Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space
Chapter 169. Original Stone Pavement

Chapter 169: 169. Original Stone Pavement

New Moon City is considered quite a large city, with dozens of pharmacies, and collectively they have quite a substantial amount as well.

Even so, Hua Jin still felt uneasy, so she bought a hundred pounds of some commonly used herbs from each shop.

At the same time, she also went to the pharmacy that sold unconventional medicines, buying large quantities of laxatives, sedatives, and even some poisons, all in the name of preparing for unforeseen events.

After paying for everything, she had barely four hundred taels of silver left out of the more than a thousand taels she had, which were kept for tomorrow’s purchase of pork and lamb.

After collecting the grains and various medicines, the father and daughter went out again on the fourth day, and under Hua Jin’s urging, Hua Chengtian paid the accommodation fee amidst his confusion.

Upon receiving the five thousand-plus pounds of pork and two thousand-plus pounds of lamb they had ordered, the amount of pork and lamb in their space reached over twenty thousand pounds, with nearly ten thousand pounds of lamb, enough to eat for a long time.

After days of constant hoarding, more than half of Hua Chengtian’s space was filled, with the grains neatly stacked to the top, while other items were placed chaotically, occupying space.

However, Hua Chengtian wasn’t troubled, as he planned to make more shelves upon returning to save as much space as possible.

As soon as the meat money was settled, Hua Chengtian was urged by his daughter to drive the cart to North Street.

Hua Jin always remembered her purpose for coming to the city, and over these few days, she and her father had gone through every street of New Moon City, familiarizing themselves with nearly every shop.

She actually discovered a few shops selling raw stones, and since they wouldn’t be going back today, it was just the right time to wander around the shop and perhaps indulge in a bit of zero-cost spiritual energy devouring, if things went as expected.

As soon as Hua Jin mentioned the place, Hua Chengtian knew where it was; after all, they hadn’t been walking aimlessly these past few days.

Located deep inside North Street, where most wealthy people lived, it wasn’t particularly surprising for raw stone shops to open here.

It was just puzzling why his daughter suddenly wanted to take a look there, mused Hua Chengtian as he drove the ox-cart.

A bit more than two ke, according to his daughter’s direction, the ox-cart stopped outside a raw stone shop.

The first impression upon reaching here was the sudden calmness; although people were coming and going, compared to other bustling streets, it seemed much quieter here.

Nearly all the comings and goings were by grown men, and from their attire, they were either managers or simply well-off.

Hua Jin stood for a moment but didn’t see any ordinary folks going in.

"Dear, if you want jade, we should go to the jewelry shops. These are all stones, unseen and untouched, relying all on guessing. Why don’t you listen to your father...?"

Not sure why the child suddenly got interested in jade, she had bought a jade bracelet the last time they went to the town. Hua Chengtian was attempting to persuade his daughter but got interrupted before he could finish.

"Dad, don’t worry. I’m just curious about what kind of stone jade comes out from. Just going in to broaden my horizons, I don’t intend to buy this stuff. It’s neither food nor drink, and it’s so expensive; I’m well aware of that,"

Hua Jin quickly spoke up, sensing that if she didn’t speak, her dad’s frowning could squish a mosquito.

"Really just looking?" Hua Chengtian felt a bit incredulous.

"Of course, Dad doesn’t trust his own daughter?" Hua Jin crossed her arms proudly, looking like she would cry if he just nodded.

Hua Chengtian: "..."

However, his worries significantly lessened.

It seemed his daughter genuinely just wanted to have a look. Honestly, her words piqued his curiosity as well.

Soon after, without saying more, he nodded at his daughter, handed the ox-cart to the attendant outside the door, and with another attendant’s greeting, the father and daughter went inside.

As soon as guests arrived, the shopkeeper’s eyes noticeably brightened, but after sizing them up a bit, his enthusiasm visibly dampened.

Though the father and daughter were both good-looking, their ordinary attire shouted they were mere knowledge-seekers. The shopkeeper, too lazy to greet them personally, gestured for an attendant to accompany them and sluggishly returned to the counter.

These days, business has been tough, especially with the scorching weather reducing incoming customers to less than a fifth of what it once was, fewer than even ten fingers could count, and it had been even worse the past couple of days with no sales at all.

Of course, it wasn’t just them suffering; every business was the same.

The father and daughter weren’t bothered by the shopkeeper’s varied attitude; they hadn’t planned to buy anything anyway. Overeager hospitality would have made them feel awkward leaving empty-handed. This was just fine.

With the attendant’s reasonably enthusiastic introduction, the father and daughter learned that the shop has two floors; the first floor houses more ordinary stones, smaller in size and cheaper, priced as low as tens to hundreds of wen.

The second floor contains premium materials, with a higher likelihood of yielding good gemstones, and prices unmatched by those on the first floor.

Hearing about stones costing tens to hundreds of wen, Hua Jin was genuinely intrigued. The attendant talked himself hoarse, yet without displaying any disdain, and if there were good materials, Hua Jin wouldn’t mind spending some hundreds of wen to buy a few pieces.

Following the attendant’s gaze, they walked to a pile of stones in a corner of the shop, Hua Jin eagerly browsing while Hua Chengtian, also intrigued, followed his daughter in examining the stones.

Picking up this one, touching that one, seemingly casual but in fact testing with spiritual space; almost the entire pile of stones was touched by Hua Jin.

This pile of miscellaneous stones was almost overturned, but the courteous attendant found nothing strange about it; young ladies being curious is understandable, so he stayed understandingly at their side.

Surprisingly, Hua Jin did sense a few pieces, with two showing clear reactions, evidently of good jade quality.

She immediately devoured the spiritual power of one piece, halted after absorbing part of the other, and unceremoniously consumed any that were too obvious among the rest.

Regarding the piece with only partial spiritual power consumption, fist-sized, and two randomly selected stones, Hua Jin handed them to the attendant nearby.

Since she was already prepared to buy, perhaps she could earn a little fortune, Hua Jin suddenly realized.

Spending silver too fast, nearly half of the family’s silver was gone in this short span of stocking up. Now, this chance to become rich overnight was here; Hua Jin thought it was worth trying.

In a year, without taking unprecedented steps, making more silver was nearly impossible.

As for unconventional paths, Hua Jin never dared to consider them. Despite her natural strength and gradually acquired skills, she never underestimated the people of this world.

Stuff like helping the poor is the stuff of novels; unless one possesses otherworldly skills, wealthy families are cautious and fear death, making infiltration nearly impossible so easily; it would be like being trapped in a pot.

So relying on this for profit was entirely out of the question.

Seeing his daughter’s stance over there, Hua Chengtian couldn’t hold back from facepalming, knowing his daughter’s fondness for buying things would hardly hold back. Fortunately, she showed restraint by selecting the cheapest ones.

Following his daughter around the first floor, watching the child curiously touching and inspecting everything, noticing more and more smiles on her face, Hua Chengtian thought that as long as the child liked it and kept within bounds, it was fine to let her be.

Besides the initially chosen three pieces, they also selected one more from a pile of large stones. During this choosing, Hua Chengtian noticed his daughter’s excitement, though, no matter how he examined it, he couldn’t tell what was different about the basin-sized stone, while the attendant next to them was beaming more brightly.