Chapter 330 This Street is for You

Qiao Lan took a look and saw it was Bird's Nest brand, which was available in almost every supermarket before the apocalypse. She used to run her own coffee shop and wasn't interested in instant coffee, but these days, it's not easy to get instant coffee.

The three Crowns smiled at her in a friendly manner and each opened a can of coffee to taste.

"I told you before that I would invite you to my place for coffee." Wang Guan smiled.

This was the conversation they had when they first met in the capital and he was ordered to capture Qiao Lan.

At this point, they were no longer enemies and were really treating each other to coffee.

The Marshall skin he wore now was given to him by Ye Qi. His grandmother had been living happily in Blackwater Town since she was brought here. All of this made him a firm ally of Qiao Lan and Ye Qi.

"It must be difficult to get this coffee, right?" Qiao Lan knew that almost all the supplies in City C, including the nearby villages and towns, had been looted.

If you want to get decent drinking water now, you have to go to dangerous places where mutant creatures gather, or explore places where there are few people.

Wang Guan said: "It's not easy for others to get it, but we are fine."

He and the man in red had lost strength, but the man with great strength still had his ability.

The strong man smiled and said, "You're welcome, Miss Qiao. We can afford to treat you to a cup of coffee."

Qiao Lan thanked him, opened the coffee and started drinking.

Later, Ye Qi came over and Qiao Lan gave him the half-finished can. Ye Qi drank directly without wiping the bottle mouth, and Wang Guan laughed when he saw it.

Ask Ye Qi: "If you were alive, and Miss Qiao held a dinner party for you as a gift, what would you give her in return?"

It was just a joke, but I didn't expect Ye Qi to actually have a gift to give.

"You'll know what I'm going to give her tomorrow."

"Can't I find out today?" Qiao Lan was very curious.

Ye Qi held her hand and said softly, "We still need to prepare it. Let's take a look at it in the morning. This is a gift to congratulate you on the opening of your territory, and also a return gift for the handwritten poetry collection."

"Oh..." Qiao Lan was quite looking forward to it.

Her hand was plump and felt good in his palm, and Ye Qi held it with great care. This time, he thought he wouldn't survive. The reconstructed superpowers were conditional and not always successful. Now that he was lucky enough to survive, he cherished his life and everything in front of him, especially Qiao Lan.

The bond between the two was deeper than that of ordinary lovers; they were comrades-in-arms, willing to sacrifice their lives for each other, and more than once. Ye Qi decided that he would never again learn any love skills from Lao Song. True love required no techniques; it required total devotion.

After Qiao Lan's biological parents, Feng Ting and his wife, arrived, Ye Qi took Qiao Lan's hand and walked straight over.

"Second uncle, second aunt."

He continued to use the name Feng Feng as he had previously called him.

"Ye Qi."

"Okay, very good."

Feng Ting and Han Ying, both husband and wife, looked up and down at Ye Qi, who had come back to life, and were very excited.

Ye Qi was a hero resurrected, and the couple had been looking forward to his resurrection. Their eyes fell on the hands held by Ye Qi and Qiao Lan, and the couple accepted it.

Han Ying had previously worried that Qiao Lan, like herself, would marry a man so devoted to defending the country that he would be burdened. However, Qiao Lan, who was also involved in town development, shared the same goals as Ye Qi in managing the official base. Han Ying respected Qiao Lan's choice.

The couple followed Qiao Lan from the capital to Heishui Town and had been helping Qiao Lan manage the territory. They were busy with work and now they were tired after a long day, looking a little exhausted.

Ye Qi politely and respectfully served them tea and water, handed them plates and food, and served the couple like a waiter until they finished their meal, which made them both feel embarrassed.

After they finished eating, Ye Qi stood upright in front of them and said solemnly, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt, thank you for not objecting to Qiao Lan and I being together. She is a very good girl, and I will cherish her. In the future, I will also try my best to treat you well, just like Qiao Lan did. I will manage the base well and help Qiao Lan take care of the town so that you can live comfortably here."

Han Ying couldn't stop smiling. This statement was really satisfactory!

Feng Ting stood up and patted Ye Qi on the shoulder. "Boy, don't make us sound like old losers, waiting for you to serve us. We will manage this town well for our daughter. If you have any problems with your base, just let us know."

"Okay, thank you, second uncle!" Ye Qi stood at attention and agreed.

