After selecting three packets of instant noodles, Liu Wutong began to boil water.
She was boiling water now so that when her mother and younger sister returned, the water would be ready to soak the noodles.
Instant noodles, she still liked them soaked, not cooked.
When Wang Huifang was pulled back by her younger daughter, she was still holding two pairs of grass shoes in her arms.
"Ah, Anan, why the rush? There are still two pairs I haven't sold yet." That meant earning two fewer Contribution Points.
Wang Huifang wanted to go back and sell the shoes. If she could gather 5 Contribution Points, she could treat her daughter to a good meal later.
"Mom, sister's back. She brought a bag of delicious food." Liu Piaoxu saw the bag of instant noodles, but since she became sensible, she hadn't seen such things and didn't know what they were called, so she could only refer to them as delicious food.
"Then wait for me to finish selling," Wang Huifang was still reluctant to lose those two Contribution Points.
Now, there were more and more people making grass shoes, and after they were made, they became cheaper and cheaper.
Just now, the old man next door was actually selling them for 0.5 Contribution Points a pair.
That was destroying the market.
"Sister said for you to come back immediately." No way! What if she went back late and Gu Honghua snatched everything away?
Liu Piaoxu pulled her mother and ran all the way home.
As soon as they entered their home, Liu Piaoxu told her sister to block the door.
"Can we not open the door, please?" Liu Piaoxu blinked her eyes at Liu Wutong. Born frail, her eyes appeared frighteningly large on her thin face.
"Okay, we won't open for anyone." It must be locked! Definitely locked!
Liu Wutong knew that Gu Honghua often came to take advantage of their home, but as the family's main support, she couldn't always be at home, and since their mother was timid, she didn't dare to resist whatever Gu Honghua did.
By the time she got home, everything would be taken away.
If she went to ask for it back, then Gu Honghua would accuse her, a Superpower User, of bullying their orphaned and widowed family.
Pah!
A thirty-something still clinging to his mother's care was considered an orphan?
She couldn't believe someone could say such things without shame.
"Wutong, let me check you, did you get hurt out there?" Seeing her daughter, Wang Huifang also forgot about the shoes and came forward to thoroughly check Liu Wutong for any new injuries.
"I'm fine. My superpower is weak, so I usually stay in the back, and I don't get hurt," Liu Wutong routinely deceived Wang Huifang.
Like her, who had to support her family with a weak superpower, how could she dare to hide in the back? Hiding in the back meant getting less, only by charging to the front could she get more.
But Liu Wutong wouldn't tell the truth; she was afraid her mother would worry.
"Mom, look. I brought back lots of food for you and little sister." Liu Wutong picked up the instant noodles to show them.
"Instant noodles? How did you find instant noodles?" Wang Huifang's eyes widened in disbelief. Was this really instant noodles?
Before the apocalypse, Wang Huifang thought instant noodles were unhealthy junk food, so after she became pregnant and a mother, she never ate them again.
She was afraid to eat them during pregnancy, worrying it would be bad for the baby in her belly.
After giving birth, she dared not eat them any more, fearing it would affect her breast milk.
Later, taking care of the baby, she couldn't find the time to eat.
When the baby grew up, she was concerned that her child might learn to eat instant noodles and harm their health, so instant noodles never appeared at home again.
But after ten years of the apocalypse, instant noodles, once considered junk food, had become an absolute delicacy in Wang Huifang's eyes.
"Where did you get them from?!" Wang Huifang picked up the instant noodles, looking at them from all sides, amazed.
At the start of the apocalypse, people still traded with instant noodles.
But a few years later, all the pre-apocalypse produced instant noodles were eaten up, and with no conditions to produce more, instant noodles had long since disappeared from the market.
There were none left to be had.
"Our squad found them outside... Mom, don't ask yet, the water's boiled, let's have instant noodles. Piaoxu hasn't had them all this time," Liu Wutong was about to give more details, but then she heard the sound of water boiling.
Suddenly, she had no time to explain.
Instead of spending that time explaining, it was better to savour a bite of instant noodles, which she had been craving all along.
"Come, Piaoxu, let sister teach you how to soak instant noodles..."
The three of them brewed three packets of instant noodles with immense reverence.
The waiting time felt extraordinarily long.
"Sister, it smells so good!"
Liu Piaoxu looked at the noodles soaking in water, her face filled with fascination.
She had never smelled instant noodles this fragrant since she was born.
She had eaten a lot of food, but those foods were either rotten, or sour, or fishy, or a mix of all three tastes...
This was the first time she had smelled this kind of fragrance, and even though she hadn't tasted it yet, she knew it would definitely be delicious!
Not just the younger Piaoxu, even Wutong and Wang Huifang stared straight at the instant noodles before them, saliva continuously secreting in their mouths.
What were only a few minutes seemed longer than a year at this moment.
Juicy, richly flavored broth and irresistibly tempting noodles, the air filled with an enticing aroma.
If only there was a fried egg.
Liu Wutong looked at the noodles in the bowl when suddenly the thought popped into her head.
Her favorite thing to add to instant noodles used to be a fried egg.
Eating a fried egg alone had one taste, and soaked in noodle soup it had another, but both were delicious.
But now, she could only think about it.
"It's ready, we can eat now."
Liu Wutong couldn't wait any longer.
She wanted to eat this bowl of instant noodles immediately! Right now!
Liu Piaoxu had been waiting for this sentence, and with Liu Wutong's command, she quickly grabbed her chopsticks, rolled up the noodles and stuffed them into her mouth.
The elastic noodles and the sweet broth exploded in her mouth.
Liu Piaoxu stopped chewing for a second or two.
Before she tasted the noodles, while just smelling their fragrance, she knew they were delicious.
But she had never thought they could be this delicious!
More delicious than anything she had ever eaten.
The noodles were chewy, not like the limp noodles made from mutant wheat sold in the base before.
Are these really noodles?
How could there be noodles this delicious?
Liu Piaoxu's movements became faster and faster.
Until there were almost no noodles left in the bowl, she started to slow down, wanting to savor the delicious noodles for a bit longer.
But no matter how much she slowed down, the noodles were quickly finished.
After the noodles were gone, she didn't waste any of the broth either, drinking every last drop.
After drinking the soup, she realized it tasted really good too.
Finally, the bowl was as clean as if it had just been washed.
And neither Wutong nor Wang Huifang lagged behind, three people, three empty bowls.
"Sister, it was really good to eat." If only we could eat this every day, Liu Piaoxu touched her little belly, this was the first time she had eaten to fullness, and with something so delicious.
Liu Wutong patted her little head, "Sister will work hard so you can eat till you're full like this every day."
Wang Huifang tugged at Liu Wutong.
"Wutong, we eat less and usually don't leave the base; we don't need to eat this well. Take care of yourself and remember to be safe." She doted on her younger daughter, wanting her to eat her fill, but she didn't want to exchange it for her elder daughter's life.
"As long as you're safe and sound, that's good enough."
"Don't worry, mom," Liu Wutong nodded, but her heart didn't intend to listen to her mother's words.
"Here, Piaoxu, sister has some White Rabbit Creamy Candy. It's really sweet."
"Sweet? Sweeter than mutant grass root?"