Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Once Qi Mo left the warehouse, he parked by the roadside and fed his little one.

Mixing formula on the go left him a little frazzled.

He figured he’d stock up on bottles, pre-mix all the formula, and store them in his space. That way, he could just grab one ready to go whenever the baby needed to eat—way less work.

After all, whatever went into his space stayed exactly the same when taken out again. Nothing ever went bad. It was incredibly useful.

Toys or no toys, sitting in the car seat for too long made the little guy unhappy. He wanted to be held, whining and squirming as he tried to crawl off to play…

Qi Mo patted the baby’s bottom—crap, in the hustle, he’d forgotten to change the diaper. It was soaked through.

After feeding, he patted and shushed the restless baby who was eager to explore.

Then, in a flurry, he stripped off the dirty diaper, wiped the baby’s bottom with a wet wipe, slathered on protective cream, and let it dry out for a bit before slipping on a fresh one.

Then, holding the baby under a tree to catch a breeze, Qi Mo called a ride-hail driver.

When he mentioned heading to Liang Province Agricultural Wholesale Market—fifty kilometers away—the driver balked until Qi Mo offered 1,000 yuan plus an extra 100 for the return trip. The driver quickly called a cab to pick them up.

Standing in the shade, Qi Mo pointed at the leaves and taught his son: “Buddy, this is a leaf, green one. This is our car… Say ‘Dada.’ I’m your Dada, and you’re my boy. Your name is Huo Jingyan, but everyone calls you Yan Yan. It’s September now… When I have time, I’ll take lots of pictures and print them out. One day, these might all be gone.”

The little rascal, Yan Yan—who had been fussing and trying to crawl off just moments ago—now listened quietly with wide eyes, completely calm.

Once the Collapse hit, extreme heat arrived. Water vanished, animals died in droves—those that survived mutated into monsters.

Most plants perished too, and the ones that lived became twisted, grotesque things, some even poisonous.

Chewing on a random blade of grass? No sweat before the Collapse—but afterward, it could kill you.

In the backseat, Qi Mo held the baby and played with him.

Over half an hour later, the driver took off, and Qi Mo finally relaxed. Having a stranger in such a tight space had kept him on edge.

The car pulled into the wholesale market.

Qi Mo quickly found a bulk grain supplier.

He ordered fifty tons of rice, fifty tons of flour, five tons each of millet and glutinous rice, two tons of black rice. For beans: ten tons of soybeans, two tons of white kidney beans, five tons of mung beans, two tons each of red beans and black beans. Two tons of peanuts, five tons of cornmeal, two tons of starch, and several tons each of red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, raisins, and more.

When the order printed out, he paid a 50% deposit—toting up to two or three million yuan.

The supplier promised delivery the next day.

They supplied major cities, so their warehouse was well-stocked.

Qi Mo’s order wasn’t huge, so they could pull it together fast.

Satisfied, he left the delivery address and requested arrival within three days. If late, he’d deduct ten percent from the final payment.

Of course, there was also incentive—if they delivered early, he’d add one percent for each day ahead of schedule.

The grain company naturally sent Qi Mo’s order first—free money, after all.

At the mineral water supplier, Qi Mo ordered various sizes: 10,000 crates of 500ml bottles, plus 1-liter, 5-liter, and 10-liter tins.

Just like with the grain company, delivering a day early would earn a 1% bonus on the balance.

Fail to deliver within three days, and 10% of the final payment would be deducted.

Next came the seasoning company—starting with cooking oil: olive oil, tea seed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil, 200 cases of each.

Each case contained four tins. With one tin lasting a month, 4,000 tins would last generations.

Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns (huajiao), black pepper, cooking wine, sugar, five-spice powder (Chinese allspice blend)—all bought by the hundreds of cases.

Qi Mo was thrilled.

Nothing excited him more than shopping sprees and watching the inventory list grow longer.

Holding the little one, who was gumming his cheek, Qi Mo gave the baby a sip of mineral water.

Then, back in the car, he fed the little one some rice congee.

He stopped by a noodle shop for a quick bite before continuing his retail therapy marathon.

With a rich husband, he could afford to be this reckless.

Whole milk? Start with 2,000 cases.

At the vegetable company—sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams, corn cobs, budget veggies like winter melons and pumpkins, tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, greens, cabbages, lettuce…

Qi Mo wasn’t picky, especially about cheap items like winter melons.

In his previous life, even a single bite of these was hard to come by.

Most of what he ate back then was survival rations like those damn biscuits.

And they caused constipation—pure misery.

