Chapter 10: Buying Fish Fry

The field in the Space was only irrigated once a day, and Jing Shu also only fed the Spiritual Spring once daily, about a sip of water each time, so the twenty-odd drops of Spiritual Spring she extracted today could last for a while. After leaving the Space and searching for information online, Jing Shu went to the green lawn downstairs and plucked a lot of dried grass to bring home. Returning to the Space, she used the Absolute Control of Space to forcefully dismantle the chicken cage, laying it horizontally and wedging it 10 centimeters above the ground of the Space. She then made fifteen nesting spots for the chickens using the dried grass and also made nests for the ducks and quails. That way, the eggs laid by the chickens would stay in the nests, and the chicken droppings would fall directly onto the ground of the Space. After a few days, once the droppings had dried, Jing Shu would mix them with pig feed and feed them to the pigs [a flash of inspiration]. Mrs. Baidu said that it was good for the pigs to eat this, and it also saved Jing Shu the trouble of finding places to dispose of the chicken droppings. However, disposing of the droppings from pigs, cows, and sheep would be an issue later on. After adding more feed and regular water for all her little darlings, Jing Shu left the Space and started to diligently practice with the Magic Cube. This certainly wasn’t an overnight matter, and sometimes it also came down to luck. The only thing she could do was practice hard, as practice makes perfect. She aimed to advance to a Level 5 Magic Cube before the apocalypse! 「...」 On November 3rd, the third day after Jing Shu’s rebirth, she was awakened by noise in the morning and went for a run. Mr. and Mrs. Jing were quite surprised. Jing Shu’s main purpose, however, was to deal with the excrement. Each time she stopped in front of a garbage container, she simply touched it and instantaneously disposed of the waste from one type of livestock before moving on to the next. It’s true what they say: if it comes from the Space, it must be a quality product. The Spiritual Spring, in particular, was incredibly effective. Entering the Space early in the morning for an inspection, she found that the dung had already formed a thick layer. The Space, which had previously been just the right size, now seemed somewhat crowded. The cows, pigs, and sheep had obviously grown larger and were crying out in hunger. The males had only grown a little and were not hungry. Jing Shu hurried to feed them and add water. The chickens, ducks, and quails had laid many eggs. The more Spiritual Spring the poultry consumed, the more eggs they laid. Jing Shu allocated 3 cubic meters to store the various types of eggs, leaving a few marked for hatching to see how long they would take. She then allocated an additional 4 cubic meters of Space for the sheep and cows, and 2 cubic meters for the pigs, leaving only 31 cubic meters free. The initial supply of feed is no longer enough, she realized. It seems I have to buy some today. The Spiritual Spring probably accelerates growth, intake, and digestion. Luckily, I didn’t recklessly drink it, or the consequences would have been unthinkable. After clearing the dung, Jing Shu went home for a meal. The task didn’t affect her appetite. During the apocalypse, she had eaten anything and everything edible, including the Five Grain Worm, otherwise known as maggots. In the first year of the apocalypse, high temperatures killed countless livestock and people. Much of the food rotted, breeding hordes of maggots that were visible everywhere. Originally, Jing Shu had sworn never to eat them. But when she was so hungry she couldn’t even muster the energy to speak, and the government’s rations of coarse grains turned into daily varieties of deep-fried, braised, and dry-fried Five Grain Worms, she found that, little by little, she got used to them. After all, it was meat. The hardships I’ve endured, I don’t want my parents to go through them again, Jing Shu thought. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Su Meimei go through it once more. Breakfast was a thick pumpkin porridge, steamed potatoes, a dish of vinegar-soaked garlic sprouts, and pancakes were the staple food. Mr. and Mrs. Jing had specifically taken leave to stay home and wait for the money from Uncle Sun. After eating, Jing Shu drove straight to the feed factory, bought a whole truckload of feed, and transferred it into the Space. It’s necessary to buy enough feed, as I intend to raise some chickens and ducks at the villa too. