Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 48

Changfeng Base is located on the only route between the rear and the front. The entire base is filled with factories. Since the end of the world, each base has its own tasks to maximize productivity.

Those who produce grain focus solely on grain production, while those involved in industrial production stick to their respective roles.

To stabilize prices, they are kept uniform regardless of the place of origin or other bases.

With a labor shortage, the working hours are set at ten hours, not including overtime.

Although factory workers have job stability, their living conditions are poor. To ensure monthly quotas are met, each workshop often exceeds its designated machine and worker limits.

Over time, the air in the workshops becomes especially foul.

With male and female workers mixed together, the smell of sweat, body odor, and other unpleasant scents is everywhere.

Even though strict disinfection is enforced when entering and exiting, the natural scent of the human body can’t be eliminated.

“Qian Lan! There’s your package!” The manager stands at the door of the factory and shouts at the female worker who is sweating on the assembly line.

The female worker responds loudly, “I know, I’ll pick it up when I get off work!”

“Your husband sent you something,” the auntie beside her says, wearing a mask. “Your husband isn’t bad. He’s at Luoyang Base. I heard there’s hardly anything there. The zombie tide just receded two days ago. He probably saved food from his own mouth.”

Qian Lan smiles. “The child is still here. If he doesn’t do anything, I’ll remarry with the child.”

The auntie thinks, “Yes, as a father, he should do something.”

The work Qian Lan and her colleagues do isn’t difficult. They inspect the final process on the assembly line for defective products. If any are found, they pick them out. Although the work isn’t hard, it is very tiring. They have to stand all day, and even when their hands stop, their eyes can’t.

The salary isn’t as high as for other positions.

By the time they finish work, it’s already dark. After passing inspection, Qian Lan carries her bag to the security room to pick up the package and then walks alone down the street.

The streetlights are off, and the workers who finish work have to use flashlights.

Qian Lan can’t afford a flashlight. She has two kids to feed. Even though her husband sends food and ration tickets by transport when he can, adults can go hungry—kids can’t.

Since giving birth to her children, Qian Lan feels she has never had a full meal.

She is always worried whether the children are full. She would rather starve herself than let the children eat less.

Growl—

She instinctively glances around, only letting out a breath when she confirms no one has heard.

She is hungry, always hungry. She drinks water when she wakes up in the middle of the night. It feels like there is always water in her stomach. When she walks, she can hear the water sloshing.

She doesn’t know what Chen Gang has sent, but it is heavy.

Qian Lan struggles to drag the package, weighing dozens of kilograms, walking and stopping. Eventually, she reaches the bottom of her building and breathes a sigh of relief.

Electricity is prioritized for factories. Residential buildings above the tenth floor are practically unoccupied.

The elevators don’t work anymore.

Qian Lan, having two children at home, applied for the first floor. At this moment, she is extremely glad for her decision. She certainly doesn’t want to climb the stairs now.

She takes out the key and opens the door.

As soon as Qian Lan enters, she sees the candlelight in the living room.

The two children are snuggled on the sofa, still asleep. They are covered with a thin blanket, their heads leaning against each other, holding cheap toys in their hands. A few pieces of paper are scattered on the ground, covered with their scribbles.

Qian Lan’s heart breaks.

She walks over to wake the children and shouts with red eyes, “How many times have I told you? You must blow out the candles before going to bed! Do you know it’s dangerous? What if there’s a fire?! I work until this time every day, and if something happens in between—?!”

The children are frightened and start crying the moment they wake up.

Qian Lan sheds tears too.

She takes care of the children alone, getting less than six hours of sleep each day. She is too busy, too tired. Chen Gang is taking care of both parents at Luoyang Base, while she works at Changfeng Base with the children.

Sometimes, she wishes she could just fall asleep and never wake up.

So Qian Lan opens her arms, pulls the two children close, and the three of them cry bitterly together.

After an unknown amount of time, Qian Lan finally stands up. She lights another candle, wipes away her dried tears, and says to the children, “Your father sent something. Do you want to see it?”

The children’s emotions change quickly. After being distracted, they forget about crying and curiously watch Qian Lan drag the package inside.

The package is packed tightly with several layers of snakeskin bags, all wrapped with tape.

Qian Lan takes a pair of scissors from the cabinet and cuts the tape, under the children’s watchful eyes.

Layer after layer, until she reaches the final one.

Qian Lan smiles and says, “It’s so heavy; maybe it’s a toy your father bought for you.”

Toys don’t cost much, and Qian Lan can’t imagine what such a heavy item could be.

It would be impossible for it to be food. Changfeng is close to several grain production bases, so the food it can access is fixed. The wages for workers like her are stable, and the food coupons they receive each month are also fixed. They never get more, but at least it doesn’t decrease.

