Chapter - 2: Shopping Battles
WARNING: This chapter is boring AF. I dare you to read this completely without skipping some paragraphs. Hehe. ^w^
~Enjoy~
The sky has been painted light blue with specks of red and gold from the rising sun like it does almost every day. The sky is mostly cloudless today; however, some stray lonely clouds float around aimlessly here and there.
It's only 6:30 a.m. now, but the outside world has already woken up from slumber.
As Li Jing drives past open and half-opened shops, she goes over all her missions for today. First of all, she needs to visit the breakfast shop near her office to fill her stomach. That light fruity snack has been long since digested and she'll need her energy for all the shopping she has to do.
About five minutes later Li Jing parked the minibus near the breakfast shop. The day has just started, yet a good number of customers have already occupied places inside the shop. This is understandable, as this shop is very famous in this area, known as the best breakfast shop around here. Hence a load of customers and competition is naturally big.
Passing through the glass doors of the shop Li Jing quickly walked over to the counter. The shopkeeper aunty, who was supervising a worker packing food, looked up at her with a warm smile.
"Ah, Jing-er! Good morning!"
Li Jing smiled back. "Good morning, Aunty Liu. Two white buns and a cup of milk tea for me, please."
"Sure, wait just a minute. Jing-er why are you still standing, ah? Take a seat, take a seat!" Aunty Liu urged as she quickly started to fill a small plate with the buns.
"No thanks, I can manage." Li Jing politely refused as she waited for her order.
As a regular customer of the shop, Li Jing is familiar with Aunty Liu. However, for some reason, Aunty Liu seems to be fond of her, as she always treats her warmly as if they are actual relatives. Li Jing isn't sure but maybe it's because Aunty Liu knows about her background, or maybe she's just nice to her customers. But then again, Li Jing doesn't spend much time in this shop to know whether Aunty Liu is equally nice to all her customers or not.
Aunty Liu is quick with her work. Soon a plate filled with two large steaming white buns and a cup of warm milk tea arrived. The size of the buns is no joke; each of them is bigger than her palm. And they're stuffed with pork, eggs, and spiced vegetables. Just two of them are enough to fill her stomach and keep her going for at least till afternoon.
"Here you go. Enjoy your meal."
"Thank you, aunty."
Li Jing occupied a nearby table and took a large bite from a white bun. Closing her eyes she sighed in pleasure as she chewed. Truly delicious ah! No wonder as to why this shop is so famous. The white buns are their main attraction, and look how good they taste!
But as much as she loves the buns, she can't waste much time eating. Hence Li Jing finished the buns and milk tea in five minutes.
Going back at the counter, as she was about to pay for the buns, suddenly an idea came to her mind. "Aunty Liu, your buns are delicious, no wonder they're so famous!" She exclaimed as she checked out the glass shelves filled with white buns. They even smell delicious.
Having a customer praise their products is always a matter of joy for shop owners, Aunty Liu is no exception. She proudly smiled as she joined Li Jing in looking at the glass shelves and said in a joyous tone, "You're too polite, Jing-er. We just try to make sure that only fresh and delicious food is sold here. After all, customers' satisfaction is our top priority."
Li Jing nodded quickly. "Of course, I can see that. Say, Aunty Liu, how many buns are available right now?" She abruptly asked.
Aunty Liu took a quick look at a notebook on the counter. "Well, we have about 360 pieces. But soon there'll be more buns to be added."
Li Jing's eyes shined as she looked back at Aunty Liu. "Then aunty how about you sell all of them to me? I'll pay right away, I have the money."
At first, Aunty Liu felt like she had misheard, hence she uttered, "Uhm, sorry?"
Li Jing pointed at the shelves full of white buns and said clearly, "I want to buy all 360 buns. I'll pay right away."
Aunty Liu was at a loss for a moment, but she quickly recovered. Looking up and down at the skinny girl clutching only a small purse in her hand, Aunty Liu felt that this sudden order was a bit out of place. "Jing-er, don't mind this aunt, but I'm quite curious. Why do you suddenly need such a big order? Is there a banquet going to take place?"
Li Jing answered without missing a beat, "Actually yes. There's going to be a party at my workplace today. And as the manager of my department, the duty of managing the party has been given to me. I have a lot more shopping to do, so please aunty, pack all 360 buns for me? The faster it's done the better."
Aunty Liu nodded as she laughed, "Well who am I to turn away a customer? But Jing-er, if you want more then I won't be able to give any discount. Our profit isn't very big; we have to keep this in mind in this business."
