Captain Zhang almost rolled his eyes at the request. Heatproof suits weren't exactly rare for them anymore. He said, "Honestly, if you're going out on missions, those suits are always provided for free. Ordinary folks don't need them most of the time. But if you really want them, I can put in an application."
If Captain Zhang applied, then it wouldn't cost contribution points. The four of them hurried to thank him. "Thanks, Captain Zhang. Four sets will do."
As for Qiao Qiao and Nana, he'd already modified two sets for them on the way over.
Once those suits were altered, no one else could use them anyway, so there was no point in returning them.
Captain Zhang lingered in the shop for a while before leaving. Not long after he left, Zhou Zhi and the Shen siblings arrived. When they saw what the shop was selling, their faces twisted into the same expression Captain Zhang had worn.
It wasn't exactly disgust. More like, hard to describe.
After a short stay, they too left together.
From then on, the only people walking through the door were real customers. The shop didn't get all that busy, but contribution points stacked up fast. By the end of the day, they'd easily earned back two months of rent. It just went to show, running a shop wasn't about whether the rent was too high, but about what kind of business you ran.
That evening after dinner, Lan Jin and Ling Jiang went out to pick up Qiao Qiao.
They left early on purpose, wandering down the street where the night market was held.
The night market wasn't small at all. Each stall didn't hold much, but the street stretched long. Walk the whole circuit and you'd almost always find something you wanted. The best part was, the market wasn't permanent. It didn't have the rules a storefront did, so stall fees were cheap. Just one contribution point per day.
Since most sellers were just casual vendors, renting their own POS machines would be a waste. The base solved it by equipping every stall with one. When you paid the stall fee, you got the machine. When you left, you returned it. Everything was recorded, so no one worried about theft.
Using the machines was simple. When you picked one up, it was powered off. To activate it, the stall owner just swiped their residence card. After that, all payments went straight into their account. At the end, staff shut the machine down right in front of you, wiping everything clean. Simple, secure.
So if you wanted to offload something, the night market was the cheapest, fastest option.
After finding all this out, Lan Jin got restless. "Ling Jiang, we could do a night market stall too, right?"
She wanted to as well, but what would they sell?
"Stuff we don't use, but others might need. Things you can't reproduce." Lan Jin thought it over for a long while before suggesting, "What about toys?"
Her space was piled high with toys, as if she'd stocked an entire warehouse. Every age group was covered. Selling a few every night would clear space and earn contribution points. Why not?
Ling Jiang frowned. "Won't Qiao Qiao cry if she finds out? She knows those toys are in there. Selling them, is that really okay?"
Lan Jin smiled. "She's grown. Some toys are clearly too childish, and she doesn't care about those. We won't sell everything. She'll still have plenty to play with."
At worst, she'd let Qiao Qiao pick out some favorites first. There were mountains left. Selling a few wouldn't matter.
"Alright. No point letting them sit around. Tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow."
…
When they brought Qiao Qiao back to the shop, Lan Jin and Ling Jiang explained what they'd learned. To their surprise, both men approved instantly.
Lao Gao said, "Go for it. Toys in your space take up too much room. Sell them, get contribution points. Just make sure to keep what Qiao Qiao wants."
Huang Jinghe added, "Lots of those toys are duplicates anyway. Keep one full set for Qiao Qiao. The rest, sell."
Qiao Qiao had grown past the phase where she dismantled every toy she touched. Back then, her "toy surgery" had left them all stunned. She'd seen a therapist since. Hopefully she wouldn't start tearing things apart again.
Hopefully.
…
They were doers, not talkers. That same night, they sorted out a pile of toys to sell. The next day, after picking up Qiao Qiao, Lan Jin took her and Lao Gao to the night market.
She'd originally wanted Ling Jiang along. Selling toys while standing next to a bearded man felt off. But Lao Gao insisted on going, so she brought him as muscle.
The market was on the far edge of the commercial district. Walking there took about ten minutes.
They rented a stall, verified the POS machine, then staff led them to their assigned spot.
Stalls weren't fixed, just first come, first served. But since the market opened at set hours, showing up extra early didn't matter.
Once Lan Jin and Lao Gao set up, he got restless right away. "Sister Lan, I'm gonna look around."
"Go ahead. I know how to use the machine. If customers come, I can handle it."
So off he went, happily browsing.
The man could really shop. By the time he circled back, she hadn't sold a single toy, but he'd bought armloads of random junk.
Lan Jin gave him a look. "Got money burning a hole in your card? Why'd you buy all this stuff?"
He grinned. "Treasure hunting in trash. Before the apocalypse, this wasn't cheap. Couldn't afford it back then. Now look, got it at last."
She had no words. Junk or not, it was his contribution points.
"In the end, as long as you're happy."
…
Lan Jin priced the toys low, between five and twenty contribution points, depending on size.
It was cheap enough that anyone could grit their teeth and buy one.
But when Captain Zhang heard about it and came by, he frowned in surprise. "These toys are brand-new. They look like they came straight off a supermarket shelf. Where'd you get them?"
At the word "supermarket," Lan Jin's heart gave a hard jolt. But she quickly reminded herself: back then, there'd been no powers. And she wasn't bringing out that many. It wasn't necessarily suspicious.