Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Massive Debt
Until this big deal was finished, Xiao Ying Chun couldn’t renovate the shop. She didn’t dare risk disrupting business.
First, she had to clear the storeroom. Everything she didn’t need right now had to go, making room for the incoming compressed biscuits and bottled water.
Close this order. Make enough money to be free.
She hyped herself up, tore open a packet of instant noodles, ate quickly, and headed for the storeroom.
It was cluttered with odds and ends. She started pulling out empty boxes, stacking them by the door, and a thought slipped out before she could stop it.
If this system could do all that… couldn’t it stock things automatically too?
If she had to carry everything by hand, she’d die of exhaustion.
The moment the thought formed, a crisp electronic voice sounded in her head.
“Enable auto stock-sorting function?”
Two options appeared.
Yes / RMB 10,000
No / RMB 0
Ten thousand?
Her first instinct was to flinch. That was steep.
But then she pictured future deliveries. Future trades. Years of labor she’d never have to do if the system handled it.
Spread over time, it was like hiring a reliable temp worker for pennies.
Worth it.
She tapped “Yes.”
A notification pinged from WeChat. She opened it—10,000 deducted.
Then the storeroom changed.
Scattered cardboard, loose plastic bags, random clutter—everything shifted as if an invisible hand had grabbed the entire room and shaken it into order.
Boxes slid into stacks. Goods arranged themselves. Loose items packed neatly into cartons and lifted to the tops of shelves.
Even the shelves looked freshly wiped, dust gone, edges clean.
The storeroom ended up so spotless it looked unreal.
Xiao Ying Chun stared, stunned, then laughed under her breath. “That’s insane.”
She went out front, sat behind the counter, and finally lifted a bottle of water—only for her phone to ring.
Uncle Liang.
“Uncle Liang? What’s going on?” she asked, already assuming something had gone wrong with the biscuits.
His voice was hesitant. “Ying Chun… there’s something I don’t know whether I should tell you.”
“Say it.”
“Well—didn’t you let your aunt run this shop before?” Uncle Liang cleared his throat. “It looks like she bought a lot of goods on credit. Some people have been asking me about it.”
“What?” Xiao Ying Chun sat up straight.
“I’m pulling stock for you, so I’ve been calling around to different bosses,” Uncle Liang said. “When they heard I was supplying you, they brought it up. Once they heard you’d already paid a deposit, they finally agreed to release goods to me…”
Xiao Ying Chun’s mouth went dry.
A year ago, after her parents died in a car crash, her aunt Ge Chun Yu had volunteered to keep the shop for her. Xiao Ying Chun hadn’t wanted to spend her life behind a counter, so she’d agreed.
But they’d signed a contract: during Ge Chun Yu’s management, profit and loss were her responsibility.
A month ago, after Xiao Ying Chun was set up and laid off, she moved back home. Ge Chun Yu had complained endlessly—said the shop didn’t make money, said it was losing money, demanded a salary to keep working.
Xiao Ying Chun hadn’t believed a word of it. Her parents had fed a family of three on this shop for more than twenty years. How could it be losing money?
The one-year term ended, so she took the shop back.
And now, apparently, Ge Chun Yu had used the name Ying Chun Convenience Store to buy goods on credit from wholesalers.
“I already warned the long-term suppliers,” Xiao Ying Chun muttered. “I told them the boss had changed. How did she still rack up debt?”
Uncle Liang gave an awkward chuckle. “The old suppliers only gave her a little at first. When repayment got shaky, they stopped extending credit. So she went and found other wholesalers.”
Xiao Ying Chun exhaled slowly. “Thank you for telling me, Uncle Liang. Please tell them the truth. Whoever she bought from should collect from her. If they can’t, they should sue.”
“Okay,” he said quickly, relieved, and hung up.
Xiao Ying Chun scratched her head and thought about confronting Ge Chun Yu—then dismissed it.
The person who spoke first lost the advantage.
And she wasn’t the one in debt.
Near noon, Uncle Liang arrived with the first batch: three thousand cartons of compressed biscuits and two thousand cartons of water.
After what she’d just heard, Xiao Ying Chun didn’t hesitate. She paid the remaining balance on the spot.
“When the next batch arrives, I’ll pay you on delivery too,” she said.
Uncle Liang’s face lit up so hard his crow’s-feet practically danced. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. You needed this fast—half of it I paid out of pocket to pull from other people.”
Xiao Ying Chun didn’t bargain. The margins were outrageous anyway. She only cared about delivering cleanly.
Since only Fu Chen An could enter her shop, she also asked Uncle Liang to leave behind two flatbed carts that could fit through the back entrance. Then she used the auto stock-sorting function to load them to the brim.
Uncle Liang agreed and promised to bring the second truck later.
Xiao Ying Chun closed the front door, opened the back, and stacked the goods by the entrance.
Not long after, Fu Chen An arrived.
He stopped the instant he saw the loaded carts, his eyes brightening.
Xiao Ying Chun pointed at them. “Pull one cart out at a time. Bring the empty one back, and I’ll reload it. Faster that way.”
Fu Chen An nodded and handed her a sheepskin bag.
Xiao Ying Chun opened it.
Twenty gold ingots, packed tight.
The final payment.
“Good,” she said, forcing herself to stay calm. “Start hauling.”
Fu Chen An pulled a cart out through the back door. Soldiers waiting outside unloaded quickly, stacking everything onto wagons, then sent the empty cart back in.
Trip after trip, something began to bother Fu Chen An.
Every time he returned, the second cart was already fully loaded.
Xiao Ying Chun was loading with impossible speed—and she wasn’t sweating at all.
He didn’t ask. The shop itself was strange; the shopkeeper being strange felt almost normal.
Before long, all the water and biscuits were delivered.
“My storeroom is only so big,” Xiao Ying Chun said. “I can only keep this much at once. Come back in two hours and the rest should be ready.”
“Fine,” Fu Chen An said without hesitation, already turning to leave.
With these supplies, they could begin. If things went smoothly, they might not even need the remainder to take Yong Zhou.
At the door, he paused. “Shopkeeper Xiao. Do you have medicine for external wounds? And strong liquor for cleaning injuries?”
Xiao Ying Chun understood immediately. “You’re worried you’ll get wounded and have nothing to treat it. Easy. Give me silver, and I’ll source it.”
Fu Chen An didn’t waste words. “Wait.” He strode out.
A short time later, he came back in a rush, damp with sweat, and handed her another bag.
Inside were twenty ten-tael silver ingots and ten ten-tael gold ingots.