Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space-Chapter 485 - 371: Approaching

Receiving a letter from her father, Zhou Xiaozheng, Zhou Jiao read the newspapers from some time ago, and instead of being anxious, she became increasingly calm. Many things seemed settled, like a stone dropping from overhead, making her feel grounded.

After she sent a reply to her father, she surveyed the house from the courtyard.

She kept only the basic necessities for life. Everything else, including old items from Professor Liu in the warehouse, was stored away.

Zhang Guoqing came back holding his son and whispered gently into her ear, "Take it slow, we still have a couple of months. Make a list of what we still lack and show it to me. I’ll get it for you."

Zhou Jiao nodded, pulling him into the study, and handed him two densely written sheets of paper.

Zhang Guoqing, seeing many additions to the list, realized it was the result of her adventures with their son. Since the tools of her trade had been confiscated by him, he didn’t bother to revisit the past.

"Besides preparing the fine grains, the most essential is firewood. I’ve been preoccupied with our charcoal and overlooked this. And toilet paper. If there’s anything we can’t be without, it’s that."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiao was startled and quickly said, "Don’t buy fine grains now; it’s the wrong time. Smart people will realize this after the fact. We’re not going to be able to keep anything from our private plot, so we shouldn’t wait for the coarse grains in the backyard before acting. Set a time for us to secretly handle it and tell our parents to give them to others to eat fresh."

As he had seen several reports of exemplary harvests, he knew that grain was becoming increasingly difficult to procure. He had been waiting since last year for this year’s harvest and wouldn’t miss it.

Zhang Guoqing furrowed his brow, thinking deeply. After a long while, he took out a blank piece of paper and began outlining a schedule. Since fine grain couldn’t be bought openly, he would look to the black market and last year’s snakeheads.

Zhou Jiao tapped her finger on the table and said, "There’s another way to buy grain. Hide your identity; I have a potion to help you disguise yourself. Speak less and others won’t notice.

If you’re going to Captain Liu’s, the car’s license plate must be removed. When dealing with the black market and snakeheads, you must disguise yourself and not use any vehicles."

Zhang Guoqing glanced at her suspiciously. She certainly knew how to hide things, no wonder she managed to buy so much stuff when she went out with their son. He had been wondering where she got the courage.

"Hehe... My dad gave me the recipe for the potion, just finished making it. It works quite well."

"Hehe... We’ll discuss these matters more later. We’ll need a day to handle the back courtyard, the contents inside, and the firewood; I’ll find a snakehead for fine grains tonight. At Captain Liu’s, we still need to figure out how to borrow a unit truck, which also takes a day. We’ll need to return the tricycle to Godfather, and just spend a day in the provincial city buying some odds and ends."

Zhou Jiao nodded upon hearing this. At present, this was the most reasonable plan, with details to be filled in later.

After their discussion, Zhou Jiao saw that it was still early, and decided to make dumplings and buns in the kitchen while Zhang Guoqing took their son to Zhao Dashan’s house.

Zhang Guoqing didn’t mention much else, just that he needed to go to the provincial city to pick up some things.

Zhao Dashan was accommodating and directly handed him two keys from a bunch, telling him to remember to bring extra fuel.

His straightforward approach surprised Zhang Guoqing a bit. Immediately, he recalled that today was a rest day, and even those on duty had returned to their farms. It seemed his own plan had to change.

Upon returning home, Zhang Guoqing explained the situation, and Zhou Jiao quickly gathered kitchen items and took their child. She organized a bit and waited with her son at the crossroads for him.

Speeding all the way and not far from the village, they removed the license plate, changed into disguises, and arrived at Captain Liu’s village, stopping again at the warehouse door from before.

Zhou Jiao sat in the car with their son the entire time, while Zhang Guoqing negotiated with Captain Liu.

After more than an hour, several burlap bags were gradually loaded into the back of the car. At the end, miscellaneous fruits and vegetables were also loaded onto the vehicle.

Zhou Jiao watched as Zhang Guoqing handed over four hundred yuan to the other party, pondering what good things might be in those bags. Glancing at the airing field’s rice, she salivated with envy.

Zhang Guoqing got in, waved outside, and drove out of the village for some distance before stopping by the roadside.

He smiled and said, "When Dad came last time, the fine grain was two cents and five, so I directly offered two cents and six. Captain Liu hesitated, but someone beside him agreed first. The other party said, except for the fishing village, it’s just scattered for sale, so selling to anyone is still selling. The rice was just milled this morning, and our timing was just right, not too early or too late. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

One thousand pounds of flour, five hundred pounds of rice, but they didn’t have any more. Just three hundred and ninety bucks altogether. I refused the ten yuan for coarse grain. You can’t be too extreme in everything; it’s bad karma. So I took the excess fruits and vegetables from their village."

"Mm, whatever you decide is fine. Let’s not take any coarse grains. I’ll start putting this away now."

Zhang Guoqing took the son and followed behind Zhou Jiao, observing the surroundings.

The couple continued like this, collecting all the fine grains at two cents and six. Except for a few villages that had just harvested rice, the yield was bountiful.

For around ten villages, Zhang Guoqing spent approximately two thousand yuan. In the end, after calculating with Zhou Jiao, aside from fruits and vegetables and later acquired eggs and duck eggs, the rice and flour amounted to over three tons.

With so much fine grain, it was enough for the family to weather tough times, and the couple was satisfied. Remaining villages were either too far or too remote, so they decided to let them go. Next, they would explore the orchards in K province as suggested by Liu Sanyuan to see what special products they could find.

Nearing the city, the couple again played a family dress-up game.

After trying local specialties and understanding some local conditions,

the vehicle headed towards the rural areas, guided by analyzed information.

The couple knew this was the last good opportunity; once they passed this village, there wouldn’t be another shop. Along the way, when they encountered settlements, Zhang Guoqing began, except for coarse grains, to buy agricultural products and crops at high prices.

As dusk approached, the couple finally succeeded in purchasing two black pigs at double the price. After putting the sedated pigs into a space, they arrived at an orchard.

The orchard was filled with the fragrance of fruits, with apples, grapes, and other fruits hanging abundantly, tempting them, yet no matter how much stock there was, the staff resolutely refused to sell externally.

Encountering a stubborn person, Zhang Guoqing, who had been paving the way with money, felt a headache. He didn’t want to entangle any further and declined the offering of a few rotten fruits from the person.

Under Zhou Jiao’s teasing, he didn’t give up, circling around the villages within a ten-mile-radius. Given the orchard’s scale, he believed each household in the surrounding villages would have a few fruit trees in their yards.

Indeed, Zhang Guoqing’s hunch was correct. In exchange for a few candies, they got information from the kids. He started going door to door, unexpectedly acquiring a hefty amount of eggs.

As the sun set, the sky grew darker. The couple, thrilled at their full harvest, embarked on their return journey.

After returning the truck, in the days that followed, aside from the family returning twice to their old home and making a trip to the provincial city, their life returned to a peaceful and leisurely state.

The densely packed supplies in the space ensured the family wanted for nothing. But Zhang Guoqing and Zhou Jiao understood that the more challenging trials lay ahead.

Once they overcame each hurdle, there would finally be true abundance and stability in their lives.