Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Little Snacks Were a Huge Hit

Before Fu Chen An left, Xiao Ying Chun reminded him about the basics of surviving outside.

“In the wild, boil your water before you drink it,” she said. “It helps prevent sickness, parasites, diarrhea.”

She added, “And when a doctor cleans a wound, hands must be clean. Otherwise it festers.”

At the mention of diarrhea, Fu Chen An’s expression tightened. “Speaking of that… can you get medicine for it?”

“Diarrhea?” Xiao Ying Chun asked.

“A lot of soldiers have it lately,” Fu Chen An said, voice low with irritation. “Probably from eating too much beef and mutton. Their stomachs haven’t adapted.”

“Wait.” Xiao Ying Chun pulled out her phone and called Uncle Ye.

Uncle Ye recommended gut-regulating pills. “From Hong Kong,” he said. “Smells awful. Works well.”

Xiao Ying Chun told him to deliver dozens of bottles of gut-regulating pills and dozens of boxes of norfloxacin to her storeroom door.

When Uncle Ye dropped them off, Xiao Ying Chun went straight to the storeroom, opened the door, brought the medicine in, and handed it to Fu Chen An. She explained the dosage and use. Fu Chen An wrote the instructions on labels and stuck them on the bottles and boxes, neat and methodical.

Time slipped by. Half the afternoon vanished.

Fu Chen An still looked reluctant to leave, but he knew he had to return.

Only at the door did he finally ask, “How much do I owe you for all this?”

Xiao Ying Chun smiled. “Pay whatever you think is fair.”

She’d made too much earlier. Now she almost couldn’t bring herself to name a number.

Fu Chen An misunderstood her completely. He thought she’d been thrown off balance by his carefully arranged appearance today.

Using looks to sway someone already felt dishonorable. If he also took advantage of her uncertainty, he’d despise himself.

His heart wavered for a breath, then he straightened his spine. “You should charge what you should charge. I can’t take advantage of you.”

Xiao Ying Chun still didn’t name a price.

Fu Chen An thought for a moment, then produced a ten-tael gold ingot and set it down. “Is this enough?”

Xiao Ying Chun nodded rapidly. “Enough, enough. More than enough.”

She was practically holding back tears as she profited tens of thousands—of course it was enough.

“Then I’ll go,” Fu Chen An said. “I’ll come again tomorrow. Could I trouble you to prepare one thousand plastic buckets for me?”

Xiao Ying Chun nodded, then immediately set expectations. “A thousand might not be ready by tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll give you as many as I can, and I’ll get the rest to you as soon as possible. Is that fine?”

Fu Chen An nodded.

He rose, then paused, a faint hesitation clinging to him. He frowned as if trying to remember something, searched his mind, found nothing, yet still couldn’t move with the clean decisiveness he usually carried.

Xiao Ying Chun didn’t rush him. This was her number-one sponsor. He could stand there all day and it would still be correct.

At last, with Xiao Ying Chun smiling and waving him off, Fu Chen An stepped through the back door and left Spacetime Supermarket, bags slung over his shoulder and in his hands.

Outside, the fog in the open field thinned and dispersed fast, like breath released.

The soldiers who had surrounded it saw Fu Chen An appear and shouted in unison.

“General!”

“General, you’re finally out!”

“General, if you didn’t come out, the Marshal was going to lose his mind!”

Marshal Fu Zhong Hai kicked the closest one hard enough to make him hop. “You’re the one losing your mind. Watch your mouth, you little bastard!”

Laughter broke out in the crowd.

Several soldiers moved in smoothly and took the bags from Fu Chen An’s arms.

Physician Niu lunged forward, eyes shining. “Let me test it for poison first!”

Fu Chen An gave him a flat look. “No need. I already tasted everything in the shop.”

Physician Niu froze.

His disappointment was almost visible.

Marshal Fu Zhong Hai swung up onto his horse, already in motion. “Tonight we celebrate our victory in Yong Zhou. Xi Ma Town only needs one tun to stay behind—one hundred men. Arrange it yourselves.”

Fu Chen An stepped in quickly. “Father Marshal, there’s no need to leave anyone behind in Xi Ma Town.”

He moved close and spoke low, explaining what he’d just learned: no matter where he was, he could enter that mysterious shop.

They’d planned to leave men here only to make buying supplies easier.

Now that obstacle was gone.

Fu Zhong Hai’s eyes sharpened. “So you really entered from outside just now?”

Fu Chen An nodded.

“And you can enter from anywhere?”

Fu Chen An nodded again.

Fu Zhong Hai didn’t hesitate. “Then the whole army moves to Yong Zhou. We camp outside the city tonight.”

“Yes, sir!”

The order spread. Cheers rose in a wave.

Celebration was better with everyone together.

Fu Chen An was giddy with relief. From now on, no matter where he went, he could still enter Spacetime Supermarket.

And every time he entered, he would see Miss Xiao.

The thought lifted the corners of his mouth before he even noticed.

That night, bonfires blazed. Beef and mutton sizzled over flames. Bucket after bucket of strong liquor was hauled out.

Once the rotation posts were assigned, the rest of the soldiers received two liang each, meat as they pleased.

At first, people complained the liquor was too little.

Then two liang went down, and nearly half the camp was drunk.

Only then did everyone understand how fierce the liquor truly was.

A few collapsed hard, but most were only tipsy—loose tongues, loud laughter, and soon, shoves that turned into fights.

Someone cleared a space. A ring formed. A makeshift duel pit sprang up, soldiers crowding tight, cheering and jeering as two men squared off.

The roar of the crowd rose and fell like surf.

Fu Chen An sat among them, occasionally accepting toasts, the pile of small packaged snacks he’d bought stacked in front of him.

Marshal Fu Zhong Hai and the commanders—Gan Jiang among them—were also eating the snacks, chatting as they chewed, more at ease than they’d been in days.

They’d eaten dried fish before, but never spicy dried fish this fragrant, this rich with oil.

They’d eaten peas before, but never peas this crisp.

Peanuts—some of them had never even seen peanuts.

And brined peanuts, pickled-pepper peanuts—perfect drinking snacks.

They couldn’t stop.

They really couldn’t stop.

Watching them, Fu Chen An remembered Xiao Ying Chun’s warning.

“You’ve never eaten these before. If you eat too much at once, your stomach may not adapt. If you upset your stomach, take gut-regulating pills.”

Fu Chen An ate carefully, controlled.

The commanders, though, were experiencing these flavors for the first time in their lives. They ate with abandon, not thinking about consequences.

Fu Chen An’s mouth curved.

[At least I was the first to taste them.]

Back at the shop, after sending Fu Chen An off, Xiao Ying Chun finally remembered a small but vital fact.

She still hadn’t eaten lunch.

She’d planned to eat after finishing business, but Fu Chen An had kept talking until the day nearly slipped away.

Still—she’d made so much money she forgave him in a heartbeat.

She carried the gold upstairs and locked it away. Then she called Uncle Wu and asked him to help order one thousand plastic buckets, the ten-jin size, as fast as possible.

Uncle Wu agreed readily. He said he’d confirm the price and stock soon.

Work done.

Xiao Ying Chun turned, opened the front door, and stepped out to find food.

A familiar voice called from the road. “Little Ying Chun! Why are you opening so late again?”

Xiao Ying Chun turned.

An old man and a younger man were walking side by side toward her.

Grandpa Zhao.

And Dai Heng Xin.

Xiao Ying Chun’s heart jumped hard enough to hurt.