194: No official meat pie is delicious

Lu Yu told Jiang Fei, "It was Huang Wenzhou who was secretly spreading rumors behind my back."

"He and I already had a conflict. This time, I got promoted, and he became jealous. He didn't dare to do anything to me openly, so he privately fabricated those absurd stories to discredit me."

"Tonight, after I investigated this matter, I fired Huang Wenzhou, revoked all the benefits enjoyed by Patrol Team members, and gave him a beating for good measure."

Jiang Fei silently gave him a thumbs up.

Well done!

"Recently, the Safety Shelter has been short on food, so I told Niu Er and the others to eat instant food from the store, to avoid the smell of cooking oil spreading out."

"If you want to improve your meals, come to my house, and I'll cook for you."

"Okay."

Lu Yu thought to himself—

Is this a special meal the neighbor is making just for him?

At six o'clock the next morning, Jiang Fei went out and took Crippled Wang and the others to where the large trucks were parked.

After handing them the car keys, she went home to sleep in.

She woke up naturally and took out ready-made meals from the Supermarket warehouse for brunch.

Blanched prawns, cured meat stir-fried with lettuce, vinegar-dressed bean sprouts, paired with rice she personally grew and steamed, and a glass of ice-cold white peach sparkling water—Jiang Fei felt enveloped by happiness.

Filling her stomach was the happiest thing!

However, the survivors outside the house did not have the same treatment as Jiang Fei.

As the official store's food became scarcer, more people went hungry.

The situation in Dongyang District was still relatively good, but the ordinary residential areas were already in chaos.

Every family had a limited amount of stored food. No matter how much they economized, it would run out in four or five days, leaving them to rely on drinking water to alleviate hunger.

But drinking too much water would cause stomach acid and discomfort, and in severe cases, even water poisoning.

The residents stared at the locusts flying in the sky, their eyes like hungry wolves seeing meat.

The officials said that locusts were high in protein and nutrients and could be eaten.

And so.

The locusts that everyone once despised and looked down upon became their coveted treasures.

"I saw this locust first! Even if you caught it, you have to give it to me!"

"You say it's yours, but if you call it, will it answer? Get lost!"

"Ahhh, whose brat is this! I finally caught two locusts! They snatched them away!"

"Quick! There are locusts over there! Go catch them! I'll light a fire with matches!"

Afraid of having their locusts snatched, some brought their own cooking utensils. As soon as they caught a bug, they would light a fire on the spot, roast it, and eat it.

Their movements were fluid, making it impossible for others to snatch them.

This was because of the content in the official pamphlet—if locusts were not thoroughly cooked before consumption, they could cause bacterial or viral infections.

They didn't want to lose their lives for a bite of food.

They could die, but they had to die full!

Of course, there were also people who, regardless of dying full or hungry, collapsed from the torment of the disaster.

"I've had enough of this life! I want my old life back!"

"Damn you, Old Heavens! Aren't you just trying to take my life?! I'll give it to you!"

Bang—!

The person standing on the rooftop jumped down, heavily hitting the ground, disfigured beyond recognition.

Besides those who jumped, there were also those who committed suicide with knives.

People died in the Safety Shelter every day.

The Patrol Team worked day and night, firstly to prevent riots, robberies, and thefts, and secondly to promptly clear bodies to prevent people from picking them up and secretly eating human flesh.

This chaotic and oppressive situation was resolved when the official store introduced free locust cakes.

Each person could claim two locust cakes per day with their ID card to fill their stomach.

Su Liuyuan went to the official store, claimed some locust cakes, and brought them back for Jiang Fei to taste.

The size of the locust cakes was similar to the official meat patties.

The difference was that the locust cakes were crudely made, and the insect legs were clearly visible on them.

If one was unlucky, they might even encounter flattened insect heads or locust cakes with eyeballs.

Jiang Fei took a bite.

The texture was like eating a shelled egg, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, with a fishy and salty taste.

"It's not as tasty as the official meat patties."

Su Liuyuan: "..."

As expected of the Captain, even giving reviews!

With the advent of locust cakes, the ingredients of the meat patties previously made by the officials were exposed.

They were made from rats, cockroaches, water snakes, and centipedes.

Most of the survivors in the Safety Shelter had eaten the official meat patties.

They naively thought it was made from the meat of cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. Now that they knew the ingredients, everyone was so disgusted they wished they could dig out their stomachs, wash them several times, and put them back.

But then they remembered the pre-made dishes with pig's head meat, formaldehyde chicken feet, sour cabbage with sweaty feet and cigarette butts, and rat meat disguised as skewers from before the apocalypse... everyone gradually became able to accept it.

At least the snake, insect, and rat meat patties wouldn't kill them.

In addition to introducing locust cakes, the officials also began to distribute free seeds of special sweet potatoes and cabbages, allowing residents to take them home and plant them themselves, offering a glimmer of hope.

As long as food could be grown in the fields, humans would not starve.

