Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 68

It is a rare sunny day, and Ye Zhou sits outside the supermarket, enjoying the warmth of the sun. In front of him, a small wooden table holds tea and snacks.

Cao’er Niang brings out a recliner from somewhere. Ye Zhou lies back in it, wearing sunglasses, and quickly falls asleep.

He is very satisfied with this long vacation. The supermarket’s closure hasn’t impacted the base in the least. After all, the base is thriving now, and everyone is busy—looking for jobs, working, and even though they want to shop, there are no corn cakes left.

Apart from corn cakes, the only supplies that can be exchanged at the Luoyang Base are guns.

And everything that can be exchanged has already been taken by Yang Guoqin.

Now, the arsenal of the Luoyang Base is empty.

Ye Zhou has emptied the entire base—but it isn’t his fault. The base is simply too poor.

When Chen Gang comes to see him, Ye Zhou never expects that Chen Gang’s family would have such an idea. After all, the base is developing well, so there is no need to abandon that life and move to work in an unknown place with him.

What’s more, they are a family, and they intend to bring both the elderly and children with them. It would take a lot of determination to make that decision.

Chen Gang doesn’t come empty-handed. He brings a box of homemade snacks, including glutinous rice cakes, pumpkin cakes, and salted peanuts. They are handmade, which always gives a sense of heartfelt effort.

Ye Zhou looks at Chen Gang’s face.

Chen Gang lowers his head, and Ye Zhou sighs. “Why do you want to come with me? At least give me a reason I can believe.”

Chen Gang hesitates for a long time, then finally says, “My parents and parents-in-law aren’t in good health. My wife said they might get better and be free of illness and disasters once they enter the supermarket. They’re only in their 50s,” Chen Gang adds eagerly. “If this were before the end of the world, they’d still be considered middle-aged, not old. They don’t need wages, and they can do plenty of work every day.”

Ye Zhou frowns. “Wages aren’t the issue.”

After all, it wouldn’t be hard for two adults to support the elderly and children. The supermarket has cheap food, so they can just buy fewer snacks.

“The main issue is your two kids. Are you planning for them to stop studying altogether?” Ye Zhou feels that Chen Gang and Qian Lan, as parents, aren’t thinking things through.

Ye Zhou doesn’t mention that time doesn’t flow while doing business in the supermarket.

This is not a good thing. It might be fine for middle-aged people and the elderly, but for children, it means they will never grow up.

The children in the supermarket will eventually have to return to the Daliang Dynasty after a period of time. They can’t be deprived of the opportunity to grow up.

Chen Gang blinks in confusion. “Ah… Right now, the base school only teaches literacy and basic mathematics.”

In his mind, this level of education can also be taught by parents.

Before, the base lacked teachers, and ordinary children didn’t have access to education. Moreover, what the base needs most is labor, not intellectuals or scientists. While there is some training, it isn’t very broad. Only a small number of children from highly educated families have access to higher education.

It is unfair, and though many complain, everyone understands that social resources are limited. Human society needs scientists and highly educated people, so resources have to be allocated accordingly.

Chen Gang isn’t a scientist, so his daughter is destined to have little formal education. As long as she can recognize common characters and handle basic math, she can graduate. In the future, she will either work in a factory or become a female soldier.

After Chen Gang says this, Ye Zhou falls silent for a long time.

Although he understands the base’s approach, he can’t help but feel frustrated by this allocation of resources.

But Ye Zhou still says, “There’s another problem—there’s just no room in the supermarket for more people.”

What Ye Zhou needs most right now is the option to build employee dormitories in the system. The warehouse is large, but it can’t stay empty of goods all the time. There is a time gap in purchasing goods from the system, and new stock will eventually show up in the warehouse.

The warehouse still has plenty of stock, and Wu Yan and his friends have less and less space to move around.

“How about this — you have too many family members right now. If I can find a way to build employee dorms before I leave, I’ll let you all come,” Ye Zhou shrugs and sighs helplessly.

The supermarket is indeed short-staffed. Although it has over ten employees, for a large supermarket, that is barely enough to cover two or three sections.

They have survived the previous busy period mainly due to the employees’ strong will.

Originally, Zou Ming and the others weren’t supposed to work in the supermarket, but Ye Zhou pulled them in to barely keep things running.

Now, with some capital in hand, Ye Zhou is eager to hire more people. If the next plane is as busy as the last one, the people won’t be hired for nothing.

If the next plane is like the Daliang Dynasty, with fewer customers, then he will terminate the employment, compensate the workers, and send them back.

In short, he no longer has to worry as much as before.

Chen Gang thinks Ye Zhou is politely rejecting him. He awkwardly says, “Hmm” and doesn’t try to push it any further.