At the fruit company—apples, bananas, honeydews, watermelons, grapes, peaches, cherries… He wanted metric tons of whatever caught his eye.

Rolling in dough like this, he could afford to splurge.

After spending so much, his sugar daddy still hadn’t called to check in.

Qi Mo was using the authorized user card linked to Mr. Huo’s corporate account.

Every transaction over 100,000 would set off an alert.

Huo’s phone must be buzzing nonstop by now, right?

He had initially planned to cap spending at 100,000, but after arriving at the farmers’ market and seeing so many goods, even chopping his hands off wouldn’t stop him.

Just one word—buy, buy, buy, spend, spend, spend…

Ecstatic, Qi Mo carried the little one around, bouncing around excitedly.

With grains, fruits, water, and milk secured, it was time for meat.

Twenty tons of pork, ten tons of beef, ten tons of lamb, and twenty tons of poultry (chicken/duck/goose)—he wanted the works.

After ordering the meat, it was time for dried goods: mushrooms, preserved mustard greens, dehydrated vegetables, vermicelli, cured pork, sausages, cured chicken, duck, goose—whatever he saw, he wanted.

He entered the company, pulled out his laptop, and printed the order list. Shopping was a breeze.

Now it was just a waiting game for delivery.

As the sky darkened, Aunt Zhang had already called to urge him home.

The baby had fallen asleep in his arms, head flopped to one side.

Qi Mo placed the little one in the car seat and opened the document folder. The payment receipts showed he'd already spent tens of millions.

His husband, Huo Liangzhou, hadn't said a word—just a silent ATM. Qi Mo suddenly thought, *Huo really isn’t so bad.*

But then he remembered that night two months ago. Qi Mo shuddered at the memory. That night, the man had been like a tiger—terrifying.

He’d almost died.

His back felt wrecked.

Even when the baby cried, he hadn’t woken up—not until dusk.

When he finally came to, the baby’s voice was hoarse from crying, eyes swollen.

Huo Liangzhou was still a big bad tiger after all.

Hurting him… hurting the baby too…

Thinking of the baby, Qi Mo suddenly remembered—he still had to grab formula, diapers, face cream, diaper cream, toiletries. And yes, paper. He needed to stock up on tissues.

They had three babies at home already. Who knew if there’d be more?

Right now, there were four people to care for. He should probably get stuff for Huo too—the guy *was* paying, after all. Qi Mo wasn’t *that* cruel.

And snacks—with no gadgets around later, they’d need extras.

Once he made his list, Qi Mo hit the gas and headed home.

Just as the SUV pulled up to the villa gate and Qi Mo picked up the baby, his phone rang.

Aunt Zhang, hearing the engine, immediately stepped out. "*Finally* back, young master?" She walked over and helped him with his backpack.

Qi Mo grabbed his phone and turned—it was Chen Feng calling. He jabbed the 'end call' button, heart pounding.

That bastard was trouble.

In their previous life, though fate had kept them apart due to an accident, even after marrying and having a child, Qi Mo had never intended to rekindle anything—he had only considered Chen Feng his best friend.

But later, he saw the truth—Chen Feng had been using him all along.

Before marriage, the man treated him like a cute little pet.

After he married Huo Liangzhou, suddenly he had value—Chen Feng would call from time to time with fake-checking in, then ask him to weasel favors out of Huo.

Remembering how Chen had already been sleeping with his cousin from Auntie’s family while stringing him along—Qi Mo felt sick.

The baby, squeezed too tightly by Daddy, gave a squirm and a whine.

Shaking off the thought, Qi Mo turned—and there stood a man walking toward the villa gate. In the dim light, the figure loomed tall and straight as a pine.

"About time you came back—been gone all day." Huo Liangzhou looked at his little lover, with a small, soft, fair face and wide, innocent deer eyes staring at him, slightly dazed—so freaking cute.

Qi Mo shoved the little one into the man's arms: "Took the little one out for fun."

"Why'd you buy so much water?" Huo Liangzhou caught the wriggling child, who still clearly favored Daddy and never got tired of being out with him all day.

Didn’t even miss Papa one bit.

The little one, realizing he couldn’t get back to Daddy, could only wail in protest, occasionally blurting out sounds like “baba.”

Probably about to start talking soon.

Upon hearing this, Qi Mo said, "For merit release—I’m earning blessings for the baby."

Huo Liangzhou’s eye twitched. Merit release? You bought a million bucks’ worth of water for that? How much karma points is that even?

Twisting off all those caps would wreck your hands.

Maybe he should remind the young master to hire people instead of playing hero with the bottle caps…