The price of sweet potatoes at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was about one mao and one fen per catty.
On the Black Market, it doubled, to about two mao and two fen.
However, Chen Jianye sold his for two mao and five fen.
His selling price was three fen higher than the market price.
Don't underestimate these three fen.
An increase of three fen on a base of two mao and two fen amounted to a premium of just over ten percent.
People who came to the Black Market to buy grain usually had large families and no grain coupons.
They weren't necessarily nitpicky, but they were certainly frugal.
For the same product, if one stall had a normal price and another had a premium of just over ten percent, the customer's choice was obvious.
But Chen Jianye didn't think his price was expensive.
The sweet potatoes and potatoes grown in the Lingquan Space were different from ordinary ones; he had tasted them himself, and the flavor was excellent.
If it wasn't his first time setting up a stall, he would have considered a premium of twenty percent or even more.
To attract customers, he specifically wrote on the wooden board that tasting was allowed.
Chen Jianye was confident that as long as customers tasted the sweet potatoes and potatoes from his stall, even if the price was a bit higher, they would definitely buy some to try.
The Black Market was bustling with people, most of them mingling in the crowd, using the light from their flashlights to examine the items on the stalls.
Chen Jianye arrived at the Black Market relatively late, so his spot was just average.
But because there were so many people at the Black Market, the first customer soon stopped in front of Chen Jianye's stall.
“How does one taste?”
The voice sounded like a middle-aged man; his head was tightly wrapped in a cloth, leaving only a slit for his eyes.
“Whichever you want to taste, I’ll peel it for you on the spot.”
Chen Jianye pulled out a cleaver from his back.
“Let me taste the sweet potato.”
The middle-aged man said in a low voice.
Chen Jianye took a sweet potato from the basket, peeled it on the spot, then cut off a small piece and handed it over.
The sweet potatoes in the Lingquan Space were very large, roughly the size of two adult fists put together.
With Chen Jianye's method of peeling, he could cut dozens of pieces of sweet potato for interested customers to taste.
“Hmm, your sweet potato is quite interesting, very sweet.”
After tasting the sweet potato, the middle-aged man's eyes lit up slightly.
“Want to buy some?”
Chen Jianye asked with a smile.
“Give me… ten catties!”
The middle-aged man hesitated slightly, then decided to buy ten catties to take home for his wife, children, and elders to try.
Chen Jianye picked up an old-fashioned steelyard, took six sweet potatoes from the basket, and placed them on the tray.
After leveling it with the weight, he showed the middle-aged man the scale on the steelyard: “Ten catties and eight taels, that’ll be two yuan and seven mao.”
“How about we round down the change?”
The middle-aged man haggled.
“I'll give you a potato. If it's good, come back next time. No more haggling.”
Chen Jianye grabbed a potato and put it on the scale.
The middle-aged man paid promptly.
Chen Jianye helped him put the sweet potatoes and potatoes into his cloth bag.
With the first sale made, things went smoothly afterward.
Everyone who tasted the sweet potatoes or potatoes was impressed by them.
Those who bought less took three or five catties.
Those who bought more took thirty catties at once.
One hundred catties of sweet potatoes and one hundred catties of potatoes, in less than an hour, all three baskets were sold out.
Chen Jianye himself was a bit surprised.
Two hundred catties of produce, after rounding down or giving away extras, at two mao and two fen per catty.
He earned forty-four yuan in one hour.
What kind of concept was this?
A third-level Carpentry worker, working six days a week for a month in the factory, only earned forty-three yuan and five fen.
And forty-four yuan was just Chen Jianye's first small attempt.
The Lingquan Space was a hundred meters by a hundred meters, a full ten thousand square meters, totaling 16.7 mu of land.
Chen Jianye only used a very small portion of it to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes.
If half of the land were used to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes, with the Lingquan Space's ability to accelerate crop growth.
‘Two harvests would make me a 'ten thousand yuan household'.’
Chen Jianye shook his head, dispelling this thought from his mind.
Eight mu of potatoes and sweet potatoes would mature every twelve days.
Just watering and harvesting would exhaust him.
Moreover, Chen Jianye always felt that he hadn't fully grasped the true purpose of the Lingquan Space.
The functions discovered so far were already incredibly powerful, enough to meet his daily needs.
“Xiao Xiongdi, I’ll take all your remaining sweet potatoes and potatoes. Can you give me a discount of two fen per catty?”
The voice in front of him pulled Chen Jianye back to reality.
A customer who had tasted the sweet potatoes and potatoes was bargaining, wanting to buy all the remaining stock.
“The price is already very low. I can give you a two-fen discount on the sweet potatoes, making them the same price as the potatoes, two mao and two fen each.”
Chen Jianye thought for a moment and said.
Normally, he wouldn't let others haggle, but now there was only a small amount of leftover stock, and Chen Jianye didn't want to waste more time for a few fen.
The customer who haggled in the end bought all the sweet potatoes and potatoes in Chen Jianye's baskets.
A total of twelve catties, for two yuan and six mao and four fen.
After selling all the produce he brought, Chen Jianye stacked the three baskets together and carried them out of the Black Market.
This time, no one was following him.
After leaving the Black Market, Chen Jianye put his selling tools into his personal space.
He re-entered the Black Market from another spot.
Now he had transformed into a customer.
Chen Jianye bought extensively.
He bought seeds for sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, taro, and other filling crops.
He knew that the great famine was coming soon.
Planting more filling crops would never be wrong.
After that, he bought some vegetable seeds.
After buying the seeds, Chen Jianye's cloth bag on his back was still flat.
He then went to buy meat.
Mainly pork and eggs.
With money in hand, Chen Jianye bought a large piece of fatty pork, and also some beef and mutton.
Since he didn't buy cigarettes, alcohol, or tea, after buying the meat, Chen Jianye tallied it up and found he had only spent a little over twenty yuan.
He couldn't spend it all, simply couldn't spend it all.
With money in his pocket, Chen Jianye was not in a hurry to go back.
He searched for stalls selling chicks and ducklings in the Black Market.
After traversing most of the Black Market, Chen Jianye had to give up.
There really weren't any.
Left with no choice, he bought one adult rooster and four adult hens.
He could only wait for the hens to lay eggs, then cultivate the first generation of chicks in the Lingquan Space.
The five chickens cost Chen Jianye about ten yuan.
He even bought a chicken coop.
Carrying the five chickens, Chen Jianye walked out of the Black Market and found a dark alley to slip into.
Then he entered the Lingquan Space.
He put the chickens back into the chicken coop, threw in a few sweet potatoes and potatoes, and then exited the Lingquan Space.
He wasn't in a hurry to plant the next batch of seeds.
After taking care of the most urgent matters, he strode towards the Siheyuan (Courtyard).
Outside the Siheyuan (Courtyard) gate.
A dark figure leaped, bent his knees, clutched the top of the wall with one hand, and with a nimble flip, landed inside the Courtyard.
Chen Jianye removed his head covering and other concealment gear, and glanced at the sky.
He estimated it was probably around four to five in the morning.
Back home, Chen Jianye tidied up the money he had earned today, washed his face, and lay on the bed.
He could still get some more sleep.
When the sky was fully bright, Chen Jianye opened his eyes.
‘I'm not working today. First, I'll go to my parents' graves to burn money for them, then to the Library.’
Chen Jianye planned his day's itinerary and got out of bed.
A beautiful day began with a hearty breakfast.
The hot lard in the pot made the eggs sizzle softly, and the aroma of eggs mixed with lard diffused throughout the Chen Family home.