Chapter 74: Torn Cotton Quilt Blown Into New Cotton
The gray clouds hung very low, churning endlessly inside, looking just like special effects from a doomsday movie.
The wet road reflected the cold wind. On both sides of the road, the areas players could reach had not even a single tree, only sparse damp wild grass.
All vehicles raced forward against the north wind. Whenever they spotted a box, they grabbed it and ran, afraid of being intercepted if they were even a moment late.
Parallel Road’s final 20km. Yu Jiang was just about to get out of the vehicle to knock on the windows and doors of the houses nearby when she suddenly spotted a row of red brick houses behind.
Thinking of the crude swimwear shop ahead, and the abandoned farmhouses mentioned by other players.
Her heartbeat instantly sped up, and she excitedly drove the vehicle right in.
It really was a service area!
A wooden sign hung with the words ‘Scrap Old Items Recycling’.
[Confirming player identity: Scavenger.]
Only scavengers could enter the service area!
Yu Jiang pushed open the iron gate and walked into the yard. Worn-out plastic and metal pieces were piled up in several heaps.
She even wanted to roll up her sleeves and pick some, if not for the boss right beside her staring at her with suspicious eyes, as if seeing through her thoughts.
Scavenging all the way to the scrap yard—talk about standing the world on its head.
“What things do you have to sell? Rusty metal is by the jin, 20 jin for 1 crystal coin. Furniture and clothing depend on condition, generally no more than 5 crystal coins.”
The boss was a plump snow ferret boss, about her size, looking fluffy.
“Scrap collection prices are this low?” Yu Jiang was stunned.
She really had two rusty engines. Good thing she hadn’t collected more—at this price, bringing them over would waste grid space.
“That’s the price on the road!” The snow ferret boss had a you-take-it-or-leave-it tsundere expression.
Yu Jiang took out the two rusty engines. Her gaze turned to the house in the corner, which had writing saying it recycled old cotton and fluffed new cotton.
“You sell cotton here?!”
“I only have old cotton here, but I have tools for fluffing cotton. You can pay a little crystal coins to buy them, then use the tools for free.” The snow ferret boss patted its chest, showing an anticipatory expression.
Yu Jiang looked at the pile in the house—yellowed and blackened discarded cotton quilts.
This could still be used?
They looked older than her, like they’d been picked from a trash heap.
“How many crystal coins is ‘a little’?” she asked.
“See that sack?” The snow ferret boss pointed to the grid-patterned snake skin bag nearby.
“One sack of old cotton, 50 crystal coins. How much it holds depends on you.”
“You’re so white but your prices are pitch black!” Yu Jiang pretended to leave.
“No no no, let’s negotiate! 40 crystal coins.” The snow ferret boss hurriedly called her back.
It was rare to meet someone willing to spend money on trash and do the work to renovate it themselves. “30! Lowest price, how about it?”
“10 crystal coins.” Yu Jiang countered.
“Mine is an electric cotton fluffing machine. It’s getting cold now—you won’t lose out. 28 crystal coins.”
“20 crystal coins!” With a machine, no need to do it by hand? Just picking out that cotton would take a lot of kung fu.
“Fine, 20 it is.” The snow ferret boss agreed anyway—it wouldn’t lose out.
“Minimum five sacks, pay first then take the things!”
Yu Jiang nodded and glanced at the sky. “Give me 200 crystal coins worth! Make it an even number. That failed dye fabric inside isn’t worth much, right? Can you throw some in?”
“If you like it, take two bolts.” The snow ferret boss waved generously.
It was rare to meet such a sucker. Giving her some scrap fabric was nothing—200 crystal coins for scrap, and that bag couldn’t hold much anyway.
Watching Yu Jiang pick a sturdier snake skin bag and head toward the stacked yellowed old cotton quilts, the snow ferret boss still didn’t realize the severity of the situation.
Cotton was quite heavy. The newer-looking ones at the bottom couldn’t be pulled out, so Yu Jiang had to climb right on top and rummage from above.
No wonder it was so cheap—some quilts were torn into lace quilts. Without renovation and re-fluffing, they were unusable.
After a bout of picking and choosing, she finally found some that were relatively good.
Yu Jiang carefully folded them and stuffed them into the snake skin bag. Space was limited, and cotton wasn’t down that could be compressed, so no matter how she stacked, she could fit at most three torn cotton quilts.
How could Yu Jiang accept that!
20 crystal coins per bag—this wool she was determined to shear today!
The bag was full—that was just her base layer.
Next, through various clever stacking techniques, Yu Jiang forcibly added five or six more quilts on top.
Then, with both hands, she gripped the handles, slung it onto her back, and gritted her teeth to carry it.
After several back-and-forth trips like that, the snow ferret boss’s face was full of bewilderment.
“Are you building a house or what?”
It was the price they negotiated—even crying, it had to honor it. It already regretted letting her bargain!
“Just say if it’s one bag or not. If it doesn’t fall, it’s not breaking the rules.”
Yu Jiang said while showing off the snake skin bag in her hands.
After moving 10 sacks of worn-out cotton, Yu Jiang was panting from exhaustion. Next was removing the outer gauze layer and taking out all the old cotton.
Working alone would take several hours, so she got help.
In the friend channel, she sent: “Fluffing cotton, reward 20 shares of cotton. Those short on winter quilts come quick!”
“Me me me!” 28-bar Bicycle replied instantly.
If someone else suddenly said to team up and go somewhere, he definitely wouldn’t dare, but he felt the big shot’s character was trustworthy.
“And me. My vehicle has no air conditioning, poor sealing—right now I only have one quilt and fear it’s not enough.” Strawberry Candy sent a raising-hand emoji.
“Join the team, send location.” Yu Jiang was concise and sent team-up invites.
Twenty-odd minutes later, dusty 28-bar Bicycle and Strawberry Candy rushed to the scrap yard entrance one after another.
Since they were in Yu Jiang’s team, they could enter too.
Seeing the small mountain-like pile of worn-out cotton Yu Jiang had hauled out, the two gaped in disbelief.
“Sis, you got this much cotton? Too awesome! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t dare believe it!” 28-bar Bicycle exclaimed.
He thought it would be at most two or three quilts’ worth—this was too exaggerated.
Yesterday plus today, the entire zone might not yield this much cotton.
The snow ferret boss nearby snorted. Surprised? Happy? Did you see its gritted-teeth expression?
“There’ll still be loss when you renovate it.”
Yu Jiang, using a scarf as a mask, waved her hand, signaling it to get to work quick so they could return to their road before dark.
28-bar Bicycle and Strawberry Candy got right to work without slacking—just doing this little task got them 20 shares of cotton! Had to do it well!
Otherwise, if there was good fortune next time, what if the big shot didn’t bring them?
With three people, progress was much faster. In just over an hour, all the cotton was renovated out, with a loss rate that was fine—under 10%.
Yu Jiang obtained a total of 750 cotton. After giving rewards to 28-bar Bicycle and Strawberry Candy, she still had 710 left, plus 40 scrap fabric.
She still had hoarded fabric in hand. Whether making it into clothing or hiring processing into cotton quilts, at honest prices, she could make a big profit.
Another day of bountiful harvest.
When leaving with the supplies, Yu Jiang took out four pairs of honey-glazed roast chicken wings made by Sad Pig Intestine and gave them to the snow ferret boss, whose affection toward her was -40.
“Thanks for selling me the old cotton quilts—really helped a ton!”
The snow ferret boss cleared its throat, its expression clearing up. “No need to thank.”
Chicken wings—looked so fragrant!
[Snow Ferret Boss thinks you’re not bad, affection toward you +40]
