Little Shorty

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Little Shorty's clothes!

Lin Yuzhu dug out a navy-blue jacket and pair of trousers. Clothes these days didn't care much about tailoring; wearing them made a person look like a barrel.

After making a few minor alterations, no one could tell whether the wearer was male or female just by looking at the clothes.

So, over the next two days, she diligently practiced makeup and disguise. She even specifically practiced different vocal tones. Her pronunciation was close enough to that of a boy, though it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny.

But there was no helping it.

The advantage of having a space was that she could travel light.

Lin Yuzhu only carried an empty basket when she went out, while Wang Xiaomei was different. She carried a burlap sack, and it was stuffed full.

Lin Yuzhu smiled. "Weren't we going out to buy things?"

"This is... I picked some hawthorn berries last year. I have relatives in town, so I'm taking some over to them."

Wang Xiaomei spouted nonsense with a straight face. Did anyone really not know whether she had relatives or not?

Shanshui Village was fairly close to town. There was a road that people from several other villages had to pass through, and Ox Carts went by almost every day.

Wang Xiaomei and Lin Yuzhu were quite lucky. They caught an Ox Cart, and it cost only two cents each to get to town. The two of them worked together to lift the sack onto the cart, which took quite a bit of effort. Besides mountain goods, Lin Yuzhu guessed it was full of grain.

On second thought, she understood. Wang Xiaomei was guarding against the Educated Youth who were about to arrive. If she sold off her excess rations, she naturally wouldn't have the means to support anyone else. Was she supposed to starve herself to help others?

Was Wang Xiaomei that kind of person?

Lin Yuzhu found it funny. This girl really was shrewd when it came to food.

The two understood each other without speaking and split up once they reached town.

Wang Xiaomei was going to visit relatives. Why would Lin Yuzhu follow her?

Lin Yuzhu first went to the grain station to check the prices. The moment she saw them, she felt a little disappointed. Even the finest rice was only twenty-three cents per jin, refined flour was seventeen cents per jin, cornmeal was even cheaper at nine cents per jin, and soybean oil was fifty-five cents per jin.

Making a hundred million by selling grain was clearly out of the question.

She then went to the butcher's shop to look at meat prices. Pork was seventy-eight cents per jin, while hens were sixty cents per jin—and they were out of stock.

Eggs were comparatively expensive at forty-eight cents per jin. No wonder people called chicken butts a bank. The name was well deserved.

Eggs were interesting. They had a listed price but no market. The town's Supply and Marketing Cooperative only bought them and never sold them. The price tag was practically a joke. They looked cheap when you wanted to buy them, but when you wanted to sell them, they were cheap too.

Lin Yuzhu soothed her disappointment and silently reminded herself that money was especially valuable these days.

After hypnotizing herself like that, she found an empty corner and entered her space. She hurriedly changed clothes, put on a wig, darkened her face with foundation, and drew several thick strokes for eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil. She immediately looked the part.

Then she casually added a few more touches, adjusted her brows and eyes until they looked like those of a boy, and smeared her face with concealer in a different shade. Mm, uneven skin tone. A dark, skinny young fellow had appeared.

Lin Yuzhu had roughly looked into the locations of the Black Market in this town before and had identified one or two likely places.

There was a cannery on the edge of town, with a stretch of woods beside it. The area was deserted.

Logically, the workers should all be working during the day, so it shouldn't have been too lively there. Yet one or two people could always be seen coming and going, each carrying a cloth bag.

The bags were clearly empty when they went in, but bulging when they came out.

Lin Yuzhu figured there had to be a trading spot in the woods. Sure enough, there was one in the small grove not far from the cannery, though there weren't many people.

Seeing that she was unfamiliar, the people inside immediately became wary. Lin Yuzhu felt a little awkward.

Why was this getting so much attention?

A broad-shouldered, thick-waisted man walked over and asked in a low voice, "Buying or selling?"

As he spoke, he glanced probing at the basket on her back.

Lin Yuzhu had covered all her goods with cloth. The man couldn't see what was in her basket, but he figured she was here to sell, and his guard dropped slightly.

"Big Brother, I just started doing this. I wanted to give it a try and see whether I could sell anything."

Lin Yuzhu deliberately deepened her voice, making herself sound like a young boy.

"Hm?"

"What do you have?"

Lin Yuzhu looked at the man before her. Was he a seller too?

The man's expression turned impatient when he saw that the young fellow didn't know the rules. "This place is under my control. Everyone selling things here works for me. Outsiders aren't accepted."

"Who introduced you? You don't even know that? Outsiders who come here to sell have to sell to me."

After saying that, the man frowned. Could this little brat be a spy?

But would there really be a spy this young?

The moment the man moved, several of his underlings immediately stood up and approached with unfriendly expressions.

Lin Yuzhu twitched her lips. Stay calm. She didn't know whether her luck was good or bad. By sheer accident, she had run into a minor boss. Still, people who made their living this way probably wouldn't be too ruthless. Otherwise, how could they keep doing business?

Without wasting words, she put down the basket on her back, removed the cloth covering it, and said, "Oh, I have twenty jin of cornmeal, ten jin of rice, and two old hens!"

It wasn't much merchandise. First-timers never brought too much to sell.

The man didn't think much of it. He casually checked the rice, then gave an appreciative shout. "Oh-ho, this stuff is pretty good. Just not much of it."

He weighed the old hens in his hands. "Mm, nice and fat."

