America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 49 Dinner Party

"Family, I'm home!"

Zhang Ailun and Simone rode their bicycles back to their base camp under the bridge.

Sig rushed over upon hearing the commotion and, seeing the large bags and packages he was carrying, immediately jogged over to help carry some of the load.

"You bought so much stuff?"

Dominic was also somewhat surprised; this meal was equivalent to the cost of several days of hard work collecting cans.

Upon receiving the dishes, I discovered they were all in airtight containers and needed to be heated to improve their flavor. I promptly pulled out the spoils I had gathered during my day's hunt: a food heater I had picked up in front of an apartment building in the neighborhood.

According to local custom, any old items that homeowners no longer need are usually left at the door to be given to someone who needs them.

Disposing of old furniture and appliances is a real hassle. You need to call a professional tow truck and transport personnel to get them to a recycling center. You also have to pay extra for transportation based on the weight and individual items, which adds up to a lot of money. So it's better to just leave them at your doorstep and give them to someone else to use.

Dominic had originally planned to sell it as scrap metal another day, but now it could come in handy. Although the food heater was a bit old, it was still a product from last year and was fully functional.

"Leo, how was your day?"

Zhang Ailun also looked at the homeless man Leo and the unfamiliar woman beside him.

"Not bad, at least I wasn't bullied today, thanks to your help, Mr. Kim. You've given me a stable job."

Leo was extremely grateful and then introduced the homeless woman next to him, "This is Monica."

"Hello Monica," Zhang Ailun greeted her with a smile.

The other person was also a white man, about the same age as Leo, but not as old. He was also dressed neatly, wearing a red scarf, but looked somewhat haggard. His blond hair seemed to have faded. This is what it's like to be a homeless person, sleeping rough and rough. Not every homeless person can live as peacefully as they do in the bridge-underground camp.

I don't know what method Leo used to persuade the other party to join the scavenger team.

"Hello, Hamburger." Monica seemed a little reserved. She had also learned about Zhang Ailun's deeds from Leo and knew that he was a prestigious person who was also very ruthless towards black people on the street.

But as one of their own, they were very kind. They even generously shared their territory with other homeless people to do can recycling work, giving them the opportunity to earn money. They only took a small share of the profits, which was simply unbelievable.

He looks like someone destined for great things!

"Don't be shy. Feel at home here. Nobody here is a bad person," Zhang Ailun reassured the other person.

"Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity and a place to work," Monica said gratefully.

Zhang Ailun waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite. The purpose of our Beggars' Sect is to enable every member of the Beggars' Sect to live a better life!

They pulled out the soot-blackened oil drum, lit the firewood and waste newspapers with a lighter, and sat around the campfire. They took out their phones and played soothing music, with snacks and various foods laid out in front of them. They chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere became lively and engaging.

Before long, Jason and Fitz returned as well.

The former was carrying two cases of energy drinks that he had somehow gotten for free, while the latter was carrying bags and bags of daily necessities.

After exchanging greetings, Jason sat down next to Zhang Ailun, handed him an energy drink, and, with his arm around his shoulder, immediately declared, "Drink up! This is our spoils from a job we did today!"

"Job assignment? Which street?"

Simone asked in surprise, "Why didn't I receive any notification about the free purchase event?"

"It's not what you think. It's a 24-hour supermarket that went out of business and closed down. They had a lot of things they couldn't get rid of, so they opened their doors to the public for a discount sale. The most expensive item was only $12, and many things were even free. Jason and I happened to be passing by, so we took a household kettle, six bars of bath soap, two pairs of slippers, and two cases of energy drinks."

Fitz, the Black woman, immediately explained, "There are quite a few free shopping events on the streets lately, and they're increasing every day. There are also more Southern Precinct officers patrolling the streets. We don't want to lose out on something big!"

"Fxxk! Why didn't you call me when there was such a good opportunity? I always miss these chances!" Simone said, somewhat annoyed.

"How's your business?"

Zhang Ailun asked, "Simone said you're partnering with people to grow leaves? Are those people reliable?"

Jason and Fitz exchanged a glance, both somewhat helpless. "Let's just leave it at that..."

"It might be a technical issue that caused the leaves to wither when they sprouted. We're planning to buy another bag of seeds and try planting them again. If that doesn't work either, we'll give up."

The two were clearly still not giving up.

Who would feel at peace if they invested hundreds of dollars and it all went down the drain?

Zhang Ailun remained silent, though he really wanted to ask if he'd been tricked. Was growing a leaf really that difficult? Was it a problem with the raw materials?

As long as the greenhouse is set up properly, it should be effective very quickly. As long as there is a suitable growing environment, that thing grows incredibly fast, just like weeds!

But seeing that the two of them were determined to keep going until they hit a wall, it wasn't good to discourage their enthusiasm.

Simone sat down next to her, and the three of them huddled together and began to whisper among themselves.

Zhang Ailun wasn't very interested in their business, so he joined the Beggars' Gang and went to talk to Dominic and the others.

"Dominic, how many cans did everyone collect today? You should have figured it out by now, right?" Zhang Ailun asked, leaning over.

Dominic immediately laughed, "Of course! I was just about to report our results to you. We now have four blocks of territory to collect cans. Today we collected a total of 2869 cans, averaging six or seven hundred cans per block. That's more than I usually collect in half a week!"

"I also went to the street with the pawn shops you mentioned, but there weren't actually that many jars there. There aren't many jars to be found on the street. Even after all the trash cans were emptied, there were only about four hundred jars, many of which were glass bottles. However, Leo did find half a box of pretty good quality leaf gummies, and David and Gates have already gone to sell them to people on the street."

"You can find eight or nine hundred jars over Wapson Street."

It sounds like a lot, but when six people are out there playing in the wild, the amount split is actually not that much.

Each person collected an average of over four hundred cans a day, which is about twenty dollars.

But this is already a pretty good income level. Leo's previous income was mostly below $15, and he was often robbed, ending up with nothing and not making any money at all.

Collecting cans has never been the main way for scavengers to make money. The rare drop rate of treasure chests is where they can really make money. Otherwise, it would take a long time to earn a thousand dollars just by collecting cans.

Dominic and Leo both found something else. Dominic picked up a usable food heater, which might be worth $5 to $10 if sold, but he could keep it for himself.

Leo picked up half a box of leaf gummies, which were of good quality and contained a good amount of fruit; they should be worth several tens of dollars.

Legitimate stores sell leaf-based products, including leaf oil e-cigarettes, leaf gummies, and various types of edible leaf flowers, with prices ranging from $16 to $200, far exceeding the prices sold on the street. Moreover, these stores only accept cash, making them unaffordable for the poor. Most people still prefer to shop on the street.

A gram of tobacco leaves typically costs over ten dollars, while the cost of leaves grown indoors is only $0.3 per gram. Most flavored cigarettes only contain a small amount of leaves, so the price is not high.

It has to be said that this industry is extremely profitable!

Zhang Ailun did not mandate the recycling of small items they found on the street.

Only when participating in official duties at his request, such as raiding a community or a wealthy area, will valuable items found be confiscated.

Like the Vantini gold necklace he found today, or the Cartier watch Dominic once picked up, these kinds of valuable items must be handed over for recycling.

For other inexpensive trinkets, a symbolic 20%-40% commission is sufficient. The commission for the cans remains unchanged at a stable 20%.

After all, even if a person works himself to death, running around all day, he can only collect a few thousand cans at most.

If you're even more ruthless and take half the profits, who would want to work for you?

(End of this chapter)