flstandardbreds Chapter 358
Chapter 358
The afterglow of the setting sun shines on the slightly mottled walls of the village houses, giving them a warm golden hue.
The air was filled with the aroma of food.
A batch of mutant potatoes has been harvested, and in addition, since it is a small rural courtyard, some vegetables must be planted.
Whether stir-frying or stewing, the long-lost aroma of food wafts from every household’s kitchen.
Zhou Shuwan and Qi Mingyu went to Xiao Xiao's house together, carrying two large bags full of seafood, twenty kilograms of kelp, a dozen sweet sun-dried fish, a dozen bags of dried octopus, and five kilograms of sea salt.
When they arrived home, Xiao Xiao's mother, a kind-looking woman who was a little older than Zhong Tiyun, came out to greet them with a smile: "I'm so sorry, Xiao Xiao is not here. Why don't you wait until he comes back?"
Zhou Shuwan had just called out "Auntie" when a head popped out from the side room. They looked at each other. Meng Mingyue was stunned at first, then surprised: "Wanwan, Xiaoyu, why are you two here?"
She hurried out, looking like she was getting ready to go out.
Zhou Shuwan was also very surprised: "Mingyue, why are you here?"
Xiao Xiao's mother asked, "Mingyue, do you know her?"
Meng Mingyue smiled and pulled Zhou Shuwan's arm: "Aunt Zhang, this is Wanwan, and this is Xiaoyu."
"Oh, you see, I don't know you either. I'm so sorry. Please come in!" Aunt Zhang hurriedly smiled and welcomed the two of them in. "Xiaoxiao and Mingyue keep talking about you. You are both amazing kids!"
Zhou Shuwan and Qi Mingluoluo greeted each other generously.
Meng Mingyue scolded him, "I was busy today when the team came back, so I thought I'd go see you guys. I just got back from work and said I'd change clothes and go find you guys, but I didn't expect you to show up. You're really quick!"
He glanced at the things Zhou Shuwan and the other man were carrying and scolded them, "You're here, and you brought so many things! Supplies are so precious these days!"
"Thanks to you for taking care of my parents and grandma during this period," Zhou Shuwan said sincerely, "These things are nothing, just a token of my appreciation. You must accept them."
She took Meng Mingyue's hand and looked at Aunt Zhang, her eyes full of gratitude.
Qi Mingyu also said: "Yes, without you, we don't feel safe going out for so long."
Aunt Zhang smiled repeatedly and said, "You're so polite. You're so polite."
Meng Mingyue took the initiative to accept it, jokingly saying, "Okay, you two have been making a fortune out there, and I guess you wouldn't care about this little bit of supplies. I'll take it for Xiao Xiao."
Zhou Shuwan hit her lightly: "You came back rich, but you almost lost your life there. And you're still making sarcastic remarks!"
As soon as the convoy came back, Meng Mingyue heard about what they had encountered, but she had a lot of things to do and had been busy until now. After she came back and changed her clothes, she wanted to go visit Zhou Shuwan and the others.
She sighed softly, "When the work was handed over, I heard Zhang Jia say that we have to thank you for standing up in the critical moment. It prevented our people from being wiped out!"
If it weren't for that rocket launcher, there's no chance that they would have made it back safely.
Zhou Shuwan smiled and said, "What's the big deal? If you were there, would you have just stood by and watched? The Cannibal Gang was also wiped out by us and Sister Fen. Since we attracted the enemy, it's our natural obligation to help wipe them out!"
"I don't know where you two got those weapons, even anti-tank rocket launchers."
Meng Mingyue glared at the two of them and invited them into the house.
Aunt Zhang was busy serving fruit and pouring hot tea.
There was hot tea at home, but no fresh fruit, so we used boiled mutant potatoes instead. After steaming them, we cut them into pieces and put a small dish of sugar in them. They were delicious when dipped in the tea.
Zhou Shuwan hurriedly thanked her, "Aunt Zhang, please take a seat. Don't be so polite, we're not guests."
"Since you're visiting, I have to treat you well." Aunt Zhang said with a smile, "We don't have much delicious food at home, but white sugar is a rare commodity. You can all try it."
Meng Mingyue felt the treat was rather simple, so she stood up and took out a few cans of oranges from her room, opening one for each of them. "You just came back, so you haven't tried these mutant potatoes yet, right? Give them a try and see what they are like!"
Zhou Shuwan and the others didn't have time to eat it. They saw that the color was darker than the previous potatoes, a bit black. It tasted okay, relatively soft, but had a hard texture and needed to chew hard to chew it.
The satiety is also very strong, and you will feel slightly full after eating two or three pieces.
"Can it be fried?" Qi Mingyu asked.
"Stir-fry, pan-fry, steam, or boil it all." Meng Mingyue smiled. "Now that the weather is cooler, the cactus grows slower. The yield isn't high, so we can only grind it into cactus powder every once in a while and drink it for breakfast. With these high-yield potatoes, we can truly provide for our family. They can be used as a staple food or as a side dish."
As she spoke, she dragged a box out from the corner of the room: "Look, this is the size of a ripe potato."
Zhou Shuwan and Qi Mingyu both leaned over to take a look. The potato was actually the size of a grapefruit, with a hard, bumpy skin that looked very ugly.
"After peeling the skin, there's good stuff inside." Meng Mingyue said, "Although the skin isn't pretty, it's tough enough to protect the meat inside. It won't go bad even if you keep it for a long time."
Zhou Shuwan nodded and sighed: "With this, mankind has truly solved the problem of famine."
Meng Mingyue nodded and lowered her voice, "Not only that, the main ingredient of compressed biscuits nowadays is made from these mutant potatoes."
Seeing that the young people were talking animatedly, Aunt Zhang came out to cook dinner. She thought that since they had come so hard to visit and brought so many things, they should at least eat before leaving.
When no one else was in the room, Zhou Shuwan whispered, "Why are you staying here? Brother Xiaoyu and I said we'd come find you after we saw Xiao Xiao!"
Meng Mingyue explained: "Don't mention it, it's fine for me and my parents to live there."
She and Xiao Xiao both arrived early and were assigned an empty house in the local village.
"But then the area we lived in was planned as a new district for the base, so there were no empty houses left, and it was too crowded to go to the workshop, making it inconvenient to live there. It just so happened that Xiao Xiao's family only had him, his mother, and his sister. He kept saying that it would be too lonely for the two of them after he left, and he was worried, so he took the initiative to invite our family to live with us. Here, in the side room! It's big enough for our family of three."
Zhou Shuwan winked at her: "Is that the only reason? I don't think Xiao Xiao is the kind of person who would actively invite others to live in her house!"
It has been a few years since the end of the world, and every household will hide some supplies and not let outsiders know.
Therefore, home is a place that is even more private than before the end of the world. Generally, outsiders are not welcome to come, let alone actively invite them to live there.
When Grandma Pang and Qi Mingyu took the initiative to invite their family to live in the underground safe house, Zhong Tiyun and Zhou Jianghai were very grateful whenever they mentioned it.