Cultivation Reconstruction in the End Times

Chapter 3 Stockpiling Goods

Seeing this, his aunt put down the bowl and said with a smile, "Here's the thing. When your parents were still alive, they once told me that in the old building of over forty square meters you live in, the heating is not warm enough in winter. The building is in a state of disrepair, and there are frequent water and power outages with no one to take care of it. They said that when you went back home to stay for a couple of days, your hands got frostbitten while you were playing computer games..."

Although Zhang He's stomach was full, during the gap when his aunt was speaking, he still used chopsticks to pick up the last two dumplings left on the plate and ate them while listening to pass the time.

"…A few years ago, it was said that your building was going to be demolished. But now, four or five years have passed, and there's still no movement. Everyone is spreading the word that this matter is probably off. So your mother told me that she wanted to move to another place and asked me to keep an eye out for anyone who was looking to buy a second-hand building and contact her then…"

"Did my mother say that?" Zhang He chewed the dumplings and looked up, asking.

When he swept his aunt with his indifferent gaze, she was startled in her heart. Her eyes dodged a little, and she murmured to herself, not knowing what was going on. She always felt that this unlikable nephew in front of her seemed to have changed. He looked a bit unfamiliar, and she even felt a bit afraid.

But when she thought that Zhang He had been studying away from home for years and now his parents were no longer around, she could say whatever she wanted about these matters, and he might not know the details clearly. So she composed herself.

She nodded directly and said, "Your mother said it herself. Would your aunt lie to you? After she said that, I kept an eye out for her. But at that time, no one wanted to buy the old building, so the matter was put aside. Who would have thought that your parents would have an accident later…" After saying that, she choked up a bit, lowered her head, and wiped the corners of her eyes with her fingers. Her uncle also patted her on the back to comfort her.

Upon hearing this, Zhang He just nodded and didn't say anything for a moment. In the past, he really didn't stay at home often and didn't know much about family matters. However, he wasn't muddle-headed about people and things. In the past, he would have immediately questioned the many loopholes in his aunt's words.

The death of his parents had been a great blow to him at that time, and his mood couldn't be calmed for a long time. His aunt's proposal to sell the building almost touched his sore spot.

However, after he had experienced ten years, he had already seen enough of life and death, and his state of mind was calmer than before. He just said, "Aunt, please continue…"

While his aunt was surprised by her nephew's calm reaction, she was also thinking about her words and said, "Here's the situation. Just two days ago, your uncle's parents called me and said they wanted to buy a building in the city. It doesn't have to be too good, as long as it's habitable. They said they wanted to move from the countryside to live here. So I thought that the building you're living in now is quite suitable. Your mother also mentioned this before. So I called you here today to discuss this matter with you. It's not that you have to sell it. Mainly, your aunt thinks that the place where you're living now is too far from where you work. You usually live in the dormitory, and the house has been idle all the time. It's inconvenient to go back and clean it up. Moreover, you're already a young man in your twenties. You can't afford to wait for the building to be demolished someday. Once you have a girlfriend and take her back, that old and shabby building won't look decent in her eyes. It's better to sell the old building and buy a new one. It'll be convenient for you to live in, and you'll have a decent place to get married in the future…"

Zhang He already knew that his aunt and uncle had called him here for the matter of the building. In the past, he would have had a falling-out with his aunt on the spot because he would never sell the building. One reason was that the building was a legacy left to him by his parents, and the other was that his aunt was calculating even her own nephew for her family's interests, which was really disheartening.

Moreover, once the old building he was living in was demolished, he might either receive a large sum of money or get a new building. No one would be so stupid as to sell it cheaply now.

His uncle's parents had only his uncle as their son. Even if they were still alive, this building would be completely at the disposal of his uncle and aunt. Buying it cheaply from him would free up a house for Pang Pang's future marriage.

Zhang He had to admit that his aunt had a really clever plan. But since he had just had a meal at their place, he couldn't refuse on the spot. So he casually said, "How much are you going to pay for the building, Aunt?"

The couple opposite immediately looked at each other. His aunt said, "How about 300,000 yuan? " Then, as if thinking of something, she quickly explained, "It's not that your aunt is paying the money. It's your uncle's parents who are paying. You know that the old building has a small area and can't be compared with those buildings of over eighty square meters or more than a hundred square meters in terms of price. Moreover, since there has been no movement for so long, it might not be demolished. So paying 300,000 yuan for that second-hand old building in your hands is really a high price. If you add a little more, you can buy a larger one near the Third Ring Road…"

Zhang He slightly suppressed his smile and didn't refute. After a pause, he said, "I didn't originally plan to sell the building. But since it's rare for you to ask me, Aunt. Well, I'll think about it when I go back tonight…"

"There's no need to think too much about this matter. It's just a matter of a word. If you buy a new building, your aunt will also help you with it…" His aunt was speaking quickly when she was glared at by her uncle on the side.

