Chapter 104: Buying a Flatbed Truck with Guardrails, Buying Beef

Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Buying a Flatbed Truck with Guardrails, Buying Beef

Yun Zhen sat in Li Mei’s electric tricycle and was driven back to her residential complex. The vehicle stopped at the complex’s entrance.

"Yun Zhen, go back to your dorm and grab a basin. Put the fish in it, then ask the owners of the nearby restaurants. They usually buy fish. Remember, don’t sell for less than ten yuan a catty," Li Mei instructed. Worried that Yun Zhen might be taken advantage of, she taught her step-by-step how to sell the fish.

Yun Zhen nodded, cheerfully agreeing aloud, "I got it. Thanks for giving me a ride, Meimei. Hurry on home."

In reality, she planned to take all the fish back to her village. She had made more than enough money today. She would take these dozen or so fish back for the villagers to make fish soup.

Li Mei was thrilled. "My husband will definitely be shocked when I bring home a large snakehead fish, a large yellow croaker, and an octopus today. Yun Zhen, make sure you sell the fish like I told you. I’m heading off."

Suddenly, Yun Zhen pointed at her electric tricycle and asked, "Meimei, where did you buy your trike? I want to buy one too. How much did it cost?"

Li Mei replied, "The electric trike? I bought it at a store for five thousand yuan. You’re only seventeen and still a minor, so you can’t get a driver’s license yet. Even if you bought one, you wouldn’t be allowed to drive it on the road."

What a pity! She had the money to buy a vehicle, but wasn’t allowed to drive it on the road.

Yun Zhen nodded with a smile. "I don’t have any other questions. Have a safe trip back. See you tomorrow."

"Bye-bye!" Li Mei waved and left.

Yun Zhen tossed the bag of fish and the vegetable leaves she had gotten from Sister-in-law Liu into the treasured land in her mind.

Her treasured land had expanded again. It now looked about the same size as her dorm room, easily capable of holding plenty of items. The most amazing part was that it could preserve temperature—she had already tested this with the mango pomelo sago last time. She just wondered if it could keep the fish alive.

She headed to the farmers’ market, ready for a massive shopping spree.

Today’s earnings had been off the charts:

Collecting scraps: 67 yuan.

Two part-time jobs: 110 yuan.

Handcrafted woodworking: 4,750 yuan.

Catching and selling seafood: 135,450 yuan.

Total: 140,377 yuan.

With money in her pocket, Yun Zhen walked with a spring in her step.

As she passed by, a familiar voice called out to her, "Miss, what do you need today?"

She turned around to see the owner of the farming tool shop, from whom she had previously bought high-quality farming tools and a pushcart.

After hesitating for a moment, she walked up and asked, "Sir, do you have any carts here that are convenient for transporting goods? Something with a carriage that rolls smoothly, has a strong load-bearing capacity, can carry a lot of things effortlessly, and can be used by a minor."

The owner thought for a moment and nodded. "Miss, you’re talking about a pushcart, right?"

Yun Zhen explained, "Not the iron wheelbarrow I bought last time. I want something lighter and capable of holding more things."

"Yes, yes, we do!" The farming tool shop owner smiled and went into the store behind him. It didn’t take long before he backed out pulling a black cart. It had four wheels on the bottom and was enclosed by a fence-like railing around the edges.

He introduced it carefully, detailing every feature: "This is a multifunctional folding high-rail cart, also known as a flatbed cart with guardrails. It has a thickened deck, a dust cover, a solid carbon-steel mesh, a thickened galvanized handle, and premium comfortable sponge grips. It can easily bear eight hundred catties. The wheels can rotate three hundred and sixty degrees. It’s one hundred and five centimeters long, sixty-five centimeters wide, and ninety centimeters high, and the rails are detachable and replaceable."

"You can even use it to transport refrigerators and cement. It’s not expensive—only one hundred and ninety-nine yuan," he continued.

Yun Zhen took a fancy to it at first glance. This was the vehicle of her dreams! Although she couldn’t ride it, it was convenient for both pushing and pulling. The basket inside also looked like it could hold a lot. She could put everything she bought inside it and wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of storing her purchases in the alleyway anymore.

Yun Zhen felt around in her bag, though she was actually withdrawing money from the treasured land in her mind. She handed the cash to the owner. "Sir, I’ll take one of these carts."

"Alright."

They completed the transaction—money in one hand, goods in the other. Yun Zhen pushed the cart around a bit; it turned left and right effortlessly.

"Take care, miss," the owner waved.

Yun Zhen pulled her new cart down the street. She had earned a lot of money today and planned to buy everything the village lacked.

