After the woman calmed down a bit, the two disposed of the four corpses and cleared out a relatively clean area. (Novel)
Shi Lan ladled out the stew from the kitchen, cooked some porridge, and placed it in front of the woman, urging her to eat some.
After drinking some porridge, the woman calmed down a bit and then told Shi Lan about her experiences over the past few days.
The woman's name was Zhang Xiaomei. She and Zhang Qiang, who cooked, were engaged. When the disaster struck, they were on a date. After leaving the house, they found that the whole world had changed. They fled home in panic and found that their family had also changed. Terrified, they fled again. On the way, they met the Wang Yong brothers. At first, they were quite nice to Zhang Xiaomei. The four of them traveled together. Later, they met Zhou Ren. Zhou Ren seemed to have a gentle and magnanimous personality. What was rare was that he was also quite skilled. Working with the Wang Yong and Wang Meng brothers, they were able to easily kill the zombie horde that attacked them.
Zhang Xiaomei and Zhang Qiang were only good at stir-frying and flipping woks. Seeing the three men's bravery, they felt lucky to have met such good people. However, their good fortune didn't last long. On the third day, she noticed that Zhou Ren's gaze towards her was strange, and he would occasionally whisper and discuss something with the Wang Yong brothers. Zhang Xiaomei had a bad feeling.
That evening, Wang Yong and his brother suddenly burst into the house, pulled Zhang Qiang aside, and Zhou Ren asked Zhang Qiang to choose between dying or having fun together. Zhang Qiang didn't even hesitate before saying that he would share the good fortune.
Zhou Ren praised him for being sensible. After smugly taking advantage of the terrified Zhang Xiaomei, he even called on Wang Yong and his brothers to continue.
At that moment, Zhang Xiaomei felt like dying, but Wang Meng was watching her very closely, and she had no choice but to endure it helplessly.
Two days passed, and Zhou Ren, tired of the novelty, gave up. The Wang brothers, however, couldn't let go and started to treat Zhou Xiaomei well. Zhou Ren saw this and began to teach them about that kind of thing, especially focusing on the sadomasochistic aspect. From then on, Zhang Xiaomei was completely plunged into a deep and painful situation.
After listening to her story, Shi Lan sighed, patted her shoulder, went to the kitchen to boil a large pot of water for her, and while she was washing up, she tidied up the attic and settled her in to rest before going downstairs to clean up the bloodstains and resumed practicing her martial arts.
As dawn broke, Shi Lan went to the kitchen to boil water for washing up. She heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Zhang Xiaomei walking towards her with a faint smile.
"Let me do it," she said, picking up a brush from the stove and skillfully scrubbing the pot. She then filled it with water, put the lid on, and went to the car to get the flour.
Shi Lan was stunned for a moment as she watched her movements, which were fluid and seamless.
Zhang Xiaomei said, "Zhang Qiang and I both studied cooking, so I'm used to doing these kinds of jobs."
Shi Lan nodded. Since the professionals had arrived, she, an amateur, should quickly make way. With that time, she could practice her martial arts again, which would at least provide some support for the two weak women.
Shi Lan returned to the house and practiced twice more. When she turned around, she saw Zhang Xiaomei standing by the door with a steaming basin of water, watching for who knows how long.
Shi Lan hurriedly went over and took the basin of water from her. "Why didn't you say anything when you got here?"
Zhang Xiaomei looked thoughtfully at the beads of sweat on her face and asked, "Sister Shi, what kind of kung fu is this? It looks like you're dancing to me."
Shi Lan wiped her face, looked up and smiled, "It's a physical technique that can strengthen muscles and bones."
Zhang Xiaomei pursed her lips, seemingly a little embarrassed, "Then... can you teach me?"
Shi Lan looked her over but didn't say anything.
Zhang Xiaomei was a little uneasy, "If it's inconvenient, then forget it."
Seeing her hanging her head and looking extremely dejected, Shi Lan said, "It's not that I don't want to teach you, it's just that practicing physical techniques like this is like having your bones ground down by a steel knife. Can you endure and persevere with that kind of pain?"
Zhang Xiaomei's face changed color slightly, but after a moment, she still showed a determined look, "I can."
"Alright," Shi Lan threw the towel back into the basin, stood in the center of the ground again, and said, "Today I will teach you one move from the first move. If you can learn it and endure it, then I will continue to teach you. Otherwise, I advise you to give up on this idea."
Zhang Xiaomei nodded and stood behind Shi Lan.
Shi Lan concentrated and slowly performed the first move. Zhang Xiaomei followed behind her, enduring the pain and trying to do it similarly. However, she was too old and her body was not like Shi Lan's, which had been trained in dance since childhood. Her muscles and bones were too stiff to twist and turn like Shi Lan. She could only learn less than 10% of the move.
After trying several times, Shi Lan said helplessly, "Forget it, my martial arts are not suitable for you." Before she finished speaking, Zhang Xiaomei's face turned ashen, and she looked completely dejected. Shi Lan thought for a moment and then said, "How about this, I know some simple self-defense skills. If you master those, you should be able to fight a zombie without any problem."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaomei's face immediately lit up again, and she repeatedly said yes.
Shi Lan knew that she had been hurt and was eager to find something to give her a sense of security, so she didn't mind and taught her many simplified moves that Tianye had used before.
After breakfast, Shi Lan asked Zhang Xiaomei to find a way to turn the grain into dry food that could be stored.
Zhang Xiaomei, being a chef, turned all the rice and flour in the truck into rice cakes, flatbreads, fried noodles, and steamed buns in one morning. After noon, she busied herself making delicious and appetizing pickles by mixing the leftover pickled vegetables with the cured meat and sausages that Zhou Ren had collected before. She also used the leftover scraps to make a sumptuous dinner.
After the meal, Shi Lan clutched her stomach and sighed. She felt that her cooking skills had improved after practice, especially since she had Liu Hui, who knew nothing, to compare with. Her sense of superiority was off the charts. But as soon as she was in front of Zhang Xiaomei, she was immediately crushed.
Zhang Xiaomei smiled as she cleared the dishes, saying, "Sister, you're wrong to say that here. Everyone has their own expertise. My expertise is in food, while your advantage is your overwhelming strength."
Shi Lan was amused by her. "Crushing? She's not a millstone, who can she crush?"
Speaking of millstones, Zhang Xiaomei mentioned that nowadays every household in the countryside stores corn, and asked if she could go to a village in a nearby town tomorrow to see if she could find some. She said she knows how to make authentic farm-style flatbread, and that she could use cured meat to stew the flatbread.
Shi Lan touched her belly. Although she didn't want to admit it, she seemed to be showing signs of being turned into a foodie by Zhang Xiaomei.
The next day, just as dawn broke, Shi Lan and Zhang Xiaomei got ready and set off.
After driving for a while, the two quickly found a farmer's house with stacks of corn. They chose a house where no one was home and drove in.
In the evening, the two of them, rubbing their aching backs, carried half a bag of flour into the house.
Perhaps because it was her first time doing something like this, Zhang Xiaomei was very excited. Before going to bed, she kept chattering about what she would make for breakfast the next morning. Seeing her cheerful appearance, Shi Lan felt a little more at ease.
These past two days, Shi Lan has been arranging tasks for her, hoping to use busyness to dispel the gloom in her heart, and it seems to be working quite well.
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