Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 134 A Little Interlude

After such a high-intensity replacement, nearly half of the mountain of oranges in her space was finally consumed, and she also successfully transferred half of the firewood piled up in the shed into her space as she wished.

Looking at the various heating "equipment" that had been added to the space, Xu Xiaoyan felt much more at ease. However, looking at the other half of the firewood that remained in the shed, she gritted her teeth. The fresh oranges had to be disposed of as soon as possible, and the firewood was essential for survival, so she had to take it all with her! She decided to exchange the remaining half of the oranges for durable dried goods!

Xu Xiaoyan already had a lot of down jackets, sweaters and other clothes for winter in her space, so she didn't have to worry about keeping warm. However, military coats have a unique value because they are thick, durable, have excellent warmth and are relatively inconspicuous. Considering their versatility and extra protection, Xu Xiaoyan felt it was necessary to try to exchange for a few as backups before going to exchange for dry goods.

She pushed her shopping cart to the clothing section of the market, where all kinds of clothes, both new and old, hung up. The air was filled with a strange smell of musty and disinfectant. Her eyes swept across the area and she soon spotted several folded, familiar grass-green military overcoats at a stall, along with a few matching Lei Feng hats. These were usually sold in labor protection supply stores, and she wondered which warehouse or abandoned barracks these had been salvaged from.

Xu Xiaoyan picked up a military overcoat, felt its thickness, then looked at the Lei Feng hat and asked, "Boss lady, how much are these military overcoats and hats?"

The stall owner was a plump, shrewd-eyed middle-aged woman. When she saw a customer coming in, she immediately put on a smile, but instead of quoting a price, she began to talk incessantly about selling and praising her own wares.

"Wow, young lady, you have a good eye! Look at this coat, the quilting is so thick! It's genuine military-grade, windproof and waterproof, it won't break even after ten years! And look at this hat, it's full of good fur inside, it can protect your ears and neck completely, you won't be afraid of the coldest weather! Let me tell you, this is only true now, back in the day..."

She rambled on and on, never getting to the point, clearly trying to inflate the perceived value of the item in the customer's mind. Xu Xiaoyan grew increasingly annoyed by her incessant boasting. Time was precious; she didn't have time to listen to this nonsense. She interrupted directly, "Boss lady, are you selling clothes or not? Just tell me the price, okay? If not, I'm leaving."

The middle-aged woman was taken aback, her eyes darting around. She quickly put on a smile and said, "Yes, yes! Of course I'll sell! It's just... the price is a bit high. Let me prepare you mentally first..." She was still trying to lay the groundwork and observe Xu Xiaoyan's reaction.

Upon hearing her tone, Xu Xiaoyan knew that she was trying to raise the price. Without saying anything more, she simply crossed her arms and stared coldly at the other party, wanting to see just how outrageous the price she could ask for.

Seeing that Xu Xiaoyan remained unmoved, the middle-aged woman had no choice but to awkwardly quote the price: "Um... each military overcoat requires ten catties of dried goods, or forty catties of fresh goods." This price clearly showed that she was treating Xu Xiaoyan as a fat sheep to be slaughtered.

Xu Xiaoyan was so angry she laughed, and retorted without any politeness, "Why don't you just go rob me?"

Having said that, she was too lazy to waste any more words with the greedy woman. She pushed her shopping cart, turned around, and left in a swift and decisive manner, completely ignoring the woman's cries of "Hey, don't go! The price is negotiable!" behind her. Did the woman really think she was a newcomer who was unaware of the market price and was just a sucker? The price was simply absurd.

She pushed her cart, intending to check out other stalls, but before she had gone more than a few steps, her arm was suddenly grabbed from behind! The force was so great that she frowned.

She turned around impatiently and saw the middle-aged, plump woman from before chasing after her, panting heavily. She was tightly gripping her sleeve, her face full of urgency and a forced smile, pulling her towards her stall while saying hurriedly, "Oh, young lady, don't go! Look at my loose tongue, I can't say anything! Just now... just now I was joking with you, just overcharging! Don't take it to heart!"

She was panting heavily, and quickly changed her tune, "This military overcoat, only two pounds of dried or eight pounds of fresh will do! Really! I'll even throw in a matching military cap, it's super warm! Look, look again, I guarantee it's the real deal!"

Looking at her ridiculous behavior of being arrogant at first and obsequious at second, and glancing at her own sleeve that had been torn and deformed, Xu Xiaoyan realized that this was probably closer to the real market price.

After a moment's thought, she was too lazy to go looking elsewhere, so she readily agreed and was half-heartedly pulled back to the stall.

In the end, she traded forty pounds of fresh oranges for five military overcoats. After changing, she pushed her shopping cart back to her shed, put the overcoats into her storage space, and then pushed her shopping cart, now fully loaded with oranges, to the dry goods section.

This time, Xu Xiaoyan chose to go to the dry goods trading area, searching for hard currency that is durable, high-energy, and can withstand long-term severe cold.

"How do I exchange the shrimp?"

"What's the ratio of dried fish to pork?"

"How much are these sweet potato noodles?"

"What about kudzu root powder?"

"You actually have dried plums? From the South? I'll trade you some with oranges."

"How do I change the brown sugar?"

"How do I replace these dried fruits like goji berries and walnuts?"

"How about I trade the oranges for noodles?"

……

Her voice was clear and quick, and she readily agreed to the exchange as long as the owner was willing to make a change and the price was within a reasonable range based on her assessment of the current market conditions.

Of course, she also encountered some vendors who tried to exchange items that would be considered luxuries in peacetime, such as bird's nest, sea cucumber, and deer antler. These items are now much less practical, but the vendors clearly still had the mentality of hoarding them, and the ratios they offered were extremely exaggerated, some even reaching 1 to 50.

Normally, Xu Xiaoyan would have scoffed at it, but at this moment, looking at the mountain of oranges still piled up in her space, she thought she had to clear them out as soon as possible, plus these things might be able to replenish her energy in extreme circumstances.

She gritted her teeth and agreed that as long as the other party was willing to accept payment in oranges and the price wasn't outrageously high, she would accept it! Giving more oranges was fine; clearing out the inventory and making room for maneuver was the top priority!

In this way, Xu Xiaoyan spent an entire day exploring almost every corner of the dried goods section, constantly pushing out carts of bright yellow oranges in exchange for bags and sacks of dried goods.

As darkness fell again, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. The mountain of fresh oranges in her space had finally been almost completely exchanged! Exhausted, she returned to the secluded shed, where the other half of the firewood lay.