Chapter 27: Get More Cement and Build a Road

Shi Yuebai spread her hands.

They had gone out scavenging, but hadn’t found anything edible at all.

Let alone something like expired baby formula.

Nong Yasi anxiously followed behind Shi Yuebai and the others.

“What should we do, then? Should we soak some bread in water for the baby?”

She’d seen the food in the Shi family’s tarp shelter: a big pile of sprouting potatoes and a few hundred small bread rolls.

Those were the only things even remotely edible.

Soak the bread in water, mash it into a thin gruel that a baby could swallow.

Nong Yasi knew newborns shouldn’t eat like this, but there was simply no other way.

Shi Yuebai was firm. “No.”

Nong Yasi’s lips moved, but seeing Second Sister-in-law Shi remain silent, she didn’t dare argue.

In the Shi family, anything Shi Yuebai said was law.

Before the wasteland, it was because everyone in the family spoiled her.

After the wasteland, it was because everyone’s intelligence seemed to have dropped.

Now, it was because Shi Yuebai’s personality had become even more forceful—fiercer than before.

But under her leadership, the few remaining members of the Shi family hadn’t suffered any harm.

So now, whatever Shi Yuebai said, Second Sister-in-law Shi would do.

“Hand Xiangrui to me.”

Shi Yuebai took Shi Xiangrui, frowning at the tiny bundle in her arms.

She was flesh, and so was Xiangrui.

But this mountain of flesh, Shi Yuebai, actually felt a rare twinge of pity for this little lump of meat.

“So small.”

Shi Yuebai lifted her thick, broad, fan-like hand and gently stroked Xiangrui’s tiny head.

She watched as Xiangrui cried her heart out, but the fat energy Shi Yuebai could transfer into that little body was only a trickle.

Soon, Xiangrui quieted down, hiccupped from crying, and fell asleep.

“Shameful, crying like that just for a bite to eat.”

But in the end, the energy she could give was barely enough to keep her going.

Shi Yuebai muttered her complaints as she handed Xiangrui back to the dazed Nong Yasi.

“Xiangrui, what’s wrong with her?” Nong Yasi asked, looking at the now peacefully sleeping baby.

Shi Yuebai replied wickedly, “Probably fainted from hunger.”

She turned her flatbed cart and looked at the pile of clothes Nong Yasi had traded for with fifty bread rolls.

All of them were in good condition, some even brand new.

Shi Yuebai tore open a dress, frowning as she shook out the chiffon fabric.

“No wonder they wanted to trade new clothes for bread.”

What woman in the wasteland would dare go out in a dress?

Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?

Nong Yasi put the sleeping Xiangrui into the shopping cart.

She looked guilty. “Yuebai, I didn’t do a good job.”

She had actually wanted to pick out useful clothes and supplies.

But survival resources in the wasteland were so scarce it was outrageous.

When she said she wanted to trade bread for clothes—preferably new ones—a huge crowd came, arms full of clothes, mountains of them.

At first, she was picky, trading one bread roll for ten sets of long shirts and pants.

But later, she got overwhelmed.

It was inevitable that some people mixed in impractical clothes with the rest.

And there were so many people crowding around, some even tried to charge into their marked-off area on the ground.

Thinking of this, Nong Yasi opened her mouth and pointed to the little stones scattered around the tarp.

“Yuebai, I noticed something strange. It seems like… people outside can’t cross into our stone boundary.”

Shi Yuebai didn’t answer.

Her silence meant the matter was closed.

As if Nong Yasi hadn’t said anything.

“These pretty dresses, save them for later. I can wear them someday.”

Shi Yuebai didn’t blame Nong Yasi at all.

Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, Nong Yasi hadn’t really done anything wrong.

Shi Yuebai might be a domineering, long-time bully of the Wu clan as the great shaman, but she also liked pretty things.

She tossed the chiffon dress she’d unwrapped to Shi Yaoyao and instructed,

“Fold it up and put it in the huanghuali cabinet.”

“Yaoyao, here’s a set of children’s clothes. Go change into them.”

Shi Yuebai shook out a pink T-shirt and blue jeans.

Judging by the size, they’d fit Shi Yaoyao perfectly.

There was even a matching pink butterfly hairband.

And Shi Yaoyao had just washed up.

A sweet-smelling little girl and clean new clothes were a perfect match.

Obediently, Shi Yaoyao took the new outfit to change. Shi Yuebai kept rummaging, when suddenly her hand paused.

Her gaze fell on a few bags of cement in the corner.

Nong Yasi hurried to explain,

“This morning, when I was trading bread, someone brought over a few bags of cement. I, I thought…”

She lowered her head, feeling even more embarrassed.

She’d noticed the Shi family seemed to be living comfortably, united and at peace.

Nong Yasi had let herself relax a little, thinking maybe she could use the cement to fix up the collapsed public toilet in the rubble behind them.

Otherwise, the whole family would have to eat, drink, and relieve themselves under the tarp, which was very unhygienic.

Mother Shi liked to wander around, and often stepped in filth without even noticing.

Nong Yasi, blushing, quietly voiced her thoughts.

For a long moment, neither Shi Yuebai nor Second Sister-in-law Shi responded.

She looked up, uneasy, at Second Sister-in-law.

Second Sister-in-law’s eyes were vacant, but there was a faint hint of black in her previously all-white eyes.

Her face was turned toward Shi Yuebai.

Clearly, everything depended on Shi Yuebai’s opinion.

Nong Yasi looked at Shi Yuebai again.

She thought Shi Yuebai would be angry, because her brow was furrowed so tightly it looked like a deep “川” character carved between her brows.

“We need to build a road, straight to that public toilet,” Shi Yuebai said.

But she wasn’t blaming Nong Yasi for trading bread for cement.

Instead, she looked at Nong Yasi with approval.

“You did well, but you didn’t get enough cement.”

“Even if we fix the toilet, it’ll only help those of you who can walk. What about me and Yaoyao?”

Last time, she’d climbed the rubble pile to check out the view on the other side.

The collapsed public toilet wasn’t far from their tarp.

But Shi Yuebai’s flatbed cart couldn’t get over the rubble.

Yaoyao had just gotten her prosthetic and could barely walk on flat ground, let alone climb over rubble every time she needed the toilet.

Nong Yasi stammered, “Then… what should we do?”

“Get more cement. Build a road.”

Shi Yuebai shrugged.

Clear out the rubble, build a road from the tarp to the public toilet.

That would perfectly solve the problem of her not being able to get to the toilet in her flatbed cart.

Second Sister-in-law and Nong Yasi were both startled by Shi Yuebai’s words.

Second Sister-in-law: “Yue… Yuebai…”

Shi Yuebai snapped her fingers—not very loudly.

“Great, no objections from either of you.”

“Then starting tomorrow, we’ll move all the rubble behind us out of the way.”"