Chapter 7
Stockpiling snacks as a category was a little dizzying.
It was hard to say what he liked eating the most, but when he searched online, most of the things that popped up were things he wanted to eat and was willing to try.
But he truly did not know where to start or how to buy them. Sitting among a pile of packages in a daze for a while, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly picked up his phone. He carefully typed into the search bar: What snacks should one stockpile for the apocalypse?
In the next second, thousands of discussion posts popped up. Although many of the posts had gone completely off topic, they still gave Jiang Qingyu some ideas. In truth, he had not eaten many snacks in the past.
Who knew how he had developed this delicate, picky habit? He did not like cheap snacks packed with additives, but he also thought the more expensive ones were a waste of money. If he had not been a little miser, he probably would not have been able to save up the money to buy the RV.
Considering practicality, he could buy some instant food like instant noodles, self-heating hotpots, and self-heating rice.
There was no need to mention the latter two. As for instant noodles, he still craved them from time to time, so stocking up on them would not be a waste. In any case, he would eat them eventually.
Aside from flavors he truly could not eat, he loved the traditional braised beef flavor, tomato beef flavor, and hot-and-sour beef flavor the most. He could just buy some of the other flavors as he saw fit.
For this kind of large-volume wholesale purchase, he still contacted a local supplier and prepared to make a trip there tomorrow morning.
This order was not small. After going through several channels and finally adding the contact information, the boss very enthusiastically worked overtime, accepted a deposit, set a time, and promised Jiang Qingyu that when he came to pick up the goods tomorrow, everything would definitely be prepared for him and absolutely would not waste his time.
As for the rest, he could buy them online. He selected the delivery address as his next destination. That way, after he finished his work here and drove over, he could directly receive the goods. It was very convenient.
Without any worries about price, of course he could buy whatever he wanted. In the past, because he had no need for them, he had not deliberately paid attention to these things. Now, it felt as if he had opened the door to a whole new world. Everything felt novel, and he wanted to buy everything to try.
Jiang Qingyu liked cold and sweet things. These days, there were all kinds of ice creams on the market, enough to make one’s eyes blur. If he bought them that day, they could be delivered the next day.
He liked eating these things and did not mind buying more. In any case, he had plenty of space to store them. By throwing them into the static space, he even indirectly saved money on buying freezers and paying electricity bills.
Jiang Qingyu secretly questioned himself: Why did he want to eat everything?
But another voice beside him persuaded him: What was wrong with eating some snacks? If he liked eating them, why couldn’t he eat them? A person only lived once, and since he was already here…
The result of this inner tug-of-war was that the positive thought defeated the condemning one. He quickly adjusted his mindset and even searched online, asking netizens which brands and flavors of ice cream tasted better.
As for desserts, he could indeed fumble around and make them himself, and he was also interested in learning.
But that did not mean he did not crave the finished breads and desserts from bakeries outside. After all, those were the high-quality products selected by sales numbers, and their deliciousness could not be faked.
Thinking about it this way, he still had many things to buy.
It was a little troublesome to pay for them one by one, so he simply added them to the shopping cart. When the app reminded him that the cart was full, he would pay and clear it out, then continue buying.
After repeating this cycle several times, he even became tired from shopping.
Jiang Qingyu forced himself to cheer up and cleaned up the cardboard boxes and packaging scattered across the floor. He kept the instruction manuals and tidied away everything else, leaving them for the auntie in the campground who collected cardboard boxes and bottles to sell.
After taking a shower, he changed into a light, soft, and comfortable set of pajamas and slipped under the covers. This small little world was filled with warmth.
However, it was definitely not his imagination. After the rain last night, today’s temperature seemed to have dropped even further. When he had gone out during the day, he already felt that it had become a little colder. The wind stung slightly when it blew against his face. At night, there was even less need to mention it; there was also an inexplicable damp chill.
This was also a sign that extreme weather was about to arrive. In previous years, at this time, the sun would be shining brightly and the sky would be clear for thousands of li. There had never been such an early temperature drop just because of one rainfall.
However, this year’s summer had already been hot to begin with. Everyone had suffered through the heat, so naturally they were happy to see autumn arrive early. Therefore, online, there were only the occasional scattered discussions, with people wondering why this year’s temperature drop had come without any warning.
It was just that those who cared about these things were ultimately still a minority. Most people were still living ordinary lives according to routine: eating, sleeping, working, going to school.
Jiang Qingyu registered an alternate account and replied under other people’s joking posts, which could be considered a subtle reminder.
He curled up under the blanket and slowly typed, replying to posts. At first, he had wanted to make more posts to remind more people, but the environment was truly too sleep-inducing. On top of that, at some point, Meimei had jumped up and pressed herself against his hand to sleep. Her purring was far too hypnotic. Jiang Qingyu himself did not even realize when he fell asleep.
The next morning, before Jiang Qingyu even crawled out from under the covers, he already felt that the outside was unusually cold. His back felt chilly.
Seeing him sit up, Meimei tentatively tried to burrow into the blanket.
Jiang Qingyu held her down and wondered aloud, “What’s going on? Is winter coming already?”
Holding Meimei, he leaned over by the RV window and pulled open the curtain. He saw a layer of mist covering the glass outside. The sky beyond was very gloomy, and the dark clouds pressed extremely low, making one feel stifled just from looking at them.
Meimei’s tail swung around wildly, brushing across his face again and again.
Jiang Qingyu grabbed that restless big tail. After thinking for a moment, he took a jacket out of the wardrobe and casually turned on the floor heating. He did not set the temperature too high. The main thing was that he was afraid Meimei would get cold.
