My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

These sweet potatoes were planted by Grandma herself in the vegetable garden right in front of the house. She hadn’t planted many, just a small patch, but they grew exceptionally well.

A few days ago, when Li Xiang went into the mountains to dig for Solomon, Grandma was home alone and decided to harvest the sweet potato patch. She ended up with over two hundred pounds, which were now piled up in the old kitchen.

When the weather got a little colder, Li Xiang planned to dig a root cellar to store the sweet potatoes. Otherwise, they would freeze and spoil.

When the sweet potato vines were lush, their stems were also a vegetable—crisp, refreshing, and Li Xiang’s absolute favorite.

And roasted sweet potatoes were an even rarer delicacy.

The roasted sweet potatoes sold in big cities were ridiculously expensive, and they could never replicate this kind of aroma and sweetness.

But after being roasted, Li Xiang’s organic sweet potatoes were soft and chewy, a translucent golden-yellow, and irresistibly fragrant and sweet.

"Here, Grandma!" Being a good grandson, Li Xiang handed the first sweet potato to her. "Be careful, it’s hot!"

But roasted sweet potatoes like these were best eaten piping hot.

He tossed the second and third ones into the dog bowls. Dahuang and Er Huang had been waiting at the side for a while, practically drooling.

The fourth and fifth were Li Xiang’s.

Since the sweet potato was too big, Grandma couldn’t finish hers and gave the rest to Dahuang. Dahuang gobbled his food down the fastest, so while Er Huang was still eating, he could only watch eagerly.

Of course, Li Xiang didn’t forget the cats.

He broke off a small piece, went inside, and placed it in the cat’s bowl. Smelling the aroma, the old mother cat immediately came out.

Li Xiang’s cats had plenty of fish to eat every day, but eating some sweet potato in moderation was also very good for their health.

Sweet potatoes contain abundant vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals. These components help improve a cat’s immunity, promote gastrointestinal motility, and alleviate problems like constipation.

Pet cats in the city often suffered from hairball blockages or urinary retention, but country cats rarely had such issues.

Of course, Li Xiang only fed the old mother cat; the kittens were still primarily nursing.

A kitten’s gastrointestinal system isn’t fully developed, and eating sweet potatoes at this stage could lead to indigestion, vomiting, and diarrhea. Li Xiang was so meticulous he even picked the fish bones out of the cat’s bowl; there was no way he would carelessly feed the little ones something unsuitable.

The five little ones still spent their days playing in the cat bed. Thankfully, the one Li Xiang had lovingly made was quite large; otherwise, it would have been incredibly crowded with the mother cat and her five kittens.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to get out. The little ones were still too small, and the "threshold" of the cat bed was too high for them to climb over. Even when one managed a daring "escape," the mother cat would promptly snatch it up and carry it back.

This mother cat kept a very close watch on her kittens.

Because Xiaobai had "immense potential," Li Xiang didn’t feel so bad when he went to check on the kittens and saw Xiaobai being bullied. ’Instead,’ he thought, ’this might be a form of training for him.’

’If he lacks this kind of trial, maybe he’ll never amount to anything?’

"When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility upon a man, it first tests his heart, strains his muscles and bones, and starves his body... It’s the same for a kitten," Li Xiang mused.

As for the mischievous tuxedo cat, Li Xiang actually felt a bit of pity. ’You’re such a tough guy now, but in the future, you won’t hold a candle to the sibling you’re always bullying.’

In the end, each cat has its own destiny.

Li Xiang decided that once the kittens were a bit older and he could tell their genders, he would take the tuxedo cat and the little orange one to the market to sell or trade for a few "mates."

There were bound to be males and females among the kittens. If he kept them all together, they would inevitably inbreed, since cats have no sense of incest. Li Xiang was thinking about their future breeding.

The scenes of Li Xiang steaming Solomon, roasting sweet potatoes, and feeding the dogs and cats at night were naturally filmed and edited into his video.

Once the video was posted, it garnered over ten thousand likes and several thousand comments within a single day.

It had to be said that although he only had seventy or eighty thousand followers, their engagement was very high. Because of his good character and the fact that his products were high-quality, fairly priced, and authentic, he had many repeat customers.

The "nine-steamed, nine-sundried" Solomon hadn’t even finished processing, but followers were already beginning to place pre-orders.

The main reason was that this stuff was genuinely good. Its primary effects were enhancing the immune system, regulating qi and blood, and nourishing the kidneys to replenish vital essence.

The "nourishing the kidneys to replenish vital essence" part was especially key. To be specific, it meant invigorating the kidneys, which could alleviate symptoms of kidney deficiency like dizziness, headaches, premature graying, weakness in the lower back and knees, and general fatigue.

It also had other effects, such as tonifying the spleen, boosting qi, nourishing yin, and moistening the lungs.

The other selling points might not have been compelling enough, but treating kidney deficiency? That was an incredibly attractive proposition.

These days, most people were in a state of suboptimal health. This was especially true for middle-aged men over forty, who found their performance in "that department" declining and felt they couldn’t perform as they used to. So, as soon as Li Xiang announced this "miracle remedy," enthusiasm skyrocketed.

"Nine-steamed and nine-sundried," a process that required nine days and nine nights, was a traditional method for preparing medicinal herbs.

After the nine-steamed, nine-sundried process, the Solomon becomes sweet in taste and warm in property. Its texture softens and becomes rich in oils, eliminating its irritating qualities (eating raw Solomon can cause numbness of the tongue and throat irritation). The process also extends its shelf life and, most importantly, enhances its aphrodisiac, qi-boosting, anti-anemic, and immune-enhancing effects.

The reason Li Xiang steamed the Solomon at night was so he could use the Sun for drying during the day. Besides, tending the fire kept him especially warm at night. The only issue was that the wind was sometimes a bit strong, so he decided to build another kitchen—one properly insulated against the cold and wind, specifically for use in autumn and winter.

His current kitchen, on the other hand, was an open-air structure with bamboo "walls," making it suitable only for the summer.

Li Xiang had a bit of money now and could afford bricks, tiles, and cement, so building a new, spacious kitchen was well within his financial means.

He just didn’t have the time for it at the moment; he had to wait until the "nine-steamed, nine-sundried" process for the Solomon was finished.

Time flew by. After carefully selecting the best from the three hundred kilograms of fresh, wild Solomon, he steamed them in a large steamer every night and dried them in the sun every day. After nine days and nine nights, Li Xiang had produced about 95 kilograms of high-quality dried product.

Li Xiang set his price at 480 yuan per kilogram, which was cheaper than the market rate—a way of giving back to his followers.

His followers were very supportive. They had already started placing orders while he was still filming the process, pre-ordering almost the entire batch. Once it was all ready, he held a livestream to sell the remainder, and it sold out within an hour.

In total, he earned over 45,000 yuan. It wasn’t a fortune, but for about ten days of hard work, it was a fantastic return for Li Xiang—equivalent to a daily wage of four or five thousand yuan.

Li Xiang now had around 100,000 yuan in cash. He was going to have a very good New Year.

"Thank you to my followers! Thanks, everyone!" Li Xiang said repeatedly during his livestream. ’People did me a huge favor by buying my products,’ he thought. ’How could I not even say thank you?’

The autumn wind grew bleak. Li Xiang went into town to buy some winter clothes for himself and his grandmother. While he was there, he also bought an assortment of snacks that girls tend to like—chocolate, preserved plums, Spicy Strips, potato chips, yogurt, sunflower seeds, cookies, Jell-O, and so on. November had arrived, which meant Jiang Cai’Er’s monthly break was near, and she would be back soon.