Chapter 324

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

The heavy rain mentioned in conversation arrived right on schedule.

It was a sudden downpour that began before dawn, but had already vanished without a trace by morning.

The family opened the window to smell the dampness outside, and Wei Minzhi even remarked how timely this rain was, not delaying their family's work at all.

Mother Wei sighed helplessly, shook her head, and called Wei Minzhi over to help; the freshly cooked porridge was out of the pot, with some vegetables and shredded meat inside, plus a few boiled eggs making up the morning meal.

If that still wasn't filling enough, there were bread and other ready-to-eat foods; take extra for the road to stave off hunger.

Shen Yao finished the porridge in her bowl and said, "The Planting Building plans to sell some vegetable seeds; if our vegetable plot at home can still be planted, I'll bring some back."

Even though Shen Yao is a staff member, she can't get them for free — only at internal prices, and with limits on quantity and vegetable varieties.

"They're all autumn-winter vegetables, high-yield and good-tasting varieties;" this isn't Shen Yao boasting — Hope City's Planting Building really delivers, the Laboratory doesn't eat idle rice, its efficiency is more than a notch higher than Rimu City's.

"Buy them, buy as many as possible; there's still a patch of wasteland in the back courtyard that can be developed," Father Wei put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up, grabbed his hoe, and left.

Seeing this, Mother Wei hurried after him, while also telling Shen Yao to buy some staple crops on her way back.

Seeds bought at the market aren't Laboratory products; their traits have already deteriorated, and germination rates are low when planted.

Nowadays the autumn-winter season is very long, most people can't go out; without enough grain reserves at home, they'd have to starve for several months during autumn and winter.

Father Wei and Mother Wei had suffered in Rimu City before, and now they don't want to taste even a bit of that hardship — they'd love to fill the courtyard front, back, left, and right with grain crops.

Shen Yao took the chance while talking to finish her food, took out a tissue to wipe her mouth corner, and said, "Minzhi, is there anything you're still lacking on your end? I'll bring it back together when I get off work."

Hearing this, Wei Minzhi shook her head. "Sister-in-law, I just finished buying at the market the day before yesterday; I don't lack anything for now."

The two small trucks brought back a lot of stuff; moreover, Wei Minzhi's current breeding is a family workshop — how could it lack things every few days like a large breeding farm?

"Mm, tell me promptly if there's any difficulty," Shen Yao gave one instruction, stood up, went back to her room to change clothes, got in the car, and drove straight to work.

The small courtyard raises quite a few animals; it's not short on liveliness during the day.

Wei Minzhi fed them with great effort, then tidied up the internal hygiene of the nests and racks; only then did she have the leisure to return to her room and rest her feet.

Father Wei and Mother Wei were still reclaiming wasteland in the back courtyard, striving to utilize every patch of wasteland to the fullest. The already planted ground had sprouted seedlings; from afar it looked a lush, verdant expanse, teeming with vitality.

Wei Minzhi marveled inwardly at how capable their family was — they'd only been in Hope City for two months and already had such a harvest.

But if possible, they needed to work even harder; no one knows what the future holds, all they can do is gather as many supplies as possible for later life.

The household was bustling with activity, and outside everyone was busy.

On her drive to work, Shen Yao didn't forget to glance at Wei Mingyu still on duty, and explained the home situation clearly before turning off toward the Planting Building.

Its location isn't far from the Animal Husbandry Building; it's also where Shen Yao originally took the bus to.

She is now assigned to the Fifth Floor, responsible for one-quarter of the floor's work.

She changed into a protective suit, put on a thick coat over it, pushed the door open, and a blast of cold wind hit her body — goosebumps instantly rose on her skin.

The Fifth Floor's environment simulates an ice-and-snow scene; only cold-resistant crops can take root and grow here.

The entire Fifth Floor of the Planting Building grows nothing but cold-resistant crops; the only difference is that these crops are kept at slightly different temperatures.

For the quarter Shen Yao is responsible for, it's minus twenty to minus thirty degrees Celsius, all divided into zones for experiments.

She moved her wrists, blinked her eyes, adapted to the room's temperature, then walked up to the crops to observe, pulled out the ones that had already withered and died, and moved new crops into the vacated spots to supplement.

Busy for half a day, she went through the entire quarter she was responsible for, then Shen Yao left the Fifth Floor and returned to the break room to eat lunch.

The food is all provided by the Planting Building, including varieties and delivery times; since entering the Planting Building, Shen Yao cannot move about freely.

At first she was a bit unaccustomed, but later she found things to do, and Shen Yao no longer had the mind to probe the Planting Building's secrets.

Crash—

After finishing the food on her tray, Shen Yao opened a bottle of milk and drank it clean.

