Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 132 Moving

Xu Xiaoyan walked quickly toward the small building near the market entrance that could barely be called a "management office". Inside the office sat a middle-aged man wearing a faded old uniform, who was sitting with his legs crossed, picking his teeth idly.

She stated her purpose directly: "I want to rent an old shed for temporary storage, not for too long, just three days." She specifically emphasized her needs: "A slightly remote location is fine, the cheaper the better."

Upon hearing this, the manager stopped picking his teeth, looked her up and down, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the heavy sack on her shoulder. He stretched out three short, thick fingers and waved them casually in the air, his tone carrying an unquestionable certainty: "Three catties of fresh goods, or something of equal value, for three days, in the shed in the far corner."

Xu Xiaoyan sneered inwardly, knowing that haggling in a place like this was a waste of time. Without the slightest hesitation, she put down the sack, deftly counted out three pounds of plump, brightly colored tangerines, and handed them over without a word.

The manager raised an eyebrow in surprise, seemingly not expecting the young girl to be so agreeable. He took the oranges, weighed them in his hand to make sure the amount was enough, and a satisfied look immediately appeared on his face. He quickly swept the oranges into a basket under the table.

Then, from a bunch of jingling, rusty, broken keys tied to his waist, he fumbled for a copper key with a blurry serial number, casually shoved it into Xu Xiaoyan's hand, and pointed in a general direction with his other hand, lazily saying, "Look, follow this road to the very end, turn right, that's the most dilapidated and remote one."

Xu Xiaoyan took the cool, rusty key, thanked him, and followed the direction the manager pointed out. She walked through the noisy and relatively quiet area and found the lonely old shed at the very edge of the market, near the simple wall.

The shed was made of tattered tarpaulin and crooked wooden sticks, with several holes in the roof. Fortunately, the location was secluded enough that there were hardly any people around, and only the distant noise of the market could be faintly heard. This was exactly the ideal place she needed.

She quickly returned to the market entrance and found Li Laosi, the middle-aged man who was still anxiously waiting in the same spot. "Come with me," she said succinctly, gesturing for him to push his tricycle and follow.

As if he had received a royal decree, Li Laosi hurriedly pushed his creaking tricycle and followed closely behind Xu Xiaoyan. The two of them, one in front and one behind, soon arrived at the secluded old shed.

"Unload all the firewood in here," Xu Xiaoyan said to Li Laosi, taking out her key, unlocking the rusty padlock, and pushing open the creaking old wooden door. The shed was empty, filled with a musty and dusty smell.

Li Laosi responded and immediately began to deftly carry bundles of firewood from the tricycle into the shed. Although he looked thin, years of physical labor had given him considerable strength. His movements were both fast and steady, as if he was afraid that if he was a second too slow, this "big customer" would change his mind. Before long, the firewood on the tricycle was neatly stacked in a corner of the shed.

After all the firewood was unloaded, Xu Xiaoyan took out the corresponding number of oranges from the sack, according to the previously agreed ratio of sixty catties of firewood to one catty of fresh goods. Looking at Li Laosi's thin and sunken eyes, she had a slight thought and grabbed an extra handful of oranges, stuffing them into his hand.

Looking at the bright yellow oranges in his hand, which were clearly beyond his expectations, Li Laosi was so excited that his hands trembled slightly uncontrollably, and an expression of disbelief and almost ecstatic joy appeared on his dark and rough face.

He bowed repeatedly to Xu Xiaoyan, his voice choked with emotion, and said incoherently, "Thank you! Thank you, young lady! You...you are such a kind person! A living Bodhisattva! Thank you so much! Thank you so much!" He carefully hid the precious oranges one by one in the most intimate and secure pocket of his body.

Perhaps it was this sudden windfall and Xu Xiaoyan's seemingly generous and kind actions that gave him a glimmer of courage and hope. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then lowered his voice and, with a mixture of cautious probing and deep expectation, said to Xu Xiaoyan, "Miss... do you need more firewood? I... I have some at home!"

