Chapter 28: Selling Goods on the Black Market

The chicken mushrooms were the first food Fang Mingxi had ever found. She had stored them in her space for about ten days, yet even now they were still fresh, with only a hint of soil clinging to them.

Opposite her sat a middle-aged woman wearing a headscarf. In front of the woman were a few small Chinese cabbages she had grown herself. The moment she saw the chicken mushrooms on Fang Mingxi’s tray, her eyes widened in surprise.

Earlier, she had been puzzled. This young girl didn’t look like someone from a rural area, what rural family would dress like this to come to the market? But now, seeing the chicken mushrooms, she found herself even more confused.

Chicken mushrooms only grew in the mountains. Town girls would never hike that far into the hills to pick them, especially not mushrooms this fresh, as if they had just been dug up. The nearest mountain to Hongqi Town was Maple Leaf Mountain, and making a trip there and back took at least two hours. A town girl certainly wouldn’t wake up at four in the morning to hunt mushrooms; only someone from the countryside could do that.

And finding chicken mushrooms was no easy feat. You had to search the forest thoroughly, if luck was on your side, you might spot some right away; if not, you could search the entire day and find nothing.

So who exactly was this little girl? A rural girl or a town girl? And how did she get so lucky as to find so many chicken mushrooms?

Wang Xiuzhi felt her heart stir. Chicken mushrooms couldn’t be cultivated artificially, they belonged to whoever found them. And their taste was exquisite; paired with chicken, they made an incredible dish.

She herself had eaten chicken mushrooms only once or twice in her life, and only when her family happened to find some. Since marrying into the town, she hadn’t tasted them again.

Hesitating, Wang Xiuzhi wondered whether she should buy one. She had brought money today, and if the price wasn’t too high, she could afford it.

Before she could speak, an elderly man with graying hair walked into the alley. His eyes immediately landed on the chicken mushrooms in front of Fang Mingxi, and they brightened. He quickly stepped over, squatted down, and picked up a mushroom weighing about two liang.

“How much for your chicken mushrooms?” he asked.

Fang Mingxi hadn’t spoken in a while; her throat still felt dry. She rubbed it lightly and replied, “Two yuan per jin.”

Qiu Gui’s expression shifted. As if handling a hot potato, he tossed the mushroom back. “Two yuan! A wild mushroom costs more than cabbage?”

Fang Mingxi stayed calm, rearranging the mushrooms. “Sir, these are pure wild chicken mushrooms. Can you grow them yourself?” she said.

“And check the supply-and-marketing cooperative or any state-run restaurant, the wild mushrooms there all start at ten yuan per jin. I’m already selling mine cheaply.”

“Look, each of these mushrooms has fully opened caps. The smallest weighs a half a jin, and the largest weighs up to a jin. I’m not trying to cheat you.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. Before coming here, she had checked the prices at the state-run restaurant and the cooperative. Today, the cooperative had stocked some morel mushrooms, priced nearly at thirty yuan per jin. Compared to that, selling chicken mushrooms at two yuan per jin was still a bargain.

Qiu Gui knew mushrooms at the cooperative and restaurants were expensive, but he had come to the black market hoping for a better deal. At two yuan per jin, he might as well pay a bit more and eat a plate of mushrooms at the restaurant.

He turned to leave, but then remembered that his grandson was at home demanding chicken stewed with mushrooms. He had already found the chicken, but none of the mushrooms he had seen were suitable. For stewing chicken, chicken mushrooms were the best.

Qiu Gui hesitated, then made up his mind and handed Fang Mingxi two yuan. “Pick me the freshest one. If there are bugs or it’s rotten, I’ll come back for you.”

“All right! Don’t worry, none of them are rotten.”

Fang Mingxi quickly took the money, opened her basket, and selected a mushroom weighing about a jin.

“Here you go, sir. By my feel, it’s exactly a jin.”

Qiu Gui took the mushroom. His hands were precise, he could tell by touch whether something was underweight. Sure enough, it was exactly a jin. He found himself impressed by the little girl; her judgment was accurate.

He leaned forward to look inside her basket. “Do you have anything else?”

Fang Mingxi pulled out a porcini mushroom and a handful of red thorn berries. “Yes, I have plenty more.”

…

Within ten minutes of entering the black market, Fang Mingxi had completed her first sale. Qiu Gui bought the chicken mushrooms, spent five yuan on a jin of porcini, and received a handful of red thorn berries for free, earning her his goodwill.

Not long after he left, an elderly woman with her face partially covered walked into the alley. She went straight to Fang Mingxi’s stall and, without hesitation, handed over ten yuan to buy the remaining five chicken mushrooms.

Fang Mingxi raised an eyebrow, it seemed the old man had sent her over. She didn’t mention it, instead packaging the mushrooms carefully and adding some wood ear mushrooms as a bonus.

Yu Fengying accepted them without protest, studying Fang Mingxi closely. As Old Qiu had said, she looked kind but was also very capable.

After a brief pause, Yu Fengying pulled out another twenty yuan to buy the remaining four porcini mushrooms.

“Give me all of them, and the wood ear in your basket too. Twenty yuan in total, how does that sound?”

“No problem.” Fang Mingxi quickly took out the porcini and wood ear. Her hands moved fast, and something buried at the bottom shifted briefly. She seemed to notice it, quickly setting the porcini down and covering the basket with straw.

Even though only a few seconds passed, Yu Fengying saw it. Her pupils tightened, and unable to contain her excitement, she grabbed Fang Mingxi’s hand.

“Girl, this… is it ginseng?”

It had to be. She was certain, the root looked like a tiny human figure. It could only be ginseng.

Yu Fengying was thrilled. Just last month, her neighbor had mentioned finding a ginseng root, and she had envied them. She had wondered when she would encounter one herself. And now, here she was, seeing ginseng on the black market.

Her household had a major event coming up, and this ginseng would be perfect for the occasion. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spent so much on wild mushrooms today.

Fang Mingxi pulled her hand back, pretending not to understand. “Auntie, what are you talking about? What thing?”

Yu Fengying gritted her teeth, so she was playing dumb? She glanced around. Her large purchase had clearly been noticed, and several people were now watching them.

Deciding to act quickly, she hugged the porcini mushrooms to her chest and led Fang Mingxi out of the alley.

“I didn’t bring enough money. Come with me to my house so I can get the rest, it’s nearby.”

Fang Mingxi looked confused but didn’t resist. She picked up her basket and followed Yu Fengying out of the black market.

Not long after they left, Liu Xiuhua finally walked in with her basket. She sat in the spot Fang Mingxi had occupied earlier, lifted her basket just like everyone else, and began calling out prices to passing customers.