Wang Fang was stunned. "People don't even have enough to eat now. How long are we supposed to wait? Who's going to buy your feed for poultry?"
The hardest days of the apocalypse were only just beginning. You had to turn up the heat on the frog at some point. Jing Shu shook her head. "Wait for my notice."
Su Yiyang snatched the phone. "Jing Shu, we'll sell when you say so. Don't mind your aunt. She doesn't get it. That's all, bye."
He hung up in a rush. She lifted a shoulder. In this life she'd changed a lot of outcomes. In the past he would never have dared make that call. Having real backing made all the difference.
She didn't expect another call only a few days later. She thought aunt in law would be pushing again about the Red Nematode Feed Processing Factory, but it was Su Yiyang's voice on the line. "Jing Shu, get your mom and come quick. Su Meimei tried to kill herself."
"Hm?" On her end, she and Zijin were in the warm workshop shaping cocoons of silk floss, the final step for quilt cores, pressing them into different sizes for silk duvets and silk clothing.
Honestly, she was shocked that in half a year she'd raised so many silkworms and stockpiled enough silk for clothes and quilts. Even so, after she and Zijin sorted for more than half a month, it was only enough for ten quilts and one set of padded clothes per person. She wanted to raise more and hoard more. These were consumables. In the apocalypse you could never have too many layers.
When she'd heard Qiao Lan`s was due soon. Grandma Jing had been sewing diapers and baby clothes from homegrown cotton. But with the cold deepening and the countryside short on comforts, she wanted to stitch little jackets and quilts padded with silk, good as blankets and clothes both.
So here they were, picking out the offcuts and stuffing them into tiny garments as quilt cores. Perfect.
And now Eldest Uncle said Su Meimei had tried to kill herself. That troublesome woman. Ever since they'd sent her father back to the old home last year, Jing Shu had paid her no mind. A blind woman whose body leaked pus from head to toe wasn't going to stir big waves.
"Is she dead?" Jing Shu asked flatly. In her past life, that woman had killed her. You didn't just put hatred down because you said so. It was a lifetime's shadow.
She heard aunt Wang Fang's displeased voice on the other end.
"She didn't die. But Su Meimei's husband Zhang Zhongyong called and told us to take her back. He said if she's going to die, she shouldn't die at his place. It's bad luck. Isn't that infuriating? She's not his real sister. Why should we take her? We cut ties already, so don't come to us. Let her die there. She's his wife. He can't just ignore her."
Eldest Uncle grabbed the phone again. "Don't talk like that. If she's really on her last breath, we should at least see her once and claim the body. Jing Shu, ask your mom to go have a look."
Jing Shu tapped her knuckles together and almost forgot. Who were the accomplices in her past life? Su Meimei, dragging along her husband Zhang Zhongyong and the homewrecker's family. None of them would get a pass. As for the chief culprit Su Meimei, two short years into the apocalypse and she already couldn't take it? She ought to savor the days ahead. A devilish smile tugged at Jing Shu's lips.
"Alright, Uncle, I got it. Wait at Xishan and we'll go together."
She told Zijin to keep working, then called her mother and explained the situation. Su Lanzhi was silent a long time before saying, "If she's really dead, we'll see her off one last time."
The dead always outweighed the living. No matter the sins in life, they blurred after death, and people sighed instead. Which was why Su Meimei being alive was better for everyone. Most importantly, she could keep making Zhang Zhongyong miserable.
Her parents got off work early. She piloted the amphibious shark submarine to meet them, swung by Xishan to pick up Uncle Su Yiyang's family, then headed for Zhang Zhongyong's new place. She knew the way perfectly well.
After Su Meimei's home was flooded, they'd moved somewhere a bit better than Xishan but far worse than Banana Community.
The area had been nicknamed Venice Water City. Nearly half the buildings were underwater. People still lived in the remaining upper floors. At first this place wasn't flooded, but ten months of daily rain did what it always did. Unlike Banana Community, the terrain couldn't drain. First the ground floor flooded, then the second, and now the fifth.
The city center's water hadn't receded. You still couldn't see the tallest buildings. They said the water had risen higher.
They couldn't drive in. The local transport was planks skimming over water. After parking, she ferried people twice, then climbed through a window.
Zhang Zhongyong's personal circumstances weren't bad, so he occupied an entire unit by himself. The door was wide open. Inside, the crying was deafening. One listen and she knew it was Zhang Hanhang.
They hurried in.
It was a two-bedroom unit, but plenty of people were living there. Cramming in both families made it tighter, and the stench turned the stomach.
"Well, finally. Come take her away. If you don't, I'm done," a woman said, hands on hips, orchid fingers cocked, impatience all over her face.
Wang Fang bristled. "Who are you? Where's Zhang Zhongyong? Get him out here. She's his wife. Why should we take her?"
"Who am I? I'm Zhang Zhongyong's current wife. Who do you think?" The woman tossed her head and yanked the crying child on the floor. "Drag this money-losing thing out too. Useless at work and eats like a pig."
Zhang Hanhang howled louder. Seeing Jing Shu's family didn't stir a flicker in him. A year ago the boy had a lively glow and a bit of chub. Now he was skin and bone.
"Tch. A mistress dares to yap? Didn't Zhang Zhongyong say he'd ship you out? How do you still have the face to stay here?"
"You—"
Su Yiyang stepped in. "Enough. Let us see Su Meimei first."
The woman kicked at the child. "Lead them. Or are you waiting for your mom to die before you're happy?"
"Wuu wuu..." The boy cried as he led them toward the bathroom. The reek came from there.
Jing Shu followed, brow furrowed, and saw Su Meimei lying crammed in the bathroom. She could hardly believe it. How could someone change so fast? In just one year she was unrecognizable. Jing Shu cleared her throat. Maybe the hatred wasn't as sharp as she'd thought.