Chapter 238 | Chapter 239 | Chapter 240
Chapter 238: Gao Ming
Boss Tang was driving toward the experimental farm on the outskirts.
The last time he had seen Gao Ming was after Labor Day. At that time, Gao Ming had been as thin as a bamboo pole, and he had only gotten thinner since. Boss Tang had initially hoped he would behave himself inside, but after that one visit, he was genuinely afraid the man wouldn’t survive his time there.
After much deliberation, he had spent a fair amount of points and called in quite a few favors, finally succeeding in having Gao Ming’s time in rehabilitation end early.
Seeing that he would be coming out soon, the visitation process this time was much simpler. Boss Tang waited in the reception room for a while before seeing Gao Ming shuffle over with slow, dragging steps.
Close up, one could clearly see his swarthy face and sunken cheeks. With his brows drooping, his entire face lacked even a hint of vitality—how could this be a man in his thirties or forties? Instead, he radiated the weary, twilight air of an old man.
“Gao Ming.” Boss Tang hurried over. “Are you still working?”
“Mm,” Gao Ming nodded.
Their offenses weren’t considered particularly grave, so the work assigned to them wasn’t overly heavy. It was just…
“There’s a guy named Kang Hongliang. We were caught together back then. Remember how he was tasked with cleaning up the five-meter root systems of those mutated foxtail grasses he’d stolen and planted?”
Gao Ming said slowly, “Those foxtail grass roots can now store water if induced, but when we were planting them, we accidentally planted two failed specimens. Before we knew it, they started boring into the ground again.”
So, they hadn’t been able to tend to their original duties and had spent the last two days digging up soil, pulling weeds, and yanking out roots nonstop.
Boss Tang felt a pang of heartache. Seeing the two of them together was like seeing the “Fat Monk” and “Thin Monk” from a classic martial arts novel—one could tell at a glance who was living comfortably and who was suffering.
Especially since Gao Ming had once been a wealthy young master who spent his days tending to flowers and plants, and even after the cataclysm, he had dedicated himself to studying mutated organisms—he used to get breathless just walking an extra two meters, yet now he was in such a dilapidated state…
“Sigh!” Boss Tang sighed, but since visitation time was short, he went straight to the point: “Do you remember the little girl who raised Ketaro? She wants to buy a car. I’m here today to ask if you’re willing to sell yours.”
Gao Ming hesitated for a moment.
If he sold the car, it wouldn’t be as convenient to go out and procure raw materials after he was released. But if he didn’t sell it, he would be penniless upon leaving.
He raised his eyes. Beneath those drooping brows, his gaze was extraordinarily sharp, as if a surging volcano were locked within that shell. Boss Tang sighed with emotion: “Why don’t you just sell it?”
He spoke frankly: “I really don’t think it’s safe for you to be driving around buying all sorts of miscellaneous things. Why don’t you sell it? If you need a car, I have one.”
“I’m not just selling it to anyone, it’s for Xiao Yu. You know, those two goose eggs and Ketaro are currently in the young girl’s hands, and she can pay the full price.”
Mentioning Ketaro and the goose eggs, a radiance gradually appeared on Gao Ming’s face. “Is Ketaro well? It’s a miracle those two goose eggs could hatch. It’s been several months now; how are they growing?”
Boss Tang thought for a moment. “Ketaro is doing great. It spends every day in the wilderness happily rolling balls; I heard it wasn’t happy during the days it rained because it couldn’t work.”
“As for the two goose eggs… I’m not sure. I just know they’ve hatched, and judging by how Huai Yu acts, she’s probably taking good care of them.”
Gao Ming relaxed slightly. After a moment of hesitation, he asked: “Both Ketaro and the geese need a spacious environment. Does she live in a villa?”
It was rare for him to be so curious about a stranger. Boss Tang naturally told him everything he knew. “No, the young lady has had a hard time. At first, she even tried to bluff me, making me think she was a child from some extraordinary family… but I figured it out eventually.”
“I haven’t actually visited where she lives, but she told me herself that it’s in the outermost suburbs, not far from the District 69 Defense Army camp.”
Boss Tang had heard as much, but he couldn’t help but think that it was certainly remote enough. No wonder Ketaro could stay there and have so much energy every day!
Gao Ming was thoughtful.
