NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Chapter 9 What? A fly restaurant?
Empowered by her financial capacity, the lady boss quickly promised she could handle it.
Jiang Yan, after buying rice, flour, grains, and oils, then went to another relatively large dried goods and seafood store in the market.
Though she would buy fresh goods later, since she was already there, she figured she might as well stock up on dried goods for emergencies.
Vermicelli, tofu skin, glass noodles, black fungus, shiitake mushrooms, tofu sheets, wakame, kelp, nori, shrimp shells, white fungus, tea tree mushrooms, dried scallops, dried abalone, dried sea cucumbers, dried oysters, dried clams, handmade dried sea fish, grilled eel slices, dried squid, and so on—she bought 5000 kilograms of each.
The wild mushrooms, such as truffles, morels, bamboo mushrooms, and boletus, were Jiang Yan's favorites; she effortlessly bought 1000 kilograms of each.
These wild mushrooms wouldn't be available after the apocalypse.
As for the artificially cultivated ones, their taste differed too much from the wild varieties.
The wild ones did taste good, but they also came at a "beautiful" price, costing her several million in one go.
However, she actually wanted to buy more, but alas, the store simply didn't have enough supply.
Since it wasn't the season for fresh wild mushrooms, she planned to later visit the wild mushroom wholesale market and buy some freshly iced ones to store.
After leaving the dried goods store, she turned her head to the sauces and condiments shop.
Dace with salted black beans, preserved tofu, various Lao Gan Die, Pixian Douban, soybean sauce, sweet bean sauce, Chopped Pepper Sauce, side dishes, spicy cabbage, pickled cucumbers, pickled radishes, pickles, lunch meat, Yellow Peach Canned Fruit, lychee canned, Mixed Fruit Canned, and so on, she bought 5000 boxes of each.
She loved spicy flavors and also had a habit of cooking herself, so she simply bought 100 kilograms of each spice—dry chili, Sichuan pepper, black cardamom, patchouli, fennel seeds, and black pepper.
She also bought 1000 boxes of hotpot bases—spicy, Tom Yum Gong, clear broth, mushroom soup, medicinal herbs, cattle oil, clear oil—she had it all.
The amount of hotpot base and spices wasn't much, just enough to fit directly on the small truck.
Actually, in the wholesale market, there was a specialized store for marinated goods, which sold ham, cured meat, pickled meat, sausages, dried beef, etc.; Jiang Yan bought 3000 kilograms of each.
Salty duck eggs, preserved eggs, pressed ducks—these were things she didn't really like to eat on a regular day, but she still symbolically bought 500 kilograms.
As for meat, eggs, milk, and such, she still planned to primarily stock up on fresh items, so she didn't buy too much of the marinated meats.
There was also a store selling convenience foods in the market.
With her supply reserves, she could eat everything fresh, and in her plan, aside from bulk buying fresh fruits and vegetables, in a few days, she planned to order a bunch of ready-made meals from five-star hotels and time-honored restaurants.
But she would occasionally crave instant noodles like instant hot-and-sour noodles or Luo Si rice noodles, and, concerning future life in the apocalypse, there was actually a lot of uncertainty.
Now that she had the money and the space, it would be a waste not to buy.
With that thought, Jiang Yan stepped into the store.
Various flavors of instant noodles, rice noodles, Luo Si rice noodles, hot and sour noodles, self-heating rice, self-heating hotpot, sausages, cured eggs, and more—she bought 10,000 boxes of each.
After leaving that store, she successively visited a beverage store and a prepared foods store.
Cola, Sprite, Orange Juice, Coconut Juice, and the like—she bought 5000 cases of each, while Electrolyte Water, Dongmu Leaf, Coconut Water, various flavors of soda water—she directly bought 8000 cases of each.
Coffee was her favorite. Cold Brew, Caramel Macchiato, Velvet Latte, Coconut Latte, and various flavors of canned coffee, coffee beans, and so on—she bought 8000 cases of each kind.
