Jing Pan still wanted to pack more glistening pork belly for Grandpa Jing. He had had bad teeth and could only handle fatty meat, but after his second spring, his teeth grew back and everything tasted great again. A man who never brushed before started cherishing his teeth, often running his tongue over the new, sharp edges. In the end, they didn't take extra pork belly. Grandma Jing ached for her eldest daughter, watching her move around the kitchen. It hadn't been easy to suffer through and finally stock some food.
"Then take good care of your second sister. Your father and I are heading out."
"Okay, Mom. Come again for the New Year."
Grandma Jing said, "How about you come stay in Wu City for New Year instead. Jing An bought us a retirement place, it's big. It's time we spent a New Year at your brother's."
"Okay." Jing Pan wiped her eyes in secret, her hand brushing away a stray tear. She couldn't bear to part.
Before they left, Wei Chang asked Jing Shu if she had channels to sell piglets. She lifted a brow, her expression thoughtful. "I will send them there. You will get a better price than in the countryside."
They had to go eventually. The RV rolled past the rutted, waterlogged lanes, its tires splashing through deep puddles, and left the village behind. It merged onto the main road with a low hum. Grandma Jing sighed, sipping goji jujube tea while the steam curled toward the ceiling as darkness pressed against the windows.
Grandpa Jing smoked his long-stem pipe, the embers glowing faintly in the dim cabin. Who knew what was on their minds. Wu You'ai had already slipped into her sleep pod with a stash of snacks she had bartered for and dove into work, the light from her tablet illuminating her face.
Soft music played in the RV, a gentle melody against the sound of the rain. Xiao Dou stood on the glass counter, peering into the distance with a tilted head. Every so often, the bird let out an uneasy Cluck cluck cluck. For more than twenty days, Xiao Dou hadn't left the RV once, like something terrible was waiting outside in the shadows.
Jing Shu's heart skipped too. People always said poultry were the most sensitive before a disaster. Xiao Dou was the most pampered on Spirit Spring among all the poultry in the villa. It must have sensed something in the shifting air. She had to pick up the pace on her preparations.
After twenty-something days, she finally returned to the villa in Wu City. She had to admit, living in the RV was making her claustrophobic despite the luxury. It was great in every way, except the space was too small to stretch out her limbs fully. Stepping into the huge villa again, she almost felt it was too empty, her footsteps echoing on the polished floors.
With the red nematode wiped out, it was a mixed bag for the survivors. The bad part was livestock had lost their primary feed source. The state had stored plenty of red nematode patties, but that wasn't a long-term plan and wouldn't last. So the authorities decisively ordered half the poultry slaughtered, which meant Jing An was run ragged at the center.
The good part was greenhouses could grow vegetables again, which had Su Lanzhi busy every day at the Planting Industry R&D Management Department expanding production across the city. The ripple effects kept Jing Lai's canteen slammed too, with workers lining up for every meal.
By mid-December, Wu City hovered a few degrees above zero. The red nematode was gone, and the sky's hammering rain had eased to a lighter drizzle, but the floodwaters hadn't receded from the low-lying streets. People got used to the status quo and assumed, at worst, it would just stay like this.
No one expected that in just over ten days, Earth's crust would start surging like mad, kicking off a full year of frequent quakes.
She remembered the exact day the first one hit. In her previous life, the rain had stopped and the world felt peaceful. Everyone thought the nightmare was over and started making plans for the future. Then the quake arrived. A terrifying mega-quake that split the asphalt and toppled buildings.
That year was true panic. People lived inside fear every minute, their ears straining for the sound of shifting stone. At first the dead still drew tears and mourning. Later, most went numb. If you were lucky, you lived. If not, a quake took you whenever it pleased.
Those who lived still had to survive. In the deepening cold, they stripped clothes from corpses for warmth, the fabric stiff with grime. They scavenged for supplies among the ruins and worried that the ground under their feet might suddenly cave as they walked.
Watching the dwindling rain fall, Jing Shu thought, "When the downpour stops, a major earthquake will strike. In the face of natural disasters, all living things are insignificant.
There are two main things I need to prepare for now. First, keep the whole family safe through a year of earthquakes. Stock enough food, but don't look too rich, and avoid visiting areas prone to major earthquakes in the coming year. Second, prepare everything for the America trip and make sure the family is safe while I'm gone."
Back at the villa, she drafted a detailed plan on her computer and started ticking tasks off the list. She wrote down every major quake site she remembered from her past life. Of course, her routes this life were different from the last, so she would still hit sudden sinkholes or even a big quake she didn't expect.
She needed full contingencies, not blind faith in past-life memory. That's why she had Grandpa Jing handle so much of the construction work. It was one reason he had hurried home.
She kept turning over one idea in her mind. If an earthquake hit, she could keep everyone in the RV and drive to flat ground to ride it out. It was the safest approach, except the heavens loved jokes.
Some people vanished mid-step into the dark earth.
Some vehicles vanished mid-drive.
Earthquakes were terrifying, but hollow ground was worse, a silent trap waiting beneath the surface.
She had stockpiled a lot of rebar earlier, the steel rods stacked in the garage. Inspired by Qian Duoduo's kill-grid gift, a new idea snapped into place. She would build her family a tool for survival.
The concept was simple, but the craft was hard. For an old-school artisan like her grandfather, Grandpa Jing wasn't fazed by the complexity.
It worked like a parachute, or an umbrella. In danger, it would snap open into a big net to support a person and fire two tethered rebar darts into nearby walls or earth to anchor.
So if the ground vanished underfoot, the device would pop open beneath you, while two lines shot out and caught you midair.
That was just step one, a small family safety tool. To avoid spooking Grandpa Jing, and to make him see why it mattered, she even went out with him and "fell" into a big pit first. The idea came after he saw the danger firsthand.
He refined it with his own insight, lightened the skeleton and materials using lightweight alloys, and finally forged it into a backpack-like frame. You could wear it as a cold-weather coat and use it as a rain umbrella too.
She was very happy with the gadget, but earthquakes called for more layers of protection. She started adding features and cranking up the difficulty of the design.