Chapter 41: The Old Customer’s Enthusiasm

The first day of the New Year marked Fang Mingxi’s first time spending the holiday here. She guessed that the black market would be lively today, so she had prepared well in advance.

She began by loading all the mountain goods she had gathered over the past few days into her basket; various mushrooms, wild chicken eggs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a large basket of wild strawberries.

Fang Mingxi didn’t go to the black market every day, usually only once every few days. Though her visits were infrequent, she had no shortage of customers.

Ever since her successful deal with Yu Fengying, Yu Fengying would always wait for Fang Mingxi at the black market, often bringing along new customers as well.

These customers were straightforward and generous. They never haggled and wouldn’t say more than a word after buying something.

Over time, Fang Mingxi had grown closer to Yu Fengying. Whenever she had something good, Yu Fengying was the first person she thought of.

As soon as Fang Mingxi arrived at the black market, Yu Fengying, who had been waiting in the alley, ran over quickly.

She handed a steaming bun to Fang Mingxi and then squatted by the basket, picking through the goods she needed. Upon seeing the wild strawberries, she didn’t hesitate to empty half of the large basket.

“Little sister, I thought you wouldn’t come today since it’s New Year’s. I figured I’d take a chance at the black market, but here you are,” Yu Fengying said cheerfully.

Fang Mingxi held the bun in her palm to warm her hands, smiled at the words, and let Yu Fengying rummage through the basket.

“Auntie, how could I miss this when it’s so busy? It only gets lively during the holidays, so I might as well try to earn a little extra,” Fang Mingxi replied.

“You’re really capable; no wonder so many people are after your stuff,” Yu Fengying said as she packed the strawberries she wanted into a cloth bag and also bought some of the potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Fang Mingxi raised an eyebrow. “Auntie, you’re buying so much today?”

“Of course. I’m going home tomorrow and thought I’d take some food with me,” Yu Fengying said while taking money from her bag. She noticed Fang Mingxi hadn’t touched the bun and frowned. “Why aren’t you eating it? I made this myself and specially saved one for you this morning.”

Fang Mingxi chuckled lightly, tore open the wax paper, and took a bite. “Thank you for your kindness, Auntie.” The bun was plump and white, filled with a generous mix of lean and fatty meat. One bite released an irresistible aroma, it was obvious a lot of effort had gone into it.

Yu Fengying waved it off. “There’s nothing to thank me for. If anything, I should be thanking you.” She glanced around before leaning close to Fang Mingxi and whispering, “The first thing I bought from you really helped me a lot.”

Her son, Fengwa, had sent a ginseng root that happened to please his superior immensely. In return, the superior gave Fengwa the position he had long coveted.

Now Fengwa was the director of a workshop, and over the year, his salary increase far exceeded what the ginseng would have cost.

That’s why Yu Fengying insisted on thanking Fang Mingxi. If it weren’t for the ginseng, her family would have missed out on this opportunity.

“It’s good I could help. Next time, if you need anything, I’ll keep an eye out for you again,” Fang Mingxi said, finishing the bun in just a few bites and crumpling the wax paper at the bottom of the basket.

“Don’t mention it. Next time, if you have more, I’ll definitely buy it. And if I can’t, I’ll help you find someone who will,” Yu Fengying said after paying and quickly left.

As she stepped outside the alley, another young girl Yu Fengying had introduced came in carrying a basket.

They exchanged a quick glance, and Yu Fengying patted her basket before departing.

The new customer was a fairly young girl, wearing a slightly worn cotton jacket. Her face was partially covered, but a few acne marks were visible on her forehead.

Jiang Miaomiao squatted in front of Fang Mingxi’s stall and, without even putting down her basket, her eyes lit up at the sight of the red strawberries. “How much are the strawberries?”

Fang Mingxi recognized her as the customer Yu Fengying had introduced. “Four fen per jin. If you want, I can give you three jin for one mao.”

The strawberry basket could hold at most ten jin. Yu Fengying had taken five jin earlier, leaving about five jin remaining. Fang Mingxi thought it would be easier to sell them all at once rather than let them sit and lose freshness.

Jiang Miaomiao pointed to a large radish next. “What about this?”

“Two fen per jin for radishes,” Fang Mingxi replied.

Jiang Miaomiao nodded. Though a bit pricier than the supply-and-marketing cooperative, it didn’t require a ration ticket, so it was practically a freebie.

Moreover, the radishes were fresh and still had soil on them, clearly dug up from the mountains just a day or two ago. She had recently bought some beef and thought it would be perfect for a New Year’s Day radish and beef stew.

Yesterday, she missed out on buying radishes and had been disappointed. Today, she came to Fang Mingxi’s stall to try her luck and was rewarded.

Jiang Miaomiao bought ten jin of radishes, five jin of strawberries, and twenty jin of sweet potatoes. Ten jin of radishes cost two mao, the five jin of strawberries were discounted to one mao five, and the twenty jin of sweet potatoes were four mao.

She handed Fang Mingxi seven mao five, imitating Yu Fengying by placing the strawberries in a cloth bag and the radishes and sweet potatoes at the bottom of her basket.

After asking Fang Mingxi when she would next come to the black market, Jiang Miaomiao hurried home with her purchases.

By seven o’clock, everything Fang Mingxi brought had been sold. Once again, with envious eyes watching her, she packed up and left.

She still had to go to the supply-and-marketing cooperative to queue for New Year goods, which she didn’t have time for yesterday.

In total, she had earned roughly three hundred kuai from selling her goods. The largest portion came from ginseng, the middle from mushrooms, and the smallest from miscellaneous items.

She had also collected some ration tickets, though not many, about five jin of meat tickets, ten jin of grain tickets, a jin of candy tickets, and a few miscellaneous tickets.

Fang Mingxi hadn’t found any cloth tickets. Even when she lowered the prices on her food, people still refused to give cloth tickets.

These days, cloth and industrial tickets were both precious. No matter how much she pressed, people wouldn’t part with them.

At times like this, she realized how difficult it was to have money but no tickets. Holding plenty of cash with nowhere to spend it was frustrating.

Fortunately, she had been able to secretly send a few yuan to her grandparents using her fake identity, along with some grain tickets. But she dared not send too many because her shrewd grandparents had already noticed something was off and were reluctant to help strangers.

Sometimes Fang Mingxi thought that having such clever grandparents wasn’t entirely a blessing. She had so many tickets but dared not sneak them out, and could only enjoy good food secretly when no one was home, being careful not to expose herself. It was hardly satisfying.

Moreover, the fake body in her space looked real but functioned like a machine, food was decomposed before reaching her stomach.

Fang Mingxi walked to a secluded spot, packed the bamboo basket into her backpack, and carried only the basket to the supply-and-marketing cooperative’s entrance.

She had been lucky today. Though there were many people waiting outside, when it was her turn, she immediately spotted the daily necessities she had been longing for under the counter.