Chapter 35: Market
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
At three-thirty in the afternoon the next day, Chu Qiang slowly pulled up in front of Little Fairy in his pickup truck. As soon as he got out of the truck, a sharp yellow thorn pierced in front of Chu Qiang.
Chu Qiang jumped back, his back hitting the car door with a loud “thud”. Little Fairy burst into laughter, the thorns on its body rustling. Chu Qiang, in pain, rubbed his back and grunted, “Since you saved me last night, I won’t argue with you.”
Inside the pickup truck was a hydraulic forklift, cumbersome and noisy when rolling on the ground. Little Fairy was unhappy with the noise of the forklift and shot thorns at it several times. The sharp thorns banged against the forklift, but only chipped off a little paint.
After realizing that Little Fairy was just teasing him, Chu Qiang’s fear of it diminished. Seeing Little Fairy not even sparing the forklift, Chu Qiang chuckled, “My little ancestor, don’t break my forklift. Do you know how hard it was for me to find it? Stop playing around, or I’ll make Master Jiang compensate me.”
Knowing that its actions would cause trouble for Master Jiang, Little Fairy slumped against the courtyard wall. It swayed its small cactus listlessly, humming, “Cartoons…”
Chu Qiang shrugged, “I can’t help you with that. You’ll have to discuss it with Master Jiang.”
As soon as he said that, Little Fairy became even more dejected. Jiang Rong only allowed it to watch two hours of TV a day, and it had already used up its quota, so now it could only pass the time by counting the thorns on its body.
The sun was scorching at three in the afternoon, and Chu Qiang’s back was burning from the lack of conversation with Little Fairy. He briskly walked towards the yard with the forklift, “Xiao Jiang, is everything ready? It’s all set up over there.”
After leaving Jiang Rong’s house early in the morning, Chu Qiang went to several nearby villages to promote. After half a day of effort, the first market after the Great Crisis was about to open.
As soon as Chu Qiang entered Jiang Rong’s house, he felt a chill. This chill was even colder than the lowest setting on an air conditioner. Looking closely, he saw that the living room was covered with thick cardboard, on which were placed four round baskets woven from rattan.
Each basket had a lid, with a diameter of nearly five feet and a height of nearly four feet, resembling rice barrels used by villagers to store food. Each basket was placed on a standard wooden pallet, giving it a particularly imposing appearance.
Chu Qiang hurried to the baskets. Before Jiang Rong could stop him, he had already lifted the lid off the outermost basket.
The baskets were woven from rattan by Jiang Rong using his ability, with each rattan as thick as a thumb, indicating their strength. The inner walls of the baskets were evenly covered with a thick layer of cotton quilts. Jiang Rong also tightly pressed them with thin rattan to prevent the quilts from clumping together.
Inside the quilts was a layer of plastic film, inside which was a frozen mineral water bottle. The mineral water was covered with several layers of plastic film… After being wrapped inside and out, the basket became a simple refrigerator.
The wolf carcass was wrapped in plastic film and placed in the middle of the basket, with ice mineral water bottles filling the gaps between each wolf.
Chu Qiang was impressed and couldn’t help but give Jiang Rong a thumbs up, “Xiao Jiang, you’re amazing to come up with this.”
On the way here, Chu Qiang was still wondering how his cousin would cool the wolf carcasses. With over thirty wolves, if they weren’t cooled in time, they would definitely start to smell bad by the time they were sold.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Rong made a makeshift refrigerator using quilts and ice blocks. Before the ice melted, the temperature inside the basket would remain low. Truly impressive, Jiang Rong’s mind was sharp.
Jiang Rong covered each basket with a thick blanket, “It’s a simple principle of insulation. You could do it too.”
Chu Qiang waved his hands repeatedly, “No, no, no, I can’t.”
As soon as he saw the quilts, he felt hot and just wanted to stay eight yards away from them, let alone use them to cool down.
Guan Shao quietly lifted the hydraulic cart, “I’ll take two baskets out with Chu Qiang first.”