Breakfast could be simple. He boiled two eggs, one for himself and one for Meimei, then cooked a tomato seafood dough-drop soup. The day was gloomy and cold, so eating this in the morning was just right.
He strained the dough drops until they were very fine, making the texture better and more flavorful. When the tomatoes had first gone into the pot, he had already fried them into a sandy sauce. After the soup boiled, he added beaten eggs, shrimp, razor clams, and small scallops, then slowly cooked everything through. Before taking it out of the pot, he sprinkled in a handful of crisp, tender baby bok choy. It looked good and tasted delicious.
Before adding salt, Jiang Qingyu served a small half bowl for Meimei. Because there was seafood inside and Meimei was not particularly picky, she still ate it with great relish.
After a bowl of dough-drop soup went into his stomach, his belly felt incredibly comforted, and his body warmed up too. Jiang Qingyu checked the messages on his phone. The boss he had contacted last night had sent a message saying that the goods were already prepared and that he could come pick them up at any time.
Jiang Qingyu calculated the time. After picking up the goods, the ice cream and cold drinks he had bought last night should just about arrive for delivery.
What a great arrangement, Jiang Qingyu.
He patted himself, thinking that even if he was about to live alone in the apocalypse, he should still be able to take care of himself and Meimei.
After eating and drinking his fill, he drove off to pick up the goods. The boss cheerfully directed the workers to help him move the goods, while seizing every opportunity to promote more business and telling him to come again next time if he needed anything.
Jiang Qingyu had already become very used to this kind of scene. He calmly chatted with the other party for a while. Just as the goods were almost finished being loaded, he received a call from the delivery station, saying that a batch of “fresh goods” had arrived there and reminding him to come pick them up quickly.
It was his big ice cream gift package!
Jiang Qingyu did not stop for even a moment. After collecting this batch of goods, he went to pick up the cold drinks.
He had bought a lot. More than a hundred foam insulated boxes had been delivered to the delivery station at once. On this trip, his small vehicle was practically filled entirely with his things and could hardly fit anything else. The items were spectacularly arranged at the entrance of the delivery station. Jiang Qingyu saw them from far away, and his heart became even more excited.
At present, his RV could alter its internal structure, while on the outside, it only had the function of hiding the expanded cabin. However, during the early stage of stockpiling, it was still enough.
When he moved things, he kept the trunk door open. To outsiders, this vehicle seemed to be merely a modified small cargo van, specially used for hauling goods, so no one suspected anything. They were only curious why he did not go to offline wholesale stores to buy them.
Jiang Qingyu had something to say about that.
The goods stocked by each store were different. Moreover, this was already no longer the season for bringing in cold drinks. Even if the stores had stock, they only had a few boxes.
Besides, the goods brought in by each wholesale point were more or less the same. They were all the regular products that sold well on the market. But Jiang Qingyu wanted to try everything. After reading recommendation posts, he discovered that many things could only be bought online.
After all, this was different from buying rice or flour. There were so many products that it dazzled the eyes.
And that feeling of choosing products, adding them to the shopping cart, and then paying for everything all at once was simply too satisfying. So Jiang Qingyu was too lazy to run all over the place looking for manufacturers to buy from.
Because there was no time to open the packages, as soon as the items were moved into the vehicle and he closed the door, he silently transferred them into the static space without anyone knowing. He could unpack them when he had free time.
He continued driving to pick up more goods. The roujiamo and steamed buns he had ordered earlier were ready. After picking those up, he could also stop by nearby bakeries and dessert shops to browse around. He just did not know whether he could place large orders.
Jiang Qingyu was very eager to try.
He already liked eating sweets to begin with, especially in winter. With the temperature dropping these past two days, he especially liked eating foods that made his sense of happiness rise. Naturally, desserts had to be ranked at the front.
Of course, he did not have time to visit and look around every single store. Fortunately, the internet was developed nowadays, and he could do research online for anything first. He could buy some of the items with more good reviews to try, then consider placing orders afterward.
Jiang Qingyu really loved the rich, intense buttery aroma that filled the air after bread came out of the oven. Not only the entire shop, but even the surrounding area one passed by carried that tempting smell. It was as though, with his eyes closed, he could fall into the bread bed often seen in hypnotic videos on video apps.
Just how fragrant would that be?
With a serious expression, he held a small tray and used transparent food tongs to choose the items in the shop that looked absolutely impossible to taste bad. There were also the extremely delicate little cakes inside the glass display case at the counter. He ended up carrying out two large, full bags before turning to the next shop to buy more.
After making a round of purchases, he went to a coffee shop to order something, found a corner seat, and sat down to taste, one by one, the spoils of his entire afternoon.
Although he only took a symbolic bite of each item to confirm the taste, added together, it was still quite a lot. If he had not had the foresight to come to a coffee shop for the tasting and ordered an Americano to buffer things slightly, even someone who liked sweets as much as he did would have been overwhelmed by the richness.
But there was good news: the items he had chosen were all so delicious! There were almost no disappointments. He could go all in on all of them.
Fortunately, the leftovers could be placed into the static space. Otherwise, if he could not finish them, they would go to waste.
Jiang Qingyu leisurely enjoyed his afternoon tea. Only then did he tidy up his things and go place orders.
As expected, when he first proposed placing a large bulk order, the salesperson was a little confused and did not understand what he meant.
So many breads and desserts were displayed in the glass showcase. If he wanted anything, he could simply take it directly. Even if he cleared out all the products, it would not matter. The ovens were always operating, and in any case, new breads and desserts would come out again. It would not affect the store’s business afterward.
Jiang Qingyu silently took out a list he had just printed nearby and said concisely, “This is my purchase order.”
