“Son, will it really get to that point?”
Qin Wenbang’s mother, who had been quietly listening on the sidelines, finally couldn’t help but speak up. That was money they were talking about! How could no one want it after just a month?
Qin Wenbang rolled his eyes at his mother. “Mom, you’re just short-sighted because you’re a woman. What I said is definitely true. You have no idea how real the dreams feel!”
Thinking about the unchanging dreams he’d had every night for the past week, Qin Wenbang shuddered. But then he immediately became excited again. Why? Because his dreams were precognitive.
In the dreams, the apocalypse would arrive in one month.
It wasn’t the kind of apocalypse with zombies, but an ordinary natural disaster—and that was terrifying enough! In a month, the temperature would break past fifty degrees and keep climbing, eventually reaching eighty degrees. The sustained heat would make it impossible to grow plants anywhere on the planet. Wildfires and desertification would be everywhere. The dreams were hazy on the various events that would happen in between.
But one thing Qin Wenbang was certain of was that the extreme heat was coming in a month. And the fact that he was dreaming about this a full month in advance—didn’t that make him the chosen one?
As long as he made good use of this month to stockpile supplies, when the apocalypse came, he could use those supplies to recruit underlings, gather beautiful women, and reach the pinnacle of life.
Unfortunately, right now he was short on money, and he was also missing the standard accessory of the chosen one—a spatial space.
So, Qin Wenbang felt an urgent sense of time pressure. Since his uncle’s family didn’t know what was good for them, he couldn’t be bothered to argue with them anymore. He’d just take out loans, borrow from loan sharks, use online lending platforms, and so on. After all, no one would come collecting debts in a month. Once society descended into chaos, he could even go zero-dollar shopping!
Hmph, when he was surrounded by countless beautiful women and underlings, he’d just watch his uncle’s family perish.
—
Qin Sang had no idea about her cousin’s wild fantasies. Right now, the three of them had taken an afternoon nap and were heading down to the roast goose workshop on the first floor to start making the geese.
Just as they reached the first floor and were about to open the workshop door, they ran into Qu Meijing, who was also coming downstairs.
For some reason, Qin Sang suddenly said to her, “Miss Qu, you ordered a hundred roast geese from our shop this morning. Is that urgent?”
Qu Meijing, who had been about to go gather supplies, was startled by the sudden question. Then she recovered. “Not urgent. But get them to me as soon as possible, preferably.”
Without waiting for Qin Sang’s reply, she turned and walked outside. On her way, she thought to herself, What a coincidence. She had simply searched online for the best roast goose shop, and it turned out to be her landlord’s family. She wondered if this family would interfere with her supply gathering later on. But then again, she hadn’t heard of this family in her previous life. They probably kicked the bucket soon after the apocalypse started.
“That girl is really unlikeable…” Qin Sang’s mother said suddenly, watching Qu Meijing’s retreating figure.
Her father looked confused, but Qin Sang understood what her mother meant. She had noticed it too—the way Qu Meijing had looked at their family.
What kind of look was it? It carried a hint of condescending pity, and it was deeply unpleasant.
“Alright, alright, forget about her. Sang Sang, why don’t you and your mom go hang out at the mall? It’s so hot—the workshop will be unbearable.”
Qin Sang refused outright. No way. It had been so hot lately—she didn’t want her dad getting heatstroke. She and her mother were definitely going to help.
The key to making roast goose was the roasting process. Their family still used the ancient method: roasting with lychee wood as fuel. Some shops used electric ovens, and the flavor couldn’t compare to the traditional method. That meant the temperature inside the workshop was extremely high.
And before roasting a goose, there were steps like slaughtering, cleaning, marinating, and so on.
The slaughtering and cleaning were done by temporary workers. Qin Sang and her mother wanted to help with marinating the geese. That would lighten her father’s workload a bit. Truth be told, if they weren’t afraid of their family secret getting out, they would have hired help long ago.
Yes, her family had a secret—and a big one at that.
Every roast goose they sold came from a spatial space. That’s right, they had a spatial space, and it was a fairly specialized roast goose space.
—
“Dad, how about we roast one batch outside and do the rest inside the space?”
Qin Sang looked at the red high-temperature warning on her phone and decided to work in the space.
“I’m afraid someone might find out,” her father said quietly.
In modern society, security cameras were everywhere, and big data was terrifying.
The geese their family used came from the space, but they couldn’t just pull them out of thin air. Every day, her father had to make the arduous trip to a farm on the outskirts of town to “collect” geese. The geese he brought back weren’t actually used. He swapped them with the geese raised in the space. Then they hired people to slaughter them. The subsequent processing steps were also done in the workshop.
Since they lived in an urban village with neighbors close by, if your family sold roast goose but no roasting smell came from your house, everyone would know something was fishy.
“It’s fine. It’s been so hot lately, no one’s wandering around outside anyway. One batch roasted outside will be enough to create the smell.”
Her mother chimed in, “If Sang Sang says go to the space, just go to the space. Staying outside is just suffering.”
With that, her mother asked her daughter to send her into the space.
Seeing this, her father rubbed his nose and chuckled. “Alright, I’ll light the oven now. In a bit, Sang Sang, you send me in too.”
Qin Sang smiled and nodded. She thought to herself, Only Mom can keep Dad in check.
—
Inside the space, her mother was already marinating geese. When she saw Qin Sang come in, she said directly, “Your father and his stubbornness!”
“Yeah, yeah! Xiao Ming is such a blockhead. Good thing I didn’t choose him back then.”
A familiar youthful voice sounded from behind. Qin Sang expertly turned around and caught the goose that was about to land on her head.
Calling it a “goose” wasn’t entirely accurate. This bird was only about half the size of an ordinary goose. But it was completely black, clearly no ordinary goose.