The pickup truck was small, barely fitting two baskets, so Chu Qiang had to make two trips to transport all the wolf meat. He couldn’t take the small roads with the pickup truck, so he had to drive around for more than ten minutes to reach their village. Thinking about this, he felt annoyed, “Xiao Jiang, I want to build a road between our two houses. It’s too troublesome to go back and forth.”
Although Chu Qiang’s house and Jiang Rong’s house were relatively close in a straight line, there was a height difference between the two villages. Jiang Rong’s village was nearly fifty meters higher than Chu Qiang’s. If they were to build a straight road, it would be very bumpy. If they wanted to build a road, they could only follow the mountain and build a winding road, which would be time-consuming, laborious, and costly.
Their villages belonged to two different brigades. Before the Great Crisis, neither brigade wanted to spend money on building roads. But now things were different. Jiang Rong’s importance didn’t need to be mentioned much. If Chu Qiang could move his house, he would have moved near Jiang Rong’s house long ago.
After hearing Chu Qiang’s suggestion, Jiang Rong nodded, “Indeed, a road would be much more convenient.”
Before awakening his wood-based ability, the biggest advantage of his hometown was its quietness and remoteness. The small valley was above the Lingshan Reservoir, and few people came here in a year. After the Great Crisis, there were many mutated animals and plants nearby, so few ordinary people would find their way here, making it relatively safe to live here.
But if they wanted to build a base, the once greatest advantage would become a hindrance. To build a base, they needed convenient transportation. Otherwise, if people seeking refuge couldn’t find the base’s location, wouldn’t that delay things?
The matter of road construction could be postponed. The most important thing now was to go to the market and see how many people were left around.
Chu Qiang’s village was under the jurisdiction of the Fisheries Brigade, which had six villages in total, with his being the third. The villagers used to make a living by fishing in the Lingshan Reservoir. At its peak, there were hundreds of households in the village. In order to give the villagers a place to gather, the village pooled funds to build an activity center at the entrance of the village.
The activity center covered an area of about two to three acres, with a two-story building and the rest being a fitness plaza. When Jiang Rong and the others arrived at the activity center, they saw dozens of cars parked on the fitness plaza, and people had set up stalls under the eaves of the small building.
At a rough glance, there were about seventy to eighty people present, all villagers from several nearby villages. After the crisis, it was the first time that the villagers had gathered, chatting warmly, and laughter filled the air. Seeing such an atmosphere, the shadow cast by the Great Crisis dissipated somewhat.
Jiang Rong glanced at the various items everyone had brought for exchange, and it was indeed a mixed bag. Some people brought condiments, some brought small household appliances, some brought books… Overall, most people brought out things that were not very practical.
Of course, there were also people who brought practical items. For example, Uncle Li and his wife brought some freshly ripened fruits from their orchard. And some others brought rice and fish.
When Jiang Rong got out of the pickup truck, the laughter on the scene subsided a lot. They whispered and murmured to each other, “Is it them?”
“It should be, I’ve seen him a few times when he was young. Yes, it’s Jiang Rong from the old Jiang family.”
Jiang Rong didn’t pay attention to the discussions of the crowd. He just walked with Guan Shao, pulling the cart, towards the innermost stall of the small building. There was a square table on the stall, with a cutting board and a kitchen knife on it. Uncle Chu waved his hand repeatedly in front of the table, “Here, here.”
As the first basket was placed on the ground, Guan Shao opened the lid of the basket. A cool breeze emanated from the basket, and those standing nearby caught a hint of an unusual bloody smell.
Guan Shao reached into the basket and lifted out a wolf, weighing over two hundred pounds, and effortlessly placed it on the square table. There was a dull sound as the wolf’s body touched the table, and the people around sucked in a cold breath, “It’s a wolf, a real wolf!”
“Wow, this wolf must weigh hundreds of pounds, right? If I encountered it, I’d be doomed.”
“These espers are really powerful, they can even take down such terrifying mutant wolves. The younger generation is formidable!”
Seeing the reactions of the crowd, Jiang Rong’s lips curled slightly. It seemed wise to present the wolves to everyone for division. Only by letting everyone see how big the mutant wolves were could they be convinced of their strength.
