Chapter 18: Using Bread to Change the Baby's Diaper

Second Sister Shi was reluctant to sell the precious seven hundred small loaves of bread. Yet she couldn’t go against Shi Yuebai’s will. Shi Yuebai was decisive and unyielding; once she said something, it was final, allowing no objections.

So the next day, Second Sister Shi had no choice but to set up a stall on the empty patch of land in front of the Shi family’s tent.

“Each bread costs a hundred points?” some survivors gathered around, watching Shi Yuebai write on the ground.

“So expensive, who would buy these?”

“We actually thought the weak and sick from the Shi family would be eating mattresses.”

Most people had come just to watch the spectacle. A hundred points was an astronomical price for them. If they had the means to earn so many points, why would they still live outside the city? The capable ones all lived within the big city.

“Shi Yuebai, your price tag is too high.” A few tempted survivors tried to bargain, “If you set it at one or two points, we might be able to support your business.”

Sitting on a flat handcart, Shi Yuebai sneered coldly, holding a slender long stick with which she wrote:

“No bargaining!”

As she finished the last dot, she flicked the stick upward. A sharp “smack” landed on one team member’s hand.

A survivor, trying to stealthily snatch a loaf amid the crowd, screamed in pain, clutching his bleeding hand.

“Ahhh!”

The surrounding survivors immediately condemned Shi Yuebai.

“We’re all on the same team! How can you hit someone?”

“Yeah, we’re a team! How can you accuse someone of stealing?”

Shi Yuebai rolled her eyes, swinging the slender stick with an air of mockery. Her temper and attitude were infuriating enough to make one want to strike her. But thinking of the Shi family’s good relationship with the mercenary leader Yi Zhe, the team members could only suppress their anger.

Second Sister Shi, uneasy, quietly moved behind Shi Yuebai and whispered, “Yuebai, maybe we shouldn’t make enemies everywhere.”

“What’s there to fear? Kill one who comes, kill a pair who come in twos!” Shi Yuebai snapped. Having fallen to such a lowly state, she wouldn’t cause trouble, but she wasn’t afraid of it either. She set up a stall selling bread at her own doorstep—those who wanted to buy could, those who didn’t could just leave.

She hadn’t offended anyone, nor obstructed anyone. What hatred could she have provoked?

Shi Yuebai’s commanding words carried the fearless audacity of the barefoot facing the shoed. After all, the Shi family was already in dire straits; life and death was just that fragile a thread. If worst came to worst, they’d perish together.

Many survivors who had been itching to snatch the bread began to retreat.

One survivor with some cunning pulled out a pack of baby diapers, eyes gleaming with calculation as if trying to trick Shi Yuebai.

“Yuebai, aunty sees your mother’s about to give birth soon. Aren’t you always scavenging those broken bottles and cans from before the apocalypse?”

“How about I trade this pack of diapers for one small loaf?”

The woman held a sealed pack of thirty baby diapers.

Shi Yuebai took it, looked at the expiration date—two years past due. But since it was sealed, still usable. She nodded, letting the woman happily take a loaf smaller than a palm.

“Turns out she’s a fool too,” someone in the crowd realized.

They had thought Shi Yuebai was clever and tough, given how she wrote and struck with the stick. But here she was, trading bread for diapers. Everyone knew it was best not to have babies in the wasteland. Who knew Shi’s mother was so old and still pregnant? Shi’s father was surprisingly vigorous for his age.

Let her be pregnant. Let the baby be born. Newborns still appeared in the wasteland, but they were far less precious than those born before the apocalypse. They grew up naked, defecating and urinating anywhere, raised by no one.

Trading bread for diapers was unprecedented in the wasteland, and unlikely to be imitated.

Did Shi Yuebai fear the baby would be another fool? Regardless, her own foolishness was enough.

Soon others, tempted, fetched odds and ends from their tents. These items, useless for food or drink and only marginally convenient, were the least valuable in the wasteland. No one counted on these for points. Survivors earned points to buy food, water, advanced instruments, and weapons.

But Shi Yuebai was particular. She refused to trade bread for used or opened items. Underwear worn a few times and unwashed? Dream on if you think she’d exchange bread for that.

Second Sister Shi anxiously stood behind her, cautiously advising, “Don’t trade it all away… save some for ourselves.”

Yi Zhe had given good supplies, mindful that most of the Shi women, except Second Sister Shi, couldn’t move much. So he tried to provide foods with longer shelf lives.

Shi Yuebai ignored her. Clumsily turning, she shoved a large unopened pack of sanitary napkins into Second Sister Shi’s hands.

“Here, you’ll need these. Keep them safe.”

She gestured toward a brand-new carved pearwood cabinet. Survivors had treated it like trash and traded it for a small loaf from Shi Yuebai.

“Move that cabinet back to our tent.”

“You bring the sanitary supplies and stuff for Auntie Gui Shui… put them all in there.”

Little Shi Yao Yao was too young for sanitary napkins. Shi Yuebai, overweight and hormonally imbalanced, had gone through early menopause. As for Shi’s mother, she had long stopped menstruating but, perhaps due to radiation, was still pregnant at her age.

So in the end, Second Sister Shi was the only one who would actually need sanitary napkins.

“And diapers for when the baby is born.”

“Second Sister, you move those back too.”

Just then, the family who had traded diapers for bread returned, dragging their entire household with them. They had likely found a pre-apocalypse factory producing diapers amidst the ruins.

In no time, they happily brought over a hundred packs of diapers—sizes N, M, L, S, and even adult sizes—all unopened.

They looked like they had been stored in a warehouse for a long time.