Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Warm the Pot Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Warm the Pot The sales clerk, infuriated, stood up ready to fight back when the mall manager ca over and told her, “The director is looking for you.”
The sales clerk quickly touched up her lipstick with a compact mirror and ran out through the back door.
Gu Pan shook her head. What was all this nonsense? Even after the apocalypse had been going on for so long, how could there still be so many people with mush for brains? There was never a shortage of fools in the world.
Lu Ruisheng squeezed his wife’s hand. “Let’s go buy a bucket and so charcoal.”
Gu Pan agreed, and they went together to another counter, deciding that such people were not worth their attention. Idiots in post-apocalyptic tis didn’t survive long.
First, they bought a bucket, which conveniently held the charcoal, and then they picked up a few other daily necessities.
After they had bought everything, Lu Ruisheng carried the bucket and a bag, while Gu Pan held a bedding set, and both of them left together.
The earlier incident had dampened their spirits, so they didn’t continue shopping and went straight ho, discussing the incident on the way.
“I feel like this base is sort of… how should I put it? It seems a bit like officials who start fires,” Gu Pan struggled to find the right words.
Lu Ruisheng laughed at her description, “Before coming to the mall, you said today was going smoothly, that the people we t were nice, and the base had good order. Have you changed your tune so quickly?”
Gu Pan laughed too, “It’s true, I got slapped in the face so fast. I’m also angry about that incident, but you’re right, everyone else we t before was nice, and those departnt staff were very responsible. One or two people can’t represent everyone.”
Then Gu Pan added, “And whether it’s Miss Song from just now or that spoiled rich kid we saw on the road the other day who was going to seek refuge with his uncle, it’s all personal behavior. We haven’t seen their elders acting this way, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
Lu Ruisheng said with a smile, “My wife always sees the bigger picture, very insightful.”
Gu Pan playfully pinched Lu Ruisheng’s arm and joked, “Don’t complint if you don’t an it.”
Lu Ruisheng looked at Gu Pan, “I’m always sincere when I complint you, you can’t wrong .”
Both of them laughed, and their bad mood dissipated. Since they didn’t need to separate or look for work on the base, it wasn’t easy for others to cause them trouble.
Co to think of it, if they weren’t waiting for their friends here, they could move to a different base at any ti.
They had just arrived and hadn’t encountered any significant injustice yet, so they decided to stay a bit longer. Since they wouldn’t be working here, and the base was safe, other things didn’t really affect them.
Once they got ho, Lu Ruisheng went to manage the charcoal fire.
After placing the bedding on the bed, Gu Pan went to the kitchen, took pots and pans out of their “Space,” and soon, the kitchen had the atmosphere of a ho.
They also placed so items in the bathroom, adding to the feel of a lived-in space.
Since the bedding needed to be washed and dried before use, they didn’t use the newly bought set, but an old, clean one they had.
After everything was set up, they covered the cent floor with foam blocks, and Gu Pan took out the old curtains, altered them with a sewing machine, and hung them up.
Seeing the sewing machine, Gu Pan thought of the friends who were swept away by the tornado but didn’t ntion it because it would make Lu Ruisheng sad too. Better not to bring it up.
Soon, their ho had undergone a significant transformation.
At six o’clock, the electricity ca on, and so did the water, lighting up every household.
The departnt store downstairs was open from eight in the morning to eight at night, operating on its own circuit, so it wasn’t affected by power restrictions.
Next to the shopping center was a bathhouse, open at this hour, with many people coming and going.
Next to the bathhouse was a barber shop, and past that, it wasn’t very clear, but I could see that so stores were still open; I would have ti tomorrow to take a look.
In the political district, the places they visited during the day were closed, so the hospital nearby with its Red Cross sign was all the more noticeable, marking its location.
Next to the hospital was the police station, with the sa blue and white signage as before the apocalypse.
At this mont, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng couldn’t afford to waste much ti observing this. With only two hours of electricity, they needed to make the most of it. Although Space had a generator, power resources were dwindling. Why waste their own power if not necessary?
They got busy—filling up water and charging ergency lights, laptops, and tablets.
Later, the two of them ate hotpot, inaugurating their new ho.
Eating hotpot in a brightly lit room seed mundane before, but now, it felt truly blissful.
Gu Pan gazed out at the lights outside the window, “How long has it been since I saw a scene like this, how wonderful.”
Lu Ruisheng also expressed his feelings, “Yes, it’s still best to live where there are legal restraints.”
Gu Pan added a slice of at to the pot, “From now on, we can eat these things openly and legitimately.”
“Little foodie,” Lu Ruisheng teased as he clipped a shrimp paste for his wife.
Gu Pan noted while eating, “Now that we have the ans, we can cook more food. Who knows when the apocalypse will end, better to be prepared.”
“Right, the water here is good too, from deep wells. We can fill up the previously used water tanks.”
“When the acid rain prevents us from going out, we can use that ti to prepare more.”
“Let’s eat first, we can talk about this slowly, no rush.”
While they were dining, people occasionally moved and talked in the hallway outside, suggesting that the building’s soundproofing wasn’t great. With ten or more units per floor, one couldn’t expect much silence, which is why they chose the foremost room—to avoid daily pedestrian traffic outside their door, as Gu Pan liked quiet.
After dinner, Gu Pan checked her watch, “Water and electricity will be cut off in twenty minutes, is there anything else we need to do?”
Lu Ruisheng replied with a smile, “Washing dishes…”
It was then Gu Pan rembered; the couple quickly cleared the table and went to the kitchen to wash dishes.
The kitchen was sowhat cramped and lacked a water heater, so Lu Ruisheng took it upon himself to wash the dishes.
After wiping the table, Gu Pan stood at the kitchen doorway, watching her husband clean up and smiled, “How can my man look good doing just about anything?”
Lu Ruisheng smiled back, “Of course, it’s to match our lady of the house.”
Joking and laughing, they finished their chores, and in no ti, the water and electricity were cut off.
They had stored plenty of water and the ergency lights were all charged; the room was brightly lit.
Looking outside, many hos had lit candles or charging lights, casting a cozy, yellow glow.
Gu Pan looked at the comrcial district below, which by now had mostly turned off its lights, losing its earlier bustle.
The two stood by the window, watching outside, slowly, many hos began turning off lights, one by one the lights went out, and the dimness grew, but it made the stars in the sky appear brighter.
With the window open, a cool breeze wafted in, carrying the scent of spring. The weather was normalizing, and tiny grass shoots were beginning to poke through the soil, but others didn’t know that the young grass would soon face acid rain, followed by more disasters, ultimately leaving little chance for these small shoots to grow tall.
At least, not until the third year of the apocalypse.
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