Chapter 94

When Tang Yu'an and Zhou Qi arrived at Grandma Guo's house, she was cutting potatoes.

Yesterday evening, she gave birth to two more potatoes. Although they were relatively small, she dug out a basket of about forty or fifty potatoes.

She planned to cut these small ones into shreds and try stir-frying them in the wok that Tiejin borrowed from her at noon.

Yesterday she fried potato chips for the first time, but naturally it was a failure because she didn't add any oil. In the end, in order to avoid waste, she had to add water and cook it into a pot of potato soup.

Although the taste is not that good, it is still quite filling.

Later, after she figured out the key, she used the meat she exchanged from Old Li to stir-fry some fat, and then fried it in the evening, and it was successful.

Although she didn't control the heat very well, Granny Guo still enjoyed it.

In addition to planting, she discovered that cooking was also such a happy thing - perhaps it was because of the abundance of material resources that she had the energy to think about how to make food delicious.

In the morning she also tried stir-frying wild vegetables and mushrooms, which were fresh and delicious. Moreover, because no water was added, there was no earthy smell of muddy water. It was really delicious.

Kang Kang also enjoyed the meal and said he wanted to eat it like this again in the future.

Granny Guo was just thinking that if the two teenagers came over today, she could invite them to have lunch together, and then she heard Tang Yu'an's energetic greeting, and she couldn't help but smile.

When Kang Kang heard the noise, he put down the flowerpot and quickly ran towards the entrance where the sound came from.

Today, the two young men did not come in through the air vent. Granny Guo was wondering why. Then she saw Zhou Qi put down his backpack after entering the house. In the backpack was—

It was actually a red-haired girl who looked very young.

"This is……"

She looked at the girl doll in surprise.

The little girl had her hair tied up and was wearing a small cotton skirt. Her little face was clean and her round eyes were quite adorable.

"You found a doll?"

"No, she is Jin Lili, the one I mentioned to you before, the daughter of Uncle Tiejin."

Tang Yu'an explained, "Uncle Tiejin went to Jufeng Town and won't be back for a few days. Before he left, he entrusted Lily to our care."

Only then did Granny Guo suddenly nod in understanding.

Although she understood the whole story, she was still surprised by the trusting relationship between Tiejin and the two teenagers.

In a trance, she felt as if she had returned to the time before the disaster, when people still had trust in each other and could entrust important things to each other to a certain extent.

Such interpersonal relationships... are they really possible in the wasteland?

Kang Kang's little hands were holding the backpack. He looked down at Jin Lili, his big eyes full of curiosity and surprise.

This was the first time he saw other children, and they were younger than himself.

He couldn't help but reach out his hand, gently poked Jin Lili's cheek with his finger, and then quickly retracted it.

Jin Lili has woken up.

Because she had just cried, there were tear marks in the corners of her eyes, and her face and nose were red. She curled up in the backpack, looking at the unfamiliar environment outside with some fear.

"Lily, don't be afraid."

Tang Yu'an touched the little girl's head and said, "This is Kang Kang. You can call him brother. You can play together in the future."

Kang Kang blinked.

Wow, he's a big brother now!

Then Tang Yu'an looked at Kang Kang again and said to him, "Kang Kang, this is Lily. Would you like to play together in the future?"

"good!"

Kang Kang nodded very decisively, his little hands grasping the edge of the backpack, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Jin Lili.

Apart from poking Lily's cheek with his finger just now, the little boy did not do anything else that might scare Lily.

Both children look quiet and shy, and the picture of them together is quite harmonious.

Tang Yu'an pointed at Granny Guo and introduced her to Jin Lili.

"Lily, this is Granny Guo..."

Jin Lili slowly calmed down and tilted her little head to look at the old man.

Although Tiejin took good care of her, she still looked thin and small after all, which made Grandma Guo feel more pity for her.

"Poor little thing, don't cry."

She reached out and wiped her tears. "Are you hungry? Can grandma make you some potato porridge?"

