Chapter 20
This person, if he really was that head of the “daoye,” was definitely not a kind person. (T/N: The term “daoye” (倒爷) is a culturally and historically specific Chinese slang term that doesn’t have a perfect one-to-one English equivalent. It’s best understood as a speculator, fixer, black marketeer, or a highly effective middleman)
Because Xie Muzhi had unknowingly taken away more than half of the wealthy’s assets.
Of course, at that time, Ji Yang didn’t know that he was the head of this group of “daoye.”
In the middle of the extreme heat period, the head of the “daoye” had been replaced.
Before that, he had only dealt with the wealthy. For small transactions like Ji Yang’s, the most she could come into contact with were the small leaders.
She remembered that there had always been a legend in the base. In the early days, there was a formidable person who led a group of people to act as “daoye” on the surface, exchanging various resources and making a fortune for himself. The government might not have been as rich as him.
Later, someone discovered that those things from the wealthy had all appeared on the government’s side and eventually ended up in the hands of ordinary survivors.
Only then did someone speculate that this person might have been helping the government. On the surface, it was not good for the government to be ruthless and rip off customers. It was also possible that they didn’t have enough manpower at the time, and there were too many survivors who needed help. But a large amount of survival supplies were controlled and hidden by a few wealthy people, which was too wasteful. Therefore, it was a method they had come up with together.
The government provided various precious resources, and that person acted as a representative to exchange a large amount of basic survival resources from the wealthy. Compared to the government’s rigid image, a “daoye” could get much more. Ji Yang had also been one of the beneficiaries at that time.
Of course, this was only known later. At the beginning, everyone only thought of him as a formidable “daoye.”
Later, it was said that the “daoye” had changed their leader, and there had been a period of turmoil. Some “daoye” were not convinced and wanted to set up their own business, but for some reason, they had quieted down again.
But today, seeing Xie Muzhi, and then Luo Laosan and the other three he had brought, who were all small leaders of the “daoye” later on, but all called Xie Muzhi “boss,” she came to this conclusion.
The current Xie Muzhi was the person from the rumors in her previous life. But perhaps he had retired after achieving fame and success in the future?
The longer the natural disaster lasted, the fewer resources could be used, and the gap between the rich and the poor gradually narrowed. There were also fewer resources that could be exchanged, so retirement was normal.
Anyway, the Xie Muzhi that Ji Yang knew in her previous life was a leisurely person. He had formidable skills, but he wanted to sleep all day long and was sometimes too lazy to eat.
However, given his excellent skills, Ji Yang didn’t mind.
It was just that later, when she had saved up enough points and planned to hire him again, the “daoye” said that he couldn’t be contacted.
During the disaster years, if a person couldn’t be contacted, it was very likely that they were gone.
Because at that time, people would not easily leave the base alone to go to other places.
And with so many disasters, death was too normal.
It was just a pity that she had been noticed by him as soon as they met in this life. Otherwise, she might have been able to ask him to teach her. No one would complain about being too strong, especially in the apocalypse. She wished she could become a Super Saiyan. Even with her space, the improvement of her body was not to be ignored.
The scarf blocked the change in Ji Yang’s expression. Her expression was as usual. “I don’t know. A master from a martial arts gym I signed up for before taught me. I didn’t ask about those things at the time. Is there anything else? If not, I’ll be going?”
Xie Muzhi’s eyes curved slightly, and he took two steps back. “Please.”
Ji Yang nodded and called out to Xixi.
“Woof!” Xixi immediately responded, looked at the group of people warily, and then wagged its tail and followed its owner.
Its paws made little flower patterns on the snow.
They were quickly buried by the falling snowflakes.
Gradually, the dead on the ground were also buried.
Xie Muzhi glanced at the mess behind him and said, “Drag these people back and deal with them.”
“Yes!” Luo Laosan and the others immediately responded.
They had a wide network and had seen a lot. Normally, a corpse would at most make people feel scared, but now, with the lack of food and clothing, there were also people robbing and collecting protection fees. Everyone was so hungry that they had turned into demons.
They couldn’t beat those ruthless people, and without food, they could only turn their attention to others.
A corpse… could also be food.
And this group of people was organized. If someone found out that a little girl had killed five of their fighters, this organization would definitely retaliate against her. There were too many people at the entrance of the shopping mall who had seen Ji Yang being taken away by them. But if the bodies were dealt with by them, the matter would naturally be blamed on them.
Not everyone dared to retaliate against the boss.
However, it was a real pity that this Miss Ji hadn’t come to work.
But on second thought, this girl was willing to give up so much fruit for a few pieces of inedible jade. It was clear that she was not short of supplies.
Luo Laosan wiped his drool with envy. Comparing people was infuriating.
No!
He had to work hard and strive to be able to eat and drink without worry and even buy some things to enjoy life!
