Qin Shen looked unfazed. "They weren't willing to trade with me."
Jiang Si's expression faltered for a moment, but then she understood why.
'They must be afraid that a trade with Qin Shen would fail, and they'd get robbed instead.'
After all, no matter how delicious wild boar meat was, it couldn't be stored as long as grain.
Without salt for curing, it would spoil even faster.
So, they would rather go without meat than take that risk.
Qin Shen was well aware of her family's situation. Trading with her was indeed his best option.
Jiang Si nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll trade with you."
Qin Shen carried the mint to the gate of Jiang Si's house. Afraid she'd worry he might force his way in, he took a few steps back before saying, "You can just throw the things from the third floor into my yard."
Jiang Si raised an eyebrow. She'd love to just toss it over, but several sets of clothes, pants, and shoes would make a huge bundle. How could she possibly throw it fifty meters in one go?
She hadn't been through ten years of the apocalypse yet; her arm strength was nowhere near that level.
Jiang Si shook her head. "I'll just leave it at your front gate."
"Alright."
As soon as Qin Shen left, the courtyard gate creaked open.
Jiang Linhai pulled Jiang Si inside while Jiang Chengwu hauled the mint into the house. Her mother and grandmother rushed to ask, "Why did he walk you home?"
Gossip was written all over their faces. Jiang Si explained helplessly, "He harvested all of the mint from Qian Shou's house. I made a small trade with him, and he gave me half."
They all pressed anxiously, "What did you trade?"
"Just a few sets of clothes."
Jiang Linhai and Shen Baoying exchanged a look. "He only asked for that?"
Asking for clothes meant Qin Shen must have been at his wit's end. The young man, it seemed, was quite honest.
Jiang Si said with an amused smile, "Is it a bad thing that he asked for so little?"
Jiang Linhai had a very good impression of Qin Shen. He squinted, his tone profound. "Good, very good. The young man is decent, and he has the manners of a gentleman."
Her grandmother added, "And he's quite good-looking, tall and handsome."
As they kept talking, the conversation veered off course, as if they were about to send her on a blind date the very next second.
Jiang Si helplessly changed the subject. "Let's go boil the insect repellent first. The fleas in this house are about to eat us alive."
With the apocalypse upon them, it was all just talk. If they really had Jiang Si find a partner, who could truly be sure what kind of person he'd turn out to be?
While the others went to boil the mint and white vinegar for the repellent, Jiang Si sorted through her space and pulled out some of Jiang Linhai's old clothes, pants, and shoes. Recalling the mottled scars on Qin Shen's hands, she took pity on him and threw in a pair or two of gloves.
Jiang Chengwu took the things over while Jiang Si stood watch for danger on the roof.
Jiang Liwen was like an annoying fly, blocking Qin Shen's path with a tear-streaked face, saying something or other.
She probably saw that Qin Shen was handsome, strong, and could even hunt wild boars, so she wanted to offer herself to him and have him be her sugar daddy.
Jiang Si's lips curled with interest. 'If Qin Shen actually agrees, then a mind that stupid is nothing to be afraid of.'
But, to Jiang Si's disappointment, just as Jiang Liwen reached out to touch Qin Shen, he sent her flying with a vicious kick. She was dragged across the ground for a full ten meters.
Jiang Chengwu, who had just arrived carrying a woven bag, saw this scene, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
A moment later, Jiang Si came downstairs just in time to hear Jiang Chengwu, who had returned, telling the others, "Qin Shen is too dangerous! We can't let Sisi meet with him alone in the future."
He was being so secretive, it was as if she and Qin Shen were having an affair.
The temperature indoors suddenly dropped, signaling that night was coming.
Wary of the rat swarm that would emerge at any moment, everyone put on two layers of protective clothing and went around checking that the doors and windows were sealed tight.
It took only a moment after sealing the doors and windows for the sound of the rat swarm emerging to become an overwhelming, incessant roar.
The windows, the roof, the walls, and the floor all trembled. The SKITTERING, scratching, and gnawing sounded like a demonic incantation, as if a terrifying monster was about to burst into the house at any second.
Everyone frowned, huddling closely together.
Suddenly.
A bit of dust fell from the ceiling, landing on the fluorescent orb Jiang Si was using for light. Jiang Linhai's heart leaped in alarm. "Sisi, rats have incredibly sharp teeth, and they're good at burrowing. With so many of them, they wouldn't just focus on digging in one spot, would they?"
Their walls weren't that thick. With so many rats, they might even chew through the sheet metal walls.
It was a case of "speak of the devil."
The words had barely left his mouth when a KNAW KNAW KNAW sound of gnawing erupted, seeming to come from right beside their ears.
In the corner of the living room wall by the window, a thumb-sized hole appeared.
Big Black bared his teeth, barking furiously.
Everyone followed Big Black's gaze. A rat's sharp claws poked out from the hole. It twisted its body, working with its sharp teeth to try and widen the opening.
Shen Baoying cried out, "Sisi, we have to block the hole with something, quickly!"
'By the time we get a ladder and block that hole, the rats will have probably already dug in from somewhere else. Even if I materialized the RV for everyone to hide in, the rats could very likely climb in through the exhaust pipe.'
In just a moment, a rat's head poked out of the opening.
Jiang Si took a torch from her space and said to the others, "Rats are afraid of fire. Let's try this."
Jiang Linhai held the lit torch high. The rats in the hole squealed in terror, desperately scrambling backward. Overjoyed, Jiang Linhai turned back to the others and said, "It's working! It's really working!"
It was working, yes, but one torch couldn't stop a massive swarm of rats from pouring in from all directions.
As Jiang Linhai spoke, the rats clawed several more holes in other corners of the living room.
Jiang Si thought for a moment, then said to everyone, "We'll douse the doorway with gasoline and light it as we open the door and rush out. We'll make a rat-proof circle in the yard. If that doesn't work, we'll retreat into the RV."
"Okay!"
Jiang Si lit a trail of gasoline that led from her feet to the door. The moment Jiang Chengwu threw the door open, everyone thrust their torches forward in unison.
The rats retreated like a tide.
Jiang Si made a hand gesture, and everyone moved out of the house cautiously, back-to-back.
They were stunned by the sight before them: thousands upon thousands of rats with glowing red eyes.
One wrong move, and they'd be devoured without a single scrap left.
Under the others' protection, Jiang Si quickly poured the gasoline into a circle. As the flames erupted, the rats could only watch from the other side.
Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as they could keep the circle of fire from going out, they would be safe for the night.
The blazing fire at Jiang Si's house served as a wake-up call to the other survivors in the area. Those without gasoline grabbed clothes, shoes, sofas, and towels and set them all ablaze.
The rats were indeed afraid of fire, retreating step by step.
Everyone's eyes lit up, their will to survive reignited. They scrambled to find anything and everything in their homes that would burn, forcing the rats to keep their distance.
The days were long and the nights were short. They held out for over four hours. By the time they had stripped naked and run out of things to burn in their houses...
...they finally made it to dawn.
The temperature rose sharply, the sunlight was blinding, and the rat swarm retreated. The survivors in the village had finally found a glimmer of hope.