"I get it, aunty. But you see, I drove over here, and now I have so much more shopping to do. Can't you lower the price a little? After all, this one trip is going to make a fortune for your business today." Li Jing told her as she put on a pleading tone. Judging from Aunty Liu's soft spot for her, she might just give her a cheaper price.
Aunty Liu sighed as she contemplated for a little, but then she nodded. "Very well, as you're a regular customer, I'll just lower the price by 20 Yuan. That's as far as I can go."
20 Yuan? Well, right now every Yuan counts. "That's enough, aunty. 20 Yuan it is then."
Li Jing's story might have some loopholes, but seeing her confidence about paying for all the buns, Aunty Liu didn't think of it anymore and instructed a worker to start packing. Taking out a foam box from behind the counter, Aunty Liu asked, "Will this kind of box do? These are the biggest we have."
Li Jing took a look inside the box and seeing that it was clean, she nodded. "This will do." Aunty Liu told her to wait for a bit as she and the worker quickly started packing all the buns.
Within the next ten minutes, seven boxes full of white buns were packed. Each bun costs 3 Yuan and with the 20 Yuan discount, the total price stood at 1,060 Yuan. The payment was done right away and a worker of the shop carried the boxes to the minibus and put them on one of the backseats.
"Thank you very much, aunty. I'll recommend your shop to my colleagues and friends!" With this promise, Li Jing left the shop and hit the road.
After leaving the breakfast shop Li Jing parked the minibus in a deserted place and immediately put the boxes in her storage cube. Next up is the nearby market.
The first thing Li Jing did after arriving at the market was to buy two large baskets of free-range eggs. Each basket can carry 45 pounds of eggs, while 1 pound of eggs costs 70 Yuan. With 90 pounds of eggs, Li Jing had to pay 6,250 Yuan. Even though she got a 50 Yuan discount, it's still a lot of money. With just two baskets of eggs, she wasn't quite satisfied, but it's ok at least. She crossed the eggs out of the notepad.
The old uncle who was selling the eggs let his son carry the heavy baskets to her minibus. Although Li Jing knew that the other party was puzzled by this sudden huge purchase, she didn't explain. Rather, she had another job for them.
"Uncle, I've heard around here that you also sell fertile chicken eggs? Is this true?"
The old uncle smiled as he said, "Ah yes, you've heard right. But I don't have a lot of them. Besides I don't get to sell them much in this city either."
Li Jing was hoping for this exact kind of response. "Oh... I see. I was wondering that if you have some fertile eggs in your stock currently?"
"Well, I do have about 80 eggs... Are you planning on buying them?" The uncle was surprised. At first when Li Jing asked he had thought that she was just casually inquiring. But now it seems like she wants to buy fertile eggs!
Li Jing nodded quickly. "Yes! They're not for me of course, but for someone, I know from my village. Uncle, if it's possible now then can you sell me 40 fertile eggs?"
The uncle scratched his head as he said, "Well I can sell them to you... But not right now. I'll have to send someone back to my farm to collect the eggs. It's at the end of the city and now business is about to start... It'll take some time. But if you can wait for about an hour then you'll get them."
"One hour? That's no issue! I'm going to go shop in the nearby supermarket. I'll be back after an hour. But uncle make sure that all the eggs are good ok?"
"Aya aya, of course! You think I dare to sell bad eggs to such a benevolent customer?" The uncle laughed. "You'll get your eggs after an hour. I'll just store them right here, you come and get them when you're done shopping."
"Ok. I'll be right back then. Thank you in advance, uncle." With that and a polite bow, Li Jing left the old uncle's stand and left for the supermarket.
Upon arriving at the nearby wholesale supermarket Li Jing found the manager, saying that she's going to need his help with the huge amount of shopping she's going to do. The manager didn't mind anything and agreed as he started listing down her demands.
Li Jing started by ordering rice. 50 full packs of rice with each containing 10kg of rice, 50 packs of 10kg flour, five 5.5kg barrels of Soybean oil, 10kg of brown sugar, 10kg of rock sugar, 12 bottles of soy sauce packed in a box, 15 bottles of vinegar also packed in a box and a large sack with 30 small bags of salt inside.
The wholesale manager gave her an incredulous look and curiously asked if she was going to open a grocery store by herself? As Li Jing replied no, he wondered as to why she was shopping so much then? Li Jing explained that it was for her company and that all these supplies will be evenly distributed among the workers. The manager believed her story, after all, Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, if a company is buying all this to distribute among the workers then it's no big surprise. He didn't ask anything more and jotted down all her demands.
Li Jing asked the manager to call his workers and load all the goods in her minivan. But the minivan isn't very big and counting all the goods she has ordered, all of it won't fit in. Seeing this Li Jing decided to take half of the goods to some secluded area first to put them in her storage cube and then come back for the rest. Before that, she asked the manager for the total price of her goods.