She had enough to last several lifetimes—a flaunt of wealth at its finest.
In the prepared foods section, Spicy Crawfish, Thirteen Spices Crayfish, Garlic Roasted Shrimp, Steamed Scallop with Garlic and Vermicelli, Pickled Fish, Pepper Pig Stomach Chicken, Sichuan Pepper Chicken, Fish Maw Chicken and so on—she bought 5000 cases of each.
The snack shop didn't escape her sweep either; she got various flavors of Potato Chips, Potato Crisps, Corn Crisps, Sunflower Seeds, Watermelon seeds, Dried tofu, her favorite braised chicken feet, pickled chicken feet, Spicy Lotus Root, Pork jerky, Duck Neck, Beef jerky, Beef Shadows, Prunes, Hawthorn, Seaweed, sesame cake, cookies, various kinds of chocolate, energy-supplying Snickers, candy, and more—5000 cases of each.
Nuts were her true love—hazelnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, paper-shell walnuts, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hickory nuts, gingko nuts—original flavor, mustard flavor, charcoal grilled, caramelized—5000 cases of each flavor.
After nonstop picking of items and swiping her card, it was almost 4 p.m.
She had been busy shopping and hadn't had a chance to eat—her stomach growled with hunger. But she felt an indescribable excitement and sense of security.
In her past life, despite having several billion in assets, due to the machinations of her evil stepfather, Song Deming, and the sudden onset of the apocalypse, she, with a broken hand, starved to death. In the end, she even became their family's meal.
The money was still there, but the person was gone.
In this life, she wouldn't let such a thing happen again.
She realized she was a bit crazy with her stockpiling, but, no matter! Better to stock too much than too little!
Besides, the money wouldn't be any more than a pile of scrap paper in a few months if not spent now.
Additionally, the house viewing she had originally scheduled with Du Ziteng for today had to be postponed to tomorrow.
As she discovered, right next to the grain and oil wholesale market, there lay the traditional Chinese medicine wholesale market.
There's no time like the present; she planned to have a meal and then go "sweep" through there.
"Boss, are there any good eateries around here?" Jiang Yan asked the marinated goods store owner after sending him the warehouse address.
On hearing her question, the owner strode with big steps to the entrance of his stall, and with a warm gesture, he directed her:
"Yes, at the turn ahead, in the innermost part of the small alley, there's a beef rice noodle shop. The environment is really poor, but the taste is super good, and they've been selling for several decades now. However, the lady boss there doesn't do evening business; she usually closes up before 4 p.m., so you'd better hurry if you're going!"
"And that lady boss has quite a temper, so be mentally prepared," he added after giving her the directions.
"Oh, thank you, boss. I'll go take a look," said Jiang Yan, and then she quickly walked towards the alley.
Being a food blogger, she wasn't just interested in tasting dishes from high-end restaurants, like Michelin Black Pearl ones. She also made regular visits to some obscure roadside stalls tucked away in narrow corners.
Some of these small shops were in very poor conditions and tucked away at hard-to-find locations, colloquially known as "fly restaurants," commonly frequented only by locals.
Strangely enough, these places served very ordinary food that somehow tasted extraordinary.
The curious aspect was that once these hole-in-the-wall establishments moved or upgraded their decor to improve the environment, the taste changed.
Furthermore, the majority of these small shops had temperamental and extremely proud lady bosses—almost a standard feature.
However, for the seasoned food explorers out to uncover these secrets, everyone just laughed it off and took it as part of the experience.
——*——*——
Special Note: The grains and other goods she purchased were all of the highest quality from top-tier brands, so the prices were not like those of ordinary grains (for example, while you can buy regular rice for a few yuan per kilogram, the best and top-tier Wuchang Rice starts in the triple digits). Please do not question the author's life experience—as even if she lacks it, one can always look up such information online! (hands on hips)