The truth was, there wasn't any food for trade at the market. Almost everything laid out was someone's unused household goods: worn clothes, old kitchenware… but without exception, everyone only wanted food in exchange.
These secondhand goods weren't of any use to them either. After making a slow round through the market, they decided to leave. Yet before they had gone far, two people stepped into their path.
Lao Gao recognized them. They were faces he had seen yesterday when keeping watch at the black market.
Seeing the two just standing there, Lao Gao asked, "Something you need?"
The one in front pointed to the packs on their backs. "You've got charcoal? Still have some left?"
Lao Gao nodded.
"How much is left? I'll take all of it."
"There are two backpacks' worth," Lao Gao replied evenly. "But I only want grain."
The man seemed to have been watching them for a while. Without hesitation, he nodded. "Fine. Two big packs of charcoal, I'll trade you twenty jin of grain."
The grain was half rice and half flour. If measured by weight, it was not a very fair deal. Charcoal took up space, and though the volume seemed large, it burned quickly.
Coincidentally, the two packs they had traded earlier had also netted them around twenty jin of food, though those were mixed types. The similarity in weight made it clear that these two had been following them from the start.
Lao Gao thought for a moment, hesitated briefly, then agreed. "Alright."
The trade was carried out on the spot. Once the man brought over two large bags of grain, they emptied all their charcoal into a large sack in front of him. Seeing the quality charcoal, the man nodded in satisfaction. "Name's Da Fei. I'm with the black market. If you've got anything else to trade, you can come straight to me. I'll give you a fair price. Got any more of this charcoal?"
Lao Gao gave him a look. "Yes. But it'll take time to make."
Da Fei grinned. "I just heard you made this fresh, and I didn't believe it. Turns out you really do make and sell on the spot. Here's the deal. I'm at the black market every day. Once you've got more ready, bring it to me. I'll buy it all. Saves you the trouble of setting up a stall."
Whether or not they would sell more in the future, this was an offer worth keeping. Lao Gao agreed readily, and they left with their supplies.
Da Fei and his companion watched their four silhouettes fade into the distance and chuckled. "Boss was right. In chaotic times, there's never a shortage of fools. Making charcoal—who still knows how to do that these days? Come on, let's haul it back."
The arrival of Lan Jin's group, along with their charcoal, had brought a pleasant surprise to the black market crowd.
It had also brought a pleasant surprise to Lan Jin's group. "Today, we—"
She didn't get to finish. Three men suddenly jumped out from around a corner, blocking their way. "Stop. Leave your packs and we'll spare your lives. Otherwise—"
Ling Jiang didn't wait for them to finish. She stepped forward and kicked one in the chest, then struck out with swift, decisive blows that left all three sprawled on the ground, unable to get up.
The whole thing took less than a minute.
Ling Jiang turned away from them as if nothing had happened. "You were saying?"
"Uh… just that today went pretty smoothly," Lan Jin said.
"Exactly. And the best part is we got flour. I've been craving flatbread. My grandma makes the best. I want to eat it tonight." Ling Jiang's eyes lit up. "Want some? How about we have Grandma make it, and we can all eat together?"
Just as Ling Jiang promised, Grandma Ling's cooking was excellent. The flatbread was crisp and fragrant, paired perfectly with the leftover pickled vegetables from earlier. The group ate with relish.
Once they had eaten, it was time to discuss the next steps.
"We've got a line into the black market now. If we have something in hand, we can trade there from time to time."
Only from time to time, though. They had a lot of wood, but not endless amounts. It could work for emergencies, like today, but not as a long-term solution.
The real priority was still finding food.
Huang Jinghe frowned. "Easier said than done. We've combed these parts for a long time already. There's probably nothing left nearby."
"Not necessarily," Lao Gao said after a pause. "If there's no food left, then where do these people get theirs? There must be places we haven't found yet. Some hidden stash. If we can uncover one or two of those, we won't have to worry for quite a while. And now that we have black market contacts, even if what we find isn't food, anything valuable can be traded for it."
Which meant their search for supplies could not stop.
"Next time," Lao Gao suggested, "we can split into two groups. One goes out to look for supplies, the other stays home to make charcoal."
Everyone agreed. But travel was still a big problem.
Lan Jin thought seriously, then said, "What if I sit on the sled and have the dog pull me? Then we could go farther."
It was a good idea in theory. Unfortunately, her dog only listened to her, and the rough ground made it impossible to pull a sled smoothly. When she actually tried, she ended up with a spectacular fall.
So it remained just an idea. Without their ice skates, they still couldn't venture too far.
While they were still figuring out their next destination, Lan Jin kept busy at home.
With the extreme cold outside, temperatures dozens of degrees below zero, it would be a waste not to use the world's largest natural freezer. She had prepared plenty of plain ice cubes before, but aside from ice cream, she had never frozen flavored drinks separately.
It worked fine as it was, but pre-frozen portions would be more convenient. So she rummaged through her storage space, pulling out every ice tray and mold she could find. She froze small cubes first, then transferred them into large containers, repeating the process in cycles.
At the same time, she worked on the carbonated drinks. Normally, in a freezer at minus eighteen degrees, it took three to four hours for them to turn into slush. Now, it only took half an hour before the bottles started to freeze.
She waited until they hardened further, then stored them away in her space. Once the extreme cold was over…
Well, there would come a time when they would be useful.