Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Cut from the Same Cloth
"Future, close the Dimensional Space."
The cube of light flickered, then vanished into thin air.
Fascinated by the futuristic display, Xie Ning had Future open and close it several times out of curiosity.
Seeing Little Spider was on the verge of freaking out, Xie Ning quickly sent it off to rest.
Only then did Xie Ning fish the handgun out from the living room sofa.
She knew how to use a gun; she definitely hadn’t lied to Gu Chen and Lu Wei about that.
But her skill wasn’t just the few flashy, impractical moves from military training that she’d mentioned.
After twenty years in the apocalypse, as a subpar Space Ability User whose small Space was "welded shut," her constitution was only a smidgen better than that of a normal person.
If she had remained the sentimental, frail, and artsy girl she was before the apocalypse, she wouldn’t have lasted twenty years—she would have been devoured, not even a scrap of bone left, within two.
Ever since discovering her small Space couldn’t be upgraded or expanded, she had started to train diligently to improve her physical fitness.
At the end of the second year of the apocalypse, she had joined the Sweet Potato Team by a stroke of luck. Her teammates took great care of her, and her captain, especially, was incredible.
At the time, there was an elderly veteran on the team who hadn’t awakened any superpower, but his combat techniques were formidable.
Xie Ning studied under this old master for several years, gritting her teeth and enduring the training to hone her marksmanship.
Her master had even praised her for being "a real man," which had pissed Ningning off to no end.
She had a tomboy haircut back then, and years of exposure to the wind and sun had tanned her skin to a bronze.
Wearing the same tattered casual clothes for years, she had looked completely destitute.
’Yes, just like a man. Not a trace of a delicate young lady to be seen...’
Looking at herself now—fair-skinned, delicate, and pretty as a picture—Ningning silently decided it was better to stay this way.
’Although her past self had been handsome and cool, even catching the eye of a few young girls...’
Xie Ning shivered. ’Yeah, no thanks.’
"BANG! BANG! BANG!" She straightened up and walked to the window to look down.
Her room had no balcony. Looking out of the two large windows offered a wide, open view, and she could see the siblings, Li Dawei and his sister, outside the iron gate.
The two of them were covered in large, dark-blue plastic bags and were hacking at the gate with a kitchen cleaver.
Xie Ning left her room and went downstairs.
She saw her mother fully geared up, wearing a raincoat, rain pants, and rain boots, along with leather gloves and a large face mask. She even had a pot lid on her head...
"Mom, where are you going?"
"I’m going to the gate to yell at them!" Song You’ai glanced at her daughter. ’She seems a bit fairer than before, doesn’t she?’
Having secretly taken a shower behind her family’s back, Xie Ning felt a little guilty. To assuage her conscience, she pretended to fluff her six-day-unwashed hair. "Maybe you shouldn’t. Don’t get caught in the rain."
"It’s fine, I’m fully geared up!" Song You’ai brandished the Metal Knife with the heroic air of a warrior heading into battle.
Song Shijun quickly tried to dissuade her. "Why bother with those two, Aunt? It’s dangerous to go out now. If even a drop of that rain hits you, it’s not worth the risk."
Song You’ai thought about it and had to agree.
Just as she was about to put down her weapon—the Metal Knife—she heard Li Dawei and his sister wailing outside. "Uncle Song, Aunt Song, help us! We’re going to die! We haven’t eaten in two days! Are you trying to starve us to death?"
Song Yaoguo muttered, "Oh, so they’re here to beg for food, not to pick a fight."
Song You’ai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Li Xiang cried out from outside, "Please, Uncle Song, Aunt Song, help us! We’re really going to starve to death!"
Song Youzhi turned to lecture his own daughter, "You see? This is how hard it is when you don’t know how to do things yourself. Are you still going to be lazy? You should learn to cook from your aunt."
Song Kexin pouted. "What’s so hard about cooking? I know how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes."
