Chapter 272: Olive Branch
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Throughout their journey together, Su Zhen developed a favorable impression of Jiang Chuan. From his speech and demeanor, Jiang Chuan certainly didn’t seem as simple as he claimed, merely a farmer tilling the land.
Instead, Su Zhen thought he resembled a businessman more, possessing the shrewdness and agility typical of merchants. He could effortlessly build rapport during conversations and then facilitate deals. Aren’t these the basic skills of a businessman?
So, Su Zhen intended to partner with Jiang Chuan.
After Zhou Lan had arranged the bedding, Su Zhen gathered the remaining straw into a pile and lit it with a match.
They were fortunate. Beside the broken house was a pile of firewood covered in thick ash. After lighting the straw, Su Zhen placed the firewood beside the burning pile, allowing it to slowly ignite, ensuring the fire would last throughout the night.
The rain drizzled down, its sound gradually masked by the wind. The brief rainfall, lasting just over an hour, was hardly enough to drench the fields.
Su Zhen slept beside Jiang Chuan. On Jiang Chuan’s other side lay Jiang Xia and Jiang Gu, with Zhou Lan on the opposite side guarding her two daughters. The fire was near their feet.
Staring at the only intact roof in the room, Su Zhen rested his head on his arms, striking up a casual conversation with Jiang Chuan. “Brother Jiang, 1 didn’t see the milk cow and green-tailed shrimp you bought when we boarded the vehicle. Did you sell them off so quickly?”
Detecting Su Zhen’s probing tone, Jiang Chuan responded, “Yes, I got a good price when 1 sold the fish this morning, so 1 sold the cow and shrimp.”
In reality, the cow and shrimp were bouncing around in Jiang Xia’s interspace.
The cow had been put in there the previous night. By morning, although it hadn’t noticeably gained weight, it could already produce milk. Jiang Xia had tried milking it, just like she had seen on TV, and the milk they drank in the morning came from this cow.
As for the green-tailed shrimp, even though they became livelier in the water of interspace, they didn’t reproduce overnight. Jiang Xia speculated their growth cycle was twice that of the fish.
Su Zhen continued his questioning, “Brother Jiang, do you have a particular contact or connection? You managed to sell everything so quickly.”
Now, trading with money is strictly prohibited. If there’s no market, even if you have a lot of valuable goods, you can only be stuck with them. If Jiang Chuan can sell everything in one morning, he must have buyers purchasing in bulk.
Jiang Chuan isn’t quite sure of Su Zhen’s purpose in probing and is secretly on guard.
“Just luck, 1 guess. I happened to meet a shopping mall manager who exchanged their goods for our fish, shrimp, and cow. Isn’t it all fate, just like when we bought the cow in the village and met you?”
Su Zhen was skeptical but didn’t say more. After a while, he drifted into a deep sleep.
During the night, the wind began to blow, and the temperature dropped drastically. Zhou Lan and Jiang Chuan could distinctly feel the two children shivering between them.
Worried sick, Zhou Lan whispered, “Honey, should we take out the blankets? If discovered, we can just say they were exchanged at the shopping mall. Being suspected is better than letting the kids catch a cold.”
Jiang Chuan shared her sentiments. Noticing that Su Zhen beside them seemed fast asleep, even softly snoring, he thought it should be safe to cover up now. As long as they put the blankets away before Su Zhen woke up, there should be no issues.
With just a thought, Jiang Chuan conjured the two blankets from their car and, out of concern, covered Su Zhen as well.
The next morning, the wind had already stopped. Jiang Chuan got up at dawn and put away the blanket. He then covered his two daughters with the torn clothes he had brought when he went out.
Before the fire started, Zhou Lan baked a few wild vegetable pancakes. Then, she cut the wild vegetable pancakes open with a knife and filled them with the pickles and meat sauce that Xiao Li had given her before she left. Then, she roasted the meat sauce over the fire.
The remaining three were awakened by the enticing smell of food. After freshening up with the water Jiang Chuan fetched, they hungrily devoured the wild vegetable cakes.
After tasting Zhou Lan’s cake, Su Zhen found it so delicious that he didn’t want to swallow. For the first time in his life, he savored every bite. A mere vegetable cake was this fragrant.. If they prepared other dishes, wouldn’t just the aroma be enough to make one drool?
