Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Zhang Dabiao was amazed by the people's clothing and attire along the way—there were people in suits, many in cheongsams and cardigans, people in Tang suits, and even children in open-crotch pants. There were vendors selling something called "airplane olives"—were they olives? There were people giving shaves to girls on the street, many wearing plaid shirts and floral skirts, and there were vintage cars, rickshaw pullers, jeans, and young people with Elvis-style haircuts wearing work clothes…

The Western-style modern clothing is perfectly combined with the style of the Republic of China. Although it doesn't look very prosperous, it's quite lively, and the atmosphere of everyday life is immediately apparent.

Zhang Dabiao really wanted to take out his phone to take a picture; this was a record of the times.

After strolling around for a while, it was almost noon when Ah Xiang's stomach started growling. He gave an awkward laugh.

Zhang Dabiao asked, "Are you hungry?"

Ah Xiang nodded: "I only ate a bowl of noodles this morning. I just came out to look for work when I saw you, and then I went to Uncle Chen's place, so..."

"Okay, let's go, I'll treat you to dinner."

But when they reached the entrance of a small restaurant, Zhang Dabiao suddenly remembered—

I don't have any Hong Kong dollars!

"Hey Xiang, do you have a place to exchange money around here?"

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This really depends on the locals; Zhang Dabiao was completely clueless.

Ah Xiang is said to be very clever, and he is indeed very clever, because he could tell that there was a loophole in Zhang Dabiao's words as soon as he heard them. But how clever is he?

He believed anything given just a few words of explanation; he wasn't stupid, but rather overly naive.

Zhang Dabiao asked him for help exchanging money, so he took Zhang Dabiao to an old pawnshop on East Street in Shau Kei Wan.

As they walked, they talked, saying that if you wanted to exchange a small amount of money, you could go to the general store at the village entrance and find Uncle Chen, but Uncle Chen only accepted US dollars and Japanese yen. If you wanted to exchange more, you could go to the old pawnshop on East Street, where the owner had a good relationship with Uncle Chen and wouldn't cheat the people in our village.

Also, never go to underground banks or gambling dens. If you don't speak Hong Kong dialect well, they will definitely rip you off.

Even worse, they would double-cross each other, as they had connections with gang members and the gangs would take a cut.

Jewelry and gold shops generally have a good reputation, but they keep records and offer lower purchase prices...

No matter how small the matter, Old Man Chen was convinced that Zhang Dabiao was a villager from his village, so he told him everything.

Upon arrival, the owner, through Ah Xiang's introduction, led them to the second floor of the pawnshop. Zhang Dabiao took out 500 yuan to see how much he could exchange. Since saving 20 yuan, he didn't have much spare money left, and he still owed Xu Damao and He Yushui 500 yuan each.

As for those small yellow croakers, gold and silver jewelry, and antiques, try not to touch them if possible.

Ah Xiang started spouting his cleverness again: "Yao Yang, didn't you say you were from Jinshan? Why are you using mainland currency instead of US dollars?"

Zhang Dabiao was speechless. "Do you have to ask so many questions about everything?"

"I already mentioned that my grandparents came from Beijing, and I'd like to go back to pay respects to my ancestors. Is that alright?"

The pawnshop owner chuckled to himself; he only cared about collecting and exchanging money, and didn't care where you came from.

"Mr. Zhang, Ah Xiang doesn't have any bad intentions, he's just not very bright, just ignore him."

For 60 years, the official exchange rate between RMB and HKD remained stable at 100 HKD to 42.7 RMB. The black market rate fluctuated. In addition, RMB could not be circulated in Hong Kong, so the price was suppressed. Furthermore, some handling fees were deducted under the pretext of "bearing risks," so the actual amount received was about 7% of the official price.

That means 500 RMB was exchanged for 820 HKD. Zhang Dabiao didn't care about this result, as long as he was safe.

