When imagining things, of course, you write about how to use the Space in the most enjoyable way possible—but who knew it would actually come true!
If Xie Zhizhi knew this Space was hers, she’d probably laugh herself silly.
The most, most, most important function was being able to hide inside the Space, move around, and see the outside world—a lifesaving trump card. How awesome!
The smile on Xie Zhizhi’s delicate, round cheeks never faded.
So she headed to the neighboring Bird Market again.
Thinking to herself: Buying a little of everything, over five million seems like it’ll last a while, but maybe I should sell the house anyway. Actually, right after graduating, she’d wanted to sell the house and move to a coastal city because she loves seafood, but she never found the right opportunity.
As for that shop, selling it together would bring in a lot of money for stocking up!
At the very least, traveling the world in the future would be nice.
On the way, she made a call to schedule a meeting with the real estate agent she’d spoken to earlier.
Arriving at the Bird Market, the first stall had a very spacious area, with lively roosters standing tall and proud in their pens, as if afraid no one would notice them.
“Cluck-cluck-cluck”—the surroundings were filled with the sounds of chickens.
“Boss lady, I’d like to buy some chicks,” Xie Zhizhi said, looking at the auntie feeding the chickens.
The boss lady turned around and saw a fair-skinned, petite young girl. She smiled kindly and asked, “How many does the young lady want?”
“Ten hens, and one rooster…” She wasn’t too fond of eating rooster meat, so Xie Zhizhi paused before continuing, “Will that combination produce eggs that can hatch into chicks?”
Would it be too much for them?
The boss lady understood her meaning and laughed heartily, “If you want to raise them, it’s best to get a few more, just in case some get sick and die.”
That made sense. If they died, there’d be no chicks. She’d heard that meat from chickens raised from a young age was especially tender and flavorful, with a distinct chicken aroma. Now that she had the means, of course she should raise some.
“Then make it twenty hens and ten roosters. The same combination for white ducks and black ducks… and geese too…”
She thought for a moment, then spotted the pigeons nearby and continued.
“Also pigeons, quails, and partridges—twenty females and ten males each. Pick the liveliest ones for me, all small chicks. Thank you, boss lady.” Raising them herself should make them taste even better. Commercially raised adult chickens and ducks tended to have tougher meat. Xie Zhizhi glanced around and listed everything she saw.
The boss lady put down the feed bowl in her hands and smiled, “No problem.”
“How much are these cages?” Xie Zhizhi pointed to the plastic chicken cages nearby, which weren’t too dirty and looked newly bought.
The boss lady instructed her assistant to weigh the chickens and, hearing the question, turned back with a smile, “These are ninety yuan each, bought just last month. Do you want to use the cages to carry them?”
Xie Zhizhi wanted to buy the cages for easier transport, so she nodded. “Carrying so many in bags would suffocate them, right? I’ll buy these cages to carry them, and make sure they’re spaced out so they can breathe. Can you deliver them to a nearby warehouse?”
“Sure! No problem at all. Let me calculate the total for you. Chicks, geese, and partridges are ten yuan each, while quails, black ducks, white ducks, and pigeons are eight yuan each, with thirty of each type paired up.” The boss lady was quick-witted, tapping away on her calculator with a flurry of clicks. In less than a minute, she had the total ready and scribbled it down on a slip. “Four cages at three hundred sixty yuan, plus the live chicks at one thousand eight hundred sixty yuan, comes to a total of two thousand two hundred twenty yuan.””By the way, I’ll also take a bag of grain bran and a bag of chicken feed, and over there, I’d like a pound each of the freshly collected large and small eggs,” Xie Zhizhi scanned the QR code and asked, “How much is that in total?”
“Grain bran is twenty, chicken feed is one hundred twenty, large eggs are six yuan per pound, and newly laid eggs are nine yuan per pound, so that comes to two thousand three hundred seventy-five. For the chicken coop depreciation, let’s just call it two thousand three hundred fifty.”
“Alright.”
They even accounted for depreciation—the shop owner was quite reasonable.
