Siheyuan, my new life

There were no guards or toll collectors at the entrance of Guijie Street, which obviously meant that there was no organizer behind this ghost market. It was spontaneously formed by people who made a living in the ghost market. Similarly, there were no thugs responsible for maintaining order like in other ghost markets. Compared to those organized black markets, Guijie Street was even more chaotic and disorderly. Even Guo Yongping, who was setting foot on Guijie Street for the first time in his life, could tell at a glance that on this street, which was more than two miles long, many suspicious-looking people were constantly looking around. Unlike the people who were checking the goods on the stalls on both sides of the street, these people's eyes were fixed on the people next to them who were bargaining in hushed tones.

According to Section Chief Zhao Xiangdong, many people had tried to get their hands on Guijie Street, a large black market trading place. It was believed that once someone completely controlled Guijie Street, it would be like having a golden goose that kept laying golden eggs. As a result, several powerful groups had tried to get their hands on it, but in the end, all of them failed.

Due to its unique location at the intersection of urban and rural areas, Guijie Street enjoys convenient transportation from all directions. In particular, dozens of alleys of varying lengths are scattered along both sides of the street, forming a network of interconnected alleys. Whenever law enforcement agencies are conducting a sweep, the vendors and customers on Guijie Street immediately dart into the alleys and then escape to the city or countryside through the extensive network of alleys.

According to Section Chief Zhao Xiangdong, the Beixinqiao Subdistrict Office, the police station, and even the Dongcheng Branch Bureau, where Guijie Street is located, have launched cleanup operations against this large black market more than once, but each time the results have been minimal.

To completely clear out Guijie Street, a large amount of force must be deployed to form an impenetrable encirclement from the outside. Then, a large number of police officers must be dispatched to clean up and search every alley from the outside in. However, to realize this plan, at least several thousand law enforcement officers would need to be deployed. The Dongcheng Branch Bureau obviously cannot accomplish this task. Even if the Municipal Bureau organizes it, it would probably be quite difficult.

The reason why the Municipal Bureau did not organize a large number of police officers to carry out a crackdown on Guijie Street is actually related to the vendors who set up stalls on Guijie Street.

Those who managed to survive the war-torn years were almost never simple people, especially the stall owners who had survived for years in a place like Guijie, a place teeming with all sorts of people.

Although there is no unified organizer on Guijie Street, most of the stall owners are seasoned veterans who have been setting up stalls here for many years. In order to maintain the survival of Guijie Street, these stall owners have spontaneously formed a loose alliance. These experienced veterans have privately formulated a set of rules for Guijie Street, strictly prohibiting the sale of certain sensitive items. For example, firearms and ammunition are absolutely not allowed to be sold on Guijie Street. Even if there are outsiders, these stall owners will try their best to drive them away. For those who are stubborn, they will even work together to subdue them and secretly hand them over to the Beixinqiao Police Station.

As for the Buddhist monks on Guijie Street, they must also abide by a rule: they can make money here, but they absolutely cannot kill or rob, otherwise they will be targeted by these stall owners.

Of course, what happens outside the Guijie area is none of the business of these stall owners. Therefore, although it is often heard that people who buy things from Guijie are robbed on their way back, such things have not happened on Guijie itself. At most, some people who come to buy things have their pockets picked by the Buddha. The stall owners can only turn a blind eye to such things and say that the people who are robbed are just unlucky.

Suppressing his excitement, Guo Yongping followed the example of the others and stepped directly into Guijie Street.

As he slowly strolled forward with the flow of people, Guo Yongping sighed to himself. This was the first time in his life that he had set foot in a black market. Although he had seen many introductions to the ghost market in the capital on the internet and read some novels related to it, only by stepping into this place in person could he feel that eerie atmosphere.

The street was lined with shops bearing signs that read "Mast Factory." Several shops had a finished coffin displayed in front of them. The vendors on Guijie Street laid out cloths on the ground in front of these coffin shops and displayed their goods on them. To ensure customers could see their items clearly, each stall had a lamp called an "oil lamp that kills with its dim light." The dim light, combined with the coffins behind them, made the scene even more eerie and terrifying.

Perhaps in order to be able to escape in time in case of an accident, most stalls only have a few samples on display. For example, the stall owners selling grains will put some flour, rice, cornmeal and corn flour in porcelain wine cups, the stall owners selling eggs will put an eggshell in a porcelain wine cup, and the stall owners selling chickens and ducks will put a few chicken and duck feathers on a cloth with stones. Only the stalls selling pork will have a cutting board and a piece of boneless pork on a cloth.

After agreeing on a price with the stall owner, customers who want to buy something will have someone bring out the item from a back alley, then pay and take the goods.

In just a short while, Guo Yongping had already seen several deals successfully completed. As he walked from one end of the street to the other, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. There were two or three hundred stalls on both sides of the street, displaying a wide variety of items, from old clothes to old pots and pans, bolts of various fabrics and silks to all kinds of furs, bronzes, porcelains and jades with a distinct earthy smell, and some exquisite antiques and cultural relics, from second-hand bicycles to second-hand radios and watches, as well as six or seven pork stalls and twenty or thirty grain stalls.

Guo Yongping didn't plan to continue strolling around, nor did he need to compare prices. He figured the stall owners on Guijie Street had already agreed on a price, and the prices of their goods were basically the same.

So Guo Yongping went to a pork stall. He had already carefully compared the pork at the other stalls, and this one was the freshest.

With Guo Yongping's current physical condition, he could hear everything clearly, even though both the buyer and seller had lowered their voices. So he approached the stall owner, who was also wearing a cotton coat and had his face covered, and whispered, "Excuse me, I want two pork hocks, fifty catties of pork belly, and two spare ribs."