Stockpiling in the Apocalypse: Supplies Forging a Legend of Survival

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Ruyan knocked on Zhang Yuan's door.

Before the door was opened, Zhang Yuan's voice came from inside the room.

"Coming!"

After a while, the sound of footsteps grew closer, and then the door opened.

Liu Ruyan walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Do you always cook in the bedroom now?" Liu Ruyan asked Zhang Yuan.

"Yes. Let's go in. It's warm inside."

Hearing Zhang Yuan's words, Liu Ruyan followed him into the bedroom.

In the small bedroom, there was a bed, a stove, and a square table. Against the wall, quite a number of boxes were piled up.

Perhaps because there were many things piled up in the room, making the space seem even smaller. As soon as Liu Ruyan entered the room, she felt it was very warm.

Obviously, Zhang Yuan didn't have as many heating appliances as she did. There was only that one stove, but the indoor temperature didn't seem to be much different.

However, Liu Ruyan didn't ask any more questions.

Whether before or after the end of the world, Liu Ruyan had never been overly interested in prying into other people's private affairs.

On the wall beside the stove, there was an iron art three-layer storage rack, and on it were all kinds of seasonings such as oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Liu Ruyan took a closer look and found that the seasonings prepared by Zhang Yuan were really complete.

The square table in the middle of the room was also filled with all kinds of washed ingredients.

Zhang Yuan took a book and opened a page to show Liu Ruyan.

"I think this sweet and sour fish looks really good."

Zhang Yuan said as he flipped through a few pages of the book. "And this diced chicken with chili peppers also looks quite delicious.

Besides these two, we can also stir-fry a plate of shredded potatoes. What do you think?"

Listening to Zhang Yuan's words, Liu Ruyan looked at the square table again.

She saw a cleaned fish placed on a plate, and in a small basin was chicken that had been chopped into small pieces.

In another small basin, shredded potatoes that had already been cut were soaking.

The shredded potatoes were cut extremely thin, and one could tell at a glance that the knife skills were excellent.

Since the ingredients belonged to Zhang Yuan and she was going to teach him how to cook, of course, she had no objections to whatever he wanted to make.

"Then pour some oil into the pan first!" Liu Ruyan said.

Whether it was the diced chicken with chili peppers or the sweet and sour fish, they both needed to be fried in oil first before the next steps of cooking could be carried out.

Seeing that Zhang Yuan had quite a lot of shredded potatoes, Liu Ruyan simply fried some more potatoes.

The thin shredded potatoes were coated with a little flour and then fried in the hot oil pan.

After they turned crispy and golden, they were taken out, and chili powder and cumin powder were sprinkled on them, and then they could be eaten directly.

Although the ingredients used were very simple, the fragrance was extremely strong.

If it hadn't been for the black-tech range hood working all the time beside them, the smell would have drifted out and probably made many people drool with envy.

Others couldn't be made to drool with envy, but Zhang Yuan obviously liked it very much. While eating, he gave Liu Ruyan a thumbs up.

"It's so delicious!"

Looking at Zhang Yuan like this, Liu Ruyan felt like laughing and casually asked, "Why do you seem as if you've never eaten it before?"

"I just haven't eaten it before!"

"Huh?"

Liu Ruyan paused in her movements. "Never eaten it?"

However, before Zhang Yuan could answer, Liu Ruyan had already figured it out herself.

"This kind of snack indeed isn't served in high-end restaurants."

In any case, Zhang Yuan's living conditions before the end of the world should have been quite superior, so it was quite normal that he hadn't eaten this kind of snack.

She just didn't know how Zhang Yuan had ended up unable to afford food when the extreme heat first arrived.

Zhang Yuan, who was eating the fried shredded potatoes, paused slightly in his movements, and then smiled at Liu Ruyan and said, "There are so many things that I haven't eaten before. I want to learn how to make them all. I'll trouble you to teach me in the future."

Liu Ruyan, "..."

Liu Ruyan didn't think it was too troublesome.

The days were long, and teaching Zhang Yuan to cook could be regarded as a way to spice up life.

Since it was teaching, of course Zhang Yuan would do the cooking while Liu Ruyan stood by and gave instructions.

What Liu Ruyan said was similar to what was in the recipe, but it was a bit more detailed, and she would also tell Zhang Yuan when to put which seasonings.

Zhang Yuan's practical ability was quite strong, and the diced chicken with chili peppers he fried looked decent.

Both of them were standing beside the stove, and they could smell the pungent smell of chili peppers. Their noses were slightly sweaty, and their cheeks also started to turn red.

After the diced chicken with chili peppers was fried, it was put into a small stainless steel basin and placed beside the stove so that it could be kept warm and wouldn't get cold before being eaten.

Taking advantage of this time, Zhang Yuan quickly washed the pan, poured oil into it again, and started to make the sweet and sour fish.

The shredded potatoes were fried last.

Because the firepower of the stove was strong enough and the shredded potatoes were cut very thin, the speed of stir-frying and adding seasonings had to be fast enough.

Liu Ruyan stood by and let Zhang Yuan do the stir-frying while she added the seasonings.

The two of them cooperated, and two minutes later, the shredded potatoes were ready to be taken out of the pan and put on a plate.

There were three dishes in total, two meat dishes and one vegetarian dish. Zhang Yuan also steamed a pot of rice. The two of them sat beside the stove and started having dinner.

Zhang Yuan didn't pick up his chopsticks but looked at Liu Ruyan expectantly. "How's the taste?"

Hearing this, Liu Ruyan looked at Zhang Yuan and saw a hint of nervousness in his good-looking eyes.

When they were out and about, whether facing robbers blocking the road or groups of wild animals, Zhang Yuan had never shown the slightest bit of nervousness.

But now, because of a plate of dishes, Zhang Yuan was actually nervous.

Liu Ruyan's feelings were a bit complicated. She seriously tasted the diced chicken with chili peppers and finally gave a fair answer.

"The heat control wasn't very good, and the chicken isn't tender enough. But for your first time cooking, it's already great."

The same was true for the sweet and sour fish. Because the heat and the amount of seasonings used weren't controlled very accurately, it didn't taste as good as it could have.

But Liu Ruyan thought that for someone cooking for the first time, it was already quite good to be able to make it like this.

Hearing Liu Ruyan's evaluation, Zhang Yuan grinned. "If you think it's delicious, then it must be delicious. That makes me feel relieved. Let's eat quickly. It won't taste good when it gets cold."

What did he mean by saying that if she thought it was delicious, he would be relieved?

Liu Ruyan always felt that there was something strange about this sentence.

But when she looked at Zhang Yuan again, she saw that he had already started eating with his head down, so she didn't think about it anymore and started eating seriously.

Except for the rice that wasn't finished, the three dishes were eaten up completely by the two of them.

They didn't make soup, but Zhang Yuan opened a can of cola for each of them.

The cola was at room temperature and was piled up against the wall.

But now the temperature in the room was only about ten plus degrees Celsius, so the room-temperature cola felt a bit chilled when drunk.

Zhang Yuan's slender fingers gently turned the cola can.

"No wonder people say it's 'Happy Water'. Drinking it really makes you feel happy!"

Hearing this, Liu Ruyan looked at Zhang Yuan and saw that he was full of interest in his eyes.

Looking at him like this, the strange feeling that Liu Ruyan had felt before welled up in her heart again.

Liu Ruyan thought carefully before speaking, "You... seem to be very unfamiliar with these things?"