Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 438 Price Drops Again

Her eyes were bright, and a sly smile that seemed to say, "I knew this would happen," played on her lips. She nodded from time to time and occasionally chimed in with a word or two, looking incredibly energetic.

Hearing the sound of the tent zipper behind her, Lan Yue turned around and saw Xu Xiaoyan peeking out halfway. Her eyes lit up immediately.

She quickly waved to the two middle-aged women, said "Let's talk later," and then approached the tent entrance, speaking in a low but excited voice.

"Xiaoyan! You're awake!" Her voice was filled with barely concealed excitement. "Do you know what happened after we sold the pine resin this morning?"

Xu Xiaoyan leaned against the tent frame, rubbing her sleepy eyes, her mind still slowly transitioning from sleep to wakefulness.

She glanced at Lan Yue and spoke without hesitation, her voice still hoarse from just waking up: "It's nothing more than a fierce battle, or the government continuing to lower prices to buy them up."

Lan Yue's eyes widened instantly, her mouth slightly agape. She stared at Xu Xiaoyan for a full eight seconds, then suddenly leaned back, dramatically patting her chest. "You actually guessed that right?"

Xu Xiaoyan didn't speak, but merely raised her eyebrows slightly, her expression clearly saying: What's so hard to guess?

Lan Yue took a deep breath and then spoke rapidly, "I did think of a price war. Those people at the front of the line will definitely cause a scene over the price reduction."

But to my surprise, the official purchasing point immediately lowered the purchase price of pine resin, from four yuan per kilogram of compressed biscuits to just two yuan per kilogram!

"In less than an hour, it dropped by half!" Lan Yue's voice involuntarily rose a little, then she quickly lowered it, leaning closer, her eyes filled with a complex expression of both lingering fear and relief.

"You didn't see the expressions on the faces of those people in the back of the line. They queued for hours, watching the line in front of them get shorter and shorter. Just when it was almost their turn, news came from inside that the price had been reduced to two yuan per pound. Take it or leave it."

Those people went crazy on the spot, saying it was all the fault of those troublemakers in front. If they hadn't blocked the door and been cursing and shouting, wasting time, the authorities wouldn't have adjusted the price at the last minute.

Xu Xiaoyan nodded, her mind now fully awake from the initial confusion.

She took her hat off her head, smoothed her flattened hair with her fingers, and said in a calm tone, "The acquisition point belongs to the military; they are not pushovers."

If someone blocks the door and causes trouble, affecting normal transactions, the simplest solution is to lower the price. Those who feel they are being taken advantage of will naturally go and deal with those who cause trouble.

Lan Yue slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "That's it! When the people behind heard that the price reduction was because they were delayed by the people in front, they were furious. Some of them rolled up their sleeves and rushed forward, grabbing the ringleaders and beating them up."

The people behind them called them "black sheep," while the people in front called them "hindsight experts." The two groups started fighting, and the scene was very chaotic.

As she said this, she couldn't help but click her tongue, "The second battle was even more exciting than the first, and everyone was bruised and battered."

Xu Xiaoyan didn't reply, but leaned against the tent frame, her gaze passing over Lan Yue's shoulder and landing on the group of people in the distance who were still talking in twos and threes.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Lan Yue leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Do you think it will drop again tomorrow?"

Xu Xiaoyan lowered her head, put her hat back on, and pressed the brim down. "Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

She glanced down at her watch; the hands on the dial pointed precisely to eleven o'clock.

After thinking for a moment, she looked up, leaned towards Blue Moon who was still sitting on the moisture-proof mat outside, and asked, "Can you climb trees?"

Lan Yue was holding the now-cold glass of water, lost in thought. Hearing this, she paused for a moment, then nodded, her tone tinged with a smug, self-assured air:

"Yes, I was quite mischievous when I was little. I was always jumping around, stealing bird eggs, picking fruit, and poking hornet nests. I did everything. I could climb to the top of the big locust tree in front of my house with my eyes closed."

She paused, then tilted her head curiously to look at Xu Xiaoyan. "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Xu Xiaoyan did not answer immediately. She turned her gaze away from Lan Yue, turned her head, and slightly raised her chin in the southwest direction, indicating that direction.

"Last night, when we were searching the pine forest near Brother Dayong's place," Xu Xiaoyan said slowly, "I noticed some dark things growing along the bark of a few birch trees, in clumps."

Lan Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, and her body unconsciously leaned forward.

"But it was too dark," Xu Xiaoyan continued. "Even with the flashlight, I couldn't see very clearly. I was in a hurry to find pine resin and didn't have time to pay close attention. To this day, I'm not sure whether what's growing there is birch polypore or black fungus."

Lan Yue's eyes lit up instantly, and she almost dropped the cup in her hand, spilling a few drops of water onto the back of her hand.

She put the cup down on the ground, leaned close to the tent entrance, and spoke in a low voice, but her excitement was like an unstoppable spring:

"Birch fungus? Xiaoyan, you mean that birch fungus you're talking about can make us another fortune?"

Xu Xiaoyan glanced at her and shook her head. "What are you thinking about?"

Lan Yue blinked, her excited expression freezing halfway.

"Pine resin can be sold at a high price because it has special functions in the current humid and hot environment, such as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and promoting wound healing. These are necessities and life-saving items, so the military is willing to spend money to exchange for it at an equivalent price, and even specially approved a one-to-one ratio."

She paused, then pushed her hat brim up to reveal her entire face. "What about birch polypore? That stuff has health benefits—lowering blood sugar, fighting tumors, boosting immunity. Sounds good, right?"

Blue Moon nodded.

"But what time is it now?" Xu Xiaoyan sighed. "We're starving, freezing, and even our sleeping bags are being stolen. You're talking to me about health care? Who would spend hard currency on a 'potentially useful' health supplement at a time like this? We're barely clinging to life, who cares about high blood sugar or a strong immune system?"

Lan Yue opened her mouth, then closed it again. The excitement on her face slowly faded, replaced by a sense of sudden realization after being enlightened.

Seeing that she had taken it to heart, Xu Xiaoyan relaxed her tone slightly and continued, "What I wanted to talk about wasn't birch mushroom, but black fungus."

"Black fungus?" Lan Yue repeated, her brows furrowing slightly, as if she were quickly searching her mind for the value and uses of this word.