As soon as the medicinal wine was ready, the liquid dark and shimmering within the glass, Li Yuetian immediately clamored to come fetch it. Jing Shu had no choice but to tell Li Yuetian that she would deliver it the next morning.
Jing Shu took a swig of the turtle-snake wine to test the potency. The taste was sharp and spicy, hitting the tongue with the heavy, bitter undertone of concentrated Chinese herbs. Her throat burned as if a fire were about to burst out from her chest; her whole body flushed with a sudden, prickly heat that radiated to her fingertips. If one were to drink this in minus 70 degrees Celsius weather, it would certainly warm the body from the inside out. The only problem was, she really couldn't accept the harshness of the flavor.
Grandpa Jing, on the other hand, smacked his lips in satisfaction as the old man tasted the brew. He enjoyed it immensely, ending the draught with a hearty shout, "Good wine!"
The turtle used this time was the only one the family had, a specimen picked up by her Eldest Uncle's son, Su Long. When Jing Shu last went to Xishan, she hadn't seen any turtles in the flooded streets, so she would have to find an opportunity later to search the muddy banks for some old softshells.
So in the Jing household, they drank the precious turtle-snake wine themselves. The rest of the stock was just ordinary snake wine.
Jing Shu cleaned the snakes, removed the cold innards, and soaked the bodies in baijiu with a moderate ratio of aromatic Chinese herbs. In this way, she brewed ten bottles, each stored in a 1 liter glass container. By then, their stored supply of baijiu was nearly used up, leaving the remaining jars empty.
She couldn't help thinking about brewing more alcohol. After all, several batches of grapes in the Cube Space had already ripened into heavy, purple clusters. When she had some free time, she planned to make red wine, white wine, and rice wine all at once. Compared to the bite of baijiu, drinking a glass of red wine daily would actually be quite nice.
That day, when the temperature finally climbed to 34 degrees Celsius, she had already eaten a hearty breakfast. She put on a fully enclosed raincoat, the heavy plastic sealing out the humidity, carried the wine bottles in a sturdy bag, and headed toward the big mall next to the Banana Community to deliver the bottles to Li Yuetian.
Wu City's temperature was slowly dropping again. In a few months, it would fall to around 10 degrees Celsius. By then, the relentless daytime rain would chill people to the bone. Even though the government distributed free plastic raincoats, few people wanted to leave the relative dryness of their homes.
Just like now, Jing Shu walked through the torrential rain while others, clad in their flimsy plastic coats, trudged slowly along the broken pavement. Where water pooled in deep, gray mirrors on the road, there were often middle-aged women crouching in the muck to scoop up red nematodes to trade for a pitifully small ration of contribution points.
At this hour, most people outside were heading to the communal canteens to fetch food for their families. Few wanted to eat on-site anymore. Most went out wearing only a raincoat; there was nothing else underneath the plastic.
The relentless storm meant clothes and bedding were perpetually damp and smelled of mildew. Some people had managed to dry their laundry after hanging it for a full week. They dreaded stepping out into the rain again, because once they were wet, they would have to sleep cold at night, suffering miserably in the damp sheets.
She understood all too well. Having lived through the apocalypse before, she knew: during the day, people only wore plastic coats to work or fetch food. Even the women catching red nematodes nearby looked indistinguishable from men. After all, everyone was bald now, their heads smooth and wet under the rain.
On the first floor of the mall were three large canteens. The Ai Jia Canteen, run under her Third Aunt's supervision, had specialties like "Salt and Pepper Maggots" and "Pan-Fried Mushroom Eggs." The food was tasty but a little expensive, which attracted a middle-income crowd among the poor.
The Ai Guo Canteen boasted large, affordable portions, drawing many hungry patrons into its steaming interior.
At this moment, the Ai Guo Canteen was in chaos. People were shouting in a discordant tangle of voices; a heart-wrenching scream tore through the humid air, and many crowded around the entrance to watch the scene.
Jing Shu ignored the noise at first, heading straight upstairs toward Li Yuetian's office on the second floor. Unfairness was constant in this world. She couldn't manage it all.
"Hold her down, a few of you! Someone, shave her head. I refuse to believe this nonsense any longer," a harsh voice barked from within the crowd.
"No! Please, don't! I won't eat here anymore, I'll never come again. Let me go!" a desperate voice pleaded.
Jing Shu, originally about to leave the area, stopped in her tracks. She turned sharply, tightened her grip on the bag of wine, and ran toward the Ai Guo Canteen.
"It's her. It's got to be her." Jing Shu's heart raced chaotically against her ribs. The rain had been falling for months, yet someone still refused to cut her hair and kept eating at the public canteens. There was only one person it could be.
Last month, Jing Shu had already warned her Paternal Third Aunt: if a woman with very long hair came to the canteen and refused to cut it, she must be informed immediately and the woman must be held back. But there had been no news. Her aunt even confirmed such a person had never appeared. As for the other two canteens, she had no idea.
In her previous life, Jing Shu had met this woman in the Ai Jia Canteen. But in this life, no matter how she searched, she couldn't find her.
Of course, with a population of over a hundred thousand in the Banana Community, data entry errors weren't impossible. Just as she had given up hope, today she unexpectedly heard that specific voice.
Jing Shu slapped her forehead. Of course. Her aunt's Ai Jia Canteen had tastier food but higher prices. The Ai Guo Canteen was cheaper. With her stingy habits, it made sense that Zijin might choose the Ai Guo Canteen instead.
And because of her rebirth, the butterfly effect had changed everything. Her Third Aunt had become the manager of the Ai Jia Canteen, introduced famous dishes like "Pan-Fried Mushroom Eggs," and raised the price tier; that in turn had driven Zijin away to the cheaper option.
Her hand trembled slightly as she carried the wine, her steps quickening over the slick floor. In her fully enclosed raincoat, she cut through the crowd like a domineering executive, shouting, "Move aside! Make way!"
Her strength was terrifying. She shoved through two clusters of people in an instant. Those who wanted to curse fell silent the moment they saw her looming figure in the dim light, holding heavy bottles of liquor.
Anyone who could afford such a high-quality raincoat and carry alcohol these days was a powerful figure not to be provoked. Most quickly cleared a path for her.
That was the harsh reality of the apocalypse.
And there she was: the woman from Jing Shu's memories.
Zijin's boyfriend once told her, "When your hair reaches your waist, I will marry you." But when her hair finally grew that long, the news came that the boyfriend had died in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort. From then on, Zijin never cut her hair again.
Zijin always said, "If I keep my hair long, one day he'll come back to marry me. That's what gives me strength to keep living."
Zijin was also the very woman who had infected Jing Shu with red nematodes because she refused to cut her hair. Yet this woman lived frugally every day, saving scraps of food, and later gave them to Jing Shu's starving family when they were on the brink of death.
Zijin even led them to dig up carrion for food, migrating thousands of miles (roughly thousands of kilometers) on a grueling long march, and somehow surviving the impossible. They endured the hardest of times together; but in the end, Zijin was the one who didn't make it.
Before she died, Zijin said:
"I feel like he's been protecting me all along."
"I know," Jing Shu had replied.
"You're the only one who believes he's still by my side."
"Is that why you saved us back then?"
"Yes."
In truth, Jing Shu had only been humoring Zijin at the time. Jing Shu never imagined what would happen afterward, or that a few simple words of affirmation could bring life-saving food in the apocalypse.
No matter what, for that kindness alone, she was determined to let this woman named Zijin live well in this life.
"Stop right there!" Jing Shu shouted. Just as the guard raised the metal clippers to shave off Zijin's long hair, she rushed forward and yanked the tool out of the guard's hand.