Chapter 3: Stocking Up Space

Lin Anran spent an hour visiting and finally settled on a real estate agency. While there, she also rented two large warehouses for two months, fairly close to the city, at 50,000 yuan per month. After working for three years, she still had some savings—about 100,000 yuan she could spare.

Leaving the agency, she drove about ten miles to a market. The market was quite large, three floors: the first floor sold rice, flour, cooking oil, dry goods, and daily necessities; the second floor had clothing; the third floor sold home appliances. She went straight to the wholesalers on the first floor, buying one ton each of rice, flour, and cooking oil.

Because she could plant in her space, she also bought one ton each of corn seeds, black beans, soybeans, black rice, rapeseed, black sesame, white sesame, mung beans, peas, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, romaine lettuce, scallions, ginger, garlic, and Sichuan peppercorns. For cooking oils, she bought one ton each of peanut oil, rapeseed oil, and salad oil.

After leaving the oil vendor, she went to the vegetable section and bought 2,000 jin (about 1,000 kg) each of sweet potatoes and potatoes. Thinking ahead about planting, she bought extra seeds: pumpkin, winter melon, cantaloupe, spinach, Shanghai bok choy, romaine lettuce, rapeseed, celery, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, string beans, cowpeas, lettuce, scallions, ginger, garlic, and Sichuan peppercorns—500 jin of each. She also purchased five to six varieties of mushrooms, twenty packages of each, to ensure a constant supply of fresh fungi.

She bought 300 jin each of white sugar and rock sugar. She sent the warehouse address to the vendor to have everything delivered in two days. Thinking about fresh fruits, she decided to buy trees to plant herself: apple, orange, apricot, pear, peach, cherry, sugarcane, dragon fruit, and hawthorn—20 of each. She paid and had a truck arranged for delivery to the warehouse. She realized that items could only be transferred into the space if they were within three meters of the warehouse; anything farther wouldn’t work.

Lin Anran ran back and forth, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She had arrived at 10 a.m. but hadn’t realized she was so hungry, having forgotten lunch. Her stomach growled. She went to a nearby restaurant and ordered fish-flavored shredded pork over rice.

Afterwards, she went to the second floor of the market for clothes—old and new styles for spring, summer, autumn, and winter: suits, down jackets, thermal wear, leggings, and stockings. She bought sizes S and M, 20 sets of each. Next, she went to the bedding section, buying 500 sets of four-piece bedding in various colors and sizes, as well as 100 sets each of down comforters, silk quilts, cotton quilts, and mattresses. She also bought 100 rolls of fabric in various colors, feeling that it should be enough. She sent the warehouse address to the vendor, to be delivered in two days.

Seeing it was getting late, she headed to the third floor for home appliances, buying five each of refrigerators, washing machines, and electric fans. Satisfied, she drove back to her apartment as night fell. She ate some food to fill her stomach, then lay down and opened her phone.

She ordered daily necessities—toilet paper, sanitary pads, wet wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, laundry detergent, fabric softener, cosmetics, facial masks, socks, towels—300 pieces of each via express delivery, which would arrive in three days at the warehouse. Exhausted, she lay down and fell asleep.

Her day at the hospital had been busy. She felt the day had passed in the blink of an eye. The next night, she was on a night shift and would rest during the day. Looking at the farm in her space and the items she had bought, she realized her money was nearly spent. She called the real estate agency to quickly sell her house, even considering lowering the price by 200,000 yuan if necessary.

After finishing her night shift, her head felt heavy, and she wanted to rest at her apartment. A shadow appeared in front of her—it was Director Xiao Feng. Seeing her tired, he said, “I’ve finished checking the patients. They’re stable for now. How about I give you a ride home?”

Lin Anran looked at him disdainfully and said, “Focus on your shift and your patients. This is the emergency department. Thanks for your concern, Director Xiao.” She turned and walked away without another word. Wang Tian, witnessing the director showing concern and offering a ride, felt very upset and maliciously thought, “Lin Anran, you sly fox, you think you’re clever.”

Lin Anran drove back to her apartment, her eyelids heavy, barely able to keep her eyes open. She collapsed on the bed and fell asleep, dreaming of a rundown county town, where people were pale and thin, wearing tattered clothes. The night passed in a haze, and she woke to another day of work. She realized the dream must be connected to her bracelet and decided to prepare in advance.

She used her annual leave—after working five years, she was entitled to ten days—and thought it was a good time to take a break since she had been at the hospital for exactly five years. She applied for leave. Director Xiao Feng, seeing her leave form, smiled and said, “Anran, where are you planning to travel, and with whom?”

Her eyes flicked, and she replied, “I’m not traveling. I have some things to take care of.”
“Oh, shall I accompany you?” he asked, reaching to grab her hand.

Lin Anran recoiled as if shocked, saying, “Director, please restrain yourself!” and left the office. The busy doctors nearby glanced at the two, some giving the director a stern look, while others lowered their heads to continue working. Lin Anran disdainfully left the office, checked on her patients again, and briefed another doctor on their conditions before leaving.

By the third day, all the ordered goods had arrived. Using her will, she stored everything in her space. After completing this, she received 18 million yuan from selling her house and booked a flight to Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia, she bought 100 cows, 100 sheep, and 20 dairy cows, spending nearly three million yuan, all stored in her space. She also bought a return ticket and returned to her apartment, ate some food, then entered her space to organize the purchases.

On an empty patch of land, she used her will to create three fenced areas for the cows and sheep. There was enough grass for three days. She also used her will to plant a new grass field, planted the saplings, and sowed seeds. After completing all of this, utterly exhausted, she left the space and fell asleep on her bed.

She was so tired that she woke at 10 a.m., pulled back the curtains, and made a list of what else she needed to buy. Suddenly, she remembered that the river in her space was empty, so she decided to stock it with live fish and began taking action.