The Black Market

But he continued, "Come with me, my shop is nearby."

With that, without waiting for her reaction, he led her through several winding alleys into a secluded one.

At this moment, Du Yue Rao noticed that the man's left leg limped slightly.

The surroundings became increasingly desolate, and she felt more and more uneasy. Where was this person taking her?

At a bend, she thought it was a dead end, but unexpectedly, after passing through the alley, the scene before her eyes suddenly brightened, revealing a bustling market unlike anything she had seen.

There were many street stalls here, with long lines of people in front of each one.

Du Yue Rao thought for a moment and immediately understood that this man had brought her to the legendary black market.

Her heart pounded with excitement, but her face remained calm as she carefully observed her surroundings.

The people on the street were all heavily veiled.

She also followed suit, taking out a scarf from her basket to cover her face.

The man walking ahead explained to her, "I have some standing here. If you need anything in the future, just come find me. Whatever you want to buy, I'll give you the best price."

Du Yue Rao nodded.

They walked to the end of the street, where the man entered an abandoned shop and cleared a clean corner for her to sit.

She recalled that in this era, marriages valued three major items, all of which had to be bought in department stores and required coupons, which were not easy to obtain.

Therefore, people were more willing to spend money buying goods from the black market.

And in her spatial dimension, the most abundant item was watches.

Genuine Shanghai brand watches.

The man took a wad of money from a cabinet. As he handed her the money, he said, "My name is Feng Lei. You can just call me Xiao Feng. If you need anything in the future, just say so. I'll treat you like family, and I'll do my best to help you with anything."

Du Yue Rao nodded, then deliberately lowered her voice and asked, "Are Shanghai brand watches selling well here?"

"Those are rare goods. I only get three a month. If you want one, come find me at the beginning of next month, and I'll save one for you."

Xiao Feng rolled up his sleeve, revealing a Shanghai brand watch on his wrist.

"If you're in a hurry, you can take this one of mine. It's genuine."

Du Yue Rao admired the watch on his wrist, unable to hide her joy.

She was certain it was the exact same type of watch she was storing in her spatial dimension.

She maintained a calm demeanor, lowered her voice, and said, "Xiao Feng, I didn't come to buy a watch, but to sell one."

Feng Lei's eyes widened, "You have this too!"

Du Yue Rao nodded, "I have an acquaintance who works in a watch factory..."

The underlying meaning was self-explanatory.

Feng Lei grinned, showing all his teeth.

"You truly are my noble person. Bring out as many as you have, I'll buy them all at the highest market price."

Du Yue Rao smiled and nodded, agreeing with Feng Lei that she would bring him ten Shanghai brand watches at the beginning of next month.

Leaving the black market, she found a secluded corner to count the money Feng Lei had given her. It totaled five hundred and thirty yuan.

Suddenly becoming a "tycoon," Du Yue Rao still felt a bit unaccustomed, so she quickly wrapped the money carefully in cloth.

Now that she had a stable sales channel, the family's financial worries were temporarily put aside.

Leaving the black market, she went straight to the post office.

Not long after the original owner arrived in Qing Yuan Village, her parents were also transferred to Xi Bei for labor reform, living a difficult life with almost no economic resources.

Despite this, the Du family still loved the original owner very much, sending her money every month.

It was a pity that the original owner was too greedy, not only ungrateful but also complained that it wasn't enough.

Her father angrily cut off her living expenses and didn't contact her for half a year.

Now Du Yue Rao was not short on money, so sending some money back to her family was the right thing to do. In modern society, she was an orphan with no relatives, so she cherished the rare family members she had in this era even more.

Fearing that it would arouse suspicion from her family, she didn't send too much, only putting one hundred yuan in the envelope, along with a letter reporting her well-being.

Additionally, she wrote another letter to her older brother, Du Ruo Hui, informing him about their parents being sent to Xi Bei.

Her older brother, Du Ruo Hui, had gone to work. His specific job was unclear. This time, he had been gone for six or seven years, and besides letters, there was no other way to contact his family.

She felt he had the right to know about this.