While cooking, Lu Huai wouldn’t let Qiao Zhenzhu help at all. He wouldn’t even let her tend the fire, insisting she just sit at the doorway of the main room and enjoy the breeze.
Kitchens were already unbearably hot in summer. Once the stove fire got going, the whole room felt like a sauna.
Lu Huai had taken off his white shirt, leaving only a sleeveless undershirt on as he worked in the kitchen.
First, he set a pot of sweet potato rice porridge to cook and tossed in a handful of dried red dates that Qiao Zhenzhu had taken out.
The sweet potatoes had come from her space too—long and thick, even bigger than eggplants.
Lu Huai had eaten plenty of sweet potatoes growing up, but he had never seen any this large before.
Good sweet potatoes weren’t just fragrant, soft, and sweet after cooking—they were crisp and sweet even when eaten raw.
After slicing one open, Lu Huai took a bite. It was crunchy and sugary, almost like eating fruit.
“I’ve never had sweet potatoes this delicious before,” Lu Huai said seriously.
Qiao Zhenzhu’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. “The first time I ate them, I was shocked too. I ate sweet potatoes for three straight days.”
Lu Huai waited for her to continue, but after a while, she still said nothing. Curious, he finally looked over at her.
“And then?”
“And then?”
Qiao Zhenzhu’s clear laughter echoed through the courtyard.
“Then I stopped eating sweet potatoes for three days and switched to corn instead.”
In the apocalypse, there were only a few staple crops.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter melon, and corn.
No matter how tasty they were or how many ways you cooked them, after eating them for ten years straight, anyone would get sick of them.
But now, eating them once in a while was still pretty nice.
Lu Huai hadn’t expected that answer and didn’t know what to say for a moment.
After a long pause, he finally said, “There’s lots of food to eat now.”
Simple and plain, but genuinely comforting.
Qiao Zhenzhu smiled and nodded.
After stirring the large pot of porridge, Lu Huai began preparing meat and vegetables.
Qiao Zhenzhu still had buns and steamed buns from Shanghai stored in her space, so there was no need to make staples today. Porridge and a few stir-fried dishes would be enough.
The sun had already tilted westward, golden light slanting across the courtyard.
The laundry, already dry, swayed gently in the evening breeze. Everything looked peaceful and beautiful.
Looking at the empty courtyard, Qiao Zhenzhu gradually began planning things out in her mind.
Besides fruit trees, flowers, and a grape trellis, she also wanted to dig a small pond to raise fish and grow lotus flowers.
It would be even better to keep a few free-range chickens and a couple of big geese.
Geese lived long, were smart, and looked good too. They could even guard the house and courtyard.
If she could find some nice-looking cats and dogs, she wanted to raise a few of those too.
A home should be lively and bustling!
Just as Qiao Zhenzhu was thinking about it, someone suddenly began pounding on the courtyard gate.
Most families didn’t lock their courtyard doors, but Qiao Zhenzhu used a spatial ability.
To avoid someone barging in unexpectedly, she had bolted the gate from the inside.
Hearing the urgent knocking, she and Lu Huai exchanged puzzled looks.
It definitely wasn’t Huang Qiuying.
Huang Qiuying wouldn’t knock this hard.
“I’ll go check,” Lu Huai said as he strode toward the gate, while Qiao Zhenzhu leisurely followed behind.
The moment the gate opened, they saw an old woman dragging along a little boy.
The boy wore nothing but a pair of oversized shorts. Every bit of exposed skin was dark with grime.
Covered in dirt and drenched in sweat, his body was streaked with muddy lines where the sweat had run down.
Many boys in this era barely wore clothes in summer, but it was rare to see one this filthy.
The old woman clearly hadn’t expected Lu Huai to answer the door and looked surprised for a moment.
But as soon as she spotted heavily pregnant Qiao Zhenzhu walking over, her voice instantly shot up several octaves.
“Qiao Zhenzhu! Good timing. My grandson cried because of you, so hurry up and coax him!”
The accusation came out of nowhere, leaving Qiao Zhenzhu completely baffled.
“When did I make your grandson cry? I’ve never even met him!”
But the old woman remained completely self-righteous.
“The pastries and White Rabbit candies those three Zhang boys were eating—you gave them those, right?”
“Yes. So what? Is there a problem?”
“As long as you admit it!” the old woman said even more righteously. “You gave those things to the Zhang boys, and my grandson cried because he got jealous of them. Tell me, doesn’t that have something to do with you?”
After hearing the whole story, Qiao Zhenzhu was so angry she burst out laughing.
The old woman became even angrier when she saw her laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
“What you said is ridiculous. Am I not allowed to laugh?” Qiao Zhenzhu shot back. “By your logic, if someone gets stabbed to death, should they go demand compensation from the person who sold the knife?”
The old woman was instantly speechless.
She couldn’t win with reason—but she could throw a tantrum.
Dragging her grandson with her, she plopped down onto the ground, slapping her thighs and wiping fake tears.
“Oh heavens above!”
“Everyone come look!”
“This capitalist heiress from Shanghai is bullying people!”
“She’s bullying an old woman like me!”
“She bullied the little ones and now she’s bullying the old ones too!”
“There’s no justice left! Why hasn’t someone arrested this capitalist young lady already?!”
Qiao Zhenzhu knew that once she came back here, people would definitely use her background against her.
But this was exactly what she wanted!
Talk about delivering a pillow right when someone’s getting sleepy.
The old woman’s hair was already gray, but her voice was astonishingly loud.
Her shrill cries were even more effective than a loudspeaker. Before long, a crowd had gathered.
Huang Qiuying hurried over as well, looking anxious.
“What happened? What’s going on here?”
The moment the old woman saw Huang Qiuying, it was like she had discovered a whole new target. She immediately pointed at her and started yelling too.
“Everybody look! This capitalist young lady gave food to Huang Qiuying’s three sons, but not to my grandson. She’s looking down on us!”
“She’s sucking up to the rich and powerful while treating poor people like us as dirt!”
At this point, Huang Qiuying finally understood what had happened.
So her three rotten boys had gone out showing off the fresh meat mooncakes and White Rabbit candies, which had caused all this trouble.
Qiao Zhenzhu had kindly given them food and supplies, yet now she was being pointed at and cursed, with people repeatedly bringing up her identity as a capitalist’s daughter. This was clearly an attempt to ruin her!
If anything really happened to Qiao Zhenzhu, Huang Qiuying would feel guilty for the rest of her life.
Just as Huang Qiuying was about to speak, Qiao Zhenzhu beat her to it.
“Auntie, maybe you don’t know this yet, but my family’s property has already been donated to the country! The government even awarded me a medal and a certificate, and I received a reward too. Old Lu, go bring them out and let Auntie have a look!”