Plane Supermarket Plane 2: Luoyang Base C17
“Start a breeding farm?” Ye Zhou was stunned after hearing this proposal.
He ran a supermarket, for heaven’s sake. How in the world was he supposed to run a farm? Moreover, farming was an entirely uncharted territory for him. He didn’t even know how long it took for eggs to hatch or when to cull a chicken.
Asking him to run a farm? Everyone should be prepared for a venture that would likely end in financial ruin.
Yang Guoqin shook his head, “It’s not just you opening it. We’re going to cooperate. The base is running low on funds right now.”
Even though supplies were sufficient, the money had been spent on corn cakes.
After a moment of consideration, Ye Zhou also felt the same. In the “economy” of Luoyang Base, corn cakes were the currency of the day. Only corn cakes had purchasing power in the supermarket, so the residents had yet to use the official government-issued paper currency.
What’s more, even if they managed to revive it, the paper currency probably wouldn’t hold much value. After all, even if the paper currency became valuable within Luoyang Base, it wouldn’t be worth much in other bases. In essence, it would still be worthless.
So, if Yang Guoqin wanted to reestablish a unified currency, he would need to issue his own currency that could circulate within Luoyang Base.
But after all, he was just the person in charge of a base. If he were to issue his own currency, even if it were only for internal use within Luoyang Base, he would likely face accountability issues.
Yang Guoqin said, “I’ve thought it over carefully. Everyone has grown accustomed to bartering. The market and society are both unstable, and we never know when the zombie tide might strike. I don’t think bartering is a bad method.”
Bartering requires goods that are produced in abundance and have stable value.
“I originally thought of using cloth,” Yang Guoqin shrugged helplessly. “But our base doesn’t produce cloth, and not everyone can weave it at home.”
This isn’t ancient times. How many people nowadays even know how to weave cloth? Even if they do, where would they get the looms from?
Moreover, even if machines were to produce it, can the cloth churned out from assembly lines truly serve the function of “currency”? After all, once the machines start running, the production would be continuous.
It’s possible that in just a couple of days, the cloth would lose its purchasing power in the market.
After all, other bases, especially larger ones, have quite a few factories producing cloth.
In comparison, agricultural products have stable value. Their production takes time, and the reason the value of corn cakes hasn’t dropped significantly is because the output is stable, without sudden surges or drops.
But Ye Zhou remained puzzled. “How do we cooperate? And how do we calculate the profits after cooperation?”
His income solely relied on system exchanges. Living creatures couldn’t be preserved for long, and he couldn’t keep them until the next plane to exchange.
Moreover, poultry like chickens and ducks, which reach market weight quickly, don’t fetch high prices in any plane. There’s hardly even a need to resell them.
Yang Guoqin shook his head slightly. “When I talk about cooperation, I’m not referring to pooling funds together. What I mean is that we’ll probably need to buy things from you, and when we need to purchase goods, we’ll rely on you to oversee them for us.”
Ye Zhou felt relieved. “What do you all need? Make a list for me, and if I can acquire them, I’ll get them for you.”
Yang Guoqin felt a weight lift off his shoulders. The tired expression on his face disappeared, replaced by a confident demeanor. “That’s great. We don’t have professionals on this end, and we couldn’t even find professional books on this matter. If we have to requisition from other bases, who knows how long it will take to receive them.”
Trading with civilian fleets is convenient, but dealing with official channels is difficult. All the necessary procedures must be followed without exception.
Safety is paramount, but finding someone responsible for procurement in the future could be troublesome indeed.
If luck isn’t on their side and a few bases fall under zombie attacks, a delay of one or two years for an order would be considered normal.
“I’ll have the list prepared tonight,” Yang Guoqin said as he left. Ye Zhou walked him to the door.
The two stood at the doorway of the supermarket.
“Business has been good lately?” Yang Guoqin had been interacting with Ye Zhou for a while now, and it seemed like he genuinely saw him as a regular supermarket owner. His tone had become more familiar, and he could now ask questions that he wouldn’t have asked before.
Ye Zhou nodded. “Not as good as before, but it’s still alright. It’s been a bit slow lately, but that’s how it goes. I was too busy before.”
He had been so busy that even in his dreams, he was still working.
The supermarket’s operations were now on track, and the staff no longer needed his constant guidance. The supermarket could run smoothly even without him.
After seeing Yang Guoqin off as he got into his car, Ye Zhou rubbed his neck and headed back to the rest area.
He wasn’t particularly fond of interacting with Yang Guoqin. It wasn’t anything personal against Yang Guoqin himself, but rather his status that created a sense of distance for Ye Zhou.
In his own plane, the highest-ranking official he interacted with was the university president, if you could even consider a president an official.
He returned to the rest area, lay down for a good ten minutes, then got up to turn on his computer and browse the system marketplace.
Since the system could send employees over, it surely would also sell livestock. Ye Zhou had even bought a horse before.
After flipping through for half an hour, Ye Zhou finally found chickens, ducks, and geese. In addition to these common poultry, there were also cattle, horses, pigs, and dogs available.
There were also various machinery and tools needed for breeding farms.
Moreover, the prices were not high.
Ye Zhou noticed that the prices in the system marketplace remained unchanged despite variations in planes.
For instance, firearms maintained the same price regardless of whether they were in the previous plane or the current one.
In comparison to firearms, which served as a reference point, the items in the system store could be considered relatively inexpensive.
Ye Zhou wrote down these items on the pages of his notebook, muttering to himself, “You can facilitate inter-dimensional jumps, but you can’t make a few tweaks to the system? In my plane, various shopping apps are finely crafted. Can’t you learn from them?”
