Jing Shu remembered the last time she came to Jin Tianci's neighborhood. It had been last year. The place sat on the edge of the basin in the old district. It wasn't completely buried by mudslides, but life here wasn't easy either. Muddy water kept bubbling up from the ground every day.
It really was like lying flat and crossing a river made of mud.
Cars couldn't even get in. They had to walk. The muddy water reached Jing Shu's waist, and Jin Tianci's secretary led the way, wobbling on top of a few planks of plastic wood. If the bodyguards hadn't held Qian Duoduo steady, he would've fallen into the sludge long ago.
Just getting into this neighborhood felt like playing some hardcore adventure game.
The secretary, clearly used to it, walked ahead with a flashlight and called back, "Be careful, both of you. Our community's not that bad. At least people can still live above the second floor, and the flow's pretty slow. The mudslides around other cities are basically floods now. It's terrifying."
Qian Duoduo was shivering from cold and exhaustion, his nose red as a tomato. After what felt like forever, they finally reached Jin Tianci's place. The moment they got a bowl of steaming milk tea with a thick layer of cream on top, they could finally breathe again.
Wrapped in a blanket, holding a cup of goji and red date tea, Jin Tianci smiled at them kindly. He took a sip now and then, chatting warmly once Qian Duoduo had caught his breath. He didn't favor him just because he was rich, but he didn't ignore Jing Shu either.
That was just how Jin Tianci was. He always made you feel like you mattered to him. Jing Shu had long figured out that if you didn't bring up your reason for coming, he could keep chatting for hours about absolutely nothing.
He asked about Jing Shu's Banana Community, then the prices of everyday goods, then even how the neighborhood aunties were managing to find food these days.
"Ha, those aunties are always the same," Jin Tianci said with a grin. "Ours collect their families' waste every day and sell it for a few virtual coins. Then they send someone to dig up dirt, exchange it for more coins, buy some worm patties, maybe a few buns or rice. When they get home, they mix it all with hot water and make porridge. It lasts them for days."
"Worm patties are getting scarce though. Lots of families have started converting their coins into food. Everyone knows now that even patties are becoming precious."
Jing Shu could join in easily. When it came to managing a household, women always had their own clever ways. Her grandpa was the gossip king of Banana Community. Every meal, he'd nibble peanuts and share the latest news, so Jing Shu always stayed well-informed.
Jin Tianci also asked Qian Duoduo about how people in his upper-class circle were coping these days.
Eventually, Qian Duoduo couldn't take it anymore and finally said what he'd come for.
He knew he was giving up the initiative, but if he didn't say something, Jin Tianci would happily chat till morning. The man's wife had already come in several times to refill the milk tea, each batch thicker than the last, until it was more tea than milk.
They needed to wrap this up fast. If they stayed for dinner, they'd be eating wheat bran soaked in rice water, and that rough texture could scrape your throat raw.
Jing Shu stayed quiet after that, sipping her milk tea while managing her crops inside the Rubik's Cube Space.
Six plots had been growing medicinal herbs for a while. She'd originally planted them for emergencies or in case the Medicinal Herb Association needed a small contribution someday.
But honestly, that plan had been useless.
Before the apocalypse, she'd already stocked up on all kinds of common medicines. After drinking the Spirit Spring, no one in her family really got sick anymore. Except for the occasional gift to Jing Pan's family, those herbs had barely been touched.
The rare ones growing inside the space, like lingzhi and ginseng, were even more wasted. She'd been nurturing them for years, and they'd just sat there, taking up valuable space.
Pulling them out for trade wasn't a good idea either. It was too risky to expose what she had.
She looked at the plump ginseng roots, probably aged decades old, and sighed. She harvested everything and stored it away in the space. She didn't need them right now, so better to keep them safe and clear out the land.
"Let's use the empty fields for spices," she muttered to herself. "Star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper, cinnamon... Oh, and curry! I haven't had curry in forever. There's a recipe in Baidu Encyclopedia, I could try it. And I should make more hotpot base too. Before we start migrating, I better stock up on condiments and marinated foods. Nothing beats hotpot on the road, it's so easy! Just throw in whatever you want. Damn, it's been ages since I had tripe, pork aorta, or pig brain. Should I..."
Her thoughts drifted further. Before the apocalypse, she'd bought over a hundred kilos of seasonings. But after she started doing livestream cooking, she'd gone through them fast. Even after making cubic meters of preserved food post-apocalypse, she still tore through her supplies like crazy.
Now some spices were almost gone. Good thing she'd stocked thousands of kilos of vinegar and salt for curing food, or she'd be in trouble.
"Jing Shu, Jing Shu? What're you daydreaming about?" Jin Tianci chuckled. The earlier conversation had clearly put him in a great mood. He even patted Qian Duoduo's shoulder and said, "You know what, no time like the present. Let's do it today. The old district just took in fifty thousand people from Lin City. We still haven't fed them yet, and we need to distribute food and supplies. Lao Qian, you've saved Wu City a lot of resources."
Jing Shu was stunned. This old man really was in a rush.
Qian Duoduo gave her a weary smile, the kind that said told you so. "Alright, I'll go make the arrangements right away."
"Go ahead, go ahead. They're all yours now. Do whatever you want, be a local king if you like. I've only got one condition: keep them alive until the disaster ends, or until your Xingfu Shiyuan can't keep running anymore." Jin Tianci's voice turned serious.
Qian Duoduo waved a hand, stood up, hesitated a bit, then downed the rest of his milk tea and all the tea in the pot before leaving.
"Oh, Jing Shu, stay a while. I've got something to discuss with you. And Lao Qian, make sure those people get food first! Hungry folks can turn into monsters." Jin Tianci called out as Qian Duoduo walked away.
He waved back weakly, then hurried out into the cold wind. The door slammed shut behind him. Jin Tianci just smiled and shook his head before turning back to Jing Shu.
"Now then," he said lightly, "let's talk about those seeds. This morning, they were all delivered and stored properly. The staff have been settled too."