Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 55

“It’s so strange here!” Cao’er exclaims in surprise.

Cao’er’s mother instinctively shrinks back, her eyes—usually drooping—now wide open.

The others aren’t much better. Ever since they pass through the city walls, they’ve been like startled quails, flinching at the slightest movement. Before entering, they think the people here aren’t much different from themselves—same hair, same features.

But once inside the gate, they realize this place is nothing like the Daliang Dynasty.

The wide road beneath their feet isn’t made of soil or stone. The surface material is unfamiliar, and the sidewalks on either side are paved with something that looks like stone bricks—if they even are bricks.

The houses stand neatly in rows, square and clean. Looking up, many buildings are clearly more than five or six stories tall.

Though they see the tall structures from outside the walls, it’s still a shock to stand before them.

It’s a weekday, so there aren’t many people on the streets. Some roadside stalls are open, with vendors sitting beside them on small stools. One stall has a sign that reads:

“Small business, no tabs, pay on the spot. Corn cakes sold by weight and cut to order.”

Originally, corn cakes are cut by weight and used as change. All the corn cakes sold at the base are factory-produced, identical in size and weight. If sizes vary too much, it’s hard to conduct business or use them for barter.

Ye Zhou also looks around curiously, though not as obviously as Cao’er.

The interior of the base isn’t much different from a modern city. Its predecessor is probably a small county town. The buildings and communities closer to the outer wall look newer, while those toward the center are older. The roads narrow as they approach the heart of the base.

Gasoline is likely scarce—Ye Zhou hasn’t seen a single car on the road.

“Brother Zou.” Wu Yan doesn’t dare ask Ye Zhou, so he runs to the back to find Zou Ming, his expression a mix of fear and amazement. “How did they build these houses? Why are they so tall? And they haven’t collapsed?!”

Wu Yan has seen towers before and understands that taller buildings require deeper foundations, more support columns, and usually narrower tops.

To build a six-story structure, it would take countless craftsmen. For buildings like these, he imagines hundreds of thousands of people would be needed.

It doesn’t seem worth it. A small courtyard would take less effort and materials.

What baffles him most is that the buildings are uniformly wide from top to bottom. It feels like something beyond human capability.

Zou Ming explains, “They use cranes and excavators. Not much manpower needed.”

Wu Yan is confused. “What are cranes and excavators?”

Zou Ming replies, “Machines.”

Ye Zhou, overhearing them, comes over and says, “It’s like a carriage—you can’t pull it yourself, but a horse can. You need to drive the horse.”

Wu Yan immediately bows his head. “Yes.”

Ye Zhou sighs to himself.

His employees are always overly deferential. Sometimes, no matter what he explains, they can’t really take it in. No matter what he says, they just nod and agree, never questioning, never thinking for themselves.

He isn’t even sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Ye Zhou doesn’t bother to explain further. He’s used to it by now.

Most of the shops lining the street are closed. A few are open, mostly small eateries with limited supplies. Even though it’s mealtime, there are hardly any customers inside.

No one has enough extra corn cakes to spend on dining out. Rather than letting a restaurant owner make a profit, people prefer to go straight to the supermarket to trade for rice and vegetables and cook at home—it saves a lot. Cooking at home is far more economical.

The facilities are no different from the modern world Ye Zhou comes from, but the atmosphere is completely different. Even with people on the streets, it all still feels desolate.

Aside from helping his employees get used to the environment and broaden their horizons, Ye Zhou has another purpose for this trip.

He’s been invited to inspect the land that Yang Guoqin has specially designated for the breeding farm.

Since Ye Zhou is providing material support, Yang Guoqin doesn’t want to raise chickens and ducks in the wild. He plans to industrialize the process—breeding, raising, and processing all in one system. That way, even if Ye Zhou leaves in the future, the base can still operate the farm independently without major losses.

Yang Guoqin offers to send someone to pick him up, but Ye Zhou declines. He wants to walk the streets himself and observe the base with his own eyes.

On the way, Chen Gang is explaining to Zhou Wen, “The main materials for houses are cement, steel bars, sand, and gravel. These things used to be cheap and easy to get. Building a house didn’t cost much. I heard housing was expensive in the past because the land was expensive.”

Zhou Wen quietly replies, “Where I’m from, the land is way cheaper than a house.”

His hometown is surrounded by barren mountains. If you clear a few plots of land far from the village, the village chief won’t care. At most, you send him some sugar or cloth.
Unless someone comes along and buys the land, no one will stop you.

Chen Gang can’t help asking, “Bro, where exactly are you from?”

