Chapter 5: Space Farming, Countdown to Time Travel

The older generation from the last century lived in cleaner air, with less life pressure. They ate organic fruits and vegetables and a balanced diet of coarse and fine grains. Few people of that generation had health problems like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

They didn’t even eat their fill, so how could they get diseases from overeating?

Ruan Xiaotang planned to prepare some emergency medicines for contingencies.

Prescription drugs require prescriptions from a regular hospital to purchase.

The procedures are complicated, so she had to abandon that idea.

Over-the-counter drugs can be purchased at any pharmacy, with some types having purchase limits.

To avoid suspicion, she had to separate and buy them in batches from several offline pharmacies.

Ruan Xiaotang pushed open the door to a chain pharmacy called Rongyuan Hall.

To avoid unnecessary suspicion, Ruan Xiaotang immediately got into character.

She furrowed her brow, looking pained, and weakly said, “Hello, I’d like to buy some medicine.”

She walked into the pharmacy, her steps heavy.

With her acting skills in full swing, she simulated illness vividly.

No one could detect any flaws.

The pharmacist was a woman around fifty years old, of medium build, with neat short hair. She looked kind and greeted Ruan Xiaotang warmly, asking, “Hello, what seems to be the problem?”

Ruan Xiaotang coughed a few times, covering her forehead with her hand, “I’ve caught a cold, and my head aches terribly. My nose won’t stop running.”

The pharmacist enthusiastically recommended, “Then I’ll recommend a few cold medicines that are very effective in relieving headaches and runny noses.”

Ruan Xiaotang sniffed, “Okay, do you have any anti-inflammatory medicine? My throat is also inflamed and hurts badly.”

The pharmacist quickly took some medicine from the shelf and displayed it on the glass counter, “Yes, yes, this anti-inflammatory medicine has the best reputation, and many users have given positive feedback.”

Ruan Xiaotang clasped her arms, “Then give me a fever reducer as well. I feel very feverish.”

The pharmacist quickly took the fever reducer and handed it to her, “No problem, this fever reducer is very effective. You must get plenty of rest, drink plenty of water, and eat a light diet for the next few days.”

Ruan Xiaotang looked gratefully at the pharmacist, “Okay, thank you. How much is the total?”

The pharmacist smiled and calculated, “It’s 134 yuan.”

Ruan Xiaotang scanned the code to pay with her phone.

Carrying the plastic bag, she waved her arm and walked out.

“I wish you a speedy recovery!”

“Thank you!”

Ruan Xiaotang, with her hidden purpose, was startled and broke into a cold sweat.

After so many years in the film industry, she had some acting skills.

This small task was easily accomplished. The medicine was in hand.

She triumphantly went to the next store and repeated the process.

To be safe, she visited 30 pharmacies in four directions (north, south, east, and west), finally gathering all the daily necessities.

In a sparsely populated alley without surveillance cameras, she put the last batch of medicine into her space.

Then Ruan Xiaotang visited several middle-aged and elderly clothing stores, but none met her expectations in terms of style, material, or color.

She had to settle for buying fabric to make clothes.

Heaven rewards the diligent.

After much searching, she finally found a fabric processing factory specializing in nostalgic styles from the last century.

The factory’s main clients were domestic film and television productions, web dramas, short dramas, and short videos for online platforms.

They signed confidentiality agreements and produced in batches according to the orders in the contracts.

There were no leftovers and nothing was sold individually.

“Boss, please! I’m also making rural-themed short videos, just starting out. Please make an exception. I don’t need good quality fabric, just defective ones, the ones with misprints or wrong patterns. There must be some in the factory. I won’t cause you any trouble or make you violate the contract. I’ll pay the price of good fabric. Do you think it’s possible?”

The factory manager was being pestered by this eloquent girl, his ears buzzing.

Her words woke him up.

His worried expression instantly disappeared.

The factory warehouse did indeed have a lot of defective products and scraps.

Finally, he sold them all to Ruan Xiaotang at a very low price.

Sitting on a park bench, she contentedly flipped through her small notebook. The pages were filled with a meticulously organized inventory list, each item checked off neatly in red pen.

Ruan Xiaotang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As if having completed a special mission, her tense mood relaxed.

She had 12 million yuan left in her account.

Ruan Xiaotang decided to exchange it all for hard currency—gold.

After storing 100 kilograms of gold bars in her space, Ruan Xiaotang went into her space and took a comfortable bath in the crystal-clear hot spring.

She planned to plant the entire empty space with grains and vegetables in the coming days.

While tasting the 1982 Lafite red wine.

……………………………

On the first day, she drove a red tractor to plow and cultivate the land.

Using a seeder, she planted corn, wheat, millet, sorghum, peanuts, and sweet potatoes.

On the second day, she planted eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

On the third day, she planted apple, pear, persimmon, peach, durian, mango, chestnut, and walnut trees.

On the fourth day, she housed chickens, ducks, geese, cows, pigs, and sheep in their respective sheds.

Ruan Xiaotang leisurely sat on the second-floor balcony, sipping hand-ground coffee, gazing at the fruits of her labor.

Within half a month, these seeds would germinate, bloom, and bear fruit.

These crops, along with her previous stockpiles, would be enough to support a family for a lifetime.

Since childhood, she had been an orphan, deeply longing for maternal and paternal love, and sibling relationships.

She hoped to travel to a loving family, whether as a sister or a younger sibling, and she would wholeheartedly embrace her new role.

She would make that family live a life envied by all their neighbors.

Immersed in her boundless anticipation of the future, Ruan Xiaotang’s expression became noticeably excited.

Her eyes were filled with excitement and a yearning for a simple life in the past.

“The city is too complicated, I want to go back to the countryside,” a phrase that had now become reality.

After eight o’clock tomorrow night, she would say goodbye to this world.

But before leaving, she had one more important thing to do.

That scumbag who broke her heart.

That vicious old witch.

Tomorrow will be the day your personas collapse, and you will be disgraced.

What goes around comes around.