Lu Hao was exasperated to hear that. No matter how valuable the dimension was, what use would it be if he monopolized it himself? Was he supposed to live the rest of his life in there, utterly alone?
He and Su Jin were family now, and Su Jin's family was his family. Even if they needed to start their own team of trustworthy subordinates after the apocalypse, who could be more trustworthy than their own family members? Besides, Su Jin was the one who activated the dimension. Lu Hao knew that he would never have been able to open it by himself. After all, the Lu family had gradually forgotten how to use it, right?
Li Xiuying knew what Lu Hao was thinking, so she let the matter rest. True, they were all family now. As his elder, however, it was only right for her to ask him about his thoughts first. Otherwise, she would not be able to bear all the responsibility for it should things go south after this.
"But Lil Jin, Lil Jao, let's not mention the dimension for now. It's enough that the three of us know."
"When do you think we should tell the others, Grandma?"
"When the apocalypse really hits. When that happens, the world will be in chaos, and this dimension will be all we have to rely on. At that time, everyone will naturally guard the secret with their lives."
It was not that she did not trust the rest of the family, but she was worried they would end up letting it slip in their glee. The higher they go, the harder they fall, after all. It would be better for them to experience the terrors of the apocalypse before telling them about this safe harbor!
Su Jin and Lu Hao looked at their wise grandmother. They were absolutely correct to discuss this with her first.
It was not that they could not come up with anything themselves. They just lacked someone who could support them, and it would be best if that someone was a respected elder. When the others found out in time, they would naturally think that the elder's decision was made with their best interests in mind.
"You're so smart, Grandma! Thanks to you, we know exactly what to do now," Su Jin said, trying her best to flatter her grandmother.
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You two already planned to do just that, didn't you?" Li Xiuying knew what they were planning, but she was not angry. The two young ones loved and trusted her, which was why they wanted her to help them make the decision. That was not a bad thing. It meant she had yet to lose her edge despite her age. Besides, Su Jin and Lu Hao did not hide this treasure they discovered, instead risking everything to make it into a shelter for the whole family. The others might not have been able to do something so generous with such ease.
"Hehe, I couldn't tell what was the best course of action. Your advice was like a wake-up call to me." Su Jin continued her previously interrupted flattery mission.
"I think what you said makes sense, Grandma. If we tell them about the dimension too soon, they might not work so hard to train and gather resources. After all, they don't know what the world will look like a month from now." Lu Hao was in full agreement with Grandma's suggestion too.
It was like a test at school. No one knew how hard the exam would be, so they would work their hardest to study. Right now, he wanted everyone around him to know that there was a terrifying 'test' up ahead, so they would desperately try to prepare for it. That way, they might be able to take their destiny into their own hands.
However, this was only limited to the people who were willing to trust him. He did not want to waste time and energy advising people who would not even believe him. If he tried, he might end up putting Lil Jin and himself in danger instead.
Su Jin and Lu Hao showed Grandma around the dimension for a while longer. Li Xiuying told them that staying in the dimension made her feel like she had eaten some miraculous medicine. Her entire body was filled with energy.
Su Jin and Lu Hao had experienced that for themselves, of course. The dimension was full of spiritual energy, and the two of them liked staying in here while they could too. Su Jin remembered what the jade tablet said about needing to replenish the space with spiritual energy, which she had not figured out how to do yet.
She mentioned that to Lu Hao and Grandma.
"I see, that makes sense." Lu Hao told them his hypothesis. To him, the spiritual energy was the medium the dimension operated with, and Su Jin just happened to have a special ability. Perhaps the blood of special ability users contained the spiritual energy the dimension needed. That was why Su Jin activated the dimension the first time she accidentally stained it with her blood. As for the stream in the distance and the grey areas, they were not unlocked yet because they did not have enough spiritual energy.
Su Jin and Li Xiuying both thought Lu Hao's hypothesis sounded likely. As the adage went, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It made sense that a priceless artifact like this would appear on the eve of a disaster, and it may not be the only one to show up either. Still, that was for them to worry about later. Right now, their first priority was to strengthen themselves and gather resources.
After the three of them left the dimension, they glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that only slightly over twenty minutes had passed.
Lu Hao planned to go buy seeds with Su Jin. The two of them did not understand much about seeds and agriculture, so Su Jin asked her grandmother to tag along again. After all, the latter had spent half of her life in the fields.
