Chapter 66: Frying Some Potato Slices

Shi Yuebai’s injuries still hadn’t healed, and now she had to add another soul-consuming formation on top of that.

For her, it was undoubtedly another burden.

But Shi Yuebai was quite philosophical about it.

Since she was always in pain anyway, a little more pain didn’t make much difference.

If this wasteland couldn’t kill her, she’d just push herself to the limit.

And everyone around her was dragged along for the ride.

According to Shi Yuebai’s plan, this trench had to be dug deep—at least five meters.

“It’s not that they’re excluding us now. It’s that I don’t want to associate with them.”

Shi Yuebai’s proud declaration instantly gave the Shi and Pang families a boost of confidence, lifting their previously gloomy moods.

That’s right. Now it was them who didn’t want to play with the rest of the group.

So what?

Nong Yasi quickly led Ah Hong and Second Sister-in-law Shi out, pushing a construction wheelbarrow, and started picking up stones in front of the “Tong” character frame.

They piled the stones along the back of the frame, temporarily connecting it to the Pang family’s wall.

A few women, who usually got along well with Second Sister-in-law Shi, were gossiping in front of the wall. When they saw Nong Yasi, Ah Hong, and Second Sister-in-law Shi approaching, they immediately fell silent, exchanging knowing glances and smiling in a way only they understood.

Their main tactic was psychological warfare—trying to get the Shi family to take the initiative to join their group.

Once the Shi family wanted in, they’d be bound by the group’s rules.

But Nong Yasi, Ah Hong, and Second Sister-in-law Shi were racing against time.

After finishing up here, they still had other tasks to do—Shi Yuebai had increased their workload.

They simply didn’t have the time to worry about what others thought.

Tonight, they’d probably be working late into the night before they could rest.

So the three of them didn’t even glance at those women, just kept their heads down and moved stones.

All this heavy labor had made them much tougher.

Their hands were a lot stronger now, too.

Before long, Nong Yasi, Ah Hong, and Second Sister-in-law Shi had dug a hole in the riverbank at their feet.

“There’s sand under the rocks,” Ah Hong said, bending down and scooping up a handful of sand. She turned back to Shi Yuebai, delighted. “Yuebai, look! Now we have sand for mixing cement. We don’t have to crush rocks by hand anymore.”

Shi Yuebai just glanced at the sand in Ah Hong’s hand. “Your son still needs to crush those rocks. There’s a pile of rubble over there—it’s an eyesore.”

Whether they had sand or not, Pang Ziyuan’s workload wasn’t going to decrease.

Even if Pang Ziyuan didn’t crush rocks for Shi Yuebai, Yizhe would find something else for him to do.

Besides, there was so much rubble near Shi Yuebai’s place.

Just the collapsed bridge alone had created a mountain of construction waste.

It was better to crush all that debris into fine gravel—at least it wouldn’t be such an eyesore.

Ah Hong smiled and nodded, then went back to work.

It wasn’t until nightfall that Shi Yuebai sent Shi Yaoyao to call everyone back.

Pang Ziyuan was carried inside the Shi family’s wall by Ah Hong.

By now, it was dinnertime in the wasteland.

According to Shi Yuebai’s instructions, once the sun set, no one from the Shi or Pang families was to be outside the wall.

No one could guarantee that it was safe outside after dark.

Given how things had blown up between the Shi and Pang families and the rest of the group, some of the more narrow-minded, unscrupulous survivors might take the opportunity to ambush them while they were outside.

“The area from our wall to the public toilet is safe,” Shi Yuebai said, sitting in front of her tarp and addressing the exhausted group. “So after sunset, move your work inside the wall.”

She had Shi Yaoyao bring Ah Hong two potatoes and a bottle of water, then turned and went inside the tarp.

As she passed a pile of potatoes, one about the size of a fist rolled over and blocked her wheelchair.

Shi Yuebai stopped and looked at the little mountain of potatoes.

Nong Yasi hurried over, surprised, and looked at Shi Yaoyao. “Yaoyao, how did you dig up so many potatoes?”

Yesterday, there had only been a small pile in the corner.

Today, it was a whole mountain.

“S-sorry,” Shi Yaoyao blushed and lowered her head as if she’d done something wrong.

Her aunt had told her to do her homework and tend the little potato patch at the same time.

So today, every time she finished her homework, she’d dig up more potatoes.

She hadn’t realized she’d dug up so many.

Shi Yuebai told her, “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Don’t apologize so much. You did exactly as I asked—great job.”

“Didn’t I find a pot last time?”

“Go get it. Let’s fry some potato slices.”

Originally, Shi Yuebai had planned to save the potatoes to trade for other supplies.

But now that she’d cut ties with the group, those survivors who’d shunned her probably wouldn’t come to trade anymore.

So she might as well eat the potatoes herself.

The Shi family hadn’t eaten properly in a long time.

But that didn’t mean their stomachs felt full.

On the contrary, they’d get hungry at random times throughout the day.

But if they endured it, the hunger would pass.

Maybe it was anxiety about food.

Every member of the Shi family thought that unless they were absolutely starving, they shouldn’t touch the pile of potatoes in the corner.

After all, Shi Yuebai was so good at turning food into other things—she always managed to trade food for a bunch of supplies.

Even the not-so-bright Shi Yaoyao and the half-crazy Shi Mother thought this way.

They were all afraid that if they ate the potatoes, there’d be nothing left for Shi Yuebai to trade.

Little did they know, the more they tried to save the potatoes, the bigger the pile grew.

Shi Yaoyao quickly rummaged through a pile of odds and ends in the corner and found a brand-new frying pan.

Next to her, Second Sister-in-law Shi was feeling around—she had a habit of sorting all the scavenged supplies when she got back.

Since Shi Yuebai wanted to fry potatoes, Second Sister-in-law Shi looked to see if there was any cooking oil.

Then Shi Yuebai told Nong Yasi, “Call Ah Hong and Pang Ziyuan in. From today on, you’ll all have a meal of potatoes every day.”

Nong Yasi, wearing a radiation detector bracelet, went to pick potatoes from the pile.

She just wanted to pick one with the lowest radiation.

[Scan: Potato with 10% radiation.]

[Scan: Potato with 20% radiation.]

Shi Yuebai, sitting in her wheelchair, reminded her, “Pick the ones at the bottom—the very bottom potatoes have zero radiation.”

Suddenly realized passion fruit is actually pretty tasty."