Josh and Margaret stayed in the new house for an afternoon, but in the end, Josh did not stay there that day.
Although he had already received the key and the house was well-equipped, the problem was that the fridge and everything else were empty. The nearest restaurants were quite far away. So without a car, it was inconvenient. Although Josh had stolen a luxury car, that thing couldn't be seen in public in the short term. It could only be kept as a collection or used in special situations.
As for the new car, although Margaret had already arranged for someone to take care of it, it wouldn't be delivered until tomorrow at the earliest.
So seeing that it was almost time, the two returned to the city. After having dinner together, Margaret finally sent Josh home.
"Won't you invite me up for a bit?" Margaret leaned against the steering wheel, smiling as she asked, watching Josh leave the car.
"Uh, you understand, madam. I live alone, so my place is a bit messy... Of course, if you don't mind..." Hearing Margaret's teasing, Josh couldn't help but scratch his head. He didn't mind having something happen with this beautiful woman, but his apartment was a bit messy. He had been busy making a living and hadn't cleaned up much.
As someone from China in his past life, he wasn't used to bringing a woman he had just met back to his place in this situation.
"Haha, just kidding. Go back and rest well. I'll come to pick you up tomorrow morning." Seeing the young man's shy and awkward expression, Margaret laughed happily.
Although they had only met for a day, it was clear that Josh made an excellent impression on her, even giving her a feeling of first love.
In their previous interactions, Josh's behavior was a bit too mature. He pays attention to all the little details that make Margaret feel comfortable but also a bit heartbroken.
After all, in her eyes, a 15-year-old boy must have experienced a lot to understand so much about how to interact with people.
Only now could she see a hint of embarrassment in Josh as a teenager.
"How about this afternoon? I have some things to take care of in the morning." Seeing that Margaret didn't pay too much attention to it, Josh breathed a sigh of relief and said.
Early this morning, he retaliated against the thief who stole his car and then met Margaret to look at houses together. It completely disrupted Josh's original plan.
Although it was about his own life, what was more important was the arms deal with the Mother of Dragons.
The only problem was that it was already late today, and he no longer had a car, so he could only wait until tomorrow. Whether it was this era or the future, American stores generally close relatively early. Usually, they close around five or six o'clock, with only a few communities possibly closing a little later, but generally not after nine. Gun shops typically belong to the former category.
So if Josh wanted to buy a gun now, it was already a bit late.
Therefore, he planned to get a car today and buy a gun tomorrow. Although Margaret said she would arrange a new car for him tomorrow, it didn't prevent Josh from getting a few more cars, especially unregistered or "stolen" cars, to facilitate special situations, such as going to the suburbs without a car.
Anyway, the space in the trading system was large enough. Although the system space was not infinite, the massive space of one thousand cubic kilometers was enough to accommodate an metropolis.
And the time inside the system space was stagnant, so there was no concern about things deteriorating.
Even without trading partners, Josh could make big money through smuggling in such a huge space. Customs wouldn't be able to find anything fishy even if they stripped him to the bone.
However, Josh was currently weak, and the risk of doing this was too high.
After all, judges needed evidence, but colleagues in this line of work didn't.
As long as they suspected you of snatching their business, they had enough reason to take action against you.
In this commercially primitive era, disappearing a few people would not attract any attention.
"Okay, I'll come over at one in the afternoon." Hearing that Josh had something to care for, Margaret didn't ask too many questions and suggested another time.
Josh had no objections to this.
After reaching an agreement, the two officially parted ways.
However, after watching Margaret's car disappear from view, Josh turned around and walked in another direction.
After a dozen minutes, Josh arrived at a parking lot and then sneaked in unnoticed by the guards.
The rest was simple. He just put whichever car he liked into the system warehouse.
Some people might wonder why he could just take the car without the key.
But, in this era, as long as you could open the car door, you could quickly drive the car away without a key.
Because the car keys in this era were simply used to unlock the car door and serve a simple anti-theft function.
And starting the car was done with a one-button start, which people from the 21st century are very familiar with.
Yes, a one-button start, instead of using a car key to start the car.
The only difference is that the premise of the one-button start of future cars is that the starter must have an electronic key with chip recognition, which is not required for the one-button start in this era.
The first generation of car starters did not need a "key." Before 1927, cars used a crank start, just like tractors in the 80s and 90s.
After the invention of electronic ignition in 1927, a one-button start was possible.
The kind of mechanical key start that later generations are familiar with was invented by Chrysler after 1949.
That's why when Josh was stealing a car from an old warehouse and locking up Joe and Mike in the car, he poured a jug of coffee into the old Ford's gas tank.
But he insisted on having the Cadillac V16 car key simply because he didn't want to damage the window.
Otherwise, he could smash the window and drive away.
However, Josh didn't want to use violence on such a rare and valuable car with only over 4000 units worldwide.
But it didn't matter as much for temporary spare cars.
Just find a place with no one around, break the window, and drive away.
So when he entered the parking lot, Josh didn't choose carefully and simply "borrowed" seven or eight black conventional model cars. Then, he avoided the guards at the parking lot gate and left quietly.
The whole process went smoothly, but Josh wouldn't be complacent about it. He didn't think that he could steal whatever he wanted just because there was a system warehouse.
After all, other places wouldn't be like parking lots with almost any defense. Even if Josh was discovered, he would, at most, be suspected for a while.
When Josh got home, he checked the time on his watch. It was around 7 p.m.
After some thought, he summoned the trading interface.
However, this time Daenerys appeared a bit late.
Josh waited for fifteen minutes, and when he was about to give up, the scantily clad Daenerys finally appeared on the screen.
"Oops, looks like I interrupted your good time!" Josh joked with a smirk, looking at the flushed and amorous Daenerys on the screen.
