Tan Zhizhi wiped the sweat from her forehead, put on a pair of ice silk sleeves and a sun-protection jacket, then took out her Rose Country truck driver’s license.
She had obtained the license while studying in Rose Country as an exchange student after making a bet with one of her classmates. Now, it finally came in handy.
She went to the nearest car rental agency, chose a box truck with a twenty-ton payload capacity, and headed straight for the largest seafood wholesale market in Rose Country.
Once inside the market, Tan Zhizhi waved her hand and began enjoying the thrill of hoarding supplies.
She bought ten thousand jin each of king crab, flower crab, mud crab, red crab, champagne crab, and bread crab.
She bought twenty thousand jin each of whiteleg shrimp, lobster, mantis shrimp, golden shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and grass shrimp.
She bought twenty thousand jin each of squid, soft-shelled turtle, clams, and freshwater snails.
She bought a total of 150,000 jin of crucian carp, common carp, grass carp, yellow croaker, hairtail, mandarin fish, sea bass, bighead carp, silver carp, spotted silver carp, salmon, tuna, and more.
She also bought a combined total of twenty thousand jin of scallops, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and abalone.
She requested that everything be cleaned and prepared so that she could take it out and cook it directly in the future.
Using the box truck as cover, Tan Zhizhi stored away all the seafood before heading to the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Rose Country.
In the fruit wholesale section, she bought two thousand coconuts and ten thousand jin of red-fleshed honey pomelos.
She bought a combined total of 300,000 jin of sugarcane, loquats, emperor mandarins, blueberries, cherries, pineapples, bananas, fragrant pears, mangoes, kiwis, dragon fruit, watermelons, strawberries, Hami melons, and more.
She also bought twenty thousand jin each of Australian Gold Finger black grapes, Colombian eggfruit, canistel, Black Thorn durians, African horned melons, and New Zealand apples.
After buying the fruit, Tan Zhizhi turned her attention to the vegetable wholesale section.
She bought a total of 500,000 jin of common seasonal vegetables that were frequently consumed, including tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, bok choy, edamame, green beans, cauliflower, spinach, and sweet corn.
As for versatile vegetables that were easy to store and could later be used for planting, such as onions, potatoes, Chinese yam, taro, konjac, sweet potatoes, and purple sweet potatoes, she generously bought sixty thousand jin of each.
“Miss, would you like some ginger and garlic? The ginger and garlic at my stall are cheap and authentic.”
After learning that Tan Zhizhi was from Hua Country, the ginger and garlic vendor approached her. Speaking in a somewhat clumsy Hua Country dialect, he looked at her eagerly.
People in Rose Country preferred sweet flavors, and most of them could not tolerate the pungent, spicy taste of ginger and garlic.
Only a small number of people who enjoyed strong flavors, along with some Hua Country nationals doing business or traveling in Rose Country, would buy them.
Because of this, the ginger and garlic at the vendor’s stall had piled up like a mountain.
“If I buy everything, how much of a discount can you give me?”
Tan Zhizhi lifted her eyelashes slightly and casually glanced at his stall, her tone calm and unhurried.
“How about this? I’ll give you a five percent discount. Does that sound good?”
The vendor tried his best to suppress his excitement, speaking with a tone that was partly ingratiating and partly negotiating.
“No, thirty percent off! If you can’t give me that much of a discount, I won’t take it.”
Tan Zhizhi immediately turned into a master negotiator.
Although she had plenty of money, she could not simply spend it recklessly. Money did not fall from the sky.
If someone offered her the chance to bargain, then she was definitely going to bargain.
If she failed to save even a single cent, she would feel as though she had betrayed her title as the “Bargaining Queen of the Base” from her previous life.
“This…” The vendor smacked his lips awkwardly. After thinking for more than ten seconds, he finally agreed. “Alright!”
Even with a thirty percent discount, he could still make a small profit after covering his costs, so it was worth it.
These goods had nearly become unsellable stock.
He had another fifty thousand jin of ginger and ten thousand jin of garlic.
Being able to sell everything at once without losing money was already incredibly lucky.
“By the way, Boss, do you have any relatives in this wholesale market who sell ginger? I still want to buy more.”
In the apocalypse, ginger was an excellent thing to have. Besides being used as a seasoning, it could protect the hair and ward off the cold. It was inexpensive as well and particularly popular among women.
The more she stocked up, the better prepared she would be.
“Yes, yes! Wait a moment. My friends still have plenty.”
As he spoke, the vendor brought over several unfortunate friends who, like him, had stocked large quantities of ginger.
Tan Zhizhi bought another one hundred thousand jin of ginger at the same price.
