At eleven in the morning, the heat of the day beginning to settle over the compound, Jing Shu planned to clock out and head back to the villa. Unfortunately, Wang Danai reached out and tugged her toward the canteen for lunch, her grip firm on Jing Shu's sleeve. She felt a bit guilty as she looked at the older woman. All morning Wang Danai had been running around from plot to plot, checking soil and moisture, while she had only made a single, leisurely circuit of the grounds to see how her three medicinal crops were faring.
"I brought my own lunch, so I will not go to the canteen today," Jing Shu said, trying to decline politely.
"Come on. Bring it with you and we will still eat in the canteen together. Today's lunch is mushroom and garlic sprout soup with a little scallion on top. It is really good, much better than the usual fare," Wang Danai insisted, her eyes bright with the prospect of the hot meal.
Hearing about another clear, thin soup that likely lacked any real substance, Jing Shu truly could not muster any enthusiasm for the association's offerings.
"I will tell you a secret about our president if you join me. Come," Wang Danai coaxed, leaning in closer and lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Fine," Jing Shu agreed. Gossip was every woman's weakness, and she found herself genuinely curious about the mysterious leader of the association.
One lie always needed several more to back it up if she wanted to keep her secrets safe. Jing Shu had to climb into the amphibious shark submarine, the metal hull cool under her hands, and take her own meal out from the Rubik's Cube Space while the interior blocked the view of anyone outside.
She hesitated for a moment, looking at the varieties of food she had stored, then decided she would not wrong herself by eating a meager meal. Listening to a secret could take time, and she needed her energy. She would not bring anything too extravagant that would cause a riot, but at least it had to be enough to satisfy her hunger.
So Jing Shu carried over a heavy, four tier lunchbox, its metallic surface gleaming. Wang Danai blinked in surprise as she saw the size of it. "All that for one lunch?"
The lunchbox was practically a small trunk, occupying a significant portion of the table space.
"My lunch is yours too. I can't finish that much on my own," Jing Shu said, setting the heavy container down with a solid thud.
Wang Danai beamed, her face lighting up with a wide smile. Tagging along with Jing Shu was like getting a free meal ticket to a feast.
She had always assumed Jing Shu's food would be like theirs, modest portions of grains at most. Until Jing Shu opened box after box, the latches clicking open to reveal the contents, filling a four person table with an array of dishes. Wang Danai was stunned into silence.
"You eat all this alone?"
Jing Shu nodded casually as she sat down. "Yes. I have a big appetite when I am working."
"Uh." Wang Danai was speechless, her mouth hanging open slightly. Had she not claimed to have a small appetite just this morning? No, as she looked at the spread, she realized this was not about appetite at all. She clearly despised the canteen food and had brought her own superior supply.
Now Wang Danai understood the vast gap between Jing Shu's life and the lives of the other workers.
Jing Shu's "ordinary" lunch was a box of coconut sticky rice that smelled sweetly of the tropics, a box of braised meat glistening in a dark, rich sauce, a box of crispy salt and pepper mushroom, a box of fried fish and fried chicken that were golden-brown, plus an extra bowl of milky white soup sprinkled with fresh scallion. The rich, savory smell suggested a deep fish broth.
Each box was stuffed full to the brim. Four big boxes in all. Color, aroma, and taste, everything was there in abundance. The air around them became incredibly fragrant, the scent of the fried food and spices cutting through the humid air of the canteen.
People drifted over from their own tables, drawn by the irresistible smell, staring longingly at the spread from a distance.
Wang Danai swallowed hard, her throat working. Somehow even her favorite mushroom and garlic sprout soup tasted dull and watery now that she was looking at the braised meat. If this was "soup," what was that thin liquid in her own bowl?
This was the most ordinary food Jing Shu dared take out of the Rubik's Cube Space without drawing too much suspicion. She sighed softly to herself. She really should not have eaten here in the open. See, she had caused a scene just by opening her lunch.
"So it is you. I heard you are the representative planter for Wu City, the rep… representative?" A young lady stood with hands on her hips, her chin tilted up as if ready to confront a rival, but after seeing the table, she sucked in a cold breath, her eyes widening.
"Yes, that is her," Jiao Jiao said smugly, standing just behind the newcomer, but the next second she too froze at the sight of the food, saliva threatening to drip from the corner of her mouth.
Chewing a piece of fried chicken, the skin crunching loudly as oil glistened at the corner of her lips, Jing Shu said, "President Tie said that. I didn't make any such claim."
