“Hello, my name is Mi Beibei.”
With the trade successfully completed, Mi Beibei finally relaxed. It seemed these people were not bad after all.
Hearing her answer, Gu An’an smiled, her eyes curving into crescent moons.
From the very beginning, she had noticed that the girl before her had a healthy rosy complexion, clean clothes, and an air of someone who had been living comfortably. At a glance, it was obvious she had never lacked food or supplies.
An idea crossed Gu An’an’s mind, and she decided to probe a little further.
With hopeful anticipation, she asked,
“Beibei, we still have some gold stored somewhere else that we didn’t bring with us today. Can we come back later and trade it with you for more food?”
Mi Beibei lowered her eyes in thought for a moment before looking back at her seriously.
“Sure. And if you’re short on anything else, just let me know. I’ll see if I can get it for you.”
The moment those words left her mouth, all four of them instantly perked up.
Four pairs of eyes lit up at once.
As the only woman on the team, Gu An’an had been carrying around a problem she could hardly talk about.
Every month, during her period, life in the resource-starved apocalypse became especially miserable. It was such a private matter that she simply couldn’t bring herself to discuss it with the men in the group.
Now, hearing Mi Beibei’s offer was like grabbing hold of a lifeline.
Gu An’an quickly leaned closer, lowering her voice until it was barely above a whisper. With a mixture of embarrassment and urgency, she quietly asked,
“Do you… have feminine hygiene products?”
Mi Beibei immediately understood what she meant.
She nodded gently.
“I do.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Gu An’an became so excited she nearly jumped up. She tightly grabbed Mi Beibei’s hands.
“When we come back next time, please make sure you prepare plenty for me.”
Smiling, Mi Beibei nodded again.
At that moment, Li Chaoyang hurriedly joined the conversation.
“Then please also help us get more clean, ready-to-eat food. It’s been incredibly difficult finding anything to eat out here.”
“Sure!”
Mi Beibei readily agreed.
Then she and Gu An’an carefully discussed the details of their trade. They agreed to meet again in three days, at the same time, outside the storage room window.
Afterward, Gu An’an turned around and exchanged a few words with Liu Chaoyang, Li Long, and Zhang Zeyu before the four of them gradually disappeared down the ruined street.
Mi Beibei stood watching until their figures vanished around the corner.
Unable to suppress her excitement, she closed the window and hurried over to the dining table with light footsteps.
With great care, she gently placed the tangled bundle of gold chains on the table.
She patiently worked on untangling the twisted mass.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but after persistent effort, she finally separated every piece.
Carefully counting them, she found three gold necklaces and two bracelets.
“I’m going to be rich!”
Her cheeks flushed with excitement.
Like a child, she ran circles around the room, waving her arms wildly while laughing and cheering, completely immersed in her unexpected happiness.
Suddenly—
Grrrr…
Her stomach growled loudly.
Only then did Mi Beibei realize she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.
She had been so focused on trading with Gu An’an and the others that she had completely forgotten.
She quickly found a ziplock bag and carefully placed each gold necklace and bracelet inside.
Then she dug out an old handbag she hadn’t used in a long time from the back of a cabinet.
Carefully placing the bag of gold jewelry inside, she gently patted the handbag, as though reassuring it—or perhaps reassuring herself that her newfound wealth was real.
Only after finishing all that did she happily head into the kitchen.
She boiled a pot of water and cooked a pack of instant noodles.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally made up her mind and cracked the last two eggs from the refrigerator into the pot.
Watching the noodles boil together with the golden egg ribbons filled her heart with happiness.
Soon, a fragrant bowl of instant noodles was sitting on the table.
Mi Beibei eagerly devoured every bite.
After filling her stomach, she slung the handbag containing the gold chains over her shoulder.
Taking out her phone, she searched the map for the nearest jewelry store that bought back gold.
Looking at the navigation route, she took a deep breath and firmly walked out the door.
Although she now possessed several heavy gold necklaces, she only had a pitiful 46 yuan in cash.
Mi Beibei walked briskly toward the jewelry store.
The warm sunlight shone gently on her.
Even though she had already been walking for more than half an hour, the thought of the heavy gold chains in her bag filled her with energy, and she didn’t feel tired at all.