After a moment, he nodded to Boss Tang: “Sell the car. You set the price.”
“When I’m out, can you find a way to apply for a plot of land for me? Somewhere remote, empty, a place where no one else will come.”
He emphasized: “Just like where this Xiao Yu lives.”
Boss Tang nodded. “Sure!”
The official land allocation period had passed, so getting a transfer was difficult, to say nothing of Gao Ming’s request, which was clearly aimed at the middle of nowhere.
However, the benefit was that since the middle of nowhere was neither safe nor convenient, there shouldn’t be much resistance to a swap; he might even get a larger plot. Later, if he messed around on his own land, he wouldn’t affect any neighbors.
Boss Tang quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind and, finding no major issues, felt relieved.
The visitation ended, and he had intended to return to the shop to wait for Huai Yu’s next visit to tell her the good news. But as soon as he got into his car and looked at the communicator on his wrist, he froze:
“Almost forgot, I can make calls and send messages now.”
He started the engine, passing on the good news while on the road:
“Xiao Yu, the car can be sold. I’ll send it out for a final maintenance check; if there are no issues, you can come by tomorrow.”
Huai Yu was still sitting in the car, clutching the heavy jars. When the communicator buzzed, she didn’t react at first, and it took a long while before she excitedly tapped the message to check it—
“Brother Zhou Qian!”
She twisted her body excitedly in the passenger seat, itching to unbuckle her seatbelt and jump around the truck. “Boss Tang said his friend is willing to sell it!”
“If everything goes smoothly, we could have a car by tomorrow!”
She looked at Chen Xing, who was driving, and seeing her equally surprised expression, Huai Yu sighed: “If only we’d known sooner; that would have saved Sister Chen Xing from driving all this way to help us haul our goods.”
Driving herself and selling vegetables whenever she wanted—how wonderful would that be!
They could even deliver fresh vegetables to the city every single day, never again worrying about the distance or goods spoiling. It would also save them from the layers of processing required to make dried or pickled vegetables at home during the summer.
How wonderful!
Chen Xing laughed. “If I’d told you sooner, I wouldn’t have needed to drive here, but… have you saved up enough money for the car?”
Huai Yu: …Well, there was indeed still a gap.
She turned her head to look at the jars and vats in the back of the truck, then glanced at the silent Zhou Qian, suddenly recalling a grave issue:
“The car… I don’t know how to drive!”
At these words, Zhou Qian was the first to burst into laughter. “You finally remembered the key point!”
Honestly, Huai Yu hadn’t asked in so long, and her tone about the car had been so calm, that Zhou Qian had really thought she had it all figured out!
Chapter 239: Steady Progress
Huai Yu hadn’t initially thought of that.
After all, ever since she came down from the mountain, she had been farming, cooking, and building houses… so learning to drive felt like it should have been a given.
Yet, once the time finally came to buy a car, she sat in the passenger seat watching Chen Xing drive for ages and couldn’t find even a shred of familiarity.
This was quite embarrassing.
“Um… nowadays, do you still need a driver’s license?”
Chen Xing burst into laughter. “You do, but there are no driving schools. Besides, if you know how to drive, no one is going to check for one anyway.”
Huai Yu breathed a sigh of relief. “Then I should be able to do it; I just need to practice—Brother Zhou Qian, you know how, right?”
Zhou Qian was torn between laughing and crying. “Forget it. Just stick to selling your vegetables for now.”
Huai Yu’s train of thought tended to lean toward that of a child, easily led astray, and she was instantly brimming with spirit again. “This time, we’ll definitely make a killing!”
After all, their labor was so valuable—washing, drying, rubbing, and pickling—if they didn’t make a good profit, how could it be worth it?
However, if they didn’t earn much, Huai Yu decided she might as well just deliver the vegetables to Boss Tang by car in the future.
She was hedging her bets, but Zhou Qian was a through-and-through expert at saving money, so he reminded her: “It’s better to process them before selling them, because fuel costs are too expensive to make daily deliveries.”
Huai Yu realized it in an instant: The fuel was priced at astronomical rates!
Chen Xing, listening to the two of them plan their lives back and forth, couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy. “That’s so nice. It feels like your lives are completely free of worries.”
“We still have a few,” Huai Yu said modestly. “Sister Chen Xing, do you want to live with us? There’s a plot of land there that hasn’t been taken yet.”
