“The owners of this house are going abroad with their son. They’re asking for either a full purchase or a minimum three-year lease. It must be rented as a whole, rent paid one year at a time, and every month you have to take photos of several fruit trees behind the house and send them to the owners!”
This property had been listed for almost a month. It wasn’t that no one asked, but everyone thought it was too troublesome. The rent had to be paid yearly! The owner said that if it still wasn’t rented out after another three days, they would take the listing down because they were leaving the country soon.
“How much is the annual rent?”
These demands didn’t seem that difficult. Just taking photos. Besides, in seven months the apocalypse would arrive—who would still be taking photos at that time?
“For one year—minimum rental is three years. Rent paid yearly, with a 5,000-yuan deposit!”
For a rural self-built house, these were indeed harsh requirements. That was why people asked, but no one signed.
“You just said this house is in Changfu Village. Where is that? How far is it from here?”
Han Ying intended to use this self-built house for something important. It couldn’t be too far nor too close—otherwise it would be inconvenient.
“Changfu Village is in Qingping Town of Peng City. I’ll show you the map.”The agent pulled up a map and typed in Changfu Village. The distance displayed was 19.3 kilometers.
19.3 kilometers—quite close. Within Peng City, finding a self-built house that still had both a well and a spring was extremely rare.
“I’ll take this house!”Seeing the distance, Han Ying immediately decided. From here to the village was 19.3 km, meaning it was about 25 km from the university district—only one step on the gas pedal. Acceptable.
Han Ying rented the house using the name Xia Jing.She immediately paid one year’s rent in cash, plus the 5,000-yuan deposit and the agency fee, and arranged to move in the next day.
After settling the rural house, she used Xia Jing’s identity to rent a 500-square-meter warehouse and a 100-plus-square-meter freezer through the same agency.
This agency also handled job placements, so she hired two men in their fifties to help watch the warehouse and receive goods. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven hours a day, 6,000 yuan monthly plus one reimbursed lunch. They would start work the next morning.
By the time she left the agency, it was already noon.She’d been busy all morning and was starving. Unwilling to treat herself poorly, she found a small restaurant, booked a private room, ordered a table of food, and began eating.
After just a few bites, her eyes lit up.They weren’t fancy dishes, but they tasted excellent. No worse than those in star-rated hotels!
She immediately called in the server and ordered takeaway—about twenty dishes, ten servings of each. She wanted to meet the head chef to discuss flavor preferences and ingredient details.
Seeing such a big customer, the server said nothing more and went to call the kitchen.
Soon, a chubby chef wearing a chef’s hat walked in.
“Chef, did you make all these dishes?” She pointed at the food.
“I did. Why?”He was still catching his breath—minutes ago the manager said a customer wanted to place a huge order but wanted to clarify seasonings first. He didn’t expect the customer to be such a young girl.
“Your cooking is delicious. How much are you paid here per month?” She gave him a thumbs-up.
“I’m still in my probation period—4,000 now. After probation, 7,000.”
Coincidentally, Shi Yong was once the head chef at Peng City’s Sanxin Hotel, earning over 10,000 a month. But his blunt mouth offended the manager often. After he trained his apprentice, the manager simply fired him. Feeling betrayed, Shi Yong caused a big scene but gained nothing. Worse, no hotel in Peng City would hire him afterward. Forced by life, he ended up working at this small restaurant—and even needed a three-month probation.
“Come with me. I’ll hire you for half a year. I’ll pay you 180,000 for those six months. Think about it. Call me when you’ve decided.”Han Ying pulled out pen and paper, writing down her phone number and name—the Xia Jing identity she used earlier.
“Huh?”Shi Yong stared at the note in his hand, stunned. This girl was… poaching him?!
180,000 for half a year!That was 30,000 per month—double what he earned as head chef at Sanxin Hotel. Even if the job lasted only six months, that amount was equal to over two years of working at this restaurant. Only a fool would refuse. At worst, after half a year, he could find another job or open his own small restaurant with the money.
“Then… do you still want the dishes you ordered?” he asked, tucking the note into his pocket.He already knew his answer, but he still wanted to discuss with his wife.
“Yes, of course! They’re delicious!”Han Ying didn’t hold back on her praise.
“Haha… haha…”Embarrassed, Shi Yong chuckled. He’d been praised before—mostly by elderly customers—but this was the first time a beautiful young girl complimented him. It felt different.
After Shi Yong left, Han Ying quickly finished the food. But the dishes she ordered for takeout would take longer to prepare. Not wanting to waste time, she paid and told them she’d return in two hours to pick them up.
Even though seven months remained before the apocalypse, she had too much to prepare. She couldn’t waste even two hours.
With her phone, she located a nearby used-car dealership. Under a tree with no surveillance cameras, she placed her SUV into her spatial storage and left it on her acre of internal land.Though the land area was only one acre, the space above it was infinite. Unlike storage talismans, however, this infinite space didn’t preserve freshness—time flowed normally.
She then took a taxi to the used-car dealer and bought a 3-ton box truck under her own name. This would greatly help with stockpiling supplies.
Checking the time, she still had nearly an hour before picking up her food.The dealership owner recommended an outdoor-gear store, so she went there.
She claimed she was preparing for a club’s outdoor canyon-descent event and ordered 50 full sets of survival gear. Each set included a tent kit, backpack, climbing ropes, trekking poles, pitons, harness, ascender, descender, various carabiners, slings, rock hammer, cookware, lighting, knives, tarps, compass, and more—over twenty items each.
They also wanted some water-based activities, so she ordered 50 inflatable assault boats and 50 kayaks.