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She had already been awake for a while but continued lying in bed, not wanting to get up.
There were still so many things she hadn’t bought. Eventually, she got up, washed, and left the hotel.
On the way, she grabbed a bowl of old tofu and a youtiao. Then she planned to buy some medicine—but she didn’t know any wholesalers in the pharmaceutical trade.
There was no other way but the dumb one: buy a little from every pharmacy she came across!
She scanned a shared yellow bike and began her medicine run. Along the roadside, she noticed a small storefront offering loans? The sign clearly said “Loan Services,” but what kind of place set up shop right by the street?
Curious, she went in. Upon asking, they said they did indeed offer loans—but only with collateral.
She asked, could she use the deed to her old house as collateral? The owner, a flashy man wearing a thick gold chain, nodded and said yes.
She gave him her phone number and told him she’d get back to them. Right now, she had to finish stockpiling supplies.
Along the way, she passed by a secondhand market.
She went inside to see if there were any storage shelves available—she needed something to organize all her supplies. Everything was piled together in a complete mess, and it would be a pain to retrieve anything later on.
“Boss, is it possible to temporarily borrow your storage room? I’ll move everything out by this afternoon.”
“Sure,” the man said. “If you’re buying a lot, you can use it for free.”
“Thank you.”
She picked out five shelving units, five large old-style latch-top trunks, three sewing machines, two old-fashioned bicycles, two kerosene stoves, and two honeycomb coal stoves. She also got six single-seat used sofas and two three-seater leather couches, two hoes, and two large water vats.
In the back room, there were a lot of old books too. She selected quite a few…
There were cookbooks, a copy of Compendium of Materia Medica, The Thirty-Six Stratagems, a dictionary, books on homemade pastries, wilderness survival manuals, and many old school textbooks. There were also two boxes of empty canning jars. Altogether, it was quite a haul—and very cheap too. She didn’t spend much at all.
After paying, she also gave the shop owner an extra tip to help find someone to move everything to the storage room. She took the key and planned to return in the afternoon to haul everything over.
Then she resumed her medicine stockpiling at various pharmacies: cold medicine, fever reducers, laxatives, headache medicine, antibiotics, children’s medications—everything she could get her hands on. She also bought iodine, alcohol, gauze, calcium tablets, and vitamins.
She picked up a few traditional Chinese medicines as well, asking each shop to grind them into powder and bottle them in small jars. She bought just a little of each kind to avoid raising suspicion.
She ended up visiting thirty different pharmacies.
And every single one of them asked the same question.
“You’re buying so much medicine—did you hear some kind of rumor?”
“No,” she replied casually. “I’m just helping folks from the village. They don’t have time to come to the city themselves.”
She kept rushing around, and before she knew it, it was already noon.
Every time she came out of a pharmacy, she would find a restroom, slip inside, and transfer the medicine into her space. She used this method at every single store.
At a street intersection, she passed a malatang shop and went in for a bowl. It tasted good, so she ordered twenty more bowls.
Then she ordered twenty bowls of liangpi noodles, twenty bowls of egg noodles, and fifty meat-filled flatbreads. She asked for an order slip, paid a deposit, and told the shop she’d come pick everything up the next morning.
Passing a bun shop, she placed an order for 500 steamed buns and likewise arranged to pick them up the next day.
Then she saw a jianbing guozi stall and placed a deposit for 100 pancakes, also for pickup the next morning.
She walked and bought all along the way.
She had more or less finished stocking up. After receiving all the deliveries that afternoon, she could finally take a break. Tomorrow, once everything was collected, she’d head home.
She returned to the hotel and took a nap first. After waking up, she showered, and as soon as she was done, she felt hungry again. She ordered takeout and browsed her phone while waiting for it to arrive.
There were so many things available online—old-style radios, vintage bicycles, thermos flasks.
There was even more clothing. She figured she might as well prepare a few more sets. She bought three outfits each from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Afraid she might end up traveling back to ancient times, she also ordered hanfu—three sets each for men and women. Who knew if she’d time-travel as a man or a woman?
She also bought ten small folding stools—just in case they came in handy.
Knock knock knock…
A knock sounded at the door. The takeout had arrived, and she brought it in. Society these days was truly amazing—even without cooking, food would still be delivered to your door.
After finishing her meal, she continued stockpiling online. This store had good prices for hair ties, hair clips, and small black hairpins—she placed an order.
Another shop had collapsible carts—she ordered a few. For tea, she found a seller offering tea leaves with canisters, and placed a separate order for both. Then she spotted a nice handbag, and bought five of each style.
While browsing, she came across yarn and bought ten jin each of red, blue, pink, yellow, white, and black.
The shop owner promised to include free crochet hooks, knitting needles, sewing needles, and circular needles—five sets of each.
Not bad at all. No matter where she ended up, she wouldn’t have to worry about being cold.
She realized she hadn’t bought enough shoes, so she quickly placed an order for ten pairs of various leather shoes.
