Chapter 261 263 Medicinal Bath
"Sister Rong, how do you know all this?" Xia Kai asked Rong Xianxian with a strange look.
"I asked the real estate agent we met earlier about it!" Rong Xianxian paused slightly and continued speaking naturally.
"Oh, you are worthy of being my sister Rong, hehe." Xia Kai scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Sister Rong, when we went to the official exchange to exchange grain for work points just now, the intermediary told us that we didn't need to exchange too many work points at the official exchange. He said that grain is in great demand at the private exchange and the price is much more reasonable than at the official exchange. What do you think, should we go to the private exchange now?" Xia Kai said hurriedly as he watched Rong Xianxian walk towards the official exchange. The young man's eyes widened as he saw them carrying four large bags of rice to exchange for work points.
"Oh, that's right. Look at me. I forgot that you just came out of the official exchange." After Jiang Jie and the others came back, they had already told Rong Xianxian the exchange rates of food and some daily necessities at the official exchange. Rong Xianxian had originally planned to visit the private exchange, but she was used to it. When she arrived at the safe zone, she would run to the official exchange. This was a habit she developed in her previous life. There were often various missing person information in the task hall of the official exchange. In her previous life, every time Rong Xianxian passed a safe zone, she would go to the task hall to check if there was any information about finding them mother and son. Although the results would disappoint her every time, this habit was deeply imprinted in her bones.
Rong Xianxian and Xia Kai entered the private exchange. Although it was called a private exchange, it was actually a long open-air alley with densely packed tube-shaped buildings on both sides. There was a simple iron fence at the north and south ends serving as the main gate. At the gates at both ends, there were staff from the Public Security Patrol on duty to maintain market order. The sun was about to set, and many workers had also left work one after another. The private exchange was bustling with people coming and going.
There are two types of stalls here. One is the stall that occupies a large area and has uniform shelves. The owners of this type of stall are fixed and have to pay management fees to the Public Security Patrol Office on a regular basis. Most of these stalls are run by civilian exploration teams. They have certain combat effectiveness and courage, and are unwilling to work hard in the safe zone to earn work points. They leave the safe zone and go to the old city of Taijing or the nearby abandoned urban villages to find usable supplies and bring them back to the safe zone to trade in exchange for generous rewards.
There is another type of stall, which is a messy and scattered stall with a small area. This type of stall has high mobility. Most of them are where residents carry some things that they think are very important to them or can come in handy when they are fleeing. Later they find that they cannot use them and it is a pity to throw them away, so they use them for trading. This type of stall does not require management fees and the stall owners are not fixed. In theory, as long as you have items you want to trade, you can trade them here.
"Sister Rong, one pound of rice here can be exchanged for six work points, while the official exchange only gives five work points. We are really losing money on our 400 pounds of rice. We can exchange it for 400 more work points here. The middleman must have taken advantage of this, otherwise why didn't he ask us to come here to exchange work points?" Xia Kai said in amazement as he looked at the grain transaction price marked on a mobile stall.
"It saves time and effort in official transactions, but here we have to trade one stall at a time, and sell one bag of grain to several stores. It's so troublesome." Rong Xianxian waved her hand disapprovingly. Instead of worrying about those work points, she might as well study how to collect some goods in this market. She could then sell them at a high price in the market over in Xitang. And these piles of cotton-padded clothes and quilts that were tightly packed in vacuum bags would be in great demand after the snow.
Rong Xianxian saw a bunch of brand new folding bathtubs on display at a fixed stall. They came in different sizes, were exquisitely made, and were made of environmentally friendly materials with very good quality. Rong Xianxian was familiar with this brand, which was an internationally renowned brand. The price of bathtubs of this brand was 30% to 40% more expensive than similar products of other brands on the market.
The two children were young, and their bones were growing. When they were in Chongzhou, Rong Xianxian once gave the two children medicinal baths to relax their muscles and joints and promote the circulation of qi and blood. At that time, Jiang Jie was poisoned, and the poison was also removed by medicinal baths. Later, there was a water and electricity outage at home, and then they set out on the journey north. The space in the sachet was limited, and it was not convenient to use water outside. The bathtubs at home were all bulky solid wooden barrels, which were inconvenient to carry, so they never took a bath there again.
The situation is different now. There is a river in the misty space of Yushi, and Rong Xianxian has collected a lot of medicinal herbs, so she can prepare medicinal baths for the children.
"Boss, how much do you sell this tub for?" Rong Xianxian looked at these foldable bath tubs and wondered how many to buy.
"What do you plan to buy? Work points or things?" The boss looked up at Rong Xianxian lazily and asked casually.
This folding bathtub has been here for quite a long time. In the beginning, many people asked about it, but after knowing the price, they all shook their heads and left. No one has come to ask about the price for quite a long time.
At the beginning, the price of this bathtub was set according to the standards of the official exchange. As a result, several batches of other goods were sold, but this bathtub could not be sold. Then everyone discussed and reduced the price by half, thinking that it should be able to be sold now, but after a long time, no one was interested.
The boss was no longer in a hurry to sell things, and when he saw Rong Xianxian asking the price, he didn't hold much hope.
"How are work points calculated? How are food calculated?" Rong Xianxian asked again.
"No matter the size of the bucket, it's ten work points for one. If it's food, three pounds of grain or three pounds of meat can be exchanged for two." The boss's expression began to become serious.
"How many bathtubs do you have in total?" Rong Xianxian took a rough look and estimated that there were about sixteen or seventeen.
"Sixteen in total." The boss answered promptly. He had handled these bathtubs countless times and knew them all by heart.
"A bag of vacuum-packed rice weighing 20 kilograms in exchange for all your bathtubs, is that okay?" Rong Xianxian asked.
"Sure, sure. If you have 20 kilograms of rice, take all these barrels." The boss said with shining eyes. There were all kinds of goods in the old city, but food was very scarce, especially the fine rice. If these barrels could be exchanged for rice, it would be a very cost-effective deal.
Finely packed rice is a precious commodity. There is no rice for sale in the official exchanges. In private exchanges, any rice that occasionally appears is sold at a high price. Some people would rather go hungry for a few days than not have a good meal, so there is no worry about sales.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
