Chapter 017: Jing’s Father’s Family

In reality, the next sum of money arrived quickly. Yesterday afternoon was the day Jing’s father and Uncle Sun agreed for a repayment, but as expected, Uncle Sun cried poorly again, saying he had no money to repay.

Jing’s father went to Uncle Sun’s company and home to find him, but the whole family wouldn’t even open the door, collectively disappearing. Jing’s father finally saw the true face of his twenty-plus-year-old close friend. Jing Shu felt it was time for her to take action.

Using the 200,000 yuan from selling the car, Jing’s father was still short 100,000 yuan to pay off the recent renovation expenses. Moreover, at least another 200,000 yuan was needed to complete the villa’s renovation. With no other options, Jing’s father asked Grandma to borrow 200,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, each of his three aunts also lent 100,000 yuan, and 500,000 yuan was transferred that very day, greatly reducing Jing’s father’s financial pressure.

Jing’s father didn’t want to borrow money from his own mother unless absolutely necessary, not wanting to strain family relations further.

Back in the 60s and 70s, times were tough, and there was a strong preference for sons over daughters. Jing Shu’s grandmother gave birth to three daughters in a row, naming them Jing Pan (Hope for a Brother), Jing Zhao (Invite a Brother), and Jing Lai (Come, Brother). Under the pressure of these names, she finally gave birth to Jing’s father, Jing An (Peace), bringing peace of mind.

Grandma used to favor Jing’s father, secretly giving him treats, which the aunts found out about, creating a rift.

When the aunts got married, they were poor, and Grandpa made a set of wooden furniture for each as a dowry. When Jing’s father got married, they took out all their savings to make a down payment on a house in Wucheng.

With such a huge disparity, the aunts naturally felt upset.

When the aunts’ children were born, Grandma gave each a pair of silver bracelets, regardless of gender. When Jing Shu was born, Grandma gave her a gold lock…

While favoring sons over daughters could be understood during hard times, Grandma continued to favor Jing Shu when living conditions improved, causing the aunts to hold grudges against Grandma and Jing’s father. Fortunately, in recent years, everyone’s lives improved, and Grandma could treat everyone equally, so Jing’s father didn’t want to strain the hard-earned improved relations by borrowing money again.

Who knew that Grandma would still tell the three aunts about Jing’s father’s need to borrow money.

Grandma lending money was within Jing Shu’s expectations, but the three aunts lending money was a bit surprising. Regardless of whether they did it under Grandma’s pressure or out of love for their brother, whether willingly or reluctantly, Jing Shu remembered their kindness. After the apocalypse, she planned to repay them with food, or at least help them avoid some natural disasters.

Repaying kindness with kindness, revenge with revenge, and not raising ingrates—being able to eat her fill at every meal would be Jing Shu’s motto from now on.

Jing’s father transferred 200,000 yuan to her. The next day, Jing Shu went out and wholesaled 400 cases of 550ml Nongfu Spring bottled water, 12 bottles per case, spending 7,200 yuan. She also bought 100 cases of 1.5L Nongfu Spring bottled water, spending 5,400 yuan.

Bottled mineral water is easy to carry and ready to drink, more convenient than filtered water. It’s also handy to bring out during escapes in the apocalypse without drawing attention. Regardless of how many years the apocalypse lasts, mineral water will always be scarce.

She also bought two cases each of beverages, like grapefruit tea, coconut milk, Xiangpiaopiao milk tea, Wanglaoji herbal tea, Red Bull, cola, Sprite, and orange juice.

She bought 10 cases of Wahaha AD calcium milk; it accompanied her throughout her childhood—an unforgettable taste.

Jing Shu followed the delivery truck to the villa entrance. After the workers left, she used her space ability to move these life-saving waters to the still-empty study on the second floor, stacking the cases of water until the room was full. She then locked the study door and the master bedroom door.

She locked the doors of all rooms containing supplies to prevent the renovation workers from seeing them. Each room had heavy solid wood doors that several people couldn’t break down, and the locks were Grade A—unless someone was a professional locksmith, they wouldn’t get in.

She checked off the items on her phone’s checklist, noting the quantities of beverages. Satisfied, she inspected the progress of the villa’s renovation.

The tempered glass roof and walls were nicely completed, capable of withstanding the worm rain of the second year of the apocalypse.

All the villa’s windows were replaced with triple-glazed insulating glass for warmth and soundproofing.

The right-side water storage and circulation system was fully built and concealed underground, with crops planted above.

The water storage system was connected to the villa’s various pipelines and the two water tanks on the third floor. If needed, automatic filtration and circulation can be activated. Currently, only lightly polluted water like from washing vegetables and bathing could be recycled, but it can’t be used as drinking water anymore.

In other words, domestic water could be recycled. Drinking water would come from bottled mineral water and water from the two tanks, purified through three layers of filtration from the kitchen faucet.

The pond was also completed; the front yard’s animal houses were built; the boiler room, coal room, and corner door were all done; the kitchen was opened up with cabinets installed. Only the final decorations and the transformation of the flower room remained.

Captain Chen estimated they’d finish in three days, with one day for final touches.

Two major things happened in Jing Shu’s Rubik’s Cube space. The first was that all the chicks and ducklings had hatched over the past two days. Jing Shu numbered them and had the hens and ducks incubate the eggs from hen number 1. Hen number 1 had grown even larger, exceeding Jing Shu’s recognition of a hen. Once the previously agreed seven days were up, Jing Shu planned to halve the Spirit Spring feeding and start consuming diluted Spirit Spring water herself.

Jing Shu made a decision: to continue feeding hen number 1 with Spirit Spring water until it died of old age, to test the effects of the Spirit Spring. Moreover, hen number 1 managed the other chickens well; it felt like the entire flock had a regular and disciplined egg-laying routine. Jing Shu couldn’t bear to kill it for soup.

The second thing was that the rabbits had become pregnant and given birth to baby rabbits. Jing Shu discovered yesterday that the rabbits were already pregnant, and today they gave birth. The speed was astounding… Jing Shu seemed to see Kung Pao Rabbit Ding beckoning to her! *Slurp…*

By the time Jing Shu returned home today, it was already late. After opening the door, there was no aroma of cooking or the smell of burnt food. Instead, a pungent perfume smell that made her nauseous filled the air, along with noisy chatter.

“Lanzhi, you know it’s not easy for me as a single mother with two children. I fancy your house in the school district just to get registered, so my second child can attend school. You don’t live in a house, so you can continue living there. “Just sell it to me at a lower price, and consider the remaining amount as ten years’ rent,” said a middle-aged professional woman in an OL outfit.

“Yes, Lanzhi, the director heard you’re selling your house and eagerly came to give you money.”

“The director rarely asks for favors; you should sell it at a lower price. In the future, your chances of promotion will surely increase.”

Everyone chimed in.

Jing’s mother was surrounded and at a loss. “Director, we’re selling the house because we need money. Your offer is too low. The market price of the house is 1.4 million yuan. We’re selling it fully furnished for 1.3 million yuan. You’re offering 1 million yuan and counting the remaining 300,000 yuan as rent… “We’re not planning to rent a house we’ve sold.”

“Lanzhi, you shouldn’t say it like that…”

Jing Shu covered her face as she listened by the door. Who were these people she kept encountering after her rebirth, always trying to take advantage of? Judging by their tone, this was her mother’s superior? If they sold the house, wouldn’t they come knocking after the apocalypse..?

But if they didn’t sell, the other party wouldn’t let it go. These people were practically begging to be mistreated, and Jing Shu didn’t know what to do.