novelraw Chapter 680: Going to the Auction Hall
Chapter 680: Going to the Auction Hall
Luo Junren was one ofthe eight members of the Inspection Team, representing the Chuanshu Region. He was equally burdened with a mission—finding new sources of food.
His directive was: "Venture out and see what people are eating in different parts of the country. What can be introduced from one place to another, and which practices are worth learning from and adopting?"
He lacked Zhou Yun’s background of three generations of officials and the entrepreneurial acumen found in other regions. He simply followed quietly behind everyone, acting as a common front for shared interests. When Zhou Yun proposed setting up factories, he followed suit, borrowing money, personnel, and supplies from the Chuanshu Town Government to establish his own factory.
His journey this time lasted over three months, during which he witnessed the poverty of many regions. The majority of these places only managed two meals a day; nowadays, simply surviving was considered good enough.
Of course, there were indeed many local specialties, but most were unsuitable for introduction due to various reasons, such as climate and regional adaptation; moreover, their production yields were not very high.
The red earthworm was the sole exception. The entire nation had been familiar with it for a whole year. There were even many incidents, unknown to most people, where parasites, originating from red earthworms, proliferated and consumed humans from within. Luo Junren happened to be aware of this. Fortunately, a vaccine was now available, so there was no longer any need to worry. Otherwise, nobody would dare eat the red worm cake.
Many things had happened in these few days, a series of ups and downs, but he hadn’t reacted much. No matter the magnitude of the issue, Zhou Yun was always there to take the lead. Look, wasn’t today’s issue completely resolved?
What affordable and edible specialties does Sichuan have that could be offered to Wu City as items of exchange? How can we maximize our benefits? This was what Luo Junren was currently worried about.
They had a dark wild rice in their region that tasted quite good. It was covered in sharp spines, with grains the size of fingernails. This rice was difficult to cook thoroughly and too hard to chew, so it could only be eaten when ground into powder and cooked into a paste.
It was only discovered after the floods of the second year, and since then, it had thrived only in damp and dark places.
This year, unable to grow anything else, this wild plant had managed to save a considerable amount of food. The issue was that processing it was troublesome, requiring several steps.
If they could process it into a semi-finished product, its value would increase, and it would be more convenient for transportation.
But it’s not worth it, though, as this commodity has become scarce now.
Luo Junren shook his head, unwilling to give up grain because doing so meant people would starve.
What resources of equivalent value could they offer? And it had to be something the other party needed. The treaty explicitly stipulated the exchange of needed resources of equal value.
Moreover, he planned to improve his relationship with Jing Shu. To mend their past ties, he knew he had to make an effort. Luo Junren began to observe Jing Shu closely.
After the meal, Jing Shu toured the kitchen of the West Mountain Michelin chefs and learned various methods for more convenient food storage, as well as a myriad of innovative recipes.
Jing Shu admitted that her thinking had been shackled in her previous life; this time, it felt like she was opening the door to a new world.
She discovered that many ingredients were prepared well in advance, preserved by freezing.
Take Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, for instance. It’s an elaborate dish requiring the meticulous preparation of various stocks and ingredients, using choice and lavish materials.
But once prepared, it could be frozen and sealed in vacuum preservation bags. Then, whenever desired, one could simply heat it in a pot, and it would be ready to enjoy.
All those ingredients eventually condensed into that one pot, saving so much space! Most importantly, it was legitimate and could be shared with family.
Eager to part ways with the members of the Inspection Team, Jing Shu hurried home to delve into studying these novelties.
As for the medicine, Jun Bao would simply find the right time to deliver it. He would handle the subsequent arrangements, allowing Jing Shu to be a hands-off manager. She would calculate her profits and conduct a monthly audit; when the time came, Jing Shu would go with Liu to finalize things.
Of course, Jing Shu had a clear understanding of how many red earthworms could be bred from the medicine and the profits they could yield. At the same time, since it had been made clear that the production of red earthworms was limited, she naturally wouldn’t want to disrupt this balance unnecessarily.
From that day on, the output of the main Insect Cake Factory in Wu City was reduced by thirty percent. A thirty-percent share of production, previously designated for the Wucheng Town Government, was now to be divided among eight other factories. Jing Shu further supplemented this by directing an additional twenty percent of production capacity to these same eight factories.
It wasn’t a small amount, nor was it particularly large. If managed frugally, the allocation to a single factory could barely support an additional tens of thousands of people each day, which somewhat eased the local burden.
Jing Shu actually had the opportunity to promote the efficacy of Mud Mermaid Bone Powder, but after some thought, she developed a new plan.
Now that Wu City’s reserve grain silo held a batch of Insect Cakes, it could at least be considered part of the reserve food supply. Having surplus food was a good start and marked a turning point in Qian Duoduo’s fate.
But it wasn’t enough, far from enough. Relying on just one factory working to the bone wouldn’t be enough to sustain a city’s population through the upcoming famine. This was true even with the insect woman Xiao Wei’s insects and Qian Duoduo’s relentless expansion efforts; indeed, even the crops grown with the power-draining Artificial Sun weren’t enough.
Everyone was making efforts, but what use were they in the face of natural disasters?
Rotten mermaids were an excellent source of food, and Jing Shu already had the glimmer of an idea on how to legitimately introduce them, and possibly even farm them in the future.
The person organizing the tower’s auction was someone Jing Shu knew quite well—it was the tower’s logistics manager, Wang Miao.
It was supposed to be Jun Jia’s responsibility, but he had been left with a lingering fear, worried that the tower might "run away" again. This time, even Gold Dominator, who loved joining in on the excitement, didn’t dare to come.
Understandably, it was rare for survivors of the last tower incident to attend. Those who came had no choice—they had to finalize loss assessments and settlements.
For example, the villa that Jing Shu had auctioned off last time was gone. Since the auction transfer hadn’t been fully completed, the loss assessment determined that Jing Shu was responsible for 60% of the damage, Greenland Villa Company for 20%, and the Township Government bore 20% for improper auction management.
Receiving some compensation was certainly a good thing.
As for the tower, there was nothing left to auction but an empty building permeated by a foul stench of feces; many areas were still uncleaned of rotten mermaid excrement.
Buying the seven-story building meant undertaking the long and arduous task of cleaning the waste.
Who would buy it?
Using it for housing was definitely an option. The housing situation was tight—that much was certain. Take the Banana District, for example. It had survived four years of disasters by the skin of its teeth, managing to come out unscathed each time.
The basement corridors and parking garages were crammed with people.
In places near the Township Government or in areas managed by the large communal dining halls, land was worth its weight in gold. There were only three such administrative centers in Wu City now.
A house might not survive the next disaster, but being close to the Township Government provided some security.
To say housing wasn’t in short supply would be misleading. Before, many residential buildings in the city were vacant. However, due to the disasters of recent years, most were no longer habitable. It was possible to take a risk and live in them, but it was tough. Without people, transportation, the Township Government, communal dining halls, fire, or water—survival was a severe challenge.
Just as Jing Shu, excited, arrived at the auction site in the tower, curious to see who else might compete with her for this seemingly useless building, she was unaware that minimum purchasing requirements had also been set.