Luo Jiu smiled. “We probably can’t stockpile in a frenzy, but eating our fill and drinking well won’t be a problem. As long as we don’t stockpile things like abalone, sea cucumber, and black truffles, we can have all the snacks we want. We’ll probably have to cut back on drinks, though, and we need to leave room to stockpile more water so we can guarantee an adequate supply.”
Feng Qi hurriedly said, “Then why stockpile snacks at all? They’re not healthy. And don’t stockpile milk tea, either. Look how fat I’ve gotten. One cup of milk tea a day, and we won’t even need the zombies—high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol will finish me off.”
Cheng Yaoyao also said, “Exactly. We definitely can’t stockpile those expensive seafood products. They’ve all been contaminated by Little Japan’s nuclear wastewater. What if they make us sick too? I even suspect the zombies were created by nuclear radiation. Besides, fish, shrimp, crabs, and the like all have bones, skin, or shells. What a hassle to eat! We should just eat more vegetables. Healthy. We’re not stockpiling seafood at all.”
Zhong Jialing came over when she heard that. “Why aren’t we stockpiling seafood? Hairy crabs are delicious. Didn’t you all fight over the salmon sushi I brought back to school last time?”
The three of them awkwardly rubbed their noses. Luo Jiu said, “It is delicious, but mainly, we can’t really afford to eat it anymore. Look—this is the preliminary budget I spent an hour putting together just now. Even though you have twenty million, we still have to spend the money where it matters. If we recklessly splurge, we won’t have enough left to buy other things later…”
Zhong Jialing craned her neck to look at the long budget sheet. “Well, I came over because I wanted to tell you that my parents transferred most of their liquid funds to me. We currently have seventeen hundred million. We can stockpile as much as we want.”
The air froze for several seconds.
“Seventeen hundred million, right?” Luo Jiu immediately shut down the computer. With this much money, they couldn’t spend it all even if they stockpiled with their eyes closed. What was the point of making a budget? She had wasted an entire hour.
Feng Qi simply couldn’t believe it. “Why did your parents give you so much money?”
“I told them about the apocalypse.”
“And they believed you?”
Zhong Jialing looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t they? I’m their biological daughter. Why would I lie to them? They contacted me by satellite phone. They’re at sea right now and have already decided to purchase supplies immediately and then not come ashore. They said the sea is absolutely safe and told me to stay with you so we can look after one another.”
To the other three, her family sounded like something out of a fairy tale. Luo Jiu took a moment to react. “If they transferred all the money to you, then how will they have money to purchase supplies?”
“Commercial loans. My family’s assets can secure loans of several billion. My mom said that if the apocalypse comes on schedule, they’ll never have to repay the money.”
Luo Jiu was speechless. She loved reading, never forgot anything she read, and grasped things at lightning speed, learning anything after being taught it once. She had always felt as though the entire world were within her grasp. Yet not even a day after leaving school, she felt as though she had been given a harsh lesson. There was still so much she had to learn.
*
The meal wasn’t ready yet, but the delivery trucks had already arrived.
The trucks delivering rice, meat, and vegetables instantly filled more than half of the spacious courtyard.
Cheng Yaoyao was delighted. “They came at exactly the right time. Otherwise, we could only have had stewed chicken for lunch today. Now we can add several more dishes. I’ll show you what I can do.”
Cheng Yaoyao carried a rack of ribs and several vegetables into the house while the others stayed outside to receive the deliveries.
The workers unloaded the goods on one side, while Luo Jiu and Feng Qi counted them on the other. Zhong Jialing paid the remaining balance at the end.
There were too many things. After counting for a while, Feng Qi’s eyes began to swim. “Jiu, I’m getting confused over here. It might be 276 bags, or it might be 267. Hey, why are you counting so fast?”
Luo Jiu said calmly, “Because I’m not counting. I’m just putting on a show so they won’t cheat us. Besides, they see us as major customers now. They won’t ruin a long-term business relationship over a tiny profit.”
Feng Qi was surprised. Sometimes, the way a top student thought really was different from the way a poor student thought.
“Then answer me this. How did you calculate that problem in math class today just by looking at it? The answer even had a square root.”
Luo Jiu burst out laughing. “Of course I couldn’t calculate it just by looking at it. I’d done that problem before, so I remembered the answer.”
Feng Qi drew in a deep breath. She couldn’t even remember what she had eaten yesterday, yet Luo Jiu could remember the answers to problems she had done before? A top student’s memory really was terrifying.
The three of them stored the first batch of goods in their space. Cheng Yaoyao opened the window and called out, “Wash your hands! Get ready to eat.”
The rice was newly purchased Wuchang rice. When the lid was lifted from the full pot, the aroma of rice filled the entire room.
Feng Qi took a large soup bowl and used it as her rice bowl, informing everyone in advance, “If there’s enough to go around, I’m going to eat my fill, okay?”
Cheng Yaoyao carried the entire pot of chicken soup to the table. “Go ahead and eat as much as you want. Just look at how much Grandma and I made. You couldn’t finish it even if you ate until you burst.”
