Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 20 Black Market Inspection

After work, Li Weidong went to the place where the black market transaction code was agreed upon to take a look.

Originally, the food in the space would take half a month to mature, but since the space was expanded, it seems to have shortened the time. It used to take a month to mature, but after the expansion, it seems to take half a month. The spring water has also been strengthened a bit, perhaps because of the increased nutritional value. After drinking it, the animals have become more lively, and the time it takes to grow has been shortened by half.

Now the food in the space is ripe, the chickens and roe deer have grown up, and there are more than a hundred flying dragons. Of course, he doesn't plan to sell any of them.

Li Weidong wanted to see if the man had sold out, and then sell him this batch. Then he would buy some antiques and continue to study the reasons for the space's growth.

Of the two places where they had made secret signals, only the one in the willow tree hole was used, perhaps because the grain had not yet been sold. After making the signal in the willow tree hole, Li Weidong returned to the courtyard.

After dinner, Li Weidong took out his notebook and continued to write his work plan as usual. The next step was to make special steel and then make some weapons. After all, they would go to war with India in two years.

Although India turned the war of aggression into a war to defend its capital, the use of advanced weapons can also reduce our army's casualties!

After writing for a while, Li Weidong washed up and went to bed.

At around 11:30, Li Weidong, wrapped tightly, climbed over the wall in the backyard, left the courtyard, and headed towards the agreed location.

When we arrived at the agreed place, we saw two people squatting beside a big willow tree, whispering.

The two men heard Li Weidong's footsteps and looked over.

"Brother, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me!"

As soon as Li Weidong heard the voice, he knew it was the seller who sold the bottle last time.

"What is it this time? Let me take a look first." Li Weidong said.

The seller from last time nodded to the man next to him. The man looked around and made sure it was safe before taking out a plate from his arms.

"Take a look at this. How much is it worth?"

Li Weidong took the plate and shone the flashlight on it, and a slight reflection came over.

He looked it up and down carefully for a long time, and he came to a conclusion:

I don’t understand!
He really didn't know much about antiques. If he hadn't really liked the bottle and it would make the space bigger, he wouldn't have been interested in it.

He doesn't have the interests of collectors who like to collect antiques. He was just an ordinary person in his previous life.

If there really were any antiques, his first thought would be to send them for appraisal and then auction them to pay back the money.

When Li Weidong was looking at the plate, a faint light that was invisible to ordinary people rose from the plate and merged into Li Weidong's body.

Seeing that Li Weidong was slow to speak, the man who took out the plate became a little anxious.

"What do you think?"

His plate wasn't made of gold, so he could only inquire about selling it secretly, but not many people were interested in this these days.

Even if there is one, the price is only a dozen yuan.

You have to know that this plate was stolen from a royal palace. It is a good thing and only costs a dozen yuan. How could he be willing to sell it?

If his family wasn't really struggling to make ends meet, he wouldn't want to sell it.

"You should know the age of this thing."

"Yes, it's said to be an official kiln porcelain from the Song Dynasty, but I don't know what it is exactly."

The man answered honestly.

Li Weidong nodded and looked at the space. It had absorbed the white light and expanded slightly, now only about half an acre. Li Weidong thought to himself, this expansion of the space seems to be related to antiques. I should collect more antiques in the future. I'll go to the black market later to see if there is any gold or gems to see if these two things can make the space larger.

"How much do you want to pay? If it's suitable, I'll take it." Li Weidong said.

The man was a little confused. After a moment's silence, he said in embarrassment: "How about you give me a price?"

"Then it's sixty yuan. Okay, I'll take it." Li Weidong said.

"Okay, okay, it's settled."

The man was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly.

He was already satisfied with selling it for so much money at once. It was better than selling it for just a dozen dollars somewhere else.

"Okay, that's it."

He pretended to take out sixty yuan from his pocket and handed it to him, then said:
"If you have something like this, I'll still buy it, but I still say the same thing. I don't care where it comes from, but it has to be authentic. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, we brothers all know this." said the man who sold the bottle last time.

"What are your names? You can call me Youzi. We will be collaborating often from now on."

"My name is Huzi, his is Erzhuzi, brother Yangzi," said the bottle seller. "Brother Huzi, brother Erzhuzi, our code is still the same, but it's only once a week. I've been a bit busy lately and don't have time to check the code every day. How about we trade on weekends?" said Li Weidong.

