The Black Market was essentially an informal gathering of people who wanted to buy and sell. In a City, there were probably a few such places, open in different times and spots.
It was generally a semi-fixed trading spot that developed organically through time. It would start with a few people silently trading things. It could start with a farmer who had eggs, a butcher who had access to meat, someone from the textile factory who had access to reject fabric, and so on.
Eventually, some resourceful middlemen who knew several people who could supply and several people who had money to buy them might appear and make things more organized.
They would also hire people to keep watch, perhaps even have people from the public security department in their pockets, making sure they were warned in advance if there were raids planned.
While the policies had loosened a bit over the past few years, raids did still happen, so people had to be careful and not be associated with it, lest they get thrown far north to do hard labor just because they were caught buying an extra catty of rice.
The development and maintenance of this kind of institution was quite interesting to Su Qinghua, but right now, she was a mere customer who came both to buy and to sell.
This one was located inside a barely used side street, somewhere in the suburbs, opened every day of the month that ended in the numbers 3 and 8. People sat in low stools or were even crouched on the ground directly.
Goods were hidden inside cloth bags or baskets, ready to be taken away at a moment’s notice, especially if the officers did a surprise raid. There might be one or two items for display, purely to show what they were selling, but everything else was inside containers.
"Buying or selling?" the lookout asked.
"Selling," she said. The man nodded and then looked at the people next to her.
"Since you came with Brother Hoo, I’ll waive today’s fees."
Her lips twitched. What kind of hoodlum did she randomly pick?
Anyway, she didn’t have any more tobacco, so she handed over some of her first-generation crops to each of the hoodlum and the watcher.
"Thanks, big brothers," she said, lowering her voice to sound like a young man, albeit a very scrawny one. "I’ll remember you when I get rich."
Hu Wenli looked at this kid, who looked young, but could really handle himself well. Amusement bubbled from his stomach, and he burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHA! Fine, fine! I’ll hold you on to that."
Su Qinghua smiled, gave the other two polite nods, before entering the dark-ish alley.
She found a nice place at the corner where she could see what was happening around her, and then started setting up her display. Like most, she only showed a few of each to show what she offered, which really wasn’t much.
She sat there, her large expressive eyes looking around the remnants of the old era, feeling a bit excited to participate in history again.
...
Her first customer was a middle-aged woman who covered her face with a colorful shawl.
"Oh? Potatoes and peas?" she asked, looking at the product, and saw the quality was pretty good. "How much are these?"
"These high-quality potatoes and peas are specially cultivated, extremely special land," she said. "I will sell them at black market price, which is 4 mao per jin of potatoes and 8 mao per jin of the beans." She was planning to sell 80 jin of potatoes and 40 jin of beans today.
This was the market price in the black market, which was a bit higher than that of the legitimate sources like the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and the State Vegetable Market.
That said, she believed her stuff was worth even more, but sadly, these new customers didn’t know that yet. She didn’t dare sell for what they were truly worth for now, considering it as a marketing expense.
Her space plants were guaranteed to be delicious and healthier than similar products. This was applicable even with the first-generation plants, let alone the higher-level ones, which would have compounding effects.
"I guarantee they’re tastier than others you can buy at this price!" Heck, it’s more delicious than premium ones, but she didn’t want to sound too braggy and make people dislike the product before trying it instead.
The woman looked intrigued and bought a few catties with the attitude of trying it out. Anyway, the price was no different from others. "Okay, I’ll buy a few catties..."
Others nearby also looked curious, including a neighboring old man who was selling some antiques.
She looked at the items in front of him. "Wanna exchange some things?"
He nodded, taking out one of the jade rings. "I’d like five catties of each," he said, though he looked a bit tense, as if Qinghua would reject him for asking for ’too much’.
This jade didn’t mean much now, but these would sell for tens of thousands of yuan in the future. Su Qinghua knew it was not a loss, even if it didn’t seem this way now.
"Deal."
Ka-ching!
Anyway, since she didn’t sell for a different price but her quality was visibly better than normal, it didn’t take long for her to sell out the amount she needed.
That said, since the basket was not that big, she still had to pretend to go out and refill here and there.
By the end of the session, excluding the jade ring, she made 60 yuan (rounded down) in total today, which was much more than an average worker’s monthly wage~
She grinned, wanting to organise her money by denomination later.
First pot of gold, secured!