Not early anymore. Time to sleep.
The next morning, she got up and began her rounds collecting all the goods she had reserved. First stop: the car rental. She rented a beat-up minivan.
At each shop, she loaded the purchased items directly onto the van. Then she’d drive to a quieter side street and transfer everything into her space discreetly.
As she passed a small convenience store, she popped in and bought a box of sausages, a box of Wuliangye liquor, a box of Zhuyeqing wine, and a box of Erguotou. She had the shop staff load everything onto the van.
The shop owner grinned from ear to ear and even walked her all the way to the road. When she looked back while crossing the street, the boss was still waving enthusiastically at her.
She drove down a narrow alley and carefully stored the liquor into her space—better to be safe than seen.
By the time she had picked up all the items she had reserved the day before, it was almost evening.
Since the van wasn’t due back until nighttime, she figured she might as well stroll around the streets.
She passed by a fruit shop and bought ten jin of dragon fruit, ten bunches of bananas, and a basket of tiny mandarins. As always, she stored everything into her space immediately after.
Once done, she returned the rental car and made a quick call to confirm the last bus back to her town—there was still one more trip available.
On the way to the bus station, she spotted a jewelry shop. She went inside and bought a gold necklace and a nice gold bangle.
Feeling satisfied, she called a taxi and headed for the station.
By the time she boarded the last bus back to the town, it was already four in the afternoon.
She rode the bus for two hours and finally returned to the town.
After getting off, she went to the bicycle storage area to retrieve her bike, and Big Brother helped her push it out.
“This bike of yours is so beat-up. If it were a better one, it would’ve been stolen long ago. Turns out an old bike is the safer choice,” he joked.
Big Brother chuckled at his own comment.
She pedaled the bicycle all the way home, jolting along the uneven road. After a quick wash, she went straight to rest.
The next morning, she woke up late.
After breakfast, she brought two jin of meat, two bottles of liquor, and a case of milk to her Older Sister-in-law.
Her Older Sister-in-law was doing laundry in the courtyard and repeatedly refused the gifts despite her insistence.
“Don’t go wasting money like this. You’ll need it later—there’ll be plenty of places where money’s needed in life,” she said.
The two of them chatted on and off until it was nearly noon.
“Sister, stay for lunch today,” her Older Sister-in-law offered.
“Jie, I still need to tidy up. I was thinking of opening a door to the outside from the south room, maybe start a small shop and earn some living expenses. That way, I won’t have to eat at your place anymore.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Once the kids are done resting, let them come take a look and see how it can be done.”
Wang Li returned home and steamed just enough rice for one person. She scrambled an egg and stir-fried some shredded potatoes—just enough to get by. She’d been exhausted these past few days and didn’t feel like putting effort into cooking.
Starting that afternoon, deliveries began arriving one after another. Since the village wasn’t far from the town, she could’ve gone to pick them up herself if needed. Within three days, all the packages had been received.
Every day, neighbors came by asking what she was doing with so many purchases. She got so fed up with answering that she began preparing for her trip into the city to apply for a loan. There was no money left to fix up the house. If she couldn’t time-travel, or if the apocalypse didn’t come, then she’d just open a small convenience shop.
After dinner, she packed all the valuable items in the house into her space. Last time she left, she noticed signs of someone rummaging around when she got back. Someone had probably broken in.
As she drifted off to sleep in a daze, she suddenly felt the urge to pee and sat up, trying to get out of bed. But she tripped and stumbled. Reaching for the bedside lamp, she couldn’t find it no matter how she groped around. Why was it so dark in the house? What was going on?
She didn’t care what was happening—she just needed to get to the toilet. As she tried to stand, she tripped again. Suddenly, a wave of unfamiliar memories surged into Wang Li’s mind. Scene after scene, strange yet vaguely familiar, began to play out in her head.
She remembered hearing her coworkers talk about time-travel novels—how some characters would just fall asleep and wake up in another world.
Could this be it? Had she really time-traveled? What a pity—so many things in the old house hadn’t been packed away yet.
The images flooding her mind must have belonged to the original owner of this body. She was just about to sort through the fragments of this person’s past when, suddenly, a light flicked on above her.
A girl’s voice called out from above.
“Madam, Madam, I’ve come to find you—are you still there?”
“Madam, I’ll bring the ladder over in a moment. Hurry and come up—the bandits have already left.”
After a while, just as Wang Li was starting to doze off, the girl finally arrived.
She slowly lowered a ladder, and a beam of light streamed in. Looking around, Wang Li realized she was in a cellar filled with large burlap sacks—it must have been one of those sacks that had tripped her and caused her fall earlier.
Climbing out with difficulty, she saw that the girl before her was about ten years old. She was chubby and spoke in a slightly odd tone.
Before Wang Li could say anything, the girl began chattering like beans spilling from a bag, speaking in a rapid-fire manner.
