Chapter 1

Graduation season was always a rush. The dormitory building, bustling and noisy not long ago, had emptied out by more than half in the blink of an eye. Students dragged suitcases out the main entrance one after another.

Jiang Li’s dorm room was empty as well. His other roommates had either already found jobs, rented apartments, and moved out, or were locals who had headed home early. In the end, he was the last to leave, and his hometown was the farthest away.

Taking his time, he packed up the last of his luggage and cleaned the room before picking up the potted plant he had tended for four years and wheeling his suitcase out.

A ride-hailing car dropped Jiang Li off at the train station. Once aboard the train, he found a suitable spot for his plant, plugged in his earphones, and leaned back against his seat to rest with his eyes closed. Plane tickets were too expensive, and the high-speed rail ticket he bought was for a six-to-seven-hour ride. Even after getting off the train, he would still need to transfer, meaning he would spend the entire day traveling.

Notifications chimed endlessly from his phone.

Finding them impossible to ignore, Jiang Li pulled it out to take a look. The dorm group chat had already surged past 99+ messages, along with a string of mentions.

Jiang Li typed slowly: 【On my way home.】

The others had already been chatting up a storm, and the moment he appeared, the conversation shifted straight to him.

【@Jiang Li, are you really going back to your hometown?】

【Wouldn’t it be great to stay and keep me and Eldest Brother company? City A has so many job opportunities. Campus recruitment might be over, but with your resume, finding a good job wouldn’t be hard at all. Are you really not sending out a single resume?】

【@Jiang Li, why not take the civil service exam with me!】

【…】

Messages scrolled by in rapid succession, every word brimming with concern for Jiang Li’s future.

Over their four years of university, the six roommates had gotten along wonderfully. Come graduation season, their peers either threw themselves into the brutal grind at major corporations or prepared for postgraduate and civil service exams. The other five roommates had all secured their paths, leaving only Jiang Li. Despite topping his class and racking up more awards than his hands could hold, he had turned down multiple opportunities. And now, he actually planned to return to a hometown far less developed than City A to live like a salted fish^[1]?!

Jiang Li was the youngest among them. For various reasons, his roommates had always looked out for him, and right now, they cared far more about his future prospects than he did himself.

Before Jiang Li could type a reply, a direct message lit up his screen.

It was from Lin Chengrui, another roommate and a wealthy heir whose family owned mines.

Lin Chengrui: 【Jiang Li, have you really thought this through?】

Jiang Li: 【Really.】

Lin Chengrui: 【Alright, if you ever run into trouble, make sure to let me know. Don’t stand on ceremony with me!】

Warmth spread through Jiang Li’s chest.

Lin Chengrui: 【By the way, what do you plan to do after heading back? Have you thought about it?】

Touched, Jiang Li replied: 【I plan to go back and inherit the family business.】

Lin Chengrui: 【…】

The guy on the other end sent a speechless string of dots, though whether he believed it or not was anyone’s guess.

Jiang Li smiled, put away his phone, and closed his eyes again to rest.

By the time he reached home, night had fallen deep and dark, the sky dense with stars.

The house was pitch-black. Jiang Li fished the key from his pocket and opened the door. Having sat empty for six months, the place had gathered a thick layer of dust. A car drove past outside, its fleeting headlights illuminating furniture draped in white dust covers.

Guided by memory, Jiang Li reached for the switch on the wall. With a click, the bulb overhead flickered, fizzled with a sputter, and gave a faint pop. Darkness plunged over the room as the bulb died.

Jiang Li: “…”

He flicked the switch a few times with a rapid click-click-click, but the bulb overhead offered no response.

Resigned, Jiang Li turned on his phone’s flashlight to light his way. Fortunately, aside from the entryway bulb, the fixtures in the other rooms were all working normally, and both water and electricity were running.

