Ch 24: My Multiverse Supermarket

The air inside the supermarket felt oddly tense.

It stayed that way until some mountain villagers tried to enter the shop but were stopped by the Yue soldiers outside, breaking the silence.

“Why won’t you let us in!?”

Hearing the unmistakable Chu dialect, Gong Qiongxian pinched the bridge of her nose and ordered the soldiers, “Do not obstruct them—let them through.”

The refugees from Great Yue still feared the imperial troops and stayed well back, not daring to approach.

But the refugees from Chu were far less intimidated.

Especially after the bandits had been punished so harshly, they believed more firmly than ever that the goddess would protect them—and that the Yue soldiers wouldn’t dare harm them.

Once inside, they began browsing the shelves freely.

Zhao Changyan glanced at Gong Qiongxian and said quietly, “Court Attendant Gong, don’t forget why we came here.”

Gong Qiongxian gathered her thoughts, gestured for her men to bring in a chest filled with gold, silver, and jewels, and asked Zhou Li, “May I ask if these can be exchanged for the currency of the celestial realm?”

Zhou Li peered into the chest: gold ingots, silver cakes, and pearls.

The gold ingots were impure—only about 66% pure.

At a current gold recycling rate of 761.52 yuan per gram, discounted for purity (0.66) and with a 10-yuan refining fee per gram, that made 502.6 yuan per gram.

Each ingot weighed around ten taels, with one tael being roughly 37.3 grams.

That meant one gold ingot was worth about 183,739.8 yuan.

The silver cakes were about 75% pure, and the pearls—though natural—were small and not perfectly round, valued at roughly 260 yuan apiece.

In short, the entire chest could nearly clear out Zhou Li’s whole stock.

Zhou Li said, “It’s possible to exchange, but there are rules.”

Gong Qiongxian replied, “Changyan has already explained the rules to me. Please proceed with the exchange, Little Boss.”

Zhou Li asked, “Under whose name? Just so you know, only the rightful owner can exchange these. This gold ingot belongs to someone named Feng Sheng—is Feng Sheng here? The silver cakes are marked as property of the Three Directorates—that’s the treasury, right? And these pearls belong to Shao Chenshu, Huang Qiongzhi, and Fan Yuxian…”

Gong Qiongxian’s eyes widened in shock.

A chill ran down her spine.

Every name matched.

How could the goddess know exactly where these items came from?

It was true—though her mission was to visit the goddess on behalf of the Great Yue Emperor, the gold had been given to her by the emperor himself, the silver by the treasury, and the pearls by high officials like Shao Chenshu and Fan Yuxian for their own private offerings.

Gong Qiongxian instinctively suspected Zhao Changyan had warned Zhou Li ahead of time.

But Zhao Changyan had been with them the entire journey—she’d had no chance to send any message.

And when Shao Chenshu and the others gave her the pearls, Zhao Changyan hadn’t even been there.

So how could she have known?

Gong Qiongxian’s head buzzed, her whole body shivering.

Zhao Changyan glanced at her, suppressing a smile. “Court Attendant Gong, the Little Boss is waiting for your answer.”

Swallowing her fear, Gong Qiongxian bowed slightly. “All of Great Yue belongs to His Majesty—so these treasures naturally belong to him.”

Zhou Li found the situation tricky. “In that case,” she said, “His Majesty himself would need to come.”

The system spoke up in her mind. “Technically, this should be treated as a corporate account situation…”

It explained that since the assets came from multiple sources, none of which could be represented by a single individual, it would be best to treat the Yue government as a business entity, with Gong Qiongxian as its legal representative.

Zhou Li asked it, “And you can make sure that kind of corporate account won’t get flagged or… ‘invited for questioning’?”

The system replied, “I have extensive experience in regulatory risk avoidance. You can rest assured.”

Zhou Li told Gong Qiongxian, “No. Only the actual owner can complete an exchange.”

There was no way the emperor could come in person, so Gong Qiongxian turned to Zhao Changyan for help.

Zhao said, “Court Attendant Gong is here as His Majesty’s representative. If the exchange is made in her name, her card will serve as His Majesty’s card.”