After learning more from Ah Xiang, I found out that the villagers of Ah Gong Yan Village mainly make a living by fishing, grow a small amount of vegetables, and rely on the weather for their livelihood. Their monthly income is about HK$30-40.

Low-skilled workers earn lower incomes; for example, paper mill workers earn HK$30 per month, shipyard workers earn HK$80-120, while higher-level managers earn over HK$600.

There are very few clerical jobs available near Shau Kei Wan, and I heard the monthly salary is around HK$100-300.

So the little money Zhang Dabiao exchanged was a lot for farmers and fishermen, but for workers it was only half a year's wages, nothing special.

Zhang Dabiao also inquired about the prices of rice, flour, and cooking oil here—rice was HK$0.6, while imported rice of slightly better quality would be priced slightly higher, around HK$0.8-1 per kilogram.

One Hong Kong pound is equal to 0.6048 kilograms.

Flour 0.65, dried noodles 1, white sugar 0.9, cornmeal not available, only cornmeal, and it was not common in the market, priced at 0.5, because cornmeal was not a mainstream grain in Hong Kong at that time.

Peanut oil and rapeseed oil are priced at 1.9, and refined edible oil is priced at 2.5.

Beef is HK$3.24 per catty (approximately 0.5 catties), and pork is HK$3.82, which is more expensive than beef!

The HK$820 Zhang Dabiao had could buy 1367 Hong Kong catties of ordinary rice, equivalent to 1640.4 jin of Chinese rice, which was the amount of rice Master Qinjiatun was supposed to sell this month, and he could easily complete it.

In fact, grain prices in mainland China are not high, but they cannot be freely bought and sold. The prices on the black market are too expensive, and the transaction risks are too high.

In Hong Kong, things are much easier. There are free markets, and any noodle shop buys hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of goods at a time, so nobody cares what you're buying so much for.

Zhang Dabiao first took A Xiang to lunch. Seeing how ravenously he devoured his food, he realized that the villagers were also having a hard time.

I asked around and found out that although the villagers had village houses, transportation was inconvenient and they didn't have much arable land.

In particular, there are 14 villages near Shau Kei Wan, and Ah Kung Ngam Village is located halfway up the mountain, unlike the fishing villages that are closer to the sea.

Although the living conditions in the huts or wooden houses by the sea are poor, the people living there are fishermen or workers, and they actually earn more than the villagers on the mountainside. The villagers either work in the industrial area or go fishing with the fishermen.

Having enough to eat is no problem, but if you want to eat well, your income is still not enough.

Ah Xiang spends his days going out fishing with the fishing boats, or helping to kill and cook fish, and then returning to the village at night.

As for income, even if you work hard, you can only earn around 30-40 a month.

This is the case for most people in the village; young people come to the industrial zone in the morning to find work and go back home in the evening.

In June of this year, Hong Kong was severely affected by Typhoon Mary. Although there was pressure on the supply of food and agricultural products, there was no serious security crisis. Moreover, the mainland has been exporting to Hong Kong and Macao, and Hong Kong itself also imports staple foods such as rice from Southeast Asia, so there is no shortage of food.

Zhang Dabiao felt a little wistful and didn't know what to say, but this was already much better than the mainland. As long as you were willing to work hard, you could always make a living.

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There was almost a funny incident when paying the bill. The change was 4 cents, and Zhang Dabiao was stunned for a long time. He had never heard of that.

I thought they used the terms "horn" or "hair" here, but I later learned that they use "mosquito" (HKD 1), "hair" (HKD 0.1), and "cent" (HKD 0.01).

In the afternoon, Ah Xiang took Zhang Dabiao to browse through the local convenience stores and traditional shops, and they bought a lot of daily necessities. The house needs to have some life in it, right?

These cost Zhang Dabiao 200 yuan; daily necessities aren't cheap.

Then, when passing by rice shops, pastry and noodle shops, and fish stalls on the street, Zhang Dabiao thought for a moment and decided to buy them all at once.

"Boss, how much is the flour per pound? And the rice?"

"Boss, we have a customer!"