Chapter 83 Sun Wei: Happy Shopping

The news spread faster in the village than Shen Qingqing had expected. Several people came to her door right after she had dinner that day.

When Shen Mingjiang called Shen Qingqing out of the room, his face was full of confusion: "Qingqing, your Uncle Zhao and the others want to talk to you. They said you said the resettlement housing construction was suspended. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Shen Qingqing was browsing the forum when she heard this and quickly covered her glowing bracelet, but then she remembered that her father couldn't see it at all, so she calmly got up.

“I’ll go and talk to them.”

When I went into the courtyard, I found that there were indeed several people there, including Zhao Hailin.

Everyone looked anxious. When they saw Shen Qingqing, they immediately asked what had happened and where the news had come from.

Zhao Hailin looked even more suspicious: "Qingqing, this is not something to joke about."

Shen Qingqing first calmed down the group of middle-aged men and women before slowly saying, "Why would I joke about something like this? Or does Brother Hailin think I'm lying?"

“I didn’t say that the construction of the resettlement housing has stopped. Aunt Li and I just chatted casually. The specifics of what to do are up to the uncles and aunts to decide.”

She seemed reluctant to say more, and as she spoke, she frowned, clearly somewhat displeased.

This further confirmed people's suspicions—Shen Qingqing knew something, but she couldn't share it with too many people.

Those who frequently follow gossip know that the more secretive and shrouded in mystery a story is, the more it sparks people's imaginations.

Several people immediately looked off, their eyes darting around, and they seemed to be making some unspoken decisions. Uncle Zhao, in particular, gave his son Zhao Hailin a suspicious once-over.

Shen Qingqing remained calm. She wasn't wrong; she hadn't said that the resettlement housing construction had stopped. It was all just Li Aunt and the others' own interpretation.

Even if the villagers wanted to investigate, they wouldn't be able to find out.

With less than a month left until the apocalypse, Shen Qingqing's sole purpose was to get everyone to stockpile seeds, plant crops, and prepare food and supplies before then. She was willing to use any means necessary, including deceiving people into doing what she said.

Anyway, once the virus breaks out, no one will care whether what she said at this time was true or false.

When you live in a village that highly emphasizes collectivism, it is never a wise choice to stay out of sight and mind your own business.

Of those present, only Zhao Hailin looked displeased.

I hadn't seen him for more than half a year; in fact, he had already gotten married.

The Zhao family had hoped to use a joyous occasion to overshadow the terrible impression they had left on the villagers that night.

But who would have thought that when the wedding was held, the whole house was decorated in festive red, but the villagers who came to the wedding banquet could only think of Zhao Hailin's red underwear the night the wild boar entered the village, which caused him to hold the entire wedding amidst suppressed low snickers.

Looking down at the audience, everyone was blushing from trying not to laugh!

Only the bride and her family were unaware of what was going on, and only learned the truth from others after the wedding. The bride's parents were furious, and the newlywed bride was so embarrassed that she didn't leave the house for three whole days.

This caused Zhao Hailin to completely antagonize Shen Qingqing—of course, it was a one-sided feud.

He wouldn't have been so humiliated, after all, he was facing a fully grown wild boar, and it's understandable that he was a bit disheveled while fleeing for his life. But then Shen Qingqing suddenly appeared, not only escaping unharmed from under the boar's tusks, but also cleverly leading the boar into a septic tank and successfully subduing it.

After a series of actions, Zhao Hailin appeared even more useless in comparison.

Originally, if the news about the resettlement housing hadn't come from Shen Qingqing, he might have considered it more carefully. But now, it was as if he was going to argue with Shen Qingqing, and he firmly said, "My source is absolutely reliable. We might be moving next year, at most six months. If you're not afraid of wasting your time, then keep planting."

Shen Qingqing chuckled lightly: "Alright, let everyone choose for themselves."

After a moment of staring at each other, Zhao Hailin exhaled through his nose, turned around, and left.

Shen Qingqing watched his retreating figure and then indifferently looked away.

Zhao Hailin is not worth her time and effort, and can hardly be considered a rival.

Shen Qingqing's thoughts were mostly focused on the distant S City.

Someone was still waiting for her there.

While the two sides were arguing, the Shen family stood by and watched, and were taken aback by this unexpected turn of events.

At noon they were still saying Zhao Hailin was capable, how come in the blink of an eye, Shen Qingqing seems to have formed two camps with him, and even each side has a group of supporters.