“Not asking for much, just create a shopping cart at least, so I don’t have to start over every time.”
However, the computer remained as silent as ever.
Yet, the computer remained as quiet as a chicken.
After venting his frustration, Ye Zhou glanced at the time. It was already eight in the evening, and he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
“What do you feel like having tonight?” Ye Zhou asked Zou Ming, who was sitting by the window reading a book.
Business had been stable lately, and there were enough staff members at the supermarket, so they had started rotating shifts. Today happened to be Ye Zhou and Zou Ming’s turn.
Zou Ming stood up. “Did Aunt not prepare anything?”
Ye Zhou replied, “I told her not to prepare mine tonight. I thought this afternoon that I might not feel like eating anything tonight.”
Ye Zhou sighed. “Seems like I still can’t make decisions ahead of time.”
Zou Ming set his book aside and walked over to Ye Zhou. “What do you feel like eating? I’ll cook for you.”
Ye Zhou was somewhat surprised. “You can cook?”
Zou Ming nodded. “Yes, I can.”
Ye Zhou chuckled. “You seem to know a lot of things, unlike me. I hardly know anything.”
“No, that’s not right. I shouldn’t say that. Well, when it comes to kitchen tasks, besides washing dishes and pots, I’m clueless.”
“I’m actually quite good at washing pots. Back home, all the iron pots were my responsibility. My mom said I had strong arms, and I could scrub them cleaner in one go than she could in several. Every time I finished, they shined like new.”
After the self-praise ended, Ye Zhou followed Zou Ming, trotting eagerly to watch him cook.
As Zou Ming cooked, Ye Zhou livened up the atmosphere. “Actually, the reason I never learned to cook is because I put all my energy and time into learning how to run a supermarket. Whenever I had free time in college, I worked part-time at a supermarket.”
“My mom always said if I couldn’t learn to cook, I wouldn’t be able to find a wife in the future.”
He let out a long sigh. “In my hometown, it’s the men who do the cooking. It’s the young guys who can’t cook that are considered odd.”
At the mention of the word “wife,” Zou Ming’s hand trembled, and he accidentally cut his finger, leaving a small cut.
Blood slowly trickled out, dripping onto the cutting board and staining the vegetables.
Ye Zhou was startled by Zou Ming’s accident and quickly said, “Wait here, I’ll get a band-aid for you!”
After getting the band-aid, Ye Zhou gesture for Zou Ming to extend his hand. Zou Ming attempted to apply it himself, but Ye Zhou moved his hand aside and said, “You might not do it properly, let me do it.”
“Why were you so careless?” Ye Zhou scolded him softly, adopting a tone similar to his mother’s. “Don’t get distracted while cooking.”
Ye Zhou paused, “No, it’s my fault for talking too much just now.”
“I’ll step out for a bit and keep quiet.” Ye Zhou reflected on his behavior, thinking that even if he was talkative, he shouldn’t have been so while someone was cooking.
Zou Ming watched Ye Zhou as he lowered his head. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you want to get married?”
Ye Zhou didn’t understand how the conversation had shifted to this topic, but he still answered, “I don’t know. I think it depends on fate. If it’s suitable, we’ll get married after being together. If it’s not, then we won’t force it.”
Zou Ming asked, “What do you mean by suitable?”
Ye Zhou hesitated. “Uh… how should I describe it?”
“It’s probably when you see that person and feel like they’re the one, right?” Ye Zhou sighed. “If you ask me, I can’t explain it either. I’m single1.”
Zou Ming, like an insatiable curious child, asked, “What does ‘single’ mean? Peony2 ? Dui3?”
Ye Zhou chuckled at the teasing. “No, it means I’ve been single since birth, never been in a relationship.”
Zou Ming asked, “Never been in a relationship? Why not? No one likes you?”
Ye Zhou smiled awkwardly. “It’s not that. It’s just…”
Back when he used to play basketball, there were often girls who would bring him water or towels. Even if he was clueless, he knew they were interested in him. He was willing to interact with others, but it always ended up developing into friendships, and he couldn’t muster any romantic feelings.
At first, his female friends thought he was just pretending to be clueless about romance, but later they realized he genuinely lacked that sense.
He didn’t know how to interact with female friends, so he just copied his interactions with male friends.
For example, if someone told him, “There’s a new bubble tea shop off campus, they say the flavor is really good.”
He would respond, “I’m not drinking bubble tea right now. You shouldn’t either. It’s easy to gain weight and get acne on your face.”
Later, he realized they meant they wanted to go buy bubble tea together, which could barely count as a date.
His female friends thought he was okay as a friend.
But as a romantic partner? Probably not.
And just like that, Ye Zhou became a friend to many women, with quite a few opposite-sex friends.
Ye Zhou himself felt a bit puzzled by this.
Occasionally, when he reflected on things later, he felt that there was something wrong with his approach.
But looking at it from a different perspective, maybe it was because he didn’t like those girls. If he truly liked someone, if he had a crush on them, when they mentioned a new bubble tea shop, his heart would flutter with excitement.
No matter how many more words the other person said, even if the dormitory was already locked, he would climb over the wall to buy bubble tea and deliver it to the other person’s dormitory building.
Ye Zhou said, “That’s because I haven’t met someone I like yet.”
Zou Ming looked into Ye Zhou’s eyes. “What kind of person do you like?”
Ye Zhou replied, “…I don’t know, a human?”
Zou Ming: “…”
(๑≧▽≦๑)o Let’s just say YZs traumatized with Tongtong HAHAHA (7/7)
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Thank you sobmuch for translating !!! I really like the concept of this novel, and super appreciate this current arc !! Much love 💖💖