Chapter 36

An Younian stayed until evening.

After all, An Younian has been making buns for more than ten years and is a good cook. He ran around and bought some chicken, duck, fish and meat, and the dinner was as sumptuous as Chinese New Year.

While An Younian was serving the dishes, Paopao, who was in charge of lighting the fire, secretly threw gold coins into the rice pot and was caught red-handed by An Rou.

An Rou glanced at An Younian in the dining room and nodded to him, which was considered as her tacit consent.

At the dinner table, An Younian took a bite of rice. The grains were soft and chewy, leaving a lingering fragrance on his lips and teeth. He looked surprised and was about to ask what kind of rice An Rou had bought, but Paopao spoke first.

He widened his eyes exaggeratedly: "Wow, Uncle An, your steamed rice is so delicious! How did you make it? I've never eaten rice so delicious!"

An Younian looked at the bowl suspiciously: "It's no different from before..."

"Wow, Uncle An, your braised fish fillets are delicious too!" Paopao continued to interrupt. "And this garlic sprout braised pork is amazing, it goes really well with rice!"

An Rou gave him a speechless look: That's almost it.

Paopao blinked vigorously in response: I’m serious!

An Rou narrowed her eyes: Are you saying that my cooking is bad?

Paopao choked on his rice and coughed twice.

"Hey, eat slowly, eat slowly." An Younian said, but he didn't care about the rice anymore.

Father and daughter had lived together for over a decade, but this was the first time a third person had appeared at their dinner table. Paopao, like a child, was bright and cheerful, sweet-talking and livened up the atmosphere.

Perhaps it was a little too lively. An Rou had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Sure enough, An Younian stretched his neck and looked around: "Rou Rou, do you have any wine?"

An Rou's eyelids twitched. As far as she could remember, he never drank alcohol.

"without……"

Before she finished, a clear glass bottle banged onto the table. The bottle had a cork in its mouth and a square of red paper taped to the side, with the three words "Lotus White" written on it.

The packaging couldn't be simpler, but the common sense in An Rou's memory told her that this was one of the best liquors in the game.

Paopao winked at her with an inexplicable pride, as if he was an ambitious employee waiting for praise from the boss.

An Younian was also startled. After seeing the name of the wine, he was flattered: "Such an expensive wine, how can I have the nerve to let you spend money..."

Paopao had already stood up and found two earthenware cups. He poured wine into them while complaining, "Uncle An, please stop being polite to me. The company is my home, and this place is also my home. You are my elder..."

An Rou's eyelids twitched again.

Sure enough, An Younian didn't care about the unfamiliar word "company" at all and focused his attention on the following.

He had an indescribable smile on his face, looked at Paopao for a while as if he were his son-in-law, and then turned to Anrou.

An Rou's head was already buried.

Just this once, she didn't want to spoil An Younian's fun. As for this clueless kid, she would settle the score with him later.

Fortunately, An Younian was very self-aware and did not expose the truth during the second half of the meal. He just politely exchanged cups with Paopao, but his attitude was obviously much more intimate.

——Four notifications popped up in front of Paopao, and An Younian’s favorability towards him increased to 85%, indicating that he liked him.

It wasn't that An Younian felt his daughter wasn't worthy of Paopao, but rather that the Destined One had always been a superior being. Over the years, stories had spread about how someone's daughter had been taken away by the Destined One. The parents were proud, but never saw their daughter again.

There was not even a wedding banquet.

It was inevitable that An Younian would retreat a little.

If... if the young couple could settle down in this place, even if it was an abandoned farm that couldn't grow any food, and live there for a long time...

An Younian raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, then put down his chopsticks.

"Rou Rou, Xiao Pao, it's time for Dad to go back."

An Rou was startled: "Dad, it's a rare visit for you, and you just had a drink, so you should get a night's sleep before leaving."

"It's okay, it's okay. Look, Dad is walking steadily." An Younian said with a smile, "Go back early to prepare. I still have to sell buns tomorrow. Seeing that Rourou is okay, and you...you are all okay, Dad is relieved."

