Chapter 26: The Wealthy Persona Stands Firm

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: The Wealthy Persona Stands Firm

Faced with Boss Tang practically moving himself to tears, Huai Yu opened her mouth, not knowing what to say, and could only smile shyly.

To Boss Tang, this meant exactly what he thought!

Feeling a sudden surge of heroism, he declared, "Little Sister Yu! Don’t worry. Since our brother trusts me, I’ll never let you suffer a loss—I’ll take all these wild vegetables for 25 points a catty. How about that?"

He quickly elaborated, "Actually, if these were to circulate on the market, it might cost thirty or forty points to buy a catty. But after all, people eat them for their freshness. If there’s even a slight delay, their appearance deteriorates. As soon as I take them in, I have to quickly contact others. There is still some risk involved.

"Little Sister Yu, please be understanding."

Naturally, Huai Yu had no trouble being understanding.

In business, you earn and I earn; that was the only way a partnership could last. If Boss Tang couldn’t make a single point, why on earth would he be so exceptionally enthusiastic toward her?

From the purchasing price of 8 points for a Mutant Value of 11, to the current price of 25 for a Mutant Value of 9, it seemed that anything below 10 indeed represented a qualitative leap.

She nodded. "Thank you, Boss. There are also some wild shiitake mushrooms and pearl flowers at the bottom. There’s no need to weigh the mushrooms; consider them a gift from me, Brother Tang."

Boss Tang beamed with joy, unable to contain his delight. "Oh my! Oh my! How could I accept... Well, never mind! Little Sister Yu, you came all the way here to deliver the goods yourself; I can’t possibly take advantage of you."

As he spoke, he laid out a piece of cardboard and nimbly poured out all the wild vegetables. Then, he pulled out his phone and hurriedly sent out messages.

"I’ll notify the buyers first," he said.

Huai Yu looked at him with a hint of envy. By comparison, doing business felt so effortless!

However, she had reaped quite a harvest herself.

Although shepherd’s purse was light and didn’t weigh much, the three plastic bags had been stuffed to the brim. Combined, they now weighed over thirteen catties. Huai Yu had cleaned them meticulously. Barely any moist soil was left clinging to the roots, so Boss Tang didn’t even bother deducting for it.

The bracken fern, on the other hand, was quite plentiful. The large woven basket held just over twenty catties. There were also just under five catties of pearl flowers, and exactly two catties of shiitake mushrooms.

Boss Tang rounded the total weight up to forty-one catties, coming out to a total of 1025 Contribution Points.

Huai Yu raised her wrist and repeatedly checked her Contribution Points, suddenly feeling a surge of newfound wealth.

It was true what they said: to do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools.

If she had possessed the basket and plastic bags the day before yesterday, she might have been able to sell an extra ten or twenty catties of wild vegetables. She would have even saved up enough for a few bags of cement to build her house.

But as for now...

"Little Sister Yu," Boss Tang said, glancing at the mud clinging to her snow-white shoes. "How do you usually get around when you go out? Do you take the bus?"

Huai Yu nodded. "Yeah. My brother won’t let me drive his car."

"You’re still young, and the roads are in bad shape right now. It’s smart not to drive... But Old Tang here has a treasure for you—

"Come, stand over here. I’ll open the warehouse door and show you."

Curious, Huai Yu followed Boss Tang’s instructions and took two steps inside, standing to one side of the showroom.

The next moment, the warehouse door opened. The walls were covered with flashy, colorful items, and her eyes were instantly glued to them.

"Look! I just acquired this batch of bicycles. Word has it they came from a film studio’s warehouse. Look at the tulle flowers tied to them, the artificial flowers in the baskets, the colorful paint... Pretty, isn’t it?"

He had pigeonholed Huai Yu as a pampered young girl from a wealthy family. She looked young, and her mental age seemed even younger. Wasn’t it perfectly normal for someone like her to like this kind of flashy stuff?

However, while Huai Yu stared at the bicycles in front of her, her gaze actually focused on two remarkably plain, black bicycles among them.

