After writing down “Stockpiling Plan,” Xu Qinghe felt, for a brief moment, that she had gone crazy.
After all, how could something as fantastical as time travel possibly happen? But when she thought about the mysterious space that had appeared inside her, the possibility no longer seemed so far-fetched.
After muttering a few sarcastic remarks to herself, Xu Qinghe began seriously considering how she should stockpile supplies.
In her dream, she had barely left the village until the day she died of illness. The farthest place she had ever gone was the county town near the village to buy and sell goods.
Although it was called a county town and was supposedly better than the village, from what she had seen in her dream, the common people there were not living particularly comfortable lives either.
The houses were much the same as those in the village—mud walls and thatched roofs. Almost everyone walking around wore coarse linen clothing, and those who could afford cotton-padded garments were in the minority.
A low earthen wall surrounded the county town. It barely qualified as a city wall and was nothing like the tall, sturdy fortifications shown in historical dramas.
Occasionally, Dream-Xu Qinghe would go with villagers to the town market, where she would buy necessities like salt or sell the linen cloth she had woven herself.
Unfortunately, her weaving skills were poor. The cloth she made was uneven, with loose stitching, so it never sold for much.
Thinking back on it, Xu Qinghe felt miserable. Weaving linen was hard work, yet after exhausting herself, she still earned very little.
She absolutely refused to live through that kind of hardship again.
Although she had been poor for more than twenty years in her current life as well, at least in modern times she never had to worry about starving, freezing to death, being robbed by refugees or bandits, or being eaten by wild animals…
So even after spending over twenty years as a poor person, she knew she could never adapt to life in ancient times. It wasn’t that she was spoiled or delicate.
After some thought, Xu Qinghe divided her stockpiling plan into four major categories:
Food, medicine, daily necessities, and weapons.
She didn’t have much money. Although she still had a lottery ticket, she had no idea whether it would win or how much the prize might be.
To avoid unnecessary expectations and disruptions to her plans, she decided to work only with the money she currently had. For now, she would pretend the lottery ticket didn’t exist.
The space in her mind seemed to have both planting and storage functions. Therefore, she didn’t plan to stockpile too many mature crops—just enough food to last her two years.
After that, she could live off the grain she grew inside the space, saving a considerable amount of money.
To be safe, she planned to plant a few fast-growing lettuces first and test the space’s farming capabilities.
After spending about half an hour making a list of supplies in a notebook, Xu Qinghe decided to buy them that very afternoon.
Before leaving, she touched her forehead. It was still a little warm, but it shouldn’t affect her shopping.
She also took the soup bowl out of the space. More than an hour had passed since she had stored it there, yet the bowl’s temperature had not changed at all.
It seemed that, just like in many novels, the space possessed a preservation function.
She didn’t own a car, but she did have an elderly person’s electric three-wheeler with a plastic cover.
After debating whether to rent a vehicle, Xu Qinghe decided to use the little tricycle for now.
If she could save the rental fee, she could buy quite a few more supplies. Besides, the market she planned to visit wasn’t far from her rented apartment, so the trip wouldn’t take much time.
Driving the little three-wheeler to the nearby market, she decided to buy two years’ worth of staple foods first.
Rice and flour were similarly priced, so she chose the grain shop closest to the entrance and purchased:
The total came to 1,500 yuan.
After paying, she left the grain at the shop and headed to the vegetable stall she frequented.
Ever since moving into the rental apartment, she had been buying vegetables from Sister Li’s stall. Over time, the two had become quite familiar, and Sister Li always gave her slightly better prices than other customers.
Since it was already afternoon and the vegetables weren’t as fresh, Sister Li lowered the prices even further.
Xu Qinghe bought:
After writing down the order, Sister Li stared at her with her mouth hanging open.
“Are you fleeing from a disaster or something? Why are you buying so much? Can you even carry all this home by yourself?”
Xu Qinghe scratched her head. Honestly, it would be difficult. It seemed she had underestimated the problem.
“Sis, can I leave these here for a while? I’ll come back and move them later.”
Sister Li nodded.
“Sure. I’ll keep an eye on them for you.”
Next, Xu Qinghe went to the butcher she knew and bought:
The meat and vegetables together cost more than 8,000 yuan. Including the grain, this single trip had already cost her over 10,000 yuan.
Clutching her chest, Xu Qinghe felt a sharp pang of pain at the expense.
In the end, she spent several trips driving the little three-wheeler back and forth to transport the hundreds of jin of supplies home.
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to spend money on renting a vehicle anymore; there simply wasn’t enough time.
It was already afternoon. If she went looking for a rental company and then returned, who knew how long it would take? If she came back too late, she’d only be causing trouble for others.
Once home, Xu Qinghe collapsed onto her bed and lay there like a corpse for a while.
Tomorrow morning, she absolutely had to rent a vehicle. Using the little three-wheeler for stockpiling was far too inefficient.
Thinking of this, she climbed out of bed, turned on her computer, and began writing a resignation letter.
She had spent the entire afternoon struggling with the decision, but in the end she chose to quit.
After spending all day working like a beast of burden and then having to stockpile supplies afterward, she simply couldn’t take it anymore.
Given how likely time travel now seemed, she might as well resign and focus entirely on preparing supplies. Besides, she could treat it as giving herself a vacation.
After finishing the resignation letter, she emailed it to her supervisor and exchanged a few polite messages on WeChat.
Then she rolled up her sleeves and started organizing her purchases.
Everything she had bought was still piled up by the entrance.
Inside her mind, she divided the dark space into four sections, each designated for a different category of supplies.
Using the space as storage was incredibly convenient.
All she had to do was place her hand on an item, and the next second it would disappear into the space and automatically be arranged in the location she had envisioned.
Hundreds of jin of supplies were sorted and stored in just five minutes.
Feeling the supplies resting quietly inside the dark space, Xu Qinghe was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of security.
Perhaps it was because the version of herself in the dream had suffered so much. Now, simply thinking about these supplies made her feel deeply content.
Maybe this was what people meant by “it’s easy to become accustomed to luxury after hardship.”
Xu Qinghe smiled, washed her hands, and began preparing dinner.