"Hey Lao Zheng, is there a market not far from the back wall where we stand?"
It was almost nine o'clock now. After eating, the two of them played chess for more than two hours. When they started to clean up, Li Heng remembered that he had never visited the ghost market before.
"Ah? Erheng, do you want to take a look?"
Of course Lao Zheng knew what kind of market he was asking about. If it was a regular market during the day, there was no need to ask.
"Yeah, it's been twenty days since I've been back. I've heard others say there is a market, but I haven't seen it yet. I plan to go there to broaden my horizons."
"Yes, there is a market about a few hundred meters to the north outside our backyard wall, but if you want to go, you must go there early. The stalls will be scattered around four o'clock in the morning. Another thing is that if you go, you must
Wrap yourself tightly so that others don't recognize you."
"Is there anyone else checking?"
"Let me tell you this, if you just buy and sell some daily needs at home, nothing will happen to you. For example, if you sell the food that you can't finish at home, the price will be the same as in the store. This is absolutely nothing.
But if it specializes in selling all kinds of tickets, then someone will definitely check it. Erheng, are you going to sell something?"
"What are you selling? I just came back and there is nothing for sale. I just want to go around and buy some if I come across something I need."
He really didn't want to sell anything. Although he had a lot of various tickets on hand now, those things were consumables and were gone after they were used, especially those meat tickets. The office issued 2 taels to each household every month.
Two taels, what is this thing enough for?
It's a pity that he doesn't know yet. In two years' time, each household will not be able to guarantee two taels per month, and they will be able to give Amitabha Buddha two taels a quarter and a half a year.
"By the way, Lao Zheng, what are the prices of the things sold in the market compared with normal prices?"
"What's the price?" His question stumped Lao Zheng. He didn't know what to say. He thought for a while and then said: "If you plan to buy tickets, food stamps, meat stamps, sugar stamps, etc. are basically the same as the prices in stores.
It's a one-to-one ratio. If it's a ticket for something big, like a bicycle, a radio, a watch, etc., it's basically one-third to half of the retail price.
There is no final conclusion on this matter, it’s all a matter of your will and mine, and it’s pretty much the same anyway.”
This old man has a good reputation. Isn't he just trying to get votes?
Li Heng nodded thoughtfully, then stood up and helped move the chessboard and stools into the guard room.
"Thank you, Lao Zheng. If I wake up in the morning, I will go there and take a look."
"You can go if you want, but remember what I said, wrap yourself up tightly."
"I know, you should go to bed early."
…
At around two o'clock in the morning, he opened his eyes on time, put on a disguise and went out.
I said it was a disguise, but in fact I just put on a big mask used by hospital doctors, put on a military cap, and then put on my face a pair of plain glasses that I found out when I was helping to sort out the scraps that day. One of the temples still has a little bit.
The problem was fixed by him with tape, so it worked.
In the guard room, when he heard the sound of the door locking outside, Lao Zheng opened his glasses, slowly got up from the bed and walked to the window to take a look outside.
It was dark outside and he couldn't see anything. He turned on the light at the door and walked out of the guard room and looked around to make sure he didn't find anything before returning to the guard room and turning off the outside lights.
The yard fell into darkness again.
After ten or twenty minutes, the door to the guard room suddenly opened. Lao Zheng walked out with a flashlight. He stood at the door and smoked a cigarette before walking towards the stationmaster's office. He usually walked with a limp.
His legs, at this time, behaved just like normal people.
After walking to the door of the office, he knocked on the door first, called Er Heng in a low voice several times, put his ear to the door and listened carefully for a while. When he saw that there was really no movement inside, he took out a key from his pocket.
Opened the door and walked in.
The display in the office was very simple. He didn't move his desk. Instead, he walked straight to the single bed and used his flashlight to shine on a bag that Li Heng had placed on the ground.
First, I used a flashlight to carefully observe the outside. After seeing that there was nothing fishy, I reached out and gently opened the zipper.
The bag was filled with clothes. He reached in and touched it a few times. When he touched a box underneath, he carefully took out the box.
After opening the box, when Lao Zheng saw clearly what was inside, he felt a bit confused. What was inside was a military medal.
This military medal is in the shape of a five-pointed star. The pattern on the front is a red star at the top and the famous city gate tower at the bottom.
On the back is the name of this medal, Medal of So-and-So, Third Class, and the date of 1955.
Seeing this, Old Zheng frowned and reached into his bag again. When his hand came out again, he was holding two red notebooks.
One of them is a certificate accompanying the medal, which contains a photo of Li Heng in military uniform, followed by his name, unit he belongs to, as well as the date of issuance of the certificate, steel seal, certificate number and other personal information.
The other red book is a discharge certificate, and the personal information recorded on it is exactly the same as on the certificate.
Lao Zheng sighed and put the three items back into the bag, zipped it up, carefully restored the bag to its previous appearance, and exited the office.
What he didn't notice was that the zipper puller on the bag originally had two teeth from the top, but now it has three teeth.
…
After Li Heng went out, he walked around the back wall and continued walking north along the path for a while.
He was really shocked when he saw this market.
Why is the ghost market, which has always been mysterious in his mind, not mysterious at all?
How is this different from the daytime market?
Oh, no, there is still a difference. Normally it is during the day, but this is the third shift in the middle of the night, and you have to use a flashlight. The voices of everyone communicating are also relatively soft. Basically, if you don’t get close, you can’t hear others clearly.
What are you talking about.
This kind of ghost market has no organizers or managers and is formed spontaneously by ordinary people.
Basically, what is traded are things that are not allowed to be traded in regular markets during the day.
For example, food, various bills, chickens and eggs raised by nearby farmers, and even meat sold by some people. It is hard to say where the meat comes from. It is even more difficult to say whether there will be any accidents after eating it.
Not allowed anymore.
Li Heng actually came over and didn't really want to buy anything. He was simply curious about the ghost market and wanted to take a look around.
Most people who sell grain want to exchange their own refined grains for coarse grains at a ratio of one to two. These are choices made because there are too many people in the family and there is not enough food to eat.