Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 453 Acquiring Fresh Goods

Blue Moon leaned against the tree trunk, looking up at the tiny points of light shimmering on the distant hillside, and remained silent for a long while.

She placed the bag of mushrooms at her feet, rubbed her shoulders which ached from the straps, and let out a long sigh.

"Let's go," she said, her voice a little hoarse, not entirely from sleepiness. "There's not much left to gather in this forest. If we go any further up, those hills over there have probably been picked over as well."

Xu Xiaoyan didn't speak, but she knew Lan Yue was right.

The two returned along the same route. They walked downhill faster than they had uphill, but the atmosphere was completely different.

Back in the cabin, Lan Yue took off her backpack and put it in the corner. Without even taking off her shoes, she crawled into her sleeping bag, curling up into a ball with only the hair on her head showing.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the door of the wooden house, gazing at the still-moving points of light on the distant hillside, for a long time.

The night wind blew down from the mountain, making her shiver, but she didn't go in immediately. Instead, she put her right hand under the hem of her clothes, her fingertips touching the leaf-shaped mark on her right waist.

She tried to "listen," closing her eyes and clearing her mind, but nothing came out.

Xu Xiaoyan pulled her hand out of her clothes, turned around and walked into the wooden house, gently closing the door behind her.

When I woke up again, it was already daylight, and my watch showed six o'clock in the morning.

She sat up without disturbing Lan Yue, and, wearing socks, tiptoed to the corner of the wooden house.

The two large bags of mushrooms were still there, but they weren't as vibrant as when they were first picked. Some of the caps had slightly dried out at the edges and curled up in a small circle.

Her gaze shifted from the mushrooms to the pile of dried goods in the corner of the cabin. These were what they had saved up over the past two days. It wasn't much, but in a place where resources were scarce, it was already a considerable amount of wealth.

Xu Xiaoyan glanced back at Lan Yue, confirmed that she was still asleep, and quickly put the pile of dried goods into her spatial storage.

After collecting the dried goods, she took out ten packs of compressed biscuits from the bottom of her backpack and gently placed them next to Lan Yue's sleeping bag.

Xu Xiaoyan glanced at her, but didn't disturb her. She put on her shoes, gently pushed open the door, and went out.

There are already a few people active in the trading area, but it's not very lively yet.

On the distant hillside, several people were already carrying bags down the mountain, walking hurriedly, probably rushing to the trading point to queue up.

The fact that people stayed on the mountain all night made her realize that the "mushroom craze" had entered a state of near frenzy.

The official purchase price of one yuan for ten kilograms turned everyone into tireless harvesting machines.

When Lan Yue woke up, the first thing she saw was the compressed biscuits next to her pillow.

She blinked, then sat up abruptly, all sleepiness gone.

"Xiao Yan!" Her voice was still hoarse from just waking up. "Where did this come from? Did you sell any dried mushrooms?"

Xu Xiaoyan was already dressed and was squatting at the door of the wooden house, sorting through the two bags of mushrooms she had picked yesterday.

Hearing Lan Yue's question, she didn't turn around, but simply responded, continuing to sort the mushrooms by size with unhurried movements.

"Yes, they've sold out. Ten compressed biscuits per person."

"Great!" Lan Yue hugged the bag of cookies to her chest and carefully placed it in the corner next to her sleeping bag. Then she turned around, her eyes filled with anticipation. "Then let's go up the mountain again tomorrow and pick more..."

"Blue Moon" Xu Xiaoyan interrupted her, turning around from the doorway, "We're not going up the mountain."

Lan Yue was stunned for a moment, thinking she had misheard.

"Xiaoyan, explain it more clearly, I don't quite understand," Lan Yue's voice was calm and composed, but her brows were slightly furrowed as she earnestly tried to understand. "Does it mean you won't be attending today, or you won't be attending at all in the future?"

Xu Xiaoyan did not answer immediately. She put down the mushroom in her hand, patted the dirt off her hands, and then looked up at Lan Yue with a fixed gaze.

"My idea is to stop going up the mountain to collect them and just collect them at my doorstep from now on."

Lan Yue's brows furrowed even more. "Whose will they collect? How will they collect them?"

Xu Xiaoyan stood up, walked to the door of the wooden house, and gestured with her chin toward the trading point. "Now everyone is running up the mountain. The mountain is full of people picking mushrooms. They pick the mushrooms they see and then send them to the trading point."

She turned around, leaning against the doorframe, her hands in her coat pockets. "There are only two of us. Do you think we can outmaneuver them?"

Lan Yue fell silent. She recalled that she had gone up the mountain at two o'clock in the morning and found that someone hadn't come down all night.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Xu Xiaoyan continued, "But we have an advantage that those people don't have: we know which mushrooms are edible and which are poisonous."

Lan Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, as if she was trying to grasp the key point in Xu Xiaoyan's words.

"If we don't go up the mountain to pick mushrooms, but instead set up a stall in front of our house and tell those people, 'I'll help you pick the mushrooms you bring back, and I'll buy the edible ones by weight, which is more cost-effective than the official price,' do you think those people would be willing?"

"Okay," Lan Yue raised her head and nodded vigorously. "How do you suggest we do it?"

Xu Xiaoyan straightened up from the door frame, walked outside the wooden house, circled around the flat ground in front of the door, chose a spot that was close to the road, high in the ground, and would not be soaked by rain, and drew a circle on the ground with her foot.

"Set up a stall here, put up a sign that says 'Buy fresh mushrooms, 9.5 jin in exchange for a compressed biscuit, pick and choose on the spot, cash on the spot'."

The first customer arrived before noon.

He was a man in his forties, wearing a military green jacket with several patches, his trouser legs covered in mud, and his canvas shoes deformed from being soaked in mud and water.

He carried a basket made from a burlap sack, filled with mushrooms, several of the mushroom caps that were sticking out of the basket were crushed.

He came from the direction of the trading point, and when he saw the newly erected cardboard sign at Xu Xiaoyan's door, he paused, tilted his head, and read the words from beginning to end.

Lan Yue saw him, stood up from behind the stall, and put on a somewhat awkward but sincere smile. "Brother, selling mushrooms? We buy them here. Nine and a half catties for one piece."

The man didn't speak, but he had already taken a step forward.

He took the basket off his shoulder and placed it on the ground in front of the stall with a clatter, then crossed his arms and looked at Lan Yue.

"Is it really 9.5 jin?" His voice was a little hoarse, and his tone was filled with doubt.

Lan Yue squatted down and reached out to touch the mushrooms in his basket. The mushrooms were indeed not in good condition. Most of them had already opened their caps, with the edges curled and yellowed. Some of them were obviously grown the day before yesterday or even the day before that, and water would come out when they were gently squeezed.

There were also some that she could tell were poisonous at a glance. They were shiny in color with white spots on their caps and looked somewhat similar to edible pine mushrooms, but she could tell them apart upon closer inspection.