Although he had puffed out his chest in front of his grandparents and promised to let everyone know the truth, Wu Jun didn’t have a clue how to do it. In his previous life, he had never been particularly resourceful, and being reborn hadn’t transformed his intelligence. He decided to stick to the original plan—find a chance to meet Li Xue in the next couple of days.
For now, his top priority was improving the family’s living conditions. Given his age and the current social environment, his only option was to try his luck at the black market.
It would be hard to justify not using the golden finger the heavens had given him. Over the past few days, he had been busy with other things and had only used up the box of eggs from the refrigerator, leaving all the other supplies untouched.
After summoning the refrigerator, Wu Jun looked at the ingredients inside and felt something was off. Hadn’t he used up all the eggs in the egg compartment? Why were they full again? Could it be that the ingredients in this refrigerator automatically refreshed after being used? If so, he had hit the jackpot!!
To test his hypothesis, Wu Jun took all the apples out of the refrigerator and placed them on the desk in his room. He closed the refrigerator door, then opened it again. A magical sight appeared—the exact same apples had reappeared in the spot he had just emptied. A rough count showed not a single apple missing. He repeated the experiment with other ingredients and found that as long as he removed all of a particular ingredient at once, closed the refrigerator door, and opened it again, the refrigerator would automatically refresh to its unused state.
This refrigerator was absolutely amazing.
He decided to sell some of the ingredients at the county town’s black market tomorrow—after all, they were a renewable resource. Considering that the New Year was approaching, he planned to clear out the meat and fruit from the refrigerator. Then he would buy cloth for the three of them to make new clothes, as well as some cooking oil and rice. He had been reborn for days now and still hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice—just thinking about it made his mouth water.
Early the next morning, before dawn, Wu Jun was already riding a bicycle borrowed from the brigade captain’s family toward the county town. He had told his grandparents that he was going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth and wouldn’t be home for lunch, so he had brought the family’s cloth ration tickets and grain ration tickets with him. It was still early, and there was hardly anyone on the road. As Wu Jun pedaled, he tried to recall the exact location of the county town’s black market.
When he was about halfway there and certain there were no passersby in sight, he quickly stopped the bike, summoned the refrigerator, and began placing ingredients into the backpack basket secured to the rear seat. Once the basket was almost full, he covered the ingredients with corn stalks to conceal them. After all, in these times, the crackdown on speculation and profiteering was still quite strict.
Arriving in the county town, Wu Jun parked his bike at the supply and marketing cooperative’s parking area, paid a penny for the bike-watching fee, and slung the backpack basket over his shoulders. He then headed toward the black market as he remembered it. The pedestrians along the way all looked hurried, and some had wrapped scarves entirely around their faces. Wu Jun thought for a moment, then followed their example—unwrapping the scarf from his neck and covering his entire face.
After walking for about 20 minutes, he reached the entrance of a small alley. A burly man, easily 180 jin, stared at him with piercing eyes, his right hand stuffed into his pocket. Wu Jun had no doubt that if he made any suspicious move, the man would pull a small knife from his pocket.
“What do you want?” the burly man asked in a low voice.
“Brother, I’m from a nearby village. I’ve got some goods from the mountains,” Wu Jun said, lowering his voice to make his age harder to discern.
The burly man swept his eyes over Wu Jun’s backpack basket. “Ten cents entry fee.” He then stared fixedly at Wu Jun.
Wu Jun quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out ten cents, and handed them to the man, along with an egg. “Brother, this is my first time here. Could you tell me the rules of trading here?”
The burly man took the egg and quickly stuffed it into his pants pocket, his voice noticeably lighter. “You’re not bad, kid. Once you go in, you can take out some of the stuff you want to sell and show it around. If someone wants it, you two can quietly make the deal. Inside, you need to keep a low profile. With your small build… but since you paid me the ten cents, you don’t have to worry about the speculation and profiteering office showing up.”
“Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother.” Wu Jun bowed to the man and then headed into the small alley.
Inside, the alley turned out to be quite extensive, with six branching paths running in all directions. Many traders had already set up their stalls. Some were selling soap and toothpaste, others pastries and biscuits, some brown sugar and white sugar, and still others various meats and vegetables. However, the meat quantities were small, and the vegetables looked rather wilted.
Wu Jun walked around to get a sense of the prices. Once he felt he had seen enough, he found a corner, took out a small piece of the beef he had brought, and soon caught the attention of some sharp-eyed shoppers.
“Comrade, what kind of meat is this? How do you want to trade?” A man in a Sun Yat-sen suit asked quietly.
“Comrade, this is beef—very fresh. Two yuan per jin, no ration tickets needed. If you have special ration tickets, I can trade for those too.”
“Comrade, how much of this meat do you have? I’m preparing for a happy occasion. If you have a lot, I’ve got 10 industrial ration tickets.”
The mention of industrial ration tickets delighted Wu Jun. He didn’t lack food, but he did lack industrial goods. With industrial tickets, he could buy a thermos flask and even a bicycle. “Comrade, I have a total of 10 jin of meat here—beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. Quite a variety. Do you mind?”
The man in the Sun Yat-sen suit immediately grew restless. He stepped closer to Wu Jun, peeked through a gap in the backpack basket, and widened his eyes. “It looks like you have fruit too?”
“A jin of red apples. Do you want them?”
The man tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said directly, “Little brother, I can take all your goods, but I need to inspect them.” Wu Jun looked at the man—his face was upright, he wore a Hero-brand fountain pen on his chest, and his watch was a Shanghai-made Plum Blossom brand. He didn’t seem like a swindler, but he was still a stranger. After thinking it over, Wu Jun said, “There’s a small grove ahead. How about we go there to inspect?”
The two reached an agreement and headed toward the grove. The man in the Sun Yat-sen suit got his wish and saw everything in the backpack basket. In the end, he gave Wu Jun 10 industrial ration tickets and 5 yuan. Both were satisfied.
After leaving the small grove, Wu Jun headed to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth. But after walking a short distance, he realized someone was following him. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Could these people have tailed him from the black market? Without a second thought, Wu Jun started running. Behind him, he heard the sound of running as well—about three people, by the sound of it.
Ahead, Wu Jun spotted a young man walking along. Thinking quickly, he ran over, slung his arm around the young man’s shoulder, and said, “Brother, what a coincidence! I told you I’d come to the county to find you. I can’t believe I ran into you here.”
As he spoke, he turned his head and signaled the young man with his eyes. Then he got a good look—wow, this guy was incredibly handsome. He was a completely different type from Wu Jun. If Wu Jun was fair, clean-cut, and as vibrant as a young white poplar, this young man was tall and powerful, with sharp, angular features. His eyes radiated a spirited energy, and his five features together left no room for any adjective other than “handsome.”
The young man caught Wu Jun’s glance and then looked back at the three people following them. He immediately understood what was going on. He wrapped his arm around Wu Jun’s waist in return and smiled, “Little brother, come on over to my place. Your second brother is waiting for us.” The two of them walked forward arm in arm, acting chummy.
The three men behind took a look at the young man’s physique, thought twice about it, cursed their bad luck, and turned back.