​​Chapter 10 Upgrade?​​

Returning to the supermarket, Qin Qing headed straight to the garage area. She retrieved the used electric scooter from her personal space and set it down to charge.

The tires were coated with a layer of dry, sandy dirt. Fortunately, the area she'd been in was lush with vegetation, there had been no rain, and the ground was dry. The soil on the tires was easily dislodged with a slight movement.

Luckily, the Dimensional Supermarket itself had a "cleaning" function. Anything she took there or brought back was automatically "disinfected and sterilized." Items that could disrupt the natural environment couldn't be transported either way.

She plugged in the charger, picked up the remote control nearby, and opened the garage door.

"Qingqing? Why are you coming out from there today?" a neighbor asked automatically upon seeing her.

"Just got back from an errand, came straight through here," Qin Qing stepped out of the garage, took her keys, and walked towards the supermarket entrance. Earlier, when she left for the factory, she had locked the front door. "Auntie, need to buy something?"

"Some ice cream. My grandchildren are coming over tonight. It's getting hotter; they'll be clamoring for it." The neighbor followed Qin Qing into the supermarket and went straight to the freezer. Opening it, she asked immediately, "Qingqing, you don't have any of those 'freezer bandits' here, do you?"

"Auntie knows about 'freezer bandits'?" Qin Qing couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course! I scroll through short videos every day. I can chat about what you youngsters talk about." The auntie said proudly.

"That's great, very trendy," Qin Qing said, walking over to the freezer and looking inside. "I don't stock any 'bandit' brands here. Only familiar ones."

She wasn't overly familiar with the ice cream brands herself, having recently taken over the supermarket. But the brands in the freezer looked like familiar names from childhood.

"I'll take a few." The neighbor auntie selected several ice cream cones and placed them on the counter for Qin Qing to ring up.

After making the sale, Qin Qing walked around the supermarket, checking the expiration dates on all the goods. She stored anything with only a month or two left in her personal space.

Then, she found the supplier contact list left by the previous owner and called them to arrange deliveries.

Over the next few days, she contacted several suppliers, had them deliver goods to the store, stocked some on the shelves, and stored the rest in her personal space.

To outsiders, it just looked like frequent deliveries and a fully stocked supermarket. No one knew exactly how much inventory there was.

Another day, Qin Qing woke up early, washed up, and headed straight to the Dimensional Supermarket to open the door.

Qin Qing: "..."

Unsurprisingly, she found a durian placed right outside the door again. Qin Qing remained silent as usual.

Ever since the "offering and bowing" incident a few days ago, these people had gotten clever. They specifically placed the "offering" by the door before Qin Qing woke up, clearly having bowed to it first.

She had told them several times not to, but perhaps because she always accepted the durians, the "offerings" never stopped.

Oh well, she thought. Picking durians took effort but cost no money. Let them offer it. Otherwise, having so many durians, eating them every day would get monotonous.

Better to store them in her personal space than let them go to waste.

Qin Qing dispensed two packets of instant noodles from the machine, stepped outside, and called Yùniáng over. She handed the noodles to her. "Durian is good, but it's not staple food. You should eat more instant noodles. You've collected so many white stones. If you don't exchange them for noodles, hoarding them is pointless."

"Many thanks, Celestial Master. We understand," Yùniáng bowed respectfully. After Qin Qing forbade kneeling, bowing deeply had become her standard respectful gesture. "But we thought... come autumn and winter, when the weather turns harsh, fruit won't be easy to find, and wild greens will be scarce. We wanted to save up."

"Can crops be grown near here?" Qin Qing inquired.

"Perhaps," Yùniáng replied softly. "But we are newcomers here, unfamiliar with the surroundings. We brought no seeds or seedlings. We discussed it the day before yesterday. In a couple of days, we plan to go together to a nearby town, pool some money to buy grain seeds. If we can get a harvest, this year will be bearable."

"What kind of good seeds are available now?" Qin Qing asked curiously.

"If we're lucky, perhaps we can buy millet (suì), broomcorn millet (shǔ), or some bean seeds..." Yùniáng answered Qin Qing's question earnestly, detailing the types of seeds she knew about.

But no matter which kind, they had just arrived. The land around, even if fertile, was wild and uncultivated, never plowed or fertilized. Even if they bought seeds, a harvest wasn't guaranteed.

Moreover, the "good seeds" Yùniáng spoke of weren't the high-yield varieties Qin Qing knew about.

If only I could have another "vending window," Qin Qing thought, I could sell them some high-yield seeds.

​​[Upgrade? [Yes] or [No]]​​

​​[Upgrade Cost: White Stones - 50, Trading Windows: +1]​​

Qin Qing stared at the prompt that suddenly appeared before her eyes, then turned to ask Yùniáng. "How many white stones have you saved these past few days?"