After spending time with them, Chen Gang no longer believes they’re people from the future. They don’t sound like it. Their language lacks the sharpness of modern speech, and they’re unfamiliar with so many things. They treat glass cups like prized treasures, using only plastic cups for daily drinking. Glass cups are reserved for offerings—Chen Gang half-expects them to light incense beside them.

He’s starting to wonder if they might actually be people from ancient times. But that idea is absurd… isn’t it? Maybe they’re from some extremely remote village? But even then, would they talk like that?

Zhou Wen replies, “I used to live in Liangjia Cliff.”

Chen Gang blinks. “Then your surname’s Zhou?”

Zhou Wen says, “There are three main surnames in Liangjia Cliff. The Liang family’s the biggest, then ours. But having more people doesn’t help. When the famine came, we still had to flee. They said we’d stick together, escape as one, but after a few rounds of refugee waves, we were scattered.”

He doesn’t know where his relatives end up—if they’ve made it safely to the south. He doesn’t even know if his nephews and nieces are still alive.

Then Zhou Wen asks, “Can girls work here? I saw women serving in the army!”

When the women hear him, they crowd over too. “Yeah! How can girls join the army? They look strong! Are they better or worse than the men?”

Chen Gang hasn’t even resolved his own confusion, and now he has to field other people’s questions.

“We are a military community here, regardless of gender,” Chen Gang explains. “Because of their physical structure, women can’t develop as much muscle as men, even if they put in the same effort. It’s just how physiology works. They have to work ten times harder than men to come close to matching them physically. But now, with guns and the zombies not rushing in right away, women are no different from men,” he adds with slight pride. “My cousin is in the army,” Chen Gang continues. “She’s an excellent soldier and gets rewards every month.”

“She sounds amazing!” someone exclaims.

Chen Gang nods, smiling, “She’s 1.92 meters tall!”

When the group compares their own heights to his cousin’s, they gasp in amazement. “She’s a giant!”

Chen Gang frowns. “1.9 meters is tall! Don’t call her a giant!”

At that moment, a woman asks, “Could someone like me join the army?”

Chen Gang takes a moment to study her before shaking his head. “You’re too thin.”

The woman asks in confusion, “So fat people can be soldiers?”

Chen Gang shakes his head again. “You have to be have the right build.”

Over the past few days, the female employees have seen many local women. They can’t help but feel amazed—these women are completely different from the ones back home.

Here, women can own property!

In the Great Liang Dynasty, that’s impossible—they have no private property. No matter how hard they work in the fields, they still have to rely on men. At home, they follow their father; after marriage, their husband. If the husband dies, then their son. Without a man, they can’t survive independently.

The government won’t let women buy land. They can’t sign contracts. Even when working as maids for rich families, the contracts have to be signed by their husbands.

They are like oxen—working their whole lives, but never owning anything.

Sara has told them this before, but they don’t understand it back then.

Now they do—and they realize their past lives aren’t really human lives at all. They’ve never even been seen as people.

They are property—belonging to men.

Before marriage, their “owner” is their father. After, it’s their husband.

Their emotions grow complicated. They don’t feel like they’re relying on their husbands—at home, they work the loom, toil in the fields, do everything men do. If their husband works in the city, all the fieldwork falls on them.

They still have to cook, care for the elderly, raise chickens and ducks, and run the household.

Yet they receive none of what they’re due. From birth to death, they don’t even have a name. Even their tombstone would only bear “So-and-so’s wife.”

If their husbands die and they haven’t given birth to a son, the family property gets taken by the clan. They either live in isolation as widows or are “sold” off to men who can’t find wives.

The women don’t understand why.

They can’t think of a reason. They work hard—often just as hard as the men—but why can’t they own property? Why is it only the men who can?

They’ve never questioned this before, because it’s the way things have always been in the Daliang Dynasty. Everyone lives this way, so what else is there to think about?

But now, seeing so many women who work and earn their own money, they begin to realize just how different their lives could have been. The disparity between their effort and what they receive in return is glaring.

“My mother is the top scorer in the college entrance exam back in our place,” Chen Gang says proudly.

The women’s eyes widen in shock, even more than when they hear about women in the army. “Women can study? Take exams?”

“Top scorer?!”

“She can take the top scorer exam?!”

“Women can take the top scorer exam?!”

The men are also stunned. “Women can hold official positions here?”

“Isn’t that like General Hua?”

Chen Gang blinks. “Who’s General Hua?”

The man replies, “General Hua Mulan.”

Chen Gang chuckles. “But didn’t Hua Mulan retire from the army? It’s different here. We don’t retire after fighting.”

Then someone asks with a strange look, “So when she marries, is she the bride or the groom?”