No matter what, Wang Zhong still handed over the phone. Jing Shu took it, and the full, homebody face of Wu You'ai filled the screen.
Wu You'ai was still savoring ice cream, her whole expression one of bliss.
"Cousin, this lunatic skulked around our doorway today trying to break in and steal. I caught him on the spot. He also tried to do unspeakable things, so my dad gave him a beating. Yes, that is what happened."
"This is not a serious case. It counts as attempted robbery. He needs to be taken in for labor reform."
"Got it. I will pass that along to him." Jing Shu returned the phone to the wide-eyed Wang Zhong.
"They said someone is coming right away. Wait here," Jing Shu said.
Wang Zhong: "???"
Wang Zhong suspected he had misheard. "What did she just say? Cousin? The emergency call connected to their own family?"
He was the victim. How could calling for help end with him getting arrested.
"Hello, hello." Wang Zhong yelled into the already ended call, then glared hatefully at Jing An. "I do not believe this."
Wang Zhong tried a new trick and dialed again. "Hello, 110. I am here—"
The other end was busy. He tapped emergency video once more. It connected to the same person.
"It is you again. Do not panic. Stay right there. Someone will be along to arrest you shortly."
Wang Zhong: "…" Hello. I am the one calling for help. I am about to be beaten to death.
Beep beep… the video ended.
For the first time, Wang Zhong felt there was no road to heaven and no door to the earth. "How, how can this be. You are covering for each other. Is there no heavenly justice. No law."
After several fruitless tries, Wang Zhong scrambled up to run. Only an idiot would wait here to be arrested. He was not staying.
Jing Shu kicked him back down. "Run where. Your info is already uploaded. You have been recorded. Run anywhere and you will still be caught. Do you want to be a fugitive. Think about what happened to the fugitives."
Images of criminals' ends flashed through Wang Zhong's mind. He fainted from fright. When he came to, it was because someone kicked him awake. Through the ringing in his ears he heard Jing An's daughter explaining something to a group of people.
A police officer asked him, "If you confess, it will only be labor reform. If you do not…"
Wang Zhong burst into tears. "I confess, I confess. I do not want to die."
The officer turned his head. "Chief, we were going to release him for lack of evidence, but he confessed first. Figures he is no good."
Wang Zhong nearly choked on his own blood and fainted again. The second time he woke, he was already shackled and starting labor reform… hauling furniture, picking trash, collecting maggots from the cesspit.
Jing An watched Wang Zhong carried off and said, "Justice may be late, but it never fails to arrive. For all the vile things you have done, this punishment is due."
Before they left, Jing Shu pressed a handful of dried wood ear mushrooms into each of two officers' hands. "Thanks for coming out, or our home would keep getting targeted by thieves." Jing Shu recognized one of the officers, the young man who had stood behind Li Yuetian last time.
"Just doing our duty. To serve the people."
Jing Shu insisted, and they accepted with polite restraint. Jing Shu learned that the young officer who had stood behind Li Yuetian was also surnamed Li. Everyone called him Officer Li.
"Dinner ready!" came Grandma Jing's call.
That night's dinner was lavish. The kang oven had turned out a roast duck. An old hen simmered in the stove. On a griddle lined with oil-absorbent paper, Jing Shu cooked slabs of pork belly. Dipped in seasonings and wrapped with a crisp lettuce leaf, the pork belly hit the tongue with alternating layers of melting fat and chewy lean. The cool lettuce cut the richness, and the charred edges crackled. The more you chewed, the more fragrant it became.
Then a sip of old-hen broth. Then a thin pancake wrapped with a slice of roast duck, a few strips of scallion, cucumber, and carrot, dipped in sweet bean sauce. Another completely different delight.
Slurp. Jing Shu alone ate eighty percent of the grilled pork, half a roast duck, and most of the hen from the soup.
The coal in the stove had been on a slow simmer all afternoon. The meat was so tender it practically dissolved. Jing Shu almost swallowed the bones too, and would have if Xiao Dou had not gone Cluck cluck cluck twice in alarm. Only then did Jing Shu stop herself.
Third Aunt Jing Lai had heard she was now a nominal supervisor and was still busy at Ai Jia, so only Grandma Jing, Grandpa Jing, Jing An, Su Lanzhi, and Jing Shu ate together.
It had to be said, Third Aunt Jing Lai was doing great. Jing Shu had watched her efforts over the past half year. If Jing Shu could help, she would.
That night Jing Shu harvested another batch of cucumbers and eggplants. She sliced and prepped them. One day of sun would finish them into dried vegetables. In the Cube Space, besides the continually consumed foods, stocks of these dehydrated vegetables had grown, along with a five-day cycle of coconuts.
There were plenty of coconuts, but consumption was terrifying. Besides the coconuts Jing Shu drank as water every day, one batch became coconut milk, another coconut rice. Even the shells were not wasted. The pigs and cows in the Cube Space could eat them.
Jing Shu decided to store more coconuts. After October, she would cut down some coconuts and begin planting fruit. The fruit could also be dried.
The biggest harvest was medicinal herbs. Facts proved Jing Shu's idea right. The farther a plot was from the Cube Space fields, the weaker the Spirit Spring's nourishment. Thirty-meter-tall coconut trees took three months to mature, while two-meter dwarf apple trees ripened in under a month.
As for the medicinal herbs in the fields, their growth was astonishing. Common herbs had already matured. Rarer varieties that usually required years would still need time, but with daily Spirit Spring, they were growing fast.
Jing Shu felt she should not hoard heaven's gifts. With such powerful herbs, if she could save key people or those who contributed to the country, she would be happy to help, for a price of course. The pity was that she had no good channel or a clean, above-board path yet.
"Maybe it is time I found a proper job. A trump card should be played. I remember hearing about an official Medicinal Herb Association. I just do not know how to get into that circle." Jing Shu felt she still lacked a powerful backer, the kind of military figure who could protect her family when danger came.
And those fanatics in the herb association… each one was extraordinary. Some were mad for herbs, some obsessed with the healing arts. As someone who could cultivate medicinal herbs in the apocalypse, was Jing Shu not as rare as a giant panda.
She would look for a chance. No matter what, being able to raise rare herbs made Jing Shu value the Cube Space even more.