From what the girl said, Wang Li pieced together that yesterday, the Master had gone to the city to visit the Eldest Young Master, because the Eldest Young Madam had given birth to a son.
Wang Li was still sorting through the tangled memories in her mind.
“Yatou, then why wasn’t I brought along?”
“Madam is the second wife. When the Master married you, he said you wouldn’t bear any children, so all the children are from the previous Madam.”
Ah, so she was a stepmother. “Yatou, take me to where I live now.”
On the way back to the bedroom, the Courtyard was in complete disarray—bodies lay scattered everywhere. It was terrifying.
From the memories in her mind, it seemed that bandits had raided the village. This was the home of a landlord, and with the Master away, only the original Madam had been left behind to watch over the household.
The landlord was in his forties this year, while the original Madam was thirty-three.
Her family had been poor, but because she was beautiful, she’d caught the eye of the landlord. Her parents had accepted ten silver dollars and sold her off.
Now in this household, there were two gatekeepers, two kitchen maids, and one maidservant. The chubby girl was a little slow-witted—she was the daughter of the old steward.
The old steward had died on the way to the city with the Master when they encountered bandits. He had shielded the Master from a fatal blow. Ever since then, the Master had taken care of his daughter.
“Madam, hurry up—let’s go home quickly. Otherwise, the Master will scold us when he comes back.”
“Aunt Liu said the bandits came in, stole things, killed a lot of people, and left right after looting and killing. There’s hardly anyone left alive in the village.”
“She hid you in the cellar and hid herself in the pit beneath the millstone. I had fallen asleep in the firewood pile. When I woke up, I saw Aunt Liu.”
“Aunt Liu asked me to come and ask you—should we clean up and go to the cave that the Master had someone dig up in the mountains, or should we stay in the village and wait for the Master to return?”
“No one knows if anyone else is even still alive in the village…”
“It’s too scary to stay here…”
“Silly girl, let’s go back to the room first and pack up. No matter where we go, we need to bring food and water.”
“If we don’t have food or water, we won’t last long even in the mountains.”
“Madam, there must be food stored in the cave. I heard my father say the Master is as crafty as a wily hare—he stashed things everywhere.”
Heh. This girl—come on, let’s head back inside.
Note:
We have chosen to retain certain Chinese terms in their original form to preserve their cultural essence, emotional nuance, and hierarchical context. These expressions often carry layers of meaning that are difficult to fully capture in English. Below is a list of commonly used terms with their meanings:
Family and Affectionate Terms
• Gege (哥哥) – older brother; used affectionately between siblings or close male friends
• Ge (哥) – short form of “Gege”; a casual, familiar way to address an older male
• Xiong (兄) – elder brother; formal or classical tone
• Didi (弟弟) – younger brother
• Meimei (妹妹) – younger sister
• Jiejie (姐姐) – older sister; used warmly and respectfully
• Jie (姐) – short form of “Jiejie”; familiar and endearing
• Xiao (小) – means “small” or “little”; often used before someone’s name to show youth or affection (e.g., Xiao Ming = Little Ming)
• A- (阿) – affectionate prefix added before a name or nickname (e.g., A’Li, A’Zhen)
Respectful or Social Titles
• Shifu (师父) – master or teacher; used in martial arts or apprenticeships
• Shixiong (师兄) – senior male apprentice or disciple
• Shidi (师弟) – junior male apprentice
• Shijie (师姐) – senior female apprentice
• Shimei (师妹) – junior female apprentice
• Zhangmen (掌门) – sect or clan leader
• Zongzhu (宗主) – head of a sect or clan
• Gongzi (公子) – young master; used for sons of noble or wealthy families
• Xiaojie (小姐) – young lady or miss; may also refer to a courtesan depending on context
• Daren (大人) – an honorific for officials or people of high rank (e.g., magistrate, judge)
• Laoye (老爷) – old master; used to address wealthy or noble older men
• Furen (夫人) – lady/madam; wife of a nobleman
• Taijun (太君) – respected elderly lady or matriarch
Servants and Common Folk
• Pozi (婆子) – an old woman; often a maid or servant woman, sometimes derogatory depending on context
• Yatou (丫头) – servant girl; can also be used affectionately for a younger girl
• Nubi (奴婢) – humble term used by female servants/slaves to refer to themselves
• Puzi (仆子) – male servant
• Zahuohuo (杂活活) – odd-jobs person or handyman
• Nu (奴) – generic term for slave or servant
Imperial & Government Titles
• Huangshang (皇上) – His Majesty, the Emperor
• Niangniang (娘娘) – Her Highness, Empress or imperial consort
• Taizi (太子) – crown prince
• Wangye (王爷) – prince or royal duke
• Wangfei (王妃) – princess consort
• Guifei (贵妃) – imperial noble consort
• Laotou (老头) – old man; can be affectionate or teasing depending on context
These terms may appear throughout our translation to preserve the tone and authenticity of the original Chinese text. Thank you for your understanding!