novelraw Chapter 620: This World
Chapter 620: This World
Jing Shu said with a headache to Grandma Jing, "Grandma, Little Gua Gua is male."
Male, what does that mean?
Being male means he can’t lay eggs.
Not being able to lay eggs means freeloading and wasting food! That’s how it was seen in the Jing family. Just like with Da Hua and Gou Dan, Grandma Jing would check Da Hua’s backside every day to see if she had laid any eggs, and would favor her with extra nutrition, like feeding her more insect feed and such.
As for Gou Dan, he didn’t get treated nearly as well. Anyway, in the Jing family, male animals, aside from breeding purposes, had almost no other use—of course, that didn’t include the Mutation Dinosaur Chicken. A single male of that kind had to mate with dozens of hens, quite a challenging job, and Grandma Jing did take extra care of him.
"Just a male?" Grandma Jing was suddenly taken aback. She sized up Little Gua Gua once again, from top to bottom.
Jing Shu added fuel to the fire, saying, "And it’s a male goose."
Jing Shu originally thought that upon hearing this, Grandma Jing would throw Little Gua Gua away, or say something like, "Freeloading on our food."
But to her complete surprise, Grandma Jing actually cherished him, clicking her tongue and saying, "This must be some new breed of male goose, right? I’ve never seen one that looks like this. Maybe when it grows up, it can breed with Da Hua and see what we get."
"Oh dear, we’ve been talking about this for so long, the meal I made for you is getting cold. Hurry up and eat." Only then did Grandma Jing seem to remember that Jing Shu had come home, laughing as she hustled Jing Shu inside, still holding Little Gua Gua in her arms and refusing to let go.
Jing Shu clicked her tongue twice. Little Gua Gua truly has a big charm, to be so welcomed by Grandma Jing. Looking at the fat chicken, which seemed listless, Jing Shu, feeling really sorry for it, gently kicked the fat chicken. "I’ll give you something delicious to eat in a bit, let’s go."
Thereupon, the fat chicken followed her in, spirited and joyful.
Mrs. Jing went to work as expected, and Wu You’ai was still doing research in West Mountain and seldom came back. And then there was Third Aunt Jing Lai. The recent situation was that food was getting scarcer by the day; even the reserves of grain were nearly depleted. What else could they do but make earthen cakes themselves?
It was a massive undertaking: using a great deal of Virtual Coin to collect soil, then employing people to filter it, and then to make it into edible earthen cakes, which they would sell for a slightly higher price to recover Virtual Coins, and finally, to store some earthen cakes.
The Township Government proved to have foresight. After all, they had survived the fourth year of the apocalypse. Earthen cakes, at least, were still edible now. What was important was that they currently had mudslides, making the soil somewhat easier to dig. If they didn’t take advantage of this and store more earthen cakes now, the time might come when there were no mudslides and not even earthen cakes to eat. That time was fast approaching.
The temperature in Wu City was already beginning to drop rapidly, and the mudslides would start to solidify. By then, without sufficient food reserves, many, many people would starve to death before the apocalypse’s new food developments arrived. Just like now, digging soil had also become difficult.
As Jing Shu listened to Grandma Jing talking about recent happenings in Wu City, she devoured the food on the table like a whirlwind. Grandma Jing had made it specially for her, knowing that she liked meat, and always made sure it was substantial. Knowing that Jing Shu liked drinking soup, she had also purposely made a big pot of hen broth.
"Your Third Aunt’s task is important. There are quotas from above. Before the temperature drops, she must store enough food, and these days she is even on the front lines."
"Your mother’s got it tough too—these days, food is hard to come by. I heard that they’re even willing to spend a fortune on energy to start up the Artificial Sun, all in a rush to produce food."
Grandma Jing scratched Little Gua Gua’s back as she sighed. In the past, she always thought the Township Government was the backbone of everything—as long as they had the Township Government, there was no problem that couldn’t be solved, and the common people would always have food.
Indeed, that had always been the case. Huaxia always had reserves of grain to stabilize everyone. Everyone had a sense of security knowing that as long as the reserves didn’t run out, they wouldn’t reach the point of utter despair.
But these past few months had seen too much change. Even Third Aunt Jing Lai said the situation was grim. Mrs. Jing had been sighing for days. Perhaps the common folk simply relied on digging for Virtual Coin, content as long as there’s something to eat.
Jing Shu’s return was like restoring that backbone. Suddenly, Grandma Jing felt a sense of security. She quietly looked at Mr. Jing, who was busy collecting goods, and then whispered to Jing Shu, "The food we have at home, we can’t let others know, no one, especially not now when the situation is so severe. I keep feeling like the sky is about to fall; having more food stored seems futile. I hope I’m just being paranoid."
Look, even the elderly knew how serious the situation was now.
"Of course, we must, Grandma. This time, I’ve brought back a lot of food and other items, all to be quietly stored away, not to be told to anyone. I’ll show you what I’ve brought back in a little while," Jing Shu said with a hearty laugh, in an exceptionally good mood.
After dinner, Jing Shu began to organize the goods she had gathered from the Imperial Capital. Of course, some had been taken out from her space to be properly presented, like various fruits and other foods, just perfect to replenish and enrich the villa’s quality of life once more.
When the fresh fruits of various colors were brought out, not only could Grandma Jing hardly take it all in, but even Mr. Jing and the usually silent Grandpa Jing were gaping. They had never seen such fruits before.
"These melons, peaches, and even durians and cherries can be eaten directly. Afterwards, we can plant them ourselves, and then we’ll always have them to eat."
The variety of fresh fruits at Jingshu’s house wasn’t that great either. The greenhouse was only a few dozen square meters, and besides honey beekeeping, only some common fruits were grafted and planted. But with the apocalypse, the variety of fruits had naturally dwindled to a pathetic few.
There were not only various fruits but also other fascinating items. After showing everything, she began to boast about the mountainous piles of toilet paper and daily necessities, and mentioned that some gifts were for a certain father, and others for Grandpa, which delighted Grandma Jing. However, when they saw the large equipment at the end, everyone was completely astounded.
"What’s this for?"
So Jing Shu explained the principles and methods of using the freeze-drying equipment: "Heh, from now on we can freely make nutritious freeze-dried milk powder, nutritious Dried Vegetables, anything can be freeze-dried, and they won’t spoil if stored for a while. We won’t have to worry about wasting milk anymore."
Although the family had many chickens, and with the addition of the fat chicken, the number of eggs laid daily was enormous. Turning eggs into other products was much more convenient; with many varieties that sold quickly, eggs were easier to offload. Milk, however, was more troublesome.
But with this freeze-drying equipment, for the Jing family, it was really like adding wings to a tiger, as precious as a plow and cattle were in ancient times. Grandpa Jing immediately pushed Little Gua Gua aside, and he and Mr. Jing moved the equipment to the backyard, ready to quickly freeze-dry whatever short-shelf-life food they could from the house.
Huh, it seems the menfolk don’t really like Little Gua Gua much, do they? Jing Shu thoughtfully watched as Grandma Jing once again held the precious Little Gua Gua in her arms.