—
It was still early, but the temperature was too low. Ji Yang didn’t want to stay outside for long. She just took Xixi for a walk around and, after confirming that no one was following them, she put on her snowboard again and put a harness on Xixi. This time, she didn’t slide herself, but directly commanded, “Xixi, charge!”
As soon as the little dog heard the command, it immediately jumped up and charged forward.
It was a little difficult at first.
Just as Ji Yang was about to help, it was already moving. It wasn’t so difficult at that point.
Snowflakes hit her face all the way. Fortunately, she was well-equipped; otherwise, her face would have been frozen. Finally, after more than twenty minutes, she returned to Jiafu Community.
Xixi was panting from exhaustion. Ji Yang also happened to want to exercise, so she let it into her hiking backpack, with its dog head sticking out, and began to climb the stairs.
Huffing and puffing up to the thirteenth floor, she heard someone coming down. She paused, got her weapon ready, and then continued up.
When she reached the fourteenth floor, a familiar woman came down slowly with her eyes lowered.
Noticing her, the woman’s eyes immediately lit up. “You went out. I was wondering why there was no response when I knocked on your door.”
Ji Yang remembered her. She was the woman who had traded a jade bracelet for milk powder with her before. She nodded. “What is it?”
The woman’s eyes turned red, and she wanted to say something, but the situation was different now. She glanced at the fourteenth floor and pointed upstairs.
Ji Yang nodded and went up quickly.
Jiang Jing also followed closely, her eyes red. “Can I trade this jade bracelet for a few packs of sanitary napkins?”
With that, she took out the thing in her pocket.
A jadeite bracelet of excellent quality!
With Ji Yang’s superficial understanding, this jadeite bracelet should have been able to sell for a million before the disaster.
She was a little surprised. She had taken out such an expensive thing? This was not the same price as the previous three-hundred-thousand-yuan jade bracelet.
Jiang Jing quickly explained, “This was my mother-in-law’s. A few days ago, my husband and I went to pick them up, but we found that both my parents-in-law were dead. The jade bracelet was in the safe, so no one could take it. It wasn’t stolen from someone else.”
She knew that Ji Yang had almost been robbed some time ago and was afraid that she would be disgusted by these things.
If it were in the peaceful era, she would definitely not have used her deceased mother-in-law’s belongings so easily. But in the current situation, the possibility of things getting better was too low. If she didn’t act now, it might really become an ordinary stone that would be disdained as too heavy and taking up space if thrown on the road in the future.
Therefore, her husband had let her bring it over to exchange for sanitary napkins. The previous ones had already been used up. In the middle of winter, if she let the blood flow directly, it would be a kind of torture. However, the price of jade bracelets at the government exchange point was not high.
It should be said that the price of sanitary napkins… was too expensive.
Everything had come to a standstill, and sanitary napkin manufacturers were no longer producing them. The things were becoming scarcer and scarcer, so they were now sold by the piece. One piece cost ten points. After exchanging her bracelet, she could only buy five packs.
What she was thinking was that with the last bracelet, Ji Yang could even give two packs of sanitary napkins as a bonus. Although it had been a long time, and the value of supplies had risen, it should be higher than the government’s price. Of course, if that didn’t work, she could only risk finding those “daoye.”
But compared to the “daoye,” she still trusted Ji Yang, who she had traded with once and was also a woman, more.
Ji Yang didn’t want to ask about these things and just said, “I’ll take the things, but what I can give you…” she pondered for two seconds and gave a price, “ten packs of sanitary napkins and a can of infant milk powder, or five packs of sanitary napkins, three packs of overnight pads, and a can of infant milk powder. You choose.”
She didn’t want to cheat people, but she couldn’t be a fool either.
This price was based on the changes in prices during this period.
It was definitely a little higher than the market price, but not ridiculously so.
Of course, this market price was not the government’s.
The government would not spend a lot of money to buy gold and jewelry. Those who were willing to buy these were basically “daoye.” They would find ways to sell them to the rich, and the price would naturally be much higher than the government’s.
After Ji Yang finished speaking, Jiang Jing was overjoyed and said repeatedly, “Okay, okay!”
It had far exceeded her expectations.
“I want ten packs of sanitary napkins and milk powder.”
She didn’t need overnight pads anymore. She had been eating less recently, and the weather was cold, so her menstrual flow was getting lighter and lighter. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to last this long with two packs of sanitary napkins.
She even hoped that her period would stop before she ran out of sanitary napkins.
Her daughter could also do without milk powder now. She had grown little rice teeth and could eat meat soup and porridge very well. She was not a picky eater at all. But having milk powder was an unexpected surprise. She had never thought that Ji Yang would have milk powder here.
Ji Yang liked this kind of decisive customer. “Okay, wait a moment.”
She opened the door and went into the house.
Jiang Jing waited with joy. Soon, a familiar black bag was handed out.
She immediately handed over the bracelet.