First on the list was new clothes. Everyone currently had enough to eat and drink. Even though their cotton-padded clothes were made by stuffing cotton into old garments and kept them warm, frequently wearing filthy old clothes made them prone to sickness. And falling ill could be fatal. Most people only had two or three outfits to rotate through all year round. Because of this, she intended to buy everyone a brand-new set of cotton-padded clothes, from the inside out and top to bottom.

She would also pair them with new shoes and socks, and buy some toiletries for bathing and washing hair. Now that there was a stove in the room, they could use a wooden tub to take a full bath. Everyone hadn’t washed their bodies or hair in days—not only did they smell, but their hair was tangled in knots.

Rice and flour could be bought anytime. She wanted to buy two more pigs so everyone could eat more meat and put on some winter fat for warmth. She would also buy twenty trays of eggs—a thousand in total. Furthermore, she wanted to buy a fully butchered and cleaned cow, and some of the sugar cakes her mother kept talking about. Last time, she had mentioned buying a medium-sized tent to build another kitchen, so she couldn’t forget that either.

But it didn’t seem like the pushcart could fit all of these things. Whatever. If they didn’t fit, she would just leave them in the alley like before and transport them back later.

She went to the farming tool shop owner’s sister’s store to buy eggs.

"You’re here, miss. How many trays of eggs are you buying today?" the female owner recognized her instantly and greeted her familiarly. She wore a warm smile. "I see you even bought a new cart. Having a cart definitely makes transporting things easier."

"I want twenty trays of eggs, the same kind as before—fifty eggs per tray for fourteen yuan," Yun Zhen said with a smile.

The owner chuckled. "Alright, I’ll bundle them up and put them in your cart, yeah?"

Yun Zhen pushed her cart slightly. "Yes. I don’t need them moved to the alley today. I’ll push them over myself after I’m done shopping, and my family will move them when they arrive."

The owner was very thoughtful. "The cart’s base is rock-hard, so be careful not to crack the eggs. Let me grab a thick sponge pad to wrap the bottom and sides for you."

Yun Zhen also felt that padding them would be safer, so she thanked her. "Thank you, ma’am."

"Don’t mention it." The owner quickly found a large sponge pad and wrapped the edges of the cart. This way, even if the cart bumped along the ground, the eggs wouldn’t break.

After it was set up, Yun Zhen stacked the eggs tray by tray. The cart still had plenty of space for other items. She pulled out her money. "Ma’am, here is two hundred and eighty yuan."

"Come again next time!" the owner called out from behind as Yun Zhen left the store.

"I will."

As long as she couldn’t find cheaper eggs elsewhere, she would definitely keep buying from this owner.

She arrived near the meat stalls. Hanging behind the vendor who had sold her mutton yesterday were two carcasses of beef.

She approached him. "Sir, I want to buy a whole cow. How much do you sell them for?"

"Miss, it’s you!" the vendor clearly recognized her. "Did you eat the mutton from yesterday? Was it good? You want to buy a whole cow today, right?"

"I haven’t eaten the mutton yet. Today, I mainly want to ask about the price of beef. I want to buy a whole cow, preferably with the head and all four limbs intact, not chopped into pieces."

Yun Zhen wanted to buy a fully butchered, whole cow from head to tail. To her, buying an incomplete one seemed somewhat inauspicious.

The vendor tugged at the upside-down beef hanging behind him. "These cows were just slaughtered this afternoon and delivered a little after six o’clock, which is less than an hour ago. Look, they’re still steaming, and the meat is still twitching! If you buy a whole cow from me, I’ll calculate it based on the live-weight price. These are premium cows brought in from the grasslands. The live weight is fifteen yuan per catty. This cow weighs a little over twelve hundred catties at most, so the total price will be under twenty thousand."

"Miss, do you really want it? If you do, I’ll weigh it for you." After introducing the meat, the vendor asked for her decision.

Fifteen yuan a catty. A little over twelve hundred catties? That would be at least eighteen thousand yuan. Eighteen taels of Silver? That was fairly cheap. In her original world, beef wasn’t a matter of being expensive or not—it was simply that no one sold it at all. Even the Lord County Magistrate might not have ever tasted beef.

Yun Zhen made her decision. "I’ll take one. I want this steaming cow right here."

"You got it!"

The vendor was overjoyed. Most of his other customers only bought one or two catties. The girl standing before him had delicate, youthful features and looked like a minor, yet she spent money so generously. "Miss, do you need it broken down?"

He carefully laid out a plan for her. "The cow’s head has already been severed. I’ll separate the four limbs and the tail, then help you carve the meat off the torso. Finally, I’ll chop the bones into pieces the length of a forearm. That way, it’ll be convenient for you to hack them into smaller chunks with an axe when you get back."