Li Xiuying was more than happy to oblige. Seeds, huh? She did know a thing or two about those, and she did not want the young ones to come home with a ton of useless seeds either.
The three of them drove to the largest seed wholesaler in town.
Li Xiuying looked around and led the other two to a shop with a wider range of choices. The shop owner was surprised to see Li Xiuying, with Su Jin and Lu Hao tagging behind her. All of his customers tended to be farmers, their complexion dark after all that time baking in the sun. These three did not look like the farm type at all. Nevertheless, he did not treat them lightly. What if they were big business bosses looking into a new venture?
"Hello, how may I help you? What seeds are you looking for?"
Li Xiuying listed the seeds she needed, including wheat, paddy, corn, and all sorts of vegetables.
So many types, huh? The owner was starting to get an idea of what they wanted, so he brought out samples of everything he had.
"We want to buy in bulk, mister, so show us the actual goods." Li Xiuying did not want to look at the samples, since the owner must have prepared them in advance. She could only judge when she saw the real thing.
"The goods are in the cooler. As you know, ma'am, seeds aren't easy to store. We don't usually take them out. These samples are exactly the same as the real thing." He was telling the truth here. The seeds had to be kept at a constant temperature and moisture, so they could not be carried around that easily.
"Mister, if your seeds are decent, we'll buy everything you have," Lu Hao said, stepping forward.
Gasp! Everything he had? The boy talked a big game.
The owner did not seem to believe them, so Li Xiuying continued to persuade him. Eventually, he agreed because he could see that the three customers were about to try somewhere else if he still refused to relent. There was no way he could let such a big business opportunity slip by. Even if they did not buy from him in the end, all he would have to lose was a little time and effort.
The owner had an employee watch the store for him while he led the three of them into the warehouse behind the store.
"This is where we keep most of our goods. What do you think of the corn seeds here?"
Li Xiuying nodded and opened one of the bags. When Su Jin saw her grandmother frown, she knew that Li Xiuying was not too happy with the seeds.
"Mister, these seeds could be better, don't you think? If they're this damp, won't that affect their germination rate?"
The owner wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had been in a rush to sell these seeds because they were too damp and on the verge of growing mold. It seemed like these people knew their stuff, after all. He finally became serious, showing them his real goods.
Indeed, Li Xiuying was not as clueless as he had thought. Su Jin listened to her conversation with the owner and silently gave her a thumbs-up. If she and Lu Hao had come here to buy seeds by themselves, the owner would have tricked them into buying a bunch of subpar seeds.
Finally, the three of them bought corn, wheat, paddy, and a variety of vegetable seeds. Since they were buying in bulk, the owner happily called over his employee from the front of the store to help carry the seeds.
The young employee's mouth fell open when he saw Lu Hao picking up several large bags of seeds with ease. What was he, a weightlifter? The employee could not even carry a bag on his own, having to rely on a trolley to move them anywhere.
Once they were done purchasing seeds, the three of them bought a few tree saplings from the market too, loading them into the car as well.
Lastly, Su Jin stopped outside a shop that sold flower seeds.
"Lil Jin, don't tell me you're thinking about planting flowers too?" Li Xiuying said rather disapprovingly.
Su Jin just smiled and went in, Lu Hao following closely behind her.
Li Xiuying saw them go in and could only sigh helplessly. Forget it, forget it. Both of them were opinionated young people, so they could surely make their own decisions.
Su Jin only bought flower seeds to try out a new trick she had not been able to test before she died in the previous life.
In her past life, she had stumbled across a mutated rafflesia flower. After she obtained a seed from it, however, she just happened to stumble across a small tide of zombies. Many of her teammates died to those zombies, and in her desperation she made the rafflesia seed grow. The flower that bloomed from it somehow managed to gobble up three zombies in one bite!
Eventually, she used the rafflesia to get herself out of danger. It was unfortunate that the rafflesia was later outnumbered and destroyed.
After that, she had planned to get her hands on a few more seeds to experiment with. However, she was captured by Chen Xiarong before she could.
If she could make seeds grow and use them as her weapons, that would be an insane ability.