After all, they were still using the iron wok, and there was no shortage of food at home, so Grandma Guo became generous.

Jin Lili looked at the old woman's kind and gentle appearance, felt her kindness, and her sad and uneasy mood was gradually soothed.

She nodded.

Seeing her response, Grandma Guo laughed.

"Okay, you play with Kang Kang for a while, and grandma will do it for you."

Grandma Guo stood up and looked at her grandson staring at the baby intently, and she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Kang Kang really needs a playmate, and maybe he should spend more time with Tie Jin in the future.

This is the daughter he adopted with such kindness, and she is taken care of so well. I think her character can be trusted.

Granny Guo left to cook potato porridge.

Zhou Qi followed her and took out a simple water purification device to show her.

The drinking water in Grandma Guo's house is usually left to stand for a while until the mud and sand settle at the bottom, and then the water on the top is taken to drink.

Although it is not that clear, it is better than drinking muddy water directly.

However, as the weather gets warmer, it becomes more difficult to get water, and we may have to drink muddy water next.

When she heard Zhou Qi say that they made a water purifier, she was immediately attracted, and then she saw the simple device Zhou Qi took out.

"Will this work?"

Through the transparent plastic bottle, you can see the stones and sand in the device, as well as a layer of black substance of unknown origin. Grandma Guo couldn't help but become suspicious.

"Take a look."

Zhou Qi simply scooped up the muddy water at the bottom of the bucket and slowly poured it into the top of the water purifier.

Soon, water seeped out from the small hole at the bottom and dripped into the bowl he used to collect water.

Looking at the already very clean water in the bowl and then at the muddy yellow water on the top of the water purifier, Grandma Guo couldn't help but widen her eyes.

She could feel that Zhou Qi did not use any special abilities.

So it is really this filter that makes the muddy water so clean?

However, although this water was completely drinkable in her opinion, the boy seemed unsatisfied.

"If you have activated carbon, the effect will be better," he said. "I will continue to improve it later. You can use it for now."

Granny Guo quickly shook her head and said, "This is already very good."

Zhou Qi smiled and didn't insist, planning to wait until he had some results.

"This one is too small. I'll make you a bigger one."

"Okay." Granny Guo narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I'll trade you potato slices, or do you want fresh ones? Aren't these too small?"

She picked up the small potatoes she had planted last night, hesitant.

Zhou Qi shook his head, "The small ones are more delicious."

"That's all?"

"good."

So Grandma Guo continued to make potato paste, while Zhou Qi went out to find some clay, wet it with water and made it into a cylindrical shape. After sealing the bottom, he made a tubular water outlet on the side.

Then he used his water-based abilities to absorb the moisture from the clay, roasted it over fire, and finally hardened it with earth-based reinforcement techniques.

In this way, a relatively slender and fairly sturdy clay jar is made.

It is really much more convenient to have superpowers.

Zhou Qi spread cotton on the bottom, and when it was compacted enough to cover the water outlet, he laid a layer of cotton cloth on it.

Gauze is not available in such a large size. If you want to unlock and exchange it, the cost will go up. Zhou Qi thought of cotton cloth which also has a filtering function.

After the cotton cloth was laid out, he added crushed charcoal.

The sun gradually rose higher. Zhou Qi raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and then took out the sand he had prepared yesterday from his portable warehouse.

These sands are all separated by a system and are cleaner than those washed with water.

He spread a thick layer of sand in the clay pot, covered it with cotton cloth, added a layer of small stones, and covered it with cotton cloth again. Then he carried the clay pot back to Grandma Guo's house.

After adding various materials, the clay pot was very heavy, but he lifted it easily.

His physique continued to improve and his strength grew day by day.

In the room, Granny Guo had already prepared potato porridge and was about to feed it to Jin Lili. Seeing him come back, she quickly handed the porridge to Tang Yu'an, then stood up to greet Zhou Qi.

"Is the water purifier ready?"

She looked at the clay jar that Zhou Qi brought in with full of surprise.