Finally, the jewelry store came into view.
She took a deep breath, calmed her excitement, and pushed open the door.
The clear chime of the entrance bell rang.
A smiling saleswoman dressed in professional attire quickly walked over.
“Welcome. How may I help you today?”
Trying her best to remain calm, Mi Beibei replied,
“I’d like to sell a few gold necklaces.”
“Certainly. Please come with me.”
The saleswoman warmly led her to one side of the counter and gracefully placed a tray lined with soft velvet before her.
“Please place the necklaces here.”
Mi Beibei carefully opened her bag.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she took out the ziplock bag containing the jewelry and gently poured everything onto the velvet tray.
Using a pair of tweezers, the saleswoman skillfully straightened each necklace and bracelet.
Then she looked up at Mi Beibei to confirm.
“Are you selling all of these necklaces and bracelets?”
Mi Beibei nodded firmly.
“Yes.”
“Today’s gold buyback price is 580 yuan per gram. I’ll weigh them now.”
As she spoke, she placed the jewelry onto the digital scale.
“The total weight is 56 grams.”
Mi Beibei tightly gripped the corner of her clothes, doing everything she could to suppress her overwhelming excitement.
She simply nodded.
The saleswoman then added,
“I’ll need to confirm whether they’re pure gold. Don’t worry—the testing process won’t damage your jewelry in any way.”
Mi Beibei nodded her approval.
Her eyes followed every movement the saleswoman made.
One by one, each necklace was placed under professional testing equipment and exposed to intense heat.
The flames licked across the gold.
The high temperature made the air seem to shimmer.
Mi Beibei’s heart rose into her throat.
Fortunately, the test went smoothly.
Every necklace remained brilliantly golden even after being heated.
The saleswoman nodded with satisfaction and smiled.
“Everything passed inspection. Please come over here so we can complete the payment.”
Feeling as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders, Mi Beibei let out a long breath.
She quickly followed the saleswoman to the cashier.
After signing the paperwork, she provided her bank account information.
A short while later, 32,480 yuan was transferred into her account.
Ding!
Her phone chimed with the payment notification.
She glanced at the screen.
Joy and excitement flashed across her eyes.
After quickly thanking the saleswoman, she walked out of the jewelry store, her steps feeling strangely unsteady.
The moment she stepped outside, her legs felt weak, as though she were walking on cotton.
She pinched her own arm hard.
The sharp pain proved she wasn’t dreaming.
Yet everything still felt unreal.
“With this, I can pay off most of my loans… It really feels like a dream.”
She muttered to herself while walking home, a silly smile spread across her face.
As the cool breeze brushed against her face, she gradually calmed down.
Her eyes became determined.
A new plan formed in her mind.
She needed to return to Boss Wang’s near-expiration food warehouse and restock.
Before long, she arrived at the warehouse.
Familiar with the place now, she greeted him warmly.
“Boss Wang, I’m back!”
Boss Wang beamed.
“Ah, you’re here, beautiful! What are you looking for this time? Just pick whatever you want and let me know!”
“Okay.”
Mi Beibei replied before quickly walking into the warehouse.
The moment she entered, her eyes were immediately drawn to the self-heating rice meals.
She picked up several boxes, examined them carefully, and placed them into her shopping basket.
Next, she headed to the instant noodle section and selected several different flavors.
After taking only a few more steps, she noticed the compressed biscuits.
She thought to herself that they were even more convenient than instant noodles or self-heating rice.
The people in the apocalypse would definitely value them.
So she added them to her shopping list as well.
After that, she selected several boxes of ham sausages along with a variety of snacks.
Before long, she carried the overflowing basket back to Boss Wang.
“Boss Wang, I’d like one case of each flavor of instant noodles, one case of each flavor of self-heating rice, two cases of compressed biscuits, and three cases of ham sausages.”
The moment Boss Wang heard the order, his smile stretched from ear to ear.
He immediately got to work, skillfully preparing all of the goods for her.
Once everything had been neatly stacked on the floor, Mi Beibei suddenly realized a major problem.
There was no way she could carry all of it home by herself.
Boss Wang noticed her dilemma at once and kindly suggested,
“How about I help you find a vehicle?”