An Rou thought about it and decided not to stay. It had only been a few days since the T21 incident, and with so many bodies hidden on the farm, it was undoubtedly a dangerous place. It was a good thing An Younian didn't stay too long.

"Run, give my dad a ride."

"Okay!"

An Younian repeatedly waved his hands and said no, but Paopao couldn't resist, so he simply put his arm around his shoulders and used the Wind Step. The lightning speed scared An Younian so much that he quickly shut up.

An Rou followed him to the farm gate, watching the faint smoke disappear into the distance. She turned around and sat down outside the door, propping her chin with one hand and staring at the sign above the door.

Yongan Farm.

Stay healthy forever.

Perhaps the atmosphere from this afternoon to dinner was what she wanted.

A huge, terrified face appeared on the ground around him.

An Rou's small hand stroked Bao Fu's big forehead, and she muttered to herself: "Bao Bao, do you really have to eat souls? Daddy's cooking is delicious."

As dusk fell, Paopao came back, and his red face from drinking had returned to normal.

"Boss, what are you doing sitting here? - Oh, and there's the rich old man."

After spending many days together, his fear of getting rich quickly has faded a lot, but his words and actions still show some respect.

The opponent is an SS-level ghoul, so it’s not shameful.

An Rou raised her head and glanced at him calmly: "There are still quite a few leftovers. You can put them in the props column. Wash the dishes and you can go home."

"Oh, okay."

He ran inside, then suddenly stopped and turned around: "Boss, you...you won't be online all the time, right? That's not good for your health."

He knew some players were quite reckless, spending extended periods of time in the holographic chamber, never logging off. Eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating were all done through tubes. Even with expensive medical care, that kind of play still took a toll on the body.

An Rou smiled slightly.

How could her health be any worse? She would have turned to ash long ago.

"Of course I have to stay until the latest, boss. I'll leave after you leave."

Paopao scratched his head, revealing a hurt expression: "Boss, do you still not believe me?"

An Rou was speechless: "You are so sensitive, are you a woman disguised as a man?"

I even suspected that you were a man dressed as a woman... Paopao secretly complained.

*

Before leaving, Paopao gave An Younian a bottle of life potion to dispel his drunkenness.

He lowered his head and walked back to Wuyan Lane with a heavy heart, and glanced at the bun shop.

The shop door was sealed and the stove and steamer were piled outside the door. At a glance, it was clear that many things had been taken away.

He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tiptoed towards the hair salon on the other side.

Sister Hong just came out carrying a handbag.

An Younian fell to his knees, and the sound of his knees moving on the bluestone slab scared Sister Hong.

"Boss Hong, please don't take back the shop. Can you raise the rent a little more?"

Sister Hong looked at him.

She had someone clear out the bun shop two days ago. For those two days, the honest and reserved An Younian, fearing the loss of his belongings, hadn't dared go anywhere. He simply sat on the doorstep in front of the shop, watching over the pile of stuff.

But today he suddenly disappeared.

Sister Hong guessed that he went to find An Rou, and she was nervous about it the whole day.

The scene before her dispelled her last bit of anxiety.

Sister Hong raised her bright red lips. "Oh, isn't your daughter very capable? Why can't she afford to sell the shop to you? She can't even afford to rent another storefront?"

An Younian did have the money to rent a shop. After all, Sister Hong didn't dare to offend An Rou too much, so when she forced him to move out, she returned the rent for this season to him.

But with this little money, they could only rent a space in a remote alley like Wuyan Alley. How could they attract customers from scratch and still have the reputation they had built up over a decade?

An Younian simply kowtowed to Sister Hong.

"Boss Hong, please, I really beg you. I..."

"Get out of the way!"

Sister Hong kicked him on the shoulder and knocked him to the ground.

"I'm still waiting for the money to buy a house in a first-tier district! No matter how much you kowtow, I have to sell the bun shop!"

She walked away twisting her waist.

In the hair salon, Qiaojie couldn't bear to watch, but she could do nothing. After Hongjie disappeared, she came out and helped An Younian up.

