Chapter 6
by LhaoziChapter 6: Chen Liang?
Qin Xi didn’t calculate her purchases at the spice shop too meticulously.
Aside from table salt—which came packed in large bags containing one hundred smaller sachets, of which she bought thirty bags—she simply ordered three hundred boxes of every other item, including soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, various sugars, and sauces.
As for spices, except for chili powder, crushed chili flakes, and dried chilis (of which she bought five hundred catties1 of each), she bought three hundred catties of every other variety.
Once again, all of it was scheduled for delivery to the warehouse.
Seeing Qin Xi make such massive purchases, the shopkeeper was both curious and eager to establish a long-term business relationship. He probed gently, asking, “Miss Qin, what kind of business does your factory run to need so much stock all at once?”
Qin Xi had prepared her explanation before coming and looked at the shopkeeper with a beaming smile: “We’re buying this for our factory’s employee cafeteria. Plus, with the upcoming holiday, we plan to make a batch of braised products as holiday benefits for our workers!”
“Oh! Your factory’s benefits are fantastic! If you need more in the future, make sure to come back to me. I’ll calculate it with a repeat customer discount for you then!”
Qin Xi naturally agreed with a smile. Although there wouldn’t be a “next time,” who didn’t like to hear pleasant words?
By the time she stepped out of the spice shop, it was already two in the afternoon.
Qin Xi looked up at the sun overhead. Unnoticed by anyone else, today’s sun carried an abnormal, subtle reddish tint.
Taking a deep breath, she turned and headed toward the fresh produce area.
Since it was early afternoon, the fresh produce wholesale section didn’t have many people around.
In fact, many shops were closed, set to reopen only around two or three in the morning when retail vendors would arrive to restock.
Qin Xi went straight to the few shops that were open and quickened her pace.
For aquatic products, vegetables, and fruits, she selected three different shops for each category.
She ordered different items from each store and placed the orders for delivery straight to the warehouse address.
This time, she spent quite a bit—nearly four million yuan2 went out all at once.
Yet, Qin Xi didn’t feel a pang of regret.
Fresh fruits and vegetables were the kind of things that, even if you raided them for free after the apocalypse, you’d still have to search supermarket by supermarket.
And even if you found them, there was a high chance they’d be contaminated by sewage, so it was much better to hoard plenty right now.
Living through those days in her past life where she couldn’t even eat well had truly been miserable!
She also visited the neighboring snack wholesale center, ordering a batch of every type of snack and instant food inside.
However, when she brought up the quantities she needed for self-heating rice and self-heating hot pots, the clerk shook her head: “My apologies, we don’t have that many self-heating hot pots left right now. Just this morning, two young men came in and ordered two batches. Right now, we have less than fifty boxes left in total, and they aren’t even the same brand. Would that be okay?”
Her words instantly triggered Qin Xi’s vigilance!
Was someone else hoarding supplies too?
Why?
Was it because of the recent apocalypse rumors, or because they were reborn as well?
Two young men…
Her mind raced at top speed.
Could it be that Zhao Yuhao3 and his gang were also reborn?
If they had been reborn too… Qin Xi clenched her fists tightly.
She pretended to ask the clerk nonchalantly, “Sister, do you remember what those two young men looked like? My older brother and younger brother said they were heading out to buy supplies too. I hope I didn’t end up duplicating their purchases?”
Hearing this, the clerk immediately thought back: “There were two of them. One was short and chubby, and the other was tall and thin with slightly natural curly hair…”
As the clerk finished speaking, more doubts surfaced in Qin Xi’s heart, though she subtly let down her guard a bit.
In Zhao Yuhao’s gang, there were no short, chubby guys, nor were there any with curly hair.
However, Shi Lin4, whom she had bumped into on the high-speed train earlier, did have curly hair.
But he had gotten off at Shacheng!
Unable to figure it out for the moment, it wasn’t convenient for Qin Xi to ask to check the store’s surveillance footage using the excuse she had just made up.
After all, order hadn’t broken down yet. If she really wanted to confirm, she could simply call her “brother” herself.
She put it out of her mind for the time being.
In fact, Qin Xi felt that if Zhao Yuhao and his group really had returned, it would be even better.
