Chapter 192: The Remnants of the Old Regime

Zhang Ping'an had not yet left the village when he ran into Li Zhiyuan, who seemed to be waiting for him; the man had also lost quite a bit of weight.

"Uncle Li."

"Ping'an, that sweet potato..." Li Zhiyuan was a bit embarrassed; he knew asking like this was somewhat presumptuous, but for the sake of all the old and young in the village, he had to ask.

"Uncle Li, it's only because you're the one asking; I wouldn't dare tell anyone else. It was bought at the Black Market in Sijiucheng," Zhang Ping'an said in a low voice.

This old man, Li Zhiyuan, was a decent person. The matter of him purchasing pork at a high price back then hadn't spread, so at the very least, he could be trusted. Besides, his eldest sister and second sister were still in this village.

"How much per jin?" Li Zhiyuan's eyes brightened slightly.

"When I bought it, it was three mao. Now it might be a few fen or a mao more expensive; after all, the price of grain is rising every day."

Li Zhiyuan sighed slightly. Li Family Village had a smaller population than Zhang Family Village, but it still had nearly a hundred households. Even without the price hike, a village would need to buy at least twenty thousand jin to have enough to distribute. Calculated out, that would be sixty yuan per household.

The most critical thing was whether the Black Market had that much stock, and whether they would be willing to sell it to them—both were uncertain.

"Forget it, Ping'an. Give me the address; I'll bring some people over tonight to take a look and see."

"That works too." Zhang Ping'an looked at this old man, feeling a bit of pity in his heart; if he ran into them tonight, he would help them out.

In the early morning, after giving four hundred pumpkins to the Black Market, Zhang Ping'an changed his attire and traded for a Radio Ticket from a scalper, planning to find time to buy one to keep at home for the old man to pass the time.

"Brother, how much for this bottle?" Zhang Ping'an saw another antique stall. Although he didn't know much, he could roughly sense the age of the item; this bottle was at least from the Great Ming period.

"One hundred jin of white flour."

Zhang Ping'an put the item down and turned to leave. Just kidding, a jin of white flour was nearly two yuan now; a broken bottle dared to sell for two hundred yuan.

"Hey, hey, hey, brother, what did you say?"

"Ten jin."

"..."

"No, who haggles like you? Cutting from the neck all the way to the ankles? Fifty jin at the very least."

"How about this, fifteen jin of white flour plus two jin of pork."

"You have pork?" The man's eyes instantly glowed green.

"I do, I hunted a few Wild Boar in the mountains."

Zhang Ping'an saw at a glance that this person was one of the remnants of the old regime; the pork was the hook he had cast out.

"A few? Oh my, this is incredible. Brother, let's step aside to talk."

"Go ahead." The two went to a corner.

"Brother, I'll take all your pork. Name a price, and I won't even haggle."

"Two yuan per jin, you clean it yourself."

"Two point five, you clean it out, and this bottle can be your labor fee, how about that?"

Damn, this rich snob. It's just that the grain shortage isn't too severe yet; at least every family has grain and hasn't reached the point of gnawing on tree bark. After next year, when it gets even worse, I'll have to fleece you guys to death then.

"Fine. Thirty minutes from now, at the small woods to the south. I only accept payment in Yellow Fish or antiques."

"No problem. By the way, everyone calls me Tong Siye. How should I address you, brother?"

"Just call me Chang'an."

"Got it, Brother Chang'an. See you in half an hour."

In the woods, Zhang Ping'an released ten cleaned Wild Boar at once; he had to let them see his strength first, though these ten would probably only be enough for them to digest for two days.

Soon, Tong Erye arrived with five people, pulling two flatbed carts.

"Siye, here. Two thousand jin of meat in total. I'll give you two pig heads as a bonus."

"Brother Chang'an is straightforward." After weighing, Tong Siye quickly handed over two large and four small Yellow Fish, along with the bottle.

"Brother does things cleanly, so I can't be lacking either."

"Good, Siye is generous."

"Hahaha, if you hunt more Wild Boar in the future, just come find me. There's no amount I can't handle."

"Done."

