Although her farmland in the Cube Space could also be used to grow grain, it would take several days for a cycle, not to mention the need for processing, threshing, and shelling afterward. What Jing Shu lacked most right now was time. Her plan was pragmatic, to buy a large commercial batch first for immediate storage, then plant another batch in the space when that supply was nearly finished. That way, when she eventually brought home grown grain out later, it would look more natural, as if it had been processed from her earlier purchases.
First, Jing Shu drove to Wu City's massive wholesale grain and oil market, a sprawling compound dedicated to bulk staples. She purchased 100 bags of high gluten flour, each weighing 40 jin (20 kg), at 60 yuan per bag. She bought 100 bags of 20 jin (10 kg) vacuum packed Daohuaxiang rice, a premium brand, at 95 yuan per bag. She added 200 bags of 10 jin (5 kg) vacuum packed Thai fragrant rice at 70 yuan per bag, and 10 bags of 20 jin (10 kg) mixed grains and beans at 40 yuan per bag.
In the north, flour based food was indispensable. Pulled noodles, knife shaved noodles, and dough sheet soups were daily staples. Considering that flour was also harder to process from scratch later, Jing Shu bought extra. Her mother wasn't particularly skilled at making flour based dishes, but in the apocalypse Jing Shu would have plenty of time to practice and showcase what she had learned from her grandmother.
Thai fragrant rice was one of her personal favorites. It was fragrant, slightly sticky, and delicious whether eaten dry or as porridge, its aroma was impossible to hide. Egg fried rice made with it fully released the original fragrance of both the egg and the rice, creating an unbeatable, simple taste. Jing Shu couldn't help but salivate at the thought.
She also purchased 100 barrels of 5L peanut oil at 120 yuan each, and 30 barrels of 2L olive oil at 180 yuan each. Oil absolutely had to be stockpiled in quantity, since later she planned to fry chicken legs and fish pieces to store in the Cube Space as ready to eat snacks.
Jing Shu mentally arranged the 3 meter high shelving units already installed in her basement, planning to fill them with these supplies. She left the villa's address for delivery, paid the wholesaler 47,300 yuan, and then went next door to the equally vast dried goods wholesale market.
That part of the shopping was quick too, since the wholesale market didn't sell by the piece but by the sealed case. Each store specialized in different items. The varieties of dried goods were vast, and Jing Shu went from one shop to the next, hauling heavy cardboard boxes and burlap sacks into her car and then, when alone, transferring them directly to the Cube Space. She kept at it until both the car and her available space were full, only stopping as night fell.
She bought five cases each of sweet potato vermicelli, Longkou glass noodles, five spice cured pork, Cantonese style sweet sausages, Sichuan style spicy sausages, and Yili horse meat sausages. In the apocalypse, being able to eat real, flavorful meat like this was something Jing Shu hadn't dared to dream of in her previous life.
Of course, the bland, chewy bloodworms that came out of your body exactly the same as they went in didn't count as real meat.
She continued buying, two cases each of white fungus, black fungus, seaweed, bamboo fungus, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried tea tree mushrooms, dried beancurd sticks, tofu skin, kelp, preserved mustard greens, dried scallops, dried shrimp, dried fish maw, dried bamboo shoots, and dried squid. The list was extensive.
Jing Shu also made a note to later buy many 60L plastic storage boxes with airtight lids to repack the dried goods into. These could be placed directly on basement shelves. If she wanted something, she could take it out immediately. If she ever had to flee the villa, she could quickly move them all into the Cube Space.
The dried goods cost another 30,000 yuan in total. They were, in her opinion, some of the most cost effective supplies, needing no refrigeration, lasting for years if kept dry, taking up relatively little space, yet capable of expanding into many nutritious meals.
For example, one jin of dried black fungus could expand into 10 to 15 jin once soaked. A small handful could fill an entire plate. In the harsh economy of the apocalypse, she remembered, handing out a packet of dried goods to a local leader could smooth over almost any problem.
In contrast, dried fruits were much less practical for long term survival. Over time they could attract bugs or go rancid, often leaving more shells and pits than edible flesh, not filling, not long lasting, and with a shorter shelf life.
So Jing Shu only bought 100 jin each of a selection of her favorites, dried figs, macadamia nuts, pecans, roasted cashews, pistachios, red dates stuffed with walnuts, roasted chestnuts, raisins, almonds, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, five spice sunflower seeds, and caramel coated sunflower seeds.
Separately, she indulged in a major craving, buying 400 jin of Brazilian pine nuts at 80 yuan per jin. This was one of her absolute favorite snacks.
Her craving hit hard when she saw the bins of them, her legs practically rooted in place. In the depths of the apocalypse, survival often hinged on a small, personal faith. Her belief, her silly little mantra, had always been, to hold on, to survive until the day she could taste Brazilian pine nuts again.
And she had made it. She was here, and she could now eat them anytime she wanted.
It wasn't any easy feat to resist the urge to just sit down and start cracking them open right there in the market. No matter how many she bought, it felt like it was never too much.
Even though it cost her a staggering 69,000 yuan, took up a full 10 cubic meters of her precious Cube Space, and from now on could only be preserved inside that space to maintain freshness, Jing Shu felt it was completely worth it for the morale it would provide.
