During times of famine: I have a spiritual spring space

Chapter 7 Are you here to buy goods?

He put the hen, chicks, and white geese into his storage space.

"Sold!" Zhuang Lihui replied confidently.

Ma Zhenwei laughed in exasperation.

Brother, you're putting me in a difficult position!

He would lure scalpers over by telling them he had corn on hand, and only then would the scalpers eagerly follow him.

"Old Ma, what are you doing?" the ticket scalper complained.

Zhuang Lihui asked, "Brother, what kind of tickets do you have?"

The ticket scalper said irritably, "What tickets you have are none of your business! I'm only exchanging them for grain today."

From Guangdong and Guangxi?

Listening to the man speak broken Mandarin, Zhuang Lihui felt a sense of kinship and really wanted to hear him call him "handsome guy".

"Why doesn't it matter? I have corn."

The ticket scalper looked Zhuang Lihui up and down again: "Didn't you say you were selling tickets?"

Ma Zhenwei realized what was happening and quickly explained, "There are still some available outside that aren't for sale."

The ticket scalper's face immediately lit up with a smile, and he reached out to shake hands with Zhuang Lihui: "Brother, you should have said so earlier! I have plenty of tickets, including grain coupons, meat coupons, cloth coupons, tea coupons, cigarette coupons, alcohol coupons, soap coupons... What kind of ticket do you need?"

"We want them all. Let's go outside and talk," Zhuang Lihui said.

Ma Zhenwei also packed up his stall and walked out of the black market.

"Brother Ma, you go back and get the money. I'll go prepare the corn. We'll make the deal at that collapsed, abandoned house in the west. How about that?" Zhuang Lihui hadn't just wandered around for nothing; he had a basic understanding of the county town.

"Can!"

Knowing that Zhuang Lihui wanted to avoid people and prepare corn, the ticket scalper didn't follow him, but went with Lao Ma instead.

Zhuang Lihui arrived at the abandoned house and entered the space without saying a word. He saw a mother hen leading her chicks to eat the corn scattered on the ground, and two white geese were doing the same, looking like starving ghosts reincarnated.

Ignoring them for now, Zhuang Lihui hurriedly picked corn.

This time, he doesn't plan to be silly and thresh the corn kernels; he'll sell the whole cob with the cob intact. He believes Lao Ma and the others won't mind!

You see, scraping cassava, picking peanuts, threshing grain, and husking corn were his four childhood nightmares in his previous life. Whoever wants to do these jobs can do them; he certainly won't do them again.

He moved so fast that he was almost blurry.

Before long, he had broken off a huge pile of corn, without even tearing off the husks.

Having observed the situation, Zhuang Lihui stepped out of his spatial dimension and glanced outside, only to find that Ma Zhenwei and the others had not yet arrived.

She's quite good at handling people! She made sure to give Zhuang Lihui extra time to prepare.

Zhuang Lihui took out the pile of corn and piled it haphazardly in the corner, then patiently waited for Lao Ma and the ticket scalper to arrive.

Old Ma timed things perfectly and didn't keep Zhuang Lihui waiting for long.

"Young man, is that you?" Old Ma cautiously poked his head in and asked in a low voice.

Judging from their appearance, they seemed hesitant to come in. Coming to such an abandoned house in the middle of the night, it's understandable that they would be a little nervous.

Zhuang Lihui could understand. If you were to film a ghost movie in a place like this, you wouldn't need any special setup; you could just start using it and focus on realism.

"Hey bro, how come you guys are even more timid than me?" Zhuang Lihui complained.

Upon hearing Zhuang Lihui's voice, Ma Zhenwei and the ticket scalper both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Cowardly? Brother, you're joking. Let me tell you, back in the day..."

Old Ma couldn't help but interrupt, "Stop bragging. Weren't you the one pushing me from behind just now?"

"Brothers, let's get down to business first. The corn is here; you'll have to figure out how to get it away yourselves," Zhuang Lihui said, pointing to a large pile of corn in the corner.

