Qiao An'an first cleaned the yellow catfish by removing its internal organs, and then cut the eggplant into strips about ten centimeters long.

Wash the scallions and chop them into scallion flowers; peel and finely chop the garlic; mince the ginger; finely chop the pickled vegetables and pickled peppers in advance and set aside.

Next, add the yellow catfish to the ginger and a little salt, mix well, and marinate for about 30 minutes to let the flavors infuse.

Place the eggplant in a pot and steam for ten minutes, until softened. Once steamed, arrange it on a large plate and set aside.

Next, put cooking oil into the pot and turn on the heat.

Heat the oil until it reaches 80% of its maximum temperature, then pour the marinated yellow catfish into the pan and stir-fry briefly before immediately turning off the heat.

Then scoop all the fried yellow catfish into the bowl.

Leave some oil in the pot, add pickled vegetables, pickled peppers, ginger, and garlic, and stir-fry until fragrant; pour in about 200 ml of water, add Sichuan peppercorns, sugar, and salt, and bring to a boil.

Pour the stir-fried yellow catfish into the pot, gently stir to coat the catfish evenly with the sauce, cover the pot, and continue to cook for about 5 minutes before turning off the heat.

Pour the prepared yellow catfish and sauce into the plate containing the eggplant.

It's ready to be served.

The two little ones had eaten quite a few roasted sweet potatoes and weren't very hungry, but seeing the delicious and colorful stewed yellow catfish and eggplant, they couldn't resist their cravings. Gu Bei ate two fish, and Ya Ya ate a whole one. As she ate, she exclaimed, "The fish that Sister Little Fish caught is so delicious! It's even better than the crucian carp we raise at home!"

Gu Bei couldn't help but expose him: "What did you say when you begged Aunt An'an to make you braised crucian carp the day before yesterday? That the crucian carp Mom raised was the best-tasting fish in the world!!!"

Ya Ya angrily started arguing with Gu Bei: "Ya Ya is never talking to Brother Gu Bei again!!!"

Qiao An'an couldn't help but poke Ya Ya's puffed-up cheeks: "You said that, what if you talk to Brother Gu Bei tomorrow?"

Ya Ya didn't expect that the first person to undermine her would be her mother, so she turned to Grandpa Gu Bei for help.

Just as Grandpa Gu Bei was about to speak, the roar of a car engine came from outside, startling everyone in the courtyard.

Gu Bei: "Is it Brother Chen Zhou who's back?"

Qiao An'an glanced at the walkie-talkie on her waist: "It shouldn't be. Chen Zhou said beforehand that they would notify us in advance before they returned..."

The group exchanged glances.

They all tacitly ran upstairs to the second floor, and Qiao An'an picked up Ya Ya and carried her upstairs.

Chi Xiaoyu quickly pulled up the curtains, and everyone looked out through the gap. They saw a modified SUV driving towards them.

Why is it considered modified? Because its wheels are much larger than those of a regular off-road vehicle, making the entire vehicle much taller than a normal vehicle. The wheels can even run over zombies. This off-road vehicle is a standard five-seater, but now it's crammed with seven or eight people.

These seven or eight people were all wearing ghost masks.

Qiao An'an immediately recognized Song Chi, who was squeezed in the middle by the masked man.

Gu Bei also noticed Song Chi, and he asked with great confusion, "I think I saw that person in the middle who isn't wearing a mask in the apartment complex across the street. I remember all the men in that complex left with Brother Chen Zhou. How come this person is here?"

Grandpa Gu Bei analyzed, "There are two possibilities. One is that the entire Chenzhou team was wiped out, and this person was taken hostage by the masked man. The other possibility is that this person betrayed us."

Qiao An'an raised her pistol and aimed it at the SUV on the road: "It's definitely the latter!"

Grandpa Gu was surprised that Qiao An'an was so sure.

After the car stopped in the residential area, everyone opened the roof and stood up from the convertible. Surrounded by the masked group, Song Chi spoke up: "This is the residential area. We have several truckloads of supplies that we stole from you in this area. There are no men in the area now, so you can easily take it over!"

Zhou Ya, the only person in the neighborhood who knew how to use a gun, heard the commotion and climbed onto the truck outside the neighborhood gate with her gun.

Mr. and Mrs. Li, along with Nan Qiao, who was pregnant, helped comfort the five children and the baby: "It's alright, children, don't be afraid!"

Seeing this, Old Man Chi and Wen Qianqian quickly led Chi Haoyu to hide in Building No. 2: "Run! Building No. 2 is so dilapidated. If we hide well, they shouldn't be able to find us!"

After Zhou Ya climbed onto the truck outside the residential area, the first thing she did was yell at Song Chi: "I've been taking care of your son these past few days, Song Chi, how can you treat us like this? Aren't you afraid something will happen to your son?!"

A child is nothing compared to one's own life.

Seeing the gun in Zhou Ya's hand, Song Chi shrank back in fear: "She's the only one in the neighborhood who knows how to shoot. If we kill her, everyone else is just for show!!!"

Hearing Song Chi's words on the street, Gu Bei clenched his fists tightly: "Aunt An'an guessed right, that person really is a bad guy!!!"

Qiao An'an thought to herself that she hadn't guessed. She already knew that Song Chi was a coward who feared death. Otherwise, when Li Jianguo rushed into the community, he would have stood up to protect his wife and mother long ago, instead of accusing Li Jianguo of his crimes after his wife and mother died tragically. She didn't want to see such a disgusting guy as Song Chi again, and she was also afraid that these masked thugs would turn their attention to their small courtyard after robbing the community. So she fired a shot directly at the fuel tank of the SUV.

Her original intention was to blow up the car and send the people inside to their doom.

But to everyone's surprise, after the bullet hit the fuel tank, it only left a crater on the metal outside the accelerator pedal and did not penetrate into the fuel tank.

The sound of bullets hitting the fuel tank alerted the masked men, who immediately raised their guns. One of them even smacked Song Chi on the head with the butt of his rifle: "Damn it, didn't you say this woman was the only one in the neighborhood who could shoot? She didn't even flinch right under our noses! Who fired that shot, and why the hell did it to the fuel tank? If we hadn't reinforced the tank's metal frame during our modifications, we'd all be dead!!!"

That shot with the rifle butt was extremely powerful.

Song Chi's head was immediately smashed open, and blood flowed down his forehead.

In fact, Song Chi was not unaware that these people were utterly wicked, but Zhang Jianguo had been trying to kill him along the way. If he didn't join these people, he probably wouldn't even have a chance to survive. He thought that by joining these people, he could wipe out Shen Zhou and his gang, but who knew that Shen Zhou and his gang only lost their car.

However, the masked men were not very satisfied with only capturing one vehicle.

In order to eliminate any potential threats and to infiltrate the masked men's organization, Song Chi claimed to know where the supplies stolen by Chen Zhou were.

He knew these people were ruthless killers.

Fearing these people would kill him after this sudden mishap, he endured the excruciating pain and forced himself to remain calm, his eyes scanning his surroundings for the shooter. Finally, he fixed his gaze on the small courtyard: "It must be..."