"You mean you're telling everyone that not only does Lao Sun owe me money, but that he's also paying me extra to issue a false statement saying he doesn't?" Jing An had been irritated these past days over his public quarrel with President Wang. He had never done anything to abuse his authority in obtaining the glass, so he wouldn't admit fault. At worst, he could withdraw his shares and work independently, making up the lost profits from the tempered glass deal elsewhere. He didn't know why the short debt video had gone so viral in Sun Yinrui's professional social circles, and he truly couldn't understand Lao Sun's strange motives of overpaying and then demanding a denial.
No sooner had he finished speaking than his phone rang with an incoming call. The screen showed Sun Yinrui's name.
Sun Yinrui had never connected the old personal debt with the sudden, organized public exposure of his business misdeeds. It was obvious someone was behind it, organized and deliberate in targeting him. After more than twenty years of knowing Lao Jing, he realized Lao Jing didn't understand these underhanded, modern tactics at all.
Most importantly, Sun Yinrui had only ever boasted to his son in private. Seeing every private word appear verbatim in public social circles proved that this unlucky kid had leaked the information. And the person exposing him was a master manipulator, most likely a business competitor.
This master only revealed one major scandal per day, first stirring public opinion, then arousing moral outrage, hiring armies of online supporters to amplify it, and finally dropping what appeared to be irrefutable evidence that would leave Sun Yinrui with no escape. Facing this onslaught, Sun Yinrui decided he had to start by refuting the simplest claim, the debt, to try and clean a small part of his reputation, handling each matter one by one.
Earlier that day, Sun Yinrui had returned home in a black rage and brutally whipped his son Sun Zijian with a leather belt, leaving the young man's back bloodied. Still unsatisfied, he realized through his fury that this unlucky kid had been bragging to his girlfriend, Xiao Cao, about his father's business acumen and shady profits. Now it seemed Xiao Cao had been bribed or turned by the other side.
"Spend money. Throw it all at this. Make Xiao Cao testify that she only said those things because she was paid to slander me. You handle this, you unlucky kid."
Sun Zijian wailed in pain and fear. He honestly couldn't remember everything he had told his now missing girlfriend, but if he didn't admit to something, he felt his father would beat him to death. In that moment, Sun Zijian felt truly innocent and trapped.
…
Jing Shu saw the call was from Uncle Sun on her father's phone and immediately answered it, carefully starting the recording function on her own device. Then came Uncle Sun's indecent, furious tirade. It was full of complaints about Jing An taking the money and failing to perform the requested duty, claims that he was just trying to save face for both of them, and blunt threats warning Jing An to delete all posts from social circles immediately or face severe consequences.
Jing An's face darkened like a thundercloud as he listened. "I don't understand," he said, his voice tight with anger. "Why did you give me 200,000 yuan and ask me to fabricate that you never owed me money. I'll keep 100,000 of it. That's exactly what you owe me, the principal. I'll return the rest to your Alipay right now. That's it, Lao Sun. From now on, you go your way, and I'll go mine."
Beep, beep.
Jing An hung up the call. Within minutes, 100,000 yuan was electronically returned to Sun Yinrui's account.
After calming down slightly, Sun Yinrui began to panic. He'd lost his rationality in anger, forgetting that Lao Jing was famously upright and incorruptible, someone who wouldn't typically use underhanded methods against him. But the sophisticated, damaging words circulating in the business social circles clearly didn't come from a man like Lao Jing. He'd just attacked the wrong person.
Sun Yinrui frantically called Jing An back and bombarded his WeChat with groveling audio apologies, but it was too late. The entire previous call had been recorded by Jing Shu. She edited it slightly for clarity and posted it online, including the clear threats about "facing consequences." That night, the recording caused another huge public outcry. By the next morning, the official Wu City police department social media account announced that the case of threats and attempted bribery had been officially registered for investigation.
Sun Yinrui's first desperate step didn't clear his name but instead confirmed the bribery attempt against Jing An with what was now irrefutable public evidence.
One scandal per day, with a shocking twist at the end. Let the situation slowly ferment and release its full, enticing, destructive aroma.
This day was also the scheduled day for Jing Shu to pick up her grandparents from the countryside. Since the plan had been made in advance with her third aunt, there weren't any unexpected issues.
They lived in a quiet rural town more than 100 kilometers from Wu City. The eldest aunt, Jing Pan, had married into a local fruit farming family there. The second aunt, Jing Zhao, had married into a small city about 50 kilometers away and ran a successful tobacco and alcohol shop.
The third aunt, Jing Lai, had married into Wu City over twenty years ago. She had one daughter five years later and had damaged her health in the process, becoming unable to have more children. Her husband's traditional family favored sons and increasingly looked down on her and her daughter. Jing Lai, being strong willed, eventually divorced and moved back in with Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing in the countryside to care for the elderly couple in their old age.
Jing Lai did own a small two bedroom apartment in Wu City, part of her divorce settlement. Her daughter, Wu You'ai, was now a graduate student and stayed there on weekends when not at university.