The queen of this otherworldly land had just experienced a fierce battle.
It seemed that Daenerys had returned to Meereen, and her opponent in the battle was probably Dario, the second-in-command of the mercenary group.
"Since you know that, pick a better time next time," Daenerys replied calmly to Josh's teasing.
The Westeros culture is very open-minded. Daenerys has experienced even more embarrassing situations, so Josh's jokes couldn't faze her.
"But that is a problem. Although trading is important, it's not good if it interferes with our personal lives. So let's set a fixed time. If an unexpected situation causes us to miss the time, the trade will be postponed until the next day." Josh suggested.
"That's not a bad idea. So what time do you suggest?" Daenerys had no objections to the proposal.
"Let's go with 7 p.m. according to the system time. Each waiting time will be 10 minutes, so if neither of us appears by 7:10 p.m., the trade will be automatically postponed to the next day. This way, we don't have to worry about disturbing each other unless there's an emergency." Josh suggested, looking at the time on the system.
Although it was a different dimension, according to the trading system's prompt, the time flow rate of all trading interfaces would automatically synchronize with the time of Josh's dimension. The time displayed on the system was based on his current Chicago time.
"Okay!" Daenerys agreed after some thought. This time was basically her rest time, and the nightlife in Westeros was actually quite monotonous, so it was easy to find the time. She had also been missing for a while today, and Dario had been tough to deal with, so she had been delayed.
"Now that we've settled the matter of time, do you have any surprises for me today?" Daenerys asked.
"Sorry, I had a little accident today, so I couldn't prepare the goods. I've prepared something else for you to make up for it." Josh said, placing two paper bags on the trading interface and directly trading them without asking for any money.
"What is it?" Daenerys didn't complain about Josh's lack of preparation.
Although she valued firearms, she already had one of the strongest military forces in Westeros, so her short-term demand for firearms was not very urgent.
However, she was still looking forward to what new and interesting things Josh had prepared for her.
"Some sugar and chocolate." Josh shrugged.
As he said, the two paper bags contained one pound of sugar and one pound of chocolate, which is less than half a kilogram each.
He bought them from a store he passed by with Margaret before lunch when they went to look at houses.
Although the quantity seemed small, don't think that Josh was being stingy.
Indeed, sugar was one of the most strictly controlled commodities among civilian goods during the American war period, even more so than tires and gasoline. The standard weekly sugar ration (including chocolate) per person was only 0.25 pounds, about two ounces.
And this one pound of sugar and one pound of chocolate was already all the sugar coupons in possession of the black market dealer Mike.
"I know what sugar is, but what is chocolate?" When Daenerys heard it was sugar, she didn't think much of it. After all, as the Queen of Meereen, she could afford to eat sugar. However, she was very interested in the chocolate that Josh mentioned.
"It's a candy made from a fruit unique to our world, with a pleasant mood-boosting effect," Josh explained.
"Wait, this is sugar? Such pure sugar?" Daenerys was obviously very interested when she heard Josh's explanation. Still, when she opened the bag of white sugar, she was stunned.
Although Westeros had dragons, magic, and maybe even gods, in terms of productivity, it might not even compare to medieval Europe.
So even if there was sugar, it would be the kind of rough brown sugar cubes at most.
Refined white sugar was unheard of.
"Exactly, that's sugar, because it's small and looks like white sand, so it's called white granulated sugar," nodded Josie.
"Oh my, this taste is so pure and sweet," exclaimed Daenerys as she delicately picked up a small amount of white sugar using her slender little fingernail and slowly brought it to her lips.
She savored the taste and felt like she was trying a peerless delicacy. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.
Josh watched her careful tasting process and the enraptured look on her face. He couldn't help but curl his lips and, for a moment, even doubted whether he had given her sugar or some indescribable source of sin.
"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away, but I've never tasted such a pure sweet flavor!" After savoring it for a while, Daenerys returned to her senses and told Josh.
"It's okay, but I think you'll like chocolate even more after you try it," Josh shrugged.
"Thank you, I'll savor it carefully, but such pure sugar must be very expensive, right?" Daenerys couldn't help but ask.
"Well, it's costly. After all, it's strictly controlled as a strategic resource during the war," Jorah nodded. These two pounds of sugar and chocolate cost him $4 in addition to ration coupons.
And how much does regular beef cost? 40 cents a pound.
This is the price with ration coupons.
If you buy it with money on the black market, the price will probably be several times higher.
There is no doubt that this price, compared to the low white sugar prices in later generations, is considered sky-high.
In fact, sugar in the United States is still considered cheap.
During World War II, the most dramatic increase in sugar prices was actually for chicken feed.
During its highest price period, sugar had increased by 770 times compared to pre-war prices, while war supplies such as grain and gasoline had only increased by 50 times.
After World War II, a US soldier could buy a gentle and considerate Japanese woman with just one piece of chocolate.
However, what Josh called "quite expensive" is a low price compared to the low prices in later generations.
But Daenerys misunderstood and thought that Josh had spent a lot of gold on the sugar.
If you have watched Game of Thrones, you know that as a queen, Daenerys is very generous to her subordinates.
Although Josh is not her subordinate, he has offered such precious food, and she feels that she cannot let Josh lose out.
So she waved her hand, and the system sounded a trading prompt.
Then Josh was dumbfounded.
Because the trading column, gold was displayed prominently, 1000 ounces.
This woman must be crazy, right?
Josh knew that sugar was expensive in ancient times, but based on medieval Europe, which lacked sugar, and chicken feed during World War II, the price was at most the same as gold.
But exchanging 1000 ounces of gold for two pounds of sugar was already thirty times the price of gold.
Why sell guns when you can sell sugar?
Fortunately, what Daenerys said next made Josh understand she was not crazy.
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