Jing Shu spat out a mouthful of beef and choked on it. Under the table, Xiao Dou, who'd been waiting for scraps, darted forward and snatched a big chunk before bolting toward the RV's door. The hen even looked guilty, like it knew it'd done something wrong.
"Forget it, let's count it as a supplement since Xiao Dou's feathers aren't even fully grown yet." Jing Shu glanced at the corner, where Xiao Dou peeked at her with one eye, clearly testing the waters to see what her reaction would be. If she ignored it, the hen would definitely do it again next time.
Instead, Jing Shu raised a fist in warning. Xiao Dou panicked, grabbed the beef tighter, and rushed to Grandma Jing's feet, clucking pitifully. The hen wasn't stupid. It knew the only person in this family who'd protect it from a beating was Grandma Jing—of course, that was only if it laid more eggs each day.
"Slow down when you eat, child. Want me to cut you some more braised beef?"
The past two days, Jing Shu hadn't been feeling right. Her parents were worried sick and stopped bringing up work. They just focused completely on taking care of her.
"Cut more, and bring some braised eggs and quail eggs too. If we don't eat them, they'll spoil."
"Alright." Su Lanzhi set down the shelf she was sorting and went to slice beef.
Jing Shu licked the meat juice off her finger, and memories of her past life came back. Liang Xin was a textbook fake nice guy. He loved flattering people, hyping them up, and pushing them forward whenever something came up. He'd praise people behind their backs in a way that always found its way to them, boosting his image in their eyes.
He was good at sweet-talking, but once his own interests were touched, he just couldn't hold back.
The more Jing Shu thought about it, the more it amused her. She had to let it out. In her last life, she hadn't bought the "solar water collector," which had cut into some people's interests. That was why she left the group in resentment.
"Liang Xin, what exactly do you take me for? Are we lifelong friends, or did we share some deep, pure bond in high school? If I fell into a pit right now, would you save me or not? Let me ask one last thing. I've got money, sure, but what's that got to do with you? Just because Jack Ma's loaded doesn't mean his money's yours. So what's any of this got to do with you?"
For the first time, Jing Shu spoke bluntly in the group.
She'd always been reserved, the type who lurked quietly, never posting, never chatting, and definitely not clinging to anyone's thigh. In her last life, if she'd clung tightly to Su Mali, she would've lived well. Everyone in the apocalypse had done that, but she'd stayed silent, too proud and self-reliant deep down.
She never imagined that in this life, she'd become the thigh for others to cling to.
The group went dead silent for a moment. She didn't know what everyone thought, but the words left her feeling good. Sometimes you just couldn't hold back. It was better to make yourself comfortable than to always be polite.
What she didn't know was that, at this moment, she'd already become a boss-like figure in the group. Before the apocalypse, she'd been invisible, and afterward, everyone hugged Su Mali's thigh instead. But after recent events, anyone with eyes could see Jing Shu's power might even surpass Su Mali's.
Liang Xin finally realized she wasn't Su Mali. He'd thought she was easy to talk to because she never said much and always hung around with Su Mali. Instead, he got chewed out in public.
Jing Shu, I'm really disappointed in you.
He hesitated for a while before replying: "Sure, it's got nothing to do with me. But we've got classmates, and some of them are close with you. Can't we just ride the coattails a little?"
"Nope."
The awkwardness was brutal.
If this had been the Jing Shu from her last life, a whole bunch of people would've jumped in to criticize her. But this time, not a single person spoke up.
For the first time, Liang Xin realized that the quiet Jing Shu, once she opened her mouth, could corner someone until they had nowhere to escape. His face burned as the lively group chat went ice-cold in an instant. It was humiliating, but he had no way out. He finally asked:
"Then what about Su Mali?"
[Su Mali]: "Come on, sure, we're old classmates. I'll help where I can, but I'm not your driver or your delivery service, alright?"
Just when it seemed deadlocked, Wang Chao jumped in, flipping the conversation. Jing Shu remembered him. Back then, he followed Zhang Lingling to sell patties, ate zombie-tainted ones for a few days, and somehow made it out fine. People said it was only because he had a kid on the way that he was desperate to earn money.
[Wang Chao]: "@Jing Shu, can I beg you for something? After my kid was born, the state gave us subsidies, but my wife doesn't have milk. We adults can starve, but seeing my baby hungry rips me apart. He's almost a year old now and malnourished. He can only crawl. When I heard you're managing Xingfu Shiyuan, I felt like I saw hope. I just want a chance, a trial job. I want to feed my kid and his mom. If the place is in Xishan, I can walk two hours to get there. I don't need a ride."
Another classmate spoke up: "Same here. I don't need a car either. My elderly parents are eating red nematode patties every day. They're malnourished, can't digest it, and I don't know how long they'll last. Just give me some work, and as long as I can get a bit of other food, I'll do anything, no matter how hard."
Jing Shu had lived through too much in the apocalypse. She'd seen at least a thousand people die in front of her, in every way imaginable. She'd killed her fair share too. To her, classmates didn't mean much anymore.
But she just couldn't bear to hear about suffering kids. In the apocalypse, children were the only real hope. In every doomsday movie, even if all the adults died, a child would survive—sometimes a boy and a girl, since the producers knew one kid alone couldn't repopulate humanity.
"Fine. No cars. If you wanna work at Xishan Base, it's too late tonight. So, the day after tomorrow, meet at the base at ten in the morning. Think about your skills and what you can actually do. Whether you stay or not will depend on you."
"Thank you so much!"
[Liang Xin]: "So are we still having that class reunion or not?"
[Su Mali]: "Whoever wants work, meet at Xishan Base the day after tomorrow like Jing Shu said. That counts as a reunion, doesn't it? Oh, and by the way, I need all kinds of live bugs. I'll trade food for them. If you're interested, bring some to the meetup. They have to be alive, preferably mutated, but regular ones are fine too. The more species the better. I'll only take one of each type, so find as many different ones as you can."