The Black Market Chen Jianye chose was the area at the foot of the Imperial City Root.
Along the way, Chen Jianye ran forward.
After about twenty minutes, he arrived at the Imperial City Root Black Market.
This Black Market has a long history, stable stalls, and is a well-reputed good place.
Chen Jianye took out a cloth bag from his portable space and hung it on his shoulder, then took out a straight cloth sack and covered his entire head, only exposing his eyes and nose for breathing.
After that, he held a flashlight and stepped into the Black Market.
“Brother, what do you want to buy?”
“Give me a shout, I’ll take you around.”
“Everything you could want.”
“You won’t regret finding me.”
As soon as he entered the Black Market, Chen Jianye encountered a group of brokers.
They made a living from the Black Market, mainly helping new customers connect with stall owners.
They earned a percentage of the commission from this.
Chen Jianye said nothing, waved his hand, and ignored these people.
He held the flashlight, and like other customers, used it to illuminate the situation on the stalls.
Chen Jianye, who possessed night vision, scanned and checked each stall one by one.
There were many people in the Black Market.
But the situation was completely different from that of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
The Supply and Marketing Cooperative was crowded and noisy, and even with people maintaining order, various loud sounds were inevitable.
There were also many people here in the Black Market, but everyone deliberately kept their distance.
If a customer saw something they wanted to buy and spoke to the stall owner, they would speak in hushed tones, not daring to shout.
Chen Jianye quickly blended into the Black Market.
He also found some of the goods he wanted to buy.
Finally, he stopped in front of a stall selling eggs.
A board on the stall indicated that eggs were forty cents a catty.
“I want… thirty catties of eggs, can you give me a discount?”
Chen Jianye squatted in front of the stall, deliberately roughening his voice, and asked in a low tone.
Earning money was not easy, so saving a little was better than nothing.
“Oh, you’re buying in bulk?”
The stall owner was somewhat surprised, as most customers who came to the Black Market were individual buyers.
Very, very few people would ask for thirty catties of eggs at once.
Buying too many eggs and keeping them at home made them spoil easily.
Only organizations would buy so many eggs at once.
However, organizations had special procurement officers who went to rural areas or communes to collect eggs, and the prices they negotiated were relatively low.
“Can it be cheaper?”
Chen Jianye ignored the stall owner’s question and asked.
“Brother, it can’t be cheaper, I can’t make that decision.”
The stall owner realized he had said too much and quickly replied.
“If you don’t sell, I’ll go to another place to buy.”
Chen Jianye stood up.
“No, no, no, if you want thirty catties, I’ll give you a three-cent discount per catty.”
“Thirty-seven cents a catty, I guarantee you, you won’t find cheaper eggs at any other stall around here.”
“To be honest with you, those three cents are for the brokers outside, and this is the cheapest price I can give you.”
The stall owner kept chatting with Chen Jianye, unwilling to let such a big customer leave.
Competitors were enemies.
If Chen Jianye left, he would definitely go to his competitors to buy eggs.
Seeing a competitor earn money was more painful than losing money himself.
“Alright, weigh me thirty catties.”
Chen Jianye stood up, reached into his pocket, and in reality, pulled out a stack of loose bills from his portable space.
“Brother, you’re really bold, daring to put money in your outside pocket.”
“Let me remind you again, there are many pickpockets here, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
The stall owner weighed the eggs while quietly reminding him.
In those days, the overall social order was unstable, and because transactions used money and tickets, pickpocketing was rampant.
When ordinary people went out, money and tickets were usually kept in the inner layers of their clothes.
If it was summer, they would sew a piece of cloth onto their underwear and keep it there.
Safety first was guaranteed.
For someone like Chen Jianye, who put money in his outer pocket, the stall owner thought he had never suffered a loss.
“Thank you, brother.”
Chen Jianye sincerely thanked him, having counted out eleven yuan and ten cents.
The two exchanged money for goods.
Thirty catties of eggs were very heavy, so the stall owner sold Chen Jianye a burlap sack for ten cents.
Chen Jianye readily agreed.
He carried the sack out of the Black Market.
When he reached a deserted place, Chen Jianye put the sack into his portable space.
After waiting for a while, he entered the Black Market from another location.
Immediately after, Chen Jianye purchased another twenty catties of pork.
He specifically bought fatty pork, which was one yuan and twenty cents a catty.
It cost Chen Jianye a total of twenty-four yuan.
Twenty catties of pork were very substantial.
Chen Jianye carried the pork on his shoulder and walked out of the Black Market.
Many people stared at the pork on his shoulder, their eyes green with envy.
Meat was tempting, especially such a large piece of pork.
After Chen Jianye left the Black Market, his keen senses detected someone following him.
‘Damn it, no wonder the old saying goes, ‘Don’t show off your wealth.’
Chen Jianye secretly thought he had miscalculated.
He only wanted to buy enough supplies at once, but he overlooked human greed.
Just as the egg seller said, there were many pickpockets in the Black Market.
Pickpockets could turn into robbers in an instant, as long as the profit was great enough.
Chen Jianye showed no panic, carrying the pork and striding forward, deliberately finding an alley to walk into.
Outside the alley.
Three young men gathered together, facing the dark alley, and stopped.
They were the gang that had been following Chen Jianye.
Although they had seen Chen Jianye carrying the pork and entering the alley with their own eyes.
But whether to follow him in, they still had to be cautious.
“Big Brother, that kid ran inside, isn’t it a trap?”
Standing on the left, a young man with a sharp face and monkey-like features looked vigilant.
“Trap my ass, did you see him pull money out of his pocket just now?”
The burly Big Brother standing in the middle sneered.
“No.”
The young man on the right, who had a large mole with hair growing on his face, shook his head.
“He pulled out a stack of money directly from his pocket, at least forty or fifty yuan.”
The burly Big Brother’s eyes lit up.
“He’s just a rookie!”
The sharp-faced young man instantly made a judgment.
“Big Brother, what a good opportunity.”
The mole-faced young man immediately became excited.
“The three of us won’t beat around the bush with him, let’s just take him down.”
“Go!”
The burly Big Brother pulled out the dagger from his body, swung his hand forward fiercely, and was the first to run into the alley.
A horse cannot grow fat without night fodder; a man cannot become rich without ill-gotten gains.
Wealth is sought in danger.
Each of the three held a knife in one hand and a flashlight in the other, running very hastily.
Just after turning a corner.
Before the burly young man had fully turned, a whooshing sound rang out.
What did a sudden whooshing sound in the pitch-black environment mean?
Before the burly young man could react, a front kick landed on his chest.
With a thud.
The burly young man felt as if his chest had been struck by a battering ram, and he rapidly retreated, crashing heavily against the wall behind him.
His body hitting the wall produced a muffled sound.
The flashlight and dagger in his hand fell to the ground.
The young man leaned against the wall, lowered his head, and collapsed, his body twitching repeatedly.
Clearly, that kick had directly damaged his internal organs, and he would not live much longer.
“Big Brother!”
“Big Brother!”
The sharp-faced young man and the mole-faced young man were both stunned.
Their flashlights pointed straight ahead, not daring to check the situation around the corner.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Chen Jianye took a few steps forward, actively appearing before the two.
“You, where’s your pork?”
The sharp-faced young man was full of questions.
“It’s right there. If you’ve got the guts, take me down, and the pork and money are both yours.”
Chen Jianye pointed to the side of the corner.
That side was empty.
But it didn’t matter, Chen Jianye knew the two in front of him couldn’t see.