Wang Fang nodded tearfully. The woman who'd always been bossy now looked soft and delicate, completely relying on her husband. Su Yiyang then laid out his plans for what to do next. Since things had already happened, there was no use crying over it. They had to look ahead. Wang Fang kept nodding, deeply moved. At her weakest moment, her man had stepped up. That was a man she could rely on.
"Come on, come on, let's eat first."
"I already ate with Wang Fang. Su Long can have some," Su Yiyang quickly said. In the apocalypse, mooching off others' food was the most hated thing. He didn't mind going hungry for a day, but he couldn't bear to see his kid starve.
Grandma Jing, however, wouldn't take no for an answer. She dragged them to the table. In these desperate times, she didn't mind feeding friends or relatives who came to eat, but if anyone tried to pack leftovers to take home, not even a grain of rice would leave the table. That was her way of hosting.
The whole family finally sat down to a warm meal. Su Lanzhi smiled and let out a soft sigh. She'd married the right man.
Jing Shu quietly watched her Paternal Eldest Uncle, who'd gone from timid and indecisive to someone who could actually take charge. It made her feel strangely emotional.
Turns out, a person's environment and family really could change them. Her own family had managed to stand strong in the apocalypse, giving her uncle the courage to lift his head again. She'd passed the red nematode business to him and even helped him and Paternal Eldest Aunt get official jobs after returning their black pig. The family's growing strength and steady work had made him shed that old weakness. He no longer had to bow and scrape to his wife's relatives, and Wang Fang finally realized that her husband could be someone dependable. He was truly the head of his household now.
Of course, his old weakness wasn't the same as Jing An's henpecked nature.
Jing An pampered Su Lanzhi out of love, and she respected and cared for him in return. Most of her decisions were reasonable. That kind of mutual respect was what made a marriage last. Su Yiyang, on the other hand, had always wanted to push back but never dared to.
"Funny, how does a single woman like me know so much about relationships anyway?
Well, whatever. At least I've finally got some matters I can actually entrust to my uncle. That piece of factory land... it's about time I hand it over to him."
In the past three years of the apocalypse, her mother's side hadn't really needed much help. On her father's side, though, she'd never been stingy with Eldest Aunt or Third Aunt. She used to think her uncle was too indecisive, too easily swayed by his wife, which hurt their family's harmony. But now that he'd grown into someone dependable, Jing Shu didn't mind giving him a hand. After all, he was her mother's only brother. It'd be good for her mother to feel at ease about him too.
Still, if anyone turned out to be ungrateful or tried to stir up trouble, Jing Shu would take care of it before her mother even noticed. As for Paternal Eldest Aunt, other than being a bit greedy and short-sighted, she didn't have any intolerable flaws. Nobody's perfect anyway.
"Aunt, how many red nematodes do you have left?" Jing Shu suddenly asked.
Wang Fang was eating daintily, or at least trying to. But damn, that sauce-glazed roast duck—crispy golden skin, juicy tender meat, and that fragrant sweet sauce—how could anyone eat slowly? And that charcoal-grilled pork belly, dipped in barbecue sauce and wrapped in lettuce, so crispy and aromatic it made her want to cry.
"Huh?" Wang Fang licked her lips, finally realizing she'd been asked a question. She quickly lowered her head in embarrassment. "We've sold about half. I wanted to save up some money to buy a few chickens so Su Long can finish high school."
Jing Shu thought for a moment. "Keep the rest for now. Don't sell anymore."
"Ah, okay." This time, Wang Fang didn't ask why. She'd learned.
Jing Shu went on, "Uncle, your plan just now was pretty good, but I've got an even better idea."
His eyes lit up. "Go on, Jing Shu."
"Uncle, don't bother with temp work anymore. I've contracted a piece of land to build a big factory. You'll be the factory director. I don't trust anyone else with it. But it'll be hard work."
Su Lanzhi's eyes widened. "Oh my, you just got back and you're already at it again?"
Su Yiyang was curious. "How big a factory are we talking about? What can we even make these days? Aside from food, nothing sells anymore."
Jing Shu smiled. "A red nematode breeding base. A big one."
"What! Are you serious?"
"Didn't red nematodes go extinct? The researchers spent months trying and still couldn't breed any. Even the samples they kept mostly died. Those things don't live long," he said, shocked.
Jing An scratched his head. "Girl, we still have a few big barrels of red nematodes in the courtyard, along with the blood leeches you raised. We tried every method we could think of, but none worked for mass production."
Jing Shu just smiled mysteriously and ignored him. She turned to her uncle. "All I'll say is this—running the breeding base won't be easy. It's much harder than collecting wild ones. We'll need a lot of workers, and you know how tricky it is to raise red nematodes. But if we succeed, just imagine how huge the demand for food is right now. So, what do you think? Interested?"
He jumped up, excited. "Jing Shu, I'm in. I trust you."
"Good. Family or not, business is business. You'll get a monthly dividend from the factory once it's running. We'll go over the details later. You'll also get a house near the factory. But keep in mind, Uncle, this factory might end up with multiple investors, so your main job is to make sure all departments run smoothly, supervise everything, and report any problems to me right away."
Basically, he'd be her representative—the public face of the operation—while Jing Shu would control everything from behind the scenes.
"I understand. So when do I start?"
"Tomorrow. But there are still a few problems we'll have to deal with first."
Everyone was already used to Jing Shu's decisive way of doing things, though Jing An still couldn't help worrying. He decided to go with her the next day to see the place himself. They didn't know she'd borrowed a massive loan to buy the land, thinking she was just setting up another small red nematode factory like before, the kind that only hired a dozen people.
Still, Jing Shu hadn't forgotten her slightly disappointed aunt.
"Aunt, you'll keep doing temp work for now, but not as a Consolation and Counseling Specialist. Once the factory starts producing red nematodes, you'll handle the orders from Xishan. You'll basically be the liaison between both sides. You'll get paid for that too. I'm sure the government will promote you to an official worker soon enough, since having a stable red nematode supplier makes you a hot commodity."
Her aunt's expression grew more colorful by the second. She asked excitedly, "So I'll get paid twice? I'll be an official worker for the government and a liaison for your factory?"
Jing Shu smiled meaningfully. "That depends on how well you handle it. Anyway, we'll give you the orders to sell. Whether you keep that temp job or not is up to you."