144: Selling food

Qin Shi Lei thought for a moment, then rode Little Strong to Fujigrain Warehouse first, letting the Ant Queen bring her tens of millions of subordinates to migrate to this valley.

After working until the middle of the night, Qin Shi Lei finally managed to get the Ant Queen to bring the ant colony into the small space.

He then moved the light gate a thousand meters towards the urban area, arriving at the top of a tall building, and then entered the small space again.

He was surprised to find that the Ant Queen had led the ant colony to destroy two to three hundred square meters of bamboo forest, and there was still a tendency for them to continue gnawing on the bamboo to store it as food.

“Ant Queen, stop right there!” Qin Shi Lei kicked the Ant Queen hard and scolded, “From now on, you can only eat fallen leaves on the ground; you are not allowed to destroy my bamboo forest.”

However, he felt a headache over the ants’ food supply.

He wasn't sure if the fallen leaves here could sustain these tens of millions of ants.

He warned the Ant Queen again not to turn this small space into a barren land, then turned and exited the small space.

The next day.

When Qin Shi Lei arrived at the banquet hall of the restaurant, two to three hundred people were already seated inside.

He also saw two familiar faces: Xie Xingjian and Xia Yunyan.

Not only did representatives from the large factions come, but even some smaller factions with dozens or hundreds of people rushed over upon hearing the news.

Qin Shi Lei walked to the podium, waved his hand, and released a small pile of golden rice grains.

He got straight to the point and said, “I have grain, and I am now selling it at fifty percent of the market price, only in exchange for crystals.”

People are iron, and food is steel; without eating for a day, one’s eyes go blurry.

The people who came either truly lacked grain, wanted to hoard more grain, or even intended to resell it for a profit.

“Boss, there are so many of us; do you have enough grain?” someone asked.

“As much as you want, I have it,” Qin Shi Lei replied calmly.

“Boss, this is just paddy rice, and the rice mill can’t be used now. How are we supposed to eat it when we take it back? How about making it cheaper?” Another person tried to lower the price.

“Take it or leave it, that’s the price,” Qin Shi Lei replied impolitely.

Not to mention there were still various ways to mill paddy rice into grain; even if there weren't, those starving people could eat the husks too.

“Boss, this isn’t how business is done. How can you not let people bargain? Don’t you all agree?” Another person tried to incite everyone to collectively suppress the price.

“Right, right, right, we still have some grain. If it’s just paddy rice, I’d have to consider whether to buy it or not.”

“If there’s only this much discount, I’m not planning to buy it either.”

“We’re buying in bulk, and it’s still so expensive; it’s a bit not worth it.”

Below, a chorus of responses immediately rang out.

Qin Shi Lei scanned the crowd and said coldly, “Those who aren’t buying can leave now.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it resonated throughout the entire banquet hall, suppressing the voices of the crowd.

The scene suddenly quieted down. Just as someone was about to stir up the crowd’s rebellious emotions again, Xie Xingjian suddenly stood up:

“Brother Qin, it’s a great pleasure to meet you again. I was just having a headache over the food problem, and I didn’t expect you to solve this big problem for me. I’ll take twenty-five tons.”

Xie Xingjian cupped his fists and greeted Qin Shi Lei, then very straightforwardly placed the first order.

The Feixing Society he founded had over three thousand official members, plus their families, totaling six to seven thousand people.

Although the Feixing Society was not weak in strength, their daily grain consumption was considerable. Moreover, with the bridge destroyed, they couldn't search for supplies on the other side of the river, so grain was temporarily tight.

“Qin… Qin Dage, I also want twenty-five tons.”

Xia Yunyan also stood up. She had originally intended to call him by his name directly, but feeling it was too distant, she awkwardly called him Qin Dage.

The Yunyan Pavilion she founded also had over two thousand members, and their situation was similar to Xie Xingjian’s.

After Xie Xingjian and Xia Yunyan spoke, the discussion below resumed.

“A shill, this must be a shill.”

“One ton costs one hundred crystals, and they’re asking for twenty-five tons right away, which is two thousand five hundred crystals. With those crystals, they could have upgraded already. What else could it be but a shill?”

