Chapter 24: Zero-Cost Shopping

By the later stages, these things will definitely be top-tier—absolutely invaluable!

There was a whole row of hats—about thirty in total—all for summer, with mesh and breathable designs.

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment. Xiao Nuan would probably outgrow most of these before she even had the chance to wear them. But since there’s space available, she decided to take them anyway. Who knows? They might come in handy later.

Even if she didn’t use them, she could trade them for other supplies. If space ever became an issue, she could always discard them. Hats don’t take up much room anyway—just stack them one inside another.

There were basically two types: baseball caps and sun hats.

The toys were also pretty good. Xiao Nuan would probably like them. Jiang Yuan picked a medium-sized strawberry bear and stuffed it into her backpack. The rest? Straight into the space.

Inside the surrounding cabinets were tons of goods—stuffed full with all kinds of items…

In front of the counter, Jiang Yuan even found several cardboard boxes—those used for holding formula, and pretty large. After some digging, she found a roll of tape too.

She quickly assembled the boxes, taped up all four sides to make them more solid—this way she could carry even more.

She regretted not putting all the toys together earlier, but this wasn’t the time to waste effort on organizing. She could sort it all out back home.

She ended up filling six boxes with all the goods from the cabinets.

Now only the clothes were left. The nearby clothing rack was decent; with a little squeezing, everything could be hung together. Anything that didn’t fit could go directly into her space.

As for the two standing racks—she simply took them as-is into the space.

Looking at the now-empty store, Jiang Yuan was thoroughly satisfied. This feeling of “zero-cost shopping” was exhilarating.

She had been working hard for a while and was starting to get tired. She sat down at the counter to rest.

Her hands didn’t stay idle, though. The drawer at the counter wasn’t locked—inside were some coins.

Jiang Yuan counted it—about 232 yuan, including change.

Since most people use mobile payments nowadays, a small amount of cash was expected. She pocketed it—might come in handy.

There was also half a pack of rose tea, two packs of fat-burning fruit powder—yep, those got taken too. Not missing a single thing.

In the drawer below, she found some everyday items: a pair of scissors, half a roll of tape, three rolls of receipt paper, half a pack of tissues, two gel pens, a ruler, and two bookkeeping notebooks.

One was already half-used. There were also two books on baby care.

Jiang Yuan thought they could at least be used to start a fire during a deep freeze—so she took them without hesitation.

There was also a woman’s piece of clothing—probably belonging to the shop owner. She thought for a moment and decided to leave it.

“Clang—”

Huh? Something?

Jiang Yuan quickly picked up the clothing to check—and sure enough, hidden inside a pocket was a kraft paper envelope.

Whoa—20,000 yuan. Someone had definitely stashed it there. She threw it straight into the space.

Looking at the store she had just completely “looted,” Jiang Yuan felt pleased.

But… something still felt missing.

What was it?

Just as she was about to leave, it hit her—

Diapers!

How could a mother-and-baby store not have diapers? That was way too weird.

But the place was small and everything was in plain sight—where could they be?

Now fully invested, Jiang Yuan started scanning carefully.

Sure enough—there was a hidden crevice in the corner of the wall directly across from her. You wouldn’t notice it without looking carefully.

And just like that, she discovered the secret.

Turns out, it was a hidden door—same background, flush with the wall, normally covered by clothes. Totally invisible.

It wasn’t locked. She opened it right away.

Bingo!

Inside was a small storeroom—not very big, more like a hallway.

It was filled with diapers and crates of formula.

She had found a goldmine. Jiang Yuan immediately started transferring items nonstop.

There were 51 boxes of diapers and 30+ crates of formula—absolutely glorious.

When she checked the time, it was already 11:30 PM. Her mom had sent several messages on WeChat.

Jiang Yuan quickly replied to reassure her.

Then she exited the store, tidied up the shutter, making it look as though nothing had ever happened.

Actually, just 50 meters from here was a larger grocery supermarket—two stories tall, one of the most developed places in the area.

But she couldn’t get in right now. That place had high-tech security—still powered—and it would trigger an alarm if touched.

That was a future target.

But the produce shop next to the entrance—she definitely wasn’t letting that one go.

This particular shop had always branded itself as high-end.

Everything there was a little more expensive—but the quality was good.

Vegetables, fruits, grains, oils, condiments—they had a bit of everything. There were even two large refrigerators out front with drinks inside.

She had heard that the owner ran a chain of stores in various communities and had a unique supply chain—so there was definitely still stuff inside. The community chat group had even mentioned that the store was open not long ago.

As usual, she knocked on the door first—confirmed no one was inside—and began her “operation.”

She was dressed all in gray today. With this kind of downpour and low visibility, she was basically invisible—even if visibility was good, she’d still be hard to spot.

This store was relatively larger—around 50 square meters.

Sure enough, there were still vegetables inside. She pulled the shutter down again, turned on the lights, thoroughly inspected the space to ensure it was safe, and then began checking the goods.

Right in front of her were piles of fruits and vegetables. The cold weather from the past few days meant nothing had spoiled. There weren’t many kinds to begin with.

There wasn’t a lot left either—but still a few hundred kilograms.

Jiang Yuan checked in with her spatial bracelet—she could now sense what was inside her space, so she had a good idea of available capacity.

She decided to start with grains and oils.

Fifteen 100-kg bags of rice
Twenty-four 20-kg bags
130+ 10-kg bags

Not a wide variety of brands—all stacked along the east wall. Clearly, lots of people had come by to buy earlier.

There wasn’t much flour left—this being the northwest, people ate more noodles, so it had been in high demand.

Three 100-kg bags
Five 50-kg bags
Twenty-three 10-kg bags
None in 20-kg sizes

As for other noodles like dragon whisker and dried varieties, there were 20–30 bundles—taken without hesitation.

For oils: sunflower, soybean, blended—52 barrels total.

She didn’t leave behind any spices either. There weren’t many, but anything was better than nothing.

Once everything was handled, she began bagging the fruits and vegetables.

Fruits included just apples and pears—plus a few bananas.

Vegetables were more diverse: napa cabbage, radish, green bamboo shoots, lotus root, potatoes, and plenty of bell peppers.

She started with the fruits—those were fewer. She left behind a bunch of bananas to put in her backpack.

Then moved on to vegetables—her main targets were bell peppers, bamboo shoots, and lotus root. Next priority was cabbage and the rest.

Even though it was “zero-cost shopping,” this was still manual labor. She hadn’t exercised much recently and was feeling seriously exhausted.

“Who’s there?”