Chapter 10 – Is This Rice?
Tang Yu’an turned to look at Zhou Qi, his eyes filled with pride.
Zhou Qi smiled back at him. Since Tang Yu’an had shared the daily tasks with him, he also saw the task completion indicators.
When Zhou Qi noticed that Granny Guo had a little child with her, he was prepared to find another new customer. After all, communicating with a small child would be difficult, let alone making a transaction, especially with Granny Guo watching—they couldn’t use any deceptive methods.
Unexpectedly, An An had smoothly found a way to break the impasse, and the system recognized the transaction as valid.
“Crunch—crunch—”
At that moment, little Kang Kang inadvertently bit into the candy, his eyes lighting up once again.
Previously, just letting the candy dissolve in his mouth was sweet enough, but he didn’t expect that biting into it would make the sweetness even more intense, astonishing him, who had never eaten candy before.
So sweet!
So delicious!
But happiness comes quickly and goes just as fast.
In no time, the crushed candy melted completely in his mouth and, after swallowing it, the sweetness disappeared.
Little Kang Kang smacked his lips, trying to savor the last trace of sweetness.
He looked eagerly at Tang Yu’an, obviously wanting more but not asking for it.
Granny Guo hadn’t expected that on their first meeting, this child would give them such a precious gift.
She was still thinking about how to thank him when Tang Yu’an extended his hand to little Kang Kang, saying enthusiastically, “Kang Kang, shall we go play over there?”
He could still make two effective transactions with little Kang Kang today. No matter what, he had to get the remaining 3 experience points.
Since Kang Kang liked candy, he’d give him more.
Although eating too much sugar had its downsides, in this resource-scarce world, there wasn’t much room for concern.
This time, little Kang Kang didn’t hesitate at all. Instinctively, he placed his small hand in Tang Yu’an’s. After taking a couple of steps, he seemed to remember something and looked back at his grandmother.
Granny Guo smiled and nodded at him without stopping them. Only then did Kang Kang turn back to Tang Yu’an.
“Haha, let’s go then!”
Tang Yu’an bent down to pick up the child, carrying him over to the glowing plant.
He had been interested in that plant since he first saw it!
As for the transaction with Granny Guo, he naturally left it to Brother Qi. If Brother Qi completed it, he could gain employee experience points, although they didn’t yet know what those points were used for.
“How much salt do you have left? How many fruits do you want to trade for?” Granny Guo asked proactively as Zhou Qi approached her.
From Granny Guo’s perspective, yesterday’s trade prices were fair, but the quantity was a bit small. If possible, she wanted to trade for more.
However, Zhou Qi didn’t rush into trading. Instead, he said, “I saw that you can accelerate plant growth?”
Granny Guo instinctively frowned, looking at him warily, but quickly relaxed.
“Yes,” she nodded.
Zhou Qi noted her change in expression. Perhaps such magical abilities weren’t common, which is why Granny Guo reacted that way.
“Do you need seeds?” he asked directly.
Granny Guo was stunned; she hadn’t expected Zhou Qi to ask such a question. After a pause, she asked, “What kind of seeds?”
Zhou Qi took out the brown rice grains that he had pre-packaged in small sealed bags.
“These seeds. Do you recognize them?”
As he took out the brown rice grains, Granny Guo’s eyes widened. She stared intently at the small bag of rice grains, a bright light bursting in her cloudy old eyes.
“This… is this rice?”
It seemed that the old lady understood the value of these grains, so he didn’t need to waste words explaining.
Zhou Qi nodded. “Yes, this is de-husked rice, called brown rice. It can be eaten and also serves as high-quality seeds.”
He poured out a few grains from the sealed bag and handed them to Granny Guo.
She extended both hands, trembling slightly as she received them.
After carefully examining them, she nodded, “They are indeed high-quality seeds.”
One grain of rice can yield at least a hundred grains, maybe even several hundred. These seeds can continue to be accelerated. After four or five generations, the seeds might lose their viability.
And as long as she had enough seeds, she could adopt more appropriate methods for cultivation.
Therefore, these seeds were far more precious to Granny Guo than salt. She knew that even if she took her fruits to the town to trade, she couldn’t get such valuable seeds.
She had to seize this opportunity!
One grain of rice seed… how many fruits should it be worth? Zhou Qi blinked. It seemed that resources in this world were scarcer than he had imagined.
He thought for a moment and said, “This small bag contains 20 grains of rice seeds. How about exchanging them for two fruits?”
He and An An weren’t lacking food at the moment. Eating one fruit a day could last them a week, and they could trade with Granny Guo again when they ran out.
Moreover, 1 credit could exchange for 100 grams of brown rice, and how much did one grain of brown rice weigh? About 0.02 grams. So 1 credit could exchange for at least 5,000 grains of brown rice.