"I want that one! It looks so big and cool. I’ve never ridden one like that before!"

Boss Tang took a look—well, what do you know! It was a classic, heavy-duty 28-inch bicycle!

This was also brought over from the film studio. It was said that the warehouse had been rented by a production crew filming a period drama, so the quality of the bicycles was rock solid.

Truth be told, riding a heavy-duty 28-inch bicycle nowadays was quite fast. It could haul cargo and carry passengers, making it genuinely practical. Nowadays, motorcycles lacked fuel, electric scooters were inconvenient to charge, and Pedestrian Streets were closed to cars. In reality, there were quite a lot of people riding bicycles in the city. However, most of them were those blue and green shared bikes... Of course, they had all become privately owned now.

Case in point, he had just put these heavy-duty 28-inch bicycles on display yesterday, and he had already sold two today.

He hesitated for a moment. "This bike isn’t as easy to ride as the smaller ones... Why don’t you take a look at these 26-inch or 24-inch ones?"

Huai Yu looked at them.

Although the 26-inch and 24-inch bikes were easier to ride and suited her better, she planned to take the bus whenever she went into the city. The bicycle would mostly be used for hauling goods around the Rose Mansion area. For example, yesterday, if she had tied those heavy tree trunks to a bicycle and pushed it along, it would have been much better than exhausting herself to the point of near-death by dragging and pulling them on her own, wouldn’t it?

At this moment, she acted just like a willful little girl. "I have a bicycle at home, but my brother has never bought me one this big... I just want this big one."

Nowadays, her "brother" appeared in her conversations with increasing frequency. Having told the lie so many times, there were moments when Huai Yu herself felt dazed, wondering if she really did have two such brothers. But pulling this excuse out to deal with Boss Tang right now was completely foolproof.

He nodded. "Alright! I usually sell this bicycle for 899 points, but you can just give me 650, little sister.

"Afterwards, you can go stroll around first while I make a copy of your ID. I’ll get someone to take the bike to the vehicle management office to stamp a steel serial number on it and bind it to your ID."

"Stamp a serial number?" Huai Yu asked curiously. "Like getting a license plate?"

Boss Tang nodded. "Exactly! The satellites aren’t very reliable these days. The GPS installed on your family’s car is probably only good for use within the city... Bicycles require a more old-fashioned method. My dad said this is how they used to register bicycles a hundred years ago."

Huai Yu half-understood. Watching Boss Tang hand her ID back to her after making a copy, she couldn’t help but feel conflicted again.

"What should I spend the remaining 400 points on?"

Boss Tang couldn’t help but click his tongue—no wonder she acted like the little princess of her family. She had just earned a thousand points by selling such premium wild vegetables, bought a bicycle without batting an eye, and now wanted to spend the remaining four hundred points all in one go...

Tsk, tsk, tsk! One had to realize how many people in the city hadn’t managed to save up 400 points even after six years of apocalyptic disasters. But then again, that was what came with being from a wealthy family!

Clutching his phone, he watched the continuous stream of replies telling him to "be sure to save some wild vegetables for me." At this moment, he was also gleefully calculating in his head.

He would keep three catties of bracken fern and three catties of shepherd’s purse for his own family. Tonight, he’d have his folks pick up a bag of flour and a cut of meat so they could enjoy a delicious meal of dumplings! As for those two catties of shiitake mushrooms, did it even need to be said? They absolutely had to be stewed in a pot of fresh chicken soup...

Tsk, eating a meal like that would easily cost four or five hundred points!

Meanwhile, Huai Yu seemed to have thought of something. She said happily, "I’ve been wanting to plant flowers and crops in my large yard recently, and maybe build a house... I might as well buy some tools and materials."

Boss Tang smiled and nodded, expressing endless approval.

He figured that to have a large yard for planting flowers and crops, this little girl’s two brothers must have an entire team under them. Otherwise, in this day and age, not to mention the rarity of a large yard, just having the security forces to dare let one’s family mess around with farming was a rarity in itself!