This tank was obviously newly made, and its shape was not like the pre-disaster relics she picked up. Although it was not as beautiful, it was practical.

There were also traces of dirt on Zhou Qi's face and body, which showed that he had done it recently.

I didn't expect he had such skills!

"It should be almost done." Zhou Qi said, "Let's try adding some water."

He placed the clay jar on a stone and then placed an empty wooden basin under the spout.

"good."

Granny Guo brought over a bucket, scooped up the muddy water and poured it into the clay jar.

The clay jar was opaque, and they couldn't see clearly what was inside. Fortunately, after a while, water finally seeped out of the outlet.

“Tick-tick—”

Although the wooden basin was dirty to begin with and became dirty again when the water dripped into it, it can be observed that the water drops that seeped out were clear.

Granny Guo reached out to get the water, washed her hands first, and then tasted the water with her hands.

"What clear water!" she said happily.

Although there was still a slight earthy smell, it was nothing compared to what they had drunk before.

As long as you boil the water before drinking it, you will definitely not get sick due to water quality problems.

Granny Guo stuffed the remaining half basket of potatoes into Zhou Qi's pocket. She said excitedly, "I won't say thank you anymore. If you want to eat potatoes or fruits in the future, you can come to me and ask for them."

[Employee Zhou Qi completed a profitable transaction with a regular customer, earning +315 points and +1 experience point]

Seeing the prompt, Tang Yu'an couldn't help but laugh.

He also completed the "trading game" with the two children and earned more than 500 points using the mutant lantern fruit.

Another great harvest!

Tang Yu'an looked at the two cubs with a smile. With his comfort, Jin Lili finally reluctantly believed that Tie Jin had not abandoned her, and her mood improved.

While Grandma Guo was attracted by the water purifier, he secretly gave her some milk to drink, and of course Kang Kang was not left out either.

“It smells so good…”

Kang Kang held the milk carton and couldn't help but suck it in big gulps.

Soon, the two children finished the box of milk and then started eating potato porridge.

Both children were very well-behaved. They would only open their mouths when the porridge was brought to their mouths. Even though they were very eager for food, they did not reach out to grab it.

On the other side, the conversation between Zhou Qi and Granny Guo came over again.

"Mother-in-law, you don't need so many potatoes." Zhou Qi returned half of the potatoes to Mother-in-law Guo.

Granny Guo was about to refuse when she heard him say, "By the way, do you need more salt?"

Her eyes lit up and she nodded quickly: "Yes."

The salt she had exchanged for earlier had been almost eaten up, and she had originally wanted to exchange some more with the two teenagers, but she didn't expect Zhou Qi to take the initiative to bring it up.

"How much do you want in exchange?" Zhou Qi asked, "Or do you want refined salt?"

Granny Guo was a little surprised. She asked, "Do you have any other salt besides refined salt?"

"some."

Zhou Qi took out the coarse salt that was originally in the grocery store. He put it in a jar so that it wouldn't look out of place if he pretended to take it out of his backpack.

This kind of coarse salt has also been refined through modern technology and is still quite white in color. Although its quality is not as good as refined salt, it is still rare in the wasteland.

"How do we trade this salt?" Granny Guo asked happily.

Zhou Qi took out the spoon he had used at the Jufeng Town market, scooped half a spoonful and said, "This half spoonful only needs one large potato or two small potatoes."

One spoonful is 10 grams, and half a spoonful is 5 grams.

This was more expensive than what they sold in the market town, but the situation was special at that time, so I didn't calculate too much in order to quickly gain experience points.

If we want to sell it in the shop for a long time, we naturally need to adjust the price so that it cannot be too different from the price in the wasteland.

Anyway, 5 grams of coarse salt is worth less than 1 point, a large potato is about 20 points, and a small potato is also worth 10 to 15 points, so it is a good deal for them.

Granny Guo nodded. Compared with the refined salt that costs 1 gram per fruit, this coarse salt is much cheaper, so she naturally wants to change to coarse salt.

