Chapter 2: Stocking up on Food

Xie Zhizhi calculated her money, grabbed her keys, phone, and bag, and went downstairs to the parking garage. She drove her Range Rover onto the street, activating her shopping mode.

If she were to truly travel back in time, food would probably be the most important thing. With food, at least she wouldn’t starve to death.

Although it was impossible to really go back, it was just her imagination, but that didn’t stop her enthusiasm. Indulging in a little stockpiling was also fun!

First, she rented a 200-square-meter warehouse near the market for cover, then headed to the largest food wholesale store.

Walking past the stores on both sides of the street lined with dry goods, with bags of food stacked up to three or four meters high, she found the counter on the right and asked the owner, “Hello, how many types of food do you have in your store?”

The owner, chubby and sitting behind the cash register counting money, looked up at the young, energetic girl and asked, “Little girl, are you buying in bulk or retail?”

Xie Zhizhi tilted her head and thought for a moment, “I want a bit of everything. How many types do you have?”

The owner explained, “We have various rice types like white rice, glutinous rice, brown rice, sorghum, black rice, and red rice. For wheat, we have wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt. For beans, we have broad beans, soybeans, mung beans, red beans, kidney beans, white beans, and more. We also have dried corn, and over 100 different types.”

Listening while counting on her fingers, Xie Zhizhi was surprised by the variety. “That’s quite complete. Can you pack 50 pounds of each type for me in plain white bags without any labels or designs?”

This would make it easy to use anywhere without drawing attention.

The owner instantly perked up, put down the money he was holding, and smiled broadly. “No labels? That’s easy, we have factories we cooperate with, I can have them send the bags over. Are you sure you want 50 pounds of each?”

Xie Zhizhi thought about the space size, it seemed about right—100 pounds would be too much to fit. She nodded, “Yes, please. For rice, I want two varieties: Fuchang rice and home-ground farm rice. How much will it cost? Can you deliver?”

“Sure, where to?” The owner was already busy writing up an order.

Xie Zhizhi handed over a piece of paper with the warehouse address and phone number. “This address. Call me when you’re on the way. It will take a while to load, right?”

“No problem, it should take about two hours.” The owner calculated the price and, ten minutes later, said with a smile, “The total is 28,110.”

Xie Zhizhi scanned it with her phone and casually asked, “Can you take off a zero and make it 28,000?”

The owner agreed without hesitation, “You’re very straightforward, so 28,000 it is!” He thought to himself, he had never seen someone place an order so quickly.

Xie Zhizhi reminded him, “Make sure to give me the freshest and best products, I will return anything that’s bad.”

The owner waved his hand with a smile, saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s the freshest. I want repeat customers, so I won’t cheat you.”

“Thanks, I’ve paid.”

“No, thank you. Here’s the receipt,” he said.

She nodded slightly, not wanting to discourage his optimism. Even if she were to open a rice store, she probably wouldn’t come back.

After receiving the receipt, she left and headed to the wholesale vegetable market.

Rows of stacked vegetables in all colors made her dizzy. She looked up at the owner in the middle of the pile and asked, “Hello, how are the vegetables sold?”

The owner, bald with a black beard and a stout build, looked more like someone who sold knives than vegetables. He sized her up and smiled, “Are you buying in bulk, little girl?”

Xie Zhizhi thought for a moment. “One pound of each or one of each. No bulk purchases.”

The owner casually placed a few baskets of vegetables in front of her and raised his eyebrows with a smile, “Well, that’s the retail price.”

After agreeing on the price, she began bagging the vegetables while silently counting:

“Sweet corn, glutinous corn, tomatoes, white radishes, red radishes, eggplants, green chilies, red chilies, cucumbers, baby bok choy, bean sprouts, lettuce, pumpkins, potatoes, lotus roots, edamame, okra, cabbage, chives, celery, asparagus, green onions, spring onions, cilantro, mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, king mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, ginger, garlic, small chili peppers, kelp, bean sprouts, and vegetable hearts… yep, these should do.”

She hesitated about the bitter melon and mustard greens, but in the end, decided to take them. After all, they didn’t take up much space.

Once weighed, the owner packed them in plastic bags. There were five large bags of vegetables, and since her car could fit them, she didn’t need delivery.

The owner set the calculator in front of her and said, “A total of 421 yuan, but I’ll charge you 420 yuan.”

“Thank you.” Xie Zhizhi paid, easily carrying the 50 pounds of vegetables, standing tall and grabbing the bag handles as she briskly walked out of the market. After a big loop, she found her impressive Range Rover.

She placed the vegetables in the car and was full of energy again, driving straight to the nearby seafood wholesale market.

The first seafood stall had many varieties of seafood stacked in breeding tanks, each one bubbling with oxygen.

The owner’s wife, wearing tall rubber boots, walked up to her with a friendly smile and asked, “What would you like to buy, little girl? We can do both retail and wholesale.”

Xie Zhizhi looked at the live king crabs in the tanks, so fresh, and thought she would steam one tonight to enjoy. With a smile in her brown eyes, she told the owner her request: “I’m not buying wholesale, but I want one pound of each variety. For the very large lobsters and king crabs, I’ll take one of each.”

The owner’s wife was a bit surprised. “We have over 40 varieties of seafood here, not counting the dried and frozen fish. You want one pound of each?”

“Yes,” Xie Zhizhi responded, already thinking about stocking up.

The owner’s wife pointed to the seafood inside and introduced the varieties: “Tiger bass, spotted fish, mudfish, sunfish, freshwater bass, golden pompano, perch, eel, flatfish, blue crabs, meat crabs, soft-shell crabs, shrimp, rohu shrimp, nine-segment shrimp, abalones.”

“Small, medium, and large crawfish, clams, oysters, beautiful clams, white clams, scallops, flower clams, mussels, king crabs, lobster, today’s fresh frozen salmon, hairtail, and dried oysters and clams.”

Xie Zhizhi’s eyes brightened, and she asked, “You have eel? Is it sea eel or freshwater eel?”

The owner’s wife replied, “We just got sea eel in this morning, very fresh, about three to four pounds each.”

“I’ll take one,” Xie Zhizhi said, imagining how delicious the seafood would be—either steamed or stir-fried.

“For the rest, I’ll take one pound of each. The larger ones, I’ll take one. Can you pack it in styrofoam boxes and deliver it to the nearby warehouse?”

“Sure,” the owner’s wife smiled, calling her children to help pack the seafood.

The owner’s wife’s eldest son and three daughters quickly packed everything with ice, weighed it, and made sure everything was in order.

The owner’s wife handed her the bill, smiling and politely asking, “The total is 6,000 yuan, where should we send it?”

Xie Zhizhi paid without hesitation and wrote down the warehouse address, saying cheerfully, “Just call me when you’re ready, I’ll open the door for you. Thank you!”

“No problem,” the owner’s wife said.

As Xie Zhizhi walked out of the seafood market, she thought to herself. After the space upgrade, there would probably be an ecological area outside the warehouse for raising chickens and ducks. She was already eager to see it!