And two fruits could earn them 18 credits.
In terms of this transaction alone, they were making a huge profit. Of course, in the long run, Granny Guo would obtain quality seeds and wouldn’t be at a loss.
As An An said, it’s a win-win situation.
Granny Guo was visibly stunned; she hadn’t expected Zhou Qi to be so generous, which made her feel a bit embarrassed.
However, she couldn’t refuse.
Her ability wasn’t limitless; saving as much as possible was highly appealing to her.
Moreover, these seeds were the hope for her and her grandson’s future. How could she push them away?
“Thank you. Earlier… I’m really sorry…”
In times like these, mutual vigilance and attacks were common, so almost injuring Zhou Qi upon first meeting didn’t make Granny Guo feel guilty.
If one was too soft-hearted, it would be hard to survive, especially for an old woman with a young grandson.
However, after receiving the kindness of these two teenagers, she couldn’t remain unmoved.
Zhou Qi shook his head. “It’s nothing; neither of us was hurt.”
If that sickle had really struck him, things might not have ended well. At the very least, they wouldn’t be sitting here calmly discussing a trade.
Thinking back to how he dodged that strike, Zhou Qi unconsciously rubbed the bandage on his palm with his thumb.
Could it be related to that thing that entered his body?
What exactly was that…
Zhou Qi pressed his lips together slightly, while Granny Guo had already stood up. She walked to a corner, bent down to move a stone, revealing a hole behind it.
Then she pulled out a small basket from the hole and hugged it as she returned.
“These are sweeter than yesterday’s.”
Different acceleration speeds would affect the taste of the fruit; the sweetness and sourness were also related to how long they were left to ripen.
“Here you go.”
She took out three fruits and handed them to Zhou Qi. However, he stuck to the previously agreed price, taking only two fruits and handing over the small bag of brown rice grains—the sealed bag could be reused; he couldn’t give that to her.
Granny Guo didn’t insist. She took out a square piece of cloth and carefully placed the 20 brown rice grains on it, her eyes full of hope for the future.
[Employee “Zhou Qi” has completed a profitable transaction with an old customer. Credits +28, Experience +1]
[You have completed Daily Task (5), Credits +2]
Playing with little Kang Kang in the corner, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but widen his eyes upon seeing the prompt.
Because the room was only so big, he had heard the conversation between Granny Guo and Zhou Qi clearly and knew that the fruits she provided this time were of better quality.
He hadn’t expected that the two fruits would earn them more credits than yesterday’s three!
Yesterday, each fruit earned 9 credits, but today’s single fruit earned 14 credits.
So, the amount of credits earned from a transaction depended on the quality and quantity of the goods?
While Tang Yu’an was pondering, Zhou Qi took out another small bag of brown rice and said to Granny Guo, “Here are another 20 grains. I’d like to trade them for two more fruits.”
He extended his hand to pour the brown rice grains from the sealed bag onto the cloth Granny Guo hadn’t yet put away.
Then he took two more fruits from the basket.
For Granny Guo, the more rice seeds, the better. She nodded without objection. After counting, she didn’t immediately put away the cloth.
Sure enough, under her gaze, Zhou Qi took out a third bag of brown rice and exchanged it for two more fruits.
Granny Guo: “…”
This was really strange. Why did he insist on splitting the transactions into three? He had done the same yesterday when trading salt.
However, looking at the total of 60 brown rice seeds in her hand, Granny Guo was overjoyed and didn’t bother to question this peculiar trading method.
Using six sweet fruits to exchange for 60 high-quality seeds—in any case, she was the one who profited.
Little did she know that Tang Yu’an, squatting in the corner with Kang Kang, was equally delighted.
[Employee “Zhou Qi” has completed a profitable transaction with an old customer. Credits +28, Experience +1]
[Employee “Zhou Qi” has completed a profitable transaction with an old customer. Credits +28, Experience +1]
A total of 84 credits and 3 experience points!
They had hit the jackpot \(^.^)/
Tang Yu’an was overjoyed. These 80-plus credits could be exchanged for 16 jin (about 8 kg) of brown rice!
Although making a profit in business was normal, and Granny Guo could harvest a lot in the future with these seeds, such a large margin still made Tang Yu’an feel a bit guilty.
He looked down at little Kang Kang. The child was happily eating candy—earlier, Tang Yu’an had completed two loss-making transactions with him, earning 3 experience points.
This time, Kang Kang had learned to savor the candy, letting it melt slowly in his mouth to make the sweetness last longer.
Seeing Tang Yu’an looking at him, the child grinned, giving him an adorable smile.
Unable to resist, Tang Yu’an reached out to pat his head, then secretly slipped a small bag of rock candy into the child’s pocket.
After all, even the smallest sealing bag could only hold four or five pieces of rock candy, and there were still twenty or thirty grams of bulk rock candy in the shop. He didn’t mind giving Kang Kang a few more pieces.