Feng Ting looked at Ye Qi and smiled. Of course he was very satisfied with this young man.

Later, Feng Ting called Ye Qi aside and asked privately, "That little street at the east end of town, one of your deputies has been messing around with it these past few days. He said it was your idea, is that right?"

Ye Qi nodded: "Yes, I asked Miss Yin to give the order through my consciousness. I wanted to give Qiao Lan a surprise."

Feng Ting was in charge of the town's street construction. Qiao Lan was busy with other things and didn't know much about that area, but he knew roughly what the street looked like.

Feeling happy for his daughter, Feng Ting kindly agreed to keep Ye Qi's secret for the time being.

Early the next morning, Qiao Lan saw the "surprise" Ye Qi gave her.

I was really surprised and happy.

The gift Ye Qi gave her was actually a food street?!

At the eastern end of town, a narrow, off-the-beaten-path street flanked a residential area and the rudiments of a few factories. The storefronts on either side had been tidied up at some point, and now stood a dozen or so shops, each with its own small stall.

All the stalls and shops have wooden signs engraved with the names of foods such as malatang, barbecue, stinky tofu, hot pot, rice porridge, homemade pancakes, fast food lunch boxes, etc.

Qiao Lan was excited. Isn’t this the food street she wanted to open in town? This is it!

But she hadn't had time to do it yet, so she planned to take a few days off before starting and slowly packing up. Unexpectedly, Ye Qi had already finished it for her?

"I asked my assistant to bring some people to the stall. The stall is already set up, just waiting for the ingredients to arrive. Give me a month, and I'll prepare the ingredients. Once they're almost ready, you can find someone to open the shop and stall. I'll give you the ingredients, and you can decide the wages and profits of hiring people to open the shop and stall yourself. I won't interfere."

Ye Qi made it clear that this was a gift from him to Qiao Lan, and he would not be involved in the future management.

Qiao Lan was happy: "How did you know I wanted to open a food court?"

"Xiao Tang told me." Ye Qi answered truthfully.

During his time as a meatball, Xiao Tang and Yin Wanying visited with their children. During a casual chat, Ye Qi expressed his desire to give Qiao Lan a gift when he came back to life, but wasn't sure what to give. Xiao Tang offered this suggestion. Later, it was Yin Wanying who, through telepathic communication, relayed Ye Qi's instructions to his subordinates.

Now seeing Qiao Lan happy, Ye Qi secretly felt grateful to Xiao Tang's family.

"I can't wait another month. Today, I'll find someone to run the business!" Qiao Lan rubbed his hands together, completely forgetting his declaration to take a three-day nap.

She can provide the ingredients herself and hire someone to run the stall! The townspeople work to build the town and earn contribution points and wages, which they can use to spend at the food court.

Qiao Lan thought about it and decided to get some rice first and have someone open a porridge shop. Then he would get noodles and open a homemade pancake shop. In the apocalypse, everyone's stomachs are not very good, so opening these two shops first will help them maintain their stomachs.

Then, a rice ball sushi restaurant will also be opened, and the townspeople can buy rice balls to take with them so that they can have a snack at any time while working.

Also, you can open a Malatang restaurant. Pre-apocalyptic dried bean products haven't expired yet, and they're delicious when hot. This doesn't require space supplies; you can use the bagged ingredients the townspeople collected earlier.

And...this shop, that stall...

Qiao Lan immediately got to work, not even taking a break, and quickly called a meeting to discuss the business. By the afternoon, the ingredients were ready, and the people who were going to set up the shop and stall had arrived. They were carefully selected. Not only were they reliable, but they had all worked in the restaurant industry before the apocalypse, making them quite professional.

So that night, the food court opened!

The whole town, as well as the members of the base who were temporarily staying there, were alarmed. Regardless of their fatigue after a hard day's work, they all flocked to the street to watch the excitement.

There weren't many people who had enough contribution points to spend on the street. There were only a few dozen citizens in the entire town, but some were reluctant to spend them. So, the whole night, only Qiao Lan, his companions who had contributed more, and some outstanding citizens, a total of less than twenty people, spent money in the food street.

But, there were more than 20,000 people watching!

The street couldn't accommodate so many people, so everyone lined up and crowded through the street to see this rare sight in the end times.

"What kind of era is this? The whole world is starving! And yet, a food court can actually open!"