In the end, Grandma Guo exchanged the half of the potato that Zhou Qi returned to her for 6 spoons of coarse salt.

Zhou Qi successfully earned 282 points and 1 experience point, as well as more than 20 potatoes of different sizes.

Granny Guo looked at her salt jar which was almost full, and her eyes were filled with the joy and happiness of the harvest.

With so much salt, if you save some, you can eat it for a month! The key is that it is safe to eat.

At this time, she saw Zhou Qi take out several exquisitely crafted rectangular cards from his backpack. She looked at them curiously and probably recognized that the word "salt" was printed on them.

"Mother-in-law, this is a salt ticket. You get one for every spoonful of salt you buy."

"When our shop opens, you can use salt tickets to exchange for salt. Five tickets can be exchanged for half a spoonful of salt."

In order to facilitate calculation, they discussed and decided to measure by spoons in the future. After all, not many people in the wasteland knew the weight in grams, and no one had any idea of the number of grams.

Zhou Qi said, "Please keep the salt ticket safe and don't lose it."

Granny Guo took the salt ticket in a daze. The salt ticket looked like a metal card, but its texture was soft, and its gray-gold color had a silver texture.

Soon, she reacted.

"Your shop?" Grandma Guo looked at Zhou Qi in surprise.

Zhou Qi smiled and nodded, "Yes, we are planning to open a grocery store in the deserted city. We have already found a house and are currently reinforcing it."

"That building is in this neighborhood. Grandpa Li helped find it. When it opens, you're all welcome to come and exchange things."

Granny Guo stared blankly at the boy's smile. What he said contained too much information for her to react.

Open a grocery store in a deserted city and sell things?

With all these supplies and access to them, why not go to Jufeng Town? There's a lot of traffic there, so wouldn't the benefits be greater?

However, Grandma Guo did not ask these questions in the end.

From her interactions with the two teenagers, she has already gained some understanding of their personalities. Perhaps they are kind and simple, but they also have their own ideas.

Since they have made their decision, she cannot change it easily.

What's more, these two children have been to Jufeng Town before, so they made this choice in the end. Naturally, they have their concerns and reasons.

She couldn't understand anymore, and it was really hard for her to say anything more.

"So...what does your grocery store sell?" asked Grandma Guo.

"For now, we'll focus on salt," Zhou Qi said. "We might add other things later."

Granny Guo nodded. She knew that the two teenagers had a stable way to obtain salt, but... wouldn't it be too dangerous to sell salt in a deserted city?

Although this is a good thing for the residents of the deserted city, those who can live here are basically people with special abilities.

What if they target me?

Facing Granny Guo's concerns and reminders, Zhou Qi nodded and said, "Don't worry, we will find a way to solve this problem."

With the protective barrier in place, there's no need to worry at night, but as for the daytime...

When the time comes, let Yuanbao and the others look after the house. Now there is a building, they have enough space to move around and can completely grow back to their normal size.

There are three mutant creatures guarding a building. Those who want to rob or steal should probably consider their own strength, right?

Of course, by then we will also have to dispel customers' fear of Yuanbao and the like.

How to do it specifically will have to be planned later.

Seeing his confident look, Granny Guo couldn't help but remind him: "Safety is important."

"We know."

Zhou Qi thought for a moment, then took out two platinum salt tickets. "Salt tickets of this color can be exchanged for refined salt. You've exchanged quite a few before, so these two are for you."

“No, no, no.”

Granny Guo waved her hands repeatedly. She had already received too much from them and felt embarrassed to ask for more.

"Mother-in-law, please accept it."

Zhou Qi looked at her and said seriously, "As long as you use more of these salt tickets, it will be the best help to us."

"Besides salt, you can also exchange it for other things."

Granny Guo was startled and looked at the two colored cards in her hand.

Memories from long ago, from before the catastrophe, slowly emerged in her mind. Why were these salt tickets so similar...

"Banknotes?" Granny Guo asked in surprise, "You want to issue banknotes?"