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a good excuse to produce them when the apocalypse comes. Next, Jing Shu drove nonstop, navigating her way to the aquaculture base to buy fish fry. My plan is to dig a small pond in front of the villa to raise lotus plants, fish, and shrimp, Jing Shu mused. I’m not worried about the lack of sunlight during the apocalypse; I can buy lamps and generate my own electricity to keep the fish alive. The main purpose is camouflage: I can sporadically add fish produced from my Space to the pond for a treat... SLURP. The aquaculture base offered too many types of fish fry, so Jing Shu had to be selective with her purchases, as her limited Space couldn’t accommodate too many varieties. She found a large aquaculture store and explained to the owner that she had privately dug a small pond to raise lobsters, crabs, various fish, and lotus plants (for their roots and flowers) for her own consumption and for relatives. After listening, the owner advised against this method but still gave Jing Shu a package deal and some precautions. He suggested she divide the pond into several areas to separate aggressive fish like bass, catfish, and mandarin fish, until they were large enough to be mixed, which would naturally cull the weak and diseased among them. Lobster and crab could be raised together, as crabs would eat any weak or sick young lobsters. In the end, Jing Shu bought: 2 pounds of crayfish, 2 pounds of crabs, 1 pound of eels, 1 pound of loaches, 1 pound of crucian carp, 1 pound of silver carp, 1 pound of abalones, 1 pound of oysters, 1 pound of scallops, 1 pound of clams, 0.5 pounds of razor clams, 0.5 pounds of mandarin fish, 0.5 pounds of black carp, 0.5 pounds of bass, 0.5 pounds of catfish, 0.5 pounds of grouper, 0.5 pounds of snakehead fish, 0.5 pounds of octopus, 0.5 pounds of softshell turtle, and 10 pounds of sprouted lotus root sections. The owner explained ecological fish farming to Jing Shu—the principle of "using fish to raise fish"—and the package also included live aquatic feed like daphnia, aquatic plants, algae, plankton, various fish feeds, tools, nets, and a host of other aquaculture-related items. The owner also told Jing Shu that small-scale private breeding offered great flexibility. Chicken dung mixed with a microbial inoculant solution, along with wheat bran and corn flour, made excellent fish feed. For feeding crayfish, high-protein animal-based feed, various animal carcasses and internal organs, as well as agricultural crops like wheat, soybeans, and winter melon were all suitable. Integrating this system with rice cultivation was also feasible. This way, Jing Shu could combine her crop cultivation, animal breeding, and aquaculture to create a new ecosystem, achieving complete self-sufficiency. The owner helped load the boxes of fish fry and tools into the car and mentioned that the following April or May would be a good time to add another batch of fry, as those stocked at that time tended to grow larger and plumper. Considering the knowledge the owner shared, I don’t mind that he sold me the fish fry and a heap of tools for 3,000 yuan, Jing Shu thought. Six months from now, 3,000 yuan won’t buy much of anything, but today’s fish fry will become one of our family’s food sources for the rest of our lives. Driving to a secluded area, Jing Shu first scooped some soil from every field in her Space, laying a thick layer in a newly designated 8-cubic-meter section of her Space, especially for the loaches and crayfish that preferred mud. Then, she released the nearly 20 pounds of assorted fry into it. Following the owner’s advice, she briefly divided the area to prevent the young fry from attacking each other initially. Busy with tasks, she returned home by 2:00 p.m. Mrs. Jing was in the middle of cooking, arguing heatedly with Mr. Jing. The acrid, burnt smell overpowering the fragrant aroma of food was a clear testament to Mrs. Jing’s fury! Mr. Jing sat on the couch, smoking one cigarette after another, occasionally retorting, "He must have important matters to attend to, or he might not have seen the call." "Then hurry up and call again! Isn’t this delaying things? He agreed to repay by noon, then he said he’d transfer it in 15 minutes, and now he’s vanished! If he isn’t going to repay, he should just say so directly! Why jerk us around like this! So unreliable!" Fuming, Mr. Jing retorted a few more times.