Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 510 Two months later

Two months passed uneventfully like that.

Xu Xiaoyan tries new products every day, and her menu is never stable. Logically speaking, it is difficult for a store without a fixed product category to retain customers.

After all, people might enjoy the food today and want another serving tomorrow, only to find that you've stopped selling it and replaced it with something else.

In any other shop, customers would have stopped coming long ago, but Xu Xiaoyan's shop, by changing its menu every day, has attracted a group of gourmets who enjoy trying new flavors.

Those people weren't there to eat; they were there to "explore something new." Every day when they passed C-12, they would stop and glance at the red handwritten sign at the entrance to see what strange things had happened that day.

Some people came all the way from the other end of District 8 just to try her newly made sweet potato noodles.

Someone brought friends over, and while eating, they commented: "Yesterday's corn cake wasn't as good as the sweet potato cake the day before, but it was better than last week's scallion pancake."

Xu Xiaoyan sometimes wanted to laugh when she heard these comments, and sometimes she wanted to roll her eyes, but most of the time she just silently remembered them in her heart, and then went back to adjust the recipe. If it didn't taste good, she would change it; if it tasted good, she would save it to make again later.

Anyway, it won't spoil no matter how long it's kept in the space, and she can eat the unsold parts herself, so she won't lose out either way.

She actually sells quite a lot every day now, but once she reaches a certain amount, she simply closes up shop to rest. This strange behavior is often criticized by her seasoned customers, but so what? Let them say what they want, she doesn't care at all.

For her, as long as she earns enough to cover her online rice and noodle orders, that's enough. She puts a little bit into her online space every day, and after two months, her space is filled with boxes of rice cakes, layered cakes, rice balls, jelly, potato cakes, sweet potato chips, fish cakes, and so on.

That morning, Xu Xiaoyan stood behind the table to greet a guest. In front of her was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a gray jacket and with his hair neatly combed.

"Your sweet potato jelly," the man said, scooping up a semi-transparent piece of jelly with a spoon, holding it up to his eyes and examining it against the light. "How come it's so soft, chewy, and bouncy? I've had jelly elsewhere, and it was either too hard or too soft. It doesn't have the texture of yours."

Xu Xiaoyan couldn't possibly say that it was made from sweet potato starch stored in her space. She just smiled and explained, "The sweet potatoes are of good quality, the water ratio is just right, and the heat is well controlled. This is how it tastes. If you like it, you can take some back to try."

The man nodded. "What toppings would make this jelly taste even better?"

Just as Xu Xiaoyan was about to say a few more words, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure turning the corner from the street. Her gaze swept over the figure casually and then stopped.

It was Lan Yue! She was wearing a light blue coat, her head slightly lowered. She stopped at the entrance of C-12 and stood on the steps outside, looking at Xu Xiaoyan through the glass door.

Xu Xiaoyan could tell at a glance that she had something to say.

Lan Yue had dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well for several days.

After quickly explaining how to make and preserve sweet potato jelly, Xu Xiaoyan took out a bamboo box from under the counter, deftly filled it with a portion of jelly, drizzled it with brown sugar syrup, sprinkled some crushed peanuts on top, closed the lid, and handed it to the middle-aged man.

The man paid and left with the cold noodles.

As he left, he glanced back at Lan Yue, probably finding the woman standing at the door strange—she didn't speak, didn't come in, and just stood there.

Xu Xiaoyan waved to her, but Lan Yue shook her head.

Xu Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment. Lan Yue had never done this before. She was always the kind of person who would come over if called, come in if pushed, and follow if pulled.

Xu Xiaoyan walked around from behind the table and pushed open the glass door.

"What happened?" she asked.

Then she noticed that Lan Yue's expression was off, and added, "I can tell you're in a bad mood. Wait a moment, I'll get you a bowl of jelly to try." She turned around to go back into the shop to get the jelly.

Lan Yue shook her head. "Xiao Yan, don't rush. I came here because I have something to tell you." She paused, shifted her gaze from Xu Xiao Yan's face, and looked to the left and right.

The owner of the noodle shop next door was smoking at the door, the owner of the grocery store was peeling garlic on a small stool, and a few pedestrians were walking slowly down the street.

"When I was at work yesterday, I heard the boss mention a rumor," Lan Yue said in a low voice. "They said that our dam will release a lot of water in three days, and they have already bought fishing nets to go downstream and catch fish."

Xu Xiaoyan was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "Isn't this left out every day? Otherwise, how did the river below form?"

Blue Moon panicked. "No! Usually, the water is released normally, but that day the sluice gates were opened wide! There are countless fish in the reservoir upstream; that was the only chance to catch a big fish!"

She took a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself down, but she couldn't calm down at all; her voice was still trembling.

"Our entire staff is on vacation, they've all gone downstream to fish! This news is still circulating in a small circle, you'd better hurry and buy a fishing net, I'm afraid you might not be able to buy one if you wait too long!"

Xu Xiaoyan's heart skipped a beat.

She knew perfectly well what opening the floodgates meant.

When water is released in small volumes, the water level in the downstream river does not change much, and the fish are scattered in various places, making it difficult to catch them on a large scale.

But opening the sluice gates is different; a huge flow of water pours down from the gate, carrying fish from the upstream reservoir down with it.

Those fish have been raised in the reservoir for who knows how many years, some even growing to dozens of kilograms in weight. They are usually impossible to catch, and only emerge with the rushing current when the water is released.

Downstream, the river bends, shallows, and backwaters will be completely filled with fish. It won't be fishing or netting; it will be collecting fish.

After saying these words, Lan Yue seemed to suddenly remember something. "I can't talk to you anymore. I need to hurry back to the shop." She said as she turned around. "I used the excuse of needing to pee to run away. If I stay too long, the boss will probably get suspicious."

She walked quickly, turned the corner in the blink of an eye, and disappeared from sight.

Xu Xiaoyan quickly turned around, tore the sign that read "Sweet Potato Jelly" off the glass door, and then pulled down the roller shutter.

The metal roller shutter slammed down with a clatter. The sound wasn't loud on C-12 street, but it was enough to catch the eye of the noodle shop owner next door.

Ignoring the stares, she turned and went back into the shop. The jelly on the table wasn't all sold out yet, so she quickly put everything into her spatial storage.

Then I put on my backpack and went straight out to buy fishing nets.