The wolves that had been caught in the early hours of the morning were already beginning to stiffen by now. Due to their curved posture, they didn’t look as ferocious as they did yesterday. However, they still occupied the entire surface of the square table with an imposing presence. Although Guan Shao had already bled the wolves in advance, the moment the plastic film covering the wolves was removed, a strong smell still emanated from them.
Upon smelling this scent, the surrounding people did not retreat but instead eagerly surrounded the table. They pointed and gestured around the table, their expressions showing obvious excitement and excitement. Look, what else can these mutant wolves do? Aren’t they just food for them?
Guan Shao put a lock on the wolf’s neck and hung it on a beam next to the table. He lowered his voice and said to Jiang Rong, “You go with Chu Qiang to fetch the second batch first, I’ll take care of things here.”
After looking around at the people, Jiang Rong whispered, “No rush, there aren’t many people now, and we don’t know how the exchange situation is. If more people come later, we can still go back and get them.”
He took out a large thermos from his bag and handed it to Guan Shao, “Here, lemon water.”
Guan Shao’s smile deepened, he took the thermos and unscrewed the lid, taking a big gulp. The ice cubes in the thermos, not completely melted, collided with the wall of the cup, making a faint sound. The slightly sour lemon water went down his throat, and Guan Shao felt relieved from the heat.
After drinking the lemon water, Guan Shao began to formally prepare the wolf meat. Jiang Rong had seen his knife skills many times before, and each time he felt different.
The first time someone saw Guan Shao’s knife skills, their eyes widened, “Wow, he’s really skilled with that knife, isn’t he?”
“Who is this kid? Is he from our village? Why haven’t I seen him before?”
“Shh, watch quietly, don’t talk.”
While everyone was watching Guan Shao peel the wolf, Jiang Rong stepped back to the side of the table. There was a clean small table next to the table, and Jiang Rong opened his backpack and took out a laptop, placing it on the small table. The computer made a pleasant sound when it started up, and several people in the crowd turned their heads to look.
Their discussion grew louder, “He actually has a gaming computer?”
“He should have solar panels at home, right? He’s an esper, isn’t it easy for him to get solar panels?”
Jiang Rong proficiently opened the office software and quickly filled in a form. After the form was completed, he cleared his throat and said aloud, “Please, those who want to exchange for wolf meat, come here to register first.”
Upon hearing this, someone asked puzzledly, “What, we still need to register to exchange for wolf meat?”
Jiang Rong smiled slightly and explained, “Because it’s the first time for everyone to exchange things, there may be some unfairness or attempts to take advantage of each other. Recording it will benefit everyone. I’ll register what everyone has brought first, and then tell you how much meat you can exchange for what you brought. After both parties agree, you can smoothly exchange the meat.”
After Jiang Rong explained, everyone looked at what each other had brought, and then understood his approach. Most of the people who came here today were mainly here for the wolf meat. Most of them had not eaten meat since the Great Crisis, and meat was precious now, let alone mutant wolf meat.
The times had changed, and what was valuable before the Great Crisis was not necessarily valuable now. Just take the simplest example: a set of cosmetics used to cost thousands of dollars, but a pound of peaches only cost a few dollars. But now, a set of cosmetics might not even be able to exchange for ten pounds of peaches.
How much their items could be exchanged for depended entirely on Jiang Rong’s judgment. This might make some people feel a bit disillusioned, feeling like they were losing out. Jiang Rong would first take a look at what they brought and then tell them how much meat they could exchange for. If they accepted, they would put down their items and take away the meat; if they didn’t, they could just leave. This could save a lot of time arguing and allow everyone to get the meat faster.
Seeing that everyone understood his intention, Jiang Rong smiled, “Please line up, and let me register first.”
It was unclear whether everyone present was reasonable or if Jiang Rong’s identity as an esper was intimidating enough, but soon everyone lined up neatly under the eaves. Jiang Rong carefully recorded the names, addresses, and exchange item information of these people, and then decided how much wolf meat they could exchange based on the quality and quantity of the items they brought.
This is an extremely challenging job that tests both eyesight and endurance. Most people really can’t do this job well. However, Jiang Rong has experience living in the base, so he can probably tell the other party the exchange quantity with just a glance.
