PFC Chapter 3 Filling the Space
Chapter 3 Filling the Space
Day after day, Sha Zhu diligently studied the culinary skills of the master chefs at Fengzeyuan using his mind, leaving him no time for anything else.
Before I knew it, it was the weekend. During this time, I received a meal as a kitchen helper, which was equivalent to 22 yuan after the currency reform.
Because of the Korean War, rice prices and restaurant prices have risen, making restaurant owners very wealthy, but wages haven't increased, and kitchen staff are losing motivation.
Sha Zhu was off work today, so he slept until after 10 a.m. before getting up to wash up. He didn't plan to go back to Nanluoguxiang. Instead, he planned to use his salary to buy some seeds and then go to the lake to look for some small fish and shrimp.
After exiting Fengzeyuan through the back gate, I walked towards the farmers' market along the route I remembered, mentally scanning the houses on both sides of the street as I went.
After walking for about ten minutes, I suddenly noticed a Xue Ru Silk Shop ahead. Could this be the Little Woman Under the Zhengyang Gate?
Oh dear, I remember TV dramas and novels describing a spy hiding behind this shop. Should we go and take them down?
Although they lack conscience, they just can't bring themselves to harm ordinary people; it's not the end of the world.
If it's about dealing with enemy agents, no amount of drastic measures is too much. Following this shop, turning the corner, and walking down a small alley, I carefully scanned the area with my mind...
Sure enough, in the east wing of a shop behind the silk shop, which was close to the alley, five or six men were talking quietly. There was a hole in the floor of the room, and a wooden board next to the hole was lifted up, which should be a cellar or a secret room.
Inside the secret room, a person was fiddling with the buttons on a radio. With a thought, Sha Zhu caused the person in the room to vanish without a trace and reappear in the stone space of Sha Zhu's mind.
Sha Zhu glanced at the people in the underground secret room and transferred them to the space as well. There was no one else in the room.
The six people in the space were completely bewildered. Before they could even utter a sound, Sha Zhu used his mind to gather wind into a blade and slashed it across their throats, ending their lives. Then he stopped paying attention to them.
Sha Zhu scanned the courtyard, which was a two-section courtyard. He walked to the gate, opened it from the inside with his mind, and stepped inside.
Gently close the door, and as you walk, scan it with your mind. Be careful, since your mind can only reach a distance of ten meters, and you must be careful not to make a mistake.
After searching the entire courtyard, there was no one else there. Considering how empty the space was, he began a thorough search of the backyard, collecting the exquisitely carved bed, wardrobe, solid wood sofa, tables, chairs, benches, pots and pans, and even a dozen or so boxes of gold and silver jewelry from the underground secret room, including two boxes of gold ingots, two boxes of large yellow croakers, one box of small yellow croakers, two boxes of Yuan Shikai silver dollars, and three boxes of gold and silver jewelry.
Two boxes of firearms and ammunition, including infantry submachine guns and pistols, totaling more than thirty items.
Sha Zhu didn't know anything about firearms, so he tossed them into his spatial storage and didn't bother with them anymore, planning to test them later. He looked at a small wooden box next to him, opened it, and found it full of coins that were currently in use. He roughly counted them and found that they totaled more than 30,000 RMB after the upgrade.
This is a windfall! Indeed, a horse won't get fat without night grazing, and a person won't get rich without unexpected wealth.
Looking at the empty secret room, there was only a radio and a codebook left, and even the table and chairs under the radio had been put away to make room.
After leaving the secret room and arriving in the courtyard, I saw two large water vats under the eaves, which were also stored away.
Apart from the walls and a few large trees in the yard, practically nothing was left.
Having cleared away the traces of his walk in both courtyards with his mind, he was just about to leave when suddenly there was a knock on the door. He glanced outside and saw a middle-aged woman wearing an armband and a young man.
Sha Zhu had a sudden thought and slightly accelerated the time of the six people's thoughts in the space. The skin of the six people turned white, as if they had been dead for two days.
They moved back to the original room, and as if afraid the radio codebook wouldn't be discovered, they moved next to the six people above. Then they started thinking about how to escape.
The older woman knocked on the door a few times and called out a few times. When no one answered, she left with the young man.
Seeing this, Sha Zhu quietly opened the two large doors with his mind, watched the old lady walk away, and gently closed the doors, leaving a crack.
He scanned the area with his mind, finding no one nearby, and then headed to the other side of the alley to leave. As for who discovered the courtyard first, Sha Zhu didn't care.