On the other side, after completing the transaction, Zhou Qi began to inquire about the situation in this area from Granny Guo.
Granny Guo knew they were from elsewhere. As she touched the rice seeds now wrapped up and looked at Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an, her expression showed a hint of realization.
“You two came out from the Fortress, didn’t you?” she said.
Fortress?
Zhou Qi frowned slightly, then shook his head.
Seeing his reaction, Granny Guo nodded gently. Hiding one’s identity was understandable, but the behavior and generosity of these two children made it hard to conceal.
“What do you want to know?” Granny Guo asked.
Seeing her expression, Zhou Qi knew she didn’t believe him but hesitated and didn’t correct her.
When traveling, one’s identity is self-defined.
From Granny Guo’s reaction, this so-called “Fortress” was probably a relatively affluent place, which would explain why they carried so many supplies.
So Zhou Qi asked, “Where are we? Does this place have a name?”
“A name… This area originally belonged to Qingmu City. It was a bustling place decades ago, but perhaps you haven’t heard of it?”
Zhou Qi nodded. Qingmu City was an entirely unfamiliar name to him.
“Locals now call this place the ‘Desolate City,'” Granny Guo said.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and asked, “Desolate City… Is it named that because of the sparse population?”
They had been here for a few days but had only met Granny Guo and her grandson. They hadn’t seen any other living person.
“Yes,” Granny Guo looked at the bandages on Zhou Qi’s hands. “You must have encountered them too—the mutant creatures?”
Zhou Qi didn’t deny it. “Yesterday, we encountered a big dog.”
“A mutant giant dog!”
Granny Guo showed a look of surprise. Judging by the boy’s injuries, he must have fought with the giant dog and still survived, with relatively minor injuries…
She became even more cautious about underestimating these two teenagers.
“Many mutant creatures roam the Desolate City. Giant dogs are one of them. They are large in size, supposedly mutated from domesticated pets.”
“Apart from their enormous size, their speed and strength are astonishing, and some even possess highly destructive abilities.”
Granny Guo said seriously, “We’re on the outskirts of the Desolate City. Although mutant creatures appear frequently, their numbers are relatively low.”
“Whatever you do, don’t go toward the central area. It’s hard for anyone to survive there.”
“The central area?” Zhou Qi asked further. “Which direction is that exactly?”
Granny Guo said, “The denser the vegetation, the closer you are to the central area.”
As for specific directions, it was hard to convey verbally.
“Okay, I understand,” Zhou Qi agreed.
Holding little Kang Kang, who had come over to listen, Tang Yu’an nodded seriously.
Granny Guo looked at them and continued, “Not many people live around here, but those who survive have unique abilities.”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and asked, “Do you know where there are larger settlements?”
To earn credits and experience points, they needed to go where people gathered—although they now had a map, the unlocked areas were limited. They still needed to ask for general directions to avoid detours.
“Settlements…”
Granny Guo looked at Zhou Qi, then at Tang Yu’an, hesitating. “There are, but if you want to go there, it’s best to have someone familiar lead you.”
“Why?” Tang Yu’an asked curiously.
Granny Guo looked at him, her wrinkled face showing a somewhat complicated smile. “Because often, humans are more dangerous than mutant creatures.”
However, she didn’t try to persuade the two teenagers to stay.
If they had indeed come from a Fortress, they probably wouldn’t be used to living in a place like the Desolate City.
“Do you remember the place where we met yesterday?”
Granny Guo looked at Zhou Qi and said, “If you follow that path northwest, after about a day’s journey, you’ll see a town.”
She couldn’t say exactly how far it was.
“The town is large and might have what you need, but there’s a toll for entering and exiting.”
“If you go, remember not to reveal your background to anyone,” she advised earnestly. “It’s best to disguise yourselves a bit; you stand out too much.”
She didn’t say more beyond that.
“Okay, thank you, Granny.”
Having obtained the information they needed, Tang Yu’an took out another small bag containing 20 brown rice grains and handed it to her as a token of gratitude.
Granny Guo was surprised but didn’t refuse in the end.
She indeed needed these seeds very much.
[You have completed a loss-making transaction with an old customer. Credits +0]
Tang Yu’an blinked. Brother Qi had already completed three transactions with Granny Guo… Could it be that loss-making transactions aren’t subject to the three-transaction limit? But there’s no credit gain or experience…
He was puzzled but didn’t think too much about it.
After putting away the brown rice seeds, Granny Guo looked again at Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi.
Finally, she gritted her teeth and said, “If you really want to go, you can find Old Li. He goes to buy supplies at the beginning of each month and knows more about that place.”
“If you want to find out other information, you can ask him.”
Tang Yu’an’s eyes immediately lit up.
Wow, a new potential customer!
