Chapter 90: A Bystander in a Post-Apocalyptic Novel 9
After taking a shower, drying my hair, and getting dressed, I felt like I weighed ten pounds lighter. After tidying up, I took out the hairdryer to dry Hua Hua and Da Hei's fur, otherwise they might catch a cold in this weather. While I was drying them, Hua Hua squinted her eyes and seemed to enjoy it immensely. After finishing, I packed my things and went back to the bedroom to sleep. It's my turn to be on duty tomorrow.
The next morning, Jiang Yue got up early, ate breakfast, changed into her full gear, and waited for someone to pick her up. Soon the person arrived, and Jiang Yue got in the car and set off. She greeted everyone at the station, got a cup of hot water, and started her shift. Nothing much happened in the morning. At noon, she went to the canteen with everyone and had lunch. The food was pretty good today, with some sliced meat.
Then another afternoon passed. Although it was cold now, there wasn't much to do. Unless necessary, everyone stayed home and didn't go out. Even at minus forty or fifty degrees Celsius, no one went out to play. When the replacements arrived, the office sent them home. After arriving home, Jiang Yue didn't rest. Some time ago, she took out some plastic bags and a vacuum cleaner from her space. Jiang Yue turned some rice, flour, meat, and vegetables in her space into ready-made meals and packed them up. This would make it convenient to eat in the future and also free up some space to put things from outside into her space.
Although everything in the space is useful, there are priorities. Survival is the most important thing right now. It's been almost a year, and many things in the warehouse are about to expire. Jiang Yue had no choice but to take out some entertainment equipment to make room for whatever she could. She also scanned all the paper books into the computer. After a series of operations, she finally managed to put the food that was about to expire into the space.
Looking at the grain and food piled up in the warehouse, Jiang Yue realized that the food she bought at the beginning was all sealed, so there was no problem with that, as it could be stored for many years. However, the food sent by the army later was all bagged, and it couldn't be stored for long. It seemed she would have to go to the market to find a solution. She had recently discovered that someone was selling canned food, so she could see if she could exchange some grain for some canned food, which would also keep for a longer time.
After returning home, Jiang Yue took out her phone, opened WeChat, and found a group chat. This group only contained Jiang Yue and her two neighbors. She first asked them if they needed any food: "Wheat, red dates, and various snacks. We're only exchanging, not selling. Anyone interested?"
A few moments later, a reply came in the group: "Xiao Jiang, what are you changing to?"
"Change to canned goods, meat or fruit are both fine, they're easy to preserve."
"When was the wheat harvested? It wasn't stale or moldy, was it?"
"We support inspection of the newly harvested grain this year. We will only trade after confirming that there are no problems."
The group chat was quiet for a while, presumably because they were thinking. After a while, both of them popped up, wanting to exchange some items. They wanted to trade canned meat, but were reluctant to part with canned fruit. They sent Jiang Yue some photos of the canned goods, mostly luncheon meat. Jiang Yue asked about the shelf life, and they were all five or ten years old. Since the price of canned wheat is basically fixed now, the transaction was finalized after agreeing on the quantity to be exchanged.
They also bought all the red dates and snacks. A friend of theirs acted as an intermediary and helped them connect with a family who wanted to trade cured meat for the snacks and red dates. Jiang Yue also inquired about the cured meat to make sure it was okay, and the two of them vouched for her, saying they used to run a factory like that. After all the doubts were dispelled, the deal was finalized.
After setting the date, Jiang Yue loaded the grain and snacks onto the truck, warmed up the truck, and set off. Since Jiang Yue had a truck and lived nearby, she delivered the goods directly to their door. When she arrived, Jiang Yue honked the horn, and the door opened shortly after. Seeing the door open, Jiang Yue drove directly to their warehouse to avoid having to move the truck.
"Xiao Jiang, you can drive a truck too?" Old Liu asked curiously.
"Haha, I'll take any train, let alone a car," Jiang Yue laughed. "How have you been lately? You look like you've lost a lot of weight," Jiang Yue said, glancing at Lao Liu.
"Ugh, life's tough. This awful weather is so cold we don't even want to go out. We have absolutely no energy every day."
Jiang Yue bent down and patted Old Liu's son's head, then took out a box of chocolates from her pocket and handed it to him: "Here, this is for you."
The child reluctantly accepted the box of chocolates after seeing Old Liu nod. It was just a box of chocolates, which was considered precious these days, but none of the people present lacked them and didn't care much. Old Liu took out a pack of cigarettes and looked at Jiang Yue, who waved her hand and said, "I don't smoke, you can smoke it yourself."
Old Liu lit a cigarette and chatted with Jiang Yue. The child was so cold that he went back inside. After chatting for a while, someone came out of the house. When he came over, Old Liu smiled and said, "Little Jiang, let him take a look at the goods. I don't know anything about them, so let him take a look."
“No problem, anyone can check.” After saying that, Jiang Yue opened the truck door and gestured for him to come up and take a look. The man went into the truck very efficiently, randomly picked out two bags, opened them, and checked them. After finding that there were no problems, he nodded to Lao Liu, and the three of them started unloading the goods. Jiang Yue didn’t care how the three parties divided the goods; she was just responsible for unloading them and delivering them to Lao Liu’s house.
After unloading the goods, Lao Liu directed Jiang Yue to park the truck in front of a small warehouse. After Jiang Yue got out of the truck, Lao Liu opened the warehouse door and saw a warehouse full of canned goods, with cured meat hanging from the rafters. Some cans were sealed, and some were exposed. Lao Liu asked Jiang Yue to take a few cans to check the goods. Jiang Yue walked around and randomly picked up a few. She first checked the production date and the outer packaging, and there were no problems. She opened one and tasted it, and there was no strange smell. Jiang Yue had also bought this brand of canned goods, and there was no difference between it and the ones she had bought.
Jiang Yue selected a few familiar brands, confirmed the quantities, and started loading them into the car. Two other people helped her, and the canned goods were all loaded in no time. Jiang Yue checked the quantities and found them to be correct, so she said to Lao Liu, "I see the quantities are correct, do you want to check them again?"
"Haha, I remembered it when I was moving it, no problem, I just didn't say anything because I was afraid you wouldn't trust me." This wasn't the time to act generous, everyone needed to make sure everything was accounted for. After moving the canned goods, they went to choose the cured meat. Once they had chosen some cured meat, today's transaction was considered complete. After that, Lao Liu invited Jiang Yue to his house for a visit, but Jiang Yue declined, saying that they usually chatted in the group and it wouldn't be a bother. Seeing that Jiang Yue said that, Lao Liu didn't insist and saw Jiang Yue out.
After returning home, Jiang Yue put the canned food in the warehouse. After thinking for a while, she took out some drinks and alcohol from her space and put the cured meat in the space she made. She could do without drinks, but she couldn't do without meat.
After returning to the room, I took stock of the supplies in the space to make sure I had a clear understanding of them. There weren't many snacks left, and I had calculated the remaining boxes of Jiang Yue. I estimated that I could finish them before they expired. I wish the space was a little bigger. Right now, it felt like it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, I didn't know when the next space expansion would be.
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