Chapter 4: Secret

Xia Daohua was originally a native of the imperial capital. After graduating from university, she joined a startup company and became a low-level white-collar worker. With some luck, she managed to ride the coattails of her boss’s entrepreneurial success—while others ate meat, she drank soup—and made a small fortune following along.

After that, she coolly quit her job, bought a commercial property and a residential unit, and then poured all the remaining money into her childhood dream—opening a supermarket where you could find everything you needed.

However, the supermarket business wasn’t as easy as she had imagined.

Especially in recent years, not only were there large-scale international supermarket chains squeezing the market, but she also had to face fierce competition from all kinds of companies relying on online shopping.

Although Xia Daohua’s supermarket fulfilled her dream of being “small but complete,” its operations were consistently poor—it basically kept losing money in all sorts of creative ways.

If it hadn’t been for the brutal losses, where she practically burned through all her savings, she wouldn’t have ended up getting drunk with friends and drinking herself to death.

Fortunately, the supermarket into which she had poured her heart and soul remained loyal and faithful to her—it did not abandon her. Even after she transmigrated, it steadfastly followed her over.

She actually didn’t know what exactly had happened. But—whatever!

In a time that could descend into chaos at any moment, in an era that could fall into famine at any time, having a supermarket in her hand was more comforting than anything else!

Xia Daohua had carefully observed and studied it for several days and discovered the following rules:

1. The storage area in the supermarket could be used like a space. She could easily bring items from the outside into it, and she could also store items taken out from within the supermarket.

2. The items inside the supermarket would automatically refresh once every 24 hours and return to their original state.

3. Items in the storage area would not refresh. They would remain as Xia Daohua last left them and also had a preservation function. However, the trash bin in the storage area was an exception.

4. Items in the supermarket could not be taken out for free—they had to be checked out at the cashier. After checkout, the corresponding amount of “Supermarket Coins” would be deducted from Xia Daohua’s “supermarket account.”

Xia Daohua discovered that the number of Supermarket Coins she had was exactly the same as the balance on the bank card she used for daily life before she transmigrated.

5. Items from the real world could be exchanged for Supermarket Coins at the service counter and would be automatically credited to her supermarket account.

So far, these were all the things Xia Daohua had discovered.

Maybe the supermarket had other benefits too, but she’d have to explore and experiment more slowly.

What was worth mentioning was that, during these past few days of recovering from her injury, Xia Daohua had been drinking thin, watery porridge with only a few grains of rice every day.

Even though the rice oil that came out from boiling millet porridge was indeed nutritious, it wasn’t exactly filling!

The first time Xia Daohua discovered that the supermarket had followed her over was because she had woken up in the middle of the night, starving.

She couldn’t help but start reminiscing about the delicious food from her previous life—and also began missing that little supermarket she had tinkered with for five or six years.

Who would’ve thought, after just a moment of daze, she found herself already standing inside the supermarket.

At first, Xia Daohua thought she had imagined it—either because she was thinking too hard and hallucinated, or maybe she had fallen asleep and was dreaming.

But she quickly realized that she could not only touch the items in the supermarket but also take them out.

And although there was no one inside the store, both the cashier and service counter were operating just fine.

The only thing that had changed was the checkout method.

Ever since Xia Daohua discovered that not only did she have a “supermarket account,” but she could also use it to “shop” inside the supermarket, the very first thing she did was gleefully grab a soy-sauce-glazed roast chicken from the deli section and devour it heartily.

Before the original host was injured, she had barely been able to eat her fill. In her memory, even refined grains and eggs were top-tier delicacies—let alone this fragrant, savory roast chicken!

After more than ten days of eating nothing rich, Xia Daohua’s stomach had felt empty most of the time.

At this point, never mind roast chicken—even the greasy fast food she used to dislike, like KFC, she could probably finish an entire family bucket without stopping to breathe!

And sure enough, using just the small frame of an eight-year-old girl, she efficiently and cleanly ate an entire roast chicken all by herself!

She even gnawed the chicken neck—something she normally wouldn’t eat—completely clean!

After eating, she threw the chicken bones and the wet wipes she used to clean her mouth and hands into the trash bin, then carefully brushed her teeth, afraid of carrying even the slightest whiff of chicken back with her.

However, not long after she left the supermarket space, she discovered that her five-year-old little sister Linghua had rolled over toward her with her eyes still closed, mumbling:

“Smells so good… smells so good…”

Xia Daohua tightly shut her mouth, pulled the blanket up over her lips, leaving only her nose and eyes exposed. She gently pushed away the little sister who had gotten so close, a wave of guilt suddenly flooding her heart.

But the supermarket’s existence—was her secret.

That was something that absolutely could not be revealed.

Even though Linghua was an adorable little child, she couldn’t just casually expose her biggest secret in front of a child!

Still, Xia Daohua now had the body of a child, and after eating and drinking her fill, sleepiness had long since crept in.

She didn’t stay tangled up in her thoughts for long and soon drifted back into a deep sleep. Linghua, following the lingering aroma of roast chicken, rolled toward her again and nestled tightly into her big sister’s arms.

The next morning, just as dawn broke, Lihua got up to get dressed and saw the two little ones—Daohua and Linghua—snuggled up tightly together.

One was sleeping upright, the other sideways, arms and legs splayed, blankets kicked off, snoring softly, fast asleep.

Lihua couldn’t help but shake her head and smile. She gently separated the two children, placed their heads properly on the pillows, and pulled the quilt up to cover them, letting them sleep comfortably a little longer.

As soon as Lihua moved, Xia Daohua woke up.

She drowsily opened her eyes and was momentarily dazed to see the unfamiliar but beautiful young girl Lihua tucking her in.

It took her a moment to register where she was.

Only after rubbing her eyes and taking in her surroundings did she slowly remember that she had transmigrated.

She couldn’t help but let out a quiet sigh, pulled the blanket over her head again, and went back to sleep.

She was a kid now—she needed more sleep to grow!

However, Xia Daohua’s second round of sleep didn’t even last half an hour before she had to wake up again.

Her second aunt and third aunt had started quarreling at the main kitchen.

Although the fourth branch’s house was quite far from the kitchen, Second Aunt’s voice was so piercing that it cut straight through the air!

Even with the cotton quilt wrapped tightly around her head, Xia Daohua couldn’t block out that brain-piercing shriek. She missed her old earplugs terribly.

After trying to resist for a while and failing, Xia Daohua could only helplessly get out of bed.

(End of Chapter)