After buying the ginger and garlic, she also purchased three thousand jin each of scallions, cilantro, and fish mint leaves.
In the meat wholesale section, Tan Zhizhi bought eighty thousand jin of pork and twenty thousand jin of pork fat.
She bought a total of 400,000 jin of beef, lamb, rabbit, chicken, duck, goose, and other meats.
She also bought a combined total of one hundred thousand jin of chicken feet, chicken livers, chicken hearts, duck feet, duck wings, chicken gizzards, chicken wings, chicken legs, duck legs, and rabbit heads.
By the time she had finished buying all the fruit, vegetables, and meat, it was already four o’clock in the afternoon.
Since the grain, oil, and grocery wholesale market had not closed yet, Tan Zhizhi stepped on the accelerator, made a sharp turn in the white box truck, and quickly drove toward the grain, oil, and grocery wholesale market.
The moment she entered, Tan Zhizhi headed straight for a shop selling cooking oil.
She purchased twenty thousand bottles of rapeseed oil.
She bought five thousand bottles each of peanut oil, corn oil, soybean oil, olive oil, sesame oil, and tea seed oil.
Each bottle contained five kilograms and was labeled as non-GMO.
At the grain store, she bought 600,000 jin of rice.
She purchased one hundred thousand jin each of black rice, glutinous rice, millet, coix seed, sago, and sorghum.
As for red beans, mung beans, soybeans, kidney beans, broad beans, peas, and peanuts, which could be used for porridge and cooking and later planted as seeds, Tan Zhizhi bought fifty thousand jin of each.
She bought one hundred thousand jin of flour and twenty thousand jin each of corn flour, pumpkin flour, sweet potato flour, and rice flour.
At the dry goods store, she bought two hundred thousand bags of salt and thirty thousand bags of chili powder. She also purchased five thousand bottles each of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, three thousand bottles of aged vinegar, and two thousand bottles of cooking wine.
She bought a total of twenty thousand small bottles of cumin powder, Sichuan pepper powder, salt and pepper seasoning, black pepper powder, and curry powder. The small bottles were clean and hygienic.
She bought twenty thousand jin each of white sugar, brown sugar, and rock sugar, as well as three thousand jin of various spices and ingredients, including star anise, mixed spices, bay leaves, fennel seeds, and coix seeds.
She bought two thousand packets of hot pot soup base and a total of ten thousand jin of glass noodles, dried noodles, and wide sweet potato noodles.
She purchased five thousand boxes each of chicken eggs, quail eggs, duck eggs, goose eggs, and century eggs.
At the nut shop, she bought twenty thousand jin each of hazelnuts, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pecans, lotus seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and walnuts.
At the grocery store, she bought five thousand boxes of gold foil chocolate, ten thousand bags of White Rabbit milk candy, five thousand tubs of Planet Cup chocolate, six thousand bags of Alpenliebe lollipops, and one thousand bottles of xylitol.
She bought fifty thousand bags of potato chips in various flavors, along with twenty thousand cases each of yogurt and pure milk. She purchased twenty thousand cases of instant cup noodles in a variety of flavors, as well as a total of ten thousand bags of sausages, braised eggs, and compressed biscuits.
She bought a total of eighty thousand bags of various stress-relieving snacks, including luosifen, self-heating hot pots, packaged bread, Liuliumei preserved plums, jelly, small fish snacks, spicy strips, beef jerky cubes, instant coffee, and more.
She also bought thirty thousand bottles of various sugary soft drinks.
She purchased five thousand bottles each of laundry detergent, body wash, and shampoo, along with five thousand bars of soap. She bought six thousand bottles each of mosquito-repellent toilet water and insecticide, as well as two thousand toothbrushes, ten thousand tubes of toothpaste, and one thousand mouth-rinsing cups.
She bought two thousand foldable plastic basins and two thousand stainless steel basins. She also purchased five thousand each of insulated food containers, thermoses, and hot water bottles, along with two thousand sewing kits and nail clipper sets.
She bought two hundred thousand candles, twenty thousand boxes of matches, and fifty thousand lighters.
She also bought ten thousand sets of various types of clothes hangers and drying poles.
She stocked up on 400,000 cases of dry and wet tissues, one hundred thousand packs of toilet paper, and 400,000 cases of sanitary pads. She bought twenty thousand rolls each of large and small garbage bags.
She also stocked up on plenty of books, comics, notebooks, pens, and other stationery.
She bought ten thousand each of AAA batteries, AA batteries, and small button batteries for watches.
By the time she finished purchasing everything and returned to the hotel, it was already completely dark.