Chapter 8: Swipe the Black Card as You Please!

The transfer procedures for both the sedan and the sports car were completed quickly, and over on Jiang Yan’s side, she had also finished the paperwork for the small truck.

She even had the cab and cargo compartment thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

As usual, Jiang Yan was dressed in casual sportswear, wearing a wig, a hat, and a mask. She drove the small truck straight to the city’s largest wholesale market.

This wholesale market was located quite far from the city center, and with all the delays from handling the car sales paperwork, by the time she arrived, it was already past ten in the morning.

Jiang Yan had checked online and knew that for buying staple foods like rice, flour, grains, and oil, this kind of place was the best—prices were reasonable, and more importantly, both quality and supply were guaranteed.

She had arranged to view an apartment with Du Zitong in the afternoon, so her plan for the morning was to stock up on the bulk of her staple goods.

This was Jiang Yan’s first time at a wholesale market.

It was already getting late in the morning, and the place was bustling with people.

Jiang Yan spent an hour walking around the entire market, roughly inquiring about prices and getting a general sense of the staple food market. Only then did she step into the largest grain and oil wholesale store in the market.

Inside, several employees were busy serving customers. When they saw her, backpack on, face covered with a mask and hat, their eyes immediately became wary.

But the boss lady was sharp. With one glance, she recognized that this fully disguised girl in trendy sportswear was someone with serious spending power.

She put down her tablet, where she’d been watching a drama, stood up, and greeted Jiang Yan with a big smile:

“Miss, what would you like to buy today?”

Jiang Yan glanced at the other customers, lowered her voice, and said, “Boss, I want everything in your store.”

Boss Lady: “??!!!”

What, everything?!

Did I hear that right?!

She must have gotten up too quickly this morning—surely her ears were playing tricks on her.

But the boss lady was no stranger to big business and had weathered many storms. Smiling, she asked again:

“Miss, how much exactly do you want to buy?”

Jiang Yan replied calmly, “Boss, I want it all. Also, for your best-quality Wuchang rice, Thai fragrant rice, Zhefang tribute rice, and Daohuaxiang rice—how much do you have in stock? I want at least 6,000 kilograms of each. For the rest—flour, beans, organic camellia oil, your best peanut oil and rapeseed oil—I’ll take 5,000 kilograms each. For anything else I can’t name, 3,000 kilograms each.”

They didn’t sell imported olive oil here, so she planned to buy that abroad later.

Jiang Yan had checked last night: if you estimate for a lifespan of 100 years, a person would need about 10,000 kilograms of rice, 1,000 kilograms of cooking oil, 2,000 kilograms of sugar, and 200 kilograms of salt.

As for herself, she usually ate less staple food and always went light on oil, sugar, and salt, but she’d still need about half that amount.

Besides, the [Storage Area] in her space had time frozen, so she didn’t have to worry about rice getting old or oil going rancid.

As for salt, after the island nation started dumping nuclear-contaminated water, sea salt had food safety issues.

This shop sold rock salt, so she planned to stock up on that too.

With money and space, she could afford to be a bit extravagant.

That black soil in her space could be used for planting, but she didn’t have much faith in her current farming skills.

She could manage some simple vegetables, fruits, and flowers, but as for rice and wheat, maybe she’d try growing a few stalks, but large-scale planting was out of the question.

Besides rice, the store also sold high-gluten flour, low-gluten flour, yeast, black rice, purple rice, millet, glutinous rice, quinoa, sesame, coix seed, red beans, soybeans, mung beans, peanuts, and more.

She was from the south and preferred rice in her daily diet, but she wasn’t picky—she’d take all the flour and beans as well.

Among the noodles, she especially liked egg silver-thread noodles, so she planned to buy some of those too.

In another corner of the store, there was brown sugar, red sugar, white sugar, rock sugar, and honey.

Further along were salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and all kinds of seasonings.

She usually watched her sugar intake and rarely ate sweets, but when the extreme cold hit later, sugar would be a lifesaver.

Since she was stocking up for the apocalypse, she couldn’t skimp on anything.

Being able to get most of her supplies in one store saved her a lot of running around.

“You want it all… eight thousand kilograms???” The boss lady was dumbfounded for a second, but her business instincts kicked in, and she spoke before her brain could catch up:

“Miss, let me check the inventory records for the exact stock. If we don’t have enough here, I can arrange to get more. But are you sure you want to buy everything? For this quantity, the deposit alone might be in the tens of millions. The best-quality Wuchang rice isn’t cheap, you know.”

Before she finished speaking, Jiang Yan had already taken out her bank card.

“Calculate the total—deposit and full payment. I can pay the deposit now. As for delivery, I’ll give you a few warehouse addresses. Just contact me before your people send the goods.”

The boss lady glanced at the black card in Jiang Yan’s hand, her eyes widening in shock. After quickly scanning the other customers in the store, she cautiously pointed to a tea table in the back:

“Miss, why don’t you come to my office and have some tea? There are a few things I need to confirm with you. This is a huge order, and I wouldn’t want to make any mistakes and waste your time.”

Having run a business this big and survived in the market for so many years, her caution was part of her success.

She liked big customers like Jiang Yan, but she was also wary—what if someone bought so much for some ulterior motive?

After all, the authorities were always cracking down on hoarding and speculation.

Plus, the quantities Jiang Yan wanted would require extra sourcing.

The prices of these goods were also tied to bulk commodity futures.

If anything went wrong in the process, and the goods arrived just as prices peaked, she could be left holding the bag.

Jiang Yan glanced into the office and nodded in agreement.

The boss lady was straightforward and smart, and the two quickly ironed out the details.

She told Jiang Yan that, because of the huge quantities, she could only accept a “down payment” (定金), not a “deposit” (訂金).

Though the two words sound the same, they have different meanings.

A deposit (訂金) can be refunded if the order is canceled, but a down payment (定金) is non-refundable.

Jiang Yan understood.

There was another issue—the boss lady said that white sugar was a strategic material, and as for salt, Jiang Yan was buying so much that they couldn’t sell her that quantity all at once.

If she insisted, they’d need extra money to pull some strings and find the right channels.

For Jiang Yan, this was no problem.

After all, if money can solve it, it’s not really a problem."