Han Jiaojiao had already asked the gatekeeper about the Wanshi market last night.
It was called Wanshi, but in reality, people were there trading from morning till night. As for what was being traded, it all depended on luck and connections.
She had the Liangfan Chaoshi Kongjian in her possession, so she had no interest in the goods at Wanshi. What interested her were the connections and tricks of the trade there.
Shen Junshan refused to help her pull strings to get her transferred into a school, so her only option was to take the nursing school entrance exam.
But graduating from nursing school meant being assigned to work as a nurse. It wasn’t that Han Jiaojiao looked down on nursing—it was just that she still wanted to pursue her previous life’s profession.
Besides, the thought of becoming Chen Xiaoying’s junior was enough to make her sick.
If Shen Junshan really wouldn’t help, she had no choice but to earn more money. First, she could use money to buy connections; second, even if she couldn’t buy connections, she could use the money to study in a big city.
At the very least, she could become a little rich woman first, enroll in adult education, and then continue straight through to a master’s and doctorate degree.
She had to build up her own private stash behind Shen Junshan’s back.
Han Jiaojiao stood in a corner at the entrance of the alley, pulled a few packs of Double Happiness cigarettes out of her Kongjian, stripped off the outer packaging to take only the cigarettes inside, wrapped them in kraft paper, and walked in.
No sooner had she entered than a woman in her forties carrying a small bag came up to her: “Little sister, what do you have there? Can you let your sister take a look?”
Han Jiaojiao studied her carefully.
Forty-something, with a sharp, capable look about her. She carried a large vegetable basket that appeared piled high with greens, but on closer inspection, they were all leafy vegetables—light as could be, and perfect for concealing whatever was underneath.
Han Jiaojiao smiled. “I can’t show you here, but I can let you have a whiff. Go on, smell it—doesn’t it smell good?”
The woman was a seasoned player. She’d been prowling this area for seven or eight years and could tell quality goods at a glance.
She took a light sniff, and her eyes instantly lit up with a gleam. She grabbed Han Jiaojiao and pulled her into a shabby little shed in the corner.
She even made a point of checking to see if anyone had followed.
“Sister, how are you selling these?”
“I only sell loose ones, but they’re guaranteed genuine. This bundle has a hundred sticks, and even accounting for damage, there are over ninety. Thirty yuan—that’s not too much, is it?”
“Thirty…”
The woman put on a reluctant expression, and Han Jiaojiao knew she wanted to haggle.
She didn’t indulge her. She picked up the cigarettes and made to leave.
Seeing this, the woman immediately stopped her: “Fine, thirty it is. Here you go—”
Without another word, she handed over thirty yuan, took the cigarettes, opened them for a quick look, then happily tucked them into her vegetable basket, covering them back up with the leafy greens.
“Sister, can you bring the boxes next time? Whole boxes sell for a higher price!”
“If I brought whole boxes, my price would double. The loose ones are cheaper, but you’re still making a good profit.”
Han Jiaojiao knew this woman was a middleman—she bought goods and sold them through her own channels to pocket the difference.
The woman laughed too. “The folks around here call me Sister Juan. You can call me that too. Next time you have cigarettes or liquor, come find me. I’ll always be here.”
“I do have cigarettes and liquor, but I don’t think they’re profitable enough. Sister Juan, can you tell me what sells best right now?”
Sister Juan was taken aback. She could tell from Han Jiaojiao’s pretty face and decent clothes that she came from a well-off family.
She figured Han Jiaojiao had powerful connections at home, so she loosened up and said, “Besides cigarettes and liquor, it’s medicine, of course.”
“Medicine? What kind?”
“All kinds—antibiotics, vaccines, high blood pressure meds, heart medicine, and tetanus shots. People doing manual labor get hurt all the time, and if they’re not careful, tetanus can kill them. That stuff’s in high demand. Oh, and there’s also antivenom. Lately, for some reason, a lot of folks in the countryside are getting bitten by snakes. They can’t bear to go to the hospital for treatment, and even those who do often die before they can get help.”
Sister Juan glanced around dramatically, making sure no one was eavesdropping.
She grabbed Han Jiaojiao’s hand and said, “Antivenom’s already up to five hundred yuan a vial now. Who among the common folk can afford that? Even if they sold everything they owned, they still couldn’t buy it. They just have to wait to die!”
“Isn’t there any measure to protect them?”
“We’re too far away to help. Yesterday, the secretary of Chunshan County—his wife’s younger cousin got bitten. She got the shot in time, and their family could afford it, but the fight it caused… I heard it’s tearing the family apart.”
“The higher the technical content, the higher the price. And it’s not covered by any guarantee. That’s a bit of a problem.”
Han Jiaojiao narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
Regular medications for things like antibiotics and high blood pressure were easy enough—she had them in her Shiyanshi Kongjian, and even the Liangfan Supermarket carried anti-inflammatories.
The tricky part was the antivenom.
Even if Chunshan County was considered a wealthy and advanced county for this era, in the grand scheme of things, its medical talent and equipment were still pretty basic. Asking them to produce snake antivenom was too much.
She probably could do it herself, and the antivenom could even make her famous—maybe get her recommended for admission to a top university’s medical program. But then how would she explain things to Shen Junshan?
She’d set her sights on this husband she’d gotten for free, and she couldn’t scare him off.
After wrestling with the thought for a long time, Han Jiaojiao finally decided to start by selling what she already had on hand.
“Sister Juan, next time: two hundred cigarettes, one bottle of Moutai, plus ten tetanus shots—five hundred yuan. Deal?”
“Moutai? Tetanus shots? Are you serious?”
A bottle of Moutai could be resold for two hundred yuan on the spot. The big households in the county were all eyeing it for gifts and banquets—it was the hottest commodity around.
And tetanus shots? They only managed to get five in half a year, at eighty yuan each.
All those high-demand items together for just five hundred? Such a good deal was something you’d never stumble upon even with a lantern.
For a moment, Sister Juan didn’t know whether her ancestors’ graves were emitting auspicious smoke or if she was hearing things. She asked Han Jiaojiao to confirm again and again.
“Is five hundred not enough? You definitely won’t lose out.”
“You misunderstand—that’s not what I meant. I’m just a little worried.”
Sister Juan was already grinning so wide her face looked deformed, and she said in astonishment, “You can really get tetanus shots? They’re not fake, are they?”
“I can help inject the patients myself. If anything goes wrong, it’s all on me—nothing to do with you.”
“Girl, if you put it that way, I’ve got no reason not to trust you! I’ll add a hundred—six hundred yuan. I’ve got it covered.”
“Give me five days to prepare. Five days from now, cash on delivery.”
Sister Juan nodded eagerly, hugged her things, and scurried off happily.
Han Jiaojiao knew she was pricing things low.
But she had her own reasons.
She’d use a few low-priced deals to open up the market first, make some noise at Wanshi, and once word spread, bigger channel bosses would come looking for her.
Then grain, meat coupons—anything could be traded for money.
Before long, she’d have her first pot of gold saved up.
Han Jiaojiao set a small goal for herself: to earn a tidy little sum of nearly a hundred thousand in the summer of 1979!