The milk carried a rich milky fragrance — fresh milk produced by the Animal Husbandry Building; if the Planting Building and Animal Husbandry Building weren't neighbors, they wouldn't necessarily get this bargain of drawing water first from the nearby well.

She smacked her lips, twisted open a bottle of clear water and gulped it down, relieving the greasiness in her mouth and easing her body's internal dehydration; only then did Shen Yao take off the protective suit she was wearing, lie on the bed, close her eyes, and fall asleep.

Her working hours at the Planting Building are strictly limited — she cannot work overtime when it's time to rest, and cannot slack off when it's time to work.

As a new employee already familiar with the Planting Building's situation, Shen Yao's every move is no different from the veterans'; throw her into a crowd and you couldn't tell the difference.

Perhaps this is Shen Yao's adaptability — compared to her peers, she has clearly pulled far ahead, causing the Planting Building's veterans to look sideways at her one after another.

Ding-ling-ling—

The set alarm rang right on time — this is Shen Yao's off-work time in the afternoon.

She got up, put on the protective suit properly, drank some water to replenish stamina, picked up the drum and shovel from the break room, and clumsily entered the Fifth Floor interior.

Compared to the morning's pulling and replanting seedlings, the afternoon's work is digging up seedlings and sending them to the Laboratory.

Selecting crops with good growth and stable traits, she transplanted them out one by one according to serial numbers, filled the drum she carried, sealed it with a layer of plastic wrap — only then did Shen Yao count today's work tasks as fully completed.

Next she just had to hold out until off-work time; with no other accidents, Shen Yao could drive home.

However, although there were no work accidents today, she had other tasks — for example, going to buy seeds.

The Seed Hall is on the Third Floor of the Building; Shen Yao could only wait until off-work time to exit the Fifth Floor, queue in a long line to handle procedures first.

Because the Planting Building's employees are like Shen Yao — they can only squeeze in a trip in the morning or evening to buy; they can't leave their work posts at other times — they wouldn't dare violate regulations.

When Shen Yao arrived, there weren't too many people; she queued for no more than twenty minutes and bought the seeds.

All were crops with high yield, good taste, and cold resistance — even if planted in early autumn-winter they could survive.

But they wouldn't wait until that time; seeds must be sown as early as possible and harvested as early as possible.

When the autumn-winter season arrives, not only does the outside temperature drop drastically, there are also terrifying freezing rain and blizzards; at that time, relying solely on the crops' meager cold-resistance traits, they simply cannot survive.

She counted the seeds in hand, thought for a moment, then secretly bought some staple crop seeds, and conveniently exchanged some with the surrounding colleagues she had good relations with.

These are routine operations; as long as private transactions don't involve bullying the weak with strength, the Official side won't intervene to restrict them.

Many of the seeds Shen Yao obtained were flashy but useless; she valued inner quality more, so she traded away everything she could, drawing frequent glances from the other people around her.

Shen Yao remained calm and composed, completely unafraid of those gazes directed her way; they couldn't affect her in the slightest.

After finishing trading the seeds in hand, Shen Yao stood up and left; on the way she laughed and greeted a few others, and behind her back there was naturally no shortage of all kinds of gossip.

People, no matter when, can never change their inherent gossipy nature.

Shen Yao was usually low-key; an occasional high-profile action would draw attention, and then be spread as rumors by certain self-righteous people.

The rumors were a mix of true and false; their only effect was to add a few points of false popularity to this Planting Building, making the Planting Building become lively.

All this had nothing to do with Shen Yao who was currently driving; when Shen Yao passed the Animal Husbandry Building she didn't get out of the car, merely confirming repeatedly with Wei Minzhi, then stepped on the gas and returned home.

After being on duty for several days, Wei Mingyu finally managed to return; he looked exhausted, but his spirits were still good, and he had a few days of leave coming up, so he could stay home and rest properly.

Shen Yao handed the seeds to Wei Mother; the majority were staple food crops, some vegetables were included but not many.

However, long before this, the Front Courtyard's vegetable garden had already grown a whole garden of vegetables — potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, everything was there; the seedlings had already grown to an adult's waist level, just waiting for flowering and pollination to enter the fruiting period.

Wei Mother took them and weighed them in her hand, then hurriedly lowered her head to glance twice: "Wait until tomorrow morning to plant them; as long as eighty percent of these seeds sprout, this year's grain supply won't be a worry."

Who likes spending money to buy grain if they can grow it themselves? And the cost of buying grain is very high; currently only Shen Yao and Wei Mingyu can make money for them; Wei Minzhi's breeding farm only breaks even, and the meat supply subsidizes daily household expenses.

For the whole family to live comfortably, they'll have to wait until next year to count as normal; this year being able to equate with basic subsistence is already the result of the whole family striving hard.

