Chapter 021: Final Enhancements to the Fortress

The news reported that the country plans to implement, in two years, free admission to tourist sites, free tourist shuttle buses, and toll-free travel on holidays.

Grandpa Jing wanted to take a plane to climb Mount Hua, while Jing’s father said he wanted to take a train to see the sea.

Grandpa Jing scolded his son for living like an old man despite being young, while Jing’s father retorted that the elderly shouldn’t seek thrills and should go to safe places instead.

“I absolutely disagree with you going to such dangerous places,” Jing’s father insisted.

“I don’t agree with you going to such boring places either. What’s so great about the sea? Haven’t you seen enough of our water tank at home for decades?” Grandpa Jing retorted.

Jing Shu covered her face and sighed. Why were they so seriously debating something that hadn’t happened yet and wouldn’t happen after the apocalypse? Neither could convince the other; couldn’t they just go their separate ways?

There was a news story about a couple who imagined winning five million yuan, and ended up fighting over how to split the money, leading to divorce. Jing Shu didn’t believe it before, but now she does.

Perhaps this is what happens when two viewpoints collide—they must determine a winner.

Although Jing’s father ended up paying a heavy price of being “hammered by his father and beaten by his wife,” he still stood by his view: “You can restrain my body, but not my heart.”

Jing’s father was stubborn like a mule when he set his mind on something, just like Grandpa Jing. However, only Jing’s mother could subdue Jing’s father, just as Grandma Jing could subdue Grandpa Jing—it’s a case of “one thing subdues another.”

Ah, oops, another faceful of dog food (public display of affection).

During the days when Grandma and Grandpa Jing were around, Jing’s father and Grandpa Jing staged a debate every evening. Although Jing’s father always ended up getting “hammered,” he also managed to infuriate the old man.

Finally, on November 21st, after Jing Shu had spent several busy days preparing everything, she took her grandparents to move into the villa, away from Jing’s father, and began her plan to livestream gourmet cooking.

In reality, Jing Shu has been extremely busy these days. She had to gather the last of the raw materials, monitor the fermentation of the Sun Yinrui incident, and guard against her aunt who came over daily to freeload meals.

Jing’s mother was clearly disappointed with Su Mei Mei, always responding to her indifferently. Without the tragic death of her eldest brother’s family in this life, Jing’s mother didn’t hold a grudge.

Jing Shu didn’t know what Su Mei Mei’s purpose was. The two-bedroom apartment was already crowded, yet Su Mei Mei still came to join the fun, freeload meals, and pry into various matters. Perhaps she was trying to gather information for Sun Yinrui?

But there might be other motives.

Every day, Su Mei Mei would complain that after transferring the little BMW to her name, she hadn’t driven it even once; Zhang Zhongyong had taken it. But after a few days, Zhang Zhongyong drove back to his Audi. So where did the little BMW go? Zhang Zhongyong said a friend borrowed it for a few days, but Su Mei Mei didn’t believe him.

“He must have given it to some vixen,” Su Mei Mei said. But she still held a glimmer of hope and was eager to uncover the truth. She wanted to hire a private detective to investigate Zhang Zhongyong.

“Sis, my dear sister, I’m really wronged. The car I saved up to buy was taken by that bastard to please some floozy! Please help me! Come with me to catch him in the act, and if we catch him, we’ll beat him to death!”

Of course, Jing’s mother refused. Su Mei Mei accused her of not caring about her sister’s life and got into another argument. Jing Shu and Jing’s father took turns helping Jing’s mother. Su Mei Mei fled in embarrassment, hating Jing Shu’s family even more. When she needed help, her family wouldn’t assist her, so she couldn’t blame herself for being unkind.

Old Sun was right; this family had changed!

Sun Yinrui’s hair turned white overnight, aging eight or nine years instantly. He hated those marketing people; why couldn’t they just get it over with? Why not expose everything at once so he could do PR damage control?