For a split second, Chen Xing was genuinely tempted, but then she asked: “Then what do you do every day?”
Huai Yu thought for a moment. “In the morning, I cook, tidy up the house, and do the laundry, while Brother Zhou Qian tends to the vegetable garden.”
“At noon, I cook and wash the dishes, and Brother Zhou Qian rests.”
“In the afternoon, we process the vegetables, or I do it while Brother Zhou Qian works the garden.”
“In the evening, we eat dinner and rest.”
“Wow, our days are so fulfilling!” Huai Yu concluded.
Chen Xing fell silent for a moment, then gave a precise evaluation: “That sounds so boring.”
People had completely different personalities. While she feared the dangers of the wilderness, she also loved the excitement and sense of achievement it offered. She politely declined Huai Yu’s invitation: “I couldn’t live that kind of life. I’d be so bored I’d be picking at my feet.”
Huai Yu wasn’t disappointed. “Everyone likes different things! I really like this life; it’s so quiet and so free—Brother Zhou Qian, do you like it?”
Zhou Qian smiled. “I’ve long since grown accustomed to this rhythmic way of life. Regularity and safety are very precious to me.”
If an explorer’s journey into the wilderness was called an adventure, for them, it was walking onto a battlefield. Aside from war fanatics and those single-mindedly pursuing strength, no one would want to constantly live in the throes of life-and-death combat.
At that moment, Zhou Qian looked at the scenery rushing past the window and said in a low voice, “I, too, find this kind of life very happy.”
Chen Xing caught his reflection in the rearview mirror, and a sense of envy gradually rose in her heart—in this day and age, finding a happy home was, in itself, a very happy thing.
Even if there was only one person in that home, it was still happiness.
She composed herself, steering the car expertly onto the road, and said to Huai Yu, who was struggling to hold onto the large jar: “Don’t worry, Zhao Feiyan is quite wealthy. If your products suit his taste, he’s very generous, too.”
…
Don’t let the name “Zhao Feiyan”—which sounded delicate enough to dance on the palm of one’s hand—fool you; he was actually a fairly rugged and boisterous middle-aged man. The entire [Bai Zhao Subsidy] company, from its name to its atmosphere, was a perfect match for his personal image.
“So… where on earth did he find such a glittering, golden place?”
Chen Xing laughed. “It was renovated later—this was his territory before. Most of the team under him are his former employees. Can you tell what this place used to be?”
Huai Yu looked up at the golden-yellow decoration style and the incredibly spacious, lavish lobby. The lobby was chaotic, with people playing cards, taking naps, reading books, and some riding children’s bikes, whizzing past…
There was nothing else to it—it was just bustling and packed with people.
Huai Yu looked at Chen Xing again and sincerely suggested: “Sister Chen Xing, why don’t you just work for this team for now? This company is much larger than your previous one; you should learn more about their management experience!”
Chen Xing couldn’t keep a straight face. “They organized their teams right at the start of the cataclysm, pulling in their own employees. I was just fighting on my own; it’s normal for my growth to be slower. It’s all about steady progress!”
Huai Yu instantly felt a wave of sympathy: “But now you’re progressing steadily all on your own…”
Chen Xing: …That hurt!
Before they could continue, the moment one foot stepped into the lobby, the young guys napping on either side instantly stood at attention and shouted at the top of their lungs: “Two VIPs, slippers to the right—”
Huai Yu: “…” Although she had lost her memories, why did this scene feel so familiar?
Zhou Qian couldn’t help but let out a “pfft,” then hurriedly coughed into his fist: “Um… a bathhouse?”
Chen Xing nodded. “Mm! The famous, luxurious Qinyuanchun Bathhouse in Flower City was opened by Zhao Feiyan!”
“Look at this renovation; I heard he spent a fortune back then, otherwise it wouldn’t have held up so well.”
It truly was good; six years had passed, and the gold lacquer overhead was still sparkling!
Huai Yu couldn’t help but feel envious. “With such a luxurious place, I think he could make money if he opened it up as a bathhouse again in the winter.”
Now, households had no electricity and were reluctant to burn water for hot baths, and it was uncertain if solar water heaters could be re-installed by winter. Bathing was certainly a troublesome affair.