She was only gone for an afternoon. What did she do in such a short time?

*

In a villa in City A, the air conditioner was blasting, and Sun Wei was typing away on her laptop.

The door was pushed open, and a sound came from the entryway. Sun Wei snapped her laptop shut, jumped off the sofa, tidied her hair, and greeted them with a smile: "Dad, Mom, you're finally back! I missed you so much!" she said sweetly.

The couple, who had been away on business for several days, were taken aback by their daughter's sudden enthusiasm. Sun Wei's mother, Liao Ya Hui, rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and said sternly, "Speak properly."

Sun Wei: "..."

She froze, her movement of hugging her mother's arm and acting coquettishly halting. She coughed lightly and asked, "What's wrong?"

Liao Ya-hui: "Ask yourself this: usually only Er-niu comes to greet us when we come back. When have you ever been this proactive before? Tell me, what are your plans?"

Sun Wei: "..."

Erniu is her family's Border Collie.

Sun Wei's father, Sun Miao, peered around and asked, "Where's Erniu?"

“I sent her to a dog training school…” The two of them had been away on a business trip for half a month, and the first thing they did when they got home was look for their dog. Sun Wei was exhausted and realized how “distant” her family relationships were compared to Zhang Han and others.

Her parents were busy with work, so Sun Wei often stayed home alone from a young age. Later, she started working in social media, which kept her busy and reduced her contact with her parents even more. During high school, due to the pressure of puberty and college entrance exams, Sun Wei even had a big fight with her parents.

Liao Ya-hui and Sun Miao hoped that Sun Wei would choose a business administration major in college so she could go straight into a company after graduation. However, Sun Wei insisted on continuing to study science and finding her own job in the future. This led to a conflict between the two sides, during which Sun Wei threw the income from her side job in their faces.

Liao Ya Hui and Sun Miao didn't understand the emerging self-media industry and were afraid of its instability. Sun Wei was too lazy to explain, and their relationship remained strained until she graduated from high school.

Later, Sun Wei went to university, which physically distanced them, but they became closer in terms of communication. Although they rarely talked at the same dinner table, they now occasionally video chat to check in on each other's lives.

After returning home for summer vacation, Sun Wei kept thinking about how to lure her parents to Fangzhou.

Her fighting skills were only slightly better than Zhang Han's. Although she was already quite good compared to ordinary people, and could even hold her own against specially evolved zombies for a long time and find ways to deal with them... she still lacked the confidence to take her parents across cities to school safely in the apocalypse.

After all, she was all alone, and if she were to be entangled by zombies, her parents, who were left unprotected, would be in great danger.

There were also many students from the same city looking for people to team up with on the forum, but if possible, Sun Wei still wanted to "trick" her parents into going to S City before the virus outbreak.

She had been planning this for a long time, and today, Liao Ya Hui and Sun Miao finally returned from their business trip, making it the perfect time to put the plan into action.

Under her parents' gaze, Sun Wei sighed, "Okay, I do have something I want to discuss with you."

...

The three sat down at the dining table, and Sun Miao asked, "What's the matter?"

It was rare for his daughter to ask them for help, and a quiet joy rose in his heart. Liao Ya Hui, standing to the side, had a proud expression and refrained from asking, but she unconsciously sat up straighter.

Sun Wei said, "Before you talk, take a look at the map around my school."

She swiftly pulled out a pre-prepared, printed map of Germany from under the table.

The island above is all alone, surrounded by auto repair shops catering to long-haul trucks. To the west lies a desolate plain, and further west, across a river, are mountains. The entire map is deserted, with few marked locations. Looking around, there isn't even a small shop near the school.

Sun Wei went to register alone. Liao Ya Hui and Sun Miao did not go with her, so they were unaware that the area around their daughter's school was so desolate. They were surprised and somewhat confused.

After laying the groundwork, Sun Wei finally got to the point: "As you all know, our campus is newly built, and the surrounding area hasn't been developed yet."

—The “Fangzhou University” she applied to was, in the fabricated “impression” she and her parents had, supposed to be a century-old school with a long history, so Sun Wei could only explain it by saying that the campus was different.

“Our students can’t even order takeout normally, so we can only go out to the city for a decent meal on weekends. The school cafeteria food is terrible, the selection at the counters is limited, and the school store doesn’t have a wide variety of items.” Sun Wei paused, then emphasized against her conscience, “We eat terribly! Terribly!”

