Early the next morning, Zhao Lian opened her eyes to the tender roar of the little wolf cub. She saw the morning sun streaming in from the window, casting a small patch of golden light on the wall by her bed.
Staring at the patch of light, she felt a sense of peace and tranquility in her heart. It seemed like she hadn't slept so deeply and peacefully in a long time.
She sat up in bed, looked over at Achuan, who was still sound asleep, and thought he must have been tired from the busy day yesterday.
She smiled faintly, got out of bed and went outside.
The cheetah was lying on the eaves, and the two little wolf cubs were chasing each other in the courtyard.
Seeing her come out, the little wolf cubs followed her and played with her for a while, licking her hand, leaving it wet with their saliva, before she got up to go to the water trough to brush her teeth and wash her face.
She found an unopened toothbrush in another room and some now unusable toothpaste, but she could use a little salt as a substitute.
After getting ready, she went to the kitchen, gave the two wolf cubs a piece of jerky each to gnaw on, and then started to prepare breakfast.
Breakfast consisted of wild vegetables, dried fruit, and the leftover meat soup from the previous night.
After breakfast, she found that Zhou Quchuan was still asleep, so she put the remaining food in a pot and covered it. Then, she put the scissors, brush, kitchen knife, and various other items in a bucket, removed the wolf skins hanging on the wall, placed them on the back of the mother goat, took the bucket, led the goat, and walked towards the river.
The two little wolves followed her, and the cheetah gave them a glance, stretched lazily, and followed them slowly.
She tied the rope of the goat to a nearby wooden stake, allowing it to graze on its own. First, she went to the water to pull up the fish net. After a day and a night, the net had caught quite a few fish; at least twenty or thirty. This was the limit of what the net could catch, given the relatively small area they had set.
She picked out most of the fish and gave them to the cheetah, but the two little wolf cubs rushed to compete, only to be ruthlessly swatted away by the cheetah, yelping in pain.
When they came back, the little wolves dared not compete with the cheetah for food, stood in front of the pile of fish, and began to howl.
However, the cheetah continued eating without paying attention to the little fellows.
Seeing the little wolves looking pitiful, Zhao Lian felt both angry and amused. In fact, looking at their round bellies, she knew they had eaten their fill that morning already. They just wanted to eat more when they saw others with food.
She picked out two smaller fish and placed them in front of the cubs, who immediately began tearing into them as if they hadn't eaten for days, making growling sounds as they fiercely held onto the fish with their paws.
Zhou Quchuan's abilities were becoming increasingly unfathomable! Without any hesitation, Zhou Quchuan killed Meng Zhibin, snapped his fingers, and had his body quickly engulfed in flames. Then he told his two captains, "I have something else to take care of, I'll be back in the spring. If you have anything to do during this time, leave the information here. I'll come here every three days to check on things."
As he was speaking, he walked out, took a few steps, then stopped. "By the way, Tongrong Base, apart from this guy, there should be no one else who can threaten you. Give them two options: voluntarily surrender to Xinchuan, or be occupied by us."
"Yes!" the two men bowed and replied, but when they looked up, Zhou Quchuan had already disappeared.
The two turned back, looked at the people from the Tongrong Base who had already been brought under control by their subordinates, and after making eye contact, they smiled. Jiang Dashuai loudly declared, "The leader has killed the lava tyrannosaurus! We can go back!"
As soon as he spoke, the scene went silent for a moment, then thunderous cheers erupted.
The remaining fish, along with the fishing net, were put back into the water. Zhao Lian carried several wolf skins to the river and began the initial processing.
Before she had finished washing one wolf skin, she suddenly heard someone behind her call out, "Zhao Lian."
She turned around and saw Zhou Quchuan coming towards her, carrying a stainless steel basin filled with things in his arms.
"Come see!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look what I found!"
Zhao Lian put down what she was holding and shook the water droplets off her hands as she walked over. When she saw the items in his arms, she immediately showed a surprised expression.
This was because the basin he carried was actually filled with a lot of supplies!
She immediately spotted two cans of meat.
"Is this... vinegar, sugar?! Honey? White wine?" She picked up each item one by one, all neatly packaged and without spoiling, appearing to still be edible.
"There are also a mirror, a comb, soap... where did you find these?" Zhao Lian was very surprised.
Zhou Quchuan laughed and said, "Didn't we have some unsearched cellars before? I went and broke the locks. I found these good stuff in one of the cellars."