"Uncle Song, what if we give you fifty-five pounds of flour to make some flatbreads for us?"
"Pah," Song Kexin snorted. "In your dreams. Then they’d expect us to use our own soybean oil. Your arms would be too sore to lift after making two hundred flatbreads! Auntie, ignore her."
"Making flatbread is too much trouble. Just give me fifty-five pounds of rice instead. I’ll cook a few pots of rice for you, and you can take it back and make your own rice balls."
Song You’ai then added, "And we’ll take that fifty-five pounds of flour as payment. We can also give you two hundred grams of salted bamboo shoots and dried radish as a side dish."
Fifty-five pounds?
Two hundred grams?
Everyone in the Song Family stared at her, dumbfounded.
’She’s so ruthless!’
The two elders silently glanced at their youngest son, Song Youyi, and then at their eldest daughter, Song You’ai. ’Like calls to like. They’re definitely cut from the same cloth!’
With that, Song You’ai strode out of the villa in her full getup to collect the goods at the iron gate.
Li Dawei handed her two large bags, his face a thunderous scowl.
Behind him, Li Xiang cried sorrowful tears, feeling the sting of the loss.
Song You’ai heartlessly slammed the iron gate shut and slid the bolt home. "Come get the rice tomorrow morning."
"Aunt Song, can you make it a bit earlier?! We’re going to starve today."
Song You’ai pursed her lips and shouted, "You think cooking is easy? It’s fifty-five pounds of rice! One pot can only cook five and a half pounds at most. That’s ten batches!"
Of course, Song You’ai wasn’t going to tell them that her family had two earthen stoves.
"You don’t want to eat half-cooked rice, do you? A watched pot never boils!"
After that bellow, the two bumpkins outside finally fell silent.
Song Youzhi, also fully geared up, came over to take the bags, grumbling, "You’re too soft-hearted. Why even bother with them? Let me take these."
The two siblings headed straight for the cookhouse with the earthen stoves in the backyard.
Xie Ning glanced at the acid rain that continued to drizzle ceaselessly outside.
It wasn’t heavy, nor was it light, just falling steadily. It hadn’t really stopped at all.
It was past six in the afternoon before her mother and eldest uncle finished their work at the stove.
The two of them hadn’t wanted anyone else to help, mainly because the earthen stoves were in the backyard, some distance from the villa, and it was a huge hassle for others to come over since they’d have to get fully geared up.
Xie Ning’s mom returned to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa, not wanting to move an inch.
That evening, everyone wanted to make some noodles for a simple dinner, but the gas stove wouldn’t light.
"Looks like the gas is out," Song Youyi frowned. "How about we just eat some dry rations to fill our stomachs and make do?"
Xie Ning’s mom struggled to get up, planning to go back to the earthen stoves to cook for everyone, but her youngest aunt quickly stopped her.
"You’ve been busy all afternoon. Don’t overexert yourself. If anyone’s going, it should be me."
"Nobody has to go." Xie Ning was just about to bring out a portable stove from the living room when she heard Xiao Gu’s voice from outside.
Song Youzhi, fully geared up, ran out to open the door.
A moment later, Gu Chen and Lu Wei walked in one after the other, followed by the baby-faced Zhai Ruobai and the muscular Xue Feng.
The two men were carrying a huge pile of things inside. "Quick, get a mop! Wipe the rainwater off these things!"
"Xiao Gu, you’re here! Why did you bring so many things again?" Song You’ai shot up from the sofa and ran forward with a beaming smile.
"Auntie, I’ll get it," Zhai Ruobai said, pulling on his gloves to open a box. "We can toss this carton outside after."
The whole place was soon bustling with activity as everyone pitched in to mop the floor and unload the supplies.
Xie Ning watched her family expressionlessly as they swarmed around Xiao Gu, fawning over him with "Xiao Gu this" and "Xiao Gu that." ’It’s so cringey it’s giving me a headache...’