"It's already a rare sight for us here to barely get two meals a day. I never thought I'd see a food street in my lifetime!"

"Our Qiao Town is the best! Even better than the official base!"

"Smells good! It smells so good! I have to work hard to save up my contribution points and salary so that I can afford to come here and spend some money next month!"

The passion of the townspeople was ignited.

Even though most people cannot afford to buy food here, just looking at the shops and stalls and smelling the aroma of food makes everyone feel happy and a special kind of pride.

It's the end of the world! People are starving to death elsewhere, but we have a food court here! I'm a proud resident of Qiao Town!

Qiao Lan sat in a shop, eating, looking at the crowds of people on the street outside, her eyes narrowed into slits with a smile.

The effect was achieved.

She opened the food court at this inappropriate time just to stimulate the people in her territory to develop it well.

As long as you work hard, you will have enough food to eat, a good food street to eat, and everything you need to live and work in peace and contentment! A good boss is good at making promises, and she, a good lord, not only makes promises, but also makes and puts them before you.

"Grandma, don't dismantle the energy network after testing it in Blackwater Town. Build a new one at the C City base. Leave this one for me."

The next time Ye Qi had regular communication with the capital, Qiao Lan took the opportunity to speak with Chief of Staff Li, who had returned to Beijing for rest, and put forward his request.

Now she is not Grandma Li anymore, but her real grandmother, and Qiao Lan has the right to act coquettishly.

Staff Officer Li's wife had just returned from a flight inspection at a base in western China, and she was deeply concerned about the backwardness of the base there. Hearing that Qiao Lan's place was so well-organized, even having a food court, the wife couldn't help but sigh that Qiao Lan was truly outstanding.

"Okay, I'll try my best to communicate with the higher-ups and try to keep the energy network for you!" the old lady agreed readily.

As a result, within a few days, the higher authorities approved it and agreed that Qiao Lan's town could retain the energy network.

Qiao Lan cheered.

When my cousin Feng Fengfei passed by, I asked him to bring two new sportswear and a table of Sichuan cuisine as a thank you to the old lady according to her preferences.

With the energy network, the town is no longer afraid of the invasion of high-level enemies. As for low-level enemies, with her and her powerful companions, as well as the mutant beasts of Boss Black Cloud ready to support them at any time, they are not afraid of any mob that comes.

In this way, once a town with a food street becomes famous, it will not be afraid of being coveted and robbed. Instead, it will only attract more powerful people and ordinary people to come and join it, making the town stronger and stronger.

…

The days of building the town were busy and fulfilling, and passed quickly.

With the arrival of scorching summer, plants are mutating on a massive scale, competing with mutated beasts for resources beyond human reach. Survivors worldwide now have to be wary not only of animals but also of the more subtle and predatory plants, making life miserable.

But in Blackwater Town, the townspeople's lives are quite different.

Survivors from nearby provinces and cities flocked to the town, and the town's permanent population had swelled to nearly 30,000. Thanks to Jiang Yue's continuous technological breakthroughs in mutant rice research, hundreds of acres of rice plants had grown in the fields outside the town, and the town had successfully harvested its first harvest.

The monthly food supply for 30,000 people was solved in this way!

The mutated rice can be planted all year round. After this crop is harvested, the next crop can be planted, so there is no need to worry about food next month.

No longer starving, people worked briskly. Not only had the town expanded significantly, but they also helped to clean up the official base in City C. Ye Qi had already led 20,000 base members into the new base, which was an expansion of the original Bloody Dawn base. The roads were clean, the houses were complete, and there was heating equipment for the winter.

During the hot summer, ice water transformed by ice-type psychics flows in the heating pipes, effectively cooling down all the rooms in the base to help everyone resist the heat.

Heishui Town also followed Ye Qi's example and built a heating system. Now the whole town is provided with cooling, and when winter comes, heating will be provided. The townspeople are very happy.

The food street is also developing rapidly.

At the beginning, there were only four or five shops. By the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the whole street was in operation.

There are supplies from Qiao Lan, ingredients brought back by the townspeople when they go looking for supplies on a daily basis, and various ingredients that Ye Qi diligently finds after work - all of them are given away for free.

He said he would give Qiao Lan Food Street a try, and he kept his word.

