Chapter 132 Fresh Milk
The dried potato stems were crisp and chewy, having absorbed the aroma of the chicken and seasonings, making them very flavorful.
One side of the flatbread was coated with chicken broth, giving it both the aroma of wheat flour and the flavor of stew.
A few days later, the ice and snow gradually melted, and spring was just around the corner.
Hibernation is certainly enjoyable, but after a while, you'll miss spring, the green hills, and the days of sowing, weeding, and sweating profusely.
The weather is getting warmer, and it's time to switch from thick cotton-padded coats to thin ones. The day for the exchange market is here again.
The grain at home has been stored for a long time, and I plan to take some out and exchange it for fresh millet and buckwheat noodles.
Since the local area mainly grows millet and buckwheat flour, rice and wheat flour became extremely scarce after logistics were disrupted. Therefore, old rice and wheat flour could still be exchanged for fresh millet and buckwheat flour.
They carried out 10 bags of rice, 10 bags of flour, 1 bottle of liquor, 4 rabbits, 1 large bag of honey bread rolls, and 2 bags of salt in a small cart and set off.
As expected, I'm not the earliest riser. When I arrived at the market, there were already many people there. Just like last time, I parked the car in the designated parking lot.
Let's get today's main task done first, which is to exchange rice and flour.
The most numerous stalls in the exchange market were grain stalls, with almost all grain stalls clustered together.
When I got to these stalls, I asked at each one.
"What were these grains exchanged for?"
"Anything is fine, anything is fine. See what you can offer, I can trade you anything you want."
"Should we switch to rice or wheat flour?"
"Change it! How much do you want?"
The stall owner perked up immediately when he heard that he wanted to exchange the rice and flour.
But I dare not say directly that it was ten bags of rice and flour; that would be too little.
"Two bags of rice and two bags of wheat flour, how much millet can you exchange for?"
"Is this rice from the past?"
"Yes, it's the same as before."
“My millet is new. How about you trade one bag of rice for one bag of millet? Your bag of rice is only about 100 jin (50 catties), but my bag of millet weighs more than 200 jin (100 kg).”
This stall owner is obviously shrewd. Even though rice and wheat flour are so scarce right now, he's trying to pressure me with old rice.
I remained silent and prepared to move on to the next stall.
"Hey, you're not being honest. Rice is so precious these days, and you want to exchange 200 jin of millet for 100 jin of rice?"
Suddenly, Aunt Liu appeared out of nowhere and yelled at the stall owner in a bad tone.
"Setting up a stall is a matter of mutual consent. I'll contribute as much as I want. What business is it of yours, a mere passerby?"
"Sister Liu, you're here too! I'd like to visit your house later, so please show me around."
When I saw it was Aunt Liu, I quickly greeted her, took her arm, and walked forward. We were there to make a transaction, and I didn't want her to have any friction with the stall owner.
Aunt Liu glared at the stall owner and said as we walked, "You can't exchange rice like this. The base can't control this stall. You'll lose out if you do it this way. Why don't you just go to the base to exchange it?"
"Huh? You can exchange food at the base?"
When I heard that I could exchange food at the base, I felt even more that my actions just now were somewhat foolish.
Regardless of whether exchanging at the base would be a loss, it would be safer.
“The base buys everything at clearly marked prices. Even though you can’t get anything really good in return, it’s still better than being ripped off here.”
"Does the base have millet and buckwheat noodles? I'd like to exchange them for some grains."
"Do you think we live here for free? We have to pay rent in grain every year, and there's quite a lot of grain in the base."
Upon hearing this, I burst out laughing: "This base elder really has a business mind. I originally thought he built the base purely for everyone's benefit, but I didn't expect him to collect rent as well."
"The base chief is a shrewd guy! Come on, Aunt Liu will go with you to change."
As she spoke, Aunt Liu led me into the Baizhen base.
"I'll go get something from the car first."
Aunt Liu accompanied me to the car to get my things first, and then we walked to the Baizhen base.
When we arrived at the base center, Aunt Liu told me not to look for the staff who exchanged grain, as they sometimes skimmed off some of the profits.
Since I'm quite familiar with the base elder, I can go directly to the base elder to discuss exchanging grain.
This wasn't really asking the base chief for a favor; rice and flour were already scarce, so it was more like me negotiating a business deal with him.
I knocked on the base commander's office door, and someone answered. I pushed the door open and went in.
The scene was exactly the same as last time I visited; the old man was sitting on the sofa with a dog on each side. It seems he really loves dogs.
"Oh, little girl, have a seat."
When the base elder saw it was me, his smile deepened, probably thinking I was here to deliver gifts again.
"Grandpa really likes these two puppies. They play here with you every day. When the puppies have their next litter, I'll pick the two best ones and bring them to you."
As I sat on the sofa, I skillfully picked out some nice things to say.
"What do you want from me today? Tell me."
That old man is shrewd; he immediately realized I needed to talk to him.
"I have some rice and wheat flour that I'd like to exchange for some millet and buckwheat flour. How does your base handle this exchange?"
"Is the rice 100 yuan per jin?"
"Yes, yes, but it's old rice."
"According to the base's standards, 100 jin of rice can be exchanged for two bags of millet, and one bag of millet is worth 200 jin, which means 100 jin of rice can be exchanged for 400 jin of millet. The same applies to wheat flour and buckwheat flour."
"So, what about our relationship?"
I took out a bottle of liquor from my pocket, placed it on the table, and looked at the base elder with a big smile.
Without any hesitation, he took the bottle, unscrewed it, and took a sniff.
"This friendship is worth 600 pounds!"
"make a deal!"
Although the deal was done, the old man was still startled when he saw that my car contained 10 bags of rice and 10 bags of flour.
I never imagined that in this extremely cold and apocalyptic world, I would still be able to produce so much food.
"so much!"
"This is all we have. It won't taste good if it stays out of the air any longer. I'm going to eat some fresh rice."
Now that I've said that, it's up to the base elder to decide whether to believe it or not.
The people at the base are all growing food and paying rent. I pray that the base elder is a good person and won't come to plunder my home.
30 bags of millet and 30 bags of buckwheat flour were loaded onto the truck; the rest will be used to exchange for some seeds.
A large bag of honey bread rolls was exchanged for half a bag of millet seeds and half a bag of buckwheat seeds.
The two rabbits were traded for a quantity of sesame seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, and Sichuan peppercorn seeds. The stall owner also gave away some jasmine and rose seeds.
After the apocalypse, spice seeds are rare commodities; getting two rabbits to trade for them is already quite good.
The remaining two rabbits were exchanged for four baby ducks.
After we finished exchanging everything and were about to go home, we were surprised to find someone selling milk.
That's milk! Since the apocalypse, milk powder has been used to make anything related to milk, and we haven't had fresh milk for three or four years.
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