Chapter 29: Still 725 Jin Left

Nong Yasi was just about to refuse.

Survival was already difficult enough—why waste precious water on washing?

She knew the Shi family had a little bit of clean water, but that was reserved for the two children to bathe.

As for the adults, as long as they weren’t desperately thirsty, they shouldn’t compete for that tiny bit of water.

In fact, the water used for Shi Yaoyao and Shi Xiangrui’s baths could technically be drunk.

Nong Yasi still hadn’t figured out where Shi Yuebai put the basin of bathwater after Yaoyao had finished with it.

She turned around just in time to see Shi Yuebai reaching her chubby little hands into the basin.

The water in the basin was crystal clear.

Shi Yuebai used this water to scrub her hands and arms.

Her hands didn’t end up all that clean, but the water in the basin turned black.

Noticing Nong Yasi watching, Shi Yuebai lifted the basin and poured the dirty water onto a patch of potato seedlings nearby.

Nong Yasi’s lips moved. She felt that even water this dirty was still drinkable.

It was still better than the kind of water that would kill you with a single sip.

But then her gaze fell on the small patch of potato seedlings, and her eyes lit up.

By the bridge pier, there was a small plot of land Shi Yuebai had deliberately cleared.

It wasn’t big—at most two square meters.

Some sprouted potatoes had been buried in the soil.

Lately, Shi Yuebai hadn’t had time to tend to these potato plants.

She simply poured all the used water onto this little plot.

Unnoticed, the sprouted potatoes broke through the soil and grew at an abnormal rate.

In this wasteland, ordinary people couldn’t grow crops.

It was said that some ability-users could, but the crops they produced all went to those at the very top of the pyramid.

Ordinary survivors like them could never get their hands on any.

To find a few green potato seedlings under the Shi family’s tarp—

Even if it cost Nong Yasi her life from thirst, she felt it was worth it.

Besides, she wasn’t even thirsty right now.

At night, the women of the Shi family slept close together.

Last night, Nong Yasi had slept next to Shi Mother, and woke up this morning feeling refreshed, full of energy.

She wasn’t thirsty, wasn’t hungry, had the strength to work, and didn’t feel dizzy or lightheaded anymore.

Under the bridge, Shi Yuebai handed a small plastic basin to Nong Yasi.

Nong Yasi looked down. While she’d been lost in thought, Shi Yuebai had already filled the little basin with water.

She hesitated to accept it. “Yuebai, this is too much of a waste for me…”

Before she could finish, her eyes fell to Shi Yuebai’s feet.

There was a large basin there, filled to the brim with water—clear and precious as gold.

Nong Yasi: “…”

A crazy thought popped into her head: Did the Shi family have an endless supply of clean water?!

“Wash your hands and face, and help my mom bathe tonight.”

Shi Yuebai shoved the basin into Nong Yasi’s hands.

She didn’t have time for pleasantries.

If the women of the Shi family kept themselves clean, Shi Yuebai would sleep better at night when they all squeezed together.

At least she wouldn’t feel like she was sleeping with a bunch of stinky pigs, even in her dreams.

Nong Yasi’s heart ached, but she still did as Shi Yuebai said, dipping a clean towel into the clear water.

Bit by bit, she wiped her hands and face with the water that was as precious as gold.

The shameful sense of luxury and waste made Nong Yasi want to cry!

“Yuebai, I feel like there’s something strange about my body these past couple of days.”

As she wiped the sweat from her arms, face, and neck, Nong Yasi said carefully,

“I don’t feel hungry at all.”

Shi Yuebai’s voice was a little cold.

“As long as you can survive, what’s the point of thinking so much?”

“Not everything needs to be figured out. Sometimes it’s better to stay in the dark.”

Nong Yasi actually felt that Shi Yuebai made sense.

She was living a life she’d never even dared to dream of before.

For women in the wasteland, Nong Yasi was basically living in paradise now.

Seeing Nong Yasi quiet down, Shi Yuebai wheeled her flatbed cart over to the dizzying array on the ground.

These past couple of days, Shi Yuebai had been busy with all sorts of things.

Every morning, before anyone else woke up, she would inject fat energy into everyone’s bodies.

Today, with the increased workload, Nong Yasi and Second Sister-in-law Shi were burning through their fat energy faster.

So Shi Yuebai took the chance, while they were resting, to pat their shoulders—

And while they weren’t paying attention, slapped a dose of fat energy into their bodies.

Besides that, Shi Yuebai had made major modifications to the dizzying array on the ground.

Not only did she enhance the dizzying effect, she also added a barrier.

Outsiders could enter the array, but as soon as they did, they’d get dizzy and disoriented.

If they pushed further in, they’d faint.

Nong Yasi, on the other hand, couldn’t leave.

If she tried to exit the array, she’d hit an invisible barrier.

Such a complex formation required Shi Yuebai to burn even more of her body’s fat energy.

So after all the adding and subtracting, she still had 725 jin left.

Losing weight was really just too hard.

As night fell, the bread-for-supplies exchange at the Shi family’s tent was over for the day.

Shi Yaoyao finally finished the mountain of homework Shi Yuebai had assigned her.

She joined Second Sister-in-law Shi and Nong Yasi, and the three of them started hauling rubble behind the Shi family’s tent by hand.

Yi Zhe arrived with two mercenaries to check on the Shi family’s old, weak, sick, and disabled.

What he saw was the women of the Shi family working hard.

To his surprise, there was a line of stones marking a boundary outside the Shi family’s tent.

“What are you doing?” he asked Second Sister-in-law Shi and Shi Yaoyao, but his eyes were searching for Shi Yuebai.

He saw Shi Yuebai wheeling her cart out from under the tarp.

Yi Zhe asked angrily,

“Yuebai, did the team force you to do this?”

How else to explain why a bunch of old, weak, sick, and disabled people weren’t out scavenging, but were instead doing hard labor here?

Yi Zhe knew that, with no men left in the Shi family, the rest of the team must have opinions about these women.

But he hadn’t expected that, even with mercenaries backing the Shi family, the rest of the team would still ostracize them.

“Did they make you draw a line to separate yourselves?”

Yi Zhe’s handsome face was tinged with anger.

“Don’t worry, Yuebai, I’ll go talk to them.”

Shi Yuebai handed Yi Zhe another “good guy card.”

“No, I told them to do this.”

Then she waved at Yi Zhe and the two mercenaries.

“I’m planning to build a wall to separate the Shi family from the rest of the team.”

“Since you’re here, you’re strong—come help move some big rocks.”

What else was there to say?"