Chapter 193 Tarantine Cookies
When the undead plague swept through the bad neighborhoods of St. Joseph Street, Ji Tang and Zhao Zhenzhen, who had arrived late, arrived at the city of Innadeli with their logistics troops.
Because Lord Yang and Rex took away all the operators and most of the security team members, the town had to leave someone to watch the house, so Ji Tang and Zhao Zhenzhen had to temporarily hire a lot of townspeople to help load and transport the goods, which is why they arrived so late...
After contacting the operators who stayed behind in the camp and understanding the battle situation, Political Commissar Zhao, who was very good at mass work, immediately divided the available operators into groups and issued new tasks.
More than two thousand undead were looting in the city... The crackdown on pornography and illegal publications, even if it is only carried out in specific areas and only targets specific groups of people, will definitely cause unrest to the residents in the city.
After all, the undead are non-human creatures, and the brothels, clients, and gamblers who are targeted are all local residents. Out of the most basic emotion of sympathy, the residents of the city will inevitably empathize with the lawbreakers who are targeted, and feel disgust, aversion, and fear towards the undead; these emotions, coupled with anxiety and tension, can easily be further intensified into panic and riot - and that would be a big deal.
The operators' mission is to calm the tension of the city's residents, improve bilateral relations, and resolve the city's residents' hostility towards Westram.
While the business owners and clients of the club district on St. Joseph Street were being stuffed into square-headed carriages and sent to prison, Agent Patton and two of his colleagues, along with a group of local young men who had just signed employment contracts, drove several high-chassis iron-shell carriages loaded with goods (the modified versions of the agricultural tractors mentioned above) to the free market, which was less than 500 meters away from the bar area.
Due to the territorial war, the free market was very deserted, and most merchants did not dare to set up their stalls (for fear of being looted). The market square, which usually had to be reserved in advance, was now empty, with only a few vegetable vendors huddled together for warmth at the edge.
After stopping the carriage, Operator Patton and his two colleagues quickly organized the young men to unload the goods and set up the stalls.
These young and strong people are used to working. Their hands and feet are more flexible than ordinary farmers, and their skin is thicker than farmers who have never left the village. After setting up the stalls, Barton can safely send these young and strong people out to the surrounding streets and residential areas to promote...
John, the freckled boy Sanji, Tommy, the workshop apprentice, and Bobby, who used to run errands in the bar area, signed employment contracts and came to seek refuge with their acquaintance Patton. When Ms. Zhao asked them to choose their own people, Patton gathered the young people to his side.
Fearing that they would disappoint Operator Patton, the four young men picked up plates of food samples, held up denim jackets, jeans, thermos bottles (bed sheets, quilt covers), and four-piece sets, and ran towards the nearby streets.
Due to the chaos in the bar area next door, the streets near the Free Market were unusually deserted. Many people were afraid to go out. John and his friends had no choice but to shamelessly knock on doors and shout at the windows of residents: "Is anyone home? Westham's useful and cheap goods are on sale again. Thick cloth clothes, bed sheets, quilt covers, and thermos bottles are available again for only twenty copper coins. There are also freshly launched Tarantine cookies for sale!"
The locals were deeply impressed by the Westram caravan that came to the city a day ago. Although they knew that the streets were in chaos today, many people still poked their heads out of their homes...
As soon as the clever freckled boy Sanji saw the host willing to show up, he would immediately raise the sample plate and shove it in the other person's face, and say enthusiastically with his sales smile that he had trained from buying newspapers: "Try it, ma'am. It's free to try the Tarantine cookies. They are delicious and cheap, and they are more delicious than you can imagine!"
The locals were reluctant to miss out on something they could eat for free, and the enthusiasm of the little boy Sangji was hard to refuse, so many housewives hiding at home reluctantly tried a small piece...
Then the housewives' eyes lit up.
This so-called Tarantan sweet cookie is actually Yang Qiu’s long-planned killer weapon: expired mooncake.
Anyone with life experience knows that once August 14th passes, mooncakes will start to drop in price on August 15th.
In a few days, the mooncakes originally sold in gift boxes will be taken out and sold separately by merchants, and only the gift boxes will be kept for use next year...
In half a month, a month or two, mooncakes that cost a few yuan a pound will not be sold. Unscrupulous merchants will collect the mooncakes, stuff them with enough preservatives, and sell them next year; conscientious merchants will grind them up and use them as feed...
The batch of mooncakes that Yang Qiu has on hand were intercepted from a merchant on the way to the feed factory... cough cough cough!
This kind of high-sugar, low-water product can be stored for a long time, so you don’t have to worry about the shelf life !
This batch of mooncakes produced by merchants in Province G are mainly five-nut, red bean paste, rock sugar, and sesame mooncakes. Since the red bean paste ones can still be sold, there are not many of them. The rock sugar and sesame mooncakes, which are extremely sweet (to people in Province G), and the five-nut mooncakes, which young people firmly reject, account for 80%.
But for the inhabitants of this world...how can sweetness be considered a disadvantage?! It must be a huge advantage!!
How dare you despise a delicious cookie with almonds, peaches, olives, sesame and melon seeds, with a large filling and a thin crust?! I'd rather starve to death! !
When the housewives heard that this sweet and filling (key point) cookie was only sold for two copper coins each, they could no longer sit still. They hurriedly gathered up the copper coins in their homes and rushed out the door with baskets.