After the two sides parted, Zhang Ping'an waited nearby for a while, changed into the attire of an old farmer, and saw Li Zhiyuan and his group of ten approaching with five donkey carts. He walked up to meet them.

"Fellow villager, do you want sweet potatoes? Two mao per jin. Don't think it's expensive; we heard that grain prices in the city have gone up, so we came down from the mountain to take a look."

"Really two mao?" Li Zhiyuan signaled two people to go to the Black Market to check the situation.

"Could that be a lie? If you take it all, the lowest is one point eight mao. I can't go any lower, or it won't even cover our trip."

"How many jin do you have?"

"We didn't bring much this time, just came to test the waters. Only about ten thousand."

"Huff, huff... Uncle Li, it's four mao per jin inside the Black Market," the man whispered.

"Good, you lead the way. We'll take it all."

"Alright, alright. The sweet potatoes are in the woods. You go move them yourselves; it's not convenient for us to show our faces. But I'm not afraid of you either. As long as you don't mess around, once the transaction is complete, we won't know each other."

"Fine." Li Zhiyuan wasn't afraid of him pulling a trick; they had weapons on them anyway.

"Uncle Li, there really are sweet potatoes."

There was also the light of a Flashlight in the woods; it was Zhang Ping'an having a few Gray Wolf carry the Flashlight and wave it around.

"Move them."

"Alright."

"One hundred bags, fifteen thousand jin in total, two thousand seven hundred yuan."

"That won't do. There are also the burlap sacks; you have to add fifty, or I'm not selling."

"Fine." Li Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and agreed; no matter what, it was still half the price of the Black Market.

"That's more like it. You guys are so straightforward, I'll look for you again next time I come."

After they had gone far away, Zhang Ping'an let out a long sigh of relief. Xiong Er's voice really sounded like a fool.

Li Zhiyuan and his group were also secretly rejoicing; fortunately, this person was not very bright, otherwise they would not have been able to pick up such a big bargain.

It was already past six in the morning when Li Zhiyuan and his group returned to Li Family Village; there was no helping it, as a load of three thousand jin was still a bit strenuous for a donkey, and they had to stop and go along the way.

None of them felt sleepy, and until all the sweet potatoes were loaded into the warehouse, it still felt a bit unreal.

"We spent half our money and bought fifteen thousand jin of sweet potatoes?"

"Yeah, it's like a dream."

"Alright, everyone go back and get some sleep, come back at noon to distribute the sweet potatoes to each household."

"Alright, Uncle Li."

Li Zhiyuan was inwardly thanking Zhang Ping'an; fortunately, that kid had mentioned it, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to buy such cheap sweet potatoes.

Now, with less than half a month left until the New Year, Zhang Ping'an had traded with Tong Siye three more times, with the quantities getting larger each time—everything from white flour, rice, and cornmeal to chicken, duck, fish, meat, melons, fruits, and vegetables—and both sides had established a preliminary trust.

"Siye, tomorrow will be the last time before the New Year; we have to go back to restock, which is expected to take over a month."

"Done, I understand. Tomorrow, bring a bit of everything, based on the value of fifteen Big Yellow Fish; this is the deposit."

"Siye is generous."

Zhang Ping'an took the Big Yellow Fish; he had become a bit numb to it during this period, as these remnants of the old aristocracy were simply too wealthy.

"Hehe, I'm just like you, we're both just running errands. Don't call me Siye anymore, call me Brother Si."

"..." Is there any difference in that?

"Done, I'll listen to Brother Si." However, Zhang Ping'an still agreed; with over thirty thousand yuan worth of goods, he had to prepare and calculate carefully.

Five thousand jin of pork, three thousand jin of white flour, three thousand jin of rice, two thousand jin of cornmeal, and then adding some chicken, duck, fish, eggs, melons, fruits, and vegetables to round it out should be about right.

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an had everything ready and went to call Tong Siye to weigh and inspect the goods.

"Brother Si, your younger brother brought you something good—Tiger Penis Wine, made by a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, absolutely no side effects. Brother Si, take it back and try it out; if it's suitable, we can discuss the price after the New Year."

"Hahaha, good!" Tong Siye stared at the Tiger Penis Wine in Zhang Ping'an's hands with eyes shining.