ten jin for free; he doesn't care about the money at all... I'll come back to stake out the spot tomorrow night."

Just as He Yuzhu turned the corner, a cold wind blew, and he instinctively wrapped his cotton-padded jacket tighter, but the corner of his eye caught two familiar figures—Lao Zhou and Shen Wenqing!

They were stopping in front of a stall selling second-hand goods, and the stall owner was actually wearing a Cao Cao mask, which looked particularly abrupt in this Ghost Market.

He Yuzhu was curious, so he pretended his shoelace had come undone, squatted down to tie it, and pricked up his ears.

"Boss, can you get twenty Box Cannons?" Lao Zhou asked in a low voice.

That "Cao Cao" shook his head, his voice hoarse: "We're old acquaintances. The wind is blowing hard lately; I can get four at most."

"Can we take them tonight?" Lao Zhou pressed.

"Cao Cao" nodded silently.

He Yuzhu muttered to himself: Well, this Uncle Shen isn't resting either; just as he wanted to catch his breath, they were already stirring up trouble.

Oh well, anyway, the sixteen Box Cannons he got from the lampshade maker were useless to him, so he might as well sell them to them.

Thinking of this, he slipped into a wind-sheltered corner, nimbly rearranged his appearance, stuck some pigskin to his face, and put on an even more tattered, large cotton-padded jacket; now, even if his own mother stood in front of him, she wouldn't recognize him.

He swaggered, deliberately walking toward Lao Zhou and the others.

As he brushed past them, he lowered his voice and said quickly: "Buying guns? I have sixteen brand-new Box Cannons."

Lao Zhou and Shen Wenqing stopped abruptly and looked him over vigilantly: "Are you telling the truth?"

"You can inspect the goods before paying," He Yuzhu said softly.

"How much for one?" Shen Wenqing asked in a deep voice.

"You name a price, and I'll see if it's suitable!" He Yuzhu kicked the ball back to them.

Lao Zhou and Shen Wenqing exchanged a look, and Lao Zhou said: "One hundred Big Ocean per piece, how about that?"

"Deal!" He Yuzhu agreed extremely readily.

The three of them walked tacitly to a wind-sheltered spot in an abandoned courtyard.

As if performing a magic trick, He Yuzhu pulled a heavy wooden box out of the shadows and handed it to Lao Zhou.

Lao Zhou opened it and gasped—inside were shiny, brand-new German-made Mauser C96s!

He picked one up, caressing the cold gun body as if he couldn't put it down, and exclaimed repeatedly: "Good fellow! This is a truly good gun!"

"It's alright! I've also got some Type 38 Arisakas here, twenty Big Ocean each, do you want them?" He Yuzhu took the opportunity to ask.

"Yes! Did you bring them today?" Lao Zhou's voice carried irrepressible excitement.

"I brought ten," He Yuzhu said, turning to drag another long bundle out from the shadows; when opened, ten eight-tenths-new Type 38 Arisakas were bundled tightly together.

Lao Zhou didn't say another word; he counted out eighteen hundred Big Ocean and handed them to He Yuzhu.

With the money and goods exchanged, He Yuzhu tucked away this heavy windfall and turned to leave happily, thinking to himself: I'm rich! It seems that dealing in the little devils' gear is the fastest way to make money!

Lao Zhou and Shen Wenqing returned to their lodging in a daze, looking at the row of brand-new gear before them, still unable to believe it.

"Little Shen, pinch me; I keep feeling like today's events are a bit unreal. We said we wanted to buy twenty Box Cannons, and we could buy them right away. Do you think it's because we have money now, or because we're lucky?" Lao Zhou said.

Shen Wenqing said: "If this mission succeeds, we can earn 60,000 Big Ocean; by then, won't we be able to buy whatever we want? I think it feels good to have money!"

Lao Zhou nodded, "Luck is also very important; twenty Big Ocean for a Type 38 Arisaka, that's too cheap, even cheaper than raiding a devil's checkpoint!" Lao Zhou was so excited he was becoming incoherent.

"I always feel that that kid's background is unusual; could he be sent by the little devils to confuse us?" Shen Wenqing said.

"That's impossible; the little devils are all shrinking their front lines now, they don't have the energy for that!" Lao Zhou was full of confidence.

The two were just gushing over the weapons when the door creaked open, and Xiao Duizhang, Lao Qian, and three others entered, covered in the chill of the air, laboriously carrying in two bulging large sacks.

"Lao Zhou, Little Shen, look at what we bought?" Xiao Duizhang said.

"Don't keep us in suspense!" Lao Zhou said.

"We bought brown sugar to replenish the blood of the wounded!" Lao Qian said: "We bought a full two hundred jin!"

Lao Zhou pointed to the firearms on the ground, unable to hide his pride, "Lao Xiao, Lao Qian, come over and take a look at what we brought back! Sixteen brand-new Box Cannons, plus ten Type 38 Arisakas! Now, our operation has at least a sixty percent chance of success!"

Xiao Duizhang picked up a Box Cannon, pulled back the bolt to check it, his eyes full of disbelief: "Good heavens, how long has it been since I've seen such new, good gear... This condition, it would be even more perfect if it came with a holster."

He Yuzhu slipped home silently, bolted the door, moved his mind, took two bags of refined white flour out of his space, placed them casually in the corner of the room, and then crawled back into his quilt, feeling satisfied.

Just as the sky was beginning to brighten, He Daqing got up to light the fire and caught sight of the two abrupt bags of white flour in the corner of the room.

He walked into the room and yanked off He Yuzhu's quilt: "You brat! Did you go to the Ghost Market again, bold enough to defy the heavens?"

"Mmm..." He Yuzhu responded with sleepy eyes, wrapped himself tighter in the quilt, turned over, and wanted to sleep more.

"You rascal..." He Daqing picked up a broom handle, wanting to hit He Yuzhu on the backside, but then pulled it back.

He walked out of the room quietly and came to the main hall. Looking at the two bags of snow-white flour, he shook his head and said: "A grown son is beyond his father's control!"