Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 506 Sweet Potato Fries?

Xu Xiaoyan stretched out a big yawn, her back cracking a few times. She glanced at her phone; it was 7:58 PM.

She closed the bamboo box, put all the disposable lunch boxes away, and then hurriedly cleaned the kitchen.

After everything was done, she climbed up to the attic, leaned against the window, and opened the online trading platform on her phone.

The page is the same as yesterday, with discounts and purchase limits for rice, flour, fresh fish, and vegetables.

This time, she only selected two discounted items: three jin of rice, three jin of flour, and one hundred disposable bamboo tableware.

The total price at the bottom of the page pops up: 42.4 yuan.

Without hesitation, she clicked to confirm payment.

A line of red text pops up at the bottom of the page: "The ordered items will be delivered to the store entrance at 4:50 AM tomorrow."

Xu Xiaoyan lay on her back on the mattress in the attic, her hands behind her head, staring blankly at the ceiling.

She tossed her phone aside next to her pillow; the screen was still lit, displaying the order confirmation page from the online trading platform.

She glanced at the screen; the "Payment Successful" checkmark was still there, glaringly green.

She placed an order for 42.4 yuan today. Adding the 20 yuan inquiry fee, 300 yuan rent, and 96.4 yuan for goods she spent yesterday, she has already spent more than 400 yuan.

She mentally went over the math again: the rent would be 300 yuan every month; and if the daily purchases cost 40 yuan, that would be 1,200 yuan a month.

Add to that the cost of utilities, the occasional meal out, and maybe other miscellaneous expenses...

After a month, the electronic currency earned from the points in the account won't last long.

Xu Xiaoyan turned over and faced the wall. The wall was so close to her face that she could see every tiny bump and dent on the wall.

She reached under the pillow, picked up her phone, opened "My Account" on the trading platform, and glanced at her balance.

She quickly calculated in her mind: if she had to spend more than forty yuan a day to stock up on goods, her money would only last for ninety-odd days.

Three months later, her account will be empty. What will she eat? What will she drink? How will she pay the rent? If she wants to be sustainable, she will have to open a business! She pondered to herself.

But if she opens a business, what can she do? What can she sell? What does she have that others don't have, or that is better than others, or at least not inferior to others?

Xu Xiaoyan seemed to have thought of something, so she quickly sat up, turned on her phone, opened the online trading platform, and went to the "Market Prices" section for vegetables and grains.

The page loaded for a few seconds, and then rows of product names and prices popped up.

She searched down line by line.

Sweet potatoes, 10 yuan per jin.

Potatoes, 10 yuan per jin (500g).

Corn, 8 yuan per ear.

She stared at the three prices, her eyebrows slowly rising.

These things are probably not grown much in Qing City, so the supply is limited, and the price naturally goes up.

For her, this was like a windfall.

Her space is filled with corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

How much do sweet potatoes cost? Almost immediately, "sweet potato chips" popped into her mind. They are easy to make, low in cost, taste good, sweet but not greasy, and suitable for all ages.

Most importantly, the sugar in her space can finally be put to use.

Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet, and adding sugar makes them even sweeter. This sweet and glutinous texture, paired with a crispy fried exterior, is something few can resist.

Xu Xiaoyan tucked her phone back under her pillow, turned off the light, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and curled up in bed.

This time she slept soundly, with even a slight smile on her lips.

At 4:50 a.m. sharp, the knocking on the door rang out.

Xu Xiaoyan stirred in bed, her eyes still closed, but she was already awake.

She pulled her phone out from under her pillow, glanced at the time, then sat up, put on her coat, and went down the creaking stairs.

Open the door, sign, receive the goods, close the door, and put them back in the space—the whole process takes less than three minutes.

The deliveryman was the same middle-aged man in blue overalls. He placed three bags at the door, handed her the receipt, waited for her to sign it, then turned and rode off on his electric tricycle into the night.

Xu Xiaoyan pulled down the roller shutter door, locked it again, and then leaned against the door panel for a few seconds.

Today, she did not go back to the attic to sleep.

Xu Xiaoyan first took out ten large sweet potatoes from her space. The skin was reddish-brown and covered with a thin layer of soil. She rubbed them with her fingers and the soil came off.

She turned on the tap and washed the sweet potatoes one by one under the running water. The water was cold and a little bit icy on her hands, but she got used to it after soaking her fingers in the water for a while.

The soil on the surface of the sweet potato was washed away by the water, and you could feel the rough texture when you rubbed your fingers back and forth on the skin.

The washed sweet potatoes lay wet on the cutting board, their reddish-brown skins gleaming moistly under the light.

Don't peel the sweet potato skin, because the skin also contains nutrients, and it will become crispy after frying, resulting in a good taste.

She first filled a large basin with clean water and placed it on the ground next to the stove.

Then I picked up the cleaver and started cutting the sweet potato.

She pressed a sweet potato onto the cutting board, held the top of the sweet potato with her left hand, her fingers slightly bent, and her knuckles pressed against the body of the sweet potato.

Holding the knife in my right hand, I aimed the blade at the sweet potato and made a clean, crisp cut, splitting the sweet potato in two.

The cut surface is milky white, and a layer of sticky juice immediately seeps out. It feels a bit rough on your fingers, like natural glue.

She placed the cut side down, pressed the half-sweet potato firmly, and then began to slice it.

She relies on her sense of touch to cut the slices to a thickness of about three millimeters, and the blade must be steady when it strikes the ground, without veering or trembling.

If the sweet potato slices are too thick, they won't fry through and will still be raw inside; if they are too thin, they will burn when fried and you won't be able to taste the soft and glutinous texture of the sweet potato itself.

She tossed the freshly cut potato chips into the basin of water. The chips splashed up as they hit the water, then sank and piled up on the bottom.

Soaking in water is to prevent oxidation. Like apples, sweet potatoes will turn black when cut and left in the air. They don't look good when they turn black. Although it doesn't affect the taste, people won't want to buy them if they look bad.

After slicing a whole bowl of sweet potatoes, she started preparing the batter.

Five spoonfuls of flour were scooped out of the bag and poured into a stainless steel bowl.

She added two large spoonfuls of white sugar because she likes it a little sweet. The sweetness of the sweet potato itself, combined with the white sugar, creates a caramel-colored crispy crust on the surface after frying.

Then add water, stirring with chopsticks as you add it.

The flour and water slowly blend together as the chopsticks stir, transforming from dry flour into a paste, and then from a paste into a batter.

The chopsticks were used to make circles in the bowl, and the batter formed a slowly rotating vortex under the movement of the chopsticks. It needed to be stirred constantly until the batter became smooth and free of lumps.