Chapter 156 - 123: Explorer

Chapter 156: Chapter 123: Explorer

Huai Yu didn’t understand Uncle Zaozi’s logic for making money at all.

If you called him stingy, he had been incredibly straightforward when selling the folding bed to her. But if you said he wasn’t stingy, he often fussed endlessly over a few cents.

Huai Yu thought about it and could only give a perfunctory assessment: this was probably just how rich people thought.

Chen Xing, however, was quite interested in the compressed tea he had just mentioned. "You have compressed tea? Want to try selling it to me? If the quality is good, we can easily negotiate a price."

Uncle Zaozi quickly chimed in, "The quality is excellent! It’s different from the usual compressed tea from the past, but it has its own unique flavor. It’s really effective for treating constipation!

"Little Yu treats it like a treasure. I wanted to buy more from her before, but she couldn’t bear to part with it and only gave me a little. I brew one ball a day, and I’m almost out."

After he finished speaking, he stared at Huai Yu with a resentful gaze.

Huai Yu was speechless.

She wondered if Uncle Zaozi even realized what he was saying.

Ke Taichiro had been living with her for a while now. She watched him gnaw out a pile of crumbs every day, then use his mouth and claws to roll them together into evenly sized round balls.

How could she possibly sell that as tea?

Although it didn’t seem lethal and even had some medicinal effects—taking Zhou Qian as an example—selling it would be a huge psychological burden!

But right now, not only Uncle Zaozi, but Chen Xing was also looking at her expectantly.

Huai Yu thought for a moment and hemmed and hawed, "The production process of this compressed tea isn’t very clean..."

"Tsk." Chen Xing didn’t care at all. "We’ve survived the past six years; what unclean things haven’t we eaten? Little Yu, looking at how thin you are, you must be a picky eater, right?

"Don’t worry, I have a testing device at my place," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I’ll be the judge of whether it’s edible and meets the standards.

"I’ll be in Flower City all week for the Labor Day holiday. If you’re willing to sell, be sure to find me!"

As she spoke, she patted Huai Yu’s shoulder again, gave Uncle Zaozi a fierce glare, and finally strode out of the hospital.

Huai Yu stared at her retreating figure and found that even from the back, she looked incredibly cool. She walked with a valiant and heroic bearing, exuding great style.

Looking back at Uncle Zaozi, she suddenly grew curious. "Why did Sister Xingxing come to the hospital? Uncle Zaozi, did you injure her?"

"Sister Xingxing~" Uncle Zaozi mimicked her in a weird tone. "Are you closer to her or me? You were captivated by her right off the bat. Tsk!"

Huai Yu giggled. "But she’s really cool. I want to grow up to be like that."

Uncle Zaozi simply didn’t understand the magnetic draw between girls. But if becoming like that required running ten kilometers a day, she might as well give up. There was always bound to be a gap between different people.

Uncle Zaozi snorted in annoyance. "Look at my face. How could you say something like, ’I hit her’? If I had the ability to beat her up, would I be in this state?

"With Explorers like them, which outing doesn’t end with bringing back a few injured members?

"If things go smoothly, they come back intact with just a few minor injuries. If not, they probably only bring back ashes.

"Little Yu, don’t be fooled by her young age, having a car, and owning a company. In reality, she lives a life of licking blood from the edge of a blade. It’s not easy!

"People like them don’t save the points they earn. They either upgrade their gear or spend it on pleasure. They look generous, but that’s no way to live. You absolutely must not learn from them!

"If anyone tries to coax you into becoming an Explorer, you absolutely must not agree."

Of course she wouldn’t!

Explorers, Explorers... Once they went out, there was no telling when they’d return. What would happen to her vegetable patch, chicks, Big Pup, Second Pup, and Ke Taichiro?

Besides, she couldn’t even run ten kilometers. Why would she join the Explorers?

Huai Yu dutifully listened to Uncle Zaozi’s earnest lecture until the nurse called his number. Uncle Zaozi hurriedly responded and followed the nurse into the consultation room.

Huai Yu stood in the lobby, thoroughly conflicted. Should she sell Ke Taichiro’s balls or not?

...

The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Huai Yu got up to pack her things.

First, she let the chicks out of their coop to forage for food. Next, she went to the bamboo forest to check on Big Pup and Second Pup. Whether they understood or not, she told them she was going out. Finally, she returned to the house and brought out two large basins filled with Klang Balls.

She had tossed and turned the previous night, thinking it over, and ultimately decided to carry Ke Taichiro’s balls over to give it a try.

She definitely couldn’t sell them to Boss Tang, so she might as well sell them to someone else—assuming they could accept them.

Moreover, Ke Taichiro was an absolute model worker. His cheeks never stopped working from morning to night. By now, the rolled-up balls had filled an entire jar, plus two large stainless-steel basins. If she didn’t sell them soon, she’d really have to build a warehouse to store them.

At that moment, Huai Yu carried Ke Taichiro into the room and pointed at the balls.

"Taichiro, there are too many balls. I want to see if I can sell some... Are you willing? If so, can you tell me which ones are drinkable and which ones are medicinal?"

Ke Taichiro flapped his wings and lightly tapped his antennae. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood, which she took as a sign of agreement.

Then, he waddled over to the colorful balls, looked left and right, and only picked out a multicolored Celery-leaved buttercup Ball to hand to Huai Yu.

Huai Yu looked at the ball in her hand, then at the two large basins.

Alright then! It turned out that things like clearing heat and reducing internal fire didn’t count as medicinal properties to Ke Taichiro. Both huge basins were filled entirely with drinkable ones.

She pulled out a stack of plastic bags to sort the balls by color. Before long, she had stuffed an entire woven basket full of them.

Ke Taichiro went outside happily. When Huai Yu poked her head out to look at him, he was already holding another cluster of tender dandelion leaves.

However, business was business. She still had to visit the highway station, and Zhou Qian’s extra meals had to be arranged.

Huai Yu had already decided what to cook the night before. Now, she took out the rice she had cooked yesterday, added wild garlic and victory onion for flavor, diced some rehydrated dried bamboo shoots, mixed in some crispy pork fat residue, and fried a huge basin of fragrant fried rice. She blanched the newly sprouted tender bean sprouts, simply tossing them with oil, salt, chili, and seasoning, making a passable, refreshing side dish.

Huai Yu checked the time, picked up the food, and headed out without a second thought.

Because she caught the first bus of the morning, the morning broadcast had just started when she entered the hospital. Zhou Qian looked at her in surprise.

"Little Yu, why are you here so early?"

Huai Yu handed the food over. "I met a super cool Explorer sister yesterday and want to talk business with her, so I came early."

"An Explorer?" Zhou Qian didn’t ask what business she intended to discuss. He only asked, "What’s her name? Which company?"

Huai Yu pulled out the business card. Zhou Qian examined it carefully before setting his mind at ease.

"I’ve heard of this company. Their boss is indeed named Chen Xing. I heard she’s quite young but very bold and generous.

"If you want to negotiate with her, go ahead and give it a try."