"What price?"

The man asked casually.

"Cornmeal is fifteen cents with coupons, twenty cents without. Rice is fifty cents with coupons, one yuan without. Hens are four yuan each with coupons, six yuan without."

"I don't want grain coupons. Why would someone selling grain be short on grain?"

The man looked at Lin Yuzhu and said in a low voice, "The hens are too expensive. Three yuan each, and I'll give you industrial coupons."

Lin Yuzhu pretended to think it over, then nodded with difficulty.

The deal was made. Lin Yuzhu received fourteen yuan and a stack of coupons. Thinking about how much effort it would have taken to carry these goods in from outside, only to earn this little money, she felt the road ahead was long.

After selling her goods, Lin Yuzhu didn't leave immediately. She casually chatted for a while and learned that the man's surname was Su. She started calling him Big Brother Su, growing a little closer to him before finally leaving.

Only after she walked out of the grove did Lin Yuzhu let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that no one had followed her, she couldn't help but laugh. Apparently, her little batch of goods hadn't caught their interest.

As the saying went, family housing compounds were essential places for selling goods. She had heard that there was a family housing compound near the town's textile factory, with plenty of residents inside. More importantly, there were no gatekeepers keeping watch. How could she possibly pass that up?

Lin Yuzhu followed the main road until she found the family housing compound, then wandered around the area with her basket on her back.

Sure enough, before long, an older woman came over, pulled her into a secluded corner, and asked quietly, "Young man, what do you have in that basket?"

Lin Yuzhu grinned, smiling like an honest young fellow, and lowered her voice as well. "Cooking oil, white flour, cornmeal, and eggs!"

The older woman immediately became excited. She grabbed Lin Yuzhu and asked, "How are you selling them?"

"Young man, put your basket down and let Auntie take a look. If there isn't much, I can help you buy it all!"

"Cooking oil is one yuan fifty per jin. Coupons are required; I won't sell without them. I only have ten jin. I have ten jin of eggs too, seventy cents per jin, no coupons required."

"White flour is forty cents with coupons, sixty cents without. Cornmeal is fifteen cents with coupons, twenty cents without."

"Auntie, I don't want grain coupons."

The two spoke in hushed voices, as though they were thieves.

Although eggs were expensive on the market, they couldn't fetch a high price on the Black Market. After all, they cost more per jin than pork. People would rather save up meat coupons and buy pork.

The older woman thought the eggs were a little expensive. After some bargaining, they settled on sixty cents per jin.

Lin Yuzhu talked until her mouth went dry. She hadn't even sold anything yet; they had only been haggling over prices.

Once they agreed on the price, the older woman saw there wasn't much merchandise and feared someone else would snatch it up. She simply dragged Lin Yuzhu home. If they ran into anyone she knew, she would say Lin Yuzhu was a country cousin.

People had plenty of relatives these days. After bringing Lin Yuzhu into the courtyard, the older woman told her to wait, then went out to find the sisters she knew.

The older woman was quite efficient. Within minutes, many people had poured into the courtyard. Looking at the small amount of goods in her basket, Lin Yuzhu thought it would only be enough for everyone to get a little. In the eyes of these aunties, she became extremely sought-after.

Once everything was sold, Lin Yuzhu hadn't received many coupons. Thinking about it, she understood. Ordinary families couldn't save up many coupons in a month. If they had money, they were willing to buy high-priced grain with it and save their coupons for household use.

This batch of goods sold for thirty yuan, plus five coupons. She could thank the soybean oil for bringing in so much money. Otherwise, she would only have made a little over ten yuan. She was small and not very strong, so she couldn't carry much at once. She could only take it slowly.

When the older woman walked her out of the courtyard, she said warmly, "Young man, come back whenever you have goods."

"Auntie isn't bragging. In this whole housing compound, Auntie has the best connections. No matter how much you bring, I can help you sell it all."

Lin Yuzhu grinned, revealing a row of little white teeth, and smiled foolishly.

"Don't worry, Auntie. If I have goods, I'll come by."

"Good!"

The older woman immediately beamed and saw her out.

Next, Lin Yuzhu repeated the same method in several alleys, selling quite a lot of goods and building up some connections along the way.

Because she was selling live chickens, she didn't take out any eggs. She mainly sold soybean oil, rice, flour, and the few old hens remaining in her space.

After several rounds, she had nearly two hundred yuan in her pocket, and Lin Yuzhu was delighted again.

In just half a day, she had earned several months' worth of wages for an ordinary person. If she could keep doing this every day, her income would be enough to keep her fed even by future standards.

Unfortunately, she was now an Educated Youth sent to the countryside. She couldn't come into town every day.

Since it was hard to get a chance to come here, Lin Yuzhu felt she should sell more. With money in hand, she wouldn't panic.

Let's do it.

This time, Lin Yuzhu planned to find out the exact location of the Black Market first before carrying goods over.

Walking around with goods on her back was too exhausting. Her stamina was still utterly pathetic.

As the saying went, there were business opportunities near hospitals. After wandering around the town hospital, Lin Yuzhu found another Black Market spot.

It was tucked away in an inconspicuous corner, and someone was standing guard.

If Lin Yuzhu wanted to sell goods there, she had to pay the guard ten cents. Their reasoning was that they couldn't keep watch for her for free.

Lin Yuzhu truly admired the people's business sense. They could discover business opportunities everywhere.