Chapter 68: 300 Boxes of Disposable Bowls and Chopsticks

Shi Yuebai spoke to Ah Hong in a matter-of-fact tone:

""You did twice the work, so you get twice the food. Isn't that fair?""

As for the fact that Ah Hong had eaten some potato slices in her courtyard—was that even worth mentioning? Right now, if there was anything Shi Yuebai had in abundance, it was potatoes.

She’d even rented an excavator arm to Yi Zhe and hadn’t asked for any specific amount of food as payment for a day’s use.

Yi Zhe wasn’t stingy either; he simply brought her two boxes of sprouted potatoes.

Shi Yuebai planted all those potatoes in the newly cleared land.

Then there was Pang Ziyuan’s rations.

Yi Zhe converted all of it into canned cat and dog food, as well as potatoes, and delivered two boxes to Shi Yuebai.

In Yi Zhe’s view, leaving Pang Ziyuan with Shi Yuebai was like placing a seedling there for training on behalf of the mercenary group.

So Pang Ziyuan’s rations were also entrusted to Shi Yuebai for safekeeping.

Only when Pang Ziyuan diligently kneaded rocks for an entire day would Shi Yuebai give him a can of food.

But Shi Yuebai found those cans of cat and dog food utterly distasteful and tossed them into a corner.

She wouldn’t eat them, and she wouldn’t allow anyone from the Shi or Pang families to eat them either.

Shi Yuebai was domineering and straightforward—she replaced Pang Ziyuan’s daily can with two zero-radiation potatoes and a bottle of purified water.

""Do you have a problem with that?""

Shi Yuebai asked Pang Ziyuan.

Pang Ziyuan immediately shook his head. He’d regained a bit of strength and could now prop himself up to sit, even though he was still skin and bones.

""Aunt Yuebai, I have no objections. I don’t like eating pet food either.""

Pang Ziyuan was already twelve years old.

He was of normal intelligence and understood what he needed to.

For survivors in the wasteland, just seeing meat in pet food made it top-tier rations.

Yi Zhe hadn’t treated him badly; in fact, he’d been given the best the mercenary group could offer.

But at the end of the day, it was still expired pet food.

Now, with zero-radiation potatoes and purified water to sustain him, the pet food became a backup option.

""Auntie’s doing it for my own good,"" Pang Ziyuan said, just as obedient as Shi Yaoyao.

Shi Yuebai snorted. ""Good, as long as you don’t mind.""

She kept back Pang Ziyuan’s canned food.

Originally, she’d planned to trade those cans for supplies within the group.

But now that she’d cut ties, Shi Yuebai decided to find an opportunity to return the cat and dog food to Yi Zhe.

Even if Yi Zhe just swapped them for another batch of sprouted potatoes, that would be fine.

Anyway, as long as someone was under Shi Yuebai’s roof, they weren’t allowed to eat that stuff.

But Yi Zhe hadn’t come down from the perimeter for several days.

It seemed the mutated beast horde they’d encountered this time was particularly troublesome.

So Shi Yuebai just kept holding onto Pang Ziyuan’s pet food, continuing to squeeze work out of the Shi and Pang families.

The trench in front of the ""Tong"" character frame was being dug deeper and wider by the day.

When Pang Zhenggong returned from scavenging, he learned that Shi Yuebai intended to cut ties with the group.

He didn’t say anything; he just spent a day at the edge of the shallow trench, building a counterweight well with a long pole.

It was specifically for Ah Hong and Nong Yasi to haul dirt out of the pit.

With the appearance of the well, the leader of the survivor group finally realized something was up.

He hurried over to pay a visit, following his instincts to find Shi Yuebai.

Outsiders didn’t know, nor did they understand, what was going on with the Shi and Pang families now.

But the group leader knew a bit.

It seemed Shi Yuebai had become the head of both families?!

No matter—when the leader saw Shi Yuebai, he greeted her with a smile:

""I heard you’ve had some disagreements with the others in the group lately?""

""I’ve already scolded those women. They really do like to stir up trouble—none of them are as capable as you.""

Shi Yuebai looked at the group leader coldly.

No matter what happened in the group, this leader always showed up a beat too late.

""Yuebai, it’s really not a big deal. Look, being talked about a little won’t kill you, right?""

The leader smiled, as if he hadn’t noticed Shi Yuebai’s icy expression.

""You’re going to all this trouble and wasting so much effort to dig a pit—it’s not worth it.""

What he didn’t say was that the Shi family had already become the butt of jokes lately.

Even more so than when they built their wall.

But for some reason, the leader couldn’t bring himself to laugh when he looked at that trench.

He really wanted to win the Shi family back.

Shi Yuebai said coolly, ""They’re the ones who excluded us first.""

""What’s the point of you trying to persuade me?""

The leader’s lips moved.

He knew that Wei Lingxia and Zhang Xueyao were trying to force the women of the Shi family to join their clique.

To play by their rules.

But Shi Yuebai wouldn’t bow her head.

She might be infuriatingly fat, but she had backbone.

You couldn’t break her spirit with a stick, let alone with this petty ostracism.

In that instant, the leader made up his mind.

""Yuebai, those women are their own problem. As the leader, my heart is with you.""

""If there’s anything good in the future, we’ll share it together and advance or retreat as one.""

He spoke earnestly.

Shi Yuebai replied with a perfunctory smile, ""Sure, as long as you play fair, I’m not that hard to deal with.""

The leader immediately understood. He took out a box of disposable plastic bowls and chopsticks.

""Would you be interested in these, Yuebai?""

Shi Yuebai’s eyes lit up. ""Yes!""

These past few days, they’d been eating potato slices with scavenged twigs.

Forget bowls—no one even had anything to eat out of.

It was the wasteland; who cared about that sort of thing?

Everyone just hunched over and ate straight out of the frying pan.

Except Shi Yuebai.

She hadn’t eaten at all.

The leader asked, ""So, what do you want to trade? I found a whole lot of these...""

His voice was a little weak.

Because he realized that Shi Yuebai wasn’t stupid at all.

On the contrary, this fat girl was not only smart but also tough.

He was worried that if he tried to use this junk to scam food from Shi Yuebai, she’d kick him out.

""One can of pet food for ten boxes,"" Shi Yuebai said bluntly.

A big cardboard box held at least 10,000 disposable bowls.

Before the apocalypse, that stuff was worthless.

After the apocalypse, it was even more worthless.

When it got cold and there was no wood or charcoal, people would burn this stuff for warmth.

The leader nodded eagerly. While scavenging, he’d found a night market street.

That street had already been picked clean by survivors countless times.

There wasn’t a scrap of food left.

But who would have thought there’d be a silver lining?

Now the leader could use the trash from that street to trade for pet food.

He rushed back, gathered everyone in his household, and made several trips, hauling over 300 boxes of disposable bowls and chopsticks.

He traded them for 30 cans of pet food from Shi Yuebai.

The leader and his wife were all smiles.

But just then, Wei Lingxia and Zhang Xueyao stepped in to block the leader.

Fourth-grade test papers really are tough, huh."