He sighed heavily, his face showing a mixture of helplessness and bitterness, and began to recount, "To tell you the truth, I used to be a carpenter working in a private furniture factory outside the city. When the news of the cold wave first spread in a small area, our unscrupulous boss had a premonition that something was wrong. He ran away overnight with all the valuables and cash from the factory, leaving us workers behind."

"I saw piles of leftover scraps and waste wood from furniture making in the factory warehouse and backyard. It was a waste to leave them there, and people were going to steal them. So I thought... thinking about how we all need firewood these days, we teamed up with a trusted brother and secretly, working from dawn till dusk, carried a huge amount home, chopped it up, and dried it, hoping to exchange it for some food. But who knew..." His voice trailed off, filled with disappointment. "Nobody wants firewood anymore. Everyone's just looking for food. Even when someone asks, they drive the price down drastically, and we can't get anything good in return... At home, there's still a mountain of it piled up, taking up most of the house..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaoyan's heart skipped a beat, but she maintained a calm expression, quickly scanning her left and right, as well as the area outside the shed, to confirm that the area was still secluded and deserted. "About how many kilograms do you have at home?"

Upon hearing this question, Li Laosi's eyes lit up. He quickly stepped forward and eagerly replied, "I didn't weigh it precisely; I was just focused on moving it... but it's definitely more than five thousand jin! It's all thoroughly dried, high-quality timber, some of it even hardwood, very heat-resistant!"

He paused, as if afraid Xu Xiaoyan might feel the quantity wasn't enough or hesitate, then eagerly added, his voice trembling slightly with excitement, "If...if you need more, I...I can go find my brother! He also has about four thousand jin stored at home! We moved it together, promising to share both good and bad times!"

Five thousand catties plus four thousand catties equals nearly nine thousand catties of firewood! This enormous number shocked Xu Xiaoyan; it far exceeded her previous expectations!

Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She looked at Li Laosi and said, "If your family and your brother's family really have so much stock, and the quality is as good as you say..." She paused deliberately and emphasized, "Then I won't buy from other people anymore, I'll buy it all from you."

She held up two fingers. "But you must agree to two conditions, neither of which can be omitted—" Her gaze was fixed on Li Laosi's eyes.

"First, absolute secrecy is required! You must not reveal our transaction to anyone, including your brother! All you need to do is find a way to get the firewood here. You must not let him know that I am the final buyer, nor can you let him know the specific details and quantity of the transaction. If he asks, just say that you have found a big customer who requires confidentiality, and you are responsible for the contact and transportation, and give him his share."

"Secondly, you need to be quick! You must get the firewood to this shed as soon as possible, without arousing anyone's suspicion. If word gets out, or if it causes unnecessary trouble..." She didn't finish her sentence, "Can you do that?"

Li Laosi nodded vigorously. "Yes! Don't worry, young lady! Although I, Li Laosi, am not very capable, I always keep my mouth shut! I know what's important! I will never utter a word about this! I will definitely bring you the firewood as soon as possible, and I will not let a third person know!"

"Oh, right, young lady..." Li Laosi seemed to suddenly remember something, rubbing his rough hands, a hint of embarrassment and worry on his face, "I'll be making so many trips back and forth tonight, moving and unloading, it's bound to be a bit noisy, won't... won't it disturb your rest? The main thing is my wife... she's been sick for days, lying in bed, coughing badly, just waiting to get the supplies changed so I can find her a doctor to see her and get some medicine... I, I want to get this done as soon as possible..." His voice grew softer and softer, filled with undisguised anxiety and deep concern for his wife, his bloodshot eyes, tired from exhaustion, filled with pleading.

Seeing the genuine worry in his eyes, Xu Xiaoyan's tone softened slightly. "It's alright, I'll wait here. You can go and move things without worrying about me."

After receiving Xu Xiaoyan's affirmative reply, Li Laosi dared not delay any longer. "Thank you, young lady! I'll go right away! I'll go right away!" After saying that, he pushed the empty, creaking tricycle, and his figure quickly and nimbly disappeared into the thick night outside the shed, his footsteps soon fading into the distance.

