Chapter 210 - 177: Sucker

Chapter 210: Chapter 177: Sucker

The tricycle owner was caught in a brief moment of hesitation. He had seen that district when he passed by earlier.

It would only take about twenty minutes to ride from here to Golden Yuan District. Earning forty-five points all to himself just for a round trip was naturally a fantastic deal. However, for one thing, he had to go find the boss first, then bring the person and the goods over to negotiate a price... and there was no guarantee they would reach an agreement. For another, she would have to ride his tricycle to the unseen Defense Army Camp...

The tricycle owner hesitated for a moment. He looked at Huai Yu’s brand-new twenty-eight-inch heavy-duty bicycle, then looked down at his own battered and old tricycle, and finally gritted his teeth.

"Alright!"

It wasn’t that he was willing to take risks, nor that he wasn’t tired, but a business deal worth one hundred points in a single day was something he could brag about for at least ten years.

He familiarly pulled an oversized water bottle from his vehicle and chugged a few mouthfuls of lightly salted water—GLUG GLUG GLUG. Then he casually said, "Alright then, I’ll head over first. Come as soon as you finish hauling these things over."

Huai Yu nodded. Right now, her leaping heart was even more joyful than when she was earning points! Water vats! Her large water vats!

With the tricycle owner’s help, Huai Yu’s bicycle finally managed to bear the heavy burden it was never meant to carry. She pushed the bike steadily forward, pondering how to preserve all this meat along the way.

She mentally went through everything she could use at home, even factoring in Zhou Qian’s water well. If she hung the meat in the well to keep it cool and fresh, it should last for two days. But this wasn’t just a piece or two of meat; it was three wild pheasants the size of ostriches and enough bullfrogs to fill a large basin!

After agonizing over it for a long time, Huai Yu reluctantly admitted that the only viable plan was to rub the meat with salt and air-dry it in the sun. Instantly, her heart ached at the thought.

Meanwhile, the tricycle owner swiftly rode his vehicle to Golden Yuan District. Seeing the bustling plaza market inside, his eyes widened in surprise.

He wondered, "Why does it feel like there’s a wider variety of goods and even more prosperity here than at the trading market? And are those fresh vegetables they’re selling? How are there so many?"

The only downside was that parking his tricycle nearby was quite expensive; the fee for one parking spot was three times what others paid! There was nothing he could do about it, considering how much space a tricycle took up.

He thought, "That girl didn’t mention anything about a parking fee."

However, with a hundred points dangling in front of him, and since he was already here, the tricycle owner struggled with it for a long time before biting the bullet and agreeing to pay.

He then accepted a bright, beer-bottle-green jade bracelet from the woman guarding the parking lot and asked again, "When I need to ride in later to move the goods, I can get in with this, right?"

The woman was quite flexible with her business. She didn’t hesitate. "Of course you can. Didn’t you just pay for three parking spots at once? I’ll make a special exception for you.

"But you have to be quick. You can’t stay long once you ride the tricycle inside.

"Our district market has official managers, too. Otherwise, how would we have the channels to apply for this Mutant Value detector from the government?"

That made sense. The tricycle owner cheered up and eagerly headed into the market. Along the way, he couldn’t resist buying several types of vegetables and seasonings for his home that were cheaper than at the trading market. Although their Mutant Value was a bit high, he couldn’t ask for much at this price.

After strolling around, he saw that the two plastic bags in his pockets were stuffed full. It was only then that he realized he could have waited; he could have come back for a proper shopping spree after finishing that business deal.

Thinking about the parking fee he had just paid, the tricycle owner did a quick mental calculation. Beaming with joy again, he set off to handle the errand Huai Yu had entrusted to him. After asking around, he finally found the dilapidated storefront located in a corner.

Next door was a shop selling farming tools. Under the eaves, several large vats were lined up, already covered in a thick layer of dust.

He thought, "Is this it? These are the large water vats that girl wants, right?!" His spirits lifted, and he immediately went up to strike up a conversation.

With the prospect of meat and water vats dangling in front of her, Huai Yu felt like she had an endless supply of brute strength in her body. After unloading the items from her bicycle, she didn’t even have time to organize them. She simply turned around, hopped back on her bike, and hurried over to wait. She wondered if she could buy two vats today.

She could place one vat under the barnyard grass tree. This supersized barnyard grass was now lush and green, its leaves curving gracefully, and several of them would drop water spheres—PLOP PLOP PLOP. She had enclosed the fixed path of one of the water spheres to serve as a simple summer shower room. The remaining space could easily accommodate her large water vat, saving her from having to wait with a bucket every time she fetched water.

If she had another large vat, she could place it inside the shed. It would make cooking much more convenient, especially since the stove had already been moved outside. Moreover, storing water in this kind of ceramic vat was much cleaner and more sanitary than using the large storage bin she had dug out of the trash earlier, and it was less prone to bacteria.

At the thought of having cool, refreshing water to drink in the summer, Huai Yu was filled with anticipation. She wasn’t even jealous of Zhou Qian’s water well anymore.

She waited at the station for quite a while longer. Her exhausted, tense nerves relaxed slightly before she finally saw the tricycle owner huffing and puffing as he pedaled over.

In the cargo bed behind him sat two massive ceramic vats. One was a classic reddish-brown, while the other was a yellowish-brown.

"Two of them?" Huai Yu asked in pleasant surprise once the vehicle came to a halt.

"More than that!" The tricycle owner beamed. "I figured since it’s a rare purchase and I didn’t know how big you wanted them, I just had him bring all the vats in the shop." Sure enough, the shop boss was following right behind them.

However, this statement was purely the tricycle owner flattering himself. The truth was that the shop boss had long grown sick of looking at these unsellable ceramic vats.

After all, the water was already so terrible to drink; what did it matter what it was stored in? These vats were quite expensive. Lined up under the corridor, they had gathered a thick layer of dust, and the hemp ropes used to secure them against bumps were on the verge of rotting away.

Seeing them every day and knowing they were about to become dead stock drove the boss crazy. Now that he had finally stumbled upon a gullib—ahem, a wealthy customer, of course he had to seize the opportunity!

But Huai Yu was in no mood to think about any of that. She just stared at the two large vats, and then, at the earnest urging of the boss and the tricycle owner, peered inside to see two smaller vats nested within. She was completely overjoyed.

"How much for these?"

This was a rare opportunity! Although she asked for the price, she had already decided to buy all of these vats today. Sensing her eagerness, the boss perked up. He first pointed at the two large vats and said:

"These vats are 1.2 meters in diameter and 90 centimeters tall. Look at how thick the base is and how solid the craftsmanship is...

"Most importantly, you can’t buy these anywhere else right now! I’m probably the only one in all of Flower City selling them!

"Miss, if you genuinely want them, I’ll give you a flat price: 2,000 points for the two large vats.

"And for the two smaller ones inside, 560 points."

Huai Yu was speechless. Did she really look that much like a sucker?