Chapter 72 - 71: The Whole Family is Busy Making Money

Goldie would be responsible for providing the raw materials and selling the finished products, while Sev would handle the crafting.

The cushions were priced according to three different tiers.

The most basic ones, like the type Rusty wove, would earn a processing fee of 50 points each. The ones with simple patterns, woven by Zephyr, would earn 150 points each. Finally, the ones Sev crafted—which could be considered works of art—would earn 2,000 points each.

Sev guaranteed a weekly delivery of fourteen cushions for each of the first two types, and one cushion per week for the final type.

She was well aware of the principle that premium goods had to be rare and exquisite; if there were too many, they would lose their value. Besides, she still had to go out scavenging. She couldn’t just stay home every day weaving.

After all, in the wasteland, food was the most important thing. Things like cushions were merely decorative items for the rich to enjoy in their leisure time. Since they weren’t necessities, they couldn’t provide a long-term guarantee of livelihood.

"Then it’s settled," Goldie said. "From now on, I’ll send someone to deliver the raw materials to you regularly and pick up the finished products at the same time. We’ll do this once a week."

"Alright, no problem! A pleasure doing business with you! Goodbye!" Sev briskly reached out and shook his hand in farewell.

What Sev didn’t mention was that she also knew bamboo weaving techniques. However, she had no intention of revealing all her skills at once.

Simple rattan weaving wasn’t overly difficult; anyone determined enough could figure it out after some study. By the time the rattan weaving craft stopped being profitable, she would introduce bamboo weaving, creating items like bamboo teacups and flower baskets.

If she was going to do it, she had to maintain a monopoly. That was the best way to make money.

Upon leaving the barbershop, Sev was dragged off by Seth Jennings to her dorm.

Although Seth called it a dorm, it wasn’t small at all. With one bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen, it spanned a full sixty square meters—even larger than the house Sev and the kids used to live in back in Area D.

Seth closed the door and set up a sound insulation barrier before speaking mysteriously. "Sev, could you sell me a few bottles of that venom you mixed? Don’t worry! I absolutely won’t reveal its source, nor will I leak the formula."

"We’ve been through life and death together," Sev said. "If you want some, I can just give you a few bottles for free. But you’ll have to provide the Blue Tears."

"No, no, no," Seth said anxiously. "Friendship is friendship, and business is business. You have four kids to raise, so I definitely can’t take advantage of you for nothing!"

"Alright, then how do you think we should price it?" Sev asked helplessly.

"For venom with similar effects, a small fifty-milliliter bottle sells for at least ten thousand points, and it’s virtually unobtainable at any price! Pharmacists in District Nine are rare to begin with, and those specializing in poison are even rarer. Plus, they’re usually the ones with poorer pharmaceutical skills who had to resort to unconventional methods.

"The venoms they produce are far less effective than yours, yet they still sell for around five thousand points. So, I’ll price yours at fifty thousand points per bottle. How does that sound?" Seth proposed.

A Blue Tears Spray Bottle had a capacity of two hundred milliliters. If fifty milliliters went for ten thousand points, the fifty thousand points per bottle she offered was considered a very high price.

"What’s the market price for a bottle of Blue Tears?" Sev asked in return.

"Our Mercenary Guild always orders in large batches, so the price isn’t too expensive. It’s eight thousand points a bottle," Seth blurted out, before immediately covering her mouth.

"Let’s do this then," Sev said decisively. "I’ll charge you thirty thousand points per bottle, and your teammates thirty-five thousand points per bottle. Those extra five thousand points will be your finder’s fee. No more haggling with me, or I won’t sell it to you at all."

Since Seth was so eager to get her hands on the venom she mixed, it was obvious that buying similar products was incredibly difficult.

They were friends now, but even the best of friends had to keep their accounts clear. Giving things away for free was fine once or twice, but over time, it would sour the relationship. Seth was generous and offered her a high enough price, so Sev couldn’t let her take a loss either. Deducting the eight thousand points for the cost of each bottle of Blue Tears, she could have originally priced it at thirty-two thousand points per bottle.

By offering a friend price of thirty thousand points and a market price of thirty-five thousand points, Seth would feel comfortable, and Sev would be at ease.

Seth still wanted to raise the price a bit more, but seeing Sev’s firm attitude, she had to drop the idea. However, she had an even better impression of Sev in her heart. She thought that this girl was definitely worth a long-term friendship!

After bidding farewell to Seth, Sev walked home with a brisk step. When she informed the four children about her partnership with Goldie, the whole family erupted in excitement!

What the four kids had always desired most was to quickly grow up to be eight years old. That way, they could go out scavenging and earn money for the family. Now, they finally had an opportunity to earn money, and they didn’t even need to wait until they were eight.

The happiest of all were naturally Rusty and Zephyr, as the cushions they wove had received the buyer’s approval.

Firestone was quite distressed. He seemed to be naturally clumsy and simply wasn’t cut out for crafting. Rose couldn’t even match her second brother, so naturally, she was even more worried.

However, before she had time to fret, her Hearthland adoptive mother used a dagger to pry open the rusty box and take out the seeds inside.

The box wasn’t large, with a volume of only fifty by forty by forty centimeters. Inside, it was divided into three compartments, and each compartment held twenty aluminum foil vacuum bags. The labels stamped on the outside of the box had long rusted into a blur, but the labels on the vacuum bags inside were still clearly visible.

The bottom compartment stored various medicinal seeds, the middle compartment held vegetable seeds, and the top layer contained grain seeds.

With trembling hands, Sev took out the grain seeds and carefully examined the labels on each bag.

There was desert rice, seawater rice, high-yield wheat, Starry Sky No. 1 corn, cold-resistant barley, and saline-alkali-tolerant sorghum. These were true staple foods! There were also auxiliary food seeds: sweet potatoes, potatoes, cassava, yams, pumpkins, taro, and more.

Looking at these seed labels, Sev couldn’t help but burst into loud, sobbing tears!

"Mom, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you?" Rose asked hastily, frightened by the outburst.

"No, Mom is just too happy!" Sev replied, wiping away her tears as a burning light flickered in her eyes. "Did you know? As long as you can cultivate just one kind of these seeds, we will never go hungry again!"

Hearing this, the four little ones widened their eyes in complete disbelief!

None of them were literate, so naturally, they couldn’t read the words on the labels. But when their mother said that planting these seeds meant they would never starve again, they perfectly understood.

All four of them were born in The Slums and had grown accustomed to starving and freezing since childhood. Now, suddenly hearing that they would never go hungry again felt like a dream. No, even in their dreams, they only dreamt of an occasional full meal. They never dared to wish for a full stomach at every meal.

"Mom, is what you’re saying true? Can these seeds really let me eat my fill every day from now on?" Rusty was the first to speak. His tone carried a hint of doubt, but mostly, it was a plea for confirmation.

Being able to eat his fill every day was something so wonderful he didn’t even dare to dream of it. At most, he occasionally dreamt of a table covered in food, only to wake up before he could even take a bite.

After waking up, he would always feel like crying!