34 Chapter 34

Upon reaching the top floor of Building 3, Zhang Ming and Lao Zhuangtou were still working diligently.

Old Zhuangtou, a seasoned plumber, was quick to assemble the base while Zhang Ming was still figuring out the parts.

"Don't be busy yet, come and eat." Tong Shu set up a small folding table on the cement floor. Zhang Ming and Lao Zhuangtou weren't so particular; they just grabbed two pieces of cardboard and put them under their bottoms, then took their thermos and opened the lid.

"Wow! This smells so good!" Zhang Ming was dazed by the aroma. Old Zhuangtou saw the dishes before him and became flustered, fidgeting with his chopsticks and not daring to move.

"One dish and one soup, just a simple home-cooked meal, please don't mind," Tong Shu said.

"This...this..." Zhang Ming brought out the braised mutton from the top layer, his eyes wide with amazement: "So much meat? Where can you get so much meat these days..." He swallowed hard, his gaze towards Tong Shu filled with utmost admiration.

"These are all frozen goods, traded from Q City. There are many farmers there but not much fresh fruit, so we stocked up at home. Don't worry, eat them. Once the situation here stabilizes a bit, I'll go back to Q City to trade some more," Tong Shu explained, observing their expressions discreetly.

Zhang Ming is a big-hearted person who easily trusts others. Coupled with his positive feelings towards Tong Shu's family, he believed everything she said. After listening to what Tong Shu said, he had no more worries and happily picked up his chopsticks to shovel rice into his mouth.

"It smells so good! It smells so good! I haven't eaten anything this delicious since the natural disaster broke out!" Zhang Ming was almost in tears: "We don't have any stoves or pots in our house. We only have dry food for three meals a day. If Sister Chen hadn't asked someone for a small iron pot to cook porridge on the terrace, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy any of the smoky flavor from the pot."

Seeing that the young man had already started eating, the old man stopped being hesitant and carefully picked up a piece of mutton, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly. He didn't say anything, but his face showed a rare look of joy.

Tong Shu knew that the two of them wouldn't talk about it, but she wasn't afraid of them spreading it. She was sure that their family would continue to send out other things. She wanted to subtly get the people in the neighborhood used to their family's "strange" ways.

"You guys eat, I'll come back for dinner this afternoon. Just leave the thermos aside, I'll come and collect it then."

Zhang Ming's mouth was stuffed with carrots and mutton, and he could only make "mmm" sounds when he opened his mouth. He could only nod to Tong Shu repeatedly.

"You, your family is too kind. I brought my own dinner. Don't, don't bother," Old Zhuangtou said, stammering as he held up a bowl of chicken and mushroom soup.

"Master Zhuang, you shouldn't be so polite. We agreed to provide meals for you all. Not only you, but also everyone who comes to work later, my family will still treat you the same way. Please don't make any exceptions." Tong Shu grinned and joked.

Old Zhuangtou stopped talking and nodded in agreement with Zhang Ming.

After Tong Shu left, the two of them carefully ate every single grain of rice in the thermos, not wasting a single drop of soup.

"Ah, I'm so satisfied." Zhang Ming slumped on the cardboard and patted his stomach. "Director Zhu said I could only work for two days temporarily. I was thinking of coming to help out and then seeing what the government was up to, I thought I could find a job on the supply ship. But look at the treatment Tong Shu's family is giving me, I don't want to leave after two days at all!"

Old Zhuangtou didn't say anything. His men quickly tidied up the two insulated buckets and wiped the small table clean with their sleeves. He then got up, picked up a wrench, and continued working.

He was already very content to be able to eat hot meals peacefully for two days. In this world, every day you live is a bonus, and he should be content.

"I don't know if Tong Shu and her team will be looking for laborers later. I'll offer myself to her then. Uncle Zhuang, you should also talk to Director Zhu and ask him to put in a good word for you with Tong Shu." After spending half a day together, Zhang Ming had developed a good impression of this taciturn old man and offered him advice while making plans for himself.

"We'll talk about it later." The old man was a little overwhelmed by the enthusiastic young man, and tightened his grip on the screws even more: "First, let's get the job done."

“Yes! You’re right, Uncle Zhuang.” Zhang Ming affirmed, “As long as we do our jobs well, Tong Shu will definitely keep us here.”

Zhang Ming was in an even better mood, humming the most popular song before the natural disaster struck, and happily continued to look at the blueprints and assemble the parts, occasionally asking the old man next to him for help. The old man didn't hold back, and although he stumbled over his words, he taught him wholeheartedly.

When she returned, Tong Shu was still bundled up tightly. Since there was nothing going on at home, she didn't rush back and instead strolled over to the vicinity of the supply ship.

On the ice, a group of strong young men huddled together, some holding pickaxes and others chisels, striking the ice under Zhu Cheng's guidance.

"What's going on here?" Tong Shu asked curiously, dragging her feet over to stand next to Zhu Cheng and peering inside.

