Two or Three Events in the Last Days 011
Chapter 11: Stockpiling Supplies
The next day, Jing Lin got up early. After giving Le Le some water, he carried him to Zhao Zhiwen’s house and asked Zhou Yu to watch him. Then, just like the day before, he rode into town with Zhao Zhiwen and Zhao Chenghuai to buy supplies.
The entire village had attended yesterday’s meeting. Families that still had cash on hand used it, while those without cash tried to borrow from relatives, friends, and neighbors. Although the situation was unusual, everyone lived in the same village and saw each other regularly. As the saying went, a close neighbor was better than a distant relative. No one knew when they might need help themselves, so when someone asked for a loan, most people were willing to lend at least a little.
Nearly everyone in the village who planned to shop had set out on some kind of vehicle. Not every family owned a cargo tricycle, but electric scooters had become common in rural areas as they could carry quite a bit, though they were admittedly rather bulky. Some people opted for bicycles instead, with stacks of woven sacks and coils of rope tied to the back.
Yan Fei’s two-story house stood near the entrance of the village, away from the center. As Jing Lin rode past, he happened to see the Yan family leading out a horse-drawn cart. While everyone else rode bicycles, they used a horse, which was rather unusual. It was certainly less strenuous, and once the horse started moving, it was much faster than cycling.
The trip to the county seat was much farther by bicycle and would take at least forty minutes.
Jing Lin and the others had left early. The weather was cooler that day, and the temperature was not especially high, so the ride was fairly comfortable. Vehicles lined both sides of the road, large and small, creating a somewhat chaotic sight. In some places, groups of workers surrounded disabled vehicles, unloading cargo and transporting it manually.
To enter the county seat, they had to cross a bridge. Turning left led into the city itself, where the county’s North Station was located. Turning right led toward South Station, near the county’s largest food wholesale market. After discussing matters with other villagers, Jing Lin and his group decided not to enter the city. Instead, they crossed the bridge, turned right, and headed straight for the wholesale market.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
When they arrived, they found that the market entrance, nearly ten meters wide, was almost completely blocked by people and vehicles. Several security guards were trying to direct traffic and maintain order, but their efforts were ineffective. Jing Lin had not expected such crowds so early in the morning. Looking at the packed entrance, he got off his bike and discussed the situation with the villagers who had come along.
“Let’s leave two people behind to watch the vehicles.”
Then he turned to Zhao Chenghuai.
“Uncle, you stay here. Zhiwen and I will go inside and buy supplies.”
“Alright,” Zhao Chenghuai agreed.
He then picked out the older woman from a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair who had come together.
“Sister Yinghua, you stay behind too.”
The mother-in-law was Liu Yinghua, while the daughter-in-law was Liu Suqin. Both women were originally from the same village. Aside from them, only two primary-school-aged children remained at home. The men of the family worked elsewhere and usually returned only during the Lunar New Year.
Liu Suqin was somewhat heavyset and stood over 1.7 meters tall, taller than many of the village men. She looked sturdy and was known for being hardworking and capable. Upon hearing that her mother-in-law was being asked to stay behind, she immediately picked up a woven sack from the cargo bed and said, “Mom, you stay here and watch the vehicles. I’ll go in with them.”
Liu Yinghua quickly replied, “Be careful, and buy plenty of salt.”
Liu Suqin said, “Don’t worry, I know.”
After settling the matter, Jing Lin and the others headed toward the entrance. People were trying to get in while others struggled to get out. Some carried goods on their shoulders, others in their hands. Bags large and small were everywhere. Tricycles and bicycles piled high with merchandise clogged the way. By the time Jing Lin and the others squeezed through, they were already sweating heavily.
Their primary goal was to buy salt and other seasonings, so they headed directly toward the seasoning section. As they passed through the grain area, they saw two young men arguing fiercely over the use of a handcart. Both were red-faced and on the verge of coming to blows. No one nearby tried to stop them. Everyone simply walked around them with indifferent expressions and continued pushing deeper into the market.
Jing Lin and his group did the same. When they reached the seasoning section, they found it crowded but still much less so than the grain area. That made sense. Seasonings only enhanced food; nobody survived on seasonings alone. Most people normally bought very little. During such anxious times, people naturally focused on staples that could fill their stomachs.
Jing Lin and Zhao Zhiwen walked to the back of the area and entered a shop with relatively few customers. The other villagers followed. Nearly ten people entered at once, instantly making the merchandise-packed shop feel crowded.
Since the prices were already wholesale rates and bargaining was not allowed, everyone began selecting what they wanted. Jing Lin bought another two cases of salt. He purchased soy sauce, vinegar, MSG, chicken bouillon, and other condiments by the case. He also bought large quantities of various chili sauces and cooking spices.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
While moving cases of soy sauce, he noticed jars of jam nearby and paused.
Based on what Yan Ruifeng had said, nobody knew what the future would bring, but it certainly did not seem promising. Fresh fruit spoiled quickly, but jam lasted much longer. Le Le was only five years old, and fruit was an important source of nutrition. Their tricycle could only carry so much, but since he planned to make several more trips to the county seat over the next few days, he decided to stock up on fruit too.
They already had rice and wheat, and there was farmland available for growing vegetables. The main things lacking were seasonings. After finishing most of his seasoning purchases, Jing Lin bought more than a dozen cases of milk. Passing through the dried goods section, he saw dried fruit and purchased dozens of jin of it. Finally, he bought dozens of jin of pork fat, freshly delivered from a nearby pig farm after slaughter.
