Chapter 19: The Sister with a Massive Balance

Yan Yu and Li Xuemei whispered a few words to each other. "I have clothes here, but the style is ancient; I don't know if you'll be able to get used to wearing them. As for medicine... even if I exchange some for you, it won't be convenient for you to brew it. They are all herbs, so eating them isn't an issue. We still have a little leftover bone broth at home; it's very quick to reheat."

"You have bone broth? That's wonderful! I haven't had hot soup in so long.

Water is also precious. Even though it's raining constantly outside, that water isn't drinkable...

We can only drink bottled or canned water. If it weren't for the fact that I can buy water and food on the platform, I wouldn't have been able to hold on this long..."

Li Xuemei straightened her clothes. The winter cotton padded clothes wouldn't be needed for now, so they could be exchanged first.

After thinking for a moment, she said to Yan Yu, "Xiao Yu, ask her what is available in her mall?"

Yan Yu did as told, and the woman on the other side answered truthfully

"Umbrellas, raincoats, rain boots, swim rings.

Bottled water, milk, eight-treasure porridge, ham sausages, canned fish, luncheon meat.

Hand warmers, plastic bags."

Yan Yu's mouth watered as she listened.

It was completely different from her side.

It turned out that modern-setting natural disaster stories featured ready-to-eat goods on the shelves, rather than raw ingredients...

But what on earth were plastic bags?

"Why are there plastic bags?" Yan Yu asked curiously.

"They are all those large black plastic bags. They can hold a lot of things, they're moisture-proof, and others can't see what's inside. They're very practical." The woman continued with a smile, "The platform also recycles various items. The system sells them for 0.2 each and recycles them for 0.01. I'm not afraid to tell you, though you might laugh, that the thing I sell the most is plastic bags."

Yan Yu:...

What a capable sister—even in such misery, she's still contributing to the cause of environmental protection!

"I saw an outdoor charcoal stove in your supplies. What does it look like?"

The woman turned around to look and pulled a double-handled charcoal cylinder and a ceramic pot out of a black plastic bag.

"It's this. Take a look, can you use it?"

Yan Yu's eyes lit up.

She thought there would only be the charcoal cylinder, but she hadn't expected a ceramic teapot as well.

This was incredibly convenient.

The woman thought for a moment, turned around again to rummage through her things, and brought over a clay pot.

"I exchanged this with someone before. Back then, the situation wasn't this severe, and I could still find things to burn, like charcoal or alcohol blocks. The small pot was for boiling water, and the large pot was for cooking porridge or noodles; it could also be used to dry wet clothes and quilts. But now... none of that is useful anymore."

She gathered her courage and said, "If possible, I would like to exchange for your thin cotton clothes and the quilt on the floor."

She had taken a liking to that quilt at first sight. It was easy to imagine how expensive a cotton quilt would be in an ancient setting; if she didn't have something of corresponding value, she would feel too embarrassed to ask.

But she wanted it so badly!

Her quilt had been stolen, and in such a damp and humid environment, after only two nights, she already felt her body becoming unwell. If this continued, she would fall ill.

"If you exchange it to me, you won't need it anymore? What if the platform lists charcoal for you in the future?" Yan Yu asked while consulting with Li Xuemei.

"I still have stainless steel ones," the woman said. "Those things are still easy to come by now."

Li Xuemei felt they were getting a bit of a raw deal. Forget saying the woman on the other side was miserable; their family wasn't having an easy time either.

Yan Yu thought her mother was right, so she swiped through the supply list again and settled on an item.

"Sister, you want bone broth, cotton clothes, and a quilt, but these alone aren't enough. The last uncle told me that we must follow the platform's exchange rules, otherwise, the transaction cannot be completed.

I see you also have a container of corn oil and a tin of milk powder. If we add those, I'll have my father make you some dough drop soup in the bone broth, with an added egg. How does that sound?"

Dough drop soup? With an egg!

*Slurp!*

The woman on the other side produced 4 liters of corn oil and a tin of stage-three infant milk powder. After only a moment's hesitation, she accepted the trade.

Yan Er, who had just hauled in two large iron wheels like a thief, had barely pulled out a handful of coarse rice and a few chunks of coarse salt. Before he could even catch his breath, he was handed the egg Yan Yu had spent a massive 0.5 on and was ordered to make the dough drop soup.

Upon hearing it was an exchange for milk powder, Yan Er wiped his face and rushed straight to the kitchen.

If she hadn't seen the milk powder, Yan Yu would never have paid such a high price or taken such a big risk.

Waking up in the middle of the night to reheat bone broth could be excused as being afraid the soup would spoil overnight.

As for the dough drop soup, she could only blame it on her innocent younger brother and sister-in-law, saying they were just hungry...

"Sister, besides plastic bags, what else have you sold to the platform?" Yan Yu wanted to understand the platform better, not just her own, but others' as well.

Since everyone's platform was different, she couldn't just consider what could be obtained from the other world; she also had to account for the other side's shelves, which were supposedly constantly updating.

"The platform accepts almost anything, as long as it's clean. It doesn't matter if it's not new, as long as it's clean." This was the rule she had summarized. "For example, clothes—it doesn't matter if they are wet, worn, or dirty, but... if they are contaminated with germs, it definitely won't accept them."

This was a truth she had understood after much thought.

It was also the reason she stayed away from crowds and lived alone.

There were too many sick people; in the same environment, it was hard not to get infected.

"It accepts utensils of all materials, as long as they haven't been rotted or ruined by soaking; they can all be sold."

Yan Yu pondered for a moment, her eyes widening as she asked, "Then, Sister, don't you have a lot of balance?"

The woman smiled sheepishly and nodded slightly. "I have sold quite a bit, but I later discovered that the platform can only guarantee my survival. It's only in the free market that I can exchange for the things I truly want. So, now, whenever I find something, I hold onto it for a while," to see if anyone would trade with her.

"Items on the shelves should be exchangeable too, right?" Yan Yu asked.

The woman froze for a moment. "Oh, right!"

Yan Yu took the opportunity to promote: "Sister, look, this pork skin jelly was made by my father; it's delicious. The last uncle wanted it, but I couldn't bear to trade it to him. Sister, if you eat the dough drop soup while eating the pork skin jelly, wouldn't that be wonderful?!

Just one tin of luncheon meat, and the pork skin jelly is yours immediately."

The woman on the other side was amused and nodded. "Then let's trade."

Yan Yu's screen flickered and switched to the platform interface.

The other person must have switched out to buy the luncheon meat.

Yan Yu held the bowl of pork skin jelly, waiting happily.

Then she saw the free market flash again.

She clicked into it, and the sister on the other side now had a tin of luncheon meat in her hand.

Unlike Yan Yu and the uncle, her luncheon meat—came in packaging.

The two clicked to confirm.

The pork skin jelly in Yan Yu's bowl disappeared, and a square tin of luncheon meat appeared in the bowl.

The woman on the other side was also very experienced; she had prepared a stainless steel bowl in advance, which was just the right size for the pork skin jelly.

She shook the box, which was still sealed but empty inside, and said, "The platform recycles this too, for 0.5 each."

Yan Yu: That's worth one of her eggs.

Though the natural disaster was terrible, because the backgrounds were similar, the platform's supervision wasn't that strict; not using packaging was one such instance.

If it opened every half month, exchanging enough food and water could truly guarantee one wouldn't go hungry.