With someone taking the lead, more and more people naturally went out - many people didn't get to buy the good goods that Westam's people had brought to sell before. Even if there was no new product "Tarantan Cookies", people in the surrounding blocks were very willing to buy Westam products.
Soon, the "sales point" that Operator Patton was in charge of was surrounded by three layers of human walls inside and outside.
Most people came here in the beginning for the cheap four-piece suits, thermos bottles, scarves and gloves. Although the communication methods in this world were relatively backward, people also had few entertainment options. The speed at which rare and legendary information spread in human settlements was no slower than the circle of friends on Earth. One night was enough for the information about these Westram products to spread to every household.
After trying the tarantine cookies cut into finger-sized pieces, these alien natives who lived in an environment of scarcity and had never come into contact with the power of overcapacity in their lives experienced the joy and trouble of being a shopaholic for the first time...
The same situation occurred not only at the St. Joseph Street Free Market, but also at the Mary Street Market in the West City, the tavern concentration in the South City, the Cross Square in the East City, and even at the Workers' Square in the North City factory area.
Some citizens who watched the looting in the bar district on St. Joseph Street hurried back home, anxiously mentioned the situation in the bar district, and wanted to discuss with their wives whether they should pack up their belongings and stay at their parents' home in the countryside for a few days.
"Why do you want to live in the countryside?" the wife asked curiously.
The citizens were all shocked: "Didn't you hear what I just said? The new lord actually let his undead rob on the street! The bar area is almost emptied by those undead!"
"You went to the bar district again? Aren't there enough pubs in the South City for you to drink in?" the wife was furious.
"I was just passing by there on my way home from get off work!" the citizen explained hastily, "It's not important. What's important is what I just said, those undead were robbing indiscriminately on the street! Can't you tell the difference?!"
"The new lord wants to rob those rich people who run bars. What does it have to do with you? Can you get a penny from the money those bars earn?" the wife said angrily.
The citizens were furious: "Why don't you think about it? Even the big bars owned by the rich can be robbed at will, what should people like us who don't know anyone and have no background do?"
The wife was also very angry. Years of dissatisfaction suddenly burst out. She spread her hands and said, "Look at this house for yourself. The most valuable thing is the bicycle you bought when you got married. My sewing machine is an antique passed down from my mother. Are these worth stealing? Are those undead spirits going to steal me to be their wife?"
The citizen was choked.
Life in the city was not easy. A small bag of bread cost five copper coins, and a small bottle of butter cost more than twenty copper coins. If it had not been for the autumn harvest, food and vegetables would be cheap. Ordinary families could only have a full meal at noon, and usually only had mashed potatoes to fill their stomachs at night. They did not have much spare money to buy furniture.
The wife shook out the jeans she had just folded and said angrily, "The gentlemen from Westham said that the temperature will drop soon, and they want people who have to work hard in winter to buy one or two sets of warm clothes. They thought that people like us don't have much money, and a set of such thick clothes only costs twenty copper coins. And you, you still think that the new lord from Westham wants to steal your shabby belongings. I have never seen such a ridiculous thing!"
The citizen then noticed the dark blue men's suit in his wife's hand, which looked quite thick, and his face was embarrassed...
Citizens of Westram have already seen people wearing this set of twenty-copper-coin ready-made clothes on the street. Although the style is a bit strange, it must be said that the quality of this clothing is indeed better than all his clothes combined. The design of multiple pockets is also very suitable for men to use to store small tools.
These fine clothes, which would have been priced in silver coins even in a second-hand clothing store, were sold to people by the people of Westram at only twenty copper coins a set. It was really hard to believe that the new lord from Westram would rob everyone of their money.
Seeing her husband give in and smile at her flatteringly, the wife's expression softened a little, and she took out a tarantine cookie wrapped in oil paper from the basket and stuffed it into her husband's pocket: "I bought this with the money left over from buying clothes. Take it with you and fill your stomach when you are not busy in the afternoon."
The citizen smelled the fragrance through the oil paper and couldn't help but smile gratefully at his wife.
On the lunch table, in addition to corn soup and sliced bread, there was also a thick-stuffed cookie cut into triangles...
Similar situations occur in many families.
No matter which world the people are from, they are very resilient. As long as life can go on, people can accept religious brainwashing, high-pressure rule, the pressure from N mountains, and exploitation at all levels.
As long as there are no people with ulterior motives who try to exploit public opinion and maliciously make ordinary people, who are already vulnerable, fight for high positions, wealth and glory for others, the people's acceptance and tolerance will far exceed the imagination of many so-called "masters", "non-profit organizations", "public intellectuals", and "civil rights/religious activists" - such as a certain white elephant, a certain Eagle Sauce, a certain Sun Has Set, and a certain Australia.
The history of the earth's people has proved countless times that there is no so-called irreconcilable contradiction between the masses. The Chinese people who have suffered from invasion will adopt orphans from the island countries, and Christians will lend a helping hand to the suffering white hat believers, and vice versa.
What is truly irreconcilable is the conflict over the right to distribute the cake between politicians, between interest groups, and between civil rights activists and religious elements.
Just a new lord and some formidable undead neighbors were not something worth risking their lives to oppose for the vast majority of Innadri citizens who already had few choices.
Of course... Yang Qiu will not give speculators the opportunity to take advantage of "public opinion".