"They're planning to build a shelter nearby to gather the people who are scattered outside, for safety and management. There used to be a big alloy platform in our community, right? They're planning to dig it up and think of ways to modify it to build a shelter." Zhu Cheng explained while echoing the person in charge, "Yes, yes, it was built here before, a pretty tall decorative platform. I estimate we'll dig it up in about two meters."

Tong Shu didn't disturb their work any further and walked away cautiously.

In the current environment, it's almost impossible to develop heavy industry again. Waste utilization is a good option. If the water hadn't frozen over, underwater resources would be easier to utilize. But now the ice layer is so thick—at least four or five meters of solid ice, according to Tong Shu—that accessing what lies beneath would require more than ten times the manpower of before. However, the government has never stopped salvaging usable underwater resources during the floods, so the reserves should be sufficient.

Tong Shu climbed back to the twelfth floor, panting heavily. Now she only needed to climb four floors to get home, but unfortunately, with layers of clothes on her body, she had to exert a lot of effort on the ice. By the time she got upstairs, she was slightly sweaty.

After taking a hot shower on the island, Tong Shu changed into a clean set of thermal underwear, put on her outer pants and coat, and walked into the island store with a small notebook in her hand.

Grandpa Tong and Grandma Tong sat facing each other at the counter, with two large baskets of bamboo shoots at their feet. They were peeling the bamboo shoots with small knives.

"Grandpa and Grandma, are you busy?" Tong Shu greeted them.

"Yes, some bamboo shoots have grown in the bamboo grove to the west. Your second aunt's husband and cousin dug up quite a few, which will be perfect for making braised bamboo shoots." Grandma Tong's hands didn't stop, and she peeled the bamboo shoots very quickly.

Tong Shu remembered that when she was setting up the island, she had indeed designated a tea pavilion in the northwest corner, where she had planted some tea trees. The bamboo was to be dug up and transplanted directly from the resource island, but she didn't expect it to grow bamboo shoots.

In the design of "Little Forest Island", the island owner's island has a fixed daily resource output. If it exceeds the limit, you can use currency to exchange for boat tickets or plane tickets to go to the dock or airport and follow NPC animals to randomly reach different resource islands to collect resources. These islands have different types of resources, and the flowers, plants and trees are also different, which can satisfy Tong Shu's collecting obsession.

When Tong Shu was passionate about making furniture, she would go out to sea more than ten times a day just to make the furniture she wanted as soon as possible.

Now that the game system has been implanted into the body, all the NPCs have disappeared, and the docks and airports have naturally stopped operating, remaining idle until now.

In fact, Tong Shu had initially considered arranging for a family member to go to the airport or dock, but then she thought it was unnecessary. Based on Tong Songming's productivity, the supplies produced on their island every day were enough for him to work from morning till night. In addition, no one in the family knew how to fly a plane or a boat, so she gave up the idea.

Seeing the people on the supply ship struggling to break through the ice to retrieve supplies today, Tong Shu's mind started racing again. But after thinking it over, she couldn't help but feel discouraged. Everyone at home was busy with their own tasks, and the island was short-handed with no one available. She couldn't trust anyone else who wasn't related to her.

"Never mind, haste makes waste," Tong Shu consoled herself.

Putting that idea out of her mind, Tong Shu lay down next to her grandmother and started scribbling and drawing.

The flood is now in the past, and with the arrival of severe cold, the store needs to quickly replenish its stock.

Tong Shu's family hasn't gone out these past few days, and the neighbors upstairs and downstairs are all aware of this. It wouldn't be right to put those fresh and juicy fruits and vegetables on the shelves anymore.

Tong Shu had made a plan. They would pack up the last batch of fresh vegetables and fruits on the shelves and exchange them for some charcoal from the supply ship. After that, they would put some pickled vegetables and canned fruits on the shelves to sell at the convenience store. They could also put some quilts and cotton-padded coats on the shelves. However, they would still need to find an opportunity to transport the bulk of the produce to other urban areas and to places where residents gathered, so that it could be used to its fullest potential.

"Grandma, are there many bamboo shoots? Can our family finish them all?" Tong Shu wrote down a long list of canned food varieties in her notebook, then turned to ask her grandmother.

Grandma Tong had raised this granddaughter since she was a baby, so she naturally knew what she was up to. She said with a smile, "Eating too much bamboo shoots will cause bloating. Keep about twenty jars at home, and you can sell the rest."

"Okay!" Tong Shu wrote "braised bamboo shoots in oil" in her notebook, then added "pickled bamboo shoots in sour sauce" and "hand-peeled bamboo shoots" after thinking for a moment. She then held the notebook up to her grandmother and said, "Grandma, I want these two too. Make more hand-peeled bamboo shoots. I love those."

The old lady adjusted her reading glasses, squinted at the bamboo shoots, and said, "Then I'll have to pick out the bamboo shoots for you, otherwise I'll peel them all off in a hurry."

"Hehe, Grandma, you're so kind!"

...

Grandpa Tong, watching his wife and granddaughter chatting and laughing, felt happy too, and peeled the bamboo shoots even more enthusiastically.

[Author's Note]

The karma for not writing a title and summary: after handing in my exam today, I realized I hadn't written a title for my essay (peacefully...).