Jing Shu looked at the video on the screen and cringed, her shoulders pulling in. She really looked so rustic! Sure, they say extreme rusticity can be beautiful in a certain light, but this was way too much for her to handle. The thick, dark green winter coat she wore looked twice as wide as her actual frame, making her look like a padded ball. She almost couldn't bear to watch. Luckily, the footage was captured in the dim evening light, so her face wasn't too clear against the snowy backdrop.
She tried to comfort herself, telling herself she was just keeping a low profile and it didn't really matter. With the poor lighting and the way the shadows fell across the airfield, most people wouldn't recognize her anyway.
Her family didn't share that mindset at all. At Jing An's urging, everyone had already gathered around the old TV set, fully absorbed in the local Wu City news. The glow of the screen flickered against their faces as they sat in the warmth of the villa. He kept pointing at the screen with his finger, saying he had been at that exact spot just hours ago. When the camera panned past a blurry figure in the background, he jumped up excitedly and shouted at it.
Grandpa Jing tapped him down with his chopsticks, the porcelain making a sharp clink. "Shut up and sit down. You are too loud."
Jing An grunted, settling back into his seat but still grinning.
Jing Shu drifted off in thought, her gaze wandering toward the dark window. She wasn't too worried, honestly. At this hour, not many people were watching TV or news anyway; most were glued to short videos on their phones, scrolling through endless loops of entertainment.
Just then, her phone started beeping on the table, the vibration humming against the wood. A bad feeling hit her, and when she checked it, sure enough, her high school group chat was buzzing with activity. The latest topic was the video of her in the big winter coat, smiling and shaking hands with the officials.
"Hey, isn't this Jing Shu? @Jing Shu, is that you?"
"Looks a bit like her, but this is on the news. Hard to tell for sure."
The chat was basically debating whether it really was her. Some said yes—the coat was identical to one she had worn before in a photo, even if the footage was dark. Others said no, pointing out it was official news footage, not the previous Xishan Corporation event she had attended.
Both sides had their arguments, but the main issue was credibility. Who could believe that a former classmate had risen to such a high position in so little time? That old big-toothed guy is barely vice president of the Herb Association after years of work, and this young woman in the coat? Also a vice president.
Jing Shu had always seemed mysterious and impressive to them. Her family didn't seem very powerful, but she radiated a strong, enigmatic aura that made people hesitate. She could even hang out with Su Mali, and Su Mali clearly admired her. Everyone eventually learned Jing Shu was indeed impressive and even had a share in the much-envied Xishan Shiyuan.
Still, all that didn't explain how someone so young could be vice president of the Herb Association and get the VIP treatment of being picked up by local powers. Most people simply couldn't believe it.
Jing Shu shook her head, the blue light of the phone reflecting in her eyes. Even though many in the group chat had tagged her, and some had tagged Su Mali too, she decided to just pretend she didn't know. Su Mali didn't seem to be around lately; her neighbors' villas had been empty and cold for weeks, according to Grandma Jing.
She had to admit, she had mastered the "play it cool" trick perfectly.
The chat quickly shifted to a new topic as the digital conversation moved on. To encourage consumption and discover new food sources, Wu City was hosting a post-apocalypse food competition. The idea was simple: if you dug in the soil, were at work, or were just passing by and discovered a new Darklife species, you could submit it to the judges to see if it was edible. Or if you cultivated new foods, discovered new species, or created new recipes, anything edible could enter the contest.
Prizes included virtual currency, a standalone house, and other smaller rewards or participation prizes to keep people interested.
The rewards were enticing, and people actually found lots of edible post-apocalypse species during their daily struggles. Most weren't tasty at all, and some had strange side effects, but that hardly mattered to a starving population.
The news had finished airing, and Jing Shu was finishing her second meal at home, the savory taste of the soup still on her tongue, when her university group chat started buzzing again.
Annoyed, she was about to ignore it. She didn't know her university classmates well. Honestly, her class had over ninety students in total. Outside of large lectures, most electives were mixed with other classes, so she barely remembered half the names. After all this time, she had basically forgotten everyone's face.
Since she had joined the chat, there had rarely been any interaction. Even after the apocalypse, there wasn't much communication between the former students.
Her university was a third-tier Wu City school for performing arts. Tuition was insanely high, which meant most students came from well-off families. Naturally, there was some social comparison in everything they did. They cared a lot about looks and body management, spending their wealth on expensive cosmetics, personal trainers, and various beauty and nutrition supplements.
The former pure "school beauties" had spent millions keeping their flawless skin and near-perfect figures through the early years of the crisis. And some still believed in love, despite all the absurdity of their current world.
Jing Shu had once envied that lifestyle, but ten years of the apocalypse had wiped away all her illusions and sharpened her reality. She had learned to live plainly.
So in this life, she didn't care about any of that social status.
Frowning, she saw someone had tagged her again, the notification jumping at her. Curious, she opened the app. It was the same news video, and it was causing a huge stir among her former classmates.
[Jiang Changke]:"@Jing Shu, isn't that you in the video? Looks a lot like you."
[Liu Xia]:"There are lots of people who look like her. By the way, who is Jing Shu? I don't remember."
[Cheng Long]:"No way she is from our school, let alone Jing Shu. That girl, I remember chasing her back then, haha."
And just like that, the debate erupted in the chat.
[Liu Xia]:"Cheng Long, your kid is just messing around. Tang Yuan-jie is in the chat too. Aren't you afraid she will hit you?"
[Cheng Long]:"I was just playing, I lost a bet so I chased Jing Shu. It was nothing serious."
Suddenly, Jing Shu remembered this Cheng Long. He had indeed tried to chase her back then, but she had been focused on her acting and had no time for his games.
The memory came back because her dorm mates had tricked her into going to a dinner once. She went, but only Cheng Long was there, sitting at the table. He told her to order first and that everyone else would come later. Foolish Jing Shu had ended up eating alone while he watched.
[Zhen Hu]:"I remember now. Jing Shu became an online influencer selling products. After that, no one knows. But how could she represent Wu City's Herb Association in a competition? You don't just get in like that."
[Liu Xia]:"Exactly, Jing Shu never studied pharmacology or medicine. She switched fields completely."