Chapter 10: Zero-Cost Shopping Spree at the Mall

Before returning the car yesterday, An Nan had deliberately brought a map and marked out some important landmarks and shopping malls. She remembered that in the higher part of Jiangbei District, there was a newly built mall scheduled to open tomorrow. By now, all the merchandise should already be on the shelves.

Today, with the torrential rain, everything everywhere had shut down. There was no way this mall would open as planned. An Nan was ready to go on a zero-cost shopping spree there tonight.

If you don’t fleece the capitalists, you’re just letting good stuff go to waste! Better to benefit herself than let everything rot in the floodwaters.

With that thought, An Nan set an alarm and went to bed early. Tonight would be a big operation—she needed to recharge her energy first.

Meanwhile, Bai Wenbin had been trapped in the Locust Tree Restaurant for three hours. He watched the water level rise higher and higher, with no sign of the rain stopping.

Am I going to have to spend the night here? he thought grimly.

Just then, a guy who loved fishing—and always kept an inflatable kayak in his car—happened to paddle past Bai Wenbin.

Bai Wenbin’s eyes lit up and he immediately asked for a ride.

“No can do, buddy. If I take one more person, it’ll be too heavy. I won’t be able to paddle,” the man said.

“I’ll give you a thousand yuan!”

“Hop on, bro. It’s not about the money, really—I just feel like we’re fated to meet,” the man replied, quickly pulling up a payment QR code on his phone.

...

Bai Wenbin got off the kayak near his apartment complex. The water level here was lower than in Kuancheng District, but on his way home, he still got scratched by floating debris in the water.

By the time he finally reached his door, his hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t get the key into the lock. He had no choice but to knock on Qian Ying’er’s door across the hall.

Qian Ying’er was shocked to see her cousin in such a sorry state.

“Wenbin-ge, are you okay?!”

Bai Wenbin frowned as he entered. “Get me some iodine and medical gauze.”

As Qian Ying’er fetched the medicine, she asked, “Why are you back so early? And what happened to you? Where’s An Nan? Didn’t you succeed?”

While bandaging his wounds, Bai Wenbin gritted his teeth and told her what had happened that day.

“That bitch actually stood you up?” Qian Ying’er’s face turned vicious. “If she doesn’t know what’s good for her, we’ll just have to teach her a lesson!”

“What do you want to do?”

“She likes to act all high and mighty,” Qian Ying’er said, a meaningful look in her eyes. “Let’s find a couple of thugs to ‘play’ with her. Let’s see how long she can keep up that holier-than-thou act!”

Bai Wenbin frowned. “Isn’t that going a bit too far? She’s supposed to be your future sister-in-law.”

“Brother, she has no intention of being with you! Once she loses her innocence, I’ll make sure everyone knows about it.”

Qian Ying’er gave a malicious smile. “When she’s ruined and abandoned by everyone, we’ll go comfort her. She’ll realize you’re the only one who doesn’t despise her and is still willing to accept her. Then everything will fall into place!”

Bai Wenbin’s eyes lit up. “Ying’er, you really are clever.”

He hesitated for a moment. “But it still feels a bit off.”

“Oh, come on, brother! Are you really treating her like your wife? Once you get your hands on her family’s assets, you can have any woman you want. Just dump her then.”

“You’re right!” Bai Wenbin stopped hesitating. “Where are you going to find those thugs?”

“No rush, leave it to me,” Qian Ying’er replied confidently.

An Nan was pretty, and there was no shortage of men interested in her. With a little push from her, this plan was sure to work.

The two cousins exchanged a knowing smile, as if they could already see their scheme succeeding.

At that moment, An Nan was sleeping soundly.

At midnight, her alarm went off and she woke up right on time. Fugui, her dog, was startled awake and warily snuggled up to her.

She patted his head. “Go back to sleep. I’m going to get us some good stuff.”

Fugui, who was very intelligent, quickly calmed down and lazily closed his eyes again.

An Nan got ready, put on clothes suitable for action, and quietly went downstairs.

By now, the water outside was already higher than a person’s head. All the ground-floor apartments had flooded, and the residents had evacuated to safer places earlier in the afternoon.

An Nan carefully checked her surroundings to make sure no one was around, then pulled a kayak out of her storage space and quietly paddled out of the complex.

The kayak was quiet, but rowing was exhausting. Not long after leaving the complex, An Nan switched to an inflatable motorboat.

The water was full of floating obstacles—cars, branches, street signs, and more. What should have been a half-hour trip took her over an hour before she finally reached the new mall.

This area was higher ground, so the water only reached her thighs. She pulled out a glass-breaker from her storage and successfully got inside.

Although the power and internet would soon go out, to be safe, she first smashed the mall’s surveillance system before confidently starting her shopping spree.

Just as she’d expected, all the goods were already on the shelves.

The underground parking lot was long since flooded, so An Nan skipped it.

The first floor was a large supermarket. Each section had six shelves, and only the bottom two were submerged. Since the flooding hadn’t lasted long, many sealed goods were still usable.

After checking things over, An Nan began her blissful zero-cost shopping spree.

She started with the snack section: potato chips, spicy sticks, squid shreds, beef jerky, pickled chicken feet, sausages, seaweed, chocolate, cookies, canned food, all kinds of nuts… None of these were in her storage, so she took them all!

There were also self-heating hotpots, instant rice, luosifen (snail noodles), pasta, and all sorts of instant noodles—braised beef, scallion pork ribs, pickled cabbage, spicy chicken, you name it. She didn’t bother picking flavors; she just swept them all into her storage.

Next was the drinks section. She already had water in storage, but bottled water was more convenient and could be used for bartering. Into storage they went!

There was also red wine, beer, cocktails, baijiu, erguotou, and all kinds of alcohol. Plus Coke, Sprite, herbal tea, coconut milk, Red Bull, soda water, and all sorts of other drinks. She also grabbed all the nutritious dairy products.

Then came the frozen foods: ready-to-eat dim sum like soup dumplings, dumplings, sweet rice cakes, chicken nuggets, fries, hash browns, and more. These were easy to prepare—just heat and eat.

There were also premium steaks, foie gras, lobster, abalone, sea cucumber, king crab, and all kinds of meatballs and seafood rolls she hadn’t bought before: cuttlefish balls, crab sticks, shrimp rolls, juicy beef balls, fish roe pouches, and so on.

Finally, she collected all the undamaged fruits, vegetables, rice, noodles, grains, and cooking oil that hadn’t been soaked in dirty water.

After clearing out the food section, she moved on to daily necessities: toiletries, cleaning supplies, storage bins, food containers, desk lamps, hangers… She didn’t even bother to look—she swept everything into her storage. She even took baby supplies like diapers and bottles.

Lastly, she raided the pet section, grabbing all kinds of dog food, canned food, chew sticks, and more.

It took about an hour, but An Nan finally emptied the entire supermarket—not just the shelves, but the stockroom as well.

Just as she was about to head upstairs to the second floor, something at the checkout counters by the exit caught her eye."