Those people were ruthless, revealing their dirt little by little like chicken droppings. Just when they got to the critical point, they’d say, “To find out what happens next, stay tuned for the next installment!” This made the onlookers itch with curiosity, and every night they’d bring their small stools to watch what evil deeds this villain had done.

The worst part was he didn’t know how much evidence the other side had against him! A few days ago, he had just claimed he didn’t owe anyone money, only to be slapped in the face shortly after. The solid evidence of his attempted bribery hit him hard.

He had just done PR to deny selling customer information, but today, the people who bought the information turned around and sold him out.

The police opened a case against him, investigating him for threats, corruption, illegal possession of firearms, and other suspected crimes. Two police officers followed him 24 hours a day, monitoring him to prevent him from fleeing with funds.

Sun Yinrui couldn’t curse or beat his ungrateful son to vent his anger, nor could he transfer assets. He had to smile and act as a driver for the two police officers, continue working, and pretend not to notice everyone’s pointing and whispering. Otherwise, the officers behind him might pull out their “big guns” at any time…

Sun Yinrui was like a student waiting for final exam results or a patient waiting to hear if they had cancer—anxious and restless. As each piece of evidence came down, he just wanted it to end quickly, to stop torturing him like that!

In contrast, Jing Shu was living a very fulfilling life.

First, she made the final “switcheroo” on the fortress villa: in the 8-square-meter, 3-meter-deep pond, she planted lotus roots that would bloom into lotus flowers and released mature Chinese mitten crabs, crayfish, eels, loaches, black fish, catfish, groupers, oysters, scallops, abalones, etc.

Jing Shu kept 2 cubic meters of fish fry as a precaution.

Originally, Jing Shu was worried that mixing black fish and catfish would result in them eating all the other fish, but her concerns were unnecessary. Since adding one drop of spiritual spring water daily, these fish have become as fierce as if they were on steroids. Even the crucian carp would fight with the perch daily—a true survival of the fittest.

The fish fry were all large and robust, growing quickly, maturing in 20 days in her place.

In the cultivated field on the left, she planted the mature potatoes, yams, onions, garlic, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes from her space—these were gifts from the seed shop owner. In less than a month, they had all matured in her space. She left the remaining space for Grandpa Jing to plant more crops.

In the front yard of the villa, she placed seven chickens, two ducks, three rabbits, and twenty quails. After those days of breeding, the space now has about 40 rabbits, over 200 quails, more than 60 chickens, and over 40 ducks.

The sows and ewes were also pregnant but were not released yet. After all the pickled vegetables were prepared, Jing Shu would start processing the chickens, ducks, quails, rabbits, cattle, sheep, and pigs bred in her space into dried beef, spicy rabbit meat, roast duck, braised chicken, and other delicacies for storage. She would keep some for breeding, process a batch, and when they were almost consumed, she’d pickle another batch.

She planned to plant fruits in the flower room so she could eat fresh fruit anytime during the apocalypse. After finishing planting vegetables during this period, she would plant fruits and transplant some over then.

Speaking of vegetables, she had once again filled the space she had finally freed up, having harvested three batches so far. Jing Shu packed them in 60-liter storage boxes, ready to be taken out directly for pickling.

She also bought four tons of high-density, long-burning coal, spending 5,000 yuan to fill the entire double-layered coal room. Wucheng’s province was one of China’s coal provinces—cheap and good quality. In the countryside, burning a boiler uses half a ton for an entire winter. Considering that several years of the apocalypse would be very cold, and cooking would require coal, Jing Shu bought extra.

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Author’s Note:

1. To celebrate the high-end cover I made myself (seeking praise), here’s an extra chapter released at 7 PM.

2. Reader “Confucius Doesn’t Read Books” said that if I updated two chapters today, they’d vote for me every day. O(∩_∩)O

3. Once the novel gets featured, there will be two updates daily (not sure when that will happen, so please support Tang with more votes).