Chapter 43 Work
Lin Xi rode a second-hand electric bike she bought for 600 yuan home, carrying the things she had purchased.
The journey that had taken her more than ten minutes under the scorching sun was quickly completed with the electric scooter. As she passed through the village paths, several people in the houses stared at her curiously. If she hadn't been riding so fast, they probably would have stopped her and asked her a few questions.
After parking her electric scooter, Lin Xi carried the purchased supplies home and sorted them. One bag contained cleaning supplies such as tissues and shower gel, while another pile contained a wok, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings, as well as rice, oil, and a day's worth of vegetables.
The reason for the daily vegetable allowance is that the old house did not have a refrigerator, so in the summer, vegetables had to be bought fresh every day.
Plump, round purple eggplants and bright red chili peppers—for lunch, I used my newly bought induction cooker to make braised eggplant and stir-fried pork with chili peppers.
Sweating profusely, Lin Xi finished cooking the two dishes and then hesitated about whether to take them to her room on the second floor and eat them with the air conditioning on.
Just then, footsteps and whispers in the local dialect came from the doorway.
Lin Xi looked up and saw three people wearing straw hats and carrying some tools peeking into her yard. Their eyes met, and the leader sized her up and down before turning to the other two and whispering:
“It really is this family. See, I told you, it’s the girl from Lin Lao Er’s family.”
"How did you recognize me? I've never seen me before."
"I've never seen her either. Lin Lao Er has been dead for so many years, and that girl has never come back to see her grandmother..."
Lin Xi watched them whispering to each other.
The woman in the lead finally raised her head and said with a forced smile, "I saw a little girl walking on the road yesterday, but I didn't have a chance to say hello. You must be Lin Yi's daughter, hehe, I live next door to your uncle."
“…Oh.” Lin Xi nodded lightly.
"How many days have you been back?"
"You've graduated from university?"
"Have you visited your grandmother...?"
As they walked into the courtyard, talking and greeting each other, their eyes curiously peering towards Lin Xi's house.
Lin Xi quickly stepped forward and blocked the doorway. Although her house was old and had not yet undergone post-apocalyptic renovations, she did not want strangers to openly look at it.
"Excuse me, something's come up at home," Lin Xi said, and then prepared to close the door.
She is facing the end of the world and doesn't expect her neighbors to help her. She just hopes that no one will hurt or bother her.
When her parents were still alive, she heard that people in the village favored her grandmother and uncle's family, and were envious of Lin Yi's family for doing well in Nanhua, buying a house and settling down there.
Even though Lin Xi's family was just an ordinary working class in Nanhua, in the eyes of the people in the remote Yunxiang, they were rooted in a big city, which aroused envy.
As the saying goes, apart from your parents, there are few people in this world who genuinely want you to have a good life. When you are successful, others are jealous; when you go from success to failure, others will still say a few sour things behind your back.
Lin Xi's refusal to see visitors displeased those outside her door.
The three men walked away talking in hushed tones. Although they were still whispering to each other, their voices were slightly louder, as if they were deliberately trying to make sure Lin Xi could hear them.
"This second Lin is no better than the eldest son's family. No wonder Xiufen didn't like them when she went to Nanhua."
"Why did you come back alone, young lady? Did you get into university? I heard it's easy to get into university in Nanhua."
"Hmm, they must have failed the exam. If they had, why would they have gone back to their hometown?"
"No wonder he doesn't do well in school and has no manners. His parents probably died early and he had no one to teach him..."
Lin Xi took a deep breath and blocked out the sounds.
When we sat down to eat, the stir-fried pork had lost its freshly cooked wok hei (the smoky aroma imparted by a hot wok).
While munching on lunch, Lin Xi reflected on why she had such a laid-back attitude. In school, she didn't strive to be a top student, just aiming for an average level. At work, she slacked off, not expecting any awards or recognition, just hoping not to have her salary docked. Now that the apocalypse is here, she's not even proactive in trying to escape.
If she hadn't discovered she couldn't die, she would definitely have chosen to lie down peacefully.
How can I get revenge for these insults?
What's the point of retaliating?
Lin Xi instantly made peace with herself.
After finishing lunch and locking the front door, Lin Xi took a shower, changed out of her sweaty clothes, put on clean loungewear, and went upstairs to her room where the air conditioning had been turned on.
At this moment, the yellowish air conditioner is humming and blowing out cold air.
Listening to the noise, Lin Xi thought that she shouldn't have to endure it for long.
She opened her laptop and received the documents and design drawings sent by Yu Shiyun.
The old house was demolished, and a two-story self-built house of the same size was built on the same land. It was still a three-story house with three floors above ground and three floors below ground, but with two additional basement floors.
Set aside a kitchen, a bedroom with a bathroom, and a relaxation room. The projector and sofa will be placed in the relaxation room, and a small portion of the area will be used to place yoga mats and some commonly used fitness equipment.
The remaining rooms were all converted into storage rooms with shelves.
In order to build a small farm, in addition to the supplies prepared in previous lives, there are also a large number of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and tools to stockpile.
[Yu Shiyun: As for the walls and escape routes, I will add them to the plan after I conduct an on-site inspection.]
[Lin Xi: okk]
[Yu Shiyun: My studio received a large order from Ms. Lin right after opening, and I am very honored to take on this project as our studio's inaugural work.]
[Lin Xi: Send me a screenshot of your handshake and flight information. I'll transfer you the money for your ticket and pick you up from the airport tomorrow.]
Yu Shiyun Studio's first order was from Yunxiang, a distant place. Lin Xi thought that if the studio had become famous three years later, it probably wouldn't accept orders from such a far away.
But now it's 2022, and Yu Shiyun's studio has just been established and doesn't have much success or fame yet. Although people are interested in this kind of safe home renovation for women living alone, they haven't really explored the demand. Therefore, Yu Shiyun urgently needs a complete debut project to bring fame to the studio.
Lin Xi's request wasn't just about decorating; she wanted to build a secure fortress, which would be perfect for Yu Shiyun.
All kinds of safe renovation methods can be applied to Lin Xi's home.
Yu Shiyun also couldn't find a single case of a doomsday fortress that required such comprehensive security.
The two hit it off immediately, so Yu Shiyun was willing to come from Nanhua to conduct an on-site inspection and contact construction workers and decoration teams to build a fortress from scratch.
After transferring the money for the plane ticket, Lin Xi started her business using her laptop.
In this life, she didn't go to work after graduating from university. The four million she had was barely enough to cover the cost of building a house. However, she couldn't afford to live off her savings for the next three years before the zombie outbreak, otherwise she wouldn't have enough funds to purchase supplies later.
However, Lin Xi also considered that Yunxiang was a remote place, and the nearest city was not very developed, making it difficult to find high-paying jobs. If she went to a distant place to find a job, it would be inconvenient to supervise the renovation later.
She racked her brains and came up with a job that could be done using a computer and a mobile phone—
They open an online store, handle their own product image packaging and promotion, and have the products shipped from 6688, earning the middleman's profit.
She had tried it a few days ago when she was still in Nanhua, and her highest-earning day was over 300.
For the past three years, she has been making money by opening online stores on her mobile phone and computer, while overseeing the construction of the doomsday fortress and practicing farming on nearby land.
In her previous life, she had grown crops on her own land. Although they grew successfully, the yield was low and the variety was limited. To have a continuous food supply in the apocalypse, she needed to acquire planting experience in advance.
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