Chapter 51 - 50: Talent

Chapter 51: Chapter 50: Talent

Huai Yu hadn’t expected that just two brief transactions—or more accurately, just two interactions—could yield such an unexpected surprise. It made her hesitate.

"Is it okay for me to test my items here?"

"It’s fine," the staff member replied calmly. "This is just a backup machine for the trading market anyway. There aren’t many stall vendors right now, but once it gets busy, this will see plenty of use. Plus, it’s a bit more precise—accurate to one decimal place." He placed her woven basket on the scale. "Do you want to test them all together or separately?"

Huai Yu nodded decisively. "Together."

She had purified the bracken and wild onions herself, while the bean sprouts had absorbed slightly more regular purified water than the last batch. Testing them all as a single unit was the safest approach.

The machine let out a soft hum and quickly spat out a card: [Mutant Value: 9]

Truth be told, a reading like this was incredibly rare across the entire market. But since it was Huai Yu who brought it in, it somehow felt a lot less surprising. The staff member, for instance, was already getting used to it. As Huai Yu took the card, she heard him marvel, "To grow bean sprouts this perfectly... that’s seriously impressive!"

Huai Yu smiled and earnestly promised, "Thank you so much. Next time, I’ll have my brother bring something over for you all."

The man waved his hand dismissively. "It’s no trouble at all, you really don’t have to bring anything. Anyway, you can head out through the turnstiles up ahead. Take a right at the first intersection, and you’ll hit the main road of the Pedestrian Street."

Stepping through the turnstiles, Huai Yu found herself flanked by compact, exquisitely designed boutiques and snack stalls. A vibrant array of colorful storefront signs lined the path, one after another. It only took one glance to know that, had the apocalypse never happened, this would undoubtedly be the most bustling hub of the entire Flower City Night Market. But now, with society only just beginning to stabilize, there weren’t even enough vendors to fill the Pedestrian Street. As a result, this section remained closed off, bathed in an eerie quiet.

Upon arriving at Huaxia Gold, she found Boss Tang lounging in a plush beanbag chair, entirely engrossed in a video game. The red-and-blue controllers and the intense, pulse-pounding background music made Huai Yu feel a twinge of envy. She figured that having something like that to pass the time would ensure life was never boring.

However, Tang Hongji had long since grown bored of the hundreds of single-player games in his collection. At this point, even hacking and slashing virtual monsters felt like a tedious chore. That was until he looked up and spotted Huai Yu!

In the next instant, he tried to spring to his feet. His round body floundered in the deep crater of the beanbag chair, looking much like a beached seal. He tossed the controller aside without bothering to pause the game. The intense battle music played on for a moment before abruptly shifting into a somber, mournful dirge.

Boss Tang didn’t care in the slightest. Instead, he beamed with a radiant smile. "Oh! Little Yu is here! Come in, come in! Let me brew some tea for you—uh, it’s stale tea, will you be okay with that?"

Huai Yu shook her head. The water outside the safety zone tasted terrible, and she had no desire to touch it. Boss Tang found her refusal completely understandable. After all, this little girl casually hawked produce with a Mutant Value of 9 as if she were just playing house. It was only natural that she’d turn her nose up at his stale tea and standard purified water.

He stared eagerly at her woven basket. "What kind of goodies do you have for me today?"

Huai Yu set the basket down. "It’s bean sprouts again. Growing them is so much fun! I soaked the beans all by myself."

Boss Tang’s smile didn’t falter; his tone remained overwhelmingly sincere. "Oh, I knew it! No wonder the last batch turned out so perfectly. So it was our Little Yu who soaked the beans herself... Outstanding! You’re a natural!"

Huai Yu nodded, taking the praise in stride. "Mhm. My brother says the exact same thing."

She handed over the testing certificate. The bold, dark print reading [Mutant Value: 9] caused Boss Tang to beam with uncontained joy.

