Chapter 283 – The Return Trip

Half a day later, Zhou Yimin and the others returned to the fishing port. The harvest today was pretty good, over a thousand jin of fish.

Everyone had a good time—well, more accurately, Zhou Yimin had a good time; the others were just along for the ride.

Now that the rice cooker factory had nothing major going on, Zhou Yimin was ready to head back. However, before leaving, he planned to sneak over to the fishing port to stash some more seafood into his store’s inventory.

Tianjin wasn’t short on seafood, but grains were just as scarce—maybe even more so than in the capital.

After all, it was the capital; grain from all over the country was prioritized for the capital. So while the people of the Forty-Nine Walled City also didn’t have enough to eat, cases of starvation were relatively rare.

One night, Zhou Yimin quietly made his way to the fishing port and pulled out a sack of grain.

Grain was the real hard currency—way more useful than money.

“Buying or selling fish?” someone approached Zhou Yimin, handing him a cigarette.

Zhou Yimin was tightly wrapped up and waved his hand, lowering his voice. “Don’t smoke. I’m here to stock up on quality goods.”

At the fishing port, “stocking up” clearly meant buying fish. And using the term “stock up” implied that this guy wanted more than just a little.

The man’s eyes lit up. “What kind of goods? How much? My uncle is the director here at the fishing port—I can get anything you need.”

As for Zhou Yimin’s secretive behavior, he didn’t even bat an eye. He’d seen plenty of this kind of thing and didn’t care to dig into who Zhou Yimin really was.

“Shrimp, crabs, fish—whatever’s good. The more the better.”

Whoa—talk about a bold tone.

“We’ve got the goods. You got the money and coupons?” The man gave Zhou Yimin a once-over.

Zhou Yimin pointed to the burlap sack beside him. “I’ve got this.”

Curious, the man opened it up and found it filled with wheat. The scent of grain wafted out.

He took a deep breath and said, “The wheat’s good. We can trade. But that’s probably no more than a hundred jin. You won’t get that much for it.”

“Who told you I only have this one sack?”

Huh?

The man’s eyes went wide with surprise and delight. He quickly introduced himself, “I’m Wang An. What’s your name, brother? How much wheat do you have? Don’t worry—whatever seafood you want, I can get it for you.”

As long as there was grain, everything else was negotiable.

“Chen Fuhua. I can supply five to six thousand jin.”

Zhou Yimin couldn’t be bothered with collecting it bit by bit. It would be best if they could settle everything in one go.

“Brother, wait here—I’ll go get my uncle.” Wang An was thrilled.

A transaction this big wasn’t something he could handle alone.

“Go ahead. I’ll just look around.”

Wang An hurried off to find his uncle. The fishing port had no shortage of seafood, but seafood couldn’t replace staple food. Eating seafood for one or two meals was fine, but not every day.

Though this was an official fishing port, there was still a night market—kind of like a grey market. The fishing port’s managers turned a blind eye.

Fishermen needed to eat too, and they needed supplies. You couldn’t completely cut off their side trades.

As long as the fishermen completed their fishing quotas, small private trades were tacitly permitted.

Zhou Yimin stopped at a woman’s “stall.”

On it were several baskets—sea crabs, shrimp as thick as three fingers, live grouper, and even a pretty good-looking piece of fish maw.

Everyone knew that fish maw—dried fish bladder—was rich in collagen. Also known as fish stomach or flower maw, it was one of the Eight Treasures, as prized as bird’s nest and shark fin, and nicknamed “ginseng of the sea.”

That stuff was crazy expensive in later generations.

“Ma’am, how much is this?”

“Not for sale. I want to trade for grain,” the woman replied.

As long as it was a trade, even if she got caught, it wouldn’t be a big deal. It didn’t count as speculation. But if she sold it for cash and got caught, that could be a serious offense.

Besides, she really didn’t want money. She needed grain.

Her family had gone without food for three days. Grain was in such short supply now that even with money and ration coupons, you might not be able to buy it. So she just came out hoping to trade.

“I have wheat. How much do you want for this?” Zhou Yimin could tell she was desperate.

The woman was overjoyed and cautiously asked, “Would twenty jin be okay?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Got a bag?”

“Yes!” The woman quickly pulled out a cloth sack, eyes locked on Zhou Yimin’s burlap sack. Was it really all wheat?

My god.

Too bad she hadn’t brought much seafood out tonight. She still had three more pieces of fish maw at home!

Zhou Yimin opened the sack and filled her cloth bag to the brim—no need to weigh it. Anyone could see it was way more than twenty jin.

“Thank you! Thank you so much, big brother!”

“You’re welcome. Head on home! Mind if I keep this basket?” Zhou Yimin pointed at the one holding the seafood.

“No problem! It’s yours.”

What was a basket worth, anyway? She clutched that sack of wheat and walked off, jittery with joy. Wheat was a fine grain—she could trade it for a good amount of coarse grain, enough to feed her family for a while.

She thought: Today, I really met a benefactor.

Her deal drew the attention of nearby stall owners. Seeing someone with wheat trading for seafood, they all rushed over to pitch their goods.

“Comrade, my crabs are top-quality—really fat.”

“My shrimp are huge!”

Zhou Yimin took a glance—yeah, they were definitely big. In modern-day Qingdao, you couldn’t get them for 38 yuan, probably double that.

Very soon, his sack of wheat was gone—traded for a massive haul of assorted seafood.

Just then, Wang An came back, bringing two others with him.

“Brother, why are you trading here? Come on, follow me to the cold storage—guaranteed to impress you.”

Zhou Yimin didn’t stand on ceremony, asking Wang An to help move the seafood over.

Wang An happily obliged and arranged everything right away.

He then led Zhou Yimin into the cold storage. Sure enough, it was full of premium goods. Giant lobsters weighing several jin, crabs as big as plates, abalone the size of a palm, sea cucumbers as thick as a wrist…

People later summarized: the longer the growth cycle, the lower the temperature, the greater the temperature difference—the tastier and more nutritious it was.

“Can you arrange transport for this?” Zhou Yimin asked.

“We can, but the grain…”

“You’ll deliver the wheat while you’re at it.”

Wang An immediately replied, “No problem!”

And just like that, the deal was done. Wang An hauled in several thousand jin of wheat, and his uncle showered him with praise. From their perspective, they’d made a huge profit.

Grain was so precious these days—no way seafood could compare.

Zhou Yimin also felt like he’d scored big.

The next day, he went to say goodbye to the factory director and the other leaders. Naturally, they tried their best to persuade him to stay, promising him a cadre position, housing, and other benefits.

Zhou Yimin said he had grandparents back home he needed to take care of, which left them speechless. After all, it was about filial duty—who could argue with that?

Besides, Zhou Yimin also said they could still exchange ideas on technical matters in the future, so it wasn’t like they were cutting ties.

In the end, the factory sent Zhou Yimin off with a huge pile of local specialties, bidding him farewell with great reluctance.

It seemed readers weren’t that into this part of the story, so it ended in a bit of a rush.

(End of chapter)