"You have bought a total of... 5,200 Yuan worth goods, Miss." The manager said as he quickly calculated the price.
5,200 Yuan? Now that's cheaper than she thought. Her good fortunes indeed, since it's a wholesale market the prices of the goods will be slightly lower than in any other supermarket. Li Jing thanked the manager as she paid for her goods.
With half of the goods loaded up in her minivan, Li Jing left straight for the nearby pharmacy. Upon parking the minivan in front of a pharmacy she quickly put all the goods in the cube. Now that she sees it, about half of it is full. Li Jing ran her mental calculator and decided that for the rest of the goods she will have to shop carefully. 15 cubic meters of space isn't a lot.
From the pharmacy, she bought medicines for cold, fever, bloating, diarrhea, and other emergencies. She also bought some other medicines of other uses such as the menthol balm/oils jotted on her notepad. And also a fully packed first-aid box, of course. With several of these items, it cost 10,000 Yuan but Li Jing didn't care. These were for just-in-case situations, it's better to be prepared for it. Besides they won't even take much space in the cube.
She asked the pharmacy owner to pack all the medicines in a paper suitcase as she crossed out the words – groceries and medicines.
Then she drove back to the wholesaler and got the rest of her goods loaded in the minivan.
"If you still need anything I can get it prepared for you, Miss. As long as you can come back here to get them I can prepare them right away." said the manager. Not every day such a benevolent customer buys from their supermarket, of course, he'll be nicer to her!
Li Jing hummed as she calculated in her mind. She has spent a total of... 22,510 Yuan till now and has 30,490 Yuan left. Not bad, not bad at all. She has enough for the rest of the supplies.
"I do need to shop more."
The manager nodded. "Then I will accompany Miss. Anything you need, just tell me. I'll help you find all the stuff."
Li Jing gave him a sideways glance. Well... anyways, he brought it upon himself, why should she turn away a helping hand?
"Sure, come on then."
With that, Li Jing went straight for the women's product section (aka period stuff). She frankly ordered 10 boxes of supplies, each box small enough to fit into the cube but also won't take much space.
Now Li Jing might be spending more money on this stuff than she spent on food and such, but well, food can be found anywhere if looked at the right places. It can even be produced. But where in the world is she going to find modern medicines and feminine private stuff in a post-apocalyptic warring world? Besides, to produce more food she already has a plan in hand. But, this just needs to come with her even if she has to world hop.
She also ordered a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, two boxes of tissues, soap, etc. After pointing out goods to her satisfaction from the toiletries section she came over to the home-ware section.
"How much is this quilt?" She asked as she pointed at a dark grey quilt.
"This is a good four-pound quilt. If you want to buy it and I can give a discount for you. The wholesale price for this is only 320 Yuan. I can lower the price to 290."
"Hmm... Four pounds won't do. Give me two 7 pound quilts, both of either dark blue or black color preferably. Also, do you have mattresses?"
"Yes, would you like to take a look at them? A new supply of mattresses just arrived last week."
"No need. Those two mattresses over there." Li Jing pointed at two dark grey wool mattresses in a corner. "Give me those two. That'll be enough."
"Of course." The manager quickly ordered his workers to start packing the mattresses and quilts with a stupefied expression on his face. He has most likely never seen one single person buy this much on a trip, at least not from his market.
After all the items were packed up and loaded up in her minivan, Li Jing paid the bill of 3,400 Yuan. Needless to say, she got a discount of 250 Yuan, not bad at all.
After giving the manager her word of leaving a good rating for his shop and also buying again in the future, Li Jing drove back to the old uncle's stand. The fertile eggs must've arrived by now.
"Hello, Uncle! Have they arrived?"
The old uncle pointed at a small basket nearby. "Here they are. Not one of them is bad I say, or else you can leave me a bad rating if you want. Hahaha!" He laughed.
Li Jing chuckled along. "I'm sure such a famous stand like yours won't sell bad eggs. Now how much are these?"
"3,600 in total. Each of these cost 90 Yuan, expensive you'll say but I never really get to sell them in this city. But you can get a 20 Yuan discount, for all the eggs you bought today."
3,580 Yuan is a bit expensive for just 40 eggs. But the old uncle's words are true. These are actual fertile eggs that can produce chicks! Getting these in the city is hard, who'd want to raise a farm in the middle of a city anyways?
"Thank you, Uncle. That's enough." With that, she paid for the eggs and the old uncle's son carefully put the basket in her minivan. Getting into her minivan Li Jing drove off to a slightly secluded place of the market and carefully put the basket in the cube. Taking out her notepad she crossed out everything on it except for meat. There was currently one-seventh space left in her cube. But if stored in a bag then she'll most likely be able to fit it all in it.