After leaving the alley and entering the main street, Sha Zhu quickened his pace and walked towards the farmers' market. A dozen minutes later, Sha Zhu arrived near the farmers' market, squeezed through the bustling crowd, and entered a seed shop.
There weren't many people in the shop. Seeing a customer come in, the owner hurriedly asked Sha Zhu what kind of seeds he needed.
After getting a general idea of the seed situation in the store, Sha Zhu lied and said he was buying seeds for relatives and friends. He needed 30 jin each of rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, and sweet potatoes.
Other vegetables required two jin each, and various fruit tree seedlings, some that could be grown in the north and some that couldn't, were needed in quantities of five or six, depending on what the store had. The owner asked a helper to deliver the goods to his door for an extra fee, totaling a little over two hundred yuan. The owner took two hundred yuan from Sha Zhu, and Sha Zhu began to wait patiently.
Half an hour later, the boss finished tidying up and then had his assistant drive the car to deliver the goods with Sha Zhu.
He arrived at the main road with his men. Finding no one around, he and his men unloaded the seeds by the roadside. He lied and said someone was there to pick them up, then sent his men away. Sha Zhu, seeing no one around, waved his hand and stored all the seeds in his spatial storage.
Seeing that it was already noon, Sha Zhu went back to the vicinity of the farmers' market and found a small restaurant.
He casually ordered a bowl of shredded pork noodles and then immersed himself in his spatial realm to begin his planting endeavor. Aside from rice requiring paddy fields, he knew nothing about the conditions for other seeds, let alone seedling cultivation. Fortunately, he had plenty of land.
With a simple mindset, planting and harvesting are effortless. Five kinds of seeds weighing 30 jin each can be planted in one acre of land, with each 10 jin planted separately.
Other seeds were distributed at a rate of one pound per acre. Not even a corner of the land was used. The black soil remained empty. Using his mind, he planted various saplings along the lakeshore, one every ten meters.
One-tenth of the lake was covered. Looking at the pots, pans, beds, cabinets, large water tanks, etc. scattered on the ground next to the ancient well, he had a headache. He didn't know how to build a house. Would building a house with his mind bury him inside?
Let's get some cement bricks first. I remember that Chongwenmen and Xi'anmen were demolished starting last year. I'll go over there later and see if I can get some city wall bricks.
After lunch, Sha Zhu went to the farmers' market and wandered in with the crowd. He saw a basket for sale, so he bought one, put it on his back, and then searched his wardrobe to find an old piece of clothing to use as a cover.
I bought about ten chicks, put them in my basket, and walked a distance where no one was watching. Then I transferred the chicks to my virtual space. After that, I bought about ten ducklings, about ten goslings, and about ten rabbits.
I bought four pigs and four lambs from vendors, mainly because my basket wasn't big enough. I didn't find any cattle for sale, but I did see some people driving oxcarts, but I didn't dare ask if they were selling cattle.
Continuing on, I found a shop selling honey and bees ahead; the bees were all sealed inside beehives. I asked the shopkeeper for two beehives and took two jars of honey home to make rainwater for drinking.
Leaving here, they followed the crowd further in. Near the end, they discovered a large area for selling livestock: cows, horses, donkeys, and mules. Sha Zhu looked at them as if he had discovered a new continent.
On second thought, Beijing hadn't yet implemented a planned economy, and personal buying and selling wasn't permitted. Besides, I couldn't possibly buy two large livestock at a time.
What should I do? Buying one every weekend is too much trouble. Looks like I'll have to pretend to be a purchasing agent for the restaurant. I've done it before, but there are always designated sales points that sell pre-cut meat.
On second thought, who cares? Giving more money means I'm not afraid of being robbed. Anyone who dares to rob me, I'll kill them.
He then pretended to be a restaurant purchasing agent and inquired about prices. A large yellow cow was only 110 yuan, and a half-grown calf was less than 40 yuan.
After negotiating prices with the shop owners, they ordered two large yellow oxen, two calves, and two dairy cows. They also ordered two large donkeys and two small donkeys from the donkey seller.
They also ordered a fine horse and a steed. They paid half a deposit to their respective bosses and asked them to arrange for someone to accompany them. Since it was a free market, there was no tax.
After getting directions, Sha Zhu led them, driving the oxen, horses, and donkeys towards another intersection at the end of the road. Once on the main road, Sha Zhu led them towards the city gate. When they reached a secluded spot, Sha Zhu lied and said someone would meet them, settle the payment, and let them leave.