Chapter 179 Trip to the Black Market

Lu Zhining was delayed because he took several children to the city for medical treatment. By the time he returned, the relief grain had already been distributed, and every village had been marked with a checkmark.

This means that the villages that have been targeted have already been identified, including Liujia Village, which was robbed a few days ago.

Lu Zhining contacted the two team members who had previously investigated Liujia Village. The team member said that no one had notified the village to collect the grain, and not a single person had even left the village. They had specifically asked a few villagers to keep an eye on the neighboring villages, but they had not received any news about collecting the grain in the same way.

Are you sure no one will come out?

“I’m absolutely certain, sir. Including the five nearby villages, no one has left the village in the past few days, except for going up the mountain to find food,” the young soldier who had just returned from the village answered the question seriously.

"I understand. We'll go back and get another cartload of grain and another cartload of seeds. Leave this to me." Lu Zhining's anger had reached a certain level. He had to catch the thief who stole the relief grain, otherwise he would definitely not be willing to go back like this.

"Sir, Silver Ring will stay here with you. We'll be right back." The young soldier saluted, then left with one other soldier behind. (Silver Ring was the code name for a young soldier in the Fierce Tiger Battalion.)

"Commander, what should we do next?" Yin Huan looked at her departing comrade-in-arms and then turned to look at her commander.

“Let’s go take a look around first, see where the black market is. Specialty grains like relief rations definitely won’t be sold in regular stores, so the best way to sell them is through the black market. Usually, the black market is only open at night or around dawn. Let’s find a guesthouse to stay in first, and then come out after dark.” Lu Zhining had never been to the black market before, but he had heard his niece talk about the rules here. He would have to call his niece later.

“Yes, sir. There’s only one guesthouse in this small county town nearby, but if we book a room here with our current attire and identities, it will probably attract attention.” Yin Huan came over first. He knew exactly what shops were around here and where the guesthouse was.

However, since the leader is going to investigate, they cannot alert the enemy and cannot check in under their current identities.

"I understand. Change your clothes and say we're purchasing staff from the steel rolling mill, here to buy things. Wait a minute, I'll make a phone call first..." Lu Zhining needed to have the soldiers who went back to fetch grain go to the steel rolling mill to get a few sticky notes stamped with the official seal, so he could use them when he came here.

Lu Zhining helped Yin Huan change her clothes before taking her to the post office. The town was small, so the post office was a bit cramped, but it still had all the necessary amenities.

After making the call, I found a lot of nice stamps in the glass cabinet on the counter. His daughter and niece both like stamp collecting, so they bought two large sheets of each kind of beautiful stamp and neatly stacked them in a newspaper.

Both of the older girls like these colorful things, and I think they'll like them too. I'll send them over when we get back.

"Commander..."

"Call me section chief, or we'll be exposed..."

"Yes, Section Chief... Section Chief, why are you buying so many stamps?" Yin Huan didn't understand why her superior was buying so many stamps. The stamps they used in the army were different from the stamps outside.

"Oh, I just bought it because it's pretty. My two daughters both love collecting stamps, and they probably don't have stamps this nice, so I bought it for them. It has nothing to do with this mission." Lu Zhining shook the newspaper in her hand to make sure the stamps wouldn't fall out before stuffing it into her pocket.

The two arrived at the guesthouse, but because they had no letters of introduction or proof of employment, they couldn't stay there and had to leave in disgrace.

"Section Chief, there are several dilapidated houses at the end of this street. It's not raining now, so they can provide some shelter from the wind. Why don't we make do there?" Yin Huan had basically figured out this small county town, so he knew exactly where the houses were.

Thoroughly investigating the safety of their location is the first thing they do upon arriving at their target address. Only by figuring it out can they have a backup plan should any unexpected events occur.

After the two finished eating, they went to the dilapidated house at the end of the street. It was winter, and the weather outside was too cold. They were looking for a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Inside, the biting cold wind was blowing through the house as well.

They couldn't stand it for long; the two of them were so cold they couldn't stay still and could only walk back and forth.

"Commander, it's really cold in here. Commander, why don't we go outside for a walk? It's too cold to stay here all the time." Yin Huan couldn't stand the cold any longer and suggested going outside for a walk.

“It’s really too cold for the two of us to walk around. This dilapidated house is too well ventilated.” Lu Zhining did feel cold, after all, the draft was chilly, and the roof was broken, so it could only block the rain and wind when it rained, but it couldn’t block the wind.

Lu Zhining checked the time and found it was only a little past 9 p.m. How many hours had those two been hiding here? But it was too cold, they couldn't stay here any longer.

"Let's go take a look around and see where there's a black market. We'll find something to fix our faces first. Don't just walk in like that; it'll be bad if someone sees us." Lu Zhining felt that they couldn't just openly enter the black market like that; it would be easy for people to recognize them.

"Commander, I have two scarves in my pocket. Take them and use them for now. Oh dear, how could I have forgotten about the scarves?" Yin Huan was carrying two scarves today because his comrade had left them with him while they were moving grain, asking him to keep them safe. He hadn't remembered them when he got cold earlier.

When the commander asked for something to cover his face, he suddenly remembered that he had two scarves in his pocket.

"You idiot..." Lu Zhining wanted to give him a good whack. How could this guy be so stupid?

Not long after, the two people, completely covered up, appeared on the streets of the county town.

It was dark and there were no streetlights. Plus, they were all bundled up so tightly. After wandering around for a while, they found a small alley behind the post office. There was a small black market there, with only a few people going in and out. One of them wandered around for a while and waited for more than half an hour, but no one was selling grain. The two of them thought that there was no hope for the night, so they left the black market. Not long after they left, a man passed by them and quietly asked if they wanted grain.

Lu Zhining's eyes lit up immediately when he heard about the grain. After calming himself down, he asked, "What kind of grain? What's the price?"

"Two yuan, just like the relief grain we received yesterday. It's just that my family has a lot of people, so I wanted to take some out to exchange for money..."

"Oh, how many do you have? I'll take as many as you want. There are quite a few people in our village, and I also want to send some to my in-laws. You know how people in the mountains are. After such a long drought, there's not much left to eat on the mountain..." Lu Zhining started spouting nonsense with his eyes wide open.

“Brother, you’re exaggerating. I have several hundred pounds of this grain. You know, it just arrived yesterday…” The man didn’t quite believe that Lu Zhining could eat so much.