"That's amazing, how did you manage to find all this!" Zhao Lian couldn't help but laugh. She always felt that Achuan seemed to have very good luck, as he was the first to find things like the fishing net last time too.
The feeling was a bit like the main character in a game, wherever he appeared, there would be supplies.
"There are still more good things, come with me!" Zhou Quchuan put down the basin and pulled Zhao Lian to follow him.
"Wait, I haven't finished washing the wolf skin..."
"I'll help you wash it later! What we found this time is definitely good stuff, you'll be delighted when you see it!" Zhou Quchuan called out, grabbing her and starting to run.
The two of them came to a yard far from where they lived, on the edge of the farm.
In the house, the entrance to the cellar had already been opened, and there was light inside.
"What is this, making you so happy..." Zhao Lian gasped for breath, as she climbed down into the cellar with Zhou Quchuan, and was soon pleasantly surprised by what she saw.
"This is...rice! Flour! And even instant noodles! Oh my, how come there's so much food!" Zhao Lian rushed over and looked at the items laid out there, feeling her heart pound with excitement, wanting to shout!
She hadn't seen so much of the very ordinary food from before the end of the world for a long time.
Zhou Quchuan stood beside her, watching her excited expression, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, but it quickly disappeared. He also made a slightly excited look and said, "How is it? I knew you would be very happy!"
"Happy! I'm so happy!" Zhao Lian turned her head to give him a glance, then suddenly rushed over to hug him tightly, "Achuan, you're truly our lucky star!"
Before Zhou Quchuan could react, Zhao Lian ran back to the food, her eyes shining, and said, "Let's have instant noodles for lunch today! Or we could cook rice... or maybe have some noodles? Achuan, tell me, what should we have for lunch today?"
"Ahem," Zhou Quchuan felt his ears burning for some reason, he coughed lightly into his fist and said, "Let's have a meal, I haven't had white rice for a long time. We have sugar, vinegar, and those spices, right? Let's make sweet and sour fish for lunch, and also a braised pork dish, to celebrate, what do you think?"
"Great!" Just hearing him mention those dishes made Zhao Lian salivate, then she clapped her hands and said, "That's right, let's make dumplings for dinner! I saw a lot of wild shepherd's purse on the other side of the river, I'll go pick some in the afternoon. Although the shepherd's purse at this time of year might be a bit old, the taste is still good. We'll make shepherd's purse dumplings for dinner."
"Okay!" Zhou Quchuan seemed to have been enticed by her, and replied eagerly.
The two of them then began to move the items from the cellar one by one.
Finally, after surveying the now empty cellar, Zhao Lian set her sights on the two kerosene lamps on a nearby table, and blew out the flames, taking them with her. These kerosene lamps were a valuable commodity in a world with scarce electricity and light.
Zhou Quchuan somehow found a wooden wheelbarrow, loaded the items onto it, and started to transport them back to their yard in batches.
This time they had a big harvest. There were two large bags of rice, sixty kilograms each, and five bags of flour, each weighing twenty pounds. With the addition of other items, they wouldn't have to be frugal in their eating, and they would have a good winter!
Of course, they still had to be thrifty, but with the addition of wild vegetables, fruits, and river fish, their food options had greatly expanded.
It was unexpected that Zhou Quchuan's accidental discovery solved the long-standing "food" problem that had troubled Zhao Lian.
However, it was strange. With so many households on the farm, very few had food items that were preserved in such good condition.
It should be noted that items such as rice, flour, and canned goods, as long as properly stored, would not spoil over time, although their taste would deteriorate. Of course, it was not possible for them to remain unspoiled for decades or centuries, but relative to other foods, their shelf life was quite long.
Zhao Lian asked about this puzzlement, and Zhou Quchuan calmly said, "Perhaps the owner here had the habit of stocking up on food for a rainy day? It's also possible that when the chaos broke out, they didn't have time to hide and eat these foods before they were infected and turned into zombies."
"That makes sense," Zhao Lian nodded.
After all, even the regular caravans in the base often organized people to go out and look for supplies. Besides, it had only been five years since the outbreak of the End of Days, and there were still plenty of usable supplies in the various towns, large and small.
Seeing her looking at the wheelbarrow full of food with a happy smile, Zhou Quchuan also felt his mood improving. He thought to himself that it wasn't in vain that he had worked so hard as a porter last night.
The author has something to say: This story will enter V on the 19th tomorrow, with a three-in-one 10,000-word chapter drop at midnight. I hope everyone can continue to support it. Bow!