The young lady swallowed again, her eyes blinking rapidly as she watched Jing Shu polish off a big mouthful of coconut scented sticky rice. The rich flavor seemed to melt on her tongue just by imagining it.
"Damn it, what was I going to ask?" she muttered. All her righteous anger and the speech she had prepared dissolved into raw hunger. Her family never lacked rice, and there was meat every few days on their table, but when had she ever tasted fish broth this fragrant, or fried chicken this crisp and fresh?
Her stomach growled loudly in the sudden silence of the group. Jing Shu looked up in surprise, her chopsticks paused. "Do you want to eat some?"
The girl flushed a deep red with shame, looking as if she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She burst into tears before turning and running away toward the exit.
Jing Shu: "What… what just happened?"
"You are finished," Jiao Jiao muttered, gulping as her gaze lingered on the braised meat. "You made the young miss from this batch cry with your showing off." Then she ran off too, following her companion.
"Forget them and their drama," Wang Danai said, swallowing hard as she reached for a piece of the mushroom. "Let me tell you the secret. About our president." She needed to change the subject quickly, or she would drool to death right there on the table.
Jing Shu knew how powerful food could be in this era, but she had not expected it to deflate an opponent's momentum so completely. So this was the legendary starving-the-enemy tactic in action.
Fine. For this secret, she was paying a steep price in both food and attention. She tipped back the fish broth in a few swallows, the liquid warm and satisfying, and, in the blink of an eye, cleared two of the dishes. Even Wang Danai was a little frightened by the speed at which she ate.
"Our current president is a Daoist priest. Supposedly a real adept, often in seclusion in the mountains or the inner rooms. I have worked here for years and never seen him with my own eyes. Then one day…"
Ring ring ring.
Jing Shu's phone chimed loudly, the vibration rattling against the plastic tray. It was Wu You'ai calling. What could she want at this time of day?
"Hello? What is it?" Jing Shu asked, her voice steady.
Wu You'ai's voice came through the line, tight with panic and breathing heavily. "Jing Shu, Jing Shu, come home quick. Grandma fainted just now."
Jing Shu's head exploded with a sudden rush of adrenaline, the hair on her arms standing on end. In the second year of the apocalypse, she had protected her family well, ensuring they had the best food and safety. Nothing like this had happened since the world fell apart, except for the kidnapping of Wu You'ai.
"Wait there, I am coming now. Do not panic. What does grandma's face look like, pale or purplish? What caused it? Was it something external like a fall?"
Grandma Jing had high blood pressure and heart disease, chronic conditions they had managed carefully. She had never stopped taking her medicine these two years, as Jing Shu had made sure they had a steady supply. Even with daily Spirit Spring water to supplement her health, she never skipped her medication. It should not be those illnesses flaring up so suddenly.
"Her face is a little pale. Her breathing is fast, like she is short of oxygen and struggling to catch her breath. She was chatting and suddenly collapsed to the floor. I did not let the other person who was with her leave the house."
"Got it. Find a doctor first, anyone nearby."
"But… that person who was with her says he is a doctor."
"Then wait for me. I will be there as fast as I can."
Jing Shu hung up and ran toward the door, her heart hammering against her ribs. Her thoughts spun out of control, racing through every medical possibility, but all her hope fixed on the power of the Spirit Spring. She did not know if it could save a life in this specific situation, but it should be fine, right? It had never failed them before.
Behind her, Wang Danai shouted, "Jing Shu, your lunch, your lunch is still on the table!"
"Eat it. When you finish, pack up the lunchboxes and keep them for me!" Jing Shu called back, waving her hand without looking as she sprinted across the compound.
She reached the vehicle and pushed the throttle to the limit, the engine roaring to life. A trip that usually took an hour in the current terrain took only ten minutes. She even refueled the amphibious shark submarine once on the way, the fuel hissing into the tank, and nearly clipped the corner of a submerged building as she swerved through the streets.
At least she reached the villa, the gates coming into view through the spray of water.
All the while, her mind raced with questions. Why had Grandma Jing collapsed so suddenly without warning? Was it another hidden illness they had missed? But after drinking Spirit Spring water for so long, when others in the city fell ill with the various plagues and fevers, her grandparents did not even catch a cold.
Jing Shu knew the Spirit Spring's effects were profound. Her grandparents had not grown younger in appearance, but their complexions were much better and their energy was high. Grandpa Jing had even regrown several teeth he had lost years ago, clear proof that the Spirit Spring had incredible powers of regeneration and healing.