“Eh… eh… Xiao Sangzi, you’re committing great disrespect…”
Qin Sang grabbed the goose by both wings and lifted it up. Instantly, the goose couldn’t move.
“Goose Grandpa, I just washed my hair yesterday. I can’t have you dirtying it…”
“Pah pah pah, Grandpa Goose is perfectly clean. How could I dirty your hair?”
Qin Sang thought back to her childhood when every time she entered the space, her head would end up covered in goose down, and she felt speechless. She only dared to grab Goose Grandpa after she grew up. As a child, she hadn’t had the nerve.
“Then who is it that sheds all the time, leaving me with a head full of goose fluff?”
“Heh, that fluff of mine is a good thing…”
No matter how good something was, having a whole warehouse full of it made it less precious.
Goose Grandpa was the controller of this spatial space—or perhaps the spirit of the artifact. Qin Sang didn’t really know what he was. She only knew that this space was called the Roast Goose Space. Legend had it that it was created by her great-great-great—however many greats—grandfather.
That ancestor had loved eating roast goose so much that he created this space. Goose Grandpa had come into the space back then as well, helping the ancestor manage everything.
The entire space was divided into several areas: the planting area, the breeding area, the living area, the workshop, and the warehouse.
The workshop was specifically for making roast goose, and the ovens inside were especially good. The warehouse had a preservation function—whatever you put in, it would come out in the exact same state.
As for the planting area, breeding area, and living area, those were self-explanatory. Anyone familiar with spatial spaces knew what those areas were for.
But the thing that set this space apart from others was that Goose Grandpa had a great deal of authority. The space could only belong to someone of the Qin bloodline. However, it was up to Goose Grandpa to decide exactly who.
Qin Sang had inherited the space directly from her grandfather, skipping over both her father and her uncle.
Goose Grandpa said her father was a blockhead, her uncle was too clever by half, and her cousin had no brains at all. So, picking the tallest from a group of shorties, he had chosen her.
Qin Sang pressed the little red dot on her left palm—that was the vessel of the space.
The family worked all the way until evening and finally finished the roast geese for the next day. Thanks to the boost from the workshop in the space, they had even included Qu Meijing’s hundred roast geese in the ovens. By the next morning, the final steps should be done.
Even so, Qin Sang thought that next time, she wouldn’t take such a big order again. The whole family was exhausted, and it just didn’t feel worth it.
—
Early the next morning, Qin Sang ran into Qu Meijing again as she went downstairs.
“Good morning, Miss Qu.”
Qu Meijing hadn’t expected to run into anyone when she went out just past five o’clock. She gave a stiff nod, looking like she didn’t want to talk.
Qin Sang didn’t like being given the cold shoulder, but she still had to say something: “Miss Qu, about your hundred roast geese—would you prefer to pick them up at the shop or directly at our workshop? They’ll be ready around noon. It’s been so hot lately, and with such a large quantity, they might not taste as good if they sit too long.”
Hearing that it was about supplies, Qu Meijing finally deigned to give Qin Sang a glance.
“I’ll pick them up at the workshop at noon.”
Then, as if remembering something, she added, “I happen to have a batch of building materials arriving at noon as well. I’ll start the renovation then. It might be noisy for a few days.”
Qin Sang nodded. She had already agreed to the renovation, so she wasn’t about to complain.
Sure enough, around noon, trucks began arriving and parking downstairs. Loads of cement, bricks, glass, and security doors were unloaded and carried upstairs.
Qin Sang noticed the various specifications on the glass packaging—at a glance, it was clearly bulletproof glass. And the security doors were almost ridiculously heavy.
Neighbors began poking their heads out of their houses to watch the commotion.
“Sang Sang, is your family renovating?”
Qin Sang shook her head. “A new tenant is renovating.”
Hearing that it was a tenant, the neighbors’ eyes went wide. The village chief, who had come out to gawk, patted his belly and said, “That security door must cost tens of thousands. Your tenant really knows how to spend money.”
Qin Sang’s mother had also come out when she heard the noise. She was taken aback. She thought to herself, Miss Qu really is strange. Renting a place and putting in such an expensive security door.
“Tens of thousands? This door is the most durable model. It’s just a notch below the doors in a bank vault. You won’t get this for less than a hundred thousand.”
When the neighbors heard the workman say that, they all felt they’d learned something new.
Although most people in their village had gotten relocation compensation, no one was willing to spend over a hundred thousand on a door.
In an instant, everyone knew that Qin Deming’s family had taken in a wealthy tenant. Quite a few people gathered around Qin Sang’s mother, asking about the tenant’s background.
Qin Sang, meanwhile, focused on the building materials. She examined each one, her suspicions about Qu Meijing deepening.
Anyone who often read post-apocalyptic novels would know what this meant.
Qin Sang hoped she was overthinking things. But before they could even eat lunch, Sister Li from the shop called again. She said she had received several calls that morning, all from people asking if they could place bulk orders for roast geese.
Yesterday, Qin Sang had told Sister Li not to take any more large orders for the time being. She hadn’t expected people to actually call and ask. And judging by the area codes, the calls seemed to be coming from different places.
She knew their roast geese well. Delicious as they were, and as much of a time-honored name as they had, they barely did any advertising. You could only find them in some recommendation posts online.
Now, with multiple people from different places wanting to place bulk orders, only a fool would think nothing was wrong.
And when Qu Meijing made a comment while picking up her order, it only confirmed to Qin Sang that she wasn’t overthinking.
As Qu Meijing arrived, she ran into quite a few curious villagers. They asked her why she was buying so many roast geese. She said it was for a company team-building event. Then she loaded up her hundred roast geese and drove off.
No one believed that explanation.
And Qin Sang believed it even less.
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