Deng Minghao was not someone who was easily scared. “Boss, is that a threat?”
The black market boss withdrew his hand and leisurely sipped a cup of tea. “How could I be threatening you? I’m just giving you a reminder.”
After thinking it over, Deng Minghao nodded. “Alright. Let’s say I’m making a friend with you, Boss. That’s the price. Later, my brothers can follow me to haul the goods.
“But for what you just took, you need to pay me first at the agreed rate. I have to take the money back and let my brothers see it.”
The black market boss immediately broke into a smile. “I like dealing with straightforward people like you. Wait here. I’ll get the money.”
With that, he stood up and went into the inner room. Before long, he came back out with thirty yuan.
This time, Deng Minghao had again brought two hundred jin of flour, plus one basket each of chicken eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs. These goods would fetch at least forty to fifty yuan on the market.
Looking at the three ten-yuan notes in the boss’s hand, Deng Minghao said nothing. He took them and slipped them into his pocket.
“Since that’s settled, let’s go. My goods are stored in those dilapidated houses in the south of the city. It’s not safe to leave them there for long,” Deng Minghao said as he stood up.
The black market boss nodded and then shot a few meaningful looks at his trusted subordinate, his eyes filled with malice.
The subordinate gave a subtle nod, gathered several men, surrounded Deng Minghao in the middle, and left the courtyard house together.
Deng Minghao led them toward the south of the city. They walked from dawn until nightfall. Everyone was growing impatient when Deng Minghao finally pointed at a row of buildings ahead.
“I put the goods there. This area doesn’t have many people, but it’s not completely deserted either. Be careful and follow me slowly.”
The black market men immediately followed behind Deng Minghao and moved forward at a cautious pace.
After turning a corner, Deng Minghao suddenly broke into a sprint and dashed into a narrow alley.
The men behind him froze for a moment. The trusted subordinate reacted the fastest. “Damn it! What are you all standing around for? Chase him! If he gets away, the boss will skin you alive.”
Everyone rushed after him, but after just a few steps, they all stopped. Deng Minghao had run into a dead-end alley.
It was a dead end, yet Deng Minghao was nowhere to be seen.
Staring at the high surrounding walls, the subordinate’s expression grew even darker. “He’s trained. This was deliberate. Spread out and search. See if you can still find him.”
The group immediately dispersed and began searching the southern part of the city for Deng Minghao.
As soon as they left, Deng Minghao emerged from the space. Avoiding the searchers, he quietly made his way back toward the black market boss’s courtyard house.
When no one was around, he slipped inside. Whenever he heard footsteps, he immediately retreated into the space to hide, then came back out once the person left.
Little by little, he moved forward. In the end, Deng Minghao entered the same room where the black market boss had taken the money earlier.
Listening to the thunderous snoring, Deng Minghao sneered. Sleeping quite soundly. He wondered if the man would still be able to sleep later.
Deng Minghao stayed in the room. In the dim light, he examined the furnishings, thinking about where the black market boss might hide his money.
He observed carefully, checking for any wall cavities or hidden compartments.
After an unknown amount of time, noisy footsteps and torchlight appeared outside. It seemed the group searching for him had returned.
Deng Minghao slipped back into the space once more.
Inside the space, Li Ruolan finally saw Deng Minghao return and let out a sigh of relief.
“What happened? Why did it take so long? Did something go wrong?” Li Ruolan asked.
Deng Minghao did not hide anything and told her what had happened that afternoon.
“I’m hiding in the black market boss’s room right now. This man is vicious and has probably harmed countless people. So I’m planning to rob the rich and aid the poor.”
The rich were obviously the black market boss. As for the poor, that was them. They were truly poor right now.
From inside the space, they could see what was happening outside. Deng Minghao watched as the black market boss was woken up, then left in a rage after getting dressed.
After saying a quick word to Li Ruolan, Deng Minghao immediately flashed out of the space. While listening to the boss’s furious shouting outside, he began turning the room upside down.
The kang in the room held no bed. Several large chests were placed on top of it. Deng Minghao directly took the chests and stored them in space.
Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao worked together with unspoken coordination. She immediately began opening the chests to see what was inside.
She set the men’s clothes aside. Beneath them were brand-new thick quilts, bright red in color. They looked freshly made and unused.
Two thick quilts and two thin quilts were collected by Li Ruolan.
In another chest, there were again clothes on top. Underneath were three military coats, which Li Ruolan also put away.
From the remaining cabinets, Li Ruolan found several bolts of fabric. Anything usable was taken, without exception.
What remained were only old, worn clothes. Deng Minghao put the chests back exactly as they had been.
While Li Ruolan was searching the chests, Deng Minghao found a considerable amount of money and ration coupons in the cabinets. He did not count them and put everything straight into space.
Then, from various hidden corners, he found several small boxes concealed extremely well. Deng Minghao sent all of them into space.
When Li Ruolan opened them, she discovered that the boxes contained small and large gold ingots, as well as gold bars.
These items were not valuable right now and could not be spent, but they were gold. Absolutely value-preserving assets. With stars in her eyes, Li Ruolan gathered everything up.
The empty boxes were again returned to their original places by Deng Minghao.
That should have been everything in the room, yet Deng Minghao felt there had to be more. He tapped and probed around, finally discovering a hollow section beneath a bluestone slab in the floor.
The voices outside were still ongoing. Deng Minghao took a sickle from the space, pried open the bluestone slab, and sure enough saw a rectangular wooden box underneath.
There was no time to look closely. He immediately took the wooden box and put it into the space.
Just as he set the bluestone slab back in place, the footsteps outside grew closer. Deng Minghao quickly hid behind the door and then flashed back into space.
Inside, Li Ruolan was standing there with her mouth agape, staring at the contents of the rectangular wooden box. Deng Minghao leaned in to take a look as well.
So much money. Thick stacks tied with string. If each bundle contained one hundred bills, there were roughly five to six thousand yuan here.
Beneath the money and coupons were various nationwide vouchers. Sewing machine tickets, bicycle tickets, radio tickets, watch tickets, all extremely rare items.
Under the money and tickets were several watches, for both men and women.