Chapter 308: Chapter 308

Grandma Jing’s heart skipped a beat. The joy of her arrival instantly halved. Jing Shu raised an eyebrow but ultimately didn’t say anything more.

They had originally planned to give all the items they brought to Elder Aunt. Now empty-handed, they hurried to check on the situation, not having the chance to go back to the RV to get their things.

Compared to Grandma Jing’s nervousness, Jing Shu was relatively at ease. She even had the presence of mind to observe the changes in her elder aunt’s home. When they visited during New Year’s, it had been burned, and one could still see some black marks. However, on the land where her elder aunt originally grew apples, a row of simple prefab houses now stood.

From a distance, Jing Shu could see black pigs inside the prefab houses, but... they seemed to be in poor spirits.

These black pigs were descendants of the sow Jing Shu had given her elder aunt’s family years ago. In just two short years, dozens had been bred. With plentiful food at the beginning of this year, her elder aunt’s family had bred over twenty more piglets.

After more than seven months, these pigs had mostly matured.

They still have to be culled, Jing Shu sighed to herself. When there’s time, I’ll have to persuade Elder Aunt to slaughter the pigs, keeping just two for breeding. From now on, they can just focus on selling piglets. Raising pigs for meat is no longer viable.

This was because an era of increasing food scarcity was approaching. There would be no more maggots or red earthworms for feed, a situation that would persist until mutated species appeared.

Inside the house were only Jing Shu’s sister-in-law, Qiao Lian, and Qiao Lian’s mother. The rest of Qiao Lian’s maternal family had returned home. Besides them, Elder Aunt and her son, Wei Zheng, were present. To Jing Shu’s surprise, her second aunt, Jing Zhao, was also there, diligently wiping Qiao Lian’s sweat with a towel dipped in a basin of warm water.

"Jing Pan! Mom, Dad, Jing Shu, and Youai are all here. Come say hello," said Uncle as he entered, speaking to Elder Aunt, who was intently watching the Doctor. Only then did everyone’s gaze shift towards them. The room was dimly lit, and with only flashlights for illumination, it was hard to recognize faces without looking closely.

"Never mind me. What did the Doctor say?" Grandma Jing walked over and grasped her eldest daughter’s hand. Why does Jing Pan look even thinner? Is she overworking herself taking care of her daughter-in-law? she wondered.

"Mom, Dad, Jing Shu, Youai, you’re all here! Please, sit down. Let Jing Zhao pour you some sugared water to warm you up," Jing Pan said, a hint of weariness on her face.

Grandma Jing looked at her second daughter and frowned. "Why are you here too? Don’t tell me you’ve come to freeload again?"

Her second aunt, Jing Zhao, had indeed lost a considerable amount of weight. If she was considered obese before, she was now just slightly overweight. She chuckled. "Mom, I’m helping Elder Sister look after Qiao Lian every day. She even pays me for it! I’ve been taking excellent care of Qiao Lian."

At this, the male Doctor frowned and shook his head. "You’ve taken *too* good care of her. She’s reached her due date with no signs of labor, and she’s clearly been overeating. This could result in an overly large baby. We can’t even tell if the baby is positioned correctly, as we don’t have the equipment to check. If there are still no signs of labor in three days, you’ll need to use your connections to get some Oxytocin. Otherwise, without medical facilities, if she can’t deliver the baby, it’s very likely to become a difficult birth. That would mean losing both mother and child—one body, two lives."

Terrified, Qiao Lian covered her mouth, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

Looking at her, it was clear Qiao Lian had indeed gained a lot of weight; she now weighed around 180 jin (approximately 90 kilograms or 198 pounds).

Grandma Jing glared fiercely at Second Aunt and Elder Aunt. "You fed her so much that now she can’t even give birth! Look what you’ve done! Haven’t you two been mothers yourselves? Don’t you understand such basic common sense?"