"Sure, Brother Yangzi." Hu Zi said.

"Okay, that's it for today." Li Weidong said, nodded to the two of them, and left.

Li Weidong left the place of transaction and did not return to the courtyard, but went to the black market.

The black market was a bit more crowded at night than the last time I was here. Life was tough these days, and most people who came to the black market were probably buying food. It was already the second half of the month, and everyone's food rations were almost gone. If they didn't have enough, they would buy some food from the black market to make it through until the next month when their food coupons were issued.

They were all walking around with flashlights in their hands, looking a bit scary.

Li Weidong walked along the way with a flashlight, stopping and looking to see if there was any gold, antiques, jade or anything like that.

After walking around and not seeing anything for sale, Li Weidong was about to go back when he suddenly saw a familiar figure. He just felt a little familiar but couldn't remember who it was. Li Weidong took a few steps forward and heard a voice. Only then did he realize it was Liang Ladi!
Even though Li Weidong only met Liang Ladi once after he came back, he would not make a mistake based on his memory enhanced by the space.

Liang Ladi was buying coarse grains, and coincidentally, the person who sold her the coarse grains was the same person who bought the grains from Li Weidong.

Li Weidong didn't intend to intervene and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a chaotic sound of footsteps in the distance. It turned out that they were being inspected.

Li Weidong thought about it and decided to notify them. After all, one of them would need to sell him food in the future, and it would not be easy for the other one as an orphan and a widow.

Li Weidong walked quickly in front of the two people, startling Liang Ladi and the grain seller, who thought they had run into troublemakers.

"I'm here to check." Li Weidong said softly.

After Li Weidong finished speaking, he walked into the alley next to him.

Liang Ladi and the grain seller were stunned for a moment, then came to their senses. The grain seller quickly packed up his things, gestured to two people not far away, and entered the alley where Li Weidong had entered.

Liang Ladi hurriedly followed her in when she saw this. She had already given the money but not the food.

After a while, the two people next to him also entered the alley.

As the two men entered the alley, they heard someone shouting from the black market: "The red armbands are coming, run!"

The two of them quickly ran into the alley.

The man selling grain heard the sound from the black market and ran quickly to catch up with Li Weidong.

"Brother, thanks."

"No need, it's sold out, just don't forget to mark it!" said Li Weidong.

"Oh, it's you, brother! Thank you! Don't worry, I won't forget you." said the grain seller.

At this time Liang Ladi also came forward.

"You haven't given me my food yet!"

"I'm sorry, I just came to check. There's nothing I can do. If I don't run, I'll probably end up in jail. Let's walk a little further and I'll get it for you. It's not safe here either." said the person who was buying food.

Li Weidong suddenly heard two footsteps running towards him.

"Someone's coming, two!"

"Brother, it's okay, he's mine."

As they were talking, the two figures became vaguely visible.

"Let's go and get out of here first." Li Weidong said.

Li Weidong led them through many twists and turns until they reached Qianmen Street, where they heard no more patrols. Why was the inspection so strict this time?
In fact, what Li Weidong didn’t know was that this major inspection was really related to him. The quality of the supplies he provided to the grain seller last time was very good.

An old lady bought some grain from a vendor and made a bowl of rice porridge for her grandson. The grandson had been coughing a lot recently, and after drinking the porridge, his coughing stopped and he felt more energetic. She then sent the rice she had bought to her daughter's home.

His son-in-law was a small official in the Grain Bureau. When he saw the rice, he realized something was wrong. The rice was of excellent quality, so he took the rice and reported it to his superiors.

The leader checked and found that our country does not have such good quality products! Could it be that there are enemy agents trying to corrupt us and sabotage us?

That’s why we have this major inspection!
"It's okay here, there are no patrols. Be careful, the scale of this inspection is a bit large!" said Li Weidong.

Liang Ladi looked at Li Weidong deeply.

The grain seller quickly weighed the grain for Liang Ladi, said hello to Li Weidong, and left with his two brothers.

When they walked away, Li Weidong was wondering why Liang Ladi didn't leave when he suddenly heard a "beep, beep" sound.

He made a hushing gesture to Liang Ladi and closed his eyes to listen carefully.

After listening for a while, Li Weidong confirmed that the sound came from the next yard.

(End of this chapter)