Wanjie Shop 17 Eat a good meal

The cafeteria at the research base was bustling with activity, just like the New Year's Eve.

The base had a half-day holiday today, and everyone rushed into the cafeteria to start preparing for the celebratory dinner in the evening.

He Qing brought dozens of strong soldiers to transport vegetables and fruits from the Yupei Farm in batches.

The researchers lined up the tables one by one in two long lines.

"Put up two tables, one for spicy food and one for non-spicy food. We have to cater to everyone's tastes!"

"Come on, put the vegetables that need to be picked on the table. Once everyone has moved them, pick them and let the chefs concentrate on cooking!"

"Here are strawberries! And a big watermelon! Who wants some?"

"I!!!"

Outside the base, the temperature was close to zero degrees Celsius and there was a heavy rainstorm, but the temperature inside the base was rising.

The long watermelons with green skin and red soil were broken open and cut into triangles. Those who wanted to eat them could take them themselves.

The juice bursts in your mouth as you take a bite, and the familiar watermelon flavor penetrates your heart. When you eat this familiar fruit again, some people can't help but shed tears.

It has been a year since I last felt this ordinary happiness since the Cataclysm began.

"The berries are washed!!"

I was just sighing at the sight of people passing by suddenly crowding towards the berry bowl. I grabbed a handful and had strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and mulberries in my hands.

Some people put the food in their mouths without even looking at it, wanting to fully experience the taste of the mixed fruits.

"Ugh!! Assassin! There's an assassin!"

"Who put the cranberries in here?"

"Wow, this is sour..."

Reserved people often stand aside, watching the impatient people frown and hiss, and the impatient people jump around in place. They leisurely savor the sour and sweet taste of each fruit.

In the kitchen, the chefs looked at the prepared dishes being brought in one after another. Once the stove was turned on, their hands and feet started working, and soon a large dish was ready.

“Serve the food!!!”

Stir-fried vegetables, three fresh vegetables, Mushu pork, braised pork, fish-flavored eggplant, minced meat and tofu, sweet and sour spare ribs, shredded pork with green peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes...

There was also beef brisket stewed with potatoes and corn and pork ribs soup that had been prepared in the morning.

Plates, pots, and buckets filled the long table in the cafeteria, and the whole room was filled with the aroma of home-cooked meals.

Finally, the chefs lined up and brought out five large pots of hot rice: "Come! The rice is here! If you want to eat, help yourself. Take as much as you want!"

Xie Yunsui and Fang Xiheng mixed in the team and followed the eldest brother Li Wangruo in line and walked forward.

"This is my first time to have such a large-scale buffet." Xie Yunsui sighed.

Fang Xiheng smiled and said, "Thanks to you."

Others thought that these delicious meats without any fishy smell and the jade pendant farm that could grow all kinds of food regardless of the seasons were all brought by the Wanjie Shop.

Only Fang Xiheng knew that it was Xie Yunsui's credit.

Almost everything you see is provided by Xie Yunsui.

Xiaoxi, who used to follow Xie Yunsui, didn't understand why Xie Yunsui was so persistent in collecting food, year after year, without slacking off. Now she understands.

"Thank you."

Fang Xiheng whispered in his ear.

Xie Yunsui smiled: "Thank you too."

After all, a person's power is limited. Half of the goods stocked in the Wanjie Shop and the materials for building the Jade Pendant Farm are Xiaoxi's credit.

Li Wangruo heard nothing and his eyes were focused on the rice in front of him.

This is the rice grown in Yupei Farm’s first experimental rice field. The rice is crystal clear and has a strong rice aroma.

He used a spatula to fill himself half a bowl of rice. If he hadn't left some space for the dishes, he could have filled the whole bowl!

After a period of nourishment from the food at Yupei Farm, his physical fitness was slowly improving, and his appetite had reached that of middle-aged people, so a bowl of rice was no problem for him.

After serving the meal, he followed the team to the spicy table and picked out the dishes with red peppers and put them into his bowl.

