Chapter 024: Feeling So High, As If Life Has Reached Its Peak

Zhu Zhengqi only truly understood the power of online attacks after he had been severely targeted and harmed by them.

During his junior year at a university in Hebei, he was caught molesting a female student, and the incident was exposed online locally. Overnight, thousands of insulting and vulgar comments poured in. He didn’t want to look but couldn’t help himself. Reading them made him feel abandoned by the world. No matter where he went, people pointed fingers at him, some even threw filth at him in public, and others watched him as a joke.

Zhu Zhengqi couldn’t understand why just touching someone’s chest had escalated to such a severe situation. Every day, people cursed him, saying scum like him should just die. Unable to bear the pressure, he developed depression. Within a few days, the situation escalated, and the school intervened and expelled him.

After returning to Wucheng, he tearfully sought help from a big brother, who took 100,000 yuan and hired online trolls to generate sympathetic content and clean up his image, eventually calming the situation. He then understood the power of these online “water armies” and joined the industry himself.

Public opinion can crush a person. In less than three days, just watch.

—

After all, it was the first day staying in the villa, and everything was new and exciting. The two elderly folks were energetically tidying up. Jing Shu arranged for her grandparents to stay in the guest bedroom on the first floor, laying out brand-new bedding and sheets. The 20-square-meter room with an ensuite bathroom was more than sufficient for the elderly couple.

The master bedroom, 25 square meters with an ensuite bathroom and a large wardrobe, was reserved for her parents, as they had more clothes and belongings.

Jing Shu stayed in the large bedroom on the second floor, which would be her main storage area after the apocalypse. The large bedroom suite on the second floor included a study, storage room, walk-in closet, and bathroom.

The study was already piled high with bottled water and various beverages. The storage room held various outdoor equipment and daily necessities bought during the Singles’ Day sale. The 20-square-meter walk-in closet was filled with all kinds of snacks Jing Shu had purchased during the sale—a huge amount, giving her a strong sense of security.

On the first floor, there was another 20-square-meter walk-in closet where Jing Shu planned to store all kinds of clothing for the family, such as underwear, sweaters, and down jackets. In the apocalypse, cotton and linen fabrics would stop production, and floods and earthquakes would cause even more losses. Jing Shu didn’t want to resort to stripping clothes off dead people in this life.

The second floor also had an independent living room, which had been converted into a large conservatory. Another empty bedroom was filled with sacks of feed for chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, and sheep.

With her preparations nearly complete, Jing Shu wouldn’t be afraid even if the apocalypse came early. If it didn’t come, all the better. Unfortunately, everything was proceeding exactly as in her previous life, without any deviation. Jing Shu could only count down the days until the sunlight disappeared.

As per her nightly routine, while having a snack, Jing Shu inspected her Rubik’s Cube space. She pulled out all the vegetable roots and fed them to the chickens, cows, and sheep, and began planting a batch of fruits, considering that she could harvest several batches before the apocalypse to make canned fruits and dried fruits.

Jing Shu planted fruits with specific plans:

– For making canned fruits: Snow pears, cherries, oranges, lychees, yellow peaches.

– For making dried fruits: Strawberries, pineapples, red dates, grapes.

She planned to transplant the ‘Sugar Heart’ apples and apricots into the yard; the sugar tangerines and hawthorns could be potted; red grapes could have trellises set up in the conservatory; persimmons could be made into dried persimmons; pomegranates, watermelons, and oranges could be juiced and stored in her space for drinking anytime… *Slurp*.

Do you think that without Jing’s mother’s morning bombardment, and sleeping on the second floor, you could sleep in?

The crowing of roosters, news broadcasts, the sound of Grandma Jing cooking, accompanied by Grandpa Jing singing opera, and the vibrations of the 10,000-yuan massage chair…

Ahhh! She forgot to close the window!

Wait, no—it was because her hearing was more acute than before. Jing Shu went downstairs to see Grandpa Jing leisurely lying on the massage chair she had won in the lottery, occasionally letting out a few howls, clearly saying, “Feeling so high, as if life has reached its peak.”

