"This amber silk is the finest I've ever seen. The texture, the smoothness—if you used it for a quilt, it would be incredibly warm."
Of course it was. With silkworms fed on vegetables grown with Spirit Spring water, how could the quality be anything but excellent?
Zijin dipped the cocoons into clean water, split them with her nails, and pulled out the pupae. She stretched the empty cocoon over her hand, removed the black molted skin, layered several pieces, then peeled them off and tugged them into small, square silk patches. Her movements were fluid and practiced, and in less than half an hour she had stripped all the cocoons clean.
When Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing heard that Jing Shu had invited an expert, they came over to watch. Seeing Zijin's skillful hands at work, they couldn't help raising their thumbs in approval. Just a few days ago, they had tried themselves and discovered it took them several minutes just to peel one cocoon. At their pace, they'd never finish even a single step in an entire day.
It happened that Grandpa Jing had crafted a bow-shaped bamboo tool for stretching silk. Zijin quickly set to work, hooking the small silk patches onto the tool and pulling them open.
"A quilt needs at least six layers spread evenly. That way it's soft and snug against the body. For face masks, three layers will do," she explained. She removed three layers, forming golden, damp bundles of silk. Once boiled, they shimmered under the faint light, radiant and beautiful.
She wrung out the water and shaped them into masks, making a total of fifty. At Jing Shu's suggestion, she even used the cutout scraps from the eyes, nose, and mouth to make silk pads for wounds.
"To make masks, just soak the raw silk in the mixture. For quilts, hang them in a cool, ventilated place until they're completely dry. Then you'll have your raw material."
But the weather was too damp. They wouldn't dry easily. Jing Shu decided she'd have to use her fans and ventilation system at home to speed the process.
Following an online formula, she added honey and other ingredients in measured proportions. The masks were done. She stuck a scrap onto Zijin's right cheek for testing. Ten minutes later, that patch of skin was visibly smoother and fairer. The result was remarkable.
Finally, Jing Shu sealed each mask in transparent pouches. The golden silk gleamed inside, beautiful under the light.
She never would have imagined, in this second chance at the apocalypse, that she'd be running a business selling face masks.
Zijin watched nervously. Before trying, she'd doubted whether this idea was realistic. In the apocalypse, everyone worried about food, not cosmetics. Who would hire a craftswoman like her? But when Jing Shu handed her top-grade amber silk and had her actually produce masks, she realized this woman truly needed her skill.
Expectation mingled with unease. These past few months had been hard. When the residents of the family compound relocated to Banana Community, everyone squeezed together. She became an outcast, living alone with no relatives working in the compound. Naturally, she was excluded. After the apocalypse struck, with no income, she could only scavenge, relying on meager earnings from collecting red nematodes to survive.
She had tried many ways to improve her situation, but none had worked.
Jing Shu, however, was in good spirits. In her mind, she was already planning to exchange masks for compressed natural gas. She needed plenty, since next year she'd be running boilers and floor heating daily. As someone reborn, she now demanded a higher quality of life. It was no longer enough to simply fill her stomach.
"Your craftsmanship passes," Jing Shu said with a smile. "My grandmother will soon have a batch of cocoons ready to spin. I'm planning to produce more raw materials."
Rebirth was truly a strange thing. Meeting people from her previous life all over again, reintroducing herself, and rebuilding bonds from zero—yet everything had shifted. In this life, she and Zijin were heading toward a completely different story. Jing Shu had no idea what kind of relationship they might develop.
Even so, she didn't grant her benefactor from the previous life entry into the villa. Trust couldn't be tested too early with benefits. If she entrusted Zijin too soon and showered her with welfare, what if that bred greed, what if it nurtured the darker side of her?
Even Jing Shu couldn't control her own desires. In her past life, she only wished to eat her fill. In this life, thanks to the Cube Space, she no longer accepted "just enough." With ability came ambition.
It was fine to treat someone well, but never to give them the very best from the start. If you did, everything afterward would only seem worse, and they might think you were treating them poorly. But if you improved things step by step, every little increase would feel like a great kindness.
Just like the Cube Space itself. Each upgrade, each new level, brought immense satisfaction and renewed motivation. From once longing only for a full belly, to now harboring ambitions even wolves could not satisfy—step by step, she had grown bolder. Now she was raising silkworms and making face masks. Who knew what she would build next?
"Me? Can I really?" Zijin's eyes brightened, revealing her little tiger teeth in a delighted smile for the first time.
"Barely acceptable," Jing Shu teased. "From today on, Miss Zijin, we're in an employment relationship. Tomorrow morning, you'll officially report to work. And as your boss, I'll tell you your duties and benefits." She extended her hand, shaking Zijin's for the first time. Her hand was small, soft, and cold.
"Yes, boss!" Zijin slipped easily into her role.
"You must keep yourself clean and tidy every day. No red nematodes.
Your workplace will be under the canopy outside the villa. I'll add a small room for you there. Your hours start once the temperature rises, and end when it drops. You'll handle cocoons with my grandmother and do clothing repairs. Every afternoon, you'll accompany my grandmother to Building No. 25 across the street to clean. In truth, I need you to keep an eye on her so she doesn't mess around with Lin Yi again.
So besides your daily pay of four virtual coins, you'll also get meals from the Ai Jia canteen. That's extra, because my aunt is the director there, and there are always leftovers."
Jing Shu knew Zijin's miserly habits, how she never spent her virtual coins on proper meals. So she had arranged this herself, making sure her third aunt would bring back food every day, even paying out of her own pocket.
"Now, to make sure you can work cleanly, I need to see where you live. We'll fix whatever can be improved."
"Yes, boss."