Chapter 499: Chapter 499

"Haha, it’s rare to see Boss Jing shooing people away, and I can’t just stubbornly sit down and crash their employees’ celebration dinner," Jun Jia exhaled deeply, giving Jing Shu a thumbs up for the first time. "Next time, I’ll definitely come."

"Are you really not going to try it? It’s really delicious."

The rest shook their heads like bobbleheads. If Jing Shu were to comment, it’d be that people are just too finicky, having grown too accustomed to comfort to stomach these things. In another year or two, what won’t they eat? The wealthy would have to pinch their noses to eat moldy old rice.

Thinking about how Jing Shu could still enjoy these delicacies then made her feel pretty awesome.

After the tour of the processing plant, Jin Tianci fully expressed his approval and praise for the facility. He subtly suggested that they could develop more dishes similar to the Bloody Burst Insect Eggs in the future. Finally, under the journalists’ summary and compliments, all the recording for the program concluded!

Jing Shu also breathed a slight sigh of relief. Acting was exhausting! What she had thought would be a simple ribbon-cutting affair turned into a tour of all the factories with this group of leaders, with the processes all detailed in writing. However, she wasn’t afraid of anyone studying it. In fact, I really wish someone would figure out a way to breed red earthworms.

The leaders were satisfied and left, and Jing Shu was also pleased and went home. But before she could even sit down, she received a call from Yang Yang.

"One piece of bad news and one piece of good news, which do you want to hear first?"

Jing Shu thought for a bit and said, "The good news."

"The good news is that after taking your sleeping medication, Hao Yunlai indeed felt much better. However, according to his description, as time passes, he’s sinking closer to... the bottom again. He could probably only hold on for ten days, so you’ll need to medicate him every ten days. Though he said he’d do anything for you in exchange for the medication," Yang Yang said.

Indeed, the Blood-colored Spiritual Spring was useful, but required continual consumption. This was no big deal. My solution was very diluted; one drop could probably be used for several hundred doses. However, considering one dose lasted for ten days, it meant that to use up just one drop would actually take thousands of doses. To exchange such a cost for some luck—no, no, a plague god’s protection—I felt it was worth it.

Does this mean I really should bring a plague god with me when I go out? Jing Shu contemplated the possibility.

"By the way, did Hao Yunlai show any other changes? Like, turning into an orangutan?"

"Other changes? There seems to be something... off. It’s kind of strange, can’t really describe it. You’ll probably understand when you see him."

"Alright." The next time I see Hao Yunlai, I’ll probably find out what kind of change the Blood-colored Spiritual Spring could bring about. I’m somewhat looking forward to it.

"What about the bad news?" Jing Shu braced herself. Hoping for no more trouble!

"The bad news is that the cargo that was supposed to be shipped from the Imperial Capital has not arrived yet. It lost contact a few days ago. Only after receiving a distress call today did we learn that a massive island and mountains have appeared on the sea surface. They have to make a detour, but it’s uncertain how far. Although they have requested support, it’s unknown when it will arrive in Wu City. Also, our entire shipment’s freight costs might double this time. The worst-case scenario is that all these supplies might be lost."

Jing Shu fell silent. This time’s cargo was neither too much nor too little, but all were extremely precious items, like two-thirds of the Seeds and over a hundred tons of rare metals...

Islands and mountains on the sea? That means the tectonic plate shifts that started in the fourth year are happening, just like on the mountains in the United States, and similar to when my German MAN was delayed by half a year while being shipped from the United States.

The Seeds likely wouldn’t spoil due to the weather, but I’m worried about them getting submerged or lost. That would mean all my hard work in the United States had been in vain. If it weren’t for trying to establish a legitimate transport route, and my Dimension Space being fully packed, this wouldn’t have happened.

"This really is the worst possible news. I got it. Contact me anytime there’s news about this. If it really doesn’t work out, I plan to go and retrieve this batch of supplies myself. As you know, there are hundreds of thousands of Seeds on it, which are extremely valuable," Jing Shu said. At the same time, my mind inexplicably drifted back to the shifting tectonic plates in the mountains of the United States. Why do these plates move, and could it be related to the Dimension Space? Could something as wonderful as the Blood-colored Spiritual Spring appear there?

"Okay, got it. Let’s wait for now and trust them. If it still doesn’t work out, then we’ll take action."

Fortunately, there were no more twists and turns afterward; everything proceeded smoothly according to Jing Shu’s plans.

As the saying goes, when misfortune reaches its end, good luck naturally follows. When one is particularly unlucky for a period, it heralds the arrival of good fortune. It’s like that other saying: "Extreme prosperity leads to decline, and extreme decline leads to prosperity."

After enduring a series of melodramatic events, Jing Shu started to have good fortune. First, every one of the lion-headed goose eggs hatched into goslings, much to Grandma Jing’s delight.

The second lucky event was the explosive growth of Virtual Coins in Jing Shu’s account, increasing by tens of thousands every day.

Apart from the stock remaining in the warehouse, resources exchanged, and covert transactions, the rest of the production went on sale outside. Follow current novels on 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍

Insect Cake was delicious and substantial, selling like hotcakes in all 13 districts of Wu City.

The workers, having tasted success, started working and selling Insect Cakes like crazy. Many eyed the factory’s profits jealously and plotted against it. However, the combined factors of Uncle’s presence, support from the Government, and the strong solidarity among the factory’s workers quashed any turbulence before it could begin.

By the end of the month, the factory had let go of dozens of people from the initial two thousand. Those who were lazy, didn’t earn points, and just wanted to freeload were directly driven out by Zhang Zi and Lai Ziba. I heard they even formed a self-defense unit; everyone was scrambling to catch offenders because doing so earned points.

No one exchanged points for Virtual Coins anymore; the points were too valuable and could be exchanged for anything.

Oh yes, in line with her promise, Jing Shu distributed 2,500 Virtual Coins to Uncle, several Managers Tuo, and several top executives, all of whom were still exhilarated.

When Jing Shu instructed someone to deliver this month’s quota—10 tons of red worm cake—to Jin Tianci, he even called, indicating that whatever else Jing Shu desired, he would arrange for it, as long as she swapped red earthworms.

"Just waiting for you to say that," Jing Shu laughed and replied that she would contact him if needed, leaving Jin Tianci slightly regretful, wishing he could stuff everything to Jing Shu in exchange for red earthworms.

Yet, I won’t use up all my red earthworms now; they’re lifesavers.

With the factory now completely reassuring her, she had time to work on other projects, ticking off completed objectives from her list and starting to note down new ones.