Wei Mother's mindset was very level; these years of high-intensity labor had also lessened some of her anxiety issues; the only two things that worried her were Wei Minzhi's lifelong marriage matter and the three little ones' academic affairs.

But none of these can be rushed; let's just move forward one step at a time.

"Quick, quick, sit down and eat; today's dishes are all freshly made."

Wei Mother called Shen Yao to wash hands and eat; this time there were no leftovers at all — everything was her specialty; just that one dish of chicken stewed with mushrooms, the chicken was freshly caught from the chicken nest.

The whole family sat around the dining table; on the tabletop were placed several basins as big as faces, filled with steaming hot dishes; the smell was simply fragrant and overflowing, making one's mouth water.

What are you waiting for? Hurry up and grab your bowl and chopsticks and shovel it into your mouth; once it cools down it won't have this flavor anymore.

Rice-bucket people, rice-bucket souls — no one stood on ceremony; even the two doggies joined in, all burying their heads and eating heartily.

They swept the entire tabletop clean, even the soup was eaten by dipping broken pieces of steamed bun; Shen Yao touched her round belly and discreetly let out two satisfied burps.

She was truly full; especially her belly, both stuffed and bloated, making her just want to lie limp and not move.

Not only Shen Yao had this thought; the other people at home had it too.

After eating and drinking their fill, human laziness kicks in; whether it's tidying chores or cleaning hygiene, everything just turns into wanting to rest.

Wei Mother waved her hand to shoo everyone away; herself supporting her waist, she took the serving dishes from the table into the stove; anyway the dishes had been eaten spotlessly clean, even saving the dish soap.

"Don't lie down yet; go walk two circles around the wall base," Shen Yao sent the three little ones off to hurry up and move a bit; absolutely must not let them get fat into little round balls.

Wei Chengyan turned back and grabbed Shen Yao's hand, twisting himself into a sticky candy; he didn't want to walk, he wanted to play even more.

Play?

Play what?

Wei Chengyan took out his own little toys, piling them from big to small until they filled the corner.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao walked to Wei Chengyan's side and squatted down, casually picking out a toy and setting it up.

Seeing this action, Wei Chengyan's eyes instantly brightened, and his whole person inexplicably perked up.

Wei Chengning and Wei Chengen followed and joined the game; the mother and son four people each occupied a position, facing each other in all kinds of chuunibyou poses.

Perhaps this is children's joy; Shen Yao looked at the smiling faces before her, and she also relaxed along with them.

Mm, putting it that way is a bit wrong; she's an adult, okay? She can't indulge in play; there's still proper business to do.

"You guys play on your own; remember to rest after a while, don't overindulge."

Tapping the three little heads with her finger, Shen Yao stood up and came to Wei Mingyu's side, quietly telling him the Planting Building's situation in a low voice.

In fact, the Planting Building has constant daily turbulence; it's just that Shen Yao doesn't participate much, and when others stir up trouble they also subconsciously skip over Shen Yao.

Now Shen Yao has become famous in the Planting Building in one battle thanks to the seed-trading matter; then next, some demons and monsters will definitely be unable to resist jumping out.

The Planting Building has never been very peaceful; Shen Yao being able to keep herself away from trouble is also thanks to that skin of hers that doesn't contend or grab.

Now that skin is said to be shed just like that; others will definitely want to test Shen Yao's mettle.

Wei Mingyu grabbed Shen Yao's wrist, pressing her down to sit beside him.

"What are your plans? Do you need me to step in and help?"

Wei Mingyu is responsible for Hope City's order issues; the jurisdiction he took over borders the Planting Building.

Shen Yao shook her head: "I can handle it myself; for now, hold position and don't move, let's see how they make their moves; personally experiencing the difference from Rimu City, I'll also be able to gauge the right attitude for living in Hope City."

Wei Mingyu tightened his grip on Shen Yao's wrist: "If there's something, say it directly; don't prop yourself up alone."

They are a family; they should share blessings together, and face difficulties together.

Shen Yao smiled: "Rest assured, I have a measure in my heart; I won't foolishly sacrifice my small self to fulfill the greater righteousness (unless there's profit to be gained)."

With the high-profile act of buying seeds, in the following workdays, the rate at which Shen Yao encountered various problems skyrocketed.

Some barely wore a shell, not that fake; some at a glance were clearly others stirring trouble, deliberately provoking Shen Yao.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao used the unchanging to meet ten thousand changes; no matter what she encountered she accepted all comers, and lightly, easily resolved them.

But there were also trickier ones, requiring Shen Yao to expend mental effort to settle.

Often at such times, Shen Yao would also choose to return a counterattack of equal difficulty, striving to let the person experience the same feeling together with her.

A saying goes well: no matter what the matter, it always comes down to standing and speaking without feeling waist pain; only when the knife stabs into one's own body will one understand — flippant words cannot be spoken lightly.