"A few days ago they finally arrived. I heard they spent more than a month on the road, switching through several trains before they got here. The one who came is your father's cousin, so you should call him uncle. How come you never mentioned that you had such a relative?" Jing An hesitated, then continued:
"They were supposed to stay at your elder brother's place, but somehow they ended up at Su Meimei's house instead. It seems they came specifically for Su Meimei."
The moment Su Meimei's name was mentioned, the atmosphere in the living room turned cold. Grandma and Grandpa had already gone back to their house. Only Jing An, who was busy planting garlic shoots, Su Lanzhi, who was tending to mushroom bags, and Jing Shu, who was tying frog cords, were left.
Jing Shu squinted her eyes unconsciously. She remembered very clearly that in her previous life, there had never been such a relative suddenly showing up from afar, much less her maternal grandfather's cousin coming for Su Meimei. What butterfly effect had caused this change?
Su Lanzhi said, "Oh, years ago my father and his cousin both came here as educated youth sent to the countryside. They stayed for a few years. His family had connections, so he was called back. My father wasn't so lucky and remained here. At that time I was only a child and don't remember much. I only heard my mother talk about it later. After my parents passed away, we lost all contact with the old home."
Jing Shu frowned deeply. "Grandfather passed away many years ago, and all this time there was no contact. Why suddenly travel such a long distance now? Is there some hidden secret behind this?"
Jing An nodded. "Even your elder brother didn't look happy. There might be something else going on. Since it doesn't involve us, let's not get involved."
"But an elder came all this way. We still need to visit. Besides, people of my parents' generation are almost all gone… sigh." Su Lanzhi let out a long sigh.
In the end the whole family agreed to only send them off when the elder was about to leave. The main reason was Su Lanzhi's reluctance. "I really don't want to go to my aunt's house. I've completely seen through her."
It was not just because of a stranger. The real pain came from growing up together with Su Meimei, giving her the best of everything, treating her sincerely. Yet when Su Lanzhi was in trouble, Su Meimei not only refused to help, she even schemed to take advantage of her. That had completely broken Su Lanzhi's heart.
Jing Shu thought, "Yes, we should at least take a look." She was determined to figure out what butterfly effect had led to an event that had not happened in her previous life. She would not underestimate Su Meimei.
Her hands moved faster. Soon she had finished tying over a hundred frog cords. This was a technique she had learned from frog breeders in her previous life. The cord was essentially a slipknot, similar in function to a dog leash. It could be adjusted to fit around a frog's neck and limbs, keeping it from hopping away.
In the apocalypse where bugs ran rampant and most frogs had died off due to high temperatures, keeping a frog was incredibly valuable. Not everyone could afford it. The biggest advantage of raising frogs was that they ate bugs, but owners had to provide water and a suitable temperature.
To prepare, Jing Shu had even gone to a glass factory to steal many containers for raising frogs. Most of the time the frogs stayed inside their containers. Every few hours she would take them out with cords to eat the bugs that appeared out of nowhere in the house. Well-kept horned frogs could live for over ten years and eat every bug nearby. They were far more useful than mosquito repellents, which had long been out of production. Unfortunately, in the harsh conditions of the apocalypse, few could manage it.
Within just a few days, the horned frogs in Jing Shu's Cube Space had already laid many tadpoles, while the three frogs outside by the villa had shown no sign of reproducing. Jing Shu knew that frog reproduction was difficult, limited to one season a year. That was why frog breeders had become rare and precious in the apocalypse.
"Tomorrow bring your precious frogs to the unit to eat bugs. Pesticide supplies are far too tight lately," Su Lanzhi said.
Jing Shu nodded while also keeping an eye on the group chat's chatter.
[Wang Qiqi, No. 13]: "@Luxury Car Dealer No. 5, @Feng No. 3, @Wang Dazhao No. 1, @Zhu Fan No. 7 — all four of them had every bit of food eaten by carrion scavengers. Does anyone still have food to trade with them or sell some? They're already lined up outside the supermarket, but it might take them days to actually get anything."
The chat immediately filled with noise. Many people complained that their own food had been ruined as well. Some said they didn't even have instant noodles left, only cornmeal and rice, and not enough to eat.
[Young Madam With a Baby, No. 13]:"I can trade 2.5 kg of dried sweet potatoes with @Wang Dazhao for all his baby supplies."
Everyone knew that Wang Dazhao's pregnant wife had died after eating vegetables sold by scalpers. Her body had been forcibly burned the same day.
[Wang Dazhao, No. 1]: "Deal. I'll give you ten tins of uncontaminated baby formula for your child."
[Young Madam With a Baby, No. 13]:"Thank you so much. I'll also add 5 kg of rice. Baby formula is out of stock everywhere. You can't buy it anymore."
[Wang Dazhao, No. 1]: "Thanks."
The moment people saw someone still had dried sweet potatoes, everyone got excited. Many offered half a kilo of rice in exchange for some. But the other three families had nothing worth trading. Even with Wang Qiqi helping to mediate, no deal was made.
In the end, Wang Xuemei promised to spend 300 yuan for each of them and deliver a bowl of plain rice to the supermarket the next day, all because of Wang Qiqi's plea.
Not long ago scalpers had been selling vegetables, but now they had all disappeared. Even cabbage couldn't be bought at 1000 yuan. Even leaders' families with government-supplied vegetables had very little left, let alone grain.
All food factories had stopped production. Supermarkets were out of stock on everything except rice and flour, sold in tiny rationed amounts each day. Everyone wanted to stockpile more.
The sun had been gone for half a year. With high temperatures and water shortages, even the state was preparing artificial suns. Clearly no large-scale crops had yet been grown. Everyone now realized the seriousness of the problem. Though there was still food, supplies were dwindling. Everyone wanted to hoard more.
Many who had thought they hoarded too much half a year ago now regretted not hoarding even more. Under these conditions, no one was willing to sell grain.
The next day, Jing Shu brought five horned frogs tied with cords to Su Lanzhi's workplace. Only then did she realize that Yu Caini's side still had pesticides, so they were not short on anything. Only Su Lanzhi's side was pitifully lacking.
Still, Su Lanzhi's garlic shoots, spinach, and oyster mushrooms were lush and thriving, incredibly pleasing to the eye.
Jing Shu released the horned frogs. The ones from the Cube Space immediately grew lively, hopping around to catch bugs, while the three outside frogs remained sluggish.
"Mom, why are there so many carrion scavengers here?" Jing Shu asked, pointing at several piles of nearly formed carrion scavenger clusters in the corner. In just a couple of days, these would hatch into tens of thousands of larvae.
"They bully the weak and avoid the strong. They don't dare go where pesticides are used," Su Lanzhi replied.
Just then, footsteps approached.
"Director, the crops on that side are probably all eaten by bugs. But look at how well our crops are growing. Based on different pesticide tests, we've developed several effective solutions."