Late at night, husband and wife met in the space.
Pei Jing asked Zhi Xia, "What's going on with your fourth brother? He's been home for a month and I haven't heard him talk about getting married. The day before yesterday he told me his injury was better and he wanted to return to the team. But yesterday he said he wanted to take a few more days off to get married?"
Because the call was rushed, and with so many other things going on recently, she hadn't explained it very clearly.
Thinking about fourth brother's cluelessness when it came to relationships, Zhi Xia couldn't help laughing out loud.
After Pei Jing heard the whole story from Zhi Xia, he was also at a loss for words about An ZhiAng's reaction.
Grandma was completely right, this was purely self-inflicted misery.
When others were pursuing him he wasn't happy. He just had to take the initiative to chase her before she became fragrant.
"Right, I haven't asked about you yet. The floods were over a month ago, why are you still so busy? From what Grandpa and Grandma said, fourth brother's wedding is set for the next few days. Will you be able to make it back?"
When it came to this, Zhi Xia wanted to complain. She had originally been transferred back here because it was close and convenient to go home.
But when the special forces team was first formed, he was busy those first few months, going home less than once a month, and always in a rush when he did.
Now it had been several years, and he still rarely came home.
"I'm sorry." Pei Jing also knew he was too busy and seldom had time to accompany her and the children.
Other than those two words, he didn't seem to be able to find a way to make up for her. The only thing he could do was explain to her why he couldn't go home. "Zhi Xia, there are many towns around that were hit by the disaster. The reservoirs and sluice gates were washed away. One village close by was completely washed away, and the crops were also knocked over and collapsed by the heavy rain. Even worse, some were drowned directly by the rainwater. It looks like harvest season but there's no harvest at all. Recently, the troops have been helping the disaster areas harvest crops and rebuild. We'll probably be even busier repairing dams."
Zhi Xia had also heard about this from the news. According to Hu Zhou, grain prices on the black market had recently skyrocketed and were very difficult to buy.
Because most of the newly harvested grain this year had gone bad, sprouted, or had other problems. Very little was completely fine.
The only consolation was that the affected areas were only the rural areas around Jin City, so grain could still be obtained from other regions.
Soon after the rain, she had Hu Zhou slow down the fabric business and gradually start selling off grain instead. But she didn't dare go too far, and the prices were only slightly higher than the state stores.
Any lower, and people might become suspicious about the source of her grain.
But as she said, grain was a consumable item. She had already done her best to get as much grain as possible into the market while still protecting herself. But for Jin City's huge population, it was just a drop in the bucket.
Seeing the worried look on Pei Jing's face, Zhi Xia asked him, "Do you need my help? I can't do much with other things, but I can provide grain and supplies. Let me know."
Pei Jing's understanding of Zhi Xia's space was limited to the residence that came with the trading period, and the rooms she had expanded using star coins. He also knew she had a farmable garden, but didn't know exactly how big it was or how much could be grown there.
Once you stepped outside this residence, time sped up over fourfold. Even Zhi Xia, the owner of this space, didn't dare try it, let alone him and the kids who were just tagging along.
Hearing her so confident, Pei Jing asked her, "How much grain can you provide? And the government's prices won't be too high, possibly even lower than the state stores."
After all, it was Zhi Xia's stuff. As her husband, Pei Jing couldn't just take it by force. So some things had to be made clear in advance.
"Money isn't a problem. It was all grown by me anyway, just the cost of seeds. As for the amount, you can tell me directly how much and what types you need. I can also provide some daily necessities, but I have one condition - you can't expose me."
Pei Jing smiled and pulled her into his arms. "I don't need you to say that. Protecting you and the kids is my first priority."
He could give his all for the country and people, but he wouldn't ask the same of his wife and children.
As long as they didn't break the law, being ordinary people was good enough.
Moreover, the world wasn't only full of good people. Only by interacting at certain levels did one know the complexity of the world. He fully agreed with Zhi Xia's desire to not expose herself.
The two smiled at each other, with Zhi Xia responding to him as well.
She felt that sometimes caring too much about love was meaningless. Just leaning on each other like now, trusting each other, was already very satisfying.
This time Pei Jing didn't rush to leave the space. He took paper and pen and started calculating what supplies were needed right in front of her.
Grain was definitely the priority, since it was an assignment from above for them to purchase supplies.
Jin City used a mix of rice and noodles. Most of the flour came from high yielding corn and sweet potatoes. For this purchase, those two were the top choices.
He tentatively opened his mouth. "100,000 catties each of corn flour and sweet potato flour? Do you have that much? And cotton..."
He felt like he was asking for a lot, because he didn't know how long Zhi Xia's space had existed. But from when he first found out, it had been five or six years. Over those years she should have accumulated quite a bit of grain.
And she was clever. If she didn't have much grain, she wouldn't have boldly told him to say how much he needed first.
Of course, for all of Jin City, this amount of supplies was definitely insufficient.
But this was just the amount the government was purchasing. More free supplies would still be obtained from other regions.
If not for Zhi Xia today, next they would have sent people north to the major grain producing provinces and state farms to collect grain.
Zhi Xia didn't even hesitate. "No problem, I can take that out."
"That's great." Pei Jing let out a sigh of relief.
This year, even with money, buying grain wasn't easy.
The original plan was to send people north to negotiate. But since Zhi Xia had it here, he planned to go personally to keep up appearances and buy a little to cover things up.
After all, he couldn't conjure it out of thin air.
An ZhiAng's wedding was in five days. Pei Jing came back a day early.
At the same time, the rush order of pearl jewelry that Zhi Xia had the aquaculture magnate help process was also completed.
The whole set had three styles - necklace, earrings, and bracelet. The necklace was made by stringing and weaving holes, very complex and gorgeous. The bracelet and earrings had added jade and stones for a fresher, prettier look. There was also a matching pearl hairpin.
The remaining pearls were designed into several individual pieces of jewelry. Just the design was beautiful. Added to the round, full pearls produced in the space, the finished jewelry was irresistible.
Zhi Xia nicely packaged the set for Su Ying in a high quality sandalwood box, and selected a set suitable for Grandma before going next door.
"You're just in time. Hurry up and help paste these happy characters. The wedding is tomorrow, we have to finish all this today." Grandma looked somewhat anxious. She was also getting older, and her hands had started shaking badly.
