Chapter 324 - 322
After handing over the previously frozen vegetables from the warehouse to Li Tou, watching them load box after box onto the snowmobiles, Chen Xin increasingly felt that he could get a few of these snowmobiles for himself.
So he asked Li Tou, "Where did you get these snowmobiles from? If I wanted to barter for them, would you exchange?"
"These are allocated by the city bureau, so I don’t think we can exchange them?" Li Tou didn’t really know how to answer. These were police supplies, and according to management regulations, they obviously couldn’t be used for trade. But in this day and age, some things are uncertain, and no one can say for sure.
Moreover, given Chen Xin’s current cooperation with the government, if he really wanted to get two snowmobiles, it wouldn’t be difficult for him.
Thinking of this, Li Tou said to Chen Xin, "Comrade Xiao Chen, don’t you have a good relationship with the research institutes at the University of Science and Technology? It should be pretty easy for you to get two snowmobiles. The ones our SWAT team has are also issued from above; it might be easier for you to directly request them from the higher-ups."
Hearing this from Li Tou, Chen Xin gave up the idea of exchanging snowmobiles through the SWAT team.
If he hadn’t established a cooperative relationship with the national research institutions, Chen Xin might indeed have had to find a way through the SWAT team. But now that he had secured cooperation with the government, getting two snowmobiles would not be difficult.
Chen Xin gave up the idea of exchanging snowmobiles through the SWAT team, but this month’s vegetable output still had to be used for trade.
However, as Chen Xin’s output became increasingly bountiful, the resources he needed to exchange gradually shifted from food to everyday necessities.
Although Chen Xin was not worried about food and drink at the moment, as various vegetables and staple foods were beginning to be produced — even to the point of being able to vary his diet — and with the chicks growing, a steady supply of meat was also ensured, when it came to daily necessities, most of them still couldn’t be self-produced.
The most obvious of these is toilet paper, which is something you’d need to use every day but is basically impossible to make yourself.
Soap, shampoo, and so on are also common items that aren’t usually considered for homemade solutions and are hardly self-made.
Currently, Chen Xin can only acquire these items through bartering with others. While it’s not limited to the SWAT team, and Chen Xin can directly obtain necessities through research institutions, he currently doesn’t plan to do so but prefers to maintain the trade channel with the SWAT team.
Maintaining a relationship with the SWAT team is necessary, even if it’s not for trading resources.
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After seeing off Li Tou and his men, Chen Xin returned to the lower level of the shelter.
His mother was making lunch, while Mo Qingyan was helping out nearby.
Chen Xin walked to the kitchen door and told Mo Qingyan about what had just happened, and reminded her, "Dragon Lady, you shouldn’t clear snow this afternoon. Work with Sister Xin to harvest the vegetables in the greenhouse."
"I can handle the vegetable picking on my own. Xiao Xin should go help you guys," Mo Qingyan didn’t intend to have her sister help.
Chen Xin’s greenhouse was fully automated. While it might be a bit tiring for one person to harvest, it wasn’t strictly necessary for two people to do it.
Besides, having shoveled snow the entire morning, Mo Qingyan knew how much work there would be. Missing one person today might still be manageable, but missing two would definitely push things to tomorrow.
Hearing Mo Qingyan say that, Chen Xin didn’t object, only nodding in agreement.
"By the way, I saw you have a dehydrator here and meant to mention it, but you went to the city for supplies and I forgot about it," Mo Qingyan paused her work and approached Chen Xin, saying, "I think you can make use of the dehydrator to make these vegetables into dehydrated vegetables. This way, it can reduce storage space and also extend the shelf life of the vegetables.
You always have fresh vegetables here, so you don’t need this. But you could give it to Xiao Long to sell. I think selling dehydrated vegetables is more practical than selling strawberry jam."
"Dehydrated vegetables? That’s doable, but is my dehydrator efficient enough?" Chen Xin’s first thought upon hearing Mo Qingyan mention it was whether the dehydrator would suffice.
After all, drying vegetables from over a thousand pounds down might be a huge task if using a dehydrator that could only handle a few dozen pounds at a time.
While Chen Xin was discussing this with Mo Qingyan, his mother suddenly spoke up, "Why use a dehydrator? Just wash the vegetables, let them dry, then put them over that geothermal heat pump pipe, and they’ll be dried in a day.
When you were little, I used to dry pickles like this in the pumping station, but back then it was the heat from the motor, not laying things directly on the pipes."
Hearing his mother say this, Chen Xin also slapped his forehead, realizing his lack of life experience.
Their generation was used to buying everything online that wasn’t readily available, relying on machines or various tools to achieve goals, while people from Chen Xin’s parents’ generation were more accustomed to solving problems with what was at hand.
Like the dehydrated vegetables, Chen Xin and Mo Qingyan’s first thought was the dehydrator, but Chen Xin’s mother thought first of sun drying and then of dehydration. And any heat source could work for the drying — it wasn’t limited to using a sufficiently large dehydrator.
When Chen Xin was a child, if they wanted to prepare pickled vegetables in winter and there was no sun to dry them, they would place the washed and dried vegetables on a radiator to dry them with the heating system.
This method, compared to using a dehydrator, was not only easier and less labor-intensive but also cost-effective.
Chen Xin realized this, so he said to Mo Qingyan, "If that’s the case, Dragon Lady, first harvest all the vegetables. Set aside the portion for the SWAT team and put it in the warehouse above, leaving some for us to consume. Dry the excess to make dehydrated vegetables."
"Okay, but if that’s the plan, I won’t be able to handle so many vegetables on my own. Later..." Mo Qingyan hesitated before continuing, "You’ll have to help me out in this case, won’t you? After all, aren’t you a mid-level chef?"
Hearing Mo Qingyan say this, Chen Xin chuckled but still nodded: "Alright, go ahead and harvest the vegetables today, and I’ll help you process them tomorrow."
After that, Chen Xin entered the kitchen, approached his mother, and asked if there was anything he could help with.
Mo Qingyan watched as Chen Xin rolled up his sleeves to help with cooking, paused for a moment, and then walked over to continue her earlier work, helping with lunch preparation.