“Ah… no…” Bai Nianqing woke up from her nightmare once again.
This was already the third time. Ever since she accidentally pricked her finger at her grandmother’s funeral two days ago, when her blood smeared onto the jade bracelet her grandmother left her, the bracelet suddenly disappeared and transformed into a space within her mind.
For three consecutive days, she had been having the same nightmare – dreaming of a group of people walking along a road in tattered clothes.
Bai Nianqing couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their sallow, emaciated appearance suggested they were fleeing from disaster.
Moreover, Bai Nianqing had carefully observed that there seemed to be a drought in that place, as she hadn’t seen any greenery in her dreams for three straight days.
Most importantly, the people in her dream were all wearing ancient clothing.
Bai Nianqing didn’t know if this dream was heaven’s warning to her, but regardless, she had already decided to withdraw all her savings tomorrow to stock up on daily necessities.
Especially food and water – these were the most scarce resources during a drought.
Her savings weren’t substantial, only three hundred and sixty thousand yuan. Fortunately, she was currently in her hometown where they used deep well water, so water didn’t cost anything.
She planned to use one hundred and fifty thousand yuan to buy rice, flour, grains, oil, and seasonings.
One hundred thousand yuan for medicine – if she really were to travel back to ancient times and flee from disaster, medicine would be absolutely essential.
Another fifty thousand yuan for fabrics, cotton, wool yarn, down jackets, and other cold-proof clothing.
They say that after a great drought comes a great flood, and there might even be cold waves – all of these needed to be prepared for in advance.
The remaining sixty thousand yuan would be used to buy other daily necessities.
Such as matches, laundry detergent, soap, toilet paper, rubber rain boots, raincoats, plastic sheets, flashlights, and so on.
And the most important item – sanitary pads. These absolutely couldn’t be lacking, not only couldn’t they be lacking, but she needed to buy plenty, enough to last a lifetime.
And meat – pork, beef, and lamb all needed to be bought in some quantity, along with prepared foods. If she really had to flee from famine, ready-to-eat food that could directly fill her stomach would be absolutely essential.
Calculating like this, the money in her hands still wasn’t quite enough. If absolutely necessary, she could only sell the collapsed old house.
With these calculations in mind, Bai Nianqing fell asleep again.
At the same time, in the distant Daqing Kingdom, Shen Wenhe also woke up startled from his dream.
In five days, he was going to get married, but ever since he accidentally smeared his blood onto the jade bracelet left by his concubine mother three days ago, he had started having dreams.
There was only one protagonist in his dreams – a girl dressed in strange clothing.
He watched as she lost her only relative – her grandmother.
He watched as, though heartbroken, she still steadfastly arranged her grandmother’s funeral.
He watched as she seemed to obtain something extraordinary at her grandmother’s funeral, likely what Buddhists call a mustard seed space.
Because he saw the girl testing multiple times – putting things into the space, then taking them out again.
At first, he was also astonished, after all, something that only existed in legends was appearing in his dreams.
But thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange – this place was already extraordinary to begin with, perhaps it was even the celestial realm.
After all, over these three days in his dreams, he had greatly broadened his horizons – four-wheeled vehicles that could move without being pulled by oxen or horses.
Televisions that could show people, phones that could talk, kitchen appliances that could cook without burning firewood.
All of these filled Shen Wenhe with wonder while simultaneously stirring longing within him.
Shen Wenhe didn’t understand what was happening to himself, nor did he dare speak to anyone about the events in his dreams.
Moreover, Shen Wenhe had a little secret—he felt he had fallen for the girl in his dreams.
Seeing the girl cry in his dreams made his heart ache. Now, the thing he looked forward to most each day was falling asleep early at night so he could see her in his dreams.
However, he also knew it was impossible between them. This was just a dream of his, one that could never come true.
Besides, he was about to get married soon. Although the marriage had been arranged by his legal mother and he had never met the girl, since he had decided to marry her, he had to take responsibility for her.
As a concubine-born son, his life at home was already difficult. Love and affection were luxuries he couldn’t afford, let alone when the girl only existed in his dreams. There was simply no possibility for them.
Forget it. The wedding was in just five days. It would be better to put away these little thoughts of his as soon as possible.
Lost in thought, Shen Wenhe fell asleep again, but this time the girl didn’t appear in his dream.
When he woke up the next day, though disappointed, Shen Wenhe had no choice but to accept reality helplessly and focus on preparing for the wedding.
Meanwhile, in modern times, Bai Nianqing wasn’t idle either—she was busy stocking up on supplies.
Time flew by, and five days passed in the blink of an eye. Bai Nianqing stored the last batch of pork in her space before returning to the hotel she was renting. Since she had sold her house, she had nowhere to stay and could only live here temporarily.
Back at the hotel, Bai Nianqing kept herself busy organizing the items in her space.
She had bought mostly rice and flour: 200 bags of 50-pound rice totaling 10,000 pounds, and 200 bags of 50-pound flour also totaling 10,000 pounds.
She purchased 500 pounds each of cornmeal and corn grits, along with some millet, mung beans, and soybeans.
She bought 200 barrels of a certain brand’s peanut oil, 50 barrels each of corn oil and rapeseed oil, and 200 pounds of sesame oil.
Bai Nianqing first placed the grains and oils in one corner of the space. Speaking of which, the space wasn’t very large—only about the size of a football field.
She had tested it and found that it couldn’t be used for planting, only for storage.
The only advantage was its preservation feature—items remained exactly as they were when put in.
Next came various seasonings. Bai Nianqing sorted them into boxes and placed them to one side.
She also bought plenty of medicine: cold medicine, fever reducers, diarrhea medication, heat-clearing and detoxifying remedies, Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui for heatstroke prevention, alcohol, gauze—basically everything she could think of.
Bai Nianqing stacked the medicine boxes together, keeping them separate from the grains and placing them on the other side.
Then came cotton, cloth, quilts, mattresses, cotton-padded jackets and pants, wool, and various other warm-keeping items she had prepared in large quantities.
She bought a full 500 pounds of cotton, 15 quilts, and 10 sets each of men’s and women’s cotton-padded jackets and pants.
She also stocked up on down jackets, down vests, down pants, cotton shoes, cotton gloves, and cotton hats.
As the saying goes, severe drought is often followed by heavy floods, and there might even be a cold wave. Afraid she wouldn’t have time to prepare warming measures later, Bai Nianqing made all the arrangements in advance.
These items were also placed in a visible corner of the space.
Next came cooked food. Bai Nianqing bought five hundred meat buns and five hundred vegetarian buns with chives and eggs. She also purchased five hundred each of plain steamed buns and twisted rolls.
She bought five hundred jin of flatbread, five hundred jin of dried noodles, and two hundred jin of dried noodle sheets.
There was also instant noodles, self-heating hot pots, bread, and milk.
Oh, and eggs—Bai Nianqing bought a full thousand eggs.
Eggs are excellent—perfect for eating during a famine escape. They’re nutritious and odorless, so there’s no fear of others detecting them.
She also bought some green vegetables, which didn’t cost much at all. They were all grown by the village aunties and grannies themselves—five hundred yuan bought a huge pile.
There were cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, eggplants, peppers, rapeseed greens, and bok choy.
Finally, there was water. Bai Nianqing bought a hundred large plastic barrels, each capable of holding fifty jin of water, and fifty large water tanks, each able to hold fifty tons of water—all filled to the brim.
This ensured that even if there were no water for two years, she would still be able to eat and drink well.