After a while, everyone figured out the rules. Jiang Rong placed things that could be traded for food in the first place. The exchange ratio for unprocessed agricultural products and meat was roughly fifteen to one—fifteen kilograms of rice could be exchanged for one kilogram of wolf meat. As for processed foods like instant noodles or canned goods, the exchange ratio was roughly six to one—six packs of instant noodles could be exchanged for one kilogram of meat.
Ranked second were some urgently needed daily necessities, such as tissue paper and medicine. These items could be exchanged for a decent amount. One man exchanged a couple of tissue packs for about half a kilogram of meat, and another exchanged a box of antibiotics for about half a kilogram of meat.
Ranked third were precious metals like gold and silver. One gram of gold could be exchanged for one kilogram of meat. A woman couldn’t accept this condition after hearing it and eventually left with her gold bracelet.
The most useless items were small household appliances. Without electricity, these items were worthless for trading meat. But Jiang Rong wouldn’t let these people leave disappointed. Although they couldn’t exchange for meat, they could exchange for bones. When Guan Shao was dividing the bones, he left quite a bit of meat on them, and bones were also cost-effective.
The registration process went smoothly, and more than thirty people were registered in no time. Everyone handed their belongings to Chu Qiang, who put them neatly in the pickup truck. The registered people lined up separately, waiting for Guan Shao to start distributing meat.
Jiang Rong glanced in Guan Shao’s direction. Guan Shao was tidying up the second wolf. Just as he was thinking about whether to start distributing meat first, he heard a timid female voice, “Um, excuse me. Can I exchange cat litter?”
Looking up, Jiang Rong saw a girl in a light green dress blushing as she stood in front of him. At the moment he saw the girl, Jiang Rong felt an unusual power fluctuation coming from her. If he guessed correctly, this girl should be an esper.
The girl was tall and fair-skinned, and amidst a group of rough-looking people, her appearance was remarkably clean. She was carrying a large bag of cat litter, and on the bag, a blue-eyed ragdoll cat was staring at Jiang Rong.
Seeing Jiang Rong staring at her, the girl became even more nervous. “Can… can I exchange it?”
Before Jiang Rong could respond, the people beside the girl started laughing. “Miss, do you think it’s still a peaceful era now? Even if you brought a cat, it would be better than bringing cat litter. Cats can still be eaten, but what can you do with cat litter?”
The girl lowered her head nervously, her face flushing, tears welling up in her eyes. “The… the cat… the cat is gone.”
Jiang Rong looked seriously at the bag of cat litter. Honestly, he hadn’t expected someone to come and exchange cat litter. For a moment, he fell into silence, unsure of how much would be appropriate to give in exchange.
The girl blinked, and her eyes lit up suddenly. “Can I exchange it?”
Jiang Rong nodded. “Yes.”
The light in the girl’s eyes suddenly brightened. “I have a lot of cat litter at home, hundreds of kilograms. Can I exchange them all?”
Jiang Rong smiled slightly. “Yes.”
The girl wiped away her tears with her hand. “Then, I’ll go home and get them now. Could you wait for me for a moment?”
Jiang Rong waved his hand. “No rush. You can take the meat first and bring the cat litter later when you have time.” Then Jiang Rong gave her a figure. “One bag of cat litter, 6.5 kilograms, is exchanged for half a kilogram of meat. Is that acceptable to you?”
The girl nodded repeatedly, overjoyed. “Okay, thank you, thank you!”
Jiang Rong placed his hands on the keyboard. “Name, address.”
The girl quickly said, “My name is Ruan Hanyu, and I live in Fishing Village Six. I want to exchange 20 bags of cat litter.”
Jiang Rong typed quickly, and amidst the crowd, a sarcastic voice came, “Hey, when a hero meets a beauty, even cat litter can be exchanged for meat. Did you hear that? Twenty bags of cat litter can be exchanged for ten kilograms of meat. The two bags of rice from the Lao family can’t even compare to cat litter.”
Hearing these comments, Ruan Hanyu lowered her head again, rubbing her hands nervously. Jiang Rong calmly filled out the form, then turned to the computer. “Sign here.”