The shed fell silent. Xu Xiaoyan felt exhausted. She placed the burlap sack behind her back, leaned against the wooden wall, and slowly sat down. She closed her eyes, trying to take a short nap, but as soon as she relaxed, she couldn't resist the drowsiness and drifted off to sleep...

She didn't know how much time had passed when, in a hazy state, she felt someone gently calling her, the voice anxious yet restrained, "Miss...Miss? Wake up...I've brought the firewood..."

Xu Xiaoyan suddenly opened her eyes. It was Li Laosi's voice. She looked up and was slightly taken aback by the increasingly faint moonlight filtering through the cracks in the wooden planks of the shed and the scattered lights sweeping across the base from afar.

The old shed, which had been relatively empty, was now almost completely crammed with neatly chopped and tightly stacked firewood! The tall pile of firewood almost reached the roof of the shed, leaving only a narrow passageway at the entrance that was just big enough for a person to squeeze in and turn around. The entire space was filled with a strong and dry smell of wood.

Li Laosi stood beside the pile of firewood, which resembled a small mountain. His face showed a mixture of extreme exhaustion, relief at completing the task, and a hint of eagerness, fearing that she might not be satisfied. He was anxiously and intently waiting for her to inspect the fire.

Xu Xiaoyan rubbed her slightly sore eyes, quickly stood up, and glanced around at the mountain of firewood. Judging from its volume and density, the quantity was obviously more than expected, and the quality of the firewood did indeed look as he said: dry, neat, and mostly solid wood. She nodded in agreement.

Then, pointing to the burlap sack at her feet, she said to Li Laosi, "Look at this, is it enough to cover your firewood?" Her tone was calm, revealing no emotion.

Li Laosi was taken aback for a moment, clearly not expecting the inspection to be so simple and quick. He bent down as instructed, and weighed the sack in his hands. The weight made him look doubtful. The sack didn't look like it could hold more than 100 kilograms of fresh goods. But he still carefully opened the sack and looked inside in the dim light.

The first thing that caught his eye was a thick, plump sausage! The rich aroma of meat mixed with the spiciness of pepper and minced garlic made him involuntarily swallow. Below that was a bundle of dried kelp, and further down were the oranges they had traded earlier, which now seemed rather ordinary next to the sausage and kelp.

Sausages and dried seaweed were undoubtedly essential commodities! Li Laosi gasped, almost reflexively clenching the open sack tightly. When he looked up at Xu Xiaoyan, who stood quietly there, his bloodshot eyes, swollen from long-term malnutrition and overwork, instantly reddened. "Thank you! Thank you, young lady! It's enough! It's more than enough! This…this is far more than I could ever dream of…you…you are truly a great benefactor to our family! A living Bodhisattva!"

He expressed his gratitude incoherently, while Xu Xiaoyan remained calm and composed. To her, this was merely a mutually beneficial transaction, an exchange of equal value achieved through information asymmetry and the prediction of future risks. Li Laosi received the high-value food he desperately needed to solve his immediate crisis and the potential medical expenses; while she, in turn, secured a massive strategic fuel reserve that could be crucial to her survival in the future harsh winter by using relatively "cheap" current supplies.

Seeing his barely contained excitement, Xu Xiaoyan stepped forward, her voice low. "Li Laosi, you must remember what I'm about to say. You absolutely cannot mention it to anyone. Once you leave this shed, forget about our transaction, forget that you saw me, and forget where this firewood ended up. If anyone asks you, just give a consistent story: say that you, Li Laosi, disposed of this firewood yourself, selling it to some unknown, anonymous big buyer passing by, or simply say you burned it or threw it away. Say whatever you want. In short, everything that happened here tonight must remain a secret to you. Don't mention a single word to anyone, not even your closest brothers. Otherwise, our transaction is off, and you'll have to compensate me for my losses. Do you understand?"