Jing Shu wasn't sure if Lord Long was the kind of person Qian Duoduo was, but tonight she'd already heard his name several times. She'd only heard it and hadn't seen him, which was a little disappointing, though she knew the one called Lord Long was somewhere in this trading hall. Still, in the sea of people, he wasn't like Jack Ma, someone who stood out instantly.
"Alright, I hope I get to meet this Lord Long next time," she said after adding Tang Tuoguan.
"You'll be interested in Lord Long. No one isn't," Tang Tuoguan replied.
Jing Shu forced a smile and muttered quietly, "It's not like money. Even money isn't liked by everyone. Even coins have their copper stink, after all."
The trading event was coming to an end, and next came the final inspection and tagging with traceability codes. After all, when you're spending millions, everything has to be precise.
After tallying all the taxes, Jing Shu's trading card surprisingly had nearly a million left over! That meant after selling all her items and buying even more, she still had this much trading currency.
Trading currency only worked inside the eighth-floor trading hall. Outside, it couldn't be used, and converting it into virtual currency carried high fees. Jing Shu didn't plan on converting it anyway. Wu City still owed her plenty, and honestly, it was better not to have too much money in her account right now.
You might hide how many supplies you have, big data and surveillance can't see that clearly, but your money? That's easy to check.
The fifth-year famine of the apocalypse was about to hit. Everyone suffering together is the hard truth.
"So, what's this money for?" She'd soon be leaving the imperial capital. After thinking for a moment, her mind cleared suddenly. She tossed the card to Tang Tuoguan. "There's almost a million on this card."
Tang Tuoguan looked at her oddly as he took it.
A million was the minimum threshold to enter the eighth-floor trading hall. It carried weight.
"So?"
"You're Tang Tuoguan, right? So, can you hold this for me?"
He nodded almost immediately. "I'll take a 10% cut of the profits."
"No problem. Oh, and if you see anything good, grab it for me." Jing Shu still couldn't forget the high-quality organic stuff in the imperial capital. In Wu City, honestly, only Qian Duoduo had the means to get so many organic vegetables and fruits—except for her space cheat.
Jing Shu turned and patted Tank. "Every three months, he'll help transport some stuff for me. Just hand it over to him if there's anything."
She was lucky to have adopted the geese back then; at least she now had a transport route in the imperial capital. Otherwise, the thought of transporting goods across this apocalyptic world was terrifying.
But this was almost the fifth year. Food at the bottom was tightening, and the upper levels would probably have to tighten their belts too.
Tang Tuoguan hesitated, then finally asked, "What about the blood mushrooms?"
After all, if someone could produce ten at once, there had to be more than ten, right?
Jing Shu smiled. "You'll get news when the time comes. Don't rush." She'd leave it all to Qian Duoduo. He had plenty of debts and lice; these things that attract attention were all his problem.
She couldn't stop thinking about the pets she'd bought. She wanted to put the bamboo rats in her space to accelerate their growth, just so she could taste their freshness sooner.
She also needed to put some of the feed bugs in her space to grow and mature them, aiming to produce a large amount of freeze-dried bug feed before migration.
In short, she had tons to do and couldn't spend all her time here.
So she said a quick goodbye to Tang Tuoguan, leaving the rest to him, curious to see if his custodianship could really reach this level.
She'd bought so much that it came with a full set of freeze-drying equipment. Now that she could afford it, electricity wasn't a problem. Still, there was no way she and Tank could transport all of it themselves.
Luckily, the thoughtful eighth-floor trading hall transported everything back for her.
When she arrived, she'd used all the Wu City medicine she brought. Otherwise, with her piles of daily necessities, toilet paper, food, and equipment, transport would have been impossible. She'd gotten a huge bargain on shipping.
It had been lively on the way in, with over thirty pharmacists.
The way back was much quieter. Wang Danai and a large team of Wu City pharmacists were busy in the factories set up in the imperial capital. Day and night, they worked on medicine, which affected countless lives across China. No room for jokes.
Jing Shu understood and respected their work, even spending company funds to get Tank some food for them as extra meals.
No matter what, her mission in the imperial capital was complete. The haul was so rich she couldn't bear to leave. Seeing almost all her goods on the plane gave her an extraordinary sense of security.
Her black-gloved hand wriggled lightly, silky, shiny, warm, and comfortable.
Wanzi, however, bared its teeth and hid behind Xiao Dou, wary of her hand. It could sense something.
Xiao Dou, meanwhile, glared at the little creature at Jing Shu's feet. It puffed its plump chest, wings akimbo like a tigress, then realized the pose wasn't elegant, so it shifted.
It swayed its plump chicken butt, smoothed its feathers, struck a seductive pose, and extended its long, beautiful chicken legs, blinking to tease Jing Shu.
Jing Shu: "..." It's just a duck. Really?
Though Tank insisted it was a goose, to her it was tiny, palm-sized, and had all the traits of a duck. Fine, let's say it's a goose disguised as a duck. Maybe, like the ugly duckling, it could become a swan.
Yes, this little thing was Tank's big surprise. It truly was a surprise.
If she was right, it had evolved to survive the apocalypse, a Darklife. Tank hadn't dared run a full assessment; once you do that, you know what could happen.
For now, Jing Shu knew enough about it and named it Xiao Guagua. Tank had only slipped Xiao Guagua onto the plane after some persuasion, appealing to her emotions and logic to get her to accept this precious creature.