238 You’re Looking for a Place to Buy Food, Aren’t You
The lady boss’ tone was calm, and it could be said that she was very straightforward in soliciting business, so Du Yue did not feel disgusted. As she spoke, Ah Ping’s face kept blushing. It was uncertain what she was thinking.
“Thank you, but we’ve already had breakfast. We’re planning to go out for a walk,” He Xing replied with a smile.
Even after being rejected, the lady boss did not seem unhappy at all. Instead, she gave He Xing a knowing look. “You’re looking for a place to buy food, aren’t you?”
Du Yue looked at the lady boss with doubt in her eyes, but she was smart enough not to ask. He Xing was even more so. He chuckled and scratched his head. “I can’t hide anything from you. I thought I was good at acting!”
The lady boss raised her chin proudly. “I’ve received so many customers. I can tell what everyone wants to do and what they want to buy with one glance. People like you who come from small bases don’t have to pay any taxes, and you don’t have to be divided into ranks, but most of your food comes from fishing. We can’t grow food in the current environment, so the customers who come here are all here to buy food.”
Upon hearing this, Du Yue instantly understood something. She had been wondering where Wan Dapeng’s base had gotten the food from. Now, it seemed that they had bought it from the second base. He Xing strode forward and stood in front of the lady boss. “Lady Boss, can you please point us in the right direction? To tell you the truth, we were sent by our base to buy food. We just arrived and don’t know where to buy food. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely pay you for your help.”
The lady boss waved her hands repeatedly. “It’s nothing. What’s there to talk about? We’re all compatriots, and it’s not easy for us to live until now. If there’s anything I can help you with, I’ll help you out so that our days can get better. What do you want to know?”
He Xing took out a box of self-heating mini hotpot from his backpack and placed it in front of the lady boss. “I don’t know what I should ask. Why don’t you tell me something?”
“Alright! Then I’ll tell you everything I know!” the lady boss replied quickly. Her hands moved nimbly as she picked up the self-heating mini hotpot and placed it in the cabinet under the counter.
She was so fast that He Xing thought he was seeing things. If it were before the apocalypse, boxes of self-heating hotpot would be the most unremarkable thing on supermarket shelves. They were only worth ten or twenty yuan. No one would pay attention to them as they would only have it for their meal if they were too lazy to cook.
But now, for many people, self-heating hotpot was a rare way to improve their meals. After keeping the self-heating hot pot, the lady boss thought about it seriously and said, “There are two ways to buy food from the base. The first way is to buy it from the supermarket in the base. The price in the supermarket is relatively affordable, but the quality of the food is sometimes good and sometimes bad. If you accidentally buy bad food, you can only blame yourselves for being unlucky. Another way is to buy from a private grain store. You can choose the quality you want, but the price is much more expensive than the supermarket.”
He Xing nodded thoughtfully and asked, “What do you use to pay for it?”
After the apocalypse, the original currency was no longer in use. The currency used between the bases was different, so the contribution points of the first base could not be spent here.
The lady boss suddenly laughed when she heard He Xing’s question. “Young man, this is Haidao City. Of course, we pay with seafood!”
Du Yue had been listening quietly at the side. When she heard this, one of the doubts in her heart was resolved. This was why Yu Xinya had to bring the people from the base out to sea to fish every day. It seemed that the seafood they brought back was not only used as food but also to exchange for food for everyone.
Bartering was indeed the norm after the apocalypse. Now that they knew what they wanted to know, He Xing and Du Yue bid farewell to the lady boss and Ah Ping, then turned and left. Since they wanted to walk around, the two of them did not drive. Although there were cars pa.s.sing by on the road, there were only a few of them. This base was the same as the first base. The residents mainly traveled on electric bikes, motorcycles, and bicycles.