However, the owner of the flower seeds shop said that they did not carry rafflesia seeds, and she suggested that Su Jin try to buy them online. Although Su Jin was disappointed, she still bought a few pitcher plants and Venus flytraps, plus some rose seeds on the side.
Lu Hao had no idea why Su Jin wanted these things, but he helped her carry the plants nonetheless.
On the way back, Su Jin threw some of the seeds, fruit tree saplings, and potted plants into the dimension. Since they had gone out to buy seeds, they had to return with some, right?
Besides, on Lin Cheng and Huang Yunxiang's side, the latter had already surveyed some houses that could work as their warehouses. She was just waiting for Lin Cheng to come back and make the final decision with her. It was no that Huang Yunxiang could not make the decision herself, but she was used to deciding things together with Lin Cheng when it came to family matters. The couple enjoyed their discussions in that vein.
"Where are you now, Lin Cheng? I'm here waiting for you." Huang Yunxiang was getting a little anxious because she wanted to go shopping too. She finally had a reason to spend money without a worry in the world, and she did not want to miss out.
"Hello! Aren't you my brother's sister-in-law, Sis Huang? Why are you standing here? Are you waiting for someone?"
Huang Yunxiang was flabbergasted. Why was Su Xiangmei here? She secretly rolled her eyes, feeling a strong urge to just ignore her.
"Hey, Sis Huang, I'm talking to you. Why are you here?" Su Xiangmei thought Huang Yunxiang had not heard her, so she asked again patiently. Of everyone in Li Tianhui's family, Huang Yunxiang was the person Su Xiangmei hated the second most. Huang Yunxiang had married here from another province, yet the Lin family gave her such a huge wedding gift. They gave her 99 thousand bucks! That was quite a lot for this area. Su Xiangmei could only wish that she had met someone as nice as Lin Cheng.
"Oh, so it's you. I'm just waiting for my husband." So Su Xiangmei wanted to chat, did she? Huang Yunxiang would oblige her, then. Two could play at that game.
As soon as Su Xiangmei heard that Lin Cheng was on his way, she suddenly did not want to leave.
"Why are you and Brother Lin coming here? Oh, and have you asked Su Jin about that matter? Do you know who Lu Hao's mistress is yet? Sheesh, if you really manage to catch that adulteress, why, I'd wanna teach her a lesson too! It's so infuriating."
Huang Yunxiang had no idea how Su Xiangmei could say that with a straight face. She had been someone else's mistress once before too.
Just then, Huang Yunxiang saw Lin Cheng and Lin Xiuyuan approaching from a distance. Her impatient expression instantly turned to delight.
"Honey, sonny, I'm here!" Huang Yunxiang interrupted Su Xiangmei and waved at them.
"Sorry, Sis Su, but my husband and my son are back. We have other business to attend to, so I'll see you later." Huang Yunxiang was eager to leave.
"Hey, hey, what's with the rush? I'm not busy right now, so I could just go with you." Su Xiangmei saw the tall Lin Cheng walking toward them and was adamant to stay. She was wearing a new dress today, too.
Huang Yunxiang could not be bothered with her, so she made a beeline to Lin Cheng to talk to him.
Lin Xiuyuan had spotted Su Xiangmei from a mile away. That aunt-in-law of his was such a pain. He was determined to give her a snide comment or three in payment for making him embarrass himself in front of Lu Hao.
"Yo, isn't that Aunt Su? Do you have too much time to kill again today?" Lin Xiuyuan never minced his words.
"What are you saying, boy? What's wrong with me walking past here?" Su Xiangmei did not give in.
Lin Cheng saw how Su Xiangmei was arguing with their son and turned to Huang Yunxiang with a frown. "Why is she here? She's so annoying."
"I don't know either. She just spotted it and came around, then she wouldn't leave." Huang Yunxiang was frustrated too. If she had known this would happen, she would not have stood in such an obvious spot.
"Brother Lin, look at your wife! She should teach your son better. He's so rude to adults." Su Xiangmei knew she could not beat Lin Xiuyuan in an argument, so she turned around and acted pitiful in front of Lin Cheng, even throwing in an insult to Huang Yunxiang while she was at it.
Did she just say his son was rude and uncultured? Was she indirectly insulting him as a father as well?
"How my son behaves has nothing to do with you." Lin Cheng's expression turned stormy.
