Jing Shu was in for a busy time. These supplies were all over the living room, and they were both messy and numerous. Grandpa Jing and Jing An went off to tinker with the freeze-drying equipment, while she and Grandma Jing started organizing the piles of goods.
When she bought them, Jing Shu hadn't thought much about it. It had just seemed like a bunch of numbers, so she just went ahead and bought them. With the excellent service that helped with the full transport, she hadn't thought anything of it, just figured it was the equivalent of a few transport trucks' worth of stuff.
Earlier she'd even shown off each item to everyone. But now, after the fun was done, she had to sort, categorize, and organize everything. she couldn't help but miss the days when Zijin was around.
Speaking of which, she had to mention Zijin's obsessive-compulsive habits. Zijin was meticulous about everything, so everything had to be neatly arranged. With her around, the silkworms had been easy to manage, and Jing Shu had saved herself a lot of trouble. Now that Zijin wasn't here, and the silkworms weren't being raised in such quantity, Grandma Jing couldn't handle it all by herself.
Zijin had gone off to volunteer, wanting to help more people. By now, she should be coming back. She'd had her share of hardships and exertion, and Jing Shu thought that maybe Zijin was still too kind-hearted. But without that kindness in her past life, she wouldn't have helped her through tough times. So she decided not to comment. In this life, as long as Zijin didn't betray her, Jing Shu would treat her like a good sister.
Sorting and categorizing all the goods, checking stock, and making sure everything was neat—that was her favorite part. It was addicting and gave a strong sense of security.
Jing Shu had a good habit of keeping a little notebook whenever she checked supplies, recording everything so she could check it in her Cube Space at any time. She could've used her phone, but in this age of big data, nothing was really private. So she either used a phone without a SIM card or wrote everything by hand in the notebook.
The notebook recorded everything from the past four years: where she got it, when, and regular inventory checks to remove what had been used. This way, she always knew exactly what she had and what was left. Of course, she hadn't stored all her supplies in the villa, even though it was quite safe.
This trip to the imperial capital had replenished a lot of household goods, enough for several years. Items that weren't immediately necessary got marked with a yellow circle for later attention, while nearly depleted items were marked in red, ready to trigger a supply request.
Medical supplies and equipment were fairly complete now. Not that she had any life-saving Spirit Spring, but she had cultivated batch after batch of valuable herbs in the Cube Space. In the past few years at the Medicinal Herb Association, Jing Shu had learned some traditional Chinese medicine formulas, just in case.
What she lacked most were anesthetics and painkillers. Sure, she could plant mafeisan, but for serious injuries she'd need professional advice. Those things were critical.
Back in Wu City, Jing Shu was busy organizing supplies while keeping up with her various enterprises. She hadn't realized it before, but as her responsibilities grew, each business required handling and signatures every now and then, keeping her constantly exhausted. Only now did she grasp how many enterprises she actually had.
It also proved an old saying true: telling one lie isn't scary, the scary part is having to spin thousands of others to cover it.
Take her red nematode factory, for example. Initially, it was just about opening the factory. But to supply it properly, she ended up collaborating with Xishan on energy and gas. For the factory's future and the fifth-year relocation, she'd even introduced Sulfuric Acid Ants on empty land, ensuring a stable sulfur supply, which could be used as fertilizer or sent to the local government.
She'd also taken over the trash plant in the Banana Community as manager, just to cut costs and provide extra fuel for the factory, and to prepare for the fifth-year migration. Later, she partnered with Insect Girl Xiao Wei as a middleman, supplying rice, flour, oil, and daily necessities, sending hundreds of super bugs to slaughter for meat patties, then reinvesting the profits back into the factory, repeating the cycle.
Did it end up being meaningless?
Ah, no. The businesses had snowballed, growing bigger and bigger, until one had to open another to cover a gap. Break one chain, and the whole operation would be affected.
Jing Shu finally grasped the essence: if there's trouble, go to the local government. Need money, go to the local government. Borrow what you can, don't rely on anyone else.
She had become the kind of capitalist she had despised in her past life. But as she said herself, "I hate big corporate capitalists. But if it's me, let's pretend I didn't say that."
Now she had to account for her shares in Xishan and the biotech research company, not to mention the smaller ventures. She spent days basking in self-indulgence. Of course, her return had stirred the whole family, especially with all the rare items she brought back.
Not to mention fresh blood and bamboo rats, which she planned to raise personally in her room. That showed just how invested she was in them.
Meanwhile, batches of feed bugs were released.
Grandpa Jing had work too, setting up a dedicated breeding section in the backyard. With temperatures now below minus twenty Celsius, the family kept the villa warm 24/7 with the boiler heating system, so livestock wasn't at risk of freezing.
Jing Shu, in the Cube Space, had already bred a huge batch. She planned to replace as much fresh grain as possible with feed bugs over the next few years. Since there wouldn't be much fresh vegetable root during migration, she was breeding as many as she could, as many as possible. Freeze-drying them later would save space.
Wu City news predictably welcomed the Herb Association's triumphant return, but didn't go into detail, only briefly mentioning the imperial capital competition. The insider stuff couldn't be disclosed.
It didn't matter. The highlight was Jing Shu, wearing a big winter coat, waving as she got off the plane and shaking hands with Jin Tianci, which was broadcast everywhere.