107: Pure love, only for the motherland

Jiang Fei arrived at Ping An Supermarket, handed over the goods in the car to Su Liuyuan for Transport, and went to Xiaocui Breakfast Shop to find A Meng to pick up the two empty trucks.

She then asked him to tell Crippled Wang that she still needed a batch of bricks and cement.

After A Meng called his subordinate to drive away, Jiang Fei, taking advantage of no one being around, took out the pickup truck she had stored before the disinfection and placed a large ice chest, about half a person tall, on it.

She scrounged for ice from the fresh seafood section on the second floor of the Supermarket, poured it into the ice chest, and loaded it with 30 bowls of fruit jam shaved ice she had made previously, then delivered it to Ping An Supermarket.

"Lend a hand."

Su Liuyuan quickly helped Jiang Fei move the ice chest into the store and connected it to the generator.

"Captain, where did you get this ice chest? And shaved ice!" Su Liuyuan swallowed his saliva.

It wasn't hot inside the store with the air conditioning, but who could refuse a bowl of shaved ice covered in fruit jam in the scorching 38-degree heat?

He couldn't even remember what shaved ice tasted like!

Jiang Fei bluffed, "The ice chest was from Crippled Wang."

"There are three flavors here: strawberry, blueberry, and mango. Pick one to eat; the rest are for sale at 500 grams of gold per bowl."

Now, almost every household had a generator or solar panel that could power refrigerators and freezers to make popsicles from sugar water, but they couldn't make fresh fruit jam.

Only scarce items could fetch high prices.

She wanted to unlock the third floor of the Supermarket soon.

Once the shaved ice was sold out, she would make Ping An Supermarket's exclusive popsicles.

Su Liuyuan chose a bowl of mango shaved ice to eat.

The sweet and sour mango, paired with the fine and refreshing shaved ice, with one bite, seemed to dispel the irritation that had grown in his heart due to the high temperature.

"This is much more comfortable than blowing air conditioning!"

"You eat slowly; I'm going to put up the sign." Jiang Fei found a whiteboard, wrote the details for selling shaved ice, and walked out of the store.

Just as she hung it outside the main door, she saw a familiar face.

Yao Jin, dressed in a leopard-print short-sleeved and shorts set, held a rechargeable handheld fan and deliberately waved it in front of Jiang Fei.

"It's so hot, having a portable small fan is really too comfortable, unlike some poor wretches who can't afford one."

Catching sight of the whiteboard on the door, Yao Jin's voice abruptly stopped.

"This store has newly introduced fruit shaved ice, welcome to buy."

"Your store sells shaved ice?" Yao Jin stared at Jiang Fei suspiciously.

He absolutely didn't believe that a poor wretch would have something he couldn't get.

Coincidentally, at that moment, Su Liuyuan pushed the door open and came out.

A cool breeze rushed out, and Yao Jin couldn't help but take a few steps forward.

"What are you doing? Trying to sponge off the air conditioning?"

Su Liuyuan blocked Yao Jin, and while eating his mango shaved ice, he said sarcastically, "Surely no one doesn't even have air conditioning and can only blow a broken fan, right?"

"Does your fan cool you down? Is there cool air?"

The triple question made Yao Jin's face flush red: "None of your business!"

"Isn't it just air conditioning?! My store will have it installed tomorrow!"

What's shaved ice?! He didn't care for it!

Yao Jin walked away, fuming.

Jiang Fei took another whiteboard and hung it on the door.

A recruitment notice was written on it.

She planned to focus on cultivating medicinal herbs and wouldn't have time to come every day, so she needed to find a few sales assistants to help Su Liuyuan sell goods.

"You're responsible for the recruitment; I'll make the final decision on the personnel..."

"Jiang Fei!!!"

An angry voice interrupted Jiang Fei's words.

A man in ragged clothes limped over.

With a gaunt and haggard face, a beard long enough to braid, and relying on his two missing front teeth, Jiang Fei recognized who it was.

Xu Yichen was actually not dead.

"Why did you lie to me? This store is clearly yours! But you told me you were just an employee!" Xu Yichen questioned, his eyes burning with rage.

He had been imprisoned for a whole month and had only recently been released.

Because he had impersonated someone else, the authorities had reclaimed his house and job, and he had lost everything.

Unable to eat and forced to squeeze into the Common sleeping area with a group of uncultured people, he couldn't bear such a hard life, so he came to West Street to ask former colleagues for help.

However, no one paid him any attention, but he unexpectedly overheard others discussing the owner of Ping An Supermarket.

Based on their description of her appearance, age, and so on, he realized he had been completely fooled by Jiang Fei!

Xu Yichen shamelessly said, "I have nowhere to go now, and since you're hiring, just hire me."

"Provide food and lodging, and a box of supplies every month, as compensation for you lying to me."

"I won't forget your kindness; when I get back on my feet and return to the Exchange, you'll be well rewarded."

After painting a grand picture, Xu Yichen feigned deep affection: "Actually, I noticed you back in school."

"Junior, you'll definitely help me through this difficult time, right?"

"As classmates, how could I not help you?" Jiang Fei gave Su Liuyuan a look.

Beat him up!

