November 1st, 341, 7:00 AM.
Tang Li left early and arrived at the bus stop.
Before long, she saw the bus slowly approaching.
Due to the extensive damage to private cars during the floods, A-city officials had reinstated public bus services to facilitate citizen travel, with routes covering all areas of A-city.
Bus fares were also inexpensive, costing only 1 supply allocation coupon for 10 rides.
Since her rented car had been returned, Tang Li planned to take the bus whenever she needed to visit the supply exchange in the coming days.
It was quite convenient as the bus went directly from the entrance of her residential area to the supply exchange.
Naturally, the exchange also offered taxi services.
They could directly pick her up from her home's underground garage and drop her off at the supply exchange's underground garage.
However, the taxi fare was rather steep, costing 1 coupon per trip, or 2 coupons for a round trip.
Furthermore, the service only covered pick-ups from the exchange and drop-offs at home, not transportation to other locations.
Tang Li felt she wasn't that delicate, so she opted for the bus instead.
The bus swayed and stopped intermittently, taking quite some time to reach the supply exchange.
Tang Li did not use the main hall but entered the VIP channel through a side entrance.
Over the past month or so, there were still occasional individuals who were despondent, like the old lady Tang Li had encountered on her first visit, attempting to force their way into the VIP channel.
After several such incidents, the exchange had converted the window of the left elevator lobby into a door, sealing off the original entrance. VIP guests could now directly enter through the newly opened side door.
This, however, was unfortunate for the duty personnel, who now had to stand guard in the biting cold wind instead of the temperature-controlled lobby.
Upon reaching the 11th floor, Zhuo Ya was already waiting for her.
"It's 7:30 now. In another 30 minutes, the exchange window will open."
Seeing Tang Li arrive, Zhuo Ya checked the time and said.
Tang Li nodded and sat down to wait with her.
The nationwide physical supply allocation coupons were officially being issued today, but to exchange them, one had to wait for the exchange window to open at 8:00 AM.
Tang Li had already instructed Zhuo Ya to exchange 100 coupons of each denomination, and they had to be sequential.
The reason for requesting only 100 of each denomination was that government regulations limited each person to a maximum of 100 physical supply allocation coupons of any given denomination.
Considering this was a rare nationwide curfew, many believed that the supply allocation coupons issued now would hold significant collectible value after the curfew ended.
Therefore, there were quite a few people, like Tang Li, who wanted to exchange sequential general-purpose coupons.
The government had to impose restrictions to ensure that the issued physical supply allocation coupons would function in the market as a means of circulation, rather than becoming collectibles in the hands of a few.
"Miss Tang, do you want more general-purpose physical coupons?" Zhuo Ya suddenly asked.
Tang Li raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Manager Zhuo, do you have a way?"
Zhuo Ya smiled. "I wouldn't call it a way."
"It's just that my funds are limited, and I only plan to exchange coupons of smaller denominations. I cannot afford to exchange 100 consecutive coupons of 20, 50, and 100 points."
"If Miss Tang needs them, I can give my quota to you."
Upon hearing this, Tang Li asked, "What are the conditions?"
Zhuo Ya held up three fingers. "300 points."
Tang Li nodded. "Alright."
Although the price was a bit high, considering that Zhuo Ya had only earned over 400 points in commission from her over the past month.
However, for Tang Li, an additional 17,000 points in general-purpose coupons meant she could replicate even more general-purpose coupons upon reaching Jiangcheng, so she wasn't at a disadvantage.
Soon, it was 8:00 AM.
Zhuo Ya busied herself, helping Tang Li convert the points in her supply allocation coupon account into 100 national general-purpose physical supply allocation coupons of each denomination.
There were a total of 10 denominations: 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 points.
100 coupons of each denomination totaled 18,880 points.
Next, Zhuo Ya transferred 17,300 points from Tang Li's supply allocation coupon account to her own, also exchanging 100 coupons of each of the 10 denominations.
Among these, the 20, 50, and 100-point denominations were for Tang Li, totaling 17,000 points.
As for herself, with limited points, she only kept the 7 denominations from 0.1 to 10 points, totaling 1,880 points.
This way, Tang Li now possessed a total of 35,880 points in national general-purpose physical supply allocation coupons.
The original over 36,000 points in her account were now reduced to less than 500 points.
Tang Li suddenly asked, "My account doesn't even have 20,000 points anymore. Am I still a VIP?"