After the opening of the Su Town territory in the Crown, the recruitment of townspeople wasn't as prosperous as Qiao Lan's, and by autumn, there were only a little over 5,000 people. But he didn't compare himself to others. A smaller population made things easier to manage, and he was quite content living there with his grandmother and his companions.

From time to time, he would drive a large truck and travel hundreds of miles to Heishui Town to eat and drink. At the same time, he would engage in material exchange, bringing the materials he got from Su Town to Qiao Lan to exchange what he had and what he needed.

Qiao Lan issued his own special coins in Heishui Town, and he used them directly. The two territories used the same currency, making the exchange of materials more convenient.

…

In short, without the various hostile organizations created by Saint Yes to cause destruction, the bases of Qiaozhen, Suzhen and Ye Qi have developed rapidly in the past six months, with gratifying results.

The Beijing government sends people to inspect and study every month, researching the successful experiences of the three base territories in City C and promoting them to other places.

Later, other bases simply sent people here to learn. Qiao Lan, a businessman, took the opportunity to build good relationships with the management of each base, preparing to sell his products to them once the town's factories were fully equipped.

Now, just a year after the apocalypse, existing supplies can still be found and sustain the lives of the survivors. In the future, when existing supplies are gone or expired and worn out, what will people still eat, wear, use, and live in? Wouldn't production in all aspects need to be restored?

She would first get production started, and when the time was right, she could directly produce things and trade them in various places, bringing more effective materials and development opportunities to Blackwater Town.

The official large-scale promotion of mutant rice plants has effectively solved the survivors' food problem, so future development is foreseeable.

It must be different from the previous life! Qiao Lan firmly believed it.

She had endured four years in her previous life, and the world was in chaos for four years. It was nothing like now, where order began to return within one year.

"Maybe it's because of my rebirth that the whole world has changed?"

When she has nothing to do, she daydreams and feels quite happy.

In the novels she'd read before, those who were reborn always had the aura of the protagonist. She wondered if she, too, was a truly amazing protagonist, using her aura to illuminate the entire world? She'd dispelled the darkness of Saint Yes and brought warmth to so many people...

Hey, cough cough... Stop thinking about it. Qiao Lan retracted his thoughts, patted his hungry belly, and took out a spicy hot pot from the space.

Thanks to the space preservation function, the hot pot is still hot and has the same color, aroma and taste as when it was first stocked.

Pick up your chopsticks and get ready to start.

Knock knock, there’s a knock on the door.

Qiao Lan let him go in directly.

"Uncle Guo, what's the matter?" She looked at the honest uncle who pushed the door open and walked into the room.

Just when she was eating the hotpot, Lao Guo came to see her. It was really fate.

Lao Guo is still a member of Ye Qi's base. After recovering from his injury, he will continue to be a scout at his base. After all, his invisibility ability is so useful that it would be a waste of his skills if he doesn't do reconnaissance.

He came back from a routine patrol, covered in dust and looking a little tired, but as soon as he entered Qiao Lan's room and saw the fragrant pot in the fast food box on the table, he was immediately cheered up.

"This...this smells like something I made?"

Qiao Lan took out another pair of chopsticks and said, "Uncle Guo, come and sit down and eat together. You cooked it yourself. Do you remember the taste?"

Lao Guo didn't come here to eat.

But I'm really excited.

I couldn't help it, so I took the chopsticks and took a bite.

Wide noodles wrapped with a piece of pork belly and a small piece of green bamboo shoots, tasted hot and oily.

Numb, spicy, fresh, fragrant...

Familiar taste, own craftsmanship.

Old Guo immediately burst into tears.

"Xiao Qiao, you bought so many copies, they're all... in..."

"Yes, in my space." Qiao Lan said frankly.

By now, her close companions all knew that she had a space.

"Uncle Guo, you don't blame me for not reminding you about the end of the world at that time, right?" She smiled.

Lao Guo wiped away his tears and said, "How could I blame you! Even if you told me that the end of the world was coming, I would never have believed it!"

Qiao Lan's stockpiling of goods in her space was no longer a secret among her close companions. She explained the stockpiling by saying she had a dream in advance. Everyone understood and envied her foresight.

"Uncle Guo, sit down and eat. I still have beer." Qiao Lan took out two more cans of beer from the space.

Lao Guo put down his chopsticks and said, "Xiao Qiao, I came here today to discuss something with you..."