The free-range chicken raised by Grandma had produced a broth that was golden all the way through. Pickled cabbage had been added to cut the richness, along with the glass noodles delivered by the rice shop. The sour soup, glass noodles, and free-range chicken soup were unbelievably fragrant.
Grandma urged everyone, “Hurry and try it. Eat more meat—it gives you strength. Don’t go copying other people and dieting until you ruin your health.”
“Grandma, you eat first.” Zhong Jialing pressed Grandma into the seat of honor. “Just treat this place like your own home. Please don’t hold back. Here, have some more.”
Everyone ladled out soup and rice, and the table was lively with activity.
Cheng Yaoyao made a dazzling entrance carrying a basin of secret-recipe ribs. “Ta-da~ My signature dish! I pan-fried these ribs until golden, then added water and braised them. Once the sauce reduced, I fried them until golden again. Try them!”
Everyone took a piece. They were so hot that everyone hissed and sucked in air, but before anyone had even swallowed, they were all giving her a thumbs-up.
Feng Qi instinctively wanted to say, “Holy crap, this is incredible!” to express how she felt. The “holy” had already escaped her lips when she saw Grandma. She quickly changed course and said, “Ho—oh—I mean, I’ve never eaten ribs this delicious before!”
Zhong Jialing’s cheeks were stuffed full as she praised them indistinctly. “Incredible! These ribs must only exist in heaven. Having you is a blessing for all of us.”
Luo Jiu said, “We can stockpile more ribs later. I feel like I’d be willing to eat this flavor for the rest of my life.”
“Of course.” Cheng Yaoyao turned proudly and went to bring out two plates of vegetables.
One was green peppers, potatoes, and eggplant, also known as Three Fresh Delicacies, a classic home-style dish. The other was lettuce with garlic. It contained only oyster sauce, salt, and garlic. The broth was clear and bright, making it light, refreshing, and excellent for cutting through the richness.
Feng Qi bit into a rib that was crisp on the outside and tender inside, filling her mouth with rich, fragrant meat juices. She took a sip of chicken soup, whose sour, refreshing flavor whetted her appetite. She was so satisfied she could hardly describe it.
At first, everyone still used chopsticks to pick up and gnaw on the food. Later, they couldn’t be bothered with that anymore. Everyone dug in with their hands and feasted without restraint.
An entire chicken and a huge pot of chicken soup were eventually reduced to nothing but the chicken’s rear end.
The basin of ribs was scraped clean as well, leaving only a few scraps of meat. Zhong Jialing used her chopsticks to pick them up one by one, unwilling to waste even those scraps.
Cheng Yaoyao couldn’t resist teasing her. “Who could have imagined it? The fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged super rich beauty, Miss Zhong, has committed another shocking act after fighting over instant noodles, soup, and sticky rice buns—picking meat scraps.”
Zhong Jialing silently poured the last scraps from the bottom of the basin into her own bowl and said, still unsatisfied, “Make more next time. I didn’t get enough.”
“All right, you greedy girl.”
Grandma had finished eating first and had already gone for her afternoon nap. The four of them took the opportunity to hold a small meeting at the dining table.
Luo Jiu said, “Yaoyao, start ordering the seasonings, cookware, and anything else we need online. Choose the best quality according to the standard of surviving for fifty years. This afternoon, we’ll go buy the things that are difficult to purchase online. You can take care of things at home.”
Zhong Jialing said, “I’ll transfer some money to all of you. If anyone suddenly thinks of something they want to buy, it’ll be more convenient to place the order directly. If you run short, just tell me.”
She tapped on her phone a few times. Everyone’s phones rang at almost the same moment, notifying them that five million had been deposited.
The three of them looked at one another, their feelings complicated.
Luo Jiu said, “You know we’ll never be able to pay this money back, right?”
“I know. But if this money isn’t spent before the apocalypse, it’ll just be wastepaper. It’ll become nothing but a long string of meaningless numbers. I transferred it to you so that, even if you can’t spend it all, you can at least have some fun with it. Didn’t you say, ‘If you become rich, don’t forget me’? We’ve already gone through life and death together. Who’s going to quibble over this little bit of money? Why are you bringing this up?”
Luo Jiu raised the half bowl of chicken soup in her hands. “If you put it that way, I won’t stand on ceremony with you. We’re so familiar with one another that saying some things out loud almost makes us seem distant, but there’s one thing I have to say at least once.
“Without you, everything would become incredibly difficult. You’re the reason surviving the apocalypse has become so easy for us. Having you is a blessing for all of us.
“I’ll use soup in place of wine and offer you a toast.”
Zhong Jialing proudly shook her head. “Bottoms up!”
The four porcelain bowls touched, producing a clear, crisp sound.
After finishing half a bowl of chicken soup, Zhong Jialing couldn’t help sighing. “Come to think of it, my parents really were far-sighted. They went to so much trouble to send me to a prestigious school and have me make friends. And look—thanks to all of you, even I, the second-to-last student in the entire school, can live freely in the apocalypse.”
Luo Jiu smiled and shook her head. “All right, let’s not open the champagne halfway through and celebrate too early. This is only the beginning. There’s still a lot to do. Everyone rest for a while. We’re setting out in an hour.”