Chu Miao managed to teleport everyone back to the rooftop of their building safely. Even though she consumed some spiritual energy, it didn’t drain her as she expected. They appeared inside the greenhouse set up by the Chu family on the roof.
Looking at the mature vegetables and some fruits like berries in the greenhouse, Chu Miao remembered that no one had been here to take care of or harvest them in a while.
She decided to remind her second Grandpa about it when she went back home.
The group took the stairs from the roof and parted ways at the entrance of the stairs leading to the nineteenth floor. Chu Miao and her brother went back home while the others headed down.
Chu Miao couldn’t wait to tell her family about what they had experienced on the mountain.
In the Feng family home, Mrs. Feng opened the cooler box her daughter had brought back and the three members of the Feng family were astonished.
Feng Tu had not expected Chu Miao to give her something that was valued more than gold.
The cooler box was huge, but it was filled to the brim with meat, vegetables, and fruits.
Chu Miao had divided it into sections with each section holding something different. One third was filled with different types of meat including pork, chicken, fish, and beef. The middle section had various vegetables such as bok choy, cabbages, tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, radish, and spinach.
The last part was full of fruit. This section was smaller than the other two but still held enough fruits to eat for a while.
These were all things that many households hadn’t seen for a while now. Since the apocalypse began, there was no new harvest of fresh vegetables or fruits. Slaughterhouses weren’t working as well and getting meat as fresh as the one in the cooler box was like a dream.
The vegetables also looked fresh as if they had just been picked. Mrs. Feng wondered whether the Chu family had a way to produce fresh vegetables and fruits at home even during the apocalypse.
"These things are too precious. We cannot just accept them." Mr. Feng muttered while looking at the cooler box with drool almost falling to the floor.
Every dish in that cooler box was quite common before. But after the apocalypse began, these had become so rare that even with gold, one might not be able to buy them.
However, Chu Miao had been too generous. Giving them so much.
"Right, right, these things are too precious to accept. Little Tu, take them back to Little Miao. We cannot accept them." Mrs. Feng agreed with her husband.
They were already indebted to Chu Miao for saving their daughter. Taking such expensive things from her seemed inappropriate when they hadn’t even repaid her kindness yet.
"That’s exactly why she asked me to bring the box home and have Mom open it. First, it was to prevent many covetous eyes from seeing what was in the box and coming to demand some.
Second, was to prevent this situation where you claim that it’s too precious and refuse to take it.
I can assure you that even if you take these things back, Miaomiao will not accept them. She’ll start preaching about how we were best friends and how I was looking down on her gift and stuff like that.
Trust me, no matter what you say, she won’t take them back. It’s better to start thinking of another way to repay her for her kindness instead." Feng Tu explained because she was close to Chu Miao and knew her character well.
She wasn’t someone who would give something to someone and turn around to take it back even if it was offered.
"You have a point. We can’t let her think that we are looking down on her gift. Who would dare to look down on meat and vegetables at this point.
Those are already more precious than gold. Right now, anyone who wants to eat veggies or fruits would have to find those dried ones that need soaking in water for hours before they can be cooked.
How can there be such fresh food? It’s our luck that someone could give us something so precious." Mrs. Feng said while caressing the vegetables in the cooler box as if they were her precious children.
The apocalypse had indeed humbled people. The things that many people took for granted before were now a luxury.
"Little Tu, you said that Miaomiao’s family will start a base of their own and invited us, right?" Mr. Feng asked while his expression turned serious.
"Yes, that’s what she told me. You also heard the announcement made by the military this morning. The bases will resume construction once the flood water dries up. Why do you ask, Dad?" Feng Tu didn’t understand why her father had asked that.
"Because we must repay the kindness Little Miao showed us today. Once it was time to build the private base she mentioned, we should join in the help with the building.
It will ease her burden and show our support too. What do you think about that?" Father Feng felt that this was killing two birds with one stone.
"Okay, Dad, we’ll do as you say. Once the flood water recedes, we can make plans to move close to where Miaomiao lives. That way, it would be easier to do things together and assist." Feng Tu agreed with her father’s arrangements without arguing further. That was exactly what she wanted anyway. So, there was no need to stand on ceremony.
"What about the guns she gave you? What are you going to do with them?" Mr. Feng, being a man, had a natural interest in guns and wanted to know his daughter’s plan.
"I’ll give one to Yanzhou with some ammunition and one each to the other male teammates. You can also take one and learn how to shoot for self-defense at least.
Mom can learn as well as we don’t know when we might need them." Feng Tu had already thought of this and was just informing her parents.