Gong Qiongxian hesitated—then grew secretly pleased.

If the membership card were bound to her, the emperor would have to rely on her for all future dealings with the goddess.

It wasn’t overstepping; it was simply following divine rules. Surely His Majesty would not blame her.

Zhou Li said, “Representing an individual isn’t enough. But if you can represent the Great Yue government, then it’s fine. However, only you will be able to use that card for future purchases.”

That gave Gong Qiongxian pause—representing the emperor was one thing; representing the entire court was another.

The former concerned the emperor’s personal interests, but the latter might cross the eunuchs’ power lines—and they would not be pleased.

Zhao Changyan suggested sending someone back to ask for imperial authorization.

But the journey would take days, and by then, the goddess might already have left.

So Zhao Changyan said, “Why not let me use my card for now to purchase some divine goods for His Majesty? The rest can wait until the Little Boss returns from Yongcheng.”

Gong Qiongxian agreed. “That will have to do.”

Silence settled for a moment.

Then she looked at Zhao Changyan, puzzled that she wasn’t acting.

Zhao Changyan gave a strained smile. “Well… Court Attendant Gong, my card balance is rather low. Could you… lend me some jewelry or gold to top it up?”

Gong Qiongxian: …

Since she couldn’t touch the official offerings in the chest, she reluctantly removed her gold hairpin and pearl necklace, handing them to Zhao Changyan.

Such fine craftsmanship made them worth far more than raw materials—the auction estimate totaled 280,000 yuan.

Plenty for Zhao Changyan to buy goods that could raise her standing in Great Yue.

*

Now well-funded, Zhao Changyan led Gong Qiongxian around the supermarket.

When Gong Qiongxian saw the villagers using self-checkout machines, her eyes widened again.

Zhao Changyan explained, “That device recognizes objects and automatically deducts money from the card. It’s bound to a person’s soul—no one else can use the card.”

Gong Qiongxian didn’t believe her. Zhao Changyan handed her the card. “Try it yourself.”

Gong picked up an item and scanned it as instructed, then used Zhao’s card.

A sharp “beep—!” alarmed her so much that she dropped the card.

Zhao Changyan picked it up, smiling. “See?”

When Gong Qiongxian stepped away, the alarm ceased.

“Divine power… true divine power!” Gong Qiongxian gasped.

Zhao Changyan said, “We haven’t paid yet. If we don’t return the item, it’ll register as theft.”

She placed it back and continued shopping with Gong Qiongxian.

But Gong Qiongxian’s eyes were soon caught by the display of grain and oil.

“This is rice? Only three wen per jin!? And those crystal-clear jars—are those filled with oil?”

She instantly realized that reselling this rice for 700 wen per dou would yield enormous profits.

Zhao Changyan, seeing the look on her face, said evenly, “Court Attendant Gong, the goddess lowered grain prices out of compassion for the people. She would never allow merchants to hoard food for resale. And besides—should officials compete with the common folk for profit?”

Gong Qiongxian narrowed her eyes.

She had already noticed that Zhao Changyan was no ordinary girl.

So young, yet so poised—well-read, articulate, cultured, and ambitious.

Clearly, this was a woman destined either to oppose her or to become a valuable ally.

If their interests aligned, perhaps they could cooperate.

*

Zhao Changyan ended up buying every clock and alarm clock in the store.

She said to Gong Qiongxian, “The emperor’s palace needs one, of course. But so do the consorts’ palaces. And the princes—Wei, Gui, Jing, Xiang, and Mei—as well as the princesses. We can’t overlook them. Oh, and Lord Shao, the Palace Envoy, and you, Court Attendant Gong—surely you’ll want one too.”

Gong Qiongxian understood immediately. They were buying gifts—objects of wonder that would win hearts.

They also cleared out half the stock of body wash, shampoo, kerosene lamps, snacks, drinks, bed linens, umbrellas, and raincoats.

…

Zhao Changyan was enjoying herself when suddenly a refugee burst in, dropped to his knees before Zhou Li, and cried, “Goddess, please—save my child!”

☢️☢️☢️