Chapter 1: Crazy Hoarding of Supplies

July 22, 2023. In a courtyard house in J City, a young girl sat on her bed in a daze, replaying a dream she’d had again. It was the same scene, a scene she’d now dreamt for three consecutive nights: a time of scarcity, a small rural courtyard, a thin, sickly one-year-old girl, herself feeding the child with a bowl, wearing a patched-up homespun garment.

Mi Xia took a while to recover. The dream left her deeply uneasy; its repetition and vividness made it feel like she’d actually lived in that courtyard.

She suppressed her anxiety, got up, washed, and ate a little something, her mind continuously replaying the dream. She thought of the historical novels she’d read and her grandmother’s stories of eating clay and tree bark during times of famine. The thought of returning to such a life, of working in the fields, filled her with dread. She had never farmed a day in her life.

Mi Xia possessed a spatial storage, a silver ring given to her by her grandmother before she passed. She wore it on her hand; it had always appeared plain. Last month, while chopping vegetables, she cut her finger, and the blood flowing onto the ring revealed the space.

It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight: lush greenery, a majestic mountain range piercing the sky.

A stream flowed at the foot of the mountain, beside a two-story house. To the left lay farmland, and to the right, a vast expanse of empty land, thousands of acres in size.

Mi Xia cautiously entered the house. A red-wood table and chairs stood in the center of the room, upon which sat numerous seeds of unknown varieties.

Remembering details from the time travel novels she’d read, she mentally focused on planting. Sure enough, many seeds disappeared from the table, and she saw a small plot of land planted outside. It worked.

Mi Xia planted a variety of grains and vegetables in the farmland and various fruit trees and saplings on the empty land. She also stored many more fruit tree saplings and grain and vegetable seeds in the space.

She set aside a section of the empty land for raising poultry for fresh, healthy meat. The seeds in the house were ginseng, already sprouting.

This space was unaffected by time and seasons; it was perpetually springtime and autumn simultaneously. Moreover, plants grew exceptionally fast within it.

The urgent task, however, was buying supplies. She needed to act quickly, unsure when – or if – she would be transported to the time in her dreams. It was better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.

Mi Xia first sold her parents’ three properties. Her mother had only one daughter, and they owned three houses, including the courtyard house she currently lived in, located in J City. Even a quick sale would fetch a substantial sum.

She contacted a real estate agent; a buyer was eager to pay in full, even at a slightly lower price. She then used the money to purchase supplies. First, she rented a dozen large warehouses in a neighboring city. Then, she drove to the city’s largest wholesale market and bought 1,000 kilograms (approximately 1,100 lbs) each of rice and flour. She had the land in her space to grow more, so she wasn’t worried about running out of food.

She bought 1,000 kilograms each of millet, red beans, green beans, sesame seeds, and glutinous rice; along with 100,000 portions/kilograms of various oils (peanut, soybean, sesame), salt, soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, brown sugar, white sugar, noodles, red dates, various spices, wood ear mushrooms, seaweed, and shiitake mushrooms. Mi Xia was a foodie, so she made sure to stock up on these.

She then went to the residential area and bought 10,000 boxes each of toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, shower gel, laundry detergent, laundry pods, sanitary napkins, and dish soap, including children’s versions. Anticipating a potential paper shortage, she also bought 10,000 boxes of paper. She bought a large quantity of bedding sets, blankets, and 100 ten-kilograms rolls of cotton.

She gave the sellers the warehouse addresses and delivery times, leaving her contact information. The shopkeepers found her order unusual but were unwilling to pass up the opportunity to make a sale.

Seeing that she still had time, she visited several pharmacies, buying various everyday and children’s medicines, essentially clearing out the city’s supply. It was getting late, so she quickly ate something and went to the warehouses. As each truck arrived, she moved the goods into her spatial storage. If anyone asked, she’d simply say the goods had been moved.

Mi Xia was exhausted after a busy day. She drove back home and bought many snacks and drinks online, including Be & Cheery, Three Squirrels, Oreo… She bought orange juice, coconut milk, carbonated drinks, Jiaduobao, chocolate, candy, medicine, milk, etc. She also bought clothes, shoes and socks for adults and children of that era. After buying everything, she ate something, washed up, and went to bed.

The next morning, Mi Xia placed orders at her favorite breakfast places: steamed buns, baozi (steamed buns), red date buns, dumplings, sushi, pumpkin porridge, KFC, McDonald’s, and skin-and-lean-meat porridge, instructing them to call her when a batch was ready. She also ordered cakes and pastries from a bakery; ordering three days’ worth gave her a discount. She then visited Zhou Hei Ya (a duck restaurant), a bubble tea shop, a cold dish restaurant, a barbecue restaurant, and various other restaurants and snack shops, buying enough food to last several lifetimes.

Meanwhile, she sold her three houses and several cars. The quick sale was facilitated by the attractive locations and slightly lower prices.

Mi Xia moved everything from her house into her spatial storage. She bought ten vintage women’s bicycles, ten electric bicycles, three Jeep cars, and numerous barrels of oil.

She also bought large quantities of infant formula and diapers, enough for several children for decades. She stocked up on more fruit and vegetable seeds and saplings, and bought 20 each of pigs, cows, sheep, black pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese from a farm, placing them in her space for breeding. She also ordered 10,000 kilograms of pre-slaughtered pork, duck, beef, chicken, and goose to be delivered to the warehouse.

She visited a bookstore, buying cookbooks and various other books. Then she went to a coastal city and bought 80,000 kilograms each of various seafood: shrimp, fish, and crabs.

She continued buying supplies along the way: medicine, skincare products, household goods, seafood, various foods, generators, rice and flour mills, oil presses, gas cylinders, gas stoves, rice cookers, air fryers, and ovens.

I bought some extra pots, pans, and utensils so that I could replace them in case they broke, and I also volunteered to buy 100,000 pieces of various hairpins, hair clips, necklaces, earrings and other accessories.

After ten days of shopping, her bank account was significantly depleted, but she was relieved; she wasn’t worried about wasting money.