The daily topic of discussion in the Safety Shelter shifted from "how to catch locusts" to "how to quickly grow sweet potatoes and cabbages."

Meanwhile, Jiang Fei stayed at home, planting.

With food in hand, her heart was at ease.

The mature crops in the Planting Base now no longer required Jiang Fei to harvest them; the Supermarket would automatically collect them and store them in the warehouse.

She only needed to sow seeds, water them, and wait for the crops to mature.

However, this function was limited to fruits and vegetables.

Wheat and rice still required Jiang Fei to use the agricultural machine to harvest.

In her free time, she would give the membership card to Big Yellow, taking the cubs into the Supermarket to play.

After several consecutive entries and exits, Big Yellow was no longer afraid. It ran around excitedly, treating the land as a natural litter box.

Jiang Fei didn't bother it, considering it as fertilizer.

Once she had a few more membership cards, she would be able to permanently bind Big Yellow, the chicks, and the goslings, keeping them in the Supermarket for safety and peace of mind.

The Planting Base, orchard, and medicinal garden all had walls, so she wasn't afraid they would sneak in and cause damage when she wasn't around.

This day.

Jiang Fei, holding Big Yellow, exited the Supermarket and went to the yard to feed the chicks and goslings.

She noticed that the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the vegetable patch had grown, and her heart filled with joy.

The growth cycle of potatoes and sweet potatoes usually took about three months.

Now, after just over a month, the potatoes and sweet potatoes had matured, indicating that the water from the fountain pool also had the effect of accelerating ripening, and could allow crops to grow healthily.

It's just that the water's ripening effect was slightly less than that of the Supermarket's land.

If it were in the Supermarket, she would have already planted a new batch by now.

She dug up one potato and one sweet potato, and Jiang Fei went inside to steam and eat them.

Unlike the crops grown in the Supermarket, which could eliminate fatigue, these were just ordinary potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Jiang Fei had a sudden idea.

If the water from the fountain pool were diluted and then used for planting, would it still have an effect?

Jiang Fei, a woman of strong action, harvested the potatoes and sweet potatoes from the field and planted new ones.

This time, it was divided into two areas.

One used fountain water diluted a hundred times, and the other used water diluted a thousand times.

As for the picked sweet potato leaves, they were directly fed to the chicks and goslings.

After finishing her work in the small yard, Jiang Fei left the house.

Outside, locusts were mostly nowhere to be seen.

Getting into the pickup truck parked by the roadside, Jiang Fei took out two boxes of fruit and vegetable seeds and placed them on the back seat.

It was time to pay the rent for the agricultural machine, and it was a good opportunity to see how the reconstruction of the Planting Base was progressing.

Upon arriving at the Planting Base, Jiang Fei saw the newly built greenhouses.

Not only were they larger than the original ones, but their number had also increased.

The barren land was now a lush green, filled with various vegetables.

Ling Zhaorui was working, so Jiang Fei didn't call him and went to Kang Ansheng's office herself.

She found a staff member to help move the two boxes inside.

"Mr. Kang, these are the rental fees for the agricultural machines sent by my boss."

Kang Ansheng felt a bit embarrassed.

Little Jiang's boss helped solve the seed problem, and he was still collecting rent for the agricultural machines... it felt somewhat inappropriate.

"Go back and tell your boss that the Planting Base is giving him those agricultural machines."

"Take these two boxes of seeds back to your boss."

Jiang Fei, too lazy to move them back and forth, suggested, "How about this, the seeds can be my tuition fee."

"I want to stay at the Planting Base for a while to learn animal husbandry."

In the future, with more membership cards, she would definitely raise livestock and poultry in the Supermarket, and not knowing about this aspect would not do.

Kang Ansheng readily agreed.

As expected, Jiang Fei still stayed in the same dormitory as last time.

Dao Rong clapped her little hands happily: "I can live with Mother Jiang again!"

Jiang Fei skillfully pulled out a lollipop from her pocket to silence Dao Rong's incessant 'Mother Jiang, Mother Jiang' calls.

Actually, when children don't talk, it's quite nice.

—

A week passed in a flash.

The fast-growing, high-yield special corn and special potatoes cultivated at the Planting Base finally matured.

Wheat and rice were also processed into flour and rice, and sent to the Safety Shelter.

The Base was short-staffed and couldn't harvest all the special corn and potatoes, so Jiang Fei was pulled by Ling Zhaorui to help.

Indeed, she was destined to be a workhorse.

Jiang Fei sighed as she worked.

The special corn cobs were slightly smaller than normal corn and dark yellow in color.

The potatoes were about the size of an adult's fist.

She had eaten them once in the Base's cafeteria.

The corn and potatoes were neither sweet nor soft, but they were very filling.

For the Safety Shelter at present, being able to eat one's fill was the most important thing.

After working for three consecutive days, Jiang Fei returned to her dormitory as usual in the evening. Just as she was about to enter the Supermarket to cook a special meal, a knock on the door suddenly sounded.

"Mother Jiang... I feel so uncomfortable..."