Chapter 21: Buy, Buy, Buy

“Father, hurry to the yard and dig up some soil, we need it urgently.”

With Yan Yu’s command, Yan Lao’er sprang into action immediately.

In times like these, there’s no time to question why—prioritize what’s urgent.

The young man’s face looked slightly better than before, though still a bit pale. He spoke stiffly, “Everyone’s time is precious. If connecting isn’t convenient, just close the platform. It will automatically reallocate users, so as not to waste others’ time.”

Yan Yu nodded earnestly. “I understand, I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“What’s your situation over there, little brother? Can you tell us?”

“Transmigration category, apocalypse, global biochemical crisis,” the young man replied succinctly.

Yan Yu was shocked and asked, “Is it the kind with zombies?”

Oh my, there are so many movies and novels like that.

Really, truly, indescribably brutal!

The young man pressed his lips together and nodded, adding, “Zombies, mutant beasts, mutant plants.”

“Huh? Does this kind of land get polluted? Unable to plant?”

“Not exactly.” The young man glanced at the time and said, “There are hard-to-detect insect eggs hidden in the soil outside. Non-mutated high-quality seeds are very precious and can’t be risked lightly. High temperatures can’t completely eliminate the eggs, and strong pesticides damage the soil composition. So, soil traded from the Free Market is safer, verified by the platform—it’s a double insurance.”

“So, even if the soil I trade over has insect eggs, they’ll be killed, right?” Just like cattle, the platform doesn’t allow live trades.

“This is a mechanism to prevent species invasion,” the young man answered seriously, despite his indifferent expression. “Every connected world may seem similar, but they’re actually different. From the macro universe, the size and structure of celestial bodies, their trajectories, to species evolution, technological levels, and cultural perceptions—any slight change makes the future unpredictable.

The platform itself won’t provide goods beyond our civilization’s capabilities, but perhaps due to the harsh living conditions, it opens a channel for free trade since it can’t provide much beyond basic needs.

The principle of equivalent exchange balances transactions between users.”

“The soil’s here!”

Yan Lao’er came in carrying a burlap sack. When opened, it was more than half full.

The young man’s expression softened, his face looking much more at ease.

“Confirm it.”

Yan Yu reached out and tapped, and two rows of neatly stacked toilet paper lost their outer packaging but remained standing upright.

Yan Lao’er casually picked one up, and it scattered in a flurry.

Yan Lao’er: …

Li Xuemei suddenly exclaimed, “Xiaoyu, hurry, buy rice, flour, seasonings, eggs, meat, and vegetables, buy them all, quick!”

Yan Yu snapped back to reality. Oh my!

She’d been so focused on selling that she forgot to buy.

With the countdown entering the final minute.

Yan Yu unleashed her thousand-characters-per-hour typing speed.

Click, click, click!

Buy, buy, buy!

Food, food, food!

After sweeping through everything, she realized she could still buy rice and flour, so she kept clicking, not knowing how many times. The rice and flour were sold out, and the shelves were cleared of food, with just over ten seconds left on the countdown.

She asked urgently, “Mom, should we buy Bamboo Slips? It seems we can still afford them.”

Li Xuemei, also panicking, knew time was running out and made a quick decision: “Buy.”

Yan Yu glanced at the time again, and with three seconds left, she clicked on Bamboo Slip Three, securing the last item.

The tension immediately eased, and she let out a long sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to check the balance, the screen in front of her vanished.

Yan Yu: …

Just one more glance, couldn’t they let her see?

But she knew they’d scored big this time.

They’d bought almost everything useful from the platform shelves.

She tried to recall what the balance was before buying the Bamboo Slips.

Oh no! Her mind was buzzing, only remembering it was several hundred, but the exact number was forgotten! Boo hoo!

“What do we do? I forgot the balance.” Yan Yu tapped her head, feeling muddled.

Yan Lao’er: “If you forgot, you forgot. What’s the big deal? Check it next time! Don’t knock your head too hard, you’re still young, your skull isn’t fully formed.”

Li Xuemei exclaimed, “Good thing we exchanged for the teapot and clay pot earlier. Look, otherwise, the soy sauce and vinegar would be wasted.”

The father and daughter looked.

The soy sauce occupied the clay pot, while the vinegar had to squeeze into the teapot, which was too small to hold it all, so part of it was poured into a small basin that previously held pig skin jelly.

They’d arranged everything quite well, good job!

As for the various seasonings, like the rice and flour, they were piled up without interfering with each other, each standing beautifully on its own, so sensible!

“These…” Yan Yu pointed at them and asked, “How do we store them? We don’t have enough bags.”

Li Xuemei was also at a loss.

They’d sold all the fabric and thread, otherwise, they could sew some bags.

Yan Lao’er: “I’ll go check the kitchen.”

“Father, no need. The kitchen only has a few bowls and basins, we’ve used them all, and it’ll be hard to explain tomorrow. Oh, and about making dumpling soup at midnight, just say Mom’s pregnant and the sibling in her belly was hungry, okay?”

Yan Lao’er laughed heartily, “That’s a good excuse.”

Li Xuemei accepted it silently. What else could she do?

“We have so much stuff, it’s hard to explain to the family. Father, we need to go out tomorrow, early in the morning. This white rice and flour, and milk powder, are precious right now, and those seasonings aren’t cheap either. We need to come up with a source for them.”

Yan Yu looked at the frozen chunks of pork, chicken, and fish.

She touched them; they were icy cold.

“We shouldn’t have bought so much meat. Sigh! I got too anxious, one would have been enough. Buying it all is wasteful since we can’t store it.” Li Xuemei sighed, blaming herself for panicking.

Yan Lao’er weighed it with his hand, “Once thawed, it’s about a pound. With so many of us, it’ll be gone in a day.”

“Father, have you seen anyone selling just chicken breast or fish without bones and heads?” Yan Yu fretted over the chicken and fish.

“Hey! That’s easy. Just chop it all up together, who can tell what meat it is? Dumplings or buns, either works… I just kneaded some dough, planning to steam buns tomorrow. So, tomorrow we’ll make buns. I’ll chop the filling finely, and they’ll only know it’s delicious.” Yan Lao’er said confidently.

“Combined, it’s three pounds, isn’t that too much?” Li Xuemei picked up a pound of bok choy, “We can’t make pure meat filling, add vegetables, and see how much it is.”

Yan Yu thought seriously and finally decided, “Father, Mother, we’ll have many things we can’t explain the source of in the future. Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, people will get suspicious. We should keep it to ourselves, not because we’re stingy, but because the situation doesn’t allow it!

Especially with Uncle, the protagonist of this book! He later became a high-ranking official, changing the Imperial Capital. Is that ordinary intelligence? Even if the three of us combined, we couldn’t match him. If we can hide these things and secretly eat and use them, that’s good enough. Offering them up would be like handing over the evidence…”
(End of this chapter)