She remembered during the great earthquake refugee camp period, when everyone was crammed together in a giant warehouse. She had once watched a grimy child next to her lick every single sunflower seed shell for several minutes after cracking it, trying to get every last speck of salt and flavor. That night, Jing Shu couldn't sleep, haunted, wondering whether the child's seeds had been plain or five spiced.
Not licking your bowl clean after meals, not licking shells after cracking seeds, those were luxuries only the very wealthy or very wasteful could afford in the apocalypse. Now, Jing Shu happily spat out her sunflower seed shells onto a napkin, living the life of a "rich person" in advance. It was truly a fragrant, satisfying feeling.
"Look at the mess you have made with pine nut shells and seed husks everywhere. Just like your father, flicking cigarette ash around without a care. Clean up after yourself!"
That was definitely her real mother, no mistake. Her voice cut through Jing Shu's reverie.
After speaking, her mother glared pointedly at her father across the room. Her father quickly tried to appease her. "Yes, yes, you have worked hard today. I'll give you a foot massage tonight."
"That's more like it," her mother said, slightly mollified.
…
That night, while doing her final inspection of the Cube Space, Jing Shu was delighted to discover that the bucket of live shrimp and shrimp feed given to her by the fish seller had flourished. The shrimp had turned into schools of large, active crustaceans. They had become the overlords of the aquatic section, reproducing rapidly and producing countless translucent baby shrimp. The other small fish fry couldn't keep up with eating them all.
In order to prevent a shrimp population explosion that would unbalance the tiny ecosystem, Jing Shu reluctantly decided to host a shrimp feast tomorrow. It was a good excuse to test the taste of Cube Space raised food.
In the soil fields, the pickled mustard greens and cowpeas would be ready to harvest tomorrow. The other crops, red chili peppers, cabbages, white radishes, cucumbers, spring bamboo shoots, and garlic, had already been harvested once. The best specimens had been kept for seeds, while the rest of the produce was now neatly stuffed into 6 dedicated cubic meters of Cube Space storage.
She had always known the farmland in the Cube Space was abnormal, but she hadn't expected it to be so extreme. Even with such densely packed planting, every seedling survived and thrived, growing with impossible vigor. Each plant was large, plump, and full of vitality, cramming every inch of the soil without becoming deformed or stunted.
Taking stock, her 64 cubic meters of Cube Space were now carefully divided as follows:
1 cubic meter for the Spirit Spring
6 cubic meters for active farmland
19 cubic meters for poultry and livestock
8 cubic meters for the aquatic section
1 cubic meter for the mushroom logs
1 cubic meter for stored seeds
3 cubic meters for collected chicken, duck, and quail eggs
6 cubic meters for harvested vegetables
10 cubic meters for dried fruits and nuts
1 cubic meter for animal feed
1 cubic meter for cultivated bugs and mealworms for fish feed
7 cubic meters for packaged dried goods
Jing Shu also squeezed the seed potatoes, sweet potato tubers, and yam pieces the seller had given her into the corners of the farmland. She planned to transplant them to the villa's outdoor beds later, once the renovations were done, to create a visible source.
The bulk feed she had bought filled an entire small storage room at the villa already. For now, to save that feed, Jing Shu just tore off excess vegetable leaves from the Cube Space harvests to feed her poultry, using very little of the actual processed feed.
The next day, she moved the dried goods from the Cube Space and the remaining boxes from her car into the villa's basement. The massive delivery of rice, flour, and oil she had ordered also arrived. She had the delivery workers move the pallets inside, then later, when alone, transferred them onto the basement shelves herself.
The mountains of seasonings had already been placed over the past two days. With the addition of the grain and the temporarily stored dried goods, the basement was now nearly packed full, a beautiful sight of preparedness.
Seeing her villa now fully enclosed within the gleaming framework of tempered glass, like a giant lantern, gave her a deep, swelling sense of accomplishment and safety. The primary shield was up.
The pond and the underground water reservoir had been dug out, tiled, and waterproofed. With no leaks or seepage detected, the finishing work could continue in two days. The boiler room at the back was still under construction, and the chicken coop shed in the front yard hadn't yet been built, but progress was steady.
"Jing Shu," Uncle Chen said quietly, pulling her aside during a break. "Your father had a huge fight with President Wang at the company today. Someone reported him, saying he used his position for personal gain to obtain the best quality tempered glass from the company's stock at a loss. They're demanding your father be expelled, forced to repay all material costs within three days, and at the end of the month the board of directors will discuss this issue formally. You should be prepared." His face was etched with concern.
Jing Shu gazed at the glittering, expensive tempered glass walls now surrounding her villa, her fortress. Her voice was calm when she replied, "Wasn't this glass from an unsellable leftover stock? We even bought it at the company's own cost price. There was no loss to them."
===
Honestly, I'm still a bit unsure about how to best translate 静爸 (Jìng bà) and 静妈 (Jìng mā). They basically just mean Jing Shu's mom and dad. I've been tempted to render them as "Dad Jing" and "Mom Jing," or maybe "Jing's Dad" and "Jing's Mom." Another option would be to just use their actual names, like Su Lanzhi for her mother.
Also, the author tends to use "Jing Shu" quite repetitively in the narration. To avoid it sounding too stiff in English, I'll sometimes replace it with pronouns instead. Of course, you might still see "Jing Shu" pop up often, but I'll try to balance it out.
I'm still figuring out the style I want to settle on here, so forgive me if you notice small differences in terms or phrasing along the way (シ_ _)シ