The transaction was complete. Jiang Jing said thank you again and hurried downstairs. Ji Yang closed the door and threw the bracelet into her space before putting Xixi down.
This little guy hadn’t made a fuss. She had been busy with the transaction just now and had forgotten that it was still on her back.
Xixi, who had landed on the ground, was still happy. It rubbed against its owner and then ran to drink water with a “duang duang” sound.
Ji Yang also took off her clothes while checking her space.
—
This time, the bracelet disappeared.
A small piece of land was added to the living space. A rough measurement showed that it was exactly fifty square meters.
The soft and fertile land made Ji Yang feel happy. She looked around at all the seeds. In the end, she still chose traditional Chinese medicine. She would plant them first and think about the rest later.
During this period, she could try to trade for a little more fruit. By summer, it would be impossible to take out fresh fruit, but at that time, she could make dried fruit.
But it probably wouldn’t be as attractive as fresh fruit, right?
As Ji Yang was thinking, she found that she should decide what to eat later. She had just come back from a trip outside, and her hands and feet were still a little cold. Then she would eat something hot and spicy.
While she was thinking, Xixi had also finished drinking water. Ji Yang filled its food bowl with meat. Looking at the little bit of cooked meat left, she would have to cook more when she had time.
A half-grown dog had too big of an appetite!
Seeing the dog eating sweetly, Ji Yang felt even hungrier. Now she didn’t have to choose. Water-boiled fish that went well with rice!
Because she had ordered it directly and paid enough, the boss had put in a lot of ingredients. The fish was covered, and the bean sprouts and dried tofu combined were no match for the fish. In addition, there were all kinds of chili, Sichuan peppercorns, and oil.
It was very heavy in flavor, but it was very satisfying to eat.
Ji Yang ate a large bowl of rice in one go and still wanted more.
But the dishes were almost finished.
Taking another portion would be too much, so she simply didn’t eat it and switched to fruit. Occasionally, when she had nothing to do, she would also put some fruit in the empty room. The door of the room was tightly closed, and the window was open. It was a natural outdoor refrigerator. She usually froze some ice water and fruit.
If the fruit was left inside for about ten minutes, it would be thoroughly chilled. Smaller fruits like strawberries could even be frozen to the texture of shaved ice.
She would take them back when they were iced to her liking. It would be perfect to eat them when it was extremely hot in the future. For example, iced watermelon. She couldn’t imagine how happy it would be to eat an iced watermelon in the extreme heat.
But now the weather was cold, and Ji Yang didn’t like to eat cold things, so the fruits she took out were all at room temperature. She washed them directly in her space with her consciousness, and the water was poured on the fruit trees, which was convenient and fast.
She didn’t throw away the pits left over from eating fruit. She collected them all. Maybe she could grow them in the future.
Anyway, now Ji Yang felt that everything was very useful and rarely threw away garbage.
She ate the sweet and slightly sour cherries one by one. After eating, she threw the pits into her space, rested for a while, and felt that the things in her stomach had almost digested. Ji Yang stretched and began her daily workout.
This workout lasted for three hours, using up the last of her strength. She rested for half an hour and then flashed into her space to wash up.
Even with the occasional sounds from the livestock like pigs, cattle, and sheep, the space was still very quiet. This was not a real world after all, so Ji Yang was particularly unaccustomed to it, especially when she entered the space, she couldn’t hear the situation outside at all.
But there was a shower here, and the temperature was constant!
Ji Yang took a hot shower, put on her clothes, and flashed out. She heard an urgent scratching sound at the door. Her expression changed slightly, and she rushed to the main door for the first time.
She saw Xixi scratching at the door, as if it wanted to go out. Its dog face was filled with anxiety.
Seeing its owner come out, Xixi immediately pounced over and bit her trouser leg, pulling her outside.
“Woof woof woof—”
Ji Yang actually didn’t hear the noise outside, but Xixi looked like there was an enemy. She didn’t hesitate, quickly changed into her outdoor cold-proof suit, put on all her gear, and tentatively opened the door.
As soon as she opened it, a slightly familiar but now particularly sharp and panicked female voice shouted, “You beasts! Bastards! It was clearly him who pried my door open and wanted to bully me while my husband was not at home. He deserved to be beaten to death. You are still helping this bastard!”
Then came Qiao Huijun’s righteous voice, “That’s too serious. He did make a mistake, but nothing happened to you, right? Your husband was too ruthless. He directly caused his family to lose a laborer. In this situation, what’s the difference between that and murder? We just want you to compensate them with some grain. Otherwise, can you bear to watch their family starve to death?”
Then, a few cries and pleas, “Look at me, an orphan and a widow. You beat my son like this. This is to make us all unable to live!”
Jiang Jing still gritted her teeth. “No, my family has no grain either!”
As soon as her voice fell, another panicked scream, “Ah! What are you doing? This is robbery!”