Ever since she had eaten at Dad Si's house that weekend, going there for a meal every weekend had become a routine before she knew it.
Ms. Wen had indeed made her favorite spicy crayfish, but crayfish in April were not plump enough yet. Their peak season was from May to September.
She would have to stock up on a batch then, too.
After the meal, Jiang Ci chatted with them for a while before leaving.
The first thing she did when she got home was call a crayfish farm and reserve crayfish for their plumpest season.
Then she spent the afternoon at home reading novels, only going out in the evening to collect a round of supplies.
The next morning, Jiang Ci visited a slaughterhouse and collected a batch of chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, beef, lamb, and pork.
That afternoon, she went early to the restaurants where she regularly collected prepared dishes.
She would be taking a trip soon, so they would not need to prepare any food for her until she returned. They could start again once she had finished her business and come back.
Afraid the owners might worry she was skipping out on them, she settled all her bills with them first.
None of the owners objected-the customer was king, after all. They even said they could increase the quantities once she returned.
With everything arranged, Jiang Ci collected that day's dishes and headed home early to pack.
S Province International Airport.
A delicate, pretty young woman emerged from the exit carrying a small black suitcase.
She strode along in a hurry, her feet flying. It was none other than Jiang Ci.
S Province was a major vegetable-producing province, and W City was a national vegetable production base.
After getting off the plane, Jiang Ci took a taxi straight to W City.
It was already very late when she arrived, so Jiang Ci found a hotel, booked a room, and stayed there to rest for the night.
She had prepared thoroughly before coming. As soon as day broke, she took out her phone and contacted the person in charge of the vegetable production base.
His surname was Xu, and he was a slightly chubby middle-aged man.
When they met, Boss Xu had not expected such a young, pretty girl to be the one negotiating such a large deal with him.
Naturally, he felt a little uneasy, but he did not show it and still greeted Jiang Ci warmly.
Instead of discussing business with Jiang Ci right away, however, he chatted with her about this and that.
Jiang Ci was no fool. She could tell Boss Xu thought she was too young to be reliable and did not trust her.
Of course, she did not point it out, instead going along with his small talk.
Boss Xu was remarkably patient. He chatted with Jiang Ci for a full hour, practically digging through eighteen generations of her ancestors before he finally felt reassured.
He went from thinking the girl was too young and unreliable to trying to set Jiang Ci up with someone.
Jiang Ci truly did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Even after she politely declined, Boss Xu refused to give up and urged Jiang Ci to reconsider.
First, they settled on the vegetable varieties. Naturally, Jiang Ci wanted every kind they had.
Napa cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, bok choy, spinach, baby napa cabbage, lettuce, water spinach, stem lettuce, cucumbers, honey sweet potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic shoots, kidney beans, yardlong beans, loofah, carrots, white radishes, red radishes, green radishes, choy sum, Chinese leaf lettuce, yellow chives, large scallions, small scallions, ginger, garlic, cilantro, taro, pumpkins, winter melon, water chestnuts, flowering cabbage, pea shoots...
Next, they settled on the price: wholesale by the ton, with a flat rate of ten thousand yuan for five tons, regardless of the vegetable variety.
Finally, they settled on the quantity.
After some consideration, Jiang Ci ordered 500 tons of vegetables.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Hua Country Residents, adults in China should eat 300-500 grams of grains, 400-500 grams of vegetables, 100-200 grams of fruit, 100 grams of dairy, 50 grams of legumes, 50-100 grams of meat, 50 grams of fish and shrimp, 25-50 grams of eggs, and 25 grams of oil every day. That added up to 1,100-1,575 grams of various foods per adult per day.
By that calculation, each person would eat 400-575 kilograms of food a year, or around 0.5 tons.
Assuming a lifespan of eighty years, a person would consume between thirty-two and forty-six tons of food in their lifetime, not including drinks and the like.
Jiang Ci rounded it to fifty tons per person over a lifetime, making 500 tons for ten people.
That would absolutely be more than enough, not less. After all, she could not possibly eat nothing but vegetables for the rest of her life, and this calculation was based entirely on a lifetime of eating vegetables.
The vegetables cost five million yuan.
Jiang Ci spent another afternoon asking around and searching before she managed to rent two large warehouses in relatively remote locations on the outskirts, a fair distance apart.
Ms. Wen's birthday was at the end of the month, and she had promised Dad Si she would celebrate it with her, so she could only stay here for seven days before she had to hurry back.
Boss Xu was very efficient. He could deliver a hundred tons of vegetables to the warehouses each day and estimated he could finish in five days.
Jiang Ci asked Boss Xu to alternate between the warehouses: deliver to Warehouse One today, Warehouse Two tomorrow, then Warehouse One again the day after, and continue in that order.
Her reason was that her own people needed to reload all the vegetables onto trucks and transport them out of the province, and it would be too chaotic if both groups were there at once.
Boss Xu did not think much of it and followed Jiang Ci's instructions.
Every night, Jiang Ci secretly went to the warehouses and collected the vegetables into her space.
She had scouted the locations beforehand. There were no surveillance cameras near either warehouse, only inside them, and naturally, she had turned all those off after renting the warehouses.
Even if someone really did suspect something, she was not afraid. There was no evidence, after all, and she would be gone in a few days anyway.
She did not idle during the day, either. Since she was here, she certainly could not pass up the local food.
Steamed buns, pancakes, twisted steamed rolls, baked flatbreads, earthen-pot chicken, iron-pot stewed goose, tofu pudding, chicken san soup, beef san soup, plain rice porridge, huoshao flatbreads, xiaowuzi cakes, lamb soup, small wontons, and more.
She also found four large restaurants to supply her with meals, making up for the loss from being unable to collect her regular dishes while she was away.
Besides that, she discovered dried vegetables and fruit were sold everywhere here. The moisture was dried out of the vegetables and fruit, preserving their nutrients while making them easier to store and keep for longer.
The dried fruit in particular was tart, sweet, and crunchy-especially delicious, but ridiculously expensive.
Still, she had money. High prices did not scare her, so she found a processing factory and stocked up on plenty of dried vegetables and fruit.
On Saturday evening, March 27, Si Jianhua sent her a message.
[Sweetheart, come home for dinner tomorrow.]
Jiang Ci: [Dad Si, I won't come tomorrow. Mom's birthday is in a couple of days. I'll come back then.]
Si Jianhua: [That works, too. Come home early on your mom's birthday, okay? Your brother is taking leave to come home that day, too.]
Jiang Ci: [Okay.]
After contacting Jiang Ci, Si Jianhua began bombarding Si Beichen with messages.
[Have you arranged your leave yet?]
[You must come home on the 30th! Your sister is coming, too!]
[If you dare make excuses not to come home, don't ever come home again!]
There was no reply. Because of the special nature of Si Beichen's work, he was unreachable every time, and they could only wait until he had time to respond. Si Jianhua had long since grown used to it.
The last time he had finally managed to reach him, Si Beichen had said something about having a mission at the end of the month and not coming home.
That brat did not even stop to think how long it had been since he had last come home. Si Jianhua was the very definition of an empty nester!
Luckily, he had Yueyue and Xiao Ci now. He would be better off counting on a dog than on Si Beichen.