Cheng Qian didn’t expect Ke Bei to say that, and for a moment, he was at a loss for words.
He cleared his throat and explained to her what he planned to use the money for.
Cheng Qian wanted to use it to buy a car.
In Tianshui, there was a rich kid who, after being kidnapped twice in a row, had been completely terrified. He had asked Cheng Qian to modify a car for him.
It was the latest high-end off-road vehicle. The base price alone was over a million yuan, and the modifications cost tens of thousands more.
Although it was expensive, Cheng Qian had installed only the best components, making the car virtually invincible in terms of defense.
It was the project he had been most satisfied with over the past two years.
But the rich kid had been too scared to even go out, and even after the modifications were done, he didn’t dare drive it. Not long ago, he had completed the paperwork to go abroad.
Then, he posted in his social circle that he wanted to sell the car.
And he was selling it extremely cheap, eighty thousand yuan.
The car was practically new, almost unused after the modifications, so the price was basically a steal.
But even if it was essentially free, very few people could afford eighty thousand yuan, and those who could still didn’t want it.
First, the previous kidnappings had left a bad impression; second, the car was armored like a tank, so driving it would draw too much attention.
Cheng Qian didn’t have that kind of spare money, and even if he did, there wasn’t much use for the car, so he hadn’t paid it any attention before.
But after hearing Ke Bei’s explanation and realizing just how wealthy his wife actually was, he suddenly felt that buying the car for their use made perfect sense.
Now that he had a wife and a son, it didn’t matter so much what happened to him, what mattered first was the safety of his wife and child.
Besides, Ke Bei’s space could hold the car, so even a trip to the capital wouldn’t pose any transport problem.
Once Cheng Qian shared his plan, Ke Bei naturally agreed.
So the couple agreed on a plan: first, Ke Bei would go to the supermarket, and then Cheng Qian would go buy the car.
The supermarket Cheng Qian planned to take them to was the largest warehouse-style superstore in Tianshui, offering everything from general merchandise to fresh produce.
However, the store primarily served small wholesalers and large enterprises in the city, focusing on bulk and group purchases rather than individual retail.
All products were sold in full boxes or units, and the more you bought, the cheaper the price.
Potato chips, biscuits, and chocolate were sold by the box; ham, cheese, and fresh meat were sold in units, with each unit weighing at least ten kilograms, often twenty kilograms or more.
The advantage of this setup was that no matter how much Ke Bei bought, it wouldn’t stand out.
The downside was that the variety of vegetables was certainly less than at the local market, and by mid-afternoon, nothing was as fresh as in the morning.
But time was tight, and they had no other choice.
Since the rescue team had frequently purchased relief supplies here before, Cheng Qian was a regular.
He led Ke Bei into the supermarket, explained the layout of the different floors, and gave her a card, payment with it allowed the store to deliver goods to their home for free.
“I’ll leave the car with you. I’ll take a taxi there. And I’ll bring Xiao Tian with me, he hasn’t played around here before, so let’s take him for a little walk.”
After saying this, Cheng Qian naturally bent down, picked up his son, and lifted him onto his shoulders.
Although the massive supermarket and its endless shelves of goods were incredibly tempting for Xiao Tian, being held up high by his father was an experience he had never enjoyed before.
All other attractions lost their appeal in comparison to playing with his dad.
He giggled with delight, riding on Cheng Qian’s shoulders.
Pressing his face against his father’s hair, he gripped Cheng Qian’s neck tightly with both hands.
The little boy looked utterly happy; his face, once pale from not having his powers back, now glowed with a rosy flush, and his eyes were full of pure admiration and affection.
Seeing his son like this, Ke Bei couldn’t bring herself to say anything to stop him, no matter her worries.
She could only remind him once more, “Be careful.”
Then she turned to Cheng Qian and instructed, “Xiao Tian mustn’t get hurt. Make sure he doesn’t bump or fall.”
When she said the words “mustn’t bleed,” Ke Bei lowered her voice, her expression serious and solemn.
Cheng Qian paused, surprised, and looked at his wife, but she showed no intention of explaining further.
Xiao Tian, sitting on his father’s shoulders, seemed already accustomed to such reminders and eagerly promised, “Mom, I know. Don’t worry.”
Cheng Qian furrowed his brow, his curiosity deepening.
After they set off, Ke Bei headed straight for the food section and began loading groceries onto the small cart.
20 bags of rice (10 kg each); 20 bags of flour (10 kg each); 10 boxes of cooking oil (10 L × 4 bottles per box); 100 jin of assorted grains (small packages)…
Ke Bei didn’t plan to buy too much food.
Firstly, she knew that for a long time, they would mostly be on the move, often in dangerous situations. Sitting down for a proper meal would already be rare, let alone cooking outdoors.
If they accidentally attracted wild animals, the cost would far outweigh the benefit.
Secondly, although plant and animal mutations had drastically changed the world, food itself wasn’t especially scarce.
It was just that in many areas, severe destruction and collapsed order caused resources to concentrate in the hands of a few.
In simple terms, it was survival of the strongest.
