Jiang Si took off her protective suit, so soaked it could be wrung out. Shen Baoying handed her a washcloth, a hint of pleasant surprise on her face. "The mint and white vinegar insecticide really works. Despite all those rats, we haven't found a single flea in the house yet."
Jiang Si wiped her face, looked up at their devastated house, and sighed deeply. "We still have to hurry and patch up the house today."
Jiang Linhai came over. "The rat swarm might come again tonight. Maybe we shouldn't repair it for now and just wait a while."
Jiang Si shook her head. "What if something even more terrifying than the rats—something that isn't afraid of fire—gets in? Besides, if we don't patch up the house, the ice blocks will melt in no time. The temperature is too high, and none of us can stand it."
Jiang Chengwu nodded. "We'll do as Sisi says. The days are long now. After breakfast, we'll clean up the rat droppings and urine, then get to work right away."
"Okay."
Shen Baoying cooked a pot of steaming hot dumplings, with a fried egg and a sausage for each person, along with three small side dishes.
They ate their fill with relish, while the other villagers didn't even have a single morsel of food.
Last night's rat swarm had nearly eaten them alive; how could there be any food left for them?
They tried to catch fish, but the dried-up Longquan River was completely overrun with some kind of slimy insect eggs.
Even on the rare occasion they found a few fish, their bellies, mouths, and bodies were full of this slimy liquid. It was disgusting to even look at, let alone eat.
The amount of poaching in the Longquan Forest Nature Reserve was a testament to its large wildlife population.
But once inside, getting lost, failing to find a water source, or being unable to find shelter before nightfall was a death sentence.
Few had the guts to go in.
As for robbing others, that was even more out of the question.
Jiang Si's house had guns; going there would be a suicide mission.
Zhao Yun had made her son, husband, father-in-law, and mother-in-law securely tie a month's worth of food to their bodies.
After surviving the night, they were overjoyed. Their lives were safe, at least for now.
But who would have thought they would be robbed moments later?
The robbers had nearly killed them, too.
Zhao Yun collapsed into Zhang Jing's arms, wailing, "How are we going to live now!"
Zhang Dingtian wiped the tears from her face. His gaze fell on Jiang Si's house as he said through gritted teeth, "I'll go beg Lin Hai to give us a month's worth of food."
Zhao Yun shook her head. "Jiang Si is heartless. She'll never let Jiang Linhai give us food. I heard they got their hands on guns. If she kills you, we'll truly have no hope left."
Zhang Jing stomped his foot in frustration. "Mom, if we don't go to them, are we just supposed to stay here and wait to die?"
He hadn't eaten all night, and he'd just been slashed by a knife, losing a lot of blood.
If he didn't get something to eat and recover his strength soon, he'd starve to death within three days.
Zhao Yun's gaze fell on the rats that had been burned to death the night before. Her heart clenched. Amidst Zhang Jing's impatient muttering, she finally made up her mind and declared, "We won't die. We definitely won't die!"
Zhang Jing's face lit up. "Mom, you have a plan?"
Zhao Yun stood up and picked up a rat. "About nine miles southeast into the forest is the scenic area's Salt Well Pool. We'll go get salt, bring it back, and then we can skin these rats and cure them. Then we won't have to worry about having nothing to eat."
The rats from last night would be enough to feed their family of five for a lifetime.
In times of great hardship, people would only eat rats as a last resort.
But how were they any different now?
Zhang Jing stared at the charred, meaty-smelling rat in Zhao Yun's hand and swallowed nervously.
Zhang Dingtian frowned. "These rats are too strange. They might be diseased. We shouldn't eat them. I'll go beg Jiang Linhai!"
Zhao Yun looked at him and sneered, pointing toward Jiang Si's house. "They might grant us a little food—enough for a day, a week, or a month. But what about after that? Do you really think they'll keep giving it to us?"
The mere thought of Jiang Si made Zhang Jing furious. "We'd be lucky to get enough for one day!"
Zhang Dingtian looked at the dead rats on the ground, still wavering.
"If you just won't give up, then go try now. Let's see how much food you manage to bring back."
If there were real food to be had, who would actually want to eat dead rats?
Zhang Dingtian didn't want to go beg Jiang Linhai, but he really couldn't bear the thought of his family eating dead rats. He sighed heavily. "Alright, I'll go try first. If it really doesn't work, we'll do it your way."
Zhang Dingtian hadn't even reached the gate to Jiang Si's house. Halfway up the slope, he heard Zhang Mayi shouting with his whole family: "Zhang Qingfang! It's me, your older brother! We grew up together! You watched Jiafu and the others grow up! They came to call you 'Grandma' every holiday! Are you really going to stand by and watch us die?"
"Zhang Qingfang, open the door!"
"I said open the door!"
"Zhang Qingfang, you have no regard for family ties! What's the difference between you and an animal! Jiang Chengwu—! Is it you who won't let her open the door? To be so heartless, you'll die without descendants—! Open the door! We're going to die out here in the sun! Even if we were strangers, saving a life brings more merit than building a seven-story pagoda! Don't be so selfish!"
Luo Fengjiao, meanwhile, was kneeling on the ground, holding her son and crying, "Bao Ying, Bao Ying, please open the door! Give my son a little something to eat! You're his auntie! Bao Ying, I'm kowtowing to you, I'm begging you—!"
Zhang Mayi shouted until his throat was raw and Luo Fengjiao kowtowed until her head was about to break, but the gate to Jiang Si's house remained as immovable as a mountain.
Many others were also lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity.
Under these circumstances, there was absolutely no way Jiang Si and her family would open the door.
Zhang Dingtian knew it was hopeless. He slunk back, dejected, only for Zhao Yun to fire a cutting remark at him, "I knew it. Jiang Linhai just pretends to be a decent person. When you actually need him, he's less than useless!"
Zhang Jing couldn't hold back any longer. He picked up a charred rat, chopped off its head, peeled off the skin, skewered it on a stick, and roasted it over the fire with a sprinkle of salt.
Before long, the rat meat—crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—began to release an overwhelmingly tempting aroma.
Zhang Jing didn't even need to overcome any psychological barrier; he eagerly grabbed the rat meat and took a bite.
And what do you know, the chewy rat meat was actually pretty tasty.
Seeing Zhang Jing eat with such gusto, the rest of the Zhang family cast aside their reservations and started grabbing the rat meat for themselves.
The aroma drifted outside the courtyard, tempting everyone nearby to climb the walls and see what was happening.
When they saw the family eating rat meat, they didn't feel disgusted at all. Instead, their mouths began to water, and they started searching everywhere for the rats that had been killed the previous night.
Jiang Si picked up her binoculars to observe the situation in the village. When she saw so many people, driven mad by hunger, picking up and eating rat meat, a terrible premonition washed over her.
'Eating rats is the easiest way to contract the plague. Once it starts spreading through the village, this entire area will become a hot zone. Since it can be transmitted through the air, we'll be in extreme danger even if we never leave the house.'
Jiang Si frowned. She used her consciousness to scan her dimensional space. Seeing that she still had plenty of medical-grade protective equipment and preventative medication for the plague, she finally allowed herself to relax, just a little.