Chapter 21: Buying Tickets on the Black Market

After getting up, Zhang Huacheng woke up Tie Zhu and added coal to the kang.

After downing a bowl of porridge that Wang Lin had prepared the night before, the two headed to the seashore to collect their haul. Zhang Huacheng decided not to sell the fish and crabs as he had before. After clearing the crab traps, he kept only about twenty decent-sized sea crabs; the rest—fish, crabs, octopuses, sea snails, and so on—were tossed back and buried in a snowdrift. He had already decided that anything worthless or hard to sell would be for their own consumption; these would make a perfect seafood stew for dinner.

When they arrived at the county morning market with their heavy bamboo baskets, the scene before them startled Zhang Huacheng: there were already over twenty people queuing at their usual spot. A stir went through the crowd the moment they appeared. Zhang Huacheng realized everyone was there for the meat, though he hadn't expected such a turnout. It seemed the news that the wild boar meat didn't require ration coupons had spread.

"Comrade, you're here!"
"Comrade, is there plenty of pork today?"
"Get in line! Don't crowd!"
"It's settled, three jin per person at most! No buying more!" a middle-aged woman at the back shouted, terrified she wouldn't get any once her turn came.

Zhang Huacheng hadn't anticipated that meat sold without coupons would be so popular.

"Today, besides pork, we have plenty of wolf meat. This was caught just recently by our mountain patrol. It also doesn't require ration coupons, though the price is higher—one yuan per jin for top-quality wolf meat!"

In the cold northern regions, wolf meat was considered a warming, highly nourishing tonic, so it naturally commanded a high price. A murmur of excitement rippled through the crowd at the mention of wolf meat.

"One yuan a jin? Can... can it be a bit cheaper?"
"That's too expensive!"

While the price of one yuan per jin truly made their hearts ache, the fact that it was both coupon-free and highly nutritious left them torn between the cost and the desire to buy.

"How about this? Since you all got up so early to wait in line, for every jin of wolf meat purchased, I’ll throw in an extra ounce. How’s that? Pork is sixty cents a jin, wolf meat is one yuan a jin, and the sea crabs are thirty cents each. Tie Zhu, bring out the wolf meat!"

Zhang Huacheng signaled to Tie Zhu. As Tie Zhu pulled the grey wolf meat from the bamboo basket, the scene of frantic抢购 (scrambling) repeated itself. Fortunately, they had brought over two hundred jin of meat today. In less than half an hour, Zhang Huacheng and Tie Zhu left, under the envious gazes of other stall owners, with everything—including the crabs—sold out. The one-yuan-a-jin wolf meat had been snatched up in a frenzy, while the pork was actually the last to sell out.

"Brother, where is this?" Tie Zhu asked, looking around curiously as Zhang Huacheng led him through several small alleys and into a snowy grove. There were other stalls in the grove, along with people squatting in various corners.

"This is the county black market. We’re here to buy some fabric coupons," Zhang Huacheng explained. He had been to this black market before; fabric coupons could be bought here.

"Need kerosene lamp wicks? Trade for grain coupons!" A gaunt middle-aged man approached, quietly opening his coat to reveal a bundle of wicks. Zhang Huacheng shook his head and kept walking with Tie Zhu.

There were vendors selling everyday necessities like needles, thread, and soap, others selling grain and oil coupons, and some selling second-hand clothes. Zhang Huacheng stopped in front of a short young man. The youth was looking at his feet, pretending not to see him.

"Where’s your Brother Dong?" Zhang Huacheng asked suddenly.

The short youth jumped, took two steps back, and said fearfully, "Brother Dong is... at home sleeping..." This youth was one of the men who had tried to rob him earlier; he was the one who had knelt and surrendered without getting beaten. Clearly, he recognized Zhang Huacheng and was feigning ignorance.

"I’m here to buy coupons. Do you have any fabric coupons?" Zhang Huacheng signaled.