If there were a public bathhouse…
“Hahahaha!” A boisterous laugh erupted from nearby. A short, muscular, swarthy middle-aged man walked out. Seeing Huai Yu, he couldn’t help but laugh: “Little lady, I knew you weren’t an ordinary person when I saw you at the highway station!”
“Look at you now, even more extraordinary! Your idea matches mine perfectly!”
“Electricity is too expensive, and solar power can’t keep up with that much demand. I’m planning to hire a group of people to boil the water outside and pipe it directly in… I just haven’t finished the market research yet. You tell me, how many points should a bath cost per person?”
He rubbed his chin, truly thinking about it seriously, and he had clearly considered a lot:
“And then there’s the milk-rubbing, salt-scrubbing, and exfoliation—it’s hard to price that!”
“What kind of services did you ladies like in bathhouses back in the day? I’m planning to do saunas for detoxing! These past few years, eating all the random junk we’ve had to, I feel like I’m about to get depressed.”
“Sigh! I have so many brothers to feed; I wonder if I’ll lose money on this!”
Chapter 240: Jars
Zhao Feiyan appeared genuinely troubled, as he truly loved his bathhouse venture.
He also had a very good impression of Huai Yu—the little girl looked slim, fair, and clean, the type who could be pinned down with a single slap, yet the way she had lunged and then generously tossed out thousands of points that night had, to be honest, left a deep impression on him!
In particular, he remembered that the girl had a sweet tongue!
Otherwise, why would he have agreed so readily the moment Chen Xing mentioned pre-ordering dried rations?
But, after finishing his business pitch, he still had to lay his terms out clearly—
“Who was it again—Huai Yu, right? Let’s get this straight first! We at [Bai Zhao Subsidy] are not short on money, and everything we use has to be top-quality. The pickled vegetables must be top-tier, too. Any of that mutated meat you scavenge from our team’s supply? Not a single shred of it is allowed in the vegetables!”
He waved a hand, and the two greeters at the front door immediately crossed their arms, revealing their thin but toned muscles. “Hah!”
“See that?” Zhao Feiyan looked quite imposing. “If you try to cut corners or deceive us, our brothers won’t let you off!”
The next moment, Zhou Qian placed one hand on Huai Yu’s shoulder and silently stepped forward.
Zhao Feiyan: “…”
He couldn’t help but widen his eyes, thinking, Why are you glaring at me like that? It’s just a tiny little thing; are a bunch of big men like us really going to beat someone up?
It’s just for show! You have to be imposing when negotiating business—does this guy not know the rules?!
Huai Yu, however, didn’t sense the tension at all. Instead, she poked her head out from beside Zhou Qian’s shoulder. “Wow! Your employees are so good at coordinating with you! Your rhythm is excellent!”
“That’s right!” Zhao Feiyan was instantly pleased. “When our brothers are out and about, these things have to be practiced!”
Watching the two of them look as if they were about to start chatting about family matters, Zhou Qian quietly set aside the vigilance he had just felt.
“Xiao Yu, let’s look at the goods first. If it doesn’t work out, we still have to haul it over to Boss Tang’s,” he said while they still had the car.
Otherwise, moving things back and forth, especially since Chen Xing didn’t dare drive her vehicle into the Rose Corridor’s territory, would be incredibly exhausting.
Huai Yu finally snapped back to reality and exclaimed, “Oh, oh, right! Let’s look at the goods first.”
She was still foolishly clutching the jar in her arms!
She lifted the lid. “Pickled chili peppers. This is the quality of everything. Are you interested?”
As the lid was lifted, a scent of pickles instantly wafted out. Zhao Feiyan was the closest, and he couldn’t help but twitch his nose. “Oh my! This smells just like the pickles my mom used to make!”
He became instantly interested. He reached out a hand, and his lackey deftly handed him a long knife.
Zhao Feiyan: “…I want chopsticks! Chopsticks!”
“Oh, oh, oh, oh!” The lackey reacted instantly, hurrying toward the break area to find chopsticks while asking curiously, “Boss, didn’t you say your mom’s cooking was terrible?”
Huai Yu’s eyes widened instantly. “Don’t you go slandering people like that! My pickled chili peppers are clearly delicious!”
Zhao Feiyan: …After spending so many years traversing the markets and forests, this was the first time he’d felt truly humiliated.