She had used a large rattan basket to grow this batch. Because they had been left to sprout a little longer, their fine, delicate roots had actually woven themselves into the rattan at the bottom. Huai Yu had to yank with all her might to peel the mat of sprouts from the basket, snapping several of the crisp stalks in the process.

Boss Tang winced at the sight, his heart aching over the minor damage. "Let me do it, let me do it! This basket is rough; we don’t want you scratching up your hands."

Huai Yu let go. The soft, pale skin of her fingertips was flushed red, showing she really had been straining. Seeing this, Boss Tang grew even more convinced of her powerful family background. In stark contrast to Huai Yu, he used his broad hands to carefully grip the roots, applying slow, even pressure as he pulled. In no time at all, he peeled the entire bed of sprouts cleanly off the rattan frame.

Since they were legumes, even the slightest contamination could cause their Mutant Value to spike. Not even daring to wash them in water, he quickly tossed the harvest onto his scale.

"We’ve got quite a bit more this time. 3.4 kilograms. I’ll round it up and pay you for 3.5. Now that the weather has cleared up, the market price for fresh vegetables might drop just a smidge—but don’t you worry! I won’t drop my prices. I’ll still pay you 120 points a kilogram!"

That made exactly 420 points. Huai Yu nodded. "Sounds good."

Boss Tang had many redeeming qualities. His tendency to over-imagine her background, coupled with his straightforward nature and refusal to nickel-and-dime her over minor fractions, made him an absolute dream to work with. She liked him a lot.

The transaction was completed even faster than her previous visit. Armed with her newly earned 420 points, Huai Yu hit the streets once more. Her first purchase was an ultra-lightweight crossbody chest bag. The dark green bag was second-hand, which meant it only cost her 10 points, and it was the perfect size to hold her notebook. Consulting her shopping list, Huai Yu started haggling. She snapped up a burgundy duvet cover in the perfect size—there went another 25 points.

Two towels, five bottles of Water Purification Tablets, a large ladle, a packet of dry yeast, a hand-woven bamboo strainer, some baking soda, a rolling pin...

By the time she had shoved all these odds and ends into her woven basket, her balance had dwindled to just over 300 points. A bicycle pump cost 50 points. After wavering back and forth, Huai Yu ultimately decided to hold off on buying it for now. She did, however, find a small, second-hand four-hole fish trap for a mere 45 points. She snatched it up without hesitation, leaving her with exactly 280 points.

Huai Yu reviewed her notebook and found that she had acquired almost all of her most urgent necessities. With that out of the way, she shifted her focus to staple foods.

"Sir, I’ll take 2.5kg of your cheapest rice and 2.5kg of your cheapest flour."

After that round of shopping, her smart bracelet showed a meager balance of 180 points. And she still hadn’t purchased her biggest, most coveted item. Wandering down the street, she suddenly blinked in surprise.

"Uncle Zaozi? Why are you running a stall again?"

The man sitting on the ground shot her a profoundly depressed look. "Just call me Uncle. Any Uncle is fine, just leave out the ’Zaozi’."

"Oh." Huai Yu crouched down to inspect his wares. "Are you selling... carrots? Is this what mutant carrots look like?"

"What mutant carrots?" Uncle Zaozi retorted, clearly offended. "This is ginseng! You hear me? Ginseng! I went through hell to harvest this! It’s incredibly nourishing!

"Pure wild-grown!"

But the so-called ginseng wasn’t even as thick as Huai Yu’s pinky finger. Its green leaves had mutated, making the whole plant look suspiciously like a scraggly carrot. Then again, in this day and age, it was genuinely hard to say which was more expensive—a high-quality carrot or a root of ginseng!

Huai Yu glanced at him. "So, what’s its Mutant Value?"

Uncle Zaozi hemmed and hawed. "It’s... well, it’s still 23..."

He looked at Huai Yu and suddenly turned defensive. "Don’t even think about asking for a free sample! Look, if its Mutant Value wasn’t slightly on the high side, some major buyer would have snapped this up the second I brought it into town. Do you really think I’d be out here running a street stall if I had a choice?"