Chapter 155: The Second Year of the Apocalypse Begins

"Jing Shu, the medicine you gave me last time was really effective, even better than expected. The patient has fully recovered. I was wondering if you have any other herbs? And also, where did you get these medicines from?"

With the magical touch of spiritual spring water, these herbs are more like divine medicine—how could they not be effective?

A hero's origins don't need to be questioned; we're still good friends.

Jing Shu scratched her head and said, "You know why my grandma has lived to 80?"

Su Mali responded, "Because she took the antidote you gave me?"

"No, it's because she never meddles in my affairs."

Su Mali said, "My grandmother lived to 90 and is still very energetic because she worries about me every day."

Jing Shu: "…" I can't talk to her anymore.

"So where do you get your medicines from? I'm asking for someone else."

Jing Shu stroked her chin. She knew that once this herbal medicine was shared, people would inevitably ask questions. But she also needed to prepare an explanation for the future as more of her herbal remedies became known.

"I grow them myself."

"How?"

"I plant the seeds, water them, and they grow."

"…"

Meanwhile, in a private rehabilitation center in Wucheng, a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, looking rather refined, stared at the message on his phone and muttered, "She grows them herself? Under these conditions, even with lighting and air conditioning, it's impossible to simulate the right climate. The key is the quality."

Growing misshapen, inferior medicinal plants would be more normal.

Another stern-faced middle-aged man standing nearby snorted disdainfully. After checking transaction records from recent years, he found no records of medicine purchases, though there was a seed purchase from a year ago. Maybe she really did grow them herself—she just wasn’t sharing her secret.

The man reached out, and the elderly servant behind him promptly handed him a cup of milk coffee.

Another muscular, bald man with one eye shook his impressive biceps while watching the gold-rimmed man’s phone message. Meanwhile, he video-called an elder on another phone: "That young woman said she planted the seeds, watered them, and they just grew."

A voice came through the video call: "Nonsense! Absolute rubbish! If that were possible, we herbal medicine families have been eating dirt for the past year."

The gold-rimmed man pushed his glasses up slightly and said, "Oh? But Old Su said her medicine’s potency is far greater than what’s available on the market. You see, the poison you couldn’t cure had you scouring other regions for an antidote, but this young girl’s medicine solved it instantly."

The elder on the video call turned red with anger. "I don’t believe it’s possible to grow high-quality herbs in a home environment. Unless she sends me a photo as proof."

The gold-rimmed man conveyed this message with a smile. Meanwhile, Su Mali, sipping on a *Wangzai* milk drink with a straw, glanced at her iPad’s personality quiz: "People who chew on straws while drinking are highly driven by desire."

She stared at the nearly shredded straw and began to let her imagination run wild…

On the other side, Jing Shu frowned at Su Mali’s messages.

She felt Su Mali was unusually curious and persistent today, so she decided to stop replying. But soon, Su Mali offered a trade—one branch of honeysuckle for a tank of compressed natural gas.

"Alright, I guess it’s time to be upfront about my herbs anyway. It’s not like I’m doing this just for a tank of natural gas."

Jing Shu transplanted a honeysuckle plant into a pot and, after some thought, added an astragalus plant as well. She took a photo and sent it over.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses shook his head in disbelief as he showed the photo to the elder on the video call. The elder, now breathing heavily, exclaimed, "This is such a waste! Growing honeysuckle is one thing, but if astragalus grows like that, I’ll live-stream myself eating my hat! No, I’m coming over right away from Guangdong to see it with my own eyes!"

The elder was visibly shaken, as though someone had suddenly claimed that 1+1 could equal 5. He wasn’t sure if he had gone mad or if the world had.

Su Mali messaged Jing Shu: "Someone said if astragalus grows like this, they’ll live-stream themselves eating their hat. He’s coming from Guangdong to see it for himself. Make sure to take good care of the astragalus—don’t let it die."

Jing Shu: "???"

What just happened? Wait…

Could it be that an expert is coming? Jing Shu felt a little excited—this was exactly the effect she wanted.

The more she appeared to be an amateur with excellent results, the more she would seem like a hidden expert. It would look like she was purposely keeping her abilities under wraps, creating an aura of mystique.

This was a classic case of using the strategy of "reversal."

After Su Mali’s message, there was radio silence. Jing Shu wasn’t in a hurry. When it came to these herbs, she had to tread carefully. They were more valuable than food. Revealing a little would show potential for collaboration with the right people, but revealing too much could incite greed.

You don’t want to expose something so valuable that even those more powerful than you would want to take it.

…

Time flew by, and by mid-December 2023, while everyone enjoyed the most peaceful month of the apocalypse—free from hunger, with plenty of insects to eat and water to drink—Jing Shu had finally completed all the renovations for her villa.

The villa was now covered by a giant VPC plastic waterproof umbrella, equipped with wipers, slanted gutters at the four corners, and four large water tanks. The water tanks had outlets, and a new drainage system diverted excess water to the back of the mountain.

The RV garage was built on the empty lot behind the villa, now also covered by a waterproof umbrella.

The coal shed that was added back in March had also been sealed for protection.

In every nook and cranny, Jing Shu had placed homemade small packets of desiccants made from quicklime. Dehumidifiers, dryers, and wall-mounted heaters were also in place.

The pond was once again teeming with fish and shrimp. Taking advantage of the last days of high temperatures, Jing Shu dried another batch of shrimp, salted fish, and various seafood for storage in the basement. She also made 1 cubic meter of spicy crayfish to enjoy as a midnight snack.

As for the chickens, ducks, rabbits, and pigs that had overrun her space, Jing Shu slaughtered a batch, turning them into dried goods and cured meats for storage in her dimension, keeping them as snacks for herself without sharing.

She also dried the last batch of vegetables and fruits, turning them into preserved goods for emergency rations.

She organized the animal feed, combining vegetable leaves, weeds, roots, dried shrimp, orange peels, and garlic. This nutrient-rich mixture would be enough to last the animals for a long time.

The chicken manure, which had been fermenting for some time, was also dried and mixed into black pig feed. The animals would be well-fed for the foreseeable future.

Fish feed was even simpler. Leftover bones, chicken intestines, and other organs went straight into the pond with egg wash, where the fish and shrimp put on quite the show, leaping out of the water to feast.

The extreme heat gradually receded, dropping to around 40°C. Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, believing the apocalypse was finally coming to an end, the second year of the apocalypse began.

As the villa's water tanks filled to their lowest level, the first major rain finally arrived, soaking the parched earth.

---

*Side Note:*

Thanks to *Little Ant Wants to Bite*, *wycx*, *Transcending the Ordinary Past*, *Gena*, *Star Flower*, *Gentle Wind and Poetic Grace*, and *Reader 161116102655092* for the support!