Su Liuyuan understood, finished his shaved ice in a few mouthfuls, and said, "Your clothes are too dirty. Come with me to change into a clean set first, then I'll make you a bowl of instant noodles."

"Okay, okay, okay." Xu Yichen eagerly followed Su Liuyuan into the small storeroom in the store.

"Where are the clothes here?"

Bang!

The door to the small storeroom closed, and Su Liuyuan covered Xu Yichen's mouth, pressed him to the ground, and began to beat him violently.

Jiang Fei also entered the store and was leisurely taking out a bowl of strawberry shaved ice to eat when the main door opened.

Is it this lively today???

"Whew—it's really cool in your store." Yin Jing looked enviously at the central air conditioning.

"What do you want to buy?"

"The Rescue Team gets a 10% discount."

Yin Jing: "I'm not buying anything; Director Ning wants to see you and asked me to invite you over."

Thump!

Hearing the sound from the small storeroom, Yin Jing asked, puzzled, "What was that sound?"

"Su Liuyuan is catching a mouse; let's go." Jiang Fei changed the subject.

She quickly finished her shaved ice and got into the car parked outside the door with Yin Jing.

There was no air conditioning in the car; it was stuffy and hot.

Even with the windows open, only hot air blew in, and Jiang Fei almost hypnotized herself with "I'm very cold, very cold" to endure until they reached the Safety Shelter's police station.

Led by Yin Jing, she entered the office on the top floor.

There was cool air conditioning inside.

Director Ning sat at the desk, with his secretary beside him.

After signaling Yin Jing to leave and close the door, Director Ning chuckled and poured Jiang Fei a glass of water: "Sit."

"I heard you went to the Planting Base some time ago and exchanged for a few medicinal herbs. Are you planning to sell them at Ping An Supermarket?"

The temperature continued to rise, melting not only the ice left by the extreme cold but also glaciers.

Experts predicted that glaciers would bring ancient viruses, urging them to quickly prepare enough medicines and medicinal herbs to cope.

Yet, Jiang Fei was collecting medicinal herbs at this time.

He wanted to find out if Jiang Fei knew something or had another purpose.

"I'm working for someone else."

Jiang Fei repeated the explanation she had given to Xu Qianyao and others to Director Ning.

"My boss behind the scenes sells almost everything. If Director Ning wants to buy, he can also trade with gold."

"Including medicinal herbs."

By trading medicinal herbs, she wouldn't have to rack her brains trying to figure out how to donate anonymously without arousing suspicion.

Director Ning's gaze was sharp, and he said for the first time, "You have many secrets."

"I can choose not to pry, but I need to understand your stance, whether you will harm the Safety Shelter, our country."

The reason he suspected Jiang Fei was precisely this fear.

Jiang Fei became unusually serious: "I will never harm or betray my motherland."

Pure love, only for the motherland.

Director Ning remained silent for a long time, then tapped the table: "Can you decide the price of medicinal herbs for your boss?"

"After I delivered the goods last time, my boss already told me the prices. If it's for the official government, one medicinal herb is 100 grams of gold, with an 80% discount for large quantities. For ordinary people, one herb is 3000 grams, with no discount."

Medicinal herbs were precious, and setting the price too low would not fit her behind-the-scenes boss's image as a "black-hearted merchant."

100 grams of gold per plant, with a comparison, was a way to show her attitude to the officials.

She really was an ally!

"I want all your medicinal herbs."

"As for the specific types, I'll have someone from the Planting Base send the corresponding medicinal herbs to your store later, to avoid discrepancies between photos and names and getting them wrong."

"How soon can you deliver?"

Jiang Fei: "I need to contact my boss, then arrange transportation and so on, so it will be about a month."

In reality, it was the time she needed for planting.

The Supermarket's land would yield a batch in about half a month.

"Alright, when you get the goods, come directly to the police station to find me."

"Just mention your name; no one will stop you. Happy cooperation." Director Ning extended his hand to Jiang Fei.

"Happy cooperation." Jiang Fei shook Director Ning's hand and left the office.

The secretary, who had been standing by the entire time, quietly asked, "Director, should I send someone to follow Jiang Fei?"

Director Ning shook his head: "Trust the person you use; don't use the person you doubt."

His bets had never lost.

—

Jiang Fei returned to Ping An Supermarket in Yin Jing's car.

Su Liuyuan was at the cash register, happily weighing gold.

Seeing Jiang Fei, Su Liuyuan's eyes narrowed into a line with joy: "Captain, all the shaved ice is sold out!"

"These on the table are 1542 grams of gold; the rest are in your lounge."

Jiang Fei was surprised: "That fast?"

"Thanks to Yao Jin's grumbling at Shunli Supermarket, everyone knew we had fruit shaved ice here and rushed to buy it, each person buying two or three portions." Su Liuyuan couldn't help but laugh:

"Yao Jin indirectly helped us promote it, and he was so angry he closed his store and isn't open today."

Xiao Jin Yang Number 3 was quite good after all.

"What about Xu Yichen?"

Su Liuyuan froze: "Too many people came just now; I knocked him out and locked him in the small storeroom and forgot about him!"

"That grandson better not wake up and steal food!"