As I got older, I used to have stomach discomfort from spicy food, but now it's better! Haha, I can eat spicy food again!

Li Wangruo filled his bowl completely, found an empty seat nearby and began to enjoy the food.

On both sides were researchers who were concentrating on eating without even looking up.

Only after they had eaten half of the food, their stomachs half full and their mouths sated by the delicious smell, did they start talking while burping.

"This dish is so delicious! Even with all the oil and spicy ingredients, it can't mask the aroma of the dish itself. Absolutely amazing!"

"Hey, this meat is absolutely amazing! It's not fishy or smelly, and it's fragrant and delicious. This beef is wow."

He is a person with high literary literacy, but he exclaimed "wow" three times in a row. As he spoke, he went to get a small half bowl of beef covered with mashed potatoes.

The beef, mixed with the aroma of aniseed, is stewed until soft and rotten, and is covered with even more mushy potatoes and spicy red oil. One bite of it is simply heavenly.

The researchers who come to the research base are all prepared to endure hardships.

So this is what suffering is?

Woohoo, I can endure this pain for the rest of my life!

-

Qian Bin, the owner of the rice mill in Linjiao City, and his family were staring hungrily at the last bit of rice in the rice bucket.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

The three-year-old daughter grabbed Guiyun's legs and whispered.

"Cook it all and feed it to the children. We can wait for two more days until new supplies are distributed."

Qian Bin rubbed his bald head and said with a look of regret: "It's all my fault. When the factory closed, I should have left a few bags of rice at home."

Since the land failed to produce any harvest, his factory was forced to close.

At that time, we thought that the catastrophe was only temporary, and with the state machinery in place, everyone would definitely be able to return to their previous lives.

But after the drought came the flood. Not to mention rice, even purely aquatic plants could not survive in this environment.

Gui Yun licked her lips and said, "I don't blame you. Who could have thought the situation would be so serious? Our family is lucky."

This is true. Qian Bin opened a rice mill. Although he did not become rich, his family's living standard did improve.

After the drought, when they realized something was wrong and rushed to stock up on supplies, they also had some spare money to use.

I saved a lot of food and water at home.

While other families were living on pickles, they had sausages, smoked meat and other meat products to change the taste.

No matter how much food there is, it’s not enough.

In today's environment, you can't buy more food even if you have money.

The state controls all supplies, and the military suppresses them with force. Only the amount needed for survival is supplied, and it is distributed only at regular intervals.

Everyone is counting the days.

There are still two days until the next distribution of supplies, if all goes well.

The power supply time was tight, and there was no extra worries for the two of them. Gui Yun washed the last bit of rice, added some water and some soaked dried vegetables, and prepared to cook in a pot.

Just then, Qian Bin's cell phone rang.

Gui Yun was immediately annoyed: "Again? How can you have so many poor relatives and friends?"

Qian Bin scratched his head: "I blocked them all."

Ever since the factory closed, the people who called him were no longer suppliers, but a group of debt collectors.

All his relatives and friends came to him and asked him if he had any extra food or money.

At the beginning, Qian Bin still had enough money to help, but later on, his own family didn't have enough. However, those who received his help thought that he was a big boss and would definitely be able to get more food. If that didn't work, they would just give him money. If they could buy it themselves, they would call him without hesitation.

Qian Bin was very annoyed.

I turned off my phone for a while, but I found that I still had to read the latest news, so I had to block everyone, one by one.

I don't believe they can borrow so many phones.

I thought I could have some peace and quiet for a while, but why are there still people coming here?

Qian Bin stared as he looked for his phone. Just as he was about to hang up, he was suddenly startled when he saw the caller ID.

Why is there no display on this caller ID?

"Hello?" Qian Bin thought for a moment, but still answered the phone.

After a moment, he knocked on the kitchen door in a daze: "Wife..."

"If you want to borrow money, we will divorce!" Gui Yun said subconsciously.

"No, the phone call is disconnected. No need to act."

"Oh, what's wrong?" Gui Yun asked, turning around.

Qian Bin said awkwardly, "Wife, a company commander from Shanxia City just called me and said he wants to requisition our rice mill."