So today, Jing Shu not only picked up Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing but also brought Jing Lai back to her Wu City apartment so she could be closer to care for her daughter for a while.
The drive to the countryside town took about an hour and a half. Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing had packed many extra items, since they'd be staying at the villa for over a month. Their accustomed belongings, favorite teas, bedding, and tools had to be taken along.
"Child, take some of these apples and bananas for the road."
"Your third aunt made some fresh fried twisted dough sticks, just in case you get hungry."
"Here are some fried fish pieces I made yesterday, so you won't starve on the way."
"Drink a little of this crucian carp soup first. I got up early this morning to make it." Grandma Jing handed over a still warm thermos with hands covered in gentle wrinkles and raised blue veins.
The love of elderly grandparents is often expressed in the simplest way, by constantly trying to feed you.
With elders like this, there's no need for long winded concern. One word, do. Whatever they give you, you eat it. If they say have some more, you just nod and eat more.
Jing Shu obediently drank a whole small pot of the rich, milky white crucian carp soup, ate a whole fish, a plate of crispy fried fish pieces, and five large twisted dough sticks before Grandma Jing finally waved her hands. "Stop eating now, child. Wait until lunch at home, and I'll cook a proper meal for you."
"All right," Jing Shu said, smiling so widely her cheeks hurt, feeling an immense, warm joy. After ten years of longing, seeing her grandparents again, alive and well, was wonderful. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She said, "You guys settle the luggage in the car, I'll go for a short walk to stretch my legs," before running off to a secluded corner to collect her emotions.
After composing herself, Jing Shu didn't just walk. She drove several kilometers further to a local beekeeping farm she had researched. The beekeeper, an older man with leathery skin, was very professional and asked Jing Shu numerous detailed questions, types of nectar sources in her area, flowering seasons, primary pollen sources, etc. Jing Shu, with her city background, didn't know much.
Finally, following the beekeeper's practical advice, Jing Shu chose Italian honey bees, a variety known for the highest honey production and royal jelly secretion. They required long, reliable nectar flow periods, he warned.
She purchased a starter box of bees with a young, mated queen and all the necessary tools, an uncapping knife, a soft bee brush, a feeding device, sheets of foundation, a hand crank honey extractor, a proper beehive, and frames. Each box contained the queen bee. The beekeeper gave many rapid fire instructions, place the hive close to abundant nectar plants and not too far from a clean water source.
Back in her car, out of sight, Jing Shu combined a dedicated 1 cubic meter space in the Cube Space with the edge of the six plots of farmland. She added a shallow dish of water nearby and infused it with a single drop of Spirit Spring so the bees would have immediate food and water upon introduction.
The farm in the Cube Space would provide abundant nectar and pollen every single day, year round, a perfect, perpetual source.
The hive, once placed, was in flat, dry, and perpetually "sunny" terrain under the Cube Space's gentle light. The environment satisfied all the conditions perfectly. Once released, the bees quickly adapted, buzzing to life and flying in orderly patterns around Jing Shu's flowering vegetable fields.
Another major task for post apocalyptic living conditions was completed. The future outlook improved further. Satisfied, Jing Shu returned to the countryside house, loaded up the car with Grandma Jing, Grandpa Jing, Jing Lai, and a small mountain of luggage, and drove them all back to Wu City.
After several days of drinking the diluted Spirit Spring, Jing Shu's appetite had clearly doubled, her digestive system seemed strengthened, and her body was undergoing subtle but noticeable changes.
She felt stronger, more alert, and her reflexes were sharper. Her speed in practicing the algorithms for the fifth level Cube had improved measurably each day. At this accelerated rate, she was confident she could solve it fast enough to activate the fifth level Cube Space within a month.
That evening, as expected, Grandpa Jing and Jing's Dad got into another heated argument over dinner. They hadn't seen each other for over a month and had somehow missed each other's company. After some minor bickering and mutual consolation, they ended up drinking tea together in the living room, watching the evening news, and discussing national affairs like old comrades.
The problem, as always, lay with those very national affairs. Their interpretations and opinions differed wildly, and the debate was on.
===
Since some of the narration is from Jing Shu's POV, I've decided to mix the usage of "Jing's Dad" and "Jing's Mom" with their actual names, like Jing An and Su Lanzhi, depending on the situation.
If a passage is clearly from Jing Shu's perspective, I'll use "Jing's Dad" and "Jing's Mom." That said, please forgive me if I 'accidentally' use Jing An or Su Lanzhi in spots where it's still from Jing Shu's POV. I'm trying to be as consistent as possible, but sometimes it really comes down to perspective. In some cases, maybe my version of Jing An might have been better rendered as "Jing's Dad" in your opinion. It's all about perspective, after all (￣▽￣)ゞ
Who knows—in the end, I might just bulldoze everything and stick with Jing An and Su Lanzhi throughout anyway.