"I don't think it's just that. This family's loaded, they're probably renovating to live in even more comfort."
"You guys don't get it. With all those quakes lately, they're probably reinforcing the foundation. If rocks come tumbling down from the mountain again, this'll help keep them safe. You could say they're building a fortress."
Soon enough, rumors about the villa's renovation spread like wildfire. Some said it was for safety, others claimed it was for luxury. Jing Shu didn't even need to come up with excuses herself; the neighbors had already made up plenty for her. Convenient, really.
That was the perk of being on good terms with Xiao Li. After she gave him two kilograms of flour and twenty eggs, he brought over a group of reformed convicts to help her work for free.
Still, Jing Shu couldn't let people labor for nothing. Besides, laying foundations and setting stones was backbreaking work. So, she took a few hundred kilograms of red nematode feed from the Xishan storage and made sure everyone had enough to eat and keep their strength up. It wasn't a job that'd be done in just a day or two anyway.
Since the red nematodes hadn't fully bred yet, the stock from Xishan had to be used to supply the factory. The workers had been enthusiastic these days, earning points through their work, and those points could be exchanged for food. That meant daily consumption of a few hundred kilograms at least.
Later on, she didn't even plan to sell this batch of red nematodes. Otherwise, she wouldn't have borrowed a million virtual coins from the government just to get that extra 8% share. She intended to trade all of it with Su Mali for compressed natural gas instead.
Part of it was for her own use. Cooking, heating the floors—all of it burned through gas fast, and the weather was getting colder by the day. She couldn't just shut down the natural gas or boilers, not with the villa and the German MAN both relying on them. Plus, she had all those poultry and vegetables at home—if it got too cold, they'd freeze to death.
The other part was for the factory. They needed fuel to cook the food for workers. There was no way she'd serve raw meat packed with who-knows-what kind of parasites. A few cases of infection might be fine, but if dozens got sick, the government would have every excuse to come after her for being a "black-hearted" merchant.
Before the factory could reach full self-sufficiency, Jing Shu estimated that there was still about a million virtual coins' worth of red nematodes left in the Xishan stockpile. After trading some with Jin Baba and turning some in as tax, then accounting for recent consumption, there wasn't much left.
Come to think of it, how much did she originally spend on these red nematodes and processed foods?
Oh right—around two or three hundred thousand virtual coins. And now, just a little over a year later, they were worth roughly three million. Ten times the return! That was a straight-up fortune. So damn satisfying.
Of course, once the Red Nematode Breeding Factory was up and running, things would stabilize. After accounting for labor, materials, and energy costs, the profit margin would probably be two to three times. Less than before, sure, but the scale was enormous—dozens of times bigger than last year's.
By late morning, truckloads of stones were still being delivered, piling up along the roadside. Professional workers were drawing boundary lines and marking foundation areas, the site buzzing with activity.
"Come on, everyone, warm yourselves up! Don't catch a cold, you're all the pillars of your families," Grandma Jing called out cheerfully, handing out paper cups filled with steaming hot porridge dotted with vegetable bits.
Jing Shu's grandfather passed Xiao Li a cigarette as they chatted, watching the busy crowd with satisfaction.
Who in the Second Unit didn't love helping out at Jing Shu's place? The pay was great, and there was always food. Every time they came, there'd be something different—last time it was golden egg pancakes, the time before that it was soy milk that left everyone craving more. So when word spread that the villa needed help, they all volunteered in a heartbeat.
No one was allowed inside the villa, that was the rule. So they stayed out on the road, sipping porridge while keeping an eye on the convicts at work.
Meanwhile, Xiao Dou strutted around with the two Lion Heads and their goslings, patrolling their territory. Not a single bug or intruder was tolerated—not even the pregnant Da Hua.
Satisfied that everything was under control, Jing Shu left things to her grandfather and headed for the factory.
---
Outside the warehouse, crowds had gathered in layers, three deep inside and out.
"Holy shit, look at that truck unloading—are those sacks of rice? And vegetables too?"
"No way, is that Lao Wang carrying eggs? Ten... twenty... no, at least fifty of them! Damn, lucky bastard, getting assigned as a loader. I'd kill for a job that close to eggs."
"I don't even need to eat one, just let me sniff an egg and I'll be happy."
"How much is one egg again?"
"Twenty points."
"Robbery! The red nematode buffet's only one point!"
"Be grateful, man. Out on the black market, one egg's twenty-five virtual coins. This is basically cheaper, and besides, who else gives you a one-point buffet anymore?"
"That's not even the best part. The cafeteria's buffet is goddamn delicious—there's pepper-salt flavor, crispy fried, spicy, and even minced nematode for old folks and kids. The boss must be rich as hell to waste actual seasoning! Once I level up to LV2 employee today, I'll get two free buffets a week. Life's good."
"You hear the latest rule? If your points don't increase for thirty days straight, you're out. And this morning, Zhang Zi and Lai Ziba caught a bunch of freeloaders trying to sneak into the factory, earned themselves twenty points each. Easy money."
"You think that's bad? People outside are paying twenty virtual coins just to get in. And some idiots still wanna slack off. They'll regret it soon enough."
"That's nothing. You know what's wild? The warehouse isn't even locked. Director Su said everyone's trusted to behave themselves, and anyone who catches a thief gets a huge reward."
"Pfft, as if that'd work. The second someone starts stealing, everyone will join in. Who can resist those eggs just sitting there?"
As the workers gossiped at the entrance, a sudden scream came from inside.
"What the hell happened?"
"Go check it out!"
The crowd surged forward, but they couldn't squeeze in. After a while, Director Su and Manager Tuo arrived, followed by the always-on-call police officers. That's when everyone found out—a supervisor and his subordinate had been caught stealing, hiding two eggs each in their pants.
Someone saw it and ratted them out.
"Take off your pants and show everyone! If there's nothing there, I'll eat shit live!"