Hearing the crowd’s comments, Guan Shao’s movements slowed down. He turned his head to look at Ruan Hanyu and then at the cat litter in her hand. It had to be said that Ruan Hanyu was a beautiful girl. When she bent down to sign, she and Jiang Rong were very close, looking quite compatible. Guan Shao’s movements slowed even more.
After Ruan Hanyu finished signing, Jiang Rong asked her to go to another line to wait. Suddenly, he felt a familiar gaze on him. Turning his head, he met Guan Shao’s eyes. Seeing the dark color in Guan Shao’s eyes, Jiang Rong explained, “The cat litter can cover the smell.”
Seven simple words made the emotions in Guan Shao’s eyes disappear completely. Nowadays, mutated animals were getting stronger one by one. Yesterday, they spilled wolf blood in the yard. Even after several washes, you could still smell it when you entered the yard. With cat litter, you could simply cover it up. Moreover, cat litter was also a good moisture-absorbing material. After it was used up, it could still play a role in the vegetable garden.
Guan Shao nodded with a smile, then picked up his water bottle and took a few sips. Comfortable~
Besides Ruan Hanyu, Jiang Rong also encountered another person who came to exchange strange items. This person’s surname was Pan, called Pan Xiaoquan. He stood mysteriously in front of Jiang Rong and opened a sack. “Do you recognize this?”
Jiang Rong looked over and saw square black-gray boards neatly arranged in the sack. There were some silver patterns on the boards, which looked somewhat familiar at first glance. However, after thinking for a long time, he couldn’t remember where he had seen these things. So he could only shake his head.
Pan Xiaoquan smirked, “This is a good thing. Take another look, what is this?”
As he spoke, Pan Xiaoquan leaned towards Jiang Rong, but before he could get closer, a cold light suddenly flashed past his ear. Pan Xiaoquan felt a cool sensation on his cheek and touched it, only to feel tiny droplets of blood.
Pan Xiaoquan swallowed nervously, turning his head to see a sharp dagger nailed to the wall behind him. The blade was halfway into the wall, with remnants of wolf blood making it eerie.
Guan Shao remained expressionless. “Sorry, slipped.”
Pan Xiaoquan’s face twitched, revealing a more pitiful expression than crying. “N-no, it’s fine.”
Why was this person so terrifying? It felt like he was about to be eaten.
Jiang Rong said solemnly, “Sorry, I really don’t recognize the item you brought, so I can’t exchange it for you.”
Pan Xiaoquan couldn’t keep up his act any longer. He hurriedly said, “These are solar panels! Don’t you recognize solar panels?”
Jiang Rong was speechless.
Upon closer inspection, these palm-sized chips did indeed resemble the ones inside his home’s solar panels. However, his family’s solar panels were completely different from the ones in front of him. Was this some kind of new type of solar panel?
Upon hearing Pan Xiaoquan’s words, Chu Qiang strode over. After picking up one of the panels and examining it, he sneered, “Solar panels? Who do you think you’re fooling? Do you think we don’t recognize solar panels? These are just ordinary battery cells, unassembled junk. No one would even want to buy scrap like this. Who are you trying to deceive?”
As Chu Qiang spoke, Pan Xiaoquan’s courage shattered. “I was wrong, I was wrong, I thought it was something good! I was wrong!”
Seeing Chu Qiang about to drag Pan Xiaoquan out of the queue, Jiang Rong stopped him. “Wait, where did you get these battery cells from?”
At first, Pan Xiaoquan was hesitant to speak, but with Chu Qiang’s fist raised, he spilled everything like a bamboo tube pouring beans. “I got them from my cousin Pan Pan. My cousin is also an esper, and he brought them back from outside. I thought it was something good, so I took a bag.”
Jiang Rong looked at Chu Qiang. “Pan Pan? Any impressions?”
Chu Qiang thought for a moment before saying, “There are a few people surnamed Pan in Fishing Team Five, but I’m not very familiar with them. I’ll go and ask later.”
It was important to establish good relationships since everyone was an esper.
Pan Xiaoquan screamed, “Don’t tell Pan Pan, he’ll kill me!”
Jiang Rong smiled faintly and said to Chu Qiang, “Detain him for now, and later we’ll contact Pan Pan to come and collect him.”
He liked to do these kinds of favors.
This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.