Ma Zhenwei and his companion looked over and were dumbfounded!

No, you didn't even tear off the wrapper.

The two walked over, picked up an ear of corn, tore open the husk, and the aroma of corn wafted out, smelling wonderful. Moreover, the corn inside was very plump.

"Young man, you're not planning to sell this to me for 5 yuan a pound, are you?"

Zhuang Lihui: "Brother Ma, if you're willing to give it to me, I can accept it."

"Accept my ass!" Ma Zhenwei cursed, having never seen such a shameless person.

"Haha! Just kidding. How about these two pieces of corn? They're dry-packaged too."

Ma Zhenwei laughed and said, "That's more like it."

Both he and the ticket scalper were quite satisfied with this batch of corn. It looked like it hadn't been picked long ago. They wisely refrained from asking why.

It's good to talk to smart people.

The ticket scalper bet all the tickets, explained them to Zhuang Lihui one by one, and tallied the value of all the tickets. Then he took out all the money he had and divided the pile of corn with Ma Zhenwei.

"Young man, if you need this kind of stuff again, remember to call me. Just go to No. 39 Xingmin Street." Ma Zhenwei risked giving out his address.

"Handsome! I live on the same street as him, at number 32, not far from him."

Upon hearing the word "handsome guy," Zhuang Lihui immediately felt relieved.

It seems this guy is from Guangdong; after all, his fellow countrymen would only call him "diao mao" (a derogatory term for someone from Guangdong).

"Okay! If I find it, I'll definitely contact you."

Zhuang Lihui didn't want to delay them any longer as they were moving the corn, so he quickly left. How they would carry it back was their problem.

After Zhuang Lihui walked away, the ticket scalper said, "Old Ma, you guessed right, he wasn't alone."

"Old Chen, it's better to be a little oblivious. Knowing too much about other people's business isn't a good thing," Ma Zhenwei said.

They are easily silenced.

"Don't worry! I was completely sober the whole time."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Next, they argued about who should stay behind to guard the corn and who should go out to find a cart, neither wanting to stay in the abandoned house. In the end, they decided by playing rock-paper-scissors.

The next day, Zhuang Lihui went to the supply and marketing cooperative, waving the money and coupons in his hand, and made a big purchase: shoes, cloth, towels, thermos flasks, enamel plates, soap, buckets, sugar, salt, soy sauce...

It completely baffled the salesperson.

Are you here to purchase goods?

All I can say is that Zhuang Lihui didn't have a bicycle ticket, otherwise he would have wanted to ride that bicycle away.

Of course, we can't take all these things out at once when we get back. We have to do it slowly, otherwise we'll scare our second brother half to death and we won't be able to explain it.

Since he has space and is already here, he might as well buy everything he can.

If you need something, just come up with a reason to bring it up; it'll be easier that way.

Actually, you could also buy it at the commune's supply and marketing cooperative, but the selection wasn't as complete, and such a large purchase would attract too much attention in a small place like the commune.

It's different in the county town. Even if he attracts attention, it doesn't matter, since he doesn't come here often and lives so far away.

After two days away, it's time to go back.

Zhuang Lihui ate something and started heading back, hoping to get back to the village before dark.

As they neared the village, Zhuang Lihui couldn't bring himself to do it. He encountered a pair of skinny siblings dragging a piece of wood, exhausted and collapsed on the road. He traded the wood for a few ears of corn.

The two siblings were immediately filled with gratitude.

In this day and age, gratitude is worthless; you can give someone half a bowl of food and they'll kowtow to you.

"Here's what we'll do! From now on, you can trade me wood for corn. No need to haul it out; just pile it up at the foot of the mountain. I'll go over there every two or three days, understand?"

Zhuang Lihui didn't want to give them handouts directly, as that would easily raise ungrateful children. It was better to teach them to make a living with their own hands.

"Understood, thank you, brother!"

……