With a bit of time left, he gave his bedroom a quick clean. The long-unused pipes sputtered yellowish water for a while before running clear. After a hasty tidy-up, unable to manage any more unpacking, the exhaustion from a full day on the road overwhelmed him, and he collapsed into sleep.

Waking up the next day, Jiang Li first went to retrieve the luggage he had mailed ahead, then set to work cleaning the whole house.

He cleaned the rooms, bought a new bulb to replace the broken one, and went down to the first floor to wipe down the shelves.

Jiang Li hadn’t been making things up; he really did have a family business to inherit.

Even if that family business wasn’t all that grand.

Jiang Li’s home was a three-story building. The upper two floors served as living quarters, while the ground floor was a modest supermarket. Originally run by just his parents, the business had never been booming, but the hardworking couple had raised him on its earnings. Growing up, Jiang Li had never lacked snacks, making him the envy of countless other kids.

That held true until the year before last, when Jiang Li landed an internship and chose not to return home for Chinese New Year during the winter break. Knowing it was a great opportunity, his father and mother were thrilled for him, offering endless reminders and advice over the phone. Yet before New Year arrived, the next news Jiang Li received was of their deaths.

Because he wasn’t coming home for the holiday, the couple had closed the supermarket early and packed a big bag of delicious food, intending to keep him company in City A. Who could have foreseen that they would get into a car accident on the road, breathing their last before even reaching the hospital?

The supermarket was what his parents had left behind. Earlier, with his studies still ongoing, Jiang Li had only been able to hastily clear out the remaining inventory, leaving behind nothing but empty shelves. Over time, people had wanted to rent the storefront for restaurants or a car wash, but Jiang Li had turned them all down.

With graduation season here, his classmates were either joining the corporate grind, securing stable government jobs, or starting businesses from scratch. Jiang Li didn’t want to get caught up in the rat race of any of those. He thought about it over and over, and in the end, what came to mind was the memory of sitting behind the checkout counter as a child, watching people come and go.

And so Jiang Li had returned, intent on inheriting the supermarket his parents left behind and living as an unremarkable little shop owner.

He wiped down the shelves, cleaned the first floor, and then snapped a photo of the empty supermarket with his phone to send to the dorm group chat.

The single photo instantly brought everyone out of the woodwork.

Lin Chengrui had already shared the news about him inheriting the family business, so as soon as the picture dropped, the chat exploded with replies.

【Not bad, Boss Jiang.】

【When you strike it rich, don’t forget about us!】

【Whoa, whoa, isn’t that my elementary school dream, opening a little corner store?】

【Jiang Li, this is definitely not just a corner store. It’s way bigger than I imagined.】

【Who would’ve thought? Number Six^[2], you’re actually a closet rich kid!】

Jiang Li: 【Cool.jpg】

…

Over the next few days, Jiang Li sorted out all the necessary permits and licenses, hired workers to renovate the ground-floor supermarket, and finally reached out to the supplier using the phone directory his parents had left behind.

The supplier’s surname was Gao. Having worked with Jiang Li’s parents for many years, he was an old family acquaintance. Learning that Jiang Li was returning to run the supermarket, he felt both happy and regretful.

“Things were fine in years past, but ever since several large supermarkets opened around here, business for small shops hasn’t been what it used to be. When your parents were still around, they even talked about closing the supermarket once you graduated to go live wherever you settled down…” Thinking of Jiang Li’s parents, Uncle Gao trailed off, then asked out of concern, “Why didn’t you stay in City A instead of coming back to this little place of ours?”

Jiang Li’s hometown was a small third- or fourth-tier city, neither as developed as a tier-one metropolis nor offering nearly as many job opportunities. Young people always preferred heading elsewhere. The Jiang family boy had graduated from a prestigious university; what a pity it was to come back.

“Isn’t our place pretty nice?” Jiang Li said. “I’ve wanted to come back for a long time.”

Uncle Gao chuckled in agreement. “Right, right, our place is great. Clear waters, green mountains, and plenty of tourists visit during the holidays.”

