"Think of a solution? What solution could there be? Right now, it's just a bit of silt seeping up, but give it some time, and it'll erupt like a volcano. When that happens, half the city'll be buried. It looks harmless for now, but that mudslide disaster's bound to come."
Its destruction was permanent. Once the mudflow stopped moving and solidified, it turned into something like concrete, swallowing buildings and supplies whole. Farmland, already scarce, would become even rarer.
In the apocalypse, even soil had become a precious resource.
Jing Shu narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. This wasn't something she'd faced in her previous life. No matter how much she'd prepared back then, fate always had new surprises. Still, thank goodness Grandpa Jing discovered it early, giving her time to plan.
"I just hope the land around the artificial sun isn't filled with this sludge," Su Lanzhi said worriedly. "If the yield drops, how many people are gonna starve?"
If it was only their family's soil that went bad, it'd be fine. But if this wasn't an isolated case...
Jing Shu thought Grandpa Jing had brought it up at just the right time. He wasn't wrong to worry either, and this was the perfect chance to get everyone preparing.
"I noticed it a few days ago when I took Xiao Dou up the hill," she said. "The mountain's covered in this same mud, and it's already trickling downward. It's not just us. I just didn't expect it to seep up through our own yard. What's worse, it's affecting the crops. That's why our harvest dropped so much lately.
Food's already scarce, and now this starts happening? We need to act fast, at least to make sure our plants don't suffer."
Grandpa Jing's brow furrowed. "If this stuff spreads everywhere... We already lost the sun, the temperature's freezing, and now even the land might fail us? People could at least grow lettuce or garlic that didn't need sunlight before, but if the soil's gone bad too, then what the hell are we supposed to do?"
His words sank into silence. Everyone knew the truth. The only reason they lived so comfortably in the apocalypse was because of their crops. Even families with stable government jobs only got a pitiful share of vegetables each day, while their family enjoyed fresh produce and fruit whenever they wanted.
"Grandpa, don't be too pessimistic," Jing Shu said. "We still have soilless cultivation. The higher-ups will find a way. For now, let's just focus on ourselves." She looked around at everyone. "We not only have to deal with the yield drop, we also need to stock up on food and supplies. Grandpa's right, another disaster could be coming any time. Whether it's the weather or the soil, it's only gonna get harder to grow crops and fresh vegetables."
Grandpa Jing puffed twice on his cigarette and nodded. "You're right. Let's take care of ourselves first. I'll tell your Paternal Eldest Uncle and Paternal Second Uncle's families tomorrow, maybe warn some friends too. But as for us, we need to find a way to fix this yield problem. I've already swapped out several batches of soil, and it's no use. The mud keeps seeping up from underground. The deeper I dig, the worse it gets."
"Let's eat first," Grandma Jing said, waving her hand. "We'll think about it after dinner."
Grandpa Jing coughed a few times. "And we should start saving food. There's a lot of us, and we eat like kings every day. No matter how much we have, it won't last forever."
Grandma Jing snorted. "From now on, our granddaughter's the one in charge of how we eat. She's the one who brought in all that food. If you say to ration it and she goes hungry, then what? You know how big her appetite is."
Grandpa Jing gave an awkward laugh. "Today's my birthday. Cut me some slack."
The whole family burst out laughing. Jing Shu chuckled too. She hadn't come back to this life to suffer again. She wanted to eat well, live well, and sleep well. If her quality of life dropped, what was the point of all this effort?
"Let's focus on fixing the problem," she said. "We don't need to ration food. Everyone here's got a big appetite, and we don't need to starve ourselves."
And she meant it. That big table of food couldn't even be finished by more than ten people, but once everyone had eaten their fill, Jing Shu would start her "clean plate mission." She didn't care if the dishes had garlic, ginger, or chili—she'd finish every bite. And even then, she still needed a late-night snack, or she wouldn't be able to sleep from hunger.
After dinner, Jing An went to clear the table while everyone headed out to the yard to check their vegetable patch.
The villa's front yard was small. Aside from a narrow walkway, every bit of space was used. They'd expanded the backyard a while ago, so the chickens and ducks were all moved there, and their old coop had been turned into a mushroom room.
Even though Jing Shu had stocked up on plenty of dried mushrooms years ago, most were gone by now, either eaten or given away as gifts. Only half remained. To prepare for worse days, they still grew new mushrooms regularly. There weren't many varieties, but once she found those lost seeds, she planned to cultivate more for storage in the fifth year.
Aside from the fish pond they built early on, the rest of the yard was packed with vegetables.
Before, walking down the path meant being surrounded by lush greens—bok choy, spinach, lettuce that ripened in ten days, and even seasonal crops like sweet potatoes and potatoes. Now, most were withering, sparse and weak.
At first glance, the soil looked fine. Jing Shu grabbed a shovel and dug a few times. Sticky sludge clung to the metal blade.
Most of the vegetable roots had turned pale or yellow, some so waterlogged they were glued to the dirt.
Grandpa Jing pointed at them. "Normally, sand soil can still grow stuff, but this? This feels like cement. Look what it's done to the crops."
Su Lanzhi hesitated. "Should we pull the roots out and keep them in water for now, then replace all this soil?"
Grandpa Jing shook his head. "It won't wash off. It's like cement, see? The longer the roots stay in it, the harder it gets. If we try to pull them out now, they'll just break."
It wasn't actually cement, but that strange mud carried the same destructive nature as the fourth-year mudslides. Right now, the ground was still soft, but once the eruption ended and the cold hit, it would harden like stone.
Seeing how bad it'd gotten, Jing Shu sighed. "No saving it. Pick whatever's still edible, dig up the rest, and replant. We'll just have to lose a batch of seeds."
Grandpa Jing sighed too. "How can we keep growing on land like this? Thank goodness the balcony vegetables are still fine."
Grandma Jing quietly wiped her eyes, then went to count the remaining seeds in storage. Luckily, she'd kept some aside.
Jing Shu squinted, thinking. "Looks like we'll have to completely fill and seal the yard's soil, then coat it with cement so the sludge can't seep up. After that, we can build a greenhouse on both sides, maybe even add double-deck racks for more crops. I'll find a way to get better soil. That'll block the mud and give us more planting space. It'll be cramped, but we'll make it work."