211 Investigation Division (1/2)

They barely managed to turn a goat into cured meat with all the salt available at the outpost. Li Qingzheng was a little excited as he seemed to have discovered a new business opportunity.

”It's almost the Lunar New Year, right? Every household, including the refugees, will want to enjoy themselves for a few days. Since we get our meat for nothing, we can keep selling them in town as long as the Wolf King continues sending their game to us,” Li Qingzheng said. Thinking of this, Li Qingzheng seemed to already be dreaming of becoming an esquire in town.

Ren Xiaosu looked at him as he rubbed the salt onto the meat. ”Wouldn't the Li Consortium's forces do something if you try that?”

”I'll sell them secretly,” Li Qingzheng said with a chuckle.

Ren Xiaosu asked, ”Are you familiar with any of the shops?”

”No.” Li Qingzheng said, ”But since meat is quite scarce, I think it should be easy to sell.”

Ren Xiaosu sighed, ”Have you ever eaten meat during the Lunar New Year before? Everyone just makes do with some lard in their cooking and considers that a New Year celebration. The meat will only be valuable if you can sell them in the stronghold. I'll introduce you to a friend of mine. He's called Wang Fugui, and it won't be difficult to get to know some people in the stronghold with his skills.”

Li Qingzheng's eyes lit up. ”Really?”

He also knew what Ren Xiaosu said was true. All of a sudden, this outpost had become a wholesale market for meat. However, the town's purchasing power was too low for them to make much of a profit, and they might not be able to sell the meat off easily unless he was willing to reduce the price. Therefore, it was extremely important to have a qualified distributor.

Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu still needed to stay undercover in this outpost and wait for more opportunities to get more nanomachines… so he needed Li Qingzheng to front the dealings.

By acting as the intermediary between Li Qingzheng and Wang Fugui, he could travel frequently between the outpost and town. Moreover, they would also be able to rake in the majority of the profits.

Old Wang was still quite capable in this aspect.

But at this moment, Li Qingzheng felt a little puzzled. ”Aren't you a student from the stronghold? How did you know about life in town?”

Ren Xiaosu glanced at him and said, ”I'm a refugee too.”

When it came to the day for the supplies to be delivered, Li Qingzheng instructed everyone to hide the cured meat and everything else in case the ruffians delivering the supplies got any ideas. ”We must hide everything. If not, those bastards will for sure seize a lot of the meat when they see them.”

The truck carrying the goods and supplies came up via the mountain road. But they only unloaded a bag of rice and a bag of noodles without giving them any salt. Li Qingzheng was stunned. He asked, ”What about the salt?”

”You're already very fortunate to have rice and noodles.” The two soldiers said as they smoked their cigarettes, ”Hurry up and sign for it. Otherwise, you won't even get rice and noodles.”

”You should at least give us some salt,” Li Qingzheng said after hesitating for a moment.

”Do you want it or not? If you don't, we'll bring it back with us,” said one of the soldiers delivering the supplies.

Li Qingzheng said through his teeth, ”Yes, I want it!”

”You're still so picky, huh? Do you know how many refugees don't even get to eat?!” After he said that, they got back into the truck and left. Li Qingzheng did not dare say anything else in front of them.

After the truck left, he cursed out loud, ”Those bastards must have embezzled our provisions for themselves. Are they trying to force us to dig for wild vegetables in the mountains to pair with rice and noodles?”

When they opened up the bags of rice and noodles, they were shocked to discover that sand had been mixed into them!

”They are not treating us as people!” someone said indignantly.

Ren Xiaosu sighed to the students, ”This is the world that y'all have never come into contact with before.”

Just after the resupply truck departed, another military transport truck drove up from the bottom of the mountain. Everyone watched quietly as they waited for the vehicle to arrive without knowing what they were here for.