So when she opens the final layer and sees what’s inside, she is so shocked that she leans back and sits on the ground, covering her mouth in disbelief.

The two little girls ask curiously, “Mother, what is this?”

“It looks like meat!”

“Mother! Meat! Meat!”

The girls’ mouths water. They are so hungry they just want to eat.

At the top of the package are plastic-sealed sausages and bacon.

Qian Lan takes a deep breath and forces herself to stay calm.

She places the sausages and bacon on the ground. But what she uncovers next only tightens her chest with anxiety—there are cured chickens and ducks, and even packaged salted duck eggs and preserved eggs.

After moving all these items aside, there is rice underneath.

The house is filled with the scent of rice.

Qian Lan’s tears, which had just stopped, seem ready to fall again. Her nose turns red. At this moment, she wants to rush to Luoyang Base to confront Chen Gang. Where did he get all this food? Did he steal it or rob someone?

Did he break the law?

Is he going to be shot?

These things can’t be eaten… As long as the stolen goods from Chen Gang are still here, even if he is caught, he shouldn’t die, right? Qian Lan thinks in a panic. Why did Chen Gang do something like this? They haven’t reached that point yet!

“Mother! Eat meat!” The girls jump off the sofa, hugging Qian Lan’s legs from both sides, saliva dripping from their chins. “Mother, I’m hungry, I want to eat meat.”

“I haven’t eaten meat for a long, long time!”

Qian Lan bites her lip. She hasn’t eaten meat in a long time either.

How could she get meat with two children? All her tickets and money were used up buying corn cakes. Chen Gang would occasionally send her corn cakes and tickets with the team, but they were still stretched thin.

Sometimes Qian Lan thinks that if she had known they were twins, maybe she would have aborted them.

But they are already moving in her belly—she can feel them.

She can’t bring herself to do it. Chen Gang didn’t try to talk her out of it, either. If she chose to keep them, they’d both work to raise them. If not, he wouldn’t blame her.

She stayed up for two days without sleep and decided to keep the babies.

Her children eat meat only a few times a year. They never wear beautiful clothes, have no nice toys, and even their crayons are just one color.

Sometimes, she hates them and wants to stuff them back into her stomach, like just now. But sometimes she loves them so much it hurts. She wants to hold them in her mouth, carry them on her tongue, and never let them go.

“Mother will cook for you!” Qian Lan wipes her tears and stands up on her knees. “Let’s eat all the meat we can today!”

She doesn’t care anymore! She doesn’t care! If Chen Gang is really arrested, she will die with him! She wants her children to have a full meal, just once! All the meat they can eat!

There is no natural gas at home, but there is a stove and honeycomb coal. Qian Lan lights the fire and begins cooking.

The two children follow Qian Lan like two little shadows, never crying or making a fuss, even when Qian Lan accidentally steps on their feet or bumps into them.

“Mother, what kind of meat is this?” the younger daughter asks.

Qian Lan replies, “Bacon. It can be kept for a long time and is very fragrant.”

The older daughter, curious, asks, “Why didn’t we have it before?”

Qian Lan answers, “We didn’t have it before, but we do now. Go wash your hands. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

The girls nod obediently and go to wash their hands together.

Qian Lan opens the lid of the pot and looks at the bubbling white rice porridge. She swallows involuntarily. It has been so long since she has eaten rice. Since she can remember, she and her parents have been displaced.

Back then, unlike now, the major bases hadn’t stabilized. They were still under construction, and there were all kinds of people among the refugees.

Some weren’t very skilled at dealing with zombies, but they were cruel to their fellow humans.

The last time she ate rice was when she got married. Chen Gang had somehow gotten a bowl of rice and made two bowls for them. He couldn’t bear to eat it himself, so he gave it all to her.

It was the most delicious meal she has ever had in her life.

A smile appears on Qian Lan’s face as if she has let go of something, feeling a sense of relief.

It isn’t a big deal.

She is willing to be the bad guy.

As long as her daughters can have a good meal, she is willing to die with Chen Gang.

She wonders how Chen Gang is doing now, whether he has been arrested.

Meanwhile…

“Chen Gang?” Ye Zhou looks at the man who has bought 800 kilograms of rice in front of him.

Without a word, Chen Gang drops to his knees with a loud thud.

Ye Zhou: “…”

I’m pretty sure this isn’t the Daliang Dynasty. Kneeling isn’t in fashion here.

Chen Gang takes two steps forward on his knees and tries to hug Ye Zhou’s legs, but is stopped by Zou Ming beside him.

He doesn’t insist on hugging his legs. Instead, he looks up, tears on his face. “Boss! If you let me stay, I can do any dirty, hard, or difficult work! I can do it all! I can do anything!”