As long as one was strong enough, they wouldn’t go hungry wherever they went, so there was no need to hoard excessive amounts of rice, flour, or oil.
Since it was a warehouse-style supermarket, they had a system in place for bulk buyers.
When the staff saw Ke Bei loading her cart, two employees quickly approached.
After recording the quantities of items she needed on a tablet, they told her she could continue picking other goods, assuring her that everything would be delivered to the checkout naturally.
After buying grains, Ke Bei went to the prepared foods section.
Here, she purchased: vacuum-packed braised pig trotters, one case (50 packs); braised beef in sauce, one case (50 packs); 100 packs of Sichuan-style sausages; 100 packs of Cantonese-style sausages; 50 packs of German smoked sausages; 50 packs of Harbin red sausages.
In addition, she bought 100 cooked chickens in total, yellow-braised chicken, peppery chicken, and bucket-style chicken.
Braised pig stomach, braised pig ears, pig liver, chicken feet, duck necks, duck wings, smoked duck, cured meat, smoked fish, one case each (50 jin per case).
Besides meat, frozen dumplings, buns, rice cakes, shumai, scallion pancakes, dried tofu, tofu sheets, and shredded tofu were all essentials.
Ke Bei also added some cheese, butter, and large tubs of cream for emergencies.
After reporting her purchase list to the staff, Ke Bei moved on to the snack section.
The supermarket’s snack area was enormous, taking up half an entire floor.
The shelves were tall steel racks reaching the ceiling, with smaller packaged goods at the bottom and stock piled on top, giving a sense of abundance.
Even before buying anything, just looking around gave Ke Bei a strange sense of satisfaction.
She selected 50 iron buckets (8 jin each) of compressed biscuits.
100 boxes each of military-style braised beef, braised pork with preserved vegetables, and five-spice crispy fish canned goods; 100 cans each of military canned luncheon meat, lamb hot pot, pork ham, canned peaches, canned hawthorn, canned lychee, and canned pears in syrup.
10 boxes of self-heating military rice (one bag contains two meals/12 packs); 10 boxes of military milk powder (100 tins); 10 boxes of protein bars (100 bars per box); 100 boxes of energy effervescent tablets (10 tubes per box).
Seeing her pick so many military supplies, the staff recording the items sighed in admiration: “Sister, I didn’t expect you to be a military fan! I’ve heard military rations taste especially good, is that true? Seeing you buy so much, I suddenly want to try some myself.”
Ke Bei smiled: “Whether the taste is the best, I can’t say, but the quality is guaranteed.”
In the later years of the last life, the most circulated and sought-after items on the market were military supplies.
Although most were locally subcontracted military products, their quality standards were stricter, and the same type of product was indeed more authentic in military versions.
For example, the meat chunks in these canned goods were larger than those in most other brands, and the ingredients were better.
When trading goods, military items of the same type always held higher value.
So her first choice naturally became military supplies.
After finishing with military goods, Ke Bei bought:
50 boxes each of instant noodles, instant rice noodles, hot and sour or spicy noodles, and self-heating mini hot pots;
10 boxes each of soda crackers, chocolate pies, crispy egg rolls, and sandwich cookies.
Purple rice bread, whole wheat bread, pull-apart bread, and nut bread—20 boxes each;
Cheesecake, meat floss cake, classic cake, and assorted fruit roll cakes—50 boxes in total;
Peach cookies, taro cakes, flower pastries, hawthorn flatbreads, and various Chinese pastries—50 jin (one large box);
Meat products, preserved fruits, dried fruits, chips, and assorted snacks—50 boxes in total.
In addition, Ke Bei bought 100 jin of assorted mixed candies and 100 boxes of various chocolates.
Remembering how satisfied Xiao Tian had been with the chocolate wafers, she bought another 100 boxes of chocolate wafers and 50 buckets of crispy rice chocolate beans.
…
When Ke Bei reached the fresh produce section and was picking vegetables, fruits, fish, and shrimp, preparing to go to the drinks area, Cheng Qian returned with their son.
Seeing him come back so quickly, Ke Bei was extremely surprised.
“How are you back so fast?”
She glanced at her phone: “Even with the round trip, it didn’t take two hours.”
Cheng Qian smiled: “The car was parked nearby in that small neighborhood. It was just going over to pay a deposit and drive it back. The rest of the payment will be after the ownership transfer is completed.”
He patted the drooping Xiao Tian on his back and said with a smile: “If this little guy hadn’t been fussing so much, we could have come back even earlier.”
Only then did Ke Bei notice that her son seemed a little unhappy.
The little one was lying limp on Cheng Qian’s back, wearing a straw Mickey Mouse sunhat, and holding a pink Mickey balloon twisted into shape.
It was clear Cheng Qian had tried hard to cheer him up.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have much effect.
“Why are you unhappy?” Ke Bei took her son into her arms and asked softly.
Knowing her own child, she understood that Xiao Tian wasn’t the type to throw tantrums without reason.
Hearing his mother ask, Xiao Tian pouted and pressed his face deeper against her neck. Then, in a voice trembling with emotion, he said: “Daddy’s mean, he let someone draw my blood.”
Ke Bei’s expression instantly changed!