That way, the revenge she was planning to exact would be all the more justified.
Since this snack shop’s instant foods were out of stock, Qin Xi sought out several other stores.
Piecing together orders from different vendors, she managed to assemble a decent total quantity of instant foods, including luosifen5, bread, and cakes alongside the self-heating rice meals.
She also ordered one thousand boxes of various beverages. In the apocalypse, these were a prime source of energy!
After finishing her food purchases, Qin Xi moved on to the clothing sector.
The wholesale market didn’t just have wholesale shops; it even housed two small-scale garment factories.
She hardly looked at the styles, as long as they looked decent enough.
From summer gear—men’s and women’s hard-shell jackets, ice-silk sun-protective clothing, and ice-silk sun-protective face masks—to winter wear—down jackets, padded coats, fleece-lined thermal base layers, fleece-lined pajamas, as well as shoes and fleece-lined insoles—she ordered three hundred sets of each.
Then she bought five hundred sets of underwear and socks for both herself and Qin Song.
Truth be told, Qin Xi felt she was buying a bit too few clothes.
After all, the rate of wear and tear on clothing during the apocalypse was quite high.
But it didn’t matter; these items could be gathered for free once the apocalypse actually hit.
After buying clothes, she stopped by a bedding shop on the same street and bought twenty sets each of cotton quilts, summer blankets, bamboo sleeping mats, cooling gel pads, and electric blankets.
She also purchased ten sets of extra-thick blackout curtains.
These could block the wind and, during periods of extreme heat, shut out the blistering sunlight!
Next was the daily necessities department store.
Qin Xi practically swept through the entire wholesale city from end to end, stopping at every single sector.
This time, her purchases were extremely varied.
Cooling patches, sun-protective ice sleeves, hand warmers, anti-glare glasses, medical masks, solar-powered flashlights, toilet paper, sanitary pads, toothpaste, toothbrushes, wet wipes, candles, lighters, and more.
Qin Xi stocked up on enough of these items in one go, spending nearly three million yuan.
She didn’t try to save money on these things.
Heavy rains would submerge many ground-level supermarkets, soaking and ruining countless hygiene products so that they couldn’t be used at all!
These items had to be stored in advance.
Thinking of this, Qin Xi, who was originally ready to leave, turned into the medical equipment street instead.
She bought ten boxes of condoms6 and five boxes of pregnancy test strips.
She thought that just in case, maybe her older brother might need them in the future?
Even if he didn’t, condoms were a hard currency during the apocalypse and could be used for trading later!
Before leaving the medical supply store, she also bought a batch of emergency first-aid supplies.
Bandages, medical tape, alcohol cotton pads, rubbing alcohol, saline solution, and glucose.
She even bought some syringes and IV infusion sets.
By the time she finished buying all of this, it was approaching five in the afternoon.
Qin Xi received a phone call from Qin Song asking her to head over to the warehouse.
Some of the goods bought this afternoon would arrive tonight, so to receive the deliveries, Qin Song decided to sleep at the warehouse tonight.
Qin Xi returned to her truck and drove out of the wholesale market.
However, she didn’t head straight to the warehouse. Instead, she drove toward the snack street.
She planned to buy dinner for herself and Qin Song first.
It was right around off-work hours, and the snack street was gradually coming alive.
Following her memory, Qin Xi found the boiled fish shop she used to frequent in her past life.
The shop was bustling with voices, but just as she was about to push the door open, it was suddenly pulled open from the inside!
Her hand paused, and she raised her eyes. But the moment she saw the face of the man walking out toward her, her entire body shuddered!
Chen Liang!
Footnotes
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Catty (斤 – jin): A traditional Chinese unit of mass equal to 500 grams (0.5 kg or approximately 1.1 lbs).
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Yuan (元): The basic unit of currency in China (Renminbi / RMB).
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Zhao Yuhao (趙宇豪): A character from Qin Xi’s past life involved with her group or antagonists.
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Shi Lin (時臨): A character encountered earlier on the train.
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Luosifen (螺螄粉): River snail rice noodles, a popular Chinese instant noodle dish known for its rich, spicy, and distinctive aroma.
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“Little kid game-over covers” (小崽嗝屁套): Slang used in the text referring playfully/informally to condoms.
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