She paid and left her phone number and warehouse address as well. “Here’s the address. Just give me a call when it’s delivered. Thank you.”
The shop owner smiled and agreed.
Xie Zhizhi waved goodbye and left the market. Sitting in the car, she thought about her next step: heading to the supermarket to buy daily necessities.
So she went to the city’s largest supermarket with the most comprehensive selection.
Entering the supermarket, she grabbed a shopping cart and first headed to the fresh meat section.
“Beef tenderloin, beef ribs, beef tenderloin, beef short ribs, beef brisket, sirloin, marbled beef, beef shank… hmm, lean pork, pork ribs, pork leg, pork trotters, pork belly. Let’s get some lamb too—lamb ribs, lamb kidneys, lamb leg. That fills it up.”
She left the cart aside and grabbed a new one, then moved on to the next area: the sauce aisle.
“I’ve got enough food, but seasonings are key. Salt, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, potato starch, ketchup, steamed fish soy sauce, sesame paste, salad dressing, curry blocks, chicken bouillon, chili powder, pepper powder, thirteen-spice powder… why are there so many powders?”
As she picked them up, Xie Zhizhi realized there were over twenty types of powders alone. She hadn’t bought them before, but oh well—she’d take them all.
“Loose brown sugar, boxed brown sugar, rock sugar, cube sugar, black sugar, white granulated sugar, fine granulated sugar.”
An employee noticed her loading up so many items and approached politely. “Hello, miss, do you need any help?”
Xie Zhizhi pointed to the two fully loaded shopping carts. “Hello, could you keep an eye on these for me? I’ll probably need a few dozen carts.”
The employee, a young woman, was surprised to hear “a few dozen carts” but didn’t question the customer’s request. “Sure. If you need delivery service, I can also contact the manager for you.”
Xie Zhizhi was more than happy to accept. “Great, I’ll need that.”
After finishing with the seasonings, she moved to the noodle section nearby.
“Knife-cut noodles, bamboo-pressed noodles, dried noodles, instant noodles, butterfly pasta, vermicelli, sweet potato noodles…”
Then came the ready-to-eat dishes, fragrant and flavorful—she packed one box of each.
Basically, if she saw it, she tossed it into the cart. Just the flavors and brands of instant noodles alone numbered in the dozens. She repeated the same task—grabbing and grabbing—but thankfully, she was strong, so it wasn’t a burden. Otherwise, she’d have been exhausted.
In the beverage and dairy section, she took one bottle of every flavor. Finally, a female employee came over specifically to help her.
“Cookies, snacks, candy, nuts, coffee, coffee beans, malted milk powder—so many things.” Xie Zhizhi specifically chose items where the smaller packages inside larger ones had no labels, and some were even wrapped in retro kraft paper—perfect for her needs.
The young woman was very enthusiastic, helping her load everything she needed into the cart.
Next, she headed to the fruit section. It was summer now, the season with the greatest variety.Xie Zhizhi shook off her fatigue and began picking items herself, starting with her favorites. “Grapes, cherries, durian, blackcurrants, kiwis, blueberries, apples, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, jelly oranges, loquats, honey peaches, pineapples, papayas, lychees, longans, rambutans, lemons, cherry tomatoes…”
She took only one of each item, or just a small bunch for things like longans and lychees, quickly finishing her fruit shopping.
Turning around, she saw she already had seven or eight carts filled. After buying food, it was time for daily necessities.
She walked to the paper products section and picked the highest quality tissues, toilet paper, and wrapping paper, selecting both natural wood-pulp and pure white varieties.
Next to it was the feminine hygiene products section, where she grabbed various reliable brands in different sizes.
To save time, she pushed her cart at a run.
“Daily necessities, baby products and formula, stationery and paper, cookware and tableware…”
She bought almost every type of item available. At checkout, although the pile looked massive, each item was just a single unit, so the total came to just over twenty thousand. The remaining money could buy even more!
Xie Zhizhi left the address and asked the manager to deliver everything to the warehouse.
The manager agreed repeatedly, beaming with a smile.