"I don't think it's just that. This family is loaded, so they're probably renovating to live in even more comfort."
"You guys don't get it. With all those frequent quakes lately, they're probably reinforcing the foundation. If heavy rocks come tumbling down from the mountain again, this will help keep them safe. You could say they're building a fortress."
Soon enough, rumors about the villa's extensive renovation spread through the community like a sudden wildfire. Some people said it was for safety, while others claimed it was for unnecessary luxury. Jing Shu didn't even need to come up with excuses herself; the curious neighbors had already made up plenty of reasons for her. It was quite convenient, really.
That was the perk of being on good terms with Xiao Li. After she gave him two kilograms of fine white flour and twenty fresh, precious eggs, he brought over a group of reformed convicts to help her work for free.
Still, she couldn't let people labor for nothing. Besides, laying foundations and setting heavy stones was backbreaking, grueling work that strained the muscles. So, she took a few hundred kilograms of processed red nematode feed from the Xishan storage and made sure everyone had enough to eat and keep their strength up. It wasn't a job that would be done in just a day or two anyway.
Since the red nematodes hadn't fully bred yet, the stock from Xishan had to be used to supply the growing factory. The workers had been enthusiastic these days, earning points through their hard work, and those points could be exchanged for food. That meant a daily consumption of at least a few hundred kilograms.
Later on, she didn't even plan to sell this particular batch of red nematodes. Otherwise, she wouldn't have borrowed a million virtual coins from the government just to get that extra 8% share. She intended to trade all of it with Su Mali for compressed natural gas instead.
Part of it was for her own personal use. Cooking and heating the floors all burned through gas fast, and the weather was getting colder by the day. She couldn't just shut down the natural gas or the boilers, not with the villa and the massive German MAN truck both relying on them. Plus, she had all those vulnerable poultry and fresh vegetables at home; if it got too cold, they would freeze to death.
The other part was for the factory. They needed fuel to cook the food for the many workers. There was no way she would serve raw meat packed with who knows what kind of parasites. A few cases of infection might be fine, but if dozens of people got sick, the government would have every excuse to come after her for being a "black-hearted" merchant.
Before the factory could reach full self-sufficiency, she estimated that there was still about a million virtual coins' worth of red nematodes left in the Xishan stockpile. After trading some with Jin Baba and turning some in as tax, then accounting for the recent consumption, there wasn't much left.
Come to think of it, how much did she originally spend on these red nematodes and processed foods?
Oh right: it was around two or three hundred thousand virtual coins. And now, just a little over a year later, they were worth roughly three million. That was a ten times return! That was a straight-up fortune. It was so damn satisfying.
Of course, once the Red Nematode Breeding Factory was up and running, things would stabilize. After accounting for labor, materials, and energy costs, the profit margin would probably be two to three times. It was less than before, sure, but the scale was enormous; it was dozens of times bigger than last year's.
By late morning, heavy truckloads of stones were still being delivered, piling up along the dusty roadside. Professional workers were busy drawing boundary lines and marking foundation areas, the entire site buzzing with organized activity.
"Come on, everyone, warm yourselves up! Don't catch a cold, you're all the pillars of your families," Grandma Jing called out with a bright smile, handing out paper cups filled with steaming hot porridge dotted with green vegetable bits.
Grandpa Jing passed Xiao Li a crumpled cigarette as they chatted, watching the busy crowd with satisfaction.
Who in the Second Unit didn't love helping out at Jing Shu's place? The pay was great, and there was always food. Every time they came, there would be something different; last time it was fragrant, golden egg pancakes, and the time before that it was warm, thick soy milk that left everyone craving more. So when word spread that the villa needed help, they all volunteered in a heartbeat.
No one was allowed inside the villa itself; that was the rule. So they stayed out on the road, sipping their hot porridge while keeping a watchful eye on the convicts at work.
Meanwhile, Xiao Dou strutted around with the two aggressive Lion Heads and their small goslings, patrolling their territory. Not a single bug or intruder was tolerated, not even the pregnant Da Hua.
Satisfied that everything was finally under control, Jing Shu left things to her grandfather and headed for the factory.
...
Outside the warehouse, large crowds had gathered in layers, three deep inside and out.
"Holy shit, look at that truck unloading—are those sacks of rice? And fresh vegetables too?"
"No way, is that Lao Wang carrying eggs? Ten... twenty... no, at least fifty of them! Damn, lucky bastard, getting assigned as a loader. I would kill for a job that close to eggs."
"I don't even need to eat one, just let me sniff an egg and I will be happy."
"How much is one single egg again?"
"Exactly twenty points."
"Robbery!"
"The red nematode buffet is only one point!"
"Be grateful, man. Out on the black market, one single egg is twenty-five virtual coins. This is basically cheaper, and besides, who else gives you a filling one-point buffet anymore?"
"That's not even the best part. The cafeteria's buffet is goddamn delicious. There's pepper-salt flavor, crispy fried, spicy, and even finely minced nematode meat for old folks and kids. The boss must be rich as hell to waste actual, flavorful seasoning! Once I level up to an LV2 employee today, I will get two free buffets a week. Life is good."
"You hear the latest rule? If your points don't increase for thirty days straight, you're out. And this morning, Zhang Zi and Lai Ziba caught a bunch of freeloaders trying to sneak into the factory, and they earned themselves twenty valuable points each. Easy money."
"You think that's bad? People outside are paying twenty virtual coins just to get in. And some idiots still want to slack off. They will regret it soon enough. That's nothing. You know what is wild? The warehouse isn't even locked. Director Su said everyone is trusted to behave themselves properly, and anyone who catches a thief gets a huge reward."
"Pfft, as if that would work. The second someone starts stealing, everyone will join in. Who can resist those eggs just sitting there?"
As the workers gossiped at the entrance, a sudden, loud scream came from inside.
"What the hell happened?"
"Go check it out!"
The crowd surged forward, but they couldn't squeeze in. After a while, Director Su and Manager Tuo arrived, followed by the always-on-call police officers. That's when everyone found out—a supervisor and his subordinate had been caught stealing, hiding two eggs each in their pants.
Someone saw it and ratted them out.
"Take off your pants and show everyone! If there's nothing there, I will eat shit live!"