"Selling the building is not a small matter. You should let Xiao He think about it carefully…" Then he turned to Zhang He and said, "It's okay. Don't have any psychological burden. Think about it slowly. Whether you sell it or not, just give us an answer in three or five days."

Zhang He nodded and stood up directly. Since he had eaten and finished talking, it was time to take his leave.

After exchanging some polite words with the two of them, just as he reached the door, he heard the sound of Pang Pang running outside. Then Pang Pang opened the door and shouted, "Mom, Xiaoxun was bitten by a leopard!"

His aunt was seeing Zhang He off. When she heard her son's words, she couldn't help but glare at him and said, "Nonsense. Where would there be a leopard in your Aunt Zhang's house?"

"It's true. Xiaoxun's uncle caught a leopard cub in the countryside and specially brought it here by car for Xiaoxun to play with yesterday. Xiaoxun's hand was just bitten by the leopard, and it's bleeding…"

This matter had nothing to do with Zhang He originally, so he turned around and walked out through the open door. However, a leopard cub was really not common, so he casually glanced at the opposite room. He saw that the door was open at this time, and there was a sturdy iron cage from the countryside placed by the door. Inside the cage was an animal that was all black, with round ears that had a bit of golden yellow, looking like a black cat, but its eyes were much fiercer than those of a black cat. At this moment, it was clinging tightly to the iron cage with its four paws, its body close to the ground, and it was staring at the little boy opposite with hostility.

Zhang He was attracted by its fierce appearance for a moment and couldn't help but take a few steps closer. Since this half-grown leopard was all black, nothing could be seen from a distance. Only when he looked closely did he find that it had many wounds on its body, and there were a few drops of blood on the ground. Its whiskers at the corner of its mouth were burned off, and its originally majestic golden ears were now half yellow and half black, as if they had been burned.

Xiaoxun in Pang Pang's words had several claw marks on the back of his hand, probably just scratched. He was looking for a knitting needle used for knitting clothes, and then he held it fiercely and stabbed it into the cage towards the black leopard. After a few stabs into the little leopard's abdomen, the tip of the needle was immediately stained with blood.

The black leopard didn't move at all and didn't make a sound. It just arched its body tightly and stared at Xiaoxun intently. Whenever Xiaoxun's hand approached the cage, it would raise its claws like lightning. The claws had grown barbed thorns, and if one was scratched by them, they would lose a piece of flesh or at least peel off a layer of skin.

At this time, Pang Pang had already pulled his aunt out, and there was also the sound of footsteps downstairs. A woman ran up. When she saw that her door was wide open, she immediately ran up in three steps at a time. When she saw the claw marks on Xiaoxun's hand, she couldn't help but curse loudly, "You little rascal. You only know how to poke the cat all day long. You're so cruel. Do you want to court death…" After saying that, she went up and pinched him a couple of times.

Then there was a burst of a child crying. His uncle and aunt quickly went up to stop the fight, and the corridor suddenly became noisy. Zhang He only saw that the cage at the door was kicked aside by the hostess with a kick. The black leopard tumbled a few times inside the cage and then got up without making a sound. It was biting and tearing at the iron cage with its mouth and claws as if it had a sworn enemy.

Zhang He took a couple of looks. Afraid of being affected, he left in the chaos.

After going back, Zhang He first opened his palm and observed the sapling in the peach pit in the middle of the seven small moles on his palm. It seemed to be the same as when he left, about half a foot tall. Looking at it carefully this time, he couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. When there were only two tender seedlings before, the peach pit could still hold it. Now that it was half a foot tall, the roots were still inside the peach pit. Didn't it feel cramped in there?

His gaze shifted from the bright green sapling to the inside of the peach pit. Then he probed it and was immediately shocked.

He had never expected that there would be such a huge space inside this half of the peach pit. Then he carefully felt it again. The space was extremely large. If one had to compare, it was probably the size of a five-story building. Only the roots of the sapling were rooted on the wall of the peach pit.

At this moment, Zhang He's shock was almost no less than when he discovered the sapling growing in his hand back then. It had taken him almost a month to get used to it at that time, but this time he calmed down in just half a day.

