Jing Shu spat out a mouthful of beef and choked on it, the savory sauce stinging the back of her throat. Under the table, Xiao Dou, who had been waiting for scraps with a sharp, bird-like focus, darted forward. The hen's beak snapped as it snatched a big chunk before bolting toward the RV's door, its claws clicking frantically on the floor. The hen even looked guilty, its small head tilting side to side as if it knew it had done something wrong.
"Forget it, let's count it as a supplement since Xiao Dou's feathers aren't even fully grown yet." Jing Shu glanced toward the corner of the cabin. There, Xiao Dou peeked at her with one round, dark eye, clearly testing the waters to see what her reaction would be. If she ignored it, the hen would definitely do it again next time.
Instead, Jing Shu raised a fist in warning, her knuckles pale in the dim light. Xiao Dou panicked. The hen grabbed the beef tighter and rushed to Grandma Jing's feet, clucking pitifully while hiding behind her legs. The hen wasn't stupid. It knew the only person in this family who would protect it from a beating was Grandma Jing—of course, that was only if it laid more eggs each day.
"Slow down when you eat, child. Want me to cut you some more braised beef?" Grandma Jing asked, her voice soft with worry. The past two days, Jing Shu hadn't been feeling right. Her parents were worried sick and stopped bringing up work entirely. They just focused completely on taking care of her, their movements quiet and attentive in the small space of the RV.
"Cut more, and bring some braised eggs and quail eggs too. If we don't eat them, they will spoil."
"Alright." Su Lanzhi set down the metal shelf she was sorting and went to slice the beef, the knife making a dull, rhythmic sound against the cutting board.
Jing Shu licked the salty meat juice off her finger, and memories of her past life came back like a cold shadow. Liang Xin was a textbook fake nice guy. He loved flattering people, hyping them up, and pushing them forward whenever something came up. He would praise people behind their backs in a way that always found its way to them, boosting his image in their eyes while keeping himself safe.
He was good at sweet-talking, but once his own interests were touched, he just couldn't hold back his true nature.
The more Jing Shu thought about it, the more it amused her. She had to let it out. In her last life, she hadn't bought the "solar water collector," which had cut into some people's interests. That was why she had left the group in resentment back then.
She tapped her fingers against the glowing phone screen and typed: "Liang Xin, what is exactly do you take me for? Are we lifelong friends, or did we share some deep, pure bond in high school? If I fell into a pit right now, would you save me or not? Let me ask one last thing. I have got money, sure, but what is that got to do with you? Just because Jack Ma is loaded doesn't mean his money is yours. So what is any of this got to do with you?"
For the first time, Jing Shu spoke bluntly in the group. She had always been reserved, the type who lurked quietly in the background, never posting, never chatting, and definitely not clinging to anyone's thigh for support. In her last life, if she had clung tightly to Su Mali, she would have lived well. Everyone in the apocalypse had done that, but she had stayed silent, too proud and self-reliant deep down.
She never imagined that in this life, she would have become the thigh for others to cling to.
The group went dead silent for a moment, the scrolling text coming to a complete halt. She didn't know what everyone thought, but the words left her feeling good. Sometimes you just couldn't hold back. It was better to make yourself comfortable than to always be polite.
What she didn't know was that, at this moment, she had already become a boss-like figure in the group. Before the apocalypse, she had been invisible, and afterward, everyone hugged Su Mali's thigh instead. But after recent events, anyone with eyes could see Jing Shu's power might even surpass Su Mali's.
Liang Xin finally realized she wasn't Su Mali. He had thought she was easy to talk to because she never said much and always hung around with Su Mali. Instead, he got chewed out in public for everyone to see.
He hesitated for a while before replying: "Sure, it's got nothing to do with me. But we have got classmates, and some of them are close with you. Can't we just ride the coattails a little?"
"Nope."
The awkwardness was brutal, hanging in the air like a physical weight. If this had been the Jing Shu from her last life, a whole bunch of people would have jumped in to criticize her. But this time, not a single person spoke up to defend him.
For the first time, Liang Xin realized that the quiet Jing Shu, once she opened her mouth, could corner someone until they had nowhere to escape. His face burned as the lively group chat went ice-cold in an instant. It was humiliating, but he had no way out of the conversation. He finally asked: "Then what about Su Mali?"
[Maria]:"Come on, sure, we're old classmates. it's got nothing to do with me. I will help where I can, but I'm not your driver or your delivery service, alright?"
Just when it seemed deadlocked, Wang Chao jumped in, flipping the conversation entirely. Jing Shu remembered him. Back then, he followed Zhang Lingling to sell patties, ate zombie-tainted ones for a few days, and somehow made it out fine. People said it was only because he had a kid on the way that he was desperate to earn money.
[Wang Chao]: "@Xiao Shu, can I beg you for something? After my kid was born, the state gave us subsidies, but my wife doesn't have milk. We adults can starve, but seeing my baby hungry rips me apart. He is almost a year old now and malnourished. He can only crawl. When I had heard you're managing Xingfu Shiyuan, I felt like I had seen hope. I just want a chance, a trial job. I want to feed my kid and his mom. If the place is in Xishan, I can walk two hours to get there. I don't need a ride."
Another classmate spoke up: "Same here. I don't need a car either. My elderly parents are eating red nematode patties every day. They're malnourished, can't digest it, and I don't know how long they will last. Just give me some work, and as long as I can get a bit of other food, I will do anything, no matter how hard."
Jing Shu had lived through too much in the apocalypse. She had seen at least a thousand people die in front of her, in every way imaginable. She had killed her fair share too. To her, classmates didn't mean much anymore.
But she just couldn't bear to hear about suffering kids. In the apocalypse, children were the only real hope. In every doomsday movie, even if all the adults died, a child would have survived—sometimes a boy and a girl, since the producers knew one kid alone couldn't repopulate humanity.
"Fine. No cars. If you want to work at Xishan Base, it's too late tonight. So, the day after tomorrow, meet at the base at ten in the morning. Think about your skills and what you can't do. Whether you stay or not will depend on you."
"Thank you so much!" The messages of gratitude flooded the screen.
[Liang Xin]:"So are we still having that class reunion or not?"
[Maria]: "Whoever wants work, meet at Xishan Base the day after tomorrow like Jing Shu said. That counts as a reunion, doesn't it? Oh, and by the way, I need all kinds of live bugs. I will trade food for them. If you're interested, bring some to the meetup. They have to be alive, preferably mutated, but regular ones are fine too. The more species the better. I will only take one of each type, so find as many different ones as you will."