"Look at me, I've lost weight!"

She stood up and showed herself around.

Liao Ya-hui looked at her daughter with mixed feelings, feeling that she had not only not lost weight, but had become much stronger and healthier than before when she was thin and frail.

However, Sun Miao could not discern the changes in Sun Wei's body shape.

In his eyes, even if his daughter were a little fatter, she would only be considered "just right".

He looked at her closely and finally couldn't hide his heartache: "You've lost weight! Why didn't you say so sooner? I would have sent you something!"

Sun Wei sat down again, looking distressed: "I did buy food for myself, but what I bought online was all convenience food. It tastes good but isn't healthy. And it's not just me; you guys haven't seen it, all the girls in my dorm are pale and thin..."

She thought about Shen Qingqing and Song Rushuang's strong physiques, capable of taking down a small zombie with a single punch, and Zhang Han's muscles honed from digging in the ground, and felt a pang of guilt.

"Moreover, not everyone can afford things online; most people still eat in the school cafeteria," she added. "There are quite a few students from impoverished families at our school."

Liao Ya-hui finally started listening attentively.

Both are very traditional entrepreneurs who believe that money comes from the people. While their business is booming, they donate a lot of money every year and send supplies to children in mountainous areas. They are very concerned about the issue of impoverished students.

Sun Wei then changed the subject: "—So, I'm planning to contract a cafeteria window to improve the students' meals. I've already contacted the school, and as a student entrepreneurship project, the school allows students to individually contract cafeteria windows. So before the holiday, I signed a contract with the school, and it's already under renovation."

They probably didn't expect their daughter to be so decisive and efficient, doing so much behind their backs. The two looked at each other, their expressions quite interesting.

In reality, Sun Wei was just making things up, but she did it so seriously, and since she did have experience making money and her side hustle income in high school was quite substantial, Liao Ya Hui and Sun Miao were actually fooled.

Sun Wei continued, "My window will officially open for business at the start of the new semester, but I've contacted several local suppliers and haven't been satisfied with any of them. So I was wondering if any of you would be interested in working with me?"

"I'll be in charge of the operations, and you can be responsible for finding suppliers. We can discuss the profit sharing details," she said in a businesslike manner.

Liao Yahui is the chairperson of a well-known catering group in City A.

Sun Miao chuckled: "After all this talk, you want to do business with us?"

How old is Sun Wei?

But he was very pleased that she had such a keen business sense, was able to quickly perceive the students' needs, and act on them swiftly.

The couple didn't really care about the meager income from just one window in the university cafeteria, but Liao Ya-hui pondered for a moment and suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity that might spark her daughter's interest in business.

Moreover, since neither of them is local, Sun Wei will definitely be watching the window more often, which will also give her some training, killing two birds with one stone.

City A and City S are very close, and their supply prices can completely cover the cost of cross-city transportation.

She nodded: "No problem."

Liao Ya Hui gave the final approval, and the matter was practically settled. Sun Wei suppressed a smile and said seriously, "It's settled then. If we're going to do it, we should do it properly. How about this, why don't you come with me to check it out in person? I can also show you around our school."

If Sun Wei simply offered to show the two of them around the school, these two busy people would definitely refuse; it would be good enough if even one of them came.

But once business is involved, Liao Ya-hui and Sun Miao's attitudes undergo a complete 180-degree turn, becoming incredibly serious.

Sun Wei accurately predicted their fatal flaws.

“As for when to go… they’re still under renovation there, and it’ll just be dusty.” Sun Wei thought for a moment. “How about this, let’s go to S City together at the end of August. The weather will be cooler then, and I can drive you there.”

The two nodded again.

Sun Wei suppressed a laugh, coughed twice, and continued, "Since we're already going, let's take the goods with us. I'd like to open a barbecue stall. I'll start with a week's worth, uh, about 500 kilograms of chicken and 800 kilograms each of beef and lamb. That'll be about right. Also, some charcoal, sauces, and vegetables..."

Liao Ya-hui sat bolt upright, incredulous: "...How much???"

This is about all the expenses a medium-sized barbecue restaurant would use in a month!

Liao Ya-hui couldn't help but ask, "Are the students at your school reincarnated starving ghosts?"

Sun Miao sat there blankly, muttering, "How bad must the food in this cafeteria be...?"