Upon hearing that question, Jinhua was stunned for a moment, and then responded, “Nowadays, how can there be any other way to get foodstuffs?
“When dividing the provisions, everyone has something to eat, which can help us go through. When the spring comes, we go to the mountains to dig some wild vegetables to live! It can always fill your stomach!
“However, since the beginning of last year, the whole country suffered from natural disasters and the foodstuff production has dropped sharply, making life even more difficult for everyone!
“The days of our production team are relatively good. The people in the production team are diligent and do a lot of work. The foodstuff harvest is more than that of other production teams. In addition, the team leader also has foresight and adequate food reserves. I heard that in some places, half of the people in the whole village have starved to death!
“Not to mention wild vegetables, even the tree barks and roots are good!
“Some of them really have nothing to eat, so they go to eat Guanyin soil.1观音土 – Guanyin soil or sweet clay, now called as kaolin – A kind of white clay, which is often used by disaster victims to satisfy their hunger in famine years, and can relieve temporary sleepiness, but if it is taken too much, it will coagulate the colon, which can lead to death. Also known as “Guanyin Powder”. After eating it, they couldn’t digest it, and in the end, they were suffocated to death. So, nowadays, it’s so hard to get some foodstuff! How can there be other ways to get something to eat?!”
Xiulan listened to Jinhua’s words. She thought about it and remembered that she was caught in the three-year Great Famine era. In the past few years, foodstuffs were scarce across the country and many people died of starvation.
If I want to go out to get foodstuff and anything to eat, where can I get it?
Jinhua said a few words before continuing to cut the hogweeds. Xiulan had a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
After Jinhua left, Xiulan looked through the information in the space.
It was indeed difficult to obtain foodstuffs at this time, but it was not impossible to go to the black market. There were many people who bought things on the black market. As long as you had money, you could buy foodstuffs, clothes, and other things.
But for ordinary country people, it was useless and the foodstuffs in the black market couldn’t be bought at all.
It was not because of the limited supply, but the prices were actually very high. A few dimes of foodstuffs would be multiplied several times in the black market.
***Original translation is from enchantesstranslations.com. Please read it on the translator’s website.
Who among the ordinary country people could have so much money in their hands?
Furthermore, the country did not allow anyone to do this kind of business. Otherwise, if you get caught, you will be charged with speculation and profiteering and you would go to jail.
Unless you really had to, a few people would take the risk of going to the black market.
Xiulan looked through this information and was overjoyed.
Since there was a black market, then it would be easy to handle things now.
There were a lot of supplies in her space, so maybe she could flip a little over, and then exchange them for what she needs.
It seemed that she had to find a chance to take a trip to the county seat.
There was no black market in the countryside and she estimated that she could only find a black market in the county seat, so she had to look for it.
Xiulan guarded the oxen until noon, and there was only one wowotou given from the production team.
She disliked that the wowotou was too nauseous and unpalatable, so she simply threw it into her space.
There were other things to eat in her space, which she could take out and eat anyway.
However, when eating, she was very cautious and only dared to eat after confirming that there was no one around. The good food she ate couldn’t be discovered by others.
She took out a carton of pure milk, grabbed a cake with one hand and ate it. After eating it, she also grabbed a grilled sausage, which was fragrant and greasy.
After gobbling it up, her empty stomach was full at that moment, so she felt a lot more comfortable.
These things she ate were rare in this era, especially the grilled sausages. It was definitely a very luxurious thing to be able to eat meat at this time when there was an ongoing famine.
After eating like a thief, she tidied up and continued to herd the oxen.
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