"Wait, Mom, Dad! I bet you didn't know this, but our school recently punished a few misbehaving students who acted like thugs. One of them was called Luo Hui, and he was even made a public example and nearly expelled. See, his parents didn't teach him well, did they? He was scolded in front of all the teachers and students in school! Isn't that embarrassing? Tsk-tsk."
Luo Hui was none other than Su Xiangmei's son with her ex.
Su Xiangmei was so furious that she gnashed her teeth, but she held her temper in. This Lin Xiuyuan was truly a thorn in her side.
"That's enough, sonny, don't just stand there. We have business to attend to." Huang Yunxiang emphasized the word 'business', hinting at Su Xiangmei that this was important to them and that she should just skive off to do her own thing.
Su Xiangmei still wanted to go with them, but she knew how mean Lin Xiuyuan's words could be now so she could only pretend that she had something else to do. After that, she left.
"Finally, she's gone." Huang Yunxiang sighed.
"Mom, how could you just let her leave like that? I haven't paid her back for what she did to Su Jin yet." Lin Xiuyuan had a ton more insults he wanted to use.
"Enough, enough. We should go check out the houses first. That's more important." Lin Cheng was anxious too. It was almost noon, and he did not want to go back without anything to show for it.
At the same time, Lin Tianzhen and her husband Mao Zhihang were still walking around the grain and oil wholesale market. They had brought their seven-seater along, and every seat aside from the driver and passengers seats were stacked full of rice and flour.
The owner of the store saw that they could not squeeze anything else in, so he said that he could deliver the goods for them free of charge if their place was nearby.
"That's great! In that case, give us another hundred bags of this northeastern rice!" Mao Zhihang said generously.
"Zhihang, what if we buy too much and can't finish it all? Will it spoil?" Lin Tianzhen was slightly worried, so she pulled her husband aside and whispered to him.
Mao Zhihang said confidently, "Nonsense! Don't you remember what Lil Jin said? Food will become the most important commodity of all! If we can't finish this all, we can give it to other people in exchange for other things!"
Oh yeah, why did she not think of that? In that case, the two of them bought things with even more abandon.
After they bought all the rice, they went on to the flour, then the cooking oil. After that, they followed Su Jin's suggestion and bought many boxes of sausages, hams, and canned meats from the wholesaler, finally topping up with a ton of packed biscuits and instant noodles.
Once they were done with their purchases, they received a call from Lin Cheng saying that he and Huang Yunxiang had decided on their warehouses. They could bring their goods over at any time now. Hence, Mao Zhihang told the many shop owners to send the goods to the warehouse address.
Finally, there were Su Jin's parents. Lin Tianhui had always liked hoarding things, especially when there were discounts online. She ended up collecting so many daily necessities that Su Xiangzhe had to clear out Su Jin's previous room and 'forbid' his wife from buying any more.
Lin Tianhui knew that they had run out of space too, so she had no choice but to stop.
Now, however, she could hoard as much as she liked!
Su Xiangzhe looked at Lin Tianhui as she flew around the supermarket like a busy little bee, taking things from this shelf and then running over to clear that shelf.
Sigh, he might as well let her run wild. At least this time he did not have to worry that she would buy too much.
Su Jin and the others did not go home either, heading straight to the warehouse address Lin Cheng gave them instead. Thanks to the new address, Lu Hao embarrassingly got lost again. After all, he only knew the main roads in the city and sometimes he would even get those wrong. The address Lin Cheng sent them was a little street he had never heard of before.
"Let me take the wheel then, hottie," Su Jin said, teasing him. She found the way he got lost utterly adorable, especially when he frowned in frustration like a Golden Retriever chasing its tail…
"Don't worry, Lil Hao. It's not the end of the world if you can't tell the way. I used to get lost a lot too when I was young and the city was constantly changing," Lin Xiuying consoled him. Well, she honestly thought it was fine for him to be terrible at directions. All a man needed to know was the way home.
Lu Hao's frustrations melted away when he heard Grandma's gentle comforting words. Yes, he still had Su Jin, Grandma, and the rest of his family behind him.
"That's right, honey. You're not a GPS, so you can leave the directions to us. There are plenty of heads between us, after all," Su Jin said as she drove. She even rubbed Lu Hao's head with her right hand. Heh, he really was like a Goldie…
Lu Hao, "..."
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