Seeing that Jing An looked a little embarrassed, since he had never stolen anything in his life, Jing Shu said, "Left here, it will rust out soon enough. Better to take it home, use it, and maintain it. When the sun returns and order is restored, we will give it back. Consider it giving the owner proper maintenance."
Only then did Jing An laugh. "Makes sense. Charging will be convenient from now on."
Besides the charging pile, they had also gained a small diesel generator and a rotary hammer.
The small generator, Jing Shu felt, was not very useful at the moment. They already had a high power gasoline generator at home, and they had no diesel anyway. Fuel was now controlled by people with power, though one could still manage a little here and there.
But five years into the apocalypse, during the migration, it would be invaluable. It could come along to boil water, cook rice, run an electric heater, and many other things to make the journey more comfortable.
As for the rotary hammer, it would be useful when the heavy snows came and the world iced over, and in general for repairs and drilling.
After another half day of tinkering with Jing An, they discovered the charging pile had already been "cracked" by the previous crew. Plug it in and it would charge the energy car directly, no scanning or payment needed.
Father and daughter loaded the generator and hammer into the trunk, lashed the charging pile to the roof, and drove it back to the villa in their community.
Jing An worried the pile was too heavy and would damage the car. Jing Shu slipped the charging pile into the space temporarily cleared in the poultry section of the Cube Space, then took it back out and onto the roof when they neared home. Jing Shu's 125 cubic meters of space had long since been stuffed full of all kinds of supplies.
"Did not feel any increase in fuel use on the road, but why does this charging pile smell like manure?" Jing An frowned at the odd scent, but did not dwell on it.
The villa had a private garage. In the end, father and daughter decided to install the charging pile inside the garage for convenience, running a power line from the villa. It was not a small project. Running the line, trenching, and burial took two full days before the charging pile was properly set.
Finally, no more long treks to find a station. They could charge whenever they liked, though to preserve the battery they would still run it down before charging.
Thus the family settled on a daily routine of going out to collect water.
One way or another, Jing Shu felt grateful to those three men. They had done the hard work of digging the buried pile out, cracked the payment lock, and even gifted her a generator and a rotary hammer.
For such bringers of fortune, Jing Shu could only say: may I meet people like you every day.
The day the free cooked food began, half of Wu City was talking about it.
[Fat Girl, No. 25]: "Feels like today's mushroom rice had a moldy smell, and there was not enough. I went home and roasted two skewers of grasshoppers."
[Zhu Fan, No. 7]: "Better than tree bark. Wu City's richest man, Qian Duoduo, is hiring bodyguards. Two meals provided. I am signing up tomorrow. Anyone else going?"
[Feng, No. 3]: "If you are in a hurry to die, go ahead. I will eat the government rations. No need to cook every day. When the artificial sun is finished, everything will be fine. I am going to game every day."
[Fat Girl, No. 25]: "Whose home is frying fish and braising spare ribs every day? The smell drifts right to me. Spare a thought for people who cannot get enough to eat."
[Zhu Fan, No. 7]: "Are you starving into hallucinations? Who still has fish and ribs now? And with natural gas cut off, how are they cooking?"
Seeing that, Jing Shu chomped down the rib bone, chewed it to bits, and swallowed. Then she called out, "Grandma, turn on the extractor. The smell is drifting out and people can smell it."
"Dog noses, the lot of them. From hundreds of meters away and they still smell it. What a waste of power," Grandma Jing muttered, but she turned the hood on.
These days the family cooked dinner on the induction cooker during the 5:30 p.m. power window. Induction ate electricity, so soups and braises were done over coal on the stove. Without natural gas, everything was inconvenient. Thankfully, Jing Shu had stocked the Cube Space with plenty of precooked dishes for midnight snacks.
Jing Shu kept eating ribs while scrolling through the chat.
The previous day Wang Dazhao had sent news from the Zhetian Gang: they planned to rob Qian Duoduo's supplies. The rumor was already circulating. In response, Qian Duoduo was recruiting bodyguards everywhere and even asking the government for aid.
"But I think it is a feint," Wang Dazhao wrote. "It does not look like they intend to hit Qian Duoduo. After all, Qian Duoduo is in Xishan Villa, and that whole area is his. He has tons of private bodyguards there, I've heard he even has guns His connections are strong. No reason to poke that hornet's nest."
Jing Shu searched her memories from the previous life. This stretch was blurry. She only knew the Zhetian Gang had tortured many people to death. They had not seized guns at the station, but they had a few guns and bombs. In the end, the armed forces arrived and wiped them out.
"Keep watch. If you can, find me everything about that person," Jing Shu replied.
She heard nothing from Wang Dazhao about the Zhetian Gang being interested in their community. Not even a hint. Perhaps they did not have her community on their radar. "Best not to provoke me. Ignore me," Jing Shu thought, and relaxed.
That evening, Su Lanzhi came home with Third Aunt Jing Lai, bringing garlic shoots, baby bok choy, lettuce, and crown daisy greens as recompense. Compared with mold mushroom, the benefits of being inside the system were starting to show.
The gap would only grow wider. Just as Jing Shu was considering finding something for Jing An to do, Jing An solved it himself.
On the morning of May 23, after dropping Su Lanzhi at work, the family went, as usual, to collect water.
This time they came prepared, bringing bowls and bottles from home. No need to wake at 3 a.m. to bike and queue. Wu City had thirteen districts and more than eighty supermarkets like Ai Jia. On average, each handled thirty to forty thousand people. Arrive late and the line would be an hour longer, but you would still get your share.
Today's meal was fried rice with oyster mushrooms and minced meat, widely praised by many.
It would likely be the last praise. From here on, every day would be some blend of rice and mushrooms, or mushroom porridge with noodles. For the next ten years of apocalypse, the government would perform one hundred ways to cook oyster mushrooms.
Before long, when people could not choke it down and began to complain, the government introduced a new dish.
All right then, you want meat? From now on, you will eat meat every day. Satisfied? Happy?
…
Back home, Jing Shu strapped a black pig in the roof box and drove with Jing An to deliver it to First Uncle's family. The destination, however, was not First Uncle's home, but the home of First Aunt's elder brother.
First Uncle's family could not raise pigs, so they decided to slaughter it and share the meat. Since the pig was to settle a debt, First Uncle could handle it as he wished.
When Jing An drove into the government compound for family housing, the streetlights flared on in a sweep. Quite the spectacle.
More than fifty people stood at the gate, mostly middle aged and elderly. They craned their necks, pointing excitedly when they saw the car.
As soon as Jing An parked, the crowd surged forward, First Uncle's family at the front.