Second Aunt immediately bristled. "Mom, I’ve been taking care of Qiao Lian with all my heart! We ate just when we were having our children back then; we were always worried about not getting enough! Besides, I had a C-section, so I wouldn’t know all these details. It’s a blessing we even have food to eat these days! What’s more, Qiao Lian herself asks for all sorts of things to eat every day, and Elder Sister’s husband said to give her whatever she wants."

Elder Aunt bit her lip. "It’s all my fault. I’ve been so busy juggling things lately that I left Qiao Lian in Jing Zhao’s care. I really thought she was looking after her well."

Grandma Jing turned her glare to Qiao Lian’s mother. "You’re Qiao Lian’s own mother! Why didn’t you keep an eye on things?"

Qiao Lian’s mother, shrinking in a corner, said innocently, "Her mother-in-law mentioned that hospitals are offering free childbirth services now. I thought it would be like before the apocalypse, so I just let Qiao Lian eat to her heart’s content..."

Elder Aunt was exasperated. "I did say that, but I also told you later that many of the hospital’s instruments are unusable and medicines are unavailable! ’Free childbirth’ simply means they operate without any real medical capability. If the baby can be delivered, fine; if not, there’s nothing they can do. Isn’t that exactly why I found an experienced Doctor to come here?"

Qiao Lian’s mother mumbled, "Well, I’m not taking responsibility for this. Back then, you all assured me she’d have a smooth delivery. I can’t manage this situation now."

Seeing the argument escalate, the Doctor looked somewhat troubled and interjected, "Please, don’t be so pessimistic. The expectant mother should try to walk more each day. If she shows any signs of labor, bring her to me at the county hospital’s temporary station."

After seeing the Doctor off, a chill fell over the family. Qiao Lian, in tears, insisted on getting up to walk around. It was hard to imagine how a woman who had been quite slim before could become so swarthy and plump in less than a year. If her looks were a six out of ten before, they were now barely a one, though she was enveloped in the glow of impending motherhood, Jing Shu mused. Dıscover more novels at 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩

Watching Qiao Lian struggle, needing to rest after each step, Jing Shu shook her head. This is a world away from Zhang Bingbing’s experience! Is this really what childbirth is like for most women?

To ease the tension, Grandma Jing deliberately brought up Zhang Bingbing’s situation, saying that as long as Qiao Lian followed the Doctor’s guidance, the birth would proceed smoothly. She added that both Jing Shu and Wu You’ai had experience assisting with childbirth and that they would all help figure things out when the time came. This managed to warm the atmosphere a little.

Wei Zheng kept his head down and said nothing, simply supporting his wife as she walked.

Uncle, however, soon started fidgeting, his leg jiggling restlessly as if he couldn’t sit still. Jing Shu took the opportunity to call him outside, and the two of them began talking as they walked around the yard.

"Uncle, you and Elder Aunt have worked so hard recently, setting up that factory, and you haven’t even recouped the initial investment yet."

"Jing Shu, I don’t like hearing you talk like that," Uncle said. "You think I didn’t understand before, but I get it now. Most of us just take things one step at a time, but you, you’re always thinking three steps ahead. I understand the market for red earthworms very well now. Our livestock farm has painstakingly raised several hundred pigs and thousands of chickens. Now that everyone else is about to run out of feed, tell me, isn’t our chance to strike it rich just around the corner?"

As soon as this topic came up, Uncle grew animated. "Come, let me show you our pigs and the red earthworms I’ve personally cultivated! Ah, in the past, you could get a hundred jin of red earthworms for one Virtual Coin. But now, just one hundred live worms sell for one Virtual Coin! My red earthworms here are worth tens of thousands of Virtual Coins!"

Sure enough, as they walked past the simple prefab buildings, they saw dozens of black pigs being raised inside one. In another, a large pool teemed with a writhing mass of red earthworms.

"Jing Shu, with these red earthworms, I’m thinking of expanding our farming operation!"

"Uncle," Jing Shu said, "in a few days, you should find some time to slaughter all the pigs."