Jing Shu rubbed her head and said to Grandma Jing, "Grandma, Xiao Guagua is a male."
Male. What did that mean?
It meant he couldn't lay eggs.
Not laying eggs meant eating and living for free while wasting food! That's just how they saw things in the Jing household, just like Da Hua and Gou Dan. Every day, Grandma Jing would check under Da Hua's butt to see if she'd laid an egg, and she'd even spoil Da Hua a little, giving her extra nutrition, like feeding her more bug patties.
Gou Dan didn't get such treatment. In the Jing household, male animals were practically useless unless they were for breeding. The only exception was mutant dino-chickens; a single male had to mate with dozens of hens, which was exhausting, so Grandma Jing would give him extra care too.
"Just a male?" Grandma Jing froze for a moment, scanning Xiao Guagua up and down.
Jing Shu added with a grin, "And he's a male goose."
Jing Shu had expected Grandma Jing to throw Xiao Guagua out or at least mutter, "Eating food for nothing."
But to her complete surprise, Grandma Jing clicked her tongue in delight. "This must be some new breed of male goose, right? I've never seen one like this. Let's see, when he grows up, maybe he can mate with Da Hua and we'll see what hatches."
"Oh my, just talking about this is making your meal get cold. Hurry up and eat." Grandma Jing finally seemed to remember Jing Shu had come back. She smiled and shooed her inside while holding Xiao Guagua tight in her arms, unwilling to let go.
Jing Shu clicked her tongue twice. Looks like Xiao Guagua really was charming—so popular with Grandma Jing. Then she looked at Xiao Dou, who was drooping sadly. Feeling bad, Jing Shu gently kicked her. "I'll give you something tasty later, come on."
Only then did Xiao Dou cheerfully follow her in.
As expected, Mom had gone to work. Wu You'ai was still busy with research at Xishan and rarely came back, and Third Aunt had her own duties. Food supplies were getting scarcer by the day. Even the stored grains were almost gone. What could they do? They had to make dirt patties themselves.
That was a huge project. They used a ton of virtual currency to buy dirt, then hired people to filter it, hired more to turn it into edible dirt patties, sold them at a slightly higher price to recycle the virtual currency, and stored some for later.
The government had foresight. After all, they were entering the fourth year since the apocalypse. Dirt patties were still edible. The key now was mudslides—dirt was still somewhat easy to dig. If they didn't store enough, once the mudslides stopped, there wouldn't even be dirt patties to eat.
It wouldn't be long now.
The temperature in Wu City was dropping fast. Mudslides would slowly harden. Without enough stored food, when new post-apocalypse food was finally developed, many people would starve.
Even digging dirt had gotten difficult now.
Jing Shu listened as Grandma Jing recounted what had been happening in Wu City lately while devouring the food on the table. Every dish had been specially made for her, knowing she liked meat, and Grandma Jing had even made a big pot of hen soup because she liked broth.
"Your Third Aunt's task is heavy. She's got quotas to meet. She has to store enough food before the cold hits, so she's been working hands-on these past days.
Your mother's life isn't easy either. This world, I tell ya, food isn't easy to get. I heard they're even spending huge energy to activate an artificial sun and rushing to get food."
Grandma Jing sighed while scratching Xiao Guagua. They used to think the government was the backbone. With them around, nothing was impossible and the common people could always get food.
And it had been true. China always had grain reserves to keep everyone stable. People had confidence. As long as the reserves weren't gone, there wasn't total despair.
But things had changed drastically in recent months. Even the third daughter said the situation was bad. The daughter-in-law sighed for days. The people might just be digging dirt for virtual currency, happy as long as they had something to eat.
Jing Shu's return felt like a backbone herself. Grandma Jing suddenly felt safer. She glanced at Jing An, who was collecting goods, and whispered to Jing Shu, "Our food… we can't let anyone know about it. No one. Especially now, with the situation this serious. I keep feeling like the sky is falling. Even if we store a lot, it might not help. Hope I'm just imagining it."
Even the elders knew how dire things were.
"Of course, Grandma. I brought back a lot of food this time. I've secretly stored it, no one knows. I'll show you in a bit. You'll see what I got." Jing Shu laughed, her mood bright.
After eating, she started organizing the loot from the capital. Some of it came from the Cube Space, like fruits and other edibles, perfect for filling in and improving villa life.
When the fresh fruits came out, not only did Grandma Jing's eyes widen, even Jing An and Grandpa Jing, usually quiet and calm, gaped in amazement. They'd never seen fruits like these before.
"Melons, peaches, durians, cherries… we can eat them straight away and then plant some ourselves. From now on, we can have them anytime."
Their villa didn't have many fruit types, the flowerhouse was just a few dozen square meters. They had bees, some grafted fruits, and some common ones, but in this post-apocalyptic world, fruit was scarce.
And it wasn't just fruit. There were other curiosities, too. Jing Shu went through them all, then started showing off stacks of toilet paper, daily necessities, and explained which gifts were for Dad and which for Grandpa, making Grandma Jing happy.
Jing Shu loved showing her closest family these gifts.
But when she finally revealed the big equipment, everyone was stunned.
"What's this for?"
Jing Shu explained the freeze-drying device and how to use it. "Hehe, now we can make nutritious powdered milk, dried vegetables, anything we want. It won't spoil. No more wasting milk at home."
Even though they had lots of chickens, including Xiao Dou, producing tons of eggs daily, eggs were easy to sell or process. Milk, on the other hand, was tricky.
Having the freeze-dryer was a game-changer for the Jing household, like having a prized ox for farming. Grandpa Jing immediately pushed Xiao Guagua aside and, with Jing An, set up the device in the backyard to start freeze-drying perishable foods.
"Huh, seems like the men don't care much about Xiao Guagua." Jing Shu glanced thoughtfully at Grandma Jing, still cherishing Xiao Guagua in her arms.