Zhou Qi thought to himself that as expected, anyone who survived the catastrophe could quickly understand the concept of currency.

"Will this work?" asked Granny Guo.

"It's just used as an auxiliary in grocery store transactions." Zhou Qi said, "Don't you think bartering is a bit inconvenient?"

This is indeed...

But there is nothing we can do about it. After all, only the materials in our hands are real. Banknotes and currencies cannot be seen or touched and cannot be eaten.

Almost everyone in the wasteland thinks this way. This is a regression or even destruction of civilization, but it is forced by survival.

In the face of natural disasters, who cares about civility? It's difficult to change this mindset in a short period of time.

However, Zhou Qi and his men have salt in their hands. If they can really keep their promise and have enough strength to protect themselves, then in the deserted city... maybe they can really do it.

Granny Guo thought for a moment and said, "No matter what, I can't take your things for free."

The brown rice seeds and potato seeds were all given by the two teenagers. Although she gave out things in exchange, the benefits she got were really huge.

It would be shameless to continue asking for things from them for free even though they have done you such a favor.

"I want this salt ticket. I'll exchange it with you for some fruit." Grandma Guo took out some fruits from the insulated box, and gave eight fruits to Zhou Qi at the price of one salt ticket.

[You completed a profitable transaction with a regular customer, employee experience +1]

After Zhou Qi saw the system prompt, he said, "Not so much."

1 gram of refined salt = 1 ordinary fruit = 1 small potato = 1/4 spoon (about 2.5 grams) of coarse salt.

According to this conversion formula, the 8 ordinary fruits that Granny Guo gave him were worth 8 grams of refined salt or 20 grams of coarse salt.

However, Zhou Qi only gave Granny Guo six gray gold salt tickets and two platinum salt tickets, which were naturally not of equal value.

Since they are preparing to introduce salt tickets as currency, relatively stable prices are very important. Even if others don't say anything, they must abide by it themselves.

Granny Guo was a little confused after hearing the series of formulas he said.

Finally, he said, "Either I return the fruit to you, or I can exchange it for more salt tickets. Which one do you want?"

She understood this sentence.

Granny Guo made a prompt decision and said, "Salt tickets! I want salt tickets!"

Since she had taken the fruit out, there was no reason for her to take it back.

"Okay, then these fruits can be exchanged for 2 platinum salt tickets and 15 gray gold salt tickets. I'll give you the rest."

Zhou Qi took out another nine gray-gold salt tickets and handed them to Granny Guo, saying again, "After our shop opens, you can use these salt tickets to exchange for salt."

Granny Guo looked at the salt ticket in her hand and suddenly felt incredible.

Because she finally realized it - does this mean that Zhou Qi used salt tickets to buy these 8 fruits from her?

These dozen thin cards are worth 8 fruits?

Before today, she would definitely think it was impossible, but think about it...

If she could really exchange salt for salt using salt tickets, then these dozen or so salt tickets would be equivalent to one and a half spoonfuls of coarse salt plus 1/4 spoonful of fine salt.

It is indeed equal to the value of 8 fruits.

She also saved space in the insulated box and didn't have to worry about the fruits rotting before being eaten. If she wanted to exchange them for salt in the future, she could just take the salt tickets and exchange them. She didn't have to carry the fruits on the road in the hot weather.

Grandma Guo suddenly had the urge to exchange for more salt tickets!

But she thought about it and held back.

It’s not that I don’t trust Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an, it’s just that there are too many accidents in the wasteland. What if they need to leave the deserted city for some reason and cannot open the shop?

It is very puzzling that two such precious young men could stay in a remote and dangerous wasteland.

Granny Guo carefully collected the salt ticket and said, "I wish you a smooth opening."

"Thanks."

Zhou Qi smiled slightly. Their salt ticket plan had finally taken a successful step forward.

However, during the transaction just now, he suddenly realized that this plan was too simple and had obvious flaws, and the original idea might need to be adjusted.