Chapter 7 Stockpiling

After visiting the granary, the village chief and Yao Lingling took Qiao Yu to see the vegetable greenhouses and orchards. There was indeed a wide variety of fruits and vegetables here, even grapes and watermelons. Qiao Yu became increasingly satisfied, feeling that Luling Village was truly a treasure trove.

The four of them climbed halfway up the mountain and reached a stream. The village chief, who was leading the group, stopped and pointed at the stream. He said to Qiao Yu, "This is the border of our village. Follow the stream up for about two miles. There's a waterfall called Broken Mountain Waterfall. It divides the mountain in two. Our village is right here. This water flows down from the mountain. It's so clean and sweet. The water used in the village is drawn from here and can be drunk directly. Xiao Qiao, try it!"

The village chief then demonstrated by scooping up a handful of water from the stream and drinking it all in one gulp. Yao Lingling and Ningning, standing nearby, had already started drinking. Seeing this, Qiao Yu followed suit and tried a few. It was indeed sweet and delicious. While not as good as the "fruit water" from the Yushu space, it had no off-flavor at all.

The village chief kept looking at Qiao Yu. Seeing her look of admiration after she finished drinking, he couldn't help but say proudly, "Delicious, right? It's because of the beautiful mountains and rivers here that we can grow such good crops! And it's not just good here. Cross the river and go over there, deep in the mountains. Although there are no crops, there are still many good things. The mushrooms that the villagers often eat are picked from there. There are many kinds of mushrooms. You can eat them fried or boiled. They are very delicious. Xiao Qiao, do you want mushrooms? If you want mushrooms too, I'll find some people to help you pick some."

Qiao Yu has loved eating mushrooms since he was a child. Now that he heard that he could bring some wild mushrooms, he nodded repeatedly. "Okay, then I'll trouble the village chief. Can you get me some mushrooms as well? I've almost finished looking at all the fruits and vegetables. They're really good. If it's convenient in the village, I'll take them all. Is that okay with you?"

Upon hearing this, the village chief smiled so hard that his teeth showed. "Okay, okay, okay! Of course not! We were just worried that we couldn't sell them!"

By the time the four of them finished their tour and went down the mountain, it was almost eight o'clock in the evening.

After dinner at Yao Lingling's, the village chief took Qiao Yu to visit the villagers' homes to see their livestock. Although they didn't visit every household, after visiting a few, Qiao Yu was able to confirm that the livestock there were not contaminated, and immediately decided to buy.

Luling Village has a total of 105 households, and nearly every one raises pigs and chickens, with an average of three to five pigs and dozens of chickens per household. Because the village is relatively small, every Luling villager selects four or five households to slaughter their pigs for the entire village to eat during the Lunar New Year. The remaining households keep their pigs, raising them to ensure they are plump and strong. The heaviest is said to weigh 320 kilograms. In addition to pigs and chickens, over 50 households raise cattle and sheep. The village chief stated that, aside from the working cattle, all other animals can be sold.

Qiao Yu thought she could first count the number of pigs sold by each household, and see how many heads and weights they could possibly hold. Then she could consider how much to buy. After all, pork prices were high, and beef and mutton weren't cheap either. If she bought less, it would be more cost-effective to save the money and buy more food elsewhere.

The village chief also felt that this was safer, so he promised her that he would start counting from tomorrow, and then sent Qiao Yu back to the Yao family.

The village chief was incredibly efficient, compiling a list of every household's livestock in just half a day. The village had approximately 300 pigs, 2,000 chickens, 50-plus cows, 400 sheep, and over 1,000 kilograms of eggs available for sale. Qiao Yu did a rough calculation and decided to take all the chickens, cows, sheep, and eggs, but only 200 pigs.

After the decision was made, the village chief quickly mobilized the entire village, splitting them into three groups: one to pick vegetables and fruit, one to slaughter livestock and remove meat, and a third to bag and transport the mushrooms to the granary. As for the mushroom harvest, the village chief said they would wait until Qiao Yu was about to leave before sending anyone out. This way, the mushrooms would be fresher and last longer.

