Jing Shu exercised while closing her eyes and entering the Cube Space. She picked out seeds needed for making pickled and preserved vegetables before the apocalypse and began planting them in the fields.
The fields in the Cube Space required no seedlings, watering, or pollination. Still, Jing Shu decided that when the time came, she would raise bees in the fields. Honey was good for beauty, skincare, and even face masks.
After some thought, Jing Shu made her arrangements: twelve square meters of red chili peppers. With the Spirit Spring's support, she could harvest every five to six days, continuously.
Six square meters of mustard stems, harvested in seven to eight days. Jing Shu's grandmother had been a master of pickling all kinds of vegetables and sauces.
Six square meters of cabbage, harvested every five to six days. Dishes like spicy kimchi, crunchy pickled cabbage, and sour cabbage not only stored well but also would not easily attract attention in the apocalypse.
Three square meters of white radish, harvested in five days. Pickled side dishes and radish preserved this way could last one or two years.
Two square meters of spring bamboo shoots, harvested every five to six days. Spicy pickled shoots and preserved bamboo shoots were a delicacy.
Two square meters of yardlong beans, harvested every seven to eight days. Sour beans were the perfect companion to instant noodles.
Two square meters of garlic, harvested in six days. Sweet pickled garlic and preserved garlic cloves were dishes that Jing Shu could eat by the plateful. Anything grown in the Cube Space was guaranteed to be top quality. The garlic here was different from the cheap, flashy stuff outside. And since she also planned to cultivate garlic sprouts, she could not treat it carelessly.
Jing Shu scattered the seeds densely and covered them with a thin layer of soil. In the Cube Space, there were no problems like poor nutrients or uneven sunlight.
On 58.com, things moved quickly. Jing Shu's father, Jing Ba, had already received several calls and arranged for a few potential buyers to view the shop the next day. He even asked for half a day off work.
Jing Shu did not join the bustle. Though she had no money, she could not afford to waste time either. She asked her parents for their medical insurance cards. Tomorrow she would head to the pharmaceutical wholesale center next to Wucheng Tumor Hospital. The medicines there were not only cheap but also unlimited in quantity, likely to meet the massive demand from the hospital. In her previous life, Jing Shu had visited every six months to buy medicine for her aunts and uncles.
After the apocalypse began, insurance cards were limited to only 100 yuan per day. Not long after, they could not be used at all. It was a pity that the tens of thousands of yuan left on Jing Shu's mother's card went to waste. Jing Shu's father and grandmother both had high blood pressure, and after the apocalypse, medicine was nearly impossible to find. Her grandparents had died in the very first year. This time, she refused to let the tragedy repeat.
Jing Shu also asked Jing Ba for the original design plans of the villa. She intended to revise the layout herself so that when workers came to remodel, she would not be caught unprepared.
After organizing her plans, Jing Shu returned to her room, opened her laptop, and began copying down information from Baidu: encyclopedic entries, maps, recipes, medical knowledge. She also downloaded an app called "Library."
While the computer downloaded, Jing Shu studied a tutorial on solving the 5x5 Rubik's Cube and began to practice.
The villa would be safe for the first two years of the apocalypse, but later it would not be secure. Eventually, they would have to flee with the larger groups. Right now, the Cube Space was still too small. Jing Shu had to upgrade it quickly, and there were still many things she needed to prepare.
…
Boom, boom, boom!
"Today's morning news."
The soymilk blender let out an irregular rumbling, like shellfire. It mixed with the steady rhythm of chopping vegetables, the grumbling of Jing Shu's mother, the defensive mutters of Jing Shu's father, and the broadcast of the national news.
Same world, same mom. A morning without venting her emotions or waking up the whole building just wouldn't be normal.
"Ahhh! This is my first day after rebirth and I just want to sleep in!" Jing Shu tossed and turned in bed. In her previous life, before the apocalypse came, no matter how noisy it was outside she could sleep soundly, even mumbling answers to her mother's questions about whether she wanted fried eggs or boiled ones.
After the apocalypse, Jing Shu developed severe insomnia, easily startled awake by any sound, terrified that the next moment might bring an earthquake, a flood, or a tide of corpses surging in.
With dark circles under her eyes, Jing Shu finally washed up. By then, Jing Shu's father and Jing Shu's mother had already gone to work.
The soymilk was still steaming. Jing Shu stirred in sugar and drank as she ate. An egg pancake wrapped around a sausage disappeared into her stomach, followed by a few bites of cucumber salad. She grabbed the last steamed sweet potato, bit into it skin and all, chewing until the sweet, soft flesh and chewy skin filled her mouth. Swallowing it down brought her immense satisfaction.
The soymilk was the finale, its rich fragrance and faint sweetness flowing from her tongue down her throat. The warm liquid spread through her body, leaving her comfortable and content.
It was true what people said. Of all three meals, Jing Shu's mother made breakfast the best, precisely because it required almost no skill. Everything was half-prepared or ready-made. Just reheat and cook. Once she had money, Jing Shu would definitely stockpile frozen foods.
After finishing breakfast, Jing Shu hailed a taxi straight to the pharmacy wholesale center. She also brought along her unused credit card, which had a 40,000 yuan limit.
The wholesale center was only slightly larger than a regular pharmacy. As soon as Jing Shu entered, a sales clerk carrying a basket greeted her with a bright smile.
"Hello, what do you need today?"
That look in her eyes—it was the smile of someone who had spotted money.
"Hello, I'm here to buy medicine for my grandparents and relatives in the countryside. Here are hospital certificates and ID photos for eleven people." Jing Shu smoothly handed over the documents. Some medicines could not be purchased without proof.
The sales clerk's smile deepened. "This hypertension medicine has government subsidies. You'll need to register it."
"I want to buy more at once. Otherwise, it's too troublesome to bring them medicine every time. Can I pay with the insurance cards?"
"No problem. Just leave the cards with us. Our branch stores will rotate the swipes. Once we finish the billing, we'll call you to pick them up." The clerk was clearly experienced, sparing Jing Shu the trouble of running around to multiple stores.
Jing Shu showed the list of medicines her grandmother needed. Everything went smoothly after that. With eleven people to account for, and each one buying a two-year supply, the volume was massive.
With over 10,000 yuan still left on the insurance cards, Jing Shu bought other common medicines: heat-relief pills, medical alcohol, saline solution, cooling balms, herbal digestive water, Yunnan Baiyao. In the apocalypse, these could all save lives.
When the clerk heard that Jing Shu wanted a whole box of cooling balm, her expression grew a little odd. She had heard rumors that young people liked to apply it to private areas for stimulation.
Leaving the cards and PIN numbers behind, Jing Shu registered the rural relatives' information and paid 200 yuan for delivery. Everything would be sent directly to her home.
Once the delivery man left, Jing Shu stacked the medicine boxes in the living room. She had already come up with a reasonable excuse for buying so much. After checking off the medicines in her phone list, she glanced at the clock. It was only 11 a.m. Without wasting time, she headed out again, taking a taxi to Wucheng's livestock breeding base.
Jing Shu urgently needed to raise some animals. Making dried meat and smoked meat was only a secondary reason. The real purpose was to test how much the Spirit Spring could be diluted while still strengthening the human body, and to see whether drinking the Spirit Spring would accelerate aging.