The return trip was far more exhausting than the journey there. Nearly every family’s tricycle was loaded to capacity. Those riding bicycles had two large woven sacks tied to either side of the rear rack, another sack stacked on top, and yet another hanging from the front crossbar. Fortunately, the bicycles were sturdy. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to imagine how all the goods could be transported home.
The shopping trip took a great deal of time. By the time they got home, Jing Lin’s legs were aching after riding all day. It felt no less exhausting than those times he’d spent more than ten hours straight on a bicycle, and the insides of his thighs were sore.
As soon as he arrived at Zhao Zhiwen’s house, he collapsed onto a wooden chair and rested for quite some time before finally getting up to check on Le Le.
Le Le had not woken up, but the red bumps covering his body had faded noticeably in color. Seeing that reassured Jing Lin somewhat.
After resting until three in the afternoon, the group set out for the county seat again.
Out-of-season fruit was too expensive, and money was tight, so Jing Lin focused on buying inexpensive seasonal produce. Some villagers bought fruit as well, but when they saw that Jing Lin’s entire trip was devoted to fruit purchases, they earnestly advised him to focus on food that would fill people’s stomachs.
Jing Lin thanked them, but continued following his own plans.
He bought large quantities of peaches, plenty of apples, some red dates, and several dragon fruits because Le Le liked them. Altogether, the fruit weighed well over a hundred jin.
By the time they returned home, dusk was falling. They happened to encounter the Yan family returning in their horse cart. The family was unloading grain from a metal storage shed.
Unlike most villagers, the Yan family had long stockpiled large amounts of grain. Their farmland had been leased to the village captain’s family for many years in exchange for cash payments. While Jing Lin and the others had gone to the county seat, the Yan family had visited surrounding villages, purchasing grain and rapeseed oil.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
That evening, Jing Lin returned home, organized his purchases, and spent nearly three hours rendering the pork fat into lard. Afterward, he cooked a bowl of noodles and ate it with the crispy cracklins before taking a bath and going to sleep.
The next morning, they set out early again.
This time, Jing Lin and his two companions traveled separately from the other villagers. The villagers returned to the wholesale market, while the three of them turned left and entered the city.
Although sanitation workers were still cleaning the streets, many shops had already closed, giving the city a noticeably desolate atmosphere. The pedestrians walking the streets no longer looked relaxed.
They found a wholesale supplier of household goods and bought large amounts of laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, and similar necessities. Jing Lin purchased an entire case of toothpaste containing seventy-two tubes. They also bought many toothbrushes and a stack of face towels.
While browsing, they noticed rechargeable hand warmers. Jing Lin thought they would be useless if the power grid failed, so he asked the owner whether he had old-fashioned hot-water bags instead.
The owner replied that most stores no longer stocked them, but he still had a large quantity of leftover inventory from previous years.
Jing Lin bought twenty of them, and Zhao Zhiwen bought twenty as well.
While the owner was making change, a commotion suddenly erupted at a small supermarket across the street.
Several teenage boys, around sixteen or seventeen years old, burst out of the store carrying armfuls of merchandise. Items tumbled from their arms as they ran. Several supermarket employees chased after them, shouting that they were stealing while repeatedly stopping to pick up dropped goods.
“Alas, the world’s becoming chaotic.” The boss sighed.
Jing Lin asked, “How have things been in the county lately?”
The owner replied, “You just saw it yourself. Small supermarkets have been getting robbed every day. On this street alone, several have already closed. Some owners are afraid of being robbed. Others are afraid that if something really happens, they’ll at least have supplies left to save their own lives.”
“Then why are you still open?” Zhao Zhiwen asked.
The owner gave a bitter smile. “I don’t really have a choice. I’ve still got a warehouse full of inventory. Keeping it all doesn’t put food on the table. It’s better to sell some of it and use the money to buy other things. I’ll probably close my shop in another couple of days.”
After saying goodbye to the owner, Jing Lin said he wanted to buy vegetable seeds.
Zhao Chenghuai took him to a seed store. Jing Lin focused on seeds that could be harvested and replanted in the future. Cucumbers, bitter melons, eggplants, and green peppers were essential. He also bought bokchoy, garland chrysanthemum, lettuce, cilantro, chives, and many others. He purchased garlic, ginger, and scallions for seasoning as well.
Basically, if it could be grown at home, he bought at least some of it.
Since Zhao Zhiwen’s family already had large supplies of seeds for crops such as cowpeas, green beans, pumpkins, and winter melons, Jing Lin did not purchase those.
Finally, Jing Lin bought a large number of glass storage jars. Some would be used for noodles, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried chilies, while the rest were intended for making jam.
Once their cargo bed was nearly full, the three of them headed home.
They rested for only an hour at noon before setting out again.
This trip was for medicines, essential paper products, and the talisman paper that Jing Lin had been thinking about for some time.
For the paper products, they went directly to the paper mill in Huangtai Town and each bought a vehicle-load at wholesale prices.
Afterward, they traveled to Jinhe Town, purchasing medicine from all three small pharmacies there. Then they continued to the county seat and visited every pharmacy they could find. The total amount of medicine they accumulated was quite substantial.
Finally, Jing Lin said he would go to the paper effigy* street in the county seat.
*Paper Effigies are funerary items that are originally intended to be burned as companions to the dead
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 1 of two for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
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