Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Taking Stock of Supplies
"Exactly! They scared me to death in the middle of the night." Song Kexin was fuming.
"Then my dad had to use a long bamboo pole, the one for hanging clothes, to knock them off the gate. That torn half of a quilt is still hanging there; no one’s cleaned it up."
Xie Ning was utterly speechless.
"Why were they climbing the gate?"
But Song Kexin just burst out laughing. "Sis, you probably won’t believe this, but I heard that weirdo brother-and-sister pair were starving at home for two whole days. They couldn’t take it anymore, so they tried to climb over to ask us for food."
"In the end, not only did they fail to get over the gate, but that Li Xiang also twisted his leg."
"But Uncle Li’s family has a cellar, too. It’s impossible that they didn’t store some food for the winter."
Every household in the Song Family Pavilion stocks up on things like frozen cabbage and cured meats. There’s no way Uncle Li’s family doesn’t have any.
’They couldn’t have starved for two whole days, could they?’
’We haven’t reached the point of lean times where we’re starving every day.’
’At the very least, every family has rice. They could have made some rice, mixed it with some sauce, and eaten some dried radish. There’s no way they would have starved.’
Song Kexin snorted with laughter. "Sis, you have no idea. Those two pigs don’t know how to do anything. They can’t even use a rice cooker. What do you expect them to cook?"
Xie Ning was at a loss for words.
Song Youzhi sighed. "Uncle Li and his wife spoiled them too much. They never let them do anything, so now that something’s happened, they can’t do anything at all."
This just goes to show you can’t get too comfortable. Skills other people have belong to them; you can only rely on what you know yourself.
"Oh, right, Ningning, while you were away, the military sent people to announce they’re going to conduct a sweep to clear out the zombies inside the Song Family Pavilion." Song Youzhi grinned. "When they were gathering Superpower Users in the village yesterday, Uncle Ge Liang and I signed up."
"We’re treating it as a way to train our Strength Abilities, and we can get material rewards, too."
"It’s almost eight o’clock. I have to go again soon."
Xie Ning nodded, a hint of a smile in her eyes. "You’re amazing, Uncle!"
’It’s truly rare for Uncle to have this sense of urgency about improving his superpower. He’s very perceptive.’
’Especially since the zombies in this early stage are easy to deal with, and he’s just picking up the scraps behind the military. It’s an incredibly smart move.’
"Then you should get ready to leave," Xie Ning nodded. "I’ve pretty much said what I needed to say."
"Alright." Song Youzhi grinned.
"Later, we’ll take stock of all the supplies in the house. Anything useful should be sorted and packed in advance, so we’re ready to move at any moment."
"Right, right, Ningning has a point. We need to go through all our supplies so we know what we have and don’t panic." Song Yaoguo nodded. ’My granddaughter’s habit of preparing for a rainy day is just like mine!’
"Then I’ll leave everything at home to you all. I’m off!" For the past two days, Song Youzhi had been incredibly enthusiastic about following the military’s ass and picking off zombies.
It was only seven-thirty, but he left half an hour early to go report for duty.
Xie Ning looked at her mother and younger uncle. "Let’s start packing. We’ll inventory the rice, flour, grain, and oil in the house to see how long they’ll last us."
’Next, she had to plan things out carefully. While the zombies were still weak in these early stages, she should check out the surrounding areas more. She might just find a huge score.’
"Okay, okay. We’ll start by organizing our own floors, then do the first floor and the backyard last."
"Shijun, you help Kexin organize the second floor," He Shuping said, patting her son on the shoulder as she gave the order.
Song Shijun nodded, rolled up his sleeves, and stood up. "Alright, let’s go."
Xie Ning nodded. "Mom, I’ll be up in a bit. I need to go say a few words to them first."
"Alright, you go do what you need to do," Song You’ai said with a wave. She turned to Song Yaoguo and his wife, "Dad, Mom, you two just sit here for a bit."
Old Mrs. Song waved her hand. "I’ll have the old man tidy up the kitchen cabinets in our room a little. I’m going to the kitchen to knead some dough. How about we have flatbread and lamb soup for lunch today?"
"Okay, okay, whatever you want. You two, just don’t get too tired." The group chattered, then left, full of energy.
Xie Ning smiled, walked out of the villa into the small front yard, and waved to Ji Taixian and the others.
"Have you been waiting long?"
"Not at all, not at all." The five of them shook their heads in unison.
"Before, my hands were tied. I didn’t know what kind of people you were and was afraid you might harm my family, so I had to insist on keeping you with me on the way to Su City."
"Now that that’s over, you’re free to leave whenever you want. If you want to stay, that’s fine too."
"You should seriously consider whether you want to go home to find your own families and friends."
Hearing this, Xiao Huang Mao gave a bitter smile. "The few of us are all from Tai City. It was supposed to be a rare vacation, bringing my little sister out to relax, but who knew we’d run into something like this."
"I don’t have any family left. Ms. Ning, if you don’t mind, I’d like to follow you from now on."
"I don’t have any special skills, but I could run errands for you or be a driver." Xiao Huang Mao scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.
"The fact that you dare to use a knife to kill zombies already puts you ahead of ninety percent of the people in this world." Xie Ning nodded at him. "For now, you can stay in a guest room on the first floor. When the time comes, you can go with us to the safe zone."
"As for the future, we’ll see what happens. We’ll take it one step at a time."
"Thank you, Ms. Ning." Xiao Huang Mao nodded happily.
Mo Li and Xiao Zhang exchanged a glance, then stammered, "Th-Then, can we really go back?"
"Of course." Xie Ning nodded seriously. "How long will it take you to get back?"
"By long-distance bus, it would be about three hours."
"Alright then. Take the small car outside the gate. I’ll prepare some things for you. But you’re both ordinary people, so be careful on the road."
Mo Li and Xiao Zhang never expected this fierce-looking little girl to be so reasonable.
Not only was she letting them go, but she was also giving them supplies. They suddenly felt extremely anxious and repeatedly tried to refuse.
But Xie Ning paid them no mind. She went inside and had her younger uncle help move some food that could satisfy their hunger into the car.
After all, they had followed her all the way to Su City and back; she had to give them something for their trouble.
Mo Li was extremely grateful, but Xiao Zhang opened his mouth.
’He actually really wanted to stay and leave only after eating the flatbread and lamb soup Old Mrs. Song was making.’
’But seeing the little girl’s posture, which seemed to be shooing them away, it looked like she wanted them on their way as soon as possible...’
Xie Ning’s expression was serious. "I’m not trying to rush you out, but since you’ve decided to go back, you should leave as soon as possible. We don’t know what will happen in the future. If you run into trouble on the road, you’ll only be making things harder for yourselves. The sooner you get back and hide in your own homes in the countryside, the better off you’ll be."
"Besides, you say it’s a three-hour journey, but you have no idea what the road conditions are like now. It could easily be delayed by four or five hours, and traveling after dark will be even more difficult."
Mo Li gritted his teeth. "Alright! Ms. Ning, we’ll listen to you! Thank you."
After seeing Mo Li and the other man off, Xie Ning turned her head, her smile as bright as the sunshine as she looked at that goofball Ji Taixian. "Tai Xian."
