Chapter 58 Assigning Work

...Wait.

Something strange has mixed in.

Lin Xiangjun looked at Yang Puxin in disbelief, then back at the position she had arranged, discovering to her surprise that this "kindergarten teacher" was actually the "all-purpose nanny" she had requested!

Wow, what a hellish joke characteristic of the era.

Yang Puxin had the worst complexion among the four; her skin was sallow, her cheeks sunken, and she had dark circles under her eyes that reached down to her stomach. It was unclear if her hair hadn't been combed or if it had been ruffled after combing, but it was a messy, frizzy explosion like a madman's. Her entire being exuded a lifeless, terminal state of madness that made Lin Xiangjun's heart throb with unease.

However, just as the smoker said, the system's judgment was very rigid; as long as they met your requirements, it would pull them in regardless of their profession.

Fortunately, the four of them adapted to their identities very well.

After Lin Xiangjun arranged their work, the four first collected their salaries for the next month from her, then lined up beside her, rattling off the tools they needed like they were reciting a menu.

Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. If you hire someone as a cook, you can't exactly not give them even a kitchen knife, right?

How else would they chop and stir-fry vegetables?

By biting off a piece with their mouth and spitting it into the pot?

Lin Xiangjun wasn't an unreasonable boss. Faced with her employees' perfectly rational demands, she naturally agreed to all of them. So, while the others recited their lists, her fingers clicked frantically on her phone screen, placing order after order in the Forbidden Mall.

Upon calculation, the small courtyard was actually missing quite a lot of things.

The burned house had basic furniture, but it was only the most fundamental parts. For example, the house had a bed, but it was just a bare bed frame without a quilt or mattress—all of which had to be bought.

For instance, the kitchen had a stove and a counter, but no pots, bowls, ladles, basins, chopsticks, or spoons. The stove was also the ancient wood-burning type.

Lin Xiangjun not only had to order tableware but also a gas stove set—natural gas was out of the question since there were no pipes in the house.

Then there were the smaller items like kitchen knives, cutting boards, rolling pins, spatulas, spoons, large colanders, and various grains like rice, flour, and oil... Lin Xiangjun placed over a hundred orders in one go.

The items piled up like a small mountain in front of Gao Xiu.

Fortunately, paper figures were very strong, and Gao Xiu was full of energy after receiving her underworld currency. She happily gathered the pile—which was as tall as herself—into her arms and carried it away.

Next was Sun Changqin.

Sun Changqin needed farming tools like shovels, hoes, plows, and rakes, as well as seeds and fertilizer. Moreover, Lin Xiangjun wanted to raise some livestock.

There were certain conditions for raising livestock young.

For example, chickens, ducks, and geese needed cages, while pigs, cattle, and sheep needed sheds. If it were just a few, it wouldn't matter, but if there were many, the feed they needed to eat every day would be a hassle.

Lin Xiangjun simply went with Sun Changqin to conduct a field survey.

There was a rear building in the backyard, and next to it was a stable. Lin Xiangjun didn't plan on keeping horses; she intended to raise pigs, cattle, and sheep there. Based on the size of the stable, Sun Changqin suggested buying only one male and two females each for pigs and cattle, and one male and four females for sheep. They could just divide the stable into three sections.

Chickens, ducks, and geese were much easier to handle; they could be kept in cages in a corner of the Garden. It wouldn't take up much space or interfere with farming.

As Lin Xiangjun was placing her orders, Sun Changqin finally couldn't help but ask, "Boss, these things aren't cheap to buy, and raising them requires a lot of feed, which isn't cost-effective. If you aren't short on money, you could just buy ready-made meat. Why make the house so messy?"

Sun Changqin didn't know that Lin Xiangjun wasn't short on houses.

She just felt that pigs, cattle, and sheep had a strong smell, and this small courtyard was so exquisite and beautiful; it would be a shame to let those animals get it dirty.

Lin Xiangjun hadn't ruled out buying ready-made goods.

But currently, everything sold in the Forbidden Mall was a product of the real world. With the weird invasion, the human death toll was rising. Who would have the heart to farm when they didn't know if they'd survive the day?

Not to mention that the locations where instances appeared were completely random. Many farmlands had been incorporated into instance boundaries, causing the amount of arable land to plummet.

Then there was the safety of the farmers. In the weird world, where survival was precarious, who could guarantee that the crops they grew in fear could be harvested before they died?

After a year of busy labor, if one died in an instance before the crops matured, it would be working for nothing and suffering for nothing—one wouldn't even be able to die in peace.

Even if someone was very lucky and their land wasn't occupied by an instance, and they lived until the crops matured, after putting in all that effort to harvest and bring them home, given the ridiculously high prices in the weird world, they would surely prioritize eating their fill themselves first, right?

Even if they were full and had surplus grain to sell, in an apocalypse where everyone was starving, how could precious grain not be sold at an astronomical price?

Even if Lin Xiangjun wasn't short on money and bought it, as the weird world's invasion deepened, the real world would inevitably be contaminated—if the land was contaminated, the grain couldn't possibly be clean.

She was expected to spend a fortune on contaminated grain?

She was rich, not insane, okay?

Lin Xiangjun briefly explained the severity of the situation to Sun Changqin. Amidst Sun Changqin's gradually darkening expression, she placed all the necessary items in the corner of the Garden.

There was an extraordinary amount of stuff, piled like a small mountain in the corner of the backyard. Lin Xiangjun thought for a moment and pulled an item card out of her pouch.

“You have a lot of things to use, and I bought extra fertilizer and seeds. That rear building is for you all to live in, so it definitely won't fit everything. Later, tidy up and put the things in this chest.”

This was one of Lin Xiangjun's only three spatial items.

She had drawn three spatial items: the mandarin ducks playing in water pouch, the Cloisonné Dragon Pattern Jewelry Box, and the Huanghuali Inlaid Mother-of-Pearl Wooden Chest.

The pouch was for Lin Xiangjun's own use.

Although the jewelry box had unlimited space, it required that only jewelry or jewelry-type items be placed inside, so it wasn't useful for daily tasks.

That only left the wooden chest.

[Huanghuali Inlaid Mother-of-Pearl Wooden Chest: A wooden chest containing five thousand cubic meters of space. It seems it was once used by its owner to store something important? A very heavy wooden chest. It lacks the time-stasis attribute and the non-loss attribute. Find a safe place to put it; don't cry yourself to death if it gets stolen.]

This thing was heavy. Lin Xiangjun would have to use every ounce of her strength just to move it. Bringing it into an instance was clearly impossible, but it was perfect for storing farming tools, fertilizer, and some long-lasting vegetables.

Sun Changqin looked at the exquisite wooden chest and fell silent.

Setting aside the shiny mother-of-pearl inlays on the chest's surface depicting camellias, longevity peaches, Lotus Pods, and Reeds... and setting aside the Green Jade, Shoushan Stone, and emeralds on the surface... just looking at this beautiful, antique-like cabinet... you're using it to store fertilizer?!

What a waste of God's gifts!

What a waste of God's gifts!

It was an absolute waste of God's gifts!!!

But when Sun Changqin turned her head, she saw Wang Min looking completely unfazed, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

Seeing her shocked expression, Wang Min even reached out and patted her shoulder.

“I understand, I understand. This is just how great families are.”