Just now, he also probed into the other half of the peach pit. As he had expected, there was also a huge space inside.

In an instant, he thought of whether it could be the so-called portable space in novels.

After being stunned for two seconds, he reacted and quickly found several things to test one by one. After trying countless times, a look of ecstasy finally appeared on his face.

He had managed to survive for several years in the apocalypse, and everything had become numb to him. Every day, he lived in fear and anxiety, and he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be overjoyed.

After forcing himself to calm down, he stared intently at the little sapling and the empty peach pit in his palm. After a while, he put them back into his palm. The reason why he left some leeway regarding the matter of selling the house before was that he knew that the old building hadn't been demolished in the end, and after the apocalypse, it would be worthless.

Compared with the house, the most important thing now was supplies. So he needed money and needed to prepare food. He had endured enough hunger. In the apocalypse, even a piece of moldy bread would be fought over by people, and they would fight until they were bloodied.

But he still hadn't decided how to stockpile food and where to store it to be the safest. In fact, in the apocalypse, no matter where the food was placed, it wouldn't be safe. Even if it wasn't affected by the military's artillery fire, it would be frantically looted by countless people. And the sudden discovery of the peach pit space now made him overjoyed.

There was nothing more gratifying than getting timely help. He couldn't help but clench his left palm.

Therefore, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. He conducted various tests on the peach pit space and finally confirmed that the things inside wouldn't go bad in a short time. A bowl of hot boiling water was still hot when taken out in the early morning, with almost no change.

For Zhang He, the night passed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was dawn. The smell of fried dough sticks and soybean milk came from downstairs. He felt hungry, so he stopped studying the usage of the peach pit space. He got up, found some change from the drawer, went downstairs to buy soybean milk and fried dough sticks. After eating, he went back to bed to catch up on his sleep.

The next day, his aunt called to ask him how he was thinking about selling the building.

At this time, Zhang He was in urgent need of money because time was pressing. There was only a short year left before the apocalypse came. He needed money to stockpile food and other necessary things. His parents didn't have much savings, and there was less than 300 yuan left in his salary card. Naturally, he wouldn't waste time working part-time now.

The only way to get money quickly was the place where he was living now. On the phone, he didn't beat around the bush. He clearly told his aunt that he could sell the building, but he wanted 400,000 yuan.

There were so many things to prepare in advance, and 400,000 yuan might not be enough. However, selling it to others would take more time. Selling it to his aunt, although it was a bit cheaper, he could get the money quickly. In comparison, he chose the latter.

His aunt was obviously dissatisfied on the phone. She kept talking about the problems of the old building he lived in, such as the aging of the electrical circuits, the frequent interruption of the water supply, the fact that the toilet couldn't even be flushed sometimes, and the water seepage in the corner of the wall. She said that it wasn't even worth 300,000 yuan. If it wasn't for the fact that he was her nephew, she wouldn't have offered him more. For others, they would at most offer 200,000 yuan and so on.

Zhang He was unmoved and still insisted on 400,000 yuan. His aunt talked for a long time and wore out her mouth. Seeing that his words were already a bit cold, she softened. She was afraid that if she said more, this silly nephew would be stubborn and not sell the building. So she mumbled that the amount was too large and she had to go back and discuss it with the old couple before hanging up the phone.

On the surface, Zhang He looked calm, but he was actually extremely anxious in his heart. In the afternoon, he sorted out all the valuable things in the house.

There were still several gold ornaments that his mother had used during her lifetime. He kept two of his parents' wedding rings as souvenirs, and he took the rest to a gold store and exchanged them for cash. There were also several copper coins and jade inkstones that his father had collected. Fortunately, he knew a few uncles who were his father's hobby friends in the early years. After making a phone call, they were all willing to buy them. As long as the price was not too different, he sold them all.

In a short time, he had a deposit of nearly 100,000 yuan in his hand. First, he stockpiled a batch of common medical drugs. These things were simply nowhere to be found in the apocalypse and were extremely scarce. He also bought some bandages, gauze, and hemostatic agents. If there was an accidental wound on the body and there was no clean thing to bandage it in time, it would soon be infected by toxic bacteria.

After storing these things one by one in the peach pit space, most of the tens of thousands of yuan were used up. Then he put all the usable items in the house into the space, from large things like quilts and boxes to small things like pens, paper, needles, and threads. Among them, there were also some books about Taoism that his father had collected. After organizing them, there were probably a bookcase full, as well as a set of tools for drawing talismans that he had used.