With 23,510 Yuan left in her card, Li Jing drove off to the meat market. It's half-past eleven now and the meat market is very much bustling with the crowd. But Li Jing only has her eyes set on the pork stand today.
Today's pork is all excellent and from local pigs. She can bet that once cooked well, it'll be very delicious to eat. Normally Li Jing doesn't like pork much, but with this kind of good meat, she doesn't mind buying a little.
At once, she asked for a half side of the rib, pork belly, lean meat, oily fat, and the likes she wanted from the first pork store. The same happened with the next few pork stores.
Some of the store owners were a bit puzzled with such a big purchase, but Li Jing explained that it's for an upcoming big festival in her family. This happened to convince the shop owners, if not for a big banquet then why else would someone buy so much meat at once? Without further inquiry they cut the pork pieces she asked for and packed them in four different bags.
Altogether the ribs weighed 80 pounds and each pound was 25 Yuan. In total, she settled for a price of 2,000 Yuan. And as for the rest of the other meat she ordered, since it was for a happy event according to the store owners, they were willing to give her leeway.
Li Jing asked them to help her carry the pork to the minivan and once loaded in she drove away towards her home.
It's 11:55 a.m. now, according to her phone. Hard to think that it's only been four and half hours since she decided to waste her hard-earned money on nonsense because of some bizarre dream and a magical storage cube. As Li Jing got closer and closer to the apartment complex she wondered, would her intuition come true? What if it does? Does she have what it takes to face such a supernatural shit-storm calmly?
Or what if it was all a result of her fertile mind? What if it was all her imagination and she just wasted her money on a few month's worths of supply?
'No.' A little voice in the back of her mind said firmly. 'The storage cube is real. How else can you explain as to why the workers at the market or the old uncle's son didn't see all the stuff you already bought? It's because it's all stored in that cube. It's real!'
Is it? Li Jing gave a glance at the backseat of the minivan, it's empty. Thank goodness, the storage cube is real at least.
For the rest of the ride, Li Jing drove numbly with a blank mind. Upon reaching her apartment complex she parked it in front of the building and sent a message to the minivan owner, telling him to come within half an hour and take his van back.
After hours of walking around in markets, shopping, haggling with shop-owners, and feeding them fake stories, Li Jing was tired to the point she felt like just lying down on the ground and taking a nap. However, Li Jing felt as if this sudden extreme tiredness was a bit too strange. She has overworked to the point of exhaustion before; this little amount of moving around isn't supposed to tire her out this fast.
With a troubled mind somehow she dragged her tired body to her apartment, opened the door, and stumbled inside.
The next few minutes were a blur for her. She might've changed, taken a quick shower (?), and somehow dragged her body to her bed. But before lying down, she put her purse inside what little space is left in the cube.
Upon lying down on her bed Li Jing sighed in delight. Her warm bed felt soo much comfier after the cold shower. She should've eaten something though. She thought as the world spun in front of her eyes as sleep started pulling her eyelids down. It must her empty stomach that's causing this.
Steaming white buns and some soy milk - her mouth watered a bit at the thought of a good meal after her nap. Ah, now that would be bliss. As her mind wandered around from this and that, sleep sealed her eyes shut and Li Jing was sent off to dreamland before she could realize.
Cars honked in the busy streets of Beijing, although the noises could barely reach this peaceful little neighborhood away from the busier parts of the city. It's just another day of people working, minding their business, and well, just going on with their lives. A day slightly different for one girl who's now sleeping peacefully in her comfy bed, unaware of the twists and turns that she has yet to face in her destiny.
But little did she know that as she would wake up the next day, it won't be just a new day. But rather, it would be a whole new life and a new world.
XX—XX
Author's Rambling: Finally! I'm alive! LOL don't worry my dudes, I'm not dead yet haha. Schools been hell as usual and I had to leave this chapter unfinished halfway until today I decided to finally be done with it. Honestly speaking, I wasn't expecting the support this story has gotten (I'm not crying, I'm DEFINITELY not TTWTT), but ya'll are just soo sweet that I couldn't help but feel guilty for not posting anything. Anyways, as I already said, this chapter is boring AF. So if you managed to scroll down here without skipping a bunch of paragraphs, then you're a legend! I love you! Lolol thanks for reading my clumsy story, and thanks for all the reviews, follows favs etc. (Keep reviewing though, ya'll don't know but reviews actually give me more inspiration to keep writing ^w^). Until next time!
~Try not to die~
~MysticTofu~