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Chapter 562: Chapter 562: Su Jin Manages the Meals
Brother Chen and his people then walked back to their group nearby. Dozens of eyes from that side were looking in the direction of Su Jin and her team. Fan Decai and his people were alright, but Su Jin felt somewhat uncomfortable.
She gave Qiqi a look, and Qiqi immediately understood Su Jin’s intention. She raised her little hand over the cleared ground as if taking things out of the "Space," and soon, a row of empty wooden cabinets appeared in front of everyone.
"Wow, you have cabinets in your ’Space’?"
Bai Ying asked in surprise. The placement of the wooden cabinet blocked the view from the other side, giving her a sigh of relief.
"They are just old cabinets from home that I couldn’t bear to throw away."
Su Jin explained with a smile—the cabinets were actually from stores they had acquired earlier, used to display merchandise. Now, Su Jin could only think of using them as cover.
"It’s good to have them blocking the view. Those people were continuously watching us,"
Han Yue finally spoke up.
"Tonight everyone needs to take turns on the night watch. Don’t let your guard down,"
Lu Hao said in a low voice.
"Pfft, they’re just a bunch of villagers, what’s there to be afraid of?"
Xu Mingliang said disdainfully.
"Mingliang! Shut your mouth."
Fan Decai wished he could slap Xu Mingliang. He didn’t know if Xu genuinely couldn’t see it or was pretending not to see it. Ever since those people saw the luggage being opened, their entire demeanor had changed.
Now that they had carried the luggage over here, it was normal for dozens of people in this food-scarce Apocalypse to covet their supplies. They just feared those people with ill intentions might think about committing murder to seize the supplies.
That was what Su Jin was thinking too. If peace were maintained between both parties, then it would be fine; otherwise, they wouldn’t go easy on them.
However, dinner still needed to be prepared. Before they left, Liang Jiuhui had added ten thousand Crystal Cores to their task reward so the Heart Talk Team could provide a meal for these folks, a small gesture from the S Base. After all, strictly speaking, Wei Junhao and Han Yue were indeed there to deliver messages to the S Base.
Su Jin knelt beside Mao Qiqi, using her consciousness to take out some tools from the "Space" that had been prearranged. Now, she only needed her consciousness to take things from the "Space." To others, it appeared as though Mao Qiqi was just reaching out and pulling out one item after another.
Soon, everyone was captivated by the items Mao Qiqi was taking out.
A card stove, a boiling pot, a steaming pot, disposable utensils, some rice and ham, water, even two small jars of pickles, and a basket of crispy fried pies.
"Su Jin, you guys are well-prepared,"
Wei Junhao squatted down too, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"You need a full stomach to travel well,"
Su Jin did not elaborate much; these tools were prepared before the Apocalypse, but because of the "Space," they were almost never needed. Now, she finally got to experience the thrill of a field meal.
Lu Guanhai and Mao Qiqi also came over with interest to help, using a small stove to cook rice.
"This is a card stove; it uses a gas canister, not a small stove,"
Su Jin explained while placing the pot and water.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Bai Ying also squatted over enthusiastically and asked.
"Could you help me rinse this rice?"
Su Jin handed Bai Ying a small basin filled with rice.
"Certainly, certainly!"
Bai Ying was immediately pleased to be of help, taking the basin to wash the rice earnestly by the window.
Outside the window was a field of withered yellow grass, below which lay many unidentifiable pieces of trash and cloth strips. Bai Ying glanced around, saw that no one was watching, and poured the rice water down.
Su Jin had cooked a large pot of ham, wood ear mushroom, and vegetable porridge. The vegetables, little bok choy, had been grown right in front of everyone from seeds she had sprouted. Lu Hao had chopped them up before they were finally added to the pot.
The aroma of ham mixed with rice porridge quickly spread, and on the other side of the wooden cabinet, a group of people rapidly salivated.
This was the scent of food!
How long had it been since they had eaten real food?
Brother Chen and a few others felt extremely hungry and, after thinking a bit, took out some of the flour that Lu Hao had given them.
"Auntie Zhao, add some of this when you cook, to replenish everyone," he said.
Brother Chen scooped out a bowl of flour with a small bowl and handed it to a short, middle-aged woman.
"Good, good, replenish, replenish, then we can have meat,"
Auntie Zhao said, taking the bowl of flour with her thin hands and murmuring to herself.
Fan Decai and others were also tidying up their stuff while incessantly glancing over at Su Jin’s side. With such a large pot of porridge, there should be some for them too, right?
"There should be enough for us. Look, she took out that many pairs of bowls and chopsticks. I counted, and it’s exactly our current number," Xu Mingliang whispered as he came over.
"..."
Fan Decai gave Xu Mingliang a disdainful look, feeling even more that he was worthless.
After the porridge was ready, Su Jin asked Lu Guanhai to put up the steamer and heat up the pies they had purposely dried and cooled down earlier.
"The porridge is ready, everyone gets a share,"
Su Jin signaled that everyone could serve themselves. The bowls and chopsticks were disposable, and they could be tidied up and thrown away later.
Xu Mingliang saw the usually silent Wang Liang get a bowl for Han Yue and then another for himself before he finally mustered the courage to serve himself one.
Seeing that no one from the Heart Talk Team opposed, the rest of the people began serving themselves with relief.
"This tastes so good, Su Jin. I’ve never had such delicious ham porridge,"
Bai Ying praised, and although it was just porridge, the addition of ham, wood ear mushrooms, and little bok choy made it look very appetizing. Su Jin had also dropped a few drops of sesame oil into it, enhancing the flavor.
"If you’re still hungry, here are some warmed pies as well, prepared before we came out. Don’t be shy,"
Su Jin said generously.
Even though the pies seemed leftover, Wei Junhao picked up a piece, tried a bite, and immediately gave Su Jin and the others a thumbs up.
"Tasty, delicious!"
These items were even more delicious than what he had eaten at home in B city. Although the small cassette stove looked simple, could it really bring out all the flavors of the food?
Not until the bottom of the porridge pot was scraped clean and all the pies were divided up did the group finally, bellyful and satisfied, sigh contently.
Once again volunteering, Bai Ying used her Water Element Ability to wash the pot until she was about to pour the dishwater out of the window when a tender, frail voice came through:
"Sister, if you don’t need the dishwater... could I have it?"
Bai Ying was startled. Where was the voice coming from?
Following the direction of the sound, she saw it was coming from a gap under a door next to the wooden cabinet.
The Heart Talk Team’s wooden cabinet extended to the wall, but near the window was a green, peeling wooden door. The voice Bai Ying had heard had come from under that door.
