Chapter 641: Sucker
Chapter 641: Chapter 641: Sucker
Inside the log cabin’s living room, Rhys Chase was eating. The others sat to the side, watching him quietly.
No one had seen Rhys Chase for a good two or three months, not since before the earthquake. He was still as handsome and distinguished as ever.
Zoe sat next to Rhys Chase, chattering away and asking all sorts of questions. Rhys Chase answered her while he ate.
"Mr. Chase, have you not eaten in a long time?"
Rhys Chase smiled. "I’ve been eating every day, but my meal times have been irregular. I’ve been living on instant noodles and canned food lately. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a home-cooked meal."
"You look thinner."
"Really? Zoe’s gotten taller, and her hair has grown longer too."
Zoe grinned. "It’s because I eat a lot. Auntie says you have to eat a lot to grow taller. Mr. Chase, are you going to move in and live with us too?"
"I’d like to. Would you welcome me?"
"Welcome, welcome! A very warm welcome!" Zoe stood up, clapping and hopping around.
"Haha... Thank you, Zoe. I’ll move in right away."
"Is the base not busy now?" Taylor Vance asked, unable to resist, as he ladled a bowl of soup for Rhys Chase.
"It’s busy every day. Ever since arriving in Eldoria, I’ve only had three hours of rest per day. I’ve recently promoted ten assistants, and with them helping to share the load, I can finally sneak in some free time."
"You really should get some rest. The bags under your eyes are pretty bad, and it looks like your hairline has receded quite a bit." The moment Quincy said this, Rhys Chase immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks and took a small mirror out of his pocket to check.
"Mr. Chase is so worried about his image," Wyatt Vaughn whispered to Evelyn Ford, poking fun.
Evelyn Ford smiled. "He really is."
"I combed my hair back today, so it just looks like my hairline has receded. The bags under my eyes are from pulling all-nighters recently. They’ll be gone after a few days of rest." After checking the mirror, Rhys Chase explained with a straight face.
"Mr. Chase, if it weren’t for the apocalypse, you should have become a celebrity. A dashing older man like you would definitely be a global sensation."
Rhys Chase raised an eyebrow. "I actually had that thought before. I was just worried I was too eye-catching for my own good."
Everyone...
’Give him a couple of compliments and he’s off to the races. Men.’
"Still, it’s so relaxing here. Liam Sterling said you’re about to start harvesting medicinal herbs. Are there a lot of herb fields?"
"There are over a thousand mu. After this harvest, we won’t need to plant medicinal herbs for at least twenty years."
Rhys Chase was a little surprised. "That many? Can we use machines to harvest them?"
"The herbs have to be dug up and picked by hand, or it will damage the plants."
"I’ll just treat this as my vacation then. I’ll harvest with you all. After we finish with the herbs, will we be planting grain again? Does the land need to be left fallow for a while to let the nutrients recover?"
"No need. The soil here is extremely fertile. We can plant again right away, and there’s no need for fertilizer or watering."
Once Rhys Chase had eaten and drunk his fill, he cleared away his bowl and chopsticks. There were many empty rooms in the log cabin. Liam Sterling had prepared a bedroom for him and even placed some books inside.
Ethan Dawson called Ronan Kendrick over to play mahjong. Joelle Finch and Wyatt Vaughn were watching a very old movie. Evelyn Ford took out her phone to take pictures and videos of everyone. Rhys Chase and Taylor Vance prepared for an all-night chess match, each vowing to utterly crush the other. Zion Lowell brought the wooden strips that had been soaking in the pond into the log cabin, planning to weave some bamboo trays for fruit. Zoe and Annie went outside to play, and Officer Graham came out of the kitchen with a plate of small cakes, calling everyone for a late-night snack.
"The New Year is almost here. I’m going to start writing the spring couplets tomorrow," said Taylor Vance.
"Yeah, the New Year is almost here. It’ll be lively this year, with over ten million people in Eldoria."
An idea suddenly struck Evelyn Ford. "In that case, let’s make some fireworks to set off."
"I’ll reserve some in advance! I want to set off fireworks too. Evelyn Ford, can you make the kind that explodes into words?"
"That’s very difficult. I can’t make those." Evelyn Ford only knew how to make Fairy Sticks and small fireworks that shot into the sky and exploded instantly.
"But I can make a lot of firecrackers and small fireworks, enough for you all to set off to your heart’s content."
"Then Joelle Finch and I will make a new set of clothes for everyone. It’s the New Year, everyone should have new clothes," Wyatt Vaughn said, and Joelle Finch nodded in agreement.
"Great. Let’s have a big, lively New Year this year."
—
Rhys Chase settled into the log cabin. The next day, he grabbed a burlap sack and joined everyone in harvesting the last few mu of cotton.
Ryan Rowe took a ton of fish fry from the spatial pond. He had people section off an area in the lake to raise Grass Carp and common carp.
The various departments and sectors of the base gradually stabilized. Many hands make light work; with over ten million people invested in production and construction, the base was built at a godlike speed.
Evelyn Ford and Fiona Fletcher’s working relationship was relatively harmonious, until a pregnant woman suddenly went into labor. Only then did Evelyn discover a major problem with Fiona: she was a severe germaphobe. During the delivery, upon seeing the feces the pregnant woman expelled, Fiona suddenly threw up.
Moreover, she didn’t know how to perform a delivery at all. The team leader had said she was an obstetrician, so Evelyn had assumed she could handle deliveries independently, which would have made her own workload lighter. If this woman hadn’t suddenly gone into labor, Fiona probably would have never told the truth.
It turned out that Fiona Fletcher had previously worked at a hospital in Flumen as her father’s assistant. Her father was in charge of surgery, and she just helped out. Before this, she had never been involved in delivering a baby. When she was being transferred, the team leader said the medical tent here needed an obstetrician. In order to stay, she told a lie, claiming she knew how to deliver babies, which is why the team leader brought her here.
"Dr. Ford, I really need this job. Please don’t tell the team leader about my situation. I can do any other work besides deliveries."
As soon as they stepped out of the simple operating room, Fiona Fletcher pulled Evelyn Ford aside, begging her to keep her inability to deliver babies a secret.
If another doctor came, she would be demoted to an assistant or transferred away.
’Dr. Fletcher, are you saying that from now on you’ll be my assistant, and you’ll still be a doctor in name only, but I’ll be the only one performing surgeries and deliveries? And you’ll still collect the stipend that belongs to a doctor?’
"Dr. Ford, I didn’t realize delivering babies was so terrifying. I had no idea that mothers defecate while giving birth. How about this? From now on, I’ll give you a third of my stipend. Dr. Ford, I’m begging you, please help me hide this. I can’t be transferred."
She didn’t want to be transferred, and she especially didn’t want her position to be downgraded from doctor to assistant. At the base, the treatment for doctors and assistants was completely different.
"Dr. Fletcher, a medical tent needs two doctors. You expect me to do the work of two people for the pay of one? Is that even possible?"
Evelyn Ford was so angry she laughed. To think she had previously found Fiona Fletcher to be mild-mannered and easy to get along with. She never expected her to be such a troublemaker.
"Also, all the administrative staff here are military personnel. The base is under military management right now. I can’t help you hide this. You need to go to the team leader and explain everything clearly as soon as possible. Don’t drag me, Yolanda Lawrence, Jane Warren, and Nina York down with you."