Siheyuan: Cao Liang's rise

More than an hour later, the two finally arrived in town.

Cao Weimin led Cao Liang towards the black market. He walked forward at a moderate pace, carrying the sack on his shoulder. He kept looking around and whispered, "Liangzi, you have to remember that at times like this, you have to keep your composure and not panic, otherwise others will be able to guess at a glance that you are carrying something valuable."

Cao Liang nodded slightly. Judging from Cao Weimin's appearance, this was definitely not his first time here.

Soon, the two came to the entrance of an alley. Cao Weimin took out two pieces of rags and handed one to Cao Liang, "Do you know what it's for?"

Cao Liang nodded and covered his face with the cloth.

In a place like the black market, it’s best not to let people see your appearance.

When the two arrived at the entrance of the black market, they saw a man guarding there.

Seeing the two approaching, he whispered, "Buy or sell?"

"Sell."

"A dime."

Cao Weimin nodded, took out two dimes from his pocket and handed them to him. The man took the money and waved his hand, saying, "Go in! When you hear the gong, run eastward. There is an exit there."

After entering the black market, Cao Liang didn't see anyone, only three or two pedestrians with their faces covered like them. He asked in confusion: "Uncle, why are there so few people?"

Cao Weimin said: "Ticket scalpers and the like have their own fixed locations, and people like us also have designated areas."

Sure enough, after they walked for a while, Cao Liang saw people selling things in twos and threes. They had bags or bamboo baskets beside them. If he didn't ask, he would definitely not know what they were selling.

Cao Weimin found a place to put down the sack and squatted on the ground.

In this kind of place, you definitely can't shout or show off your wealth easily. Cao Liang found this very interesting.

After a while, a man stopped in front of them. He glanced at the sack and saw blood on it. He asked excitedly, "Meat?"

Cao Weimin nodded, "Wild boar meat."

"How many?"

Cao Weimin shook his head, "Not for sale, only for food."

After hearing this, the man shook his head regretfully and left.

This is no wonder. There is a shortage of food everywhere now. Although meat is rare, it is not worth exchanging it for food.

After half an hour, although a few people asked, they gave up when they heard that they had to exchange for food.

Cao Liang said: "Uncle, if it doesn't work, I'll take it back to the black market in Sijiu City and sell it!"

"No hurry, wait another half an hour."

It's summer now, and the meat won't last long. It's best to eat it tonight, otherwise it will be stale tomorrow.

In fact, this situation is normal. Not to mention in the town, even in the city it is difficult to buy food now, even if you have money.

Half an hour later, just when the two were about to give up, a maskless man with a scar on his face came, followed by another man.

The scarred man asked, "Meat? In exchange for food?"

Cao Weimin nodded repeatedly. When he saw the man's face clearly, he hurriedly bowed and said, "Fourth Master."

The scarred man called the Fourth Master nodded and said, "It's easy if you know me. I can only exchange it for cornmeal. Two pounds of cornmeal for one pound of meat. How about that?"

"Ok, Ok."

Upon hearing this, Cao Weimin nodded repeatedly, thinking that the price was already very fair.

The current price of corn flour on the black market has been driven up to 50 cents per pound, and no ticket is required.

As for pork, it costs about two yuan per pound, while wild boar meat costs a little more than one yuan because it has no fat.

Therefore, it was fair for the fourth master to give two kilograms of corn flour.

Seeing that Cao Weimin was willing, the Fourth Master said without further ado, "Follow me."

Cao Liang and the other man followed the Fourth Master to a separate courtyard. The man next to the Fourth Master went to get a scale. After weighing it, the man said to the Fourth Master, "One hundred and four pounds."

A wild boar weighing more than 200 kilograms can produce about 120 kilograms of meat. If it were a domestic pig, it should be more, but it is also not bad.

The fourth master nodded, "Go get the food."

The man nodded and walked into the house. After a while, he came out carrying a sack. He opened the sack and showed it to Cao Weimin. It was full of corn flour. He then weighed it in front of Cao Weimin.

Cao Liang looked at the scale and found it was just enough. He bowed to the Fourth Master and said, "Thank you, Fourth Master."

The fourth master nodded and said calmly: "If you need more meat in the future, you can come to me directly."

"Okay, farewell."

Cao Weimin glanced at Cao Liang, who understood and picked up the sack of corn flour. Cao Weimin bowed to the Fourth Master and turned to leave.

After the two men left, the man asked the Fourth Master, "Do you want to send someone?"

"No need."

The fourth master shook his head slightly, "The guy next to that person is not simple, he should be a martial artist. It's not worth it for such a small amount of food."

The man nodded and took the meat into the house.

...

the other side.

Cao Weimin and Cao Liang left the black market and walked quickly, and soon left the town. After walking for another half an hour, they saw that there was no one following them, so they slowed down.

Cao Weimin said to Cao Liang, "Liangzi, you must be tired! Let me do it!"

"It's okay. There's not much more to go."

Cao Liang shook his head and refused.

With this little weight, he wouldn't feel tired even if he carried it for a whole day.

His current physical fitness is not to be underestimated.

As he walked, he asked, "Second Uncle, who was that Fourth Master just now?"

"You should have guessed it. Yes, that black market was run by that Fourth Master."

Cao Weimin said: "These days, he is probably the only one who is willing to exchange grain for meat."

Upon hearing this, Cao Liang was surprised and asked, "So, Second Uncle has been waiting for him from the beginning?"

Cao Weimin nodded. "When we entered the black market, the gatekeeper should have seen that we were carrying meat."

"I see."

Cao Liang nodded, then suddenly remembered something and said regretfully, "Hey, I forgot to ask the Fourth Master if he has any potatoes and sweet potatoes."

Cao Weimin was puzzled and asked, "What do you want that for? It's not as good as cornmeal to satisfy your hunger."

Without waiting for Cao Liang to answer, Cao Weimin continued, "We still have that thing at home. If you like it, take it."

Cao Liang's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Second Uncle, how many are there?"

"About twenty pounds!"

"That's all?"

Cao Liang was somewhat dissatisfied.

There is one acre of land in the space. How can this be enough for planting?

But I can't tell this to anyone else.

"How much do you want?"

Cao Weimin said, "There should be quite a few people in the village. If you want, you can exchange corn flour for them. They will definitely be willing to give it to you."

"Well, Uncle, just help me get a hundred kilograms first!"

Cao Liang thought that it would not be good to do too much at once.

He plans to leave some space to grow other crops, mainly wheat.

Whenever he thought of the hard steamed bread, he felt a toothache.

"Okay, I'll help you tomorrow morning."

Cao Weimin didn't ask any more questions.

After all, it was Cao Liang who got the wild boar, so he could do whatever he wanted.

It was already midnight when the two returned home.

Only Ding Chunhua was still awake, everyone else was resting.

Seeing the uncle and nephew come back safely, Ding Chunhua finally breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good that you're back. You must be exhausted! I left a few steamed bread for you. Eat them before you go to sleep!"