As he watches Chen Gang leave, Ye Zhou sighs.

In the past, he has been worried that hiring too many people would lead to them developing their own motives and possibly endangering his safety.

After all, people’s hearts are divided by their stomachs.

But now, with money in hand, he isn’t as worried. However, he is still stuck on the issue of the staff dormitory—and honestly, he doesn’t want to live in the break room anymore.

The break room is meant to give him a place to rest during overtime, not a place to live. Ye Zhou wants a real living space with a kitchen, bathroom, and balcony.

“How did it go? They didn’t stay?” Sarah comes out of the supermarket. She sits beside Ye Zhou, squeezing him over on the lounge chair, munching on a bag of spicy potato chips. “He works well.”

Ye Zhou replies, “He wants to bring his family, but there’s no place to live because his family is too large. I can’t ask him to leave the elderly and children behind and work for me alone. That’s too much. And if we only hire single men, I’d be worried,” Ye Zhou continues. “Once someone without family has bad intentions, it’s harder for them to let go of the idea. They have nothing to lose, so why not take the gamble?”

Ye Zhou doesn’t think all single men are bad, but for his own safety, he would rather miss a few good employees than invite unnecessary trouble.

“It would be best if the couple only brought their children,” Ye Zhou says, half-sitting up and reaching for his water cup. “But asking them to abandon the elderly at the base? I can’t bring myself to say it. By the way, can the system repair the staff dormitory?”

Sarah hesitates for a moment. “I think so? I’ve seen it before, but it needs to be unlocked somehow. If there’s no prompt now, then it can’t be unlocked yet, at least not on this plane.” Sarah finishes her bag of potato chips, pulls out two chili peppers from her bag, and turns to Ye Zhou. “Do you want to eat some?”

Seeing the bright red chilies, Ye Zhou instinctively starts salivating. He quickly shakes his head. “No thanks.”

Sarah throws one into her mouth and asks, “When are we leaving?”

Ye Zhou replies, “Tonight. It’ll be quieter if we go at night.”

“Boss.” Several half-grown kids come around the corner. They bring gifts — though they are just things from the supermarket and clearly not needed by Ye Zhou, it is all they have to offer.

Ye Zhou smiles at them but feels troubled inside.

These half-grown children can’t even register as employees, so even if he wants to take them, he can’t.

They are all orphans without adult relatives, so they can’t benefit from any loopholes.

The children don’t come to ask Ye Zhou to take them away but instead ask if he can take Feng Ling.

“Feng Ling is an adult.” They are afraid Ye Zhou will refuse, so they look at him with pleading eyes. “She just has some heart problems, and she doesn’t usually get sick.”

Ye Zhou is a little helpless. “How did you know?”

The children exchange glances before answering, “We overheard Aunt Qian and Sister Cao’er talking.”

They aren’t stupid and understand it with a bit of thought.

Compared to them, Cao’er is much healthier. Although she is thin, she can eat something when tired and immediately regain her energy. She doesn’t get headaches or fevers like they do.

The supermarket can even bring out a photon cannon, which means it must have something extraordinary.

Maybe it can help people be free of illness and disaster?

The children aren’t asking to leave the base. They don’t even yearn for the outside world. They just think Feng Ling deserves a chance. If she stays at the base, she likely won’t survive long.

Ye Zhou doesn’t reject them immediately. “Is Feng Ling really an adult?”

The kids immediately say, “She’s an adult! She turned fifteen yesterday!”

Ye Zhou is taken aback. He realizes that in this world, fifteen is considered an adult. Could the system calculate adulthood based on the plane’s standards, or is it strictly eighteen years old?

“I can’t answer you right now. Have Feng Ling come to me before three o’clock this afternoon.”

The children breathe a sigh of relief, set down the fruit snacks they have brought, and leave.

“They probably came without telling Feng Ling,” Ye Zhou says to Sarah. “Afraid I’d refuse, so they’re testing the waters first.”

Sarah nods, “Feng Ling is okay.”

Ye Zhou is surprised. “You’ve only met her once.”

Sarah says seriously, “Once is enough. Some people’s character doesn’t need long to figure out.”

Ye Zhou smiles. “Yeah? What kind of person is she then?”

Sarah settles more comfortably, resting her back against his shoulder. “She’s very adaptable, not too stubborn, and very smart.”

After all, she is an orphan with poor health. If she doesn’t use her intelligence well, she would have suffered a lot during her growth.

“Whether she grows up smoothly is another issue,” Sarah adds.

“Alright, let’s wait for her to come to me.”

Although it is hard to accept a group of people, taking in one person isn’t a big problem.