After grabbing a simple meal and buying a few gifts in the county town, Lin Mei set off for the village.
At the entrance of the village stood a large banyan tree, beneath which several elderly villagers were chatting. Seeing Lin Mei approach, they curiously asked whose child she was and who she had come to visit. Since she hadn’t returned for years, many of them failed to recognize her at first.
Only after Lin Mei mentioned her grandmother’s name did realization dawn on them.
“Oh, you’re Liu Ximei’s youngest granddaughter! Girls really do change as they grow up—we couldn’t even recognize you anymore,” one of the elders exclaimed.
Lin Mei greeted each of them politely before continuing down the village path.
Five minutes later, she arrived in front of a small courtyard with three old earthen houses. The yard had once been enclosed by a wooden fence, but after so many years, most of it had collapsed, and the courtyard was now overgrown with weeds.
Bending down, Lin Mei picked up a tree branch and gently pushed open the crooked fence gate. Using the branch to part the grass ahead of her, she carefully walked toward the main hall door.
She fumbled through her shoulder bag until she found the familiar old key and unlocked the door.
Inside the main hall hung three black-and-white framed portraits—the memorial photos of the grandfather and father she had never met, along with her grandmother.
The room itself was simple. Only a square wooden table and six wooden chairs stood quietly inside, as though waiting all these years.
Her gaze lingered on the portraits, and an indescribable mix of emotions welled up in her chest.
She casually wiped down the table, took out two bags of fruit from her shopping bag, and placed a serving of sticky rice cake—her grandmother’s favorite—on the table as well. Then she lit incense and candles and bowed respectfully.
After finishing, Lin Mei headed to the home of her great-uncle, whose family was still within the extended clan. Every year, his household raised several pigs and dozens of sheep. She wasn’t sure whether they still did now, but village-raised livestock tasted the best. She planned to buy some from him.
When she arrived, her great-uncle was sitting on a small stool by the doorway, smoking.
“Great-Uncle, having a smoke?” she called out.
The old man jumped in surprise at the sudden voice. Looking up uncertainly, he asked, “Is that Xiao Mei?”
“Yes, it’s me, Great-Uncle. I just came back today. I wanted to ask whether your family is still raising pigs and sheep.”
As she spoke, Lin Mei handed over the two gift boxes she had brought for him. Inside were a case of eight-treasure porridge and a case of peanut milk. It wasn’t that she was unwilling to buy something more expensive—these were simply his favorites.
Every day, the old man still took the sheep out to graze and often stayed out until late afternoon. These snacks were portable and could fill his stomach when he got hungry. Elderly people like him were reluctant to spend money on such things themselves, so younger relatives occasionally brought them for him.
“Xiao Mei, have you eaten yet? Stay and eat here—I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles,” her great-uncle said warmly, already preparing to get up.
He was still just as hospitable as ever.
“No need, Great-Uncle, I already ate. Actually, I’m planning to open a small restaurant in the county town, so I wanted to ask whether you still have pigs and sheep. I’d like to buy a few,” Lin Mei explained.
“Aren’t you doing well working in Haishi? Why suddenly come back to open a restaurant? Running a restaurant isn’t easy work,” the old man asked in confusion.
“There’s too much competition in Haishi. Working for others is exhausting, so I thought I’d open a little shop in the county and be my own boss instead of constantly taking orders from people,” Lin Mei casually made up an excuse.
After all, if a month passed and no apocalypse arrived—and she hadn’t transmigrated either—she could always invent another explanation later.
“Your eldest uncle raised ten pigs this year, and we still have twenty sheep left. How many do you want?” The old man took another couple of puffs from his cigarette.
“For now, I’d like three pigs and four sheep. Please help process them all…”
After some discussion, Great-Uncle called over his eldest son to handle the arrangements. Lin Mei paid her uncle ten thousand yuan in cash as a deposit, agreeing to pay the rest after delivery.
When she learned that her uncle’s family also raised chickens and ducks, she immediately added another order: thirty chickens and thirty ducks. Her uncle explained that there were too many animals to process all at once, so deliveries would have to be split across three days. Lin Mei agreed.
For now, this amount of meat was enough. She planned to keep a small portion raw while cooking and packaging the rest for storage.
Only when thinking about packaging cooked food did she suddenly realize she had forgotten to buy food containers. The moment the thought struck her, she immediately opened Taobao and ordered fifty stainless steel food trays with lids, each measuring 60×40 centimeters and 20 centimeters deep. She also ordered a number of plastic takeout containers.
That cost another four thousand yuan.
Lin Mei was a true southerner. Back when her grandmother was still alive, they ate rice three meals a day. Villagers often steamed an entire wooden bucket of rice in the morning to eat throughout the day, while stir-frying fresh dishes separately each meal.
As a result, Lin Mei also preferred rice. Aside from occasionally eating steamed buns for breakfast, she rarely ate wheat-based foods. So she planned to stockpile far more rice than flour.
By the time she returned to the county town, it was already close to five in the afternoon. Riding a shared electric scooter, she went straight to the largest grain store in town.
There, she ordered:
She also bought ten 5-liter barrels of peanut oil.
Salt and sugar, in her eyes, were strategic supplies. No matter where one lived, they were necessities.
She ordered:
She also bought soy sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings for cooking over the coming period. There was no need to stockpile too much of those inside the space. One full case of soy sauce—twelve bottles—would be enough, along with a case of MSG. Other seasonings like thirteen-spice powder, seasoned salt, pepper, ginger powder, and similar condiments only needed about one case in total.
After adding everything up, the total came to around thirty thousand yuan. The shop owner even threw in some pickled side dishes for porridge to round the amount up neatly.
After paying a ten-thousand-yuan deposit, Lin Mei asked the owner to deliver everything directly to the storefront later.
She herself went to eat dinner first. Once the goods arrived, she could simply transfer them into her space.
After the owner and delivery workers unloaded all the supplies into the shop, Lin Mei pulled down the metal shutter door. Concentrating hard, she waved her hand and stored everything away at once.
For now, all the supplies were piled together chaotically inside the space. Once the shelves arrived, she would organize everything properly.