Chapter 20: Black Market Part 1

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhao Xiulan found a hidden place, then she entered the space and looked at the information about the 1960s era.

The 1960s was the period where China had the planned economy system.1计划经济 – Planned economy, also known as command economy or command economy, is an economic system, in this system, the state in production, resource allocation, and consumption aspects, etc., are carried out in advance by the government plan. The “command economy” is usually used in the same way as the planned economy, but if you distinguish it in detail, the command economy refers to an economic system in which the means of production are shared. Therefore, a command economy must be a planned economy, but a planned economy is not necessarily a command economy. In an era when the supply of commodities was extremely scarce, in order to ensure the balance of supply and demand, the state implemented a planned supply of food, clothing, and other necessities for urban and rural residents, and issued the tickets according to the population.

After all, it’s all because of poverty! Supplies are too scarce, unlike in the 21st century, where supplies are abundant. As long as you have money, then you can buy anything.

But not all things require money and tickets. Just like in the black market, these things are not restricted, and some people just give money without tickets.

Some rural people, when their family needs money, they will use the foodstuffs distributed to their family to exchange money on the black market, and the buyer does not need to give any tickets, just give them the money. Foodstuffs can also be exchanged for various scarcity tickets, so in short, people who come here get what they need.

However, because of the lack of supplies, the country does not allow things that are traded in private, and the control is very strict. Once caught, there will be serious consequences. The things on the black market are naturally much more expensive than those normally available for sale.

Even so, in the era of extreme shortage of supplies, people will still go to the black market for foodstuffs. No matter how dangerous things are, it is better than starving to death without foodstuffs to eat. In desperation, who would care so much, being able to fill your stomach is the most important thing!

After roughly understanding it, Zhao Xiulan came out of the space.

Although she has everything in her space, it is somewhat inconsistent with the things of this era and cannot be easily taken out.

She wants money and all kinds of tickets, so she can give it a shot on the black market! Anyway, she has foodstuffs in her space and taking out a little has no effect at all.

***Original translation is from enchantesstranslations.com. Please read it on the translator’s website.

In this era, many people are short of foodstuffs and other things you can eat!

If she takes out some foodstuffs supplies to the black market to exchange them, she should be able to get some money and tickets.

Thinking this way, Zhao Xiulan sneakily took out 10 catties of white flour, 10 catties of rice, and 10 catties of noodles from the space.

She bought all the things in her space originally just to hoard enough supplies. Many of them were packaged in white bags and had no trademarks.

Otherwise, Zhao Xiulan would not dare to take out anything with traces of the 21st century.

After carrying these things in the basket, Zhao Xiulan searched for the black market in the county seat.

There is no way to ask others about the black market, and Zhao Xiulan had never been there before, so she didn’t know the location.

But Zhao Xiulan judged from her own common sense, this kind of thing must not be done blatantly, so if you go to hidden places, you will definitely be able to find the black market and find people you can trade with!

As expected, according to Zhao Xiulan’s judgment, she walked into a small alley and saw several people looking out.

Although the black market is banned, many people have no foodstuff and can’t get by at all, sometimes they have to take risks to get some foodstuffs!

Seeing those malnourished and sickly people with tattered clothes, Zhao Xiulan didn’t bother to ask them.

She wants money and tickets, but she’s worried that they don’t have money or tickets for her to take out the foodstuffs!

Those who come to trade on the black market may not necessarily be able to get money! For those who are desperate, who have no money and no tickets, it is very likely that they will directly grab the foodstuffs when others take them out!

Zhao Xiulan did not discriminate against the poor, but felt that since she came to trade on the black market, the more cautious she must be, the better!

Zhao Xiulan looked for a while, and finally saw a man with gold-rimmed glasses, wearing a black worker’s uniform, and had a somewhat thin figure.