The villagers began working early on the third day. Qiao Yu woke up a little late, and after breakfast, she strolled to the granary to see if she could help. Seeing her offer of help, the villagers cheerfully waved her off, saying she was a guest and shouldn't be asked to work.

Qiao Yu watched them happily busying around, feeling a pang of guilt. No one understood better than she how precious food would be after the apocalypse, yet now, she had plundered all their life-saving provisions. While every household in the village had food stored, who would complain about having too much food in the apocalypse?

Qiao Yu tried hard to suppress the reluctance in his heart. Thinking of the many PC buckets he had bought online before, he followed his memory and found the stream he had seen before.

Although there is "fruit water" from the jade tree, the fruit water has unique effects. If Qiao Yu were asked to use it to wash vegetables or take a bath, he would definitely not be willing to do so.

Qiao Yu had previously bought 5,000 25-liter PC buckets online, intending to use them to store tap water, but now there is obviously a better option.

Qiao Yu followed the stream uphill and soon arrived at the foot of the "Broken Mountain Waterfall" mentioned by the village chief. Qiao Yu found a relatively flat rock and carefully confirmed that no one was around before taking five PC buckets from the space and placing them on the rock to collect water.

For the past few days, Luling Village had been bustling with activity, leaving Qiao Yu as the only idle person. The waterfall flowed powerfully, and Qiao Yu spent his days soaking by the water, so the five thousand pc buckets were quickly filled with spring water.

Without the empty bucket, Qiao Yu had some free time again. In order not to waste his time, Qiao Yu started to go running in the mountains every day to improve his physical fitness. When he was tired, he would sit down by the waterfall, drink a bottle of fruit water, and then practice to induce the birth of jade seeds.

Her soul had returned from the apocalypse, but her body hadn't. Although her current body, blessed by the fruit water, was healthy and flexible enough, and her physical strength was much better than that of an ordinary person, it was still far from the level of her previous life.

Although Qiao Yu's physical improvement was not obvious due to limited time, it is gratifying that she has made new breakthroughs in the use of jade.

Qiao Yu discovered that the jade seed didn't need to be planted in the soil to open its buds; it was completely controlled by her will. She could even hold it in her hand and attack if she wanted. Furthermore, as her physical abilities improved, the vines it extended grew thicker and stronger, and their length gradually increased, from about half a meter at the beginning to nearly two meters now.

There are indeed a lot of things in Luling Village. The villagers go out early and come back late every day, rushing to finish the work. It was only after Qiao Yu came here for nearly half a month that there were finally signs of completion.

At noon that day, the village chief found Qiao Yu and said that they estimated that the work would be finished in two or three days. In the afternoon, he would ask a few villagers to go to the mountain to pick some mushrooms for Qiao Yu. He also said that the mushrooms on the mountain were all wild and he would not charge her any money.

Qiao Yu couldn't seem to cheer up after hearing this. During her time in Luling Village, she'd fully experienced the warmth and sincerity of the villagers. Although it was a transaction, they weren't fussy about haggling over every penny. Some grain with fractional weights were simply removed during registration. This might not seem like much once or twice, but when accumulated over so much grain, it saved her a significant amount of money.

Qiao Yu had experienced the end of the world and had seen too much of the darkness of human nature. She had thought her heart was as hard as stone, but now there was still a trace of tenderness.

Qiao Yu opened his mouth, words of reminder already on the tip of his tongue, but in the end he only uttered "thank you" and watched helplessly as the village chief walked away with a smile...

Qiao Yu walked to the edge of the waterfall, took out the mobile phone from his pocket, opened the chat interface with Yao Lingling, slowly typed a few words, but his finger hovered over the send button and did not press it.

If she told them, they might save more food, allowing her to survive longer after the apocalypse. But the food she would receive would be less... Besides, even if she told them, would Yao Lingling really believe it?

The message was ultimately never sent.

Qiao Yu closed his eyes and deleted the words one by one.

She is not Guanyin and has no mercy.