Some of the gifts had been shipped all the way from America, while others came straight from Jing Shu's Cube Space storage. For her closest family members, she made sure every present was carefully chosen to match their needs.
Of course, the first one to be rewarded had to be the biggest contributor to the mission this time, Xiao Dou. Its favorite treat, fried chicken legs, came by the basket, golden-brown and glistening with oil. On top of that, she even gave the hen a full drop of Spirit Spring water. The hen clutched a chicken leg in her beak, gulped down the Spirit Spring solution, and strutted off proudly on her yellow legs to show off to the ant queen, Yi Hou.
"Mom, here, these are the luxury items you have always wanted. A Hermès bag with pristine leather, Chanel perfume, and some Estée Lauder makeup. Oh, and if You'ai or aunt like any of these, let them take some too."
Wu You'ai adjusted her glasses on her nose and shook her head. "Mom and I don't like those things."
Su Lanzhi, on the other hand, was thrilled by the haul. She looked them over from every angle, turning the bag over in her hands as her eyes shone like a kid who had finally grown up and could buy the toy she had always wanted. "Huh, the quality isn't that great when you look closely. Why do so many people like it? Oh, wait, wasn't this the same bag Yu Caini used before the apocalypse?"
Damn, that perfume is kind of strong too.
Things she couldn't afford before the world fell apart were now within reach, yet owning them didn't feel all that special anymore. Jing Shu realized people always crave what they can't have, but the joy of the rich really was something else entirely. That intoxicating sense of freedom made her addicted to power and the act of possession, and she could feel herself wanting even more.
"Dad, this is that Rolex you have always wanted. I grabbed more than a dozen of them, so you can switch them up whenever you like. And here, these are red wines and whiskies from America. You and Grandpa should stash them away."
"Perfect. My girl really knows her old man."
"Grandpa, these are American luxury cigarettes in silver foil. Try them, see how they compare to ours. Oh, and here is a whole crocodile hide. Maybe you can make something nice out of it?"
Grandpa Jing studied the thick hide carefully. "That's a big one. Why don't I make leather gun holsters and quivers for all of us?"
For Wu You'ai, Jing Shu gave a pair of live king crabs since they would be perfect for her ongoing research. For her Paternal Third Aunt, she brought back piles of fabric from America because she loved making her own clothes. Jing Shu had also gotten in touch with Zijin, who would be coming back soon. She planned to have them make more sets of heavy gloves, wool socks, and sturdy leather shoes for everyone. The fifth-year winter was right around the corner, and they would need all the warmth they could get.
Right now, temperatures in Wu City were already below zero, the kind of cold that bit deep into your bones. Extra cotton coats and thick fur jackets couldn't hurt.
For her Maternal Eldest Uncle's family, she had prepared daily supplies and frozen meat from America since their house had just collapsed in the earthquake. They had a lot to replace, and she was already thinking about where they could stay next.
Then Jing Shu looked toward Grandma Jing, who was staring at her expectantly with a curious look. With a little flourish, she pulled out a metal candlestick. "Grandma, this is an eternal candle. It's powered by a micro-chip and magnetic energy, so theoretically it will never go out. That way you won't have to worry about wasting electricity anymore."
Grandma Jing examined it from every angle, her eyes lighting up in the dim room. The glow was soft and warm, just right for her bedside. "Well, I will be damned, that's amazing. Good, very good. I will keep it by my bed, I really needed this."
"Oh, right, Grandma, you will probably have your hands full soon. Look here, I brought back lobsters, sea urchins, and king crabs from America. You will have to raise them in the backyard pond. There's also longan meat, ham, tuna, foie gras, and caviar that I already stored in the big freezer yesterday. And there's olive oil, peanut oil, and rapeseed oil too. So when you cook, use more oil, okay? Stop wiping the pot with pork skin and calling it seasoning."
The whole family burst out laughing at the familiar critique. Grandma Jing's frugality was legendary, especially after the apocalypse began. But hearing about all these supplies made her eyes crinkle into slits from smiling. During a famine, what is the most comforting thing? Seeing the food stores fill up again, grain stacked neatly in the corners instead of dwindling away.
When Xiao Dou wasn't around to peck and squawk at the other birds, Grandma Jing had been restless. But when Jing Shu came back and refilled everything in one go, that sense of security warmed her heart. It was her greatest happiness. Even when feeding the poultry, she would sprinkle a few extra handfuls of grain now.
Yesterday, Jing Shu had brought home so many supplies from Li Yuetian that everyone was still in shock. And today, when she said a second batch was on the way, her whole family started to wonder—had she turned to robbery overseas? Was America really that rich and wasteful; was it like Dubai, where luxury cars just sat abandoned on the sun-bleached streets?
"Oh, right, Grandpa, I also brought back some coffee saplings from America. Could you help transplant them?"
"You should have taken them out yesterday! Let's check if they're still alive in their pots."
In just two days, Grandpa Jing had already built a new shed in the backyard, connected it to the boiler room's floor heating, and turned it into a breeding area for the Lion Head geese. Once everyone learned the pair had been rented out specifically for breeding purposes, they became extra careful around them.
But those two spoiled geese hadn't been fed yet. Jing Shu said she wanted to 'toughen them up' first, since back in the capital, they had been pampered like pandas—always fighting, picky with their food, and never looking anyone in the eye.
Thankfully, Xiao Dou was an experienced trainer in the yard. She would strut around eating chicken legs right in front of the geese, grease dripping from her yellow beak. It didn't take long for the dumb geese to surrender to her authority. From then on, they got the same treatment as all the other poultry—plain feed, Spirit Spring-soaked vegetable roots, and leftover broth from the family table. Nothing went to waste.
After adding some No. 8 Spirit Spring solution to their water, Jing Shu stopped worrying about it. Xiao Dou, with her bossy 'sheepdog' personality, took poultry management seriously. She loved showing off, acting like the squad leader—exactly like Jing Shu ten years ago. Still, the Lion Head goose breeding plan was going smoothly. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the dumb goose to start laying eggs.
The next day, Zhou Bapi called, asking when she would return to work at the Medicinal Herb Association. He also mentioned that Jin Tianci's condition had improved significantly. After a full day of diarrhea, he had flushed out a lot of toxins from his system. Though weak, he finally had some color in his face, and his vitals were much stronger. With another week of rest, he would be fine.
Hearing that, Jing Shu finally relaxed. "I will need to take some more time off. I have got too much going on right now. Call me if there's a competition or something important, but I can't go back just yet."
Jun Jia wasn't slacking off at the factory site either. Jing Shu received word that in five days, she could officially take over the land and handle the paperwork. During this buffer time, she didn't waste a second, repeating experiment after experiment on the algae, carrion scavengers, and red nematodes.
The first stage went smoothly. Using the carrion scavengers as a protein base, she managed to make the algae reproduce rapidly within the Cube Space. As for how many times the base solution could replicate, that was still unknown. But the second step of the plan was proving difficult. When she mixed the algae feed with the red nematodes in the tanks, the nematodes didn't reproduce nearly as fast as the algae.