"We don't lack virtual coins right now, so let's keep the meat. When the next batch of piglets comes, I'll trade piglets for supplies. Once we process this meat and store it in the cellar, it'll keep three to five years. Rice's getting harder to trade for too, even the government's down to old stock. Looks like you're right, we should stock more food." Wei Chang finally cooled off after Jing Shu's reality check. He'd been planning to scale up black pig breeding.
Out at the Livestock Breeding Center, those two were known as reliable pig hands.
Jing Shu nodded. It was never wrong to stash more food now.
If this had been before, butchering so many pigs would've been a huge deal. Now no one had the time to mind it. Jing Pan and Grandma Jing focused on Qiao Lian, while Wei Zheng and Wei Chang rushed to process the pork. In the apocalypse, grain was precious, so not a single part of a pig could go to waste.
Later, Wei Chang brought over thirty singed and cleaned pig's feet. "I know you love soy-braised trotters with yellow beans, so I brought the trotters. You've got the RV, cook them yourselves. Don't you dare refuse. If I'd hired Wang Mazi to slaughter, he'd take his cut in offal anyway. You helped so much, I've got to thank you right. And you came to help us, yet we're making you cook your own meals, that's on me."
He looked so wounded at the thought of rejection that Jing Shu cheerfully hauled the load into the RV and started plotting dinner with Wu You'ai, roast trotters tonight, braised trotters tomorrow.
The RV only came up when lunch rolled around and Grandma Jing said she'd go back to cook. Everyone finally realized Jing Shu had arrived in an RV.
"How small's an RV that you can still cook in it? You're guests in my house, don't you dare run back to cook, that'd make me look bad." Jing Pan insisted, dragging Jing Shu back for the local specialty, cornmeal porridge mixed with greens.
By apocalypse standards, it was a hard-won good meal. Jing Shu glanced at Grandma Jing and shook her head. With one pot like that, never mind the taste, the portion wouldn't even fill her alone.
Jing Zhao said enviously, "Mom, I want to see what the RV looks like too."
"You and that mouth, no. You'll go brag all over the village, I know you." Grandma Jing shot her a look. "I know you want to eat their food. We'll bring you a serving later." Jing Zhao just grinned.
Still, the RV was a magnet for country curiosity. Even Eldest Aunt wanted to see how you could cook inside. Jing Shu took Jing Pan, Wei Chang, Wei Zheng, and Jing Zhao around the outside first, letting them gawk at the door.
"Wow, it's huge, there's even a second level."
When she let them step up, the kitchen and dinette on the left stunned them. Jing Zhao gaped at the shiny counters and full setup.
No one dared go farther than the doorway.
Wei Chang rubbed his hands, embarrassed. "Didn't know it'd be this spotless. Can't compare to a mud house. We won't go in. We've got mud and pig blood all over us. We'll just look from here."
"Right, it'd be a pain to clean. Just bring us a taste later," Jing Zhao added, thinking only about food.
Folks in the countryside didn't really get what a luxury rig meant, only that it was expensive. Honestly, they'd be more shocked by a room full of rice. At least that was tangible.
Jing Shu didn't force it.
Grandma Jing had planned to cook, but with Qiao Lian looking rough, her mind was on the baby. Jing Shu took the stove instead and turned out a full table. Grandma Jing barely ate. Jing Shu, on the other hand, cleaned every plate without wasting a crumb.
The day flew by. That night, she truly enjoyed the two-level RV. Aside from the bathroom being a bit small and needing daily maintenance, everything felt great.
Her bedroom had a 270-degree panorama window with a wide-open view. With the defensive grid that Qian Duoduo had gifted activated, she slept easy. Wrapped in the fresh silk duvet Grandma Jing had just finished, she felt blissfully cocooned.
After enabling defense mode, she even tested it with a little snake and some bugs from outside. Get too close and you'd get shocked in seconds. The longer you lingered, the stronger the current. In five or six seconds, the snake had charred black.
She was very satisfied with that level of protection, though it did burn extra fuel. She'd thought Qiao Lian would deliver in a few days, but one wait turned into more than ten. By mid-November, Jing Shu started getting anxious.
Wei Chang hunted for oxytocin every day, even made a run to Wu City, but came up empty. He traded for a few other medicines, but not the right one.
The doctor came three times, and each time his face looked worse. In the end he left with a sigh. Jing Shu caught a whisper to Wei Chang, either force the delivery, or keep waiting, but difficult labor was certain. When the time came, don't even think about saving the mother or the child, you might lose both.
That shook everyone. They rushed Qiao Lian to the hospital and chose to force it.
There wasn't any experienced traditional doctor around who knew proper techniques, so it was a hail-Mary shot. Jing Shu was helpless too. Her Spirit Spring wasn't some mythical spring that made childbirth easy with a sip.
Everyone went to the hospital. Jing Zhao stayed home to watch the house and cook. In the afternoon, after eating, Jing Shu grabbed lunch boxes and headed out with Wu You'ai to deliver food.
The "hospital" was just a prefab shed. Screams rolled constantly, like a little hell come to life. Jing Shu searched for a long time before spotting Qiao Lian with Eldest Aunt and Grandma Jing at a bed. She couldn't help frowning.
Apocalypse rules meant there weren't many restrictions. It was an open floor you could walk into, though only women could enter. Wei Chang and Grandpa Jing smoked by the gate.
Inside, it was all women in labor. Who'd have thought this tiny rural area still had so many births. There were no drugs, so everyone relied on nature.
Qiao Lian's case was worse than the rest. The doctor was pressing hard on her belly while she lay strapped to the delivery bed, legs raised. She screamed without stopping, shouting that she didn't want to live, didn't want to give birth. The wails around them weren't any better.
"It's still not working. Maybe we should go straight to a C-section."