He tightened his face, maintaining his last precarious shred of dignity, then silently took the chopsticks and reached in to pluck out a pickled chili pepper to inspect it.
It was a small, bird’s-eye chili, looking delicate and cute. Zhao Feiyan popped it straight into his mouth. As he chewed, he reached back into the jar with his chopsticks. “Something feels off inside; is there also a larger…”
His eyes widened in shock, he retracted his chopsticks instantly, and opened his mouth—
“Hiss-hah, hiss-hah…” Why was it so spicy!
The key was that it was spicy and exhilarating; even though his mouth burned with pain, he couldn’t bear to spit it out! In the end, Chen Xing, who had experience, hurriedly went to fetch him a glass of water.
Huai Yu looked at the jar and then replaced the lid. “Your senses are really sharp. I also soaked some ordinary, larger chili peppers in there; they taste different when pickled together.”
“The downside is that if you soak them together, the shelf life isn’t as long… but they should still last a month or two.”
Clearly, Zhao Feiyan was too busy guzzling water to respond. His two lackeys, who were obviously spice-lovers, were staring at the jar and swallowing hard. Only Chen Xing sighed and went to pour him another glass of water.
Seeing Huai Yu watching curiously, she said helplessly: “He’s just like this. He can’t handle spice, but he wants to eat it and loves eating it.”
Huai Yu nodded, accurately summarizing: “A huge addiction, but very low tolerance.”
After a long while, Zhao Feiyan—the man with the huge addiction and low tolerance—finally recovered. With teary, spice-stung eyes, he didn’t forget to sniffle and say, “The peppers are good! We’ll take them!”
They were spicy enough, flavorful enough, and pickled just right! Most importantly, the mutation value of the chili peppers was definitely low; he hadn’t detected any of those strange, polluted aftertastes! The ingredients used for the pickling were certainly top-notch—true to the little girl’s reputation among everyone for being earnest and kind, she hadn’t cut any corners!
Zhao Feiyan was very satisfied.
His lackeys couldn’t wait to come forward and take them, but Huai Yu wouldn’t let go. “You haven’t given me a price! If the price is too low, I won’t sell.”
Zhao Feiyan: …Damn it! How should he price these chili peppers? If he called the chef over to have a taste and give a price, wouldn’t it make them look like they were just trying to eat their stock?
He thought for a moment and had to ask: “Why don’t you start with a price?”
Huai Yu did the math silently—fresh chili peppers went for 13 points per jin based on Boss Tang’s pricing. To avoid anyone tasting an abnormality, the mutation value wasn’t actually that low.
But the water and ingredients she used were pure, and the effort she’d put in was immense!
“18 points per jin.”
After all, these were pickled peppers; half the jar was peppers, and half was brine!
This price was clearly a bit expensive. The two lackeys, who were only there to stuff their faces, were quite dissatisfied, but Zhao Feiyan, having tasted the flavor, calmed down. “How many jin do you have?”
Huai Yu hadn’t weighed them, only saying: “Just counting the pickled peppers themselves, there are four jars like this.”
It didn’t sound like a lot, but Zhao Feiyan had over a hundred people in his team; they could polish that off in a single meal—of course, they didn’t usually eat that way; they couldn’t afford it.
Zhao Feiyan estimated the weight to be about 60 jin, but the peppers themselves were probably only around thirty. He gave his final price: “15 per jin!”
Huai Yu paused, struggled with it for a moment, then nodded. “Fine—but you have to return the jars to me.”
Zhao Feiyan burst into laughter instantly. “Return them? Why? I’ve got a whole pile in the warehouse; go pick whatever you want once the deal is made.”
They had all started out by scavenging for scraps in the early days of the cataclysm. Chen Xing and her six people had been able to scavenge a room full of junk, let alone a team of over a hundred people like Zhao Feiyan’s.
However, they had plenty of channels and had already sold off anything valuable, leaving behind items like jars and pots.
He was a businessman, after all, and added: “Of course, for our next collaboration, we’ll return the empty jars to you after we’ve used them. We can exchange them like this every time to save on moving things around.”
Huai Yu was curious: “But if you don’t use your own storage tools, if you go into the wilderness, will you be carrying these clay, porcelain, and glass jars with you?”