Still, a small supermarket mostly relied on the neighborhood for business. Most people left in town were middle-aged or elderly, the permanent population was nowhere near that of developed cities, and with larger supermarkets carrying a much wider selection, business was never going to be booming.

Uncle Gao stood by the doorway, looking inside through the polished glass. After the renovation, the walls were snow-white and the overhead lights cast a bright glow over neatly aligned shelves. The interior was organized cleanly into several sections, and several newly purchased large freezers stood ready to hold ice cream and frozen ready meals. Compared to the old store that had operated for decades, the place had been completely transformed.

Even the sign was newly made, with only the name remaining unchanged: Haoyouduo Supermarket^[3].

Young people had their own ideas, so Uncle Gao did not try to talk him out of it. Instead, he just helped carry box after box of goods into the storage room.

Once the last box was inside, Jiang Li grabbed a bottle of water for him. Uncle Gao took it and said heartily, “When your supermarket opens in a few days, I’ll send over a big flower basket^[4].”

Jiang Li grinned. “Thanks, Uncle Gao.”

“No need to be polite with your uncle. Your parents and I go way back, and I even held you when you were a baby.”

Uncle Gao had plenty of his own errands to run and did not stay long, heading out once the unloading was done. He had a daughter in college himself, so seeing Jiang Li all alone tugged at his heart. After getting into his truck, he rolled down the window and called out to Jiang Li, “Give me a call if you run into any problems! Don’t try to shoulder everything alone!”

“Will do. Drive safe!”

Watching the small truck disappear around the street corner, Jiang Li turned and headed back inside.

He opened the boxes and neatly arranged the merchandise on the shelves, item by item. Jiang Li had not hired any help and was doing it all by himself. Though the pace was a bit slow, he kept everything methodical and orderly.

The opening date had been chosen in advance as an auspicious day. Working flat out, Jiang Li managed to finish all the preparations before opening day arrived.

…

The day before the opening, Jiang Li carried a table and chair onto the terrace.

The third floor of the Jiang home was an attic, bordered by a spacious terrace. In this small city, the skies were free of smog, and summer nights were speckled with stars. Since the Jiang house was not in the city center, no skyscrapers blocked the view. Sitting on the terrace, the deep-blue night sky stretched out boundless and vast.

When he was little, Jiang Li had often sat here doing his homework.

A cool summer evening breeze brushed gently past, carrying the lingering warmth of the day. A dim bulb hung from the eaves, and a few small insects fluttered in circles around the light.

Tomorrow was the day the supermarket would open.

In truth, this choice had been quite impulsive. Jiang Li had rushed into it with reckless enthusiasm, and only now, with the opening right around the corner, did he finally begin to feel nervous.

He had wanted to find someone to talk to in order to ease his nerves. But when he lit up his phone and saw someone in his roommates’ group chat venting about a new boss while the others offered comfort, he thought about it and decided not to chime in.

Crickets chirped, accompanied by the persistent meowing of a cat from who knew where. Most cats around here were free-roaming, allowed to run in and out as they pleased, and stray cats were plentiful too. Lately, Jiang Li would often see a big orange cat lying in front of the supermarket, sunning its belly.

Jiang Li listened for a good while. Hearing the nonstop meowing, he worried a cat might be trapped somewhere and unable to get out, so he switched on his flashlight to go look for it.

He had just stood up when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of light streaking across the distant sky.

A shooting star?

Jiang Li instinctively looked up toward the sky.

He thought it was just a trick of his eyes at first, but there really was a meteor carving through the night. Trailing a long tail, it emerged from the deep-blue distance and hurtled closer and closer, plunging straight in his direction.

?

Wait?!

Heading where?!

Jiang Li’s eyes went wide. The meteor drew closer and closer, swelling from a distant speck into a blazing fireball that enveloped something within it, screaming through the air straight toward him.

Jiang Li: ??!!!