“I can’t believe there are still shills in the apocalypse; society is truly too complex.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. That man is Xie Xingjian, one of the four great masters of Nanzhuang City, and the woman is Xia Yunyan, who is said to be a master of the Bronze Realm. Who has the face to invite them to be shills?”

Immediately, everyone, whether puzzled or curious, re-examined Qin Shi Lei at the front.

Qin Shi Lei, due to this grain sale, entered the sight of most of Nanzhuang City’s factions for the first time.

With someone taking the lead, the buyers below no longer procrastinated and began to state the amount of grain they needed.

“Brother Qin, where is your grain?” Xie Xingjian was eager to complete the transaction and then leave the city to kill zombies.

“You brought a car, right? I’ll just put the grain directly in your car,” Qin Shi Lei also wanted to complete the transaction as quickly as possible.

Xie Xingjian looked curiously at the ring on Qin Shi Lei’s hand, then turned and led Qin Shi Lei out of the restaurant.

Because they were buying grain, everyone had brought freight trucks.

Qin Shi Lei jumped onto the truck, mentally estimating the volume of fifteen tons of grain. Then he took out a ruler to measure, and with a wave of his hand, more than half a truckload of paddy rice appeared on the truck.

“Weighing it is too much effort. This is definitely over fifteen tons; is this okay?”

Xie Xingjian smiled and said, “Of course, I’ll take advantage of your generosity then.”

“Straightforward, let’s chat again when we have time.” Qin Shi Lei turned and jumped off the truck, then went to Xia Yunyan’s truck again, giving her fifteen tons of grain in the same manner.

Receiving money with one hand, delivering goods with the other.

Qin Shi Lei moved continuously between the various trucks.

Watching Qin Shi Lei continuously pulling out an endless supply of grain from his spatial ring, some people showed greedy eyes.

If it weren’t for the large number of people present, someone would probably have taken the risk and directly tried to snatch it.

Qin Shi Lei, busy selling goods, didn’t notice the few people who were eyeing his Qiankun Ring; he continued to jump onto a truck.

He casually released over three tons of grain.

“Qin Boss, is this really full weight? How about a little more?” A somewhat short and plump middle-aged man said with a smile.

Qin Shi Lei smiled and glanced at the man, then turned and shouted to Zhang Cheng outside, “Uncle, come over and weigh it. If it’s short, tell me to make it up.”

The middle-aged man’s face changed, and he quickly said, “I think it should be enough. There’s no need to trouble you with weighing it.”

He used to be a rice store owner and knew roughly how much three tons of grain was; what Qin Shi Lei gave was definitely more, not less.

He had only said that out of habit, wanting to take a little more advantage.

Now, upon hearing Qin Shi Lei wanted to weigh it, he suddenly felt anxious.

Qin Shi Lei said calmly, “It’s better to weigh it, lest you think I’m short-changing you.”

Zhang Cheng, along with over a dozen members of the Adamantite, pushed over several platform scales and quickly took the grain off the truck to weigh it, then loaded it onto another truck.

Finally, when weighed, it was nearly four hundred catties over.

The middle-aged man watched with a pained expression as Qin Shi Lei put the excess grain back into his ring.

Qin Shi Lei used his ring to shift things around, then put the grain from another truck back onto the middle-aged man’s truck.

“Give me the money. Three hundred crystals, please.”

The middle-aged man, with a dark expression, gave the crystals to Qin Shi Lei, then quickly climbed onto the truck and drove away quickly.

“Truly insatiable greed, got what you deserved, didn’t you?”

“Qin Boss, I trust you. Just give me what you think is right.”

“Qin Boss, I trust you too. No need to trouble yourselves with weighing it.”

The remaining buyers all expressed that Qin Shi Lei could just give them what he thought was right.

Qin Shi Lei, however, was thinking to himself whether he should get a weighbridge over here so that no one would fear the other taking advantage.

But that would mean finding a weighbridge, installing it, and finally providing electricity to power it.

A whole lot of trouble. Just thinking about the rumbling sound of the generator gave him a headache.