"My cousin doesn't want to live here anymore. Housing in the first-tier district is expensive, so she's definitely going to sell the bun shop," Qiaojie said, sighing, "Brother An, it's useless no matter how much you beg her."

"But I really need to continue selling buns. Rourou's land really can't produce anything, and I need to make money to support her..."

Qiaojie hesitated for a second before finally offering an idea: "You don't have to sell buns in a store. Brother An, look at those sesame seed cake vendors. Don't they all just pull a tricycle and travel around?"

An Younian's eyes lit up.

"Just..." Qiaojie said, "Don't get caught by the security guards or you'll have to pay a fine."

"It's okay! I'm strong enough to outrun them even if I'm pushing a cart! Xiaoqiao, thank you, thank you so much!"

The money wasn't enough to rent a shop, but it was more than enough to buy a tricycle. An Younian wiped his tears with his sleeve and trotted to the tricycle shop.

After much effort, the heavy stove was finally lifted onto the bike. An Younian carefully checked the wheels to make sure there were no signs of a flat tire before getting on his bike and hurried to the butcher's shop.

The first batch of meat served in the second half of the night is the freshest.

Hurry up, the first batch of buns should be steamed by dawn.

*

"Right here, dig!"

At An Rou's command, Bao Fu sank to the ground. When he floated up again, his body had turned over and his bone blades were flying.

When it finished its circle, a circular area with loose soil appeared on the wasteland.

Paopao shook the bone shovel in his hand, sending dirt flying. After a long pause, he jumped onto the ground and surveyed the giant circular pit. "Is it big enough, Boss?"

"It's enough, but the shape is too regular."

An Rou thought for a moment and said, "Bao Bao, dig a little more here and there. Okay, that's it."

"Run, fill this up, and here too."

By the time Anrou was satisfied with the shape of the pit, a whole day had passed. She let Paopao go home and continue the next day.

"Boss, do you want to lay the bricks?"

"How can we get so much money? Let's dig a little deeper. I asked Bao Bao to loosen the soil. If we dig about 20 meters deeper, we can see it."

Panting from exhaustion, he looked at the soil on the tip of the shovel and said, "It's wet, wet! There really is groundwater!"

After digging two meters deeper, red and yellow mud and water began to seep out.

"But, Boss, the amount of water isn't very good. It won't fill up, right?"

"Make way." An Rou's voice came from above her head.

Gold coins flowed like a waterfall into a deep well.

"Here's ten thousand gold. Increase the amount of water and see how much you can get."

Run and click on the light screen, and directly select [Water Volume] - [Increase].

A turbid fountain gushed out of the well, and it came so fast as a mountain torrent, except that it spread from the bottom to the top, filling up half of the deep pit in the blink of an eye.

The pond finally took shape.

"Run, run!" An Rou looked at the surging pool water and shouted anxiously.

With a splash, Baofu's huge body broke through the water, carrying a person on his back, it was Paopao.

It continued to rise, its flat back much larger than the pond, and when it stopped, it was like adding a layer of white cover to the entire pond.

Paopao choked on a lot of water, coughing and patting Baofu on the back: "Thanks...thanks, brother, cough cough, otherwise I would have died once."

The distance between the man and the ghost was invisibly shortened.

An Rou suppressed her laughter and said, "Okay, come down quickly."

Paopao stood beside Anrou, dripping wet, and checked the attribute panel. He had only choked on a few mouthfuls of water, and his health had dropped by more than half.

"It must be the corpse poison in the soil that seeped into the water." An Rou speculated.

Paopao quickly drank two bottles of life potion, then took out a few gold coins and placed them on his clothes.

The mud-soaked clothes became dry in an instant, and even the stains on the collar disappeared.

Wow!

An Rou opened her mouth.

Why hadn't she thought of this feature? I've been wearing this outfit for so long, and washing it every night after running around is exhausting. It's half-dry in the morning, but I still have to wear it.

"Give me some too!" An Rou said impatiently!