"We can gather seven or eight a day. Probably around forty or fifty," Yùniáng replied after thinking. "We listened to the Celestial Master. We stored all the white stones in the vending machine. We only exchange for two packets of instant noodles a day. Our food is sufficient now, so the extra money can be saved."

"Keep saving like that then. I'll handle something on my end. Later, there should be an additional item available – probably seeds. You can buy them with your money then." Qin Qing informed Yùniáng. She then confirmed the vending machine's information. She didn't upgrade immediately. Instead, she quickly went online and placed an order for five hundred pounds of high-quality sweet potatoes.

She needed a large quantity. Five hundred pounds of high-quality sweet potatoes cost only eighty cents per pound, totaling four hundred yuan.

Although she still had three tons of rice in her personal space, when it came to high-yield crops suitable for harsh conditions, sweet potatoes were the best choice. The land over there wasn't ideal, and they couldn't rely on trading with her for food forever. They needed to be self-sufficient.

Therefore, sweet potatoes were the more suitable option.

Meanwhile, after Qin Qing walked away, Yùniáng stood rooted to the spot.

Someone nearby saw her and came over to ask. "Yùniáng, what's wrong?"

"The Celestial Master just said she would find a way to get seeds for us," Yùniáng said, her eyes suddenly blazing with light. "The Celestial Master is going to get us seeds!"

"Really?"

"Really. The Celestial Master said it herself."

"That's wonderful! I'll go tell everyone!" Saying this, the person turned and ran.

Yùniáng froze for a second, then hurried after them.

Over the past few days, the group had built a simple dwelling not far away. The structure was crude, just a basic framework. Today, they were putting on the roof. Once the roof was done, even if it rained, they could rest properly.

"Good news! Heavenly good news!" The excited shout rang out just as someone was hoisting a log up towards the roof. The shout made them pause mid-effort.

"What good news?" The person on the roof bent down, reaching out with both hands to grab one end of the log, preparing to pull it up.

"The Celestial Master told Yùniáng she would find seeds for us!" The messenger bounced with excitement. "The Celestial Master said it herself! From now on, we can grow our own food!"

"Really?"

"Oof!"

"Careful! Careful!"

"Got it! Hold still, hold still! Slowly now."

After a flurry of activity, the log was finally hauled onto the roof. The person who had almost lost their footing now stood steadily on the sloping surface, heart still pounding but wearing a broad smile.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Hahahaha! Wonderful! Long live the Celestial Master!"

"The Celestial Master truly is the best, the kindest deity under heaven! She must have received our offerings! Tomorrow morning, we'll place even more offerings!"

"Tell the people who went to pick durians when they come back. Give half of today's durians to the Celestial Master."

"Hmm. The Celestial Master surely doesn't lack durians, but she's still willing to help us. We shouldn't be stingy. None of you be stingy either!"

"We're not like that! If the Celestial Master wants them, forget half, we'd give her all of them!"

"Exactly! Besides, it was the Celestial Master who discovered the durian. If she hadn't shown us they were edible, how would we know? You all didn't see. That day, we'd already walked past that grove. It was the Celestial Master who took us back and showed us, told us to pick them. Otherwise, we wouldn't have dared eat them."

The durian pickers and the house builders often rotated tasks. Everyone had already heard the story of how they discovered and tasted the first durian many times. But with the topic brought up again, someone immediately egged the storyteller on.

The others were all enthusiastic listeners, looking up with smiles and pricked ears.

"Let me tell you, that day..."

Yùniáng also tilted her head up to listen for a while. Even though she had heard it many times before, she still found it fascinating this time.

When she'd heard enough, she walked a short distance away. She handed the instant noodles she was holding to the old man twisting hemp rope. "Father, the Celestial Master gave us these instant noodles."

"The Celestial Master gave noodles again?" The old man's face, already deeply etched with wrinkles, naturally looked stern. Frowning slightly made him appear even more severe, causing an instinctive sense of dread.

Yùniáng reacted the same way, perhaps because she was often scolded by him. Seeing his expression, she involuntarily took a small step back.

The old man didn't speak, just lowered his head and continued twisting the rope.

"Father, I'll leave the noodles here. I'll take Nannan to look for more white stones." Yùniáng stepped forward, placed the noodles beside the old man, and took the hand of her daughter who sat obediently on a nearby rock.

Before leaving, she turned back and said softly, "Father, if you have time... could you teach Nannan to read?"

"Mother," the child tugged on Yùniáng's arm, "Grandfather taught me characters this morning. I can recognize numbers now. They're easy to learn."

"Really?" Yùniáng's eyes lit up.

"Mm-hmm."

Yùniáng reached out and gently ruffled her daughter's small head. Then she looked at the silent old man. "Father, thank you."