Jing Shu: “…” As long as you’re happy.

The morning news was still about catching corrupt officials and confiscating how much money, but it added donation lists from major enterprises, praising those who donated more.

Those with money donated money; those with supplies donated supplies. Even mobile carriers like China Mobile and China Unicom were competing to give away free talk time. In short, this past half-month has scared quite a few people, and the smart ones knew what to do.

The news presented a harmonious and friendly atmosphere, but Jing Shu understood the turbulent undercurrents beneath. In just over 20 days, hundreds of countries would simultaneously announce that the Earth was about to enter a period of darkness without sunlight…

—

“There are many ways to eat kimchi—like mixing it with rice, kimchi hotpot, kimchi fried rice, stir-fried meat, tofu soup, and so on.”

“As for making kimchi, it’s quite special to achieve a spicy, crisp, sweet, and refreshing taste. Cabbage is rich in dietary fiber, which can help you… go to the bathroom, aid in weight loss and beauty!”

Grandma Jing happily explained, seeing countless comments scrolling across the phone screen. She asked Jing Shu whether many people were watching the live stream and liked what she was saying.

Jing Shu squinted her eyes, smiled, and said yes. Grandma and Grandpa Jing were illiterate and had no idea what the barrage of comments was saying.

Today, Jing Shu was in the vegetable washing area, still responsible for washing cabbages and various side ingredients like carrots, apples, pears, green onions, and garlic. Grandpa Jing was in the chopping area, using unique methods of cutting and tearing to ensure the cabbage maintained a complete and beautiful appearance.

Grandma Jing was responsible for evenly applying salt to each cabbage leaf, marinating them for half a day, and then the three of them began preparing the seasoning.

In the afternoon, they rinsed off the salt with clean water, squeezed out the excess water, applied the seasoning evenly between each layer of cabbage, and placed them into pickling jars. They pickled a total of ten large jars, with some in 2-liter jars that would be ready to eat in a few days.

After finishing the day’s live stream, Jing Shu finally had time to carefully review what had happened during the stream and read the comments.

Yesterday, she didn’t have a single follower; even a few passersby left without saying anything. Today, the number of viewers on the live stream suddenly jumped to 50,000 and remained steady throughout the day.

If it were her naive self from ten years ago, she wouldn’t have understood, but after hiring a water army (paid trolls), what didn’t she know?

The entire screen was filled with just a few phrases repeated over and over:

– “You must be crazy for money, selling it for 998 yuan? I’d rather die than buy it!”

– “Get out of China with your Korean stuff!”

– “Look, here’s a traitor worshiping foreign things—beat her!”

– “People like you should just die.”

– “Trying to sell a few yuan’s worth of garbage at sky-high prices? Get out of the live stream; you’re not welcome here!”

At that time, Jing Shu was both angry and amused when she saw the comments. These trolls even knew how to tailor their insults based on the content, accusing her of being unpatriotic—a serious charge. The price must have been high, right?

“Even as a troll, you should have some education. Kimchi originated from the Korean ethnic group, which also includes people who migrated from the ancient Chinese Shang Dynasty. How did it become Korean? It’s clearly part of our great China,” Jing Shu retorted disdainfully on the spot.

Even though she knew there was no real audience in the live stream, only trolls spamming insults, Jing Shu was still quite angry—angry at human nature.

No need to guess who hired the trolls; it was none other than Zhu Zhengqi. She hadn’t expected that just because she didn’t sign a contract, affecting Zhu Zhengqi’s commission, he would use such dirty tactics against her. For 50,000 yuan, Zhu Zhengqi was willing to ruin a person. Was he doing this to make Jing Shu beg him to fulfill the contract?

—

Author’s Note:

Thanks to the lovely readers in the Qidian area: “Confucius Doesn’t Read Books,” “Person Suffering,” “Q District Smile Again,” “V”,” “Mo Nuo,” and others for your daily votes. Love you all, mwah!

Also: The book has been signed; you can now send gifts (shy).