Gui Yun looked puzzled. "Who needs to process rice now? Are you a liar?"

Qian Bin scratched his head. "Uh, they said they'll send someone to talk to us later, and they'll be here soon."

Ten minutes later, the two men looked at the two officers in military uniforms who showed their identification cards, their expressions dazed.

"Expropriate, expropriate the rice mill? To produce grain?"

"Yes, we urgently requisitioned a batch of unhulled rice. We found that your rice mill was built on high ground, where there is not much water accumulation, and the machinery is not contaminated. It can be put back into use as soon as possible, so we requisitioned it for a period of time."

"How long will the requisition take?"

"Expropriation will last until the disaster ends."

Qian Bin was in a daze until he saw the original granary filled with rice, and then he felt a sense of solid ground under his feet.

It’s real! Real rice!

I thought the country was at the end of its rope, but it turns out there's still food in stock! There's a whole granary full of food!

No, there might be more than one granary. Qian Bin knew that his rice mill was just a small one, and it was only requisitioned because it was located on a high ground and there was no serious waterlogging.

Those large rice processing plants in the north must be even busier!

But no matter what, seeing rice means seeing hope, not to mention that these hopes have to be produced by one's own hands.

Qian Bin quickly contacted a few good original factory workers and couldn't help laughing: "Brother, it's time to go to work!"

The staple foods such as rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. produced by Yupei Farm are processed, placed in the replica infinite space backpack, and then transported to various parts of the motherland by special planes.

"Hey, this is strange. Why does it feel like the country is transporting supplies faster and faster now?"

"Yes, it used to be shipped once a month. The transport fleet would be lined up in a long queue, and it would take several days and nights to unload all the goods."

"Tsk tsk, didn't you hear the sound of that helicopter flying back and forth several times at night?"

"It's not just helicopters. I also saw drones flying. They all operate at night, definitely to avoid delaying our work."

"Stop talking, hurry up and move! It's rare to have enough supplies, let's move to a few more communities today!"

…

In Hongye Community, new supplies arrived and people received them in an orderly manner at the window on the middle floor platform.

There was water that never seeped down to the ground, and almost no one lived on the first and second floors. Even supplies had to be lifted to a high platform by a crane for distribution.

Gao Xuan shivered and wrapped her cotton coat tightly around her.

When I was getting supplies, I accidentally glanced down and immediately felt dizzy.

"Don't look down." The neighbor behind her pulled her.

"Thank you." Gao Xuan thanked him and said to the staff, "Number 1503."

"A family of three, right? This is yours."

Gao Xuan was shocked when she saw the two large bags full of supplies that had to be carried by two strong guys.

"Is this all ours?"

"Yes, the transport team has been improved. The speed has increased, and there are more supplies. We will send whatever we have."

Gao Xuan originally wanted to come by herself to prevent her parents from catching a cold, but now she didn't care about that and called her father to come and help move.

Father Gao picked up the grain bag and said, "Hey, this time the grain bag is a lot heavier."

"Hey, look, this time we have potatoes and sweet potatoes, a dozen or so heads of corn, and I think there are three packs of sausages and three large cans of canned fruit."

After hearing this, the people in the queue behind him brightened up their eyes.

"Finally, I can change my taste. Where did this batch of supplies come from? It's amazing!"

"From the north? The flooding there certainly isn't as severe as it is here. Is it grown in a greenhouse?"

"Oh, it's none of your business. As long as we have something to eat, that's all."

This batch of grain was too heavy, so Gao's father asked his daughter and wife to carry a bag of rice and flour each, while he himself carried a large bag and went upstairs.

"Dad, be careful, don't hurt your back."

"Hey, before when there was not enough food, I was worried about not having enough to eat. Now I'm worried about not being able to move. What a guy!"

The people ahead, who were dragging heavy supplies up the stairs, all laughed: "That's what I mean. A heavy yet sweet burden."

"Hey, if you think it's too heavy, just give it to me. I don't think it's too heavy! Hahahaha."