"Yes, yes!" The youth hurriedly pulled out a few coupons and fished out a fabric coupon to hand to him. Zhang Huacheng took it and examined it. It was for two *shi chi*—one *shi chi* was 33.3 centimeters, so two was only a little over half a meter. That wasn't nearly enough for what he needed.

Seeing Zhang Huacheng looking at him, the youth hurriedly said, "No charge! No charge!" He was terrified of getting beaten; it had been several days, and some of his brothers still couldn't get out of bed. He was deathly afraid that Zhang Huacheng might take a swing at him.

Zhang Huacheng was speechless. "I’m not here to rob you. What are you thinking? Forget it, go call your Brother Dong. Tell him I need some fabric coupons and I’m willing to pay the standard black market price."

"Ah? Oh, oh, I’ll go call him!" The youth turned and bolted.

"If you don't bring him here and just run off, I’ll break your legs the next time I see you!" Zhang Huacheng shouted, worried the guy would never return. But the youth ran incredibly fast, disappearing in a flash.

*He wouldn't really not show up, would he?* Zhang Huacheng felt a bit uneasy. He needed those coupons, and without a dealer, they were hard to come by.

"Who has fabric coupons?" Zhang Huacheng asked, seeing others in the black market looking his way, and held up the sample coupon. Immediately, the black-market vendors all lowered their heads.

Qin Xiaodong was at home sleeping when he heard someone pounding on his door, yelling. He sat up irritably. "Who is it? Are you trying to get yourself killed this early in the morning?"

"Brother... Brother Dong, that guy who... who beat us up is at the black market..." a weak voice replied from outside the door.

Hearing this, Qin Xiaodong couldn't help but shiver, his chest beginning to ache faintly. He said angrily, "You damn Luo Cheng! You were the first to kneel when we fought, and now you’re the first to court death. Do you want us to go get beaten up again? Can we even win?" Thinking of how nimbly this guy had knelt and raised his hands to avoid a beating, Qin Xiaodong wanted to slap him. Everyone else had been bedridden for days, and only Luo Cheng had escaped unscathed by kneeling so quickly. That tough guy—it would be hard to win even if they gathered a whole gang!

"Brother Dong, it’s not a fight. He’s looking for you. He says he needs some fabric coupons and wants to be friends. He said he’d pay the market price. I... I feel like he’s quite reasonable today. Brother Dong, why don't you go take a look?" Luo Cheng lied through his teeth, terrified that if Qin Xiaodong didn't go, he’d be the one getting his legs broken later.

"Be friends? Fabric coupons?" Qin Xiaodong sat up, thought for a moment, then got out of bed to open the door. Luo Cheng scurried inside.

"What’s going on? Tell me in detail!" Qin Xiaodong began to dress. Luo Cheng immediately embellished the story as he spoke.

When Qin Xiaodong arrived at the black market, he saw Zhang Huacheng squatting in front of an old man, buying a rooster. The moment he saw Zhang Huacheng, his old injuries seemed to flare up, and his chest began to ache. He hesitated, then gritted his teeth and walked over.

"Big Brother, you want to buy fabric coupons?"

Zhang Huacheng, who had just bought the rooster, looked up, causing Qin Xiaodong to shudder uncontrollably.

"You're here," Zhang Huacheng said, standing up. Tie Zhu, who had been squatting beside him, also rose. His near-two-meter height and the intense pressure he exuded made Qin Xiaodong panic. He cursed Luo Cheng internally: *Didn't that little rabbit say he was alone?*

"Yes, yes, Big Brother. I heard from Luo Cheng that you wanted to buy fabric coupons?" Qin Xiaodong forced a smile that looked worse than crying. He glanced around, only to realize that Luo Cheng, who had been behind him, had vanished. *Ran off again???* He cursed viciously in his heart.

"That's right. Do you have any?" Zhang Huacheng had just asked around and learned that the coupon trade in this area was monopolized by Qin Xiaodong’s group.

"I do. Let's go over there," Qin Xiaodong said, gesturing toward a corner of the wall.