Ch24 Shen Que, Have You Already Had Your Breakfast?
"How dare you push me! How dare you push me!"
Once Zhang Lu regained her composure, she immediately grappled with Li Shanyang.
All these years, she'd followed Li Shanyang without any recognition, all for his so-called plan. Watching him marry someone else and start a family while she endured such injustice
And now this bastard dared to hit her!
How dare he?
The more Zhang Lu thought about it, the angrier she became, her blows growing heavier.
The others who hadn't received food were already seething. Seeing the violence erupt, they inexplicably joined the fray.
Li Xiaoya sensed trouble brewing and steered Liu Jie to the side to avoid collateral damage.
"Dad, Mom, stop fighting!"
Li Xiaoya dared only to plead verbally, not daring to step in to break up the fight.
Li Shanyang and Zhang Lu paid no heed to their daughter's pleas. Instead, as they fought, they somehow ended up tangled in a brawl with the others.
By the time this farce ended, everyone present had sustained injuries to varying degrees.
Then, someone in the crowd claimed they hadn't received food and blamed it all on that old woman.
If not for her stubborn obstruction and wasted time, everyone would have received their food.
Someone mentioned knowing the old woman lived in 0904, and the group immediately decided to confront her.
Li Shanyang and Zhang Lu quietly tagged along, hoping to find food amid the chaos.
After Li Shanyang and the others left, Meng Ci and Shen Que returned to the 17th floor.
"If they come bothering you again, remember to tell me," Shen Que said to Meng Ci, who was about to enter the room, his hand on the doorknob.
"It's fine. I can handle them." Meng Ci didn't want to trouble others unnecessarily.
Besides, revenge was his own business. Involving too many people wasn't good.
"Mm."
Shen Que naturally couldn't just let Meng Ci be bullied, so he didn't agree.
Just as he opened the door, Meng Ci called out to Shen Que again.
"Shen Que, did you eat breakfast this morning?"
Shen Que shook his head honestly.
"Want to grab something together?" Meng Ci suggested, waving the plastic bag in his hand.
"We just got a food delivery today."
"Sure." Shen Que agreed without hesitation.
"You go ahead inside. I'll drop off my stuff and join you."
"Alright."
Meng Ci left the door open. With residents now cooking meals at home after receiving food supplies, no one would barge in.
Back home, Meng Ci inspected the rice in the bag. It was damp, likely from the rain outside.
It didn't smell off, so he rinsed it thoroughly several times before cooking a large pot of congee.
He peeled and shredded potatoes, stir-frying them with vinegar.
He chopped cabbage too, deciding to make dry-fried cabbage.
The flour Shen Que had given him earlier remained untouched -perfect for this occasion.
He added salt to a bowl, mixing half with boiling water while stirring with chopsticks until fluffy, and the other half with cold water until fluffy.
She kneaded it by hand into dough, tore off small pieces, brushed them with oil, rolled them out, and placed them in the electric griddle to cook.
Thud.
Meng Ci heard the door close, and moments later, Shen Que's voice called out.
"Need a hand?"
Shen Que set a bag on the counter. Meng Ci didn't know what it contained, but it looked quite heavy.
"No thanks." Meng Ci worked swiftly, needing no assistance.
"And next time, don't bring me food. Who knows when this rain will stop."
"Besides, the government delivers meals now. I'm not lacking."
This guy always showed up with food, making Meng Ci feel awkward and forcing him to Invite him in for a meal.
Meng Ci couldn't help but wonder if Shen Que was just trying to score free meals but was too shy to say so outright.
Shen Que washed his hands without responding.
Meng Ci didn't want to let this matter drag on. Procrastination would only lead to bigger problems.
"If you bring food again next time, I won't open the door!"
"Here's the deal: next time you go out for food, I'll come with you."
This way, he could get out, restock his own supplies, and politely decline Shen Que's offer.
"Fine." Shen Que agreed this time.
When Shen Que offered to help again, Meng Ci saw no reason to refuse.
He let Shen Que roll out the dough and place it in the electric griddle while he started stir-frying the vegetables.
Each took their role, creating a surprisingly harmonious scene.
Meng Ci couldn't help but think how peaceful this moment would be without the apocalypse.
"Bang!"
A loud thud erupted from somewhere below, followed by shouts and cries.
Neither Meng Ci nor Shen Que were curious types, so they ignored the commotion.
"Hey, doesn't this seem odd to you?" Meng Ci suddenly asked.
Shen Que was clearly inexperienced at cooking, constantly using a rolling pin to reshape the unevenly rolled pancakes.
"What's odd?"
"The government delivering food, I mean."
Meng Ci figured since Shen Que was from this world, he might be able to explain some of its rules.
In his real life, he'd experienced torrential downpours where the government rescued stranded people and distributed food in large quantities, as if fearing people wouldn't have enough to eat.
But in this book, the government's food distribution seemed downright stingy.
Not only did rescue efforts begin only on the seventh day of the storm, but right from the start, it was the military delivering the food.
It all felt eerily off.
Meng Ci even wondered if someone else had reincarnated or, like him, been transported into the book.
Yet in the month since his arrival, he hadn't caught a single hint of such a possibility.
Shen Que offered a plausible explanation.
"The entire world is enduring this torrential downpour, with no end in sight. Securing food supplies from elsewhere would likely be extremely difficult."
"That's why they're distributing food based on population-it's both reasonable and fair."
Meng Ci reluctantly accepted Shen Que's reasoning and let the matter drop.
After dinner, Meng Ci suddenly remembered that the water treatment plant's supply system would fail tomorrow. Grateful for Shen Que's food provisions, he decided to kindly warn him.
"With this torrential rain, could the water treatment plant get flooded?"
"Then we'll be drinking rainwater -maybe even water that's soaked up stuff like corpses."
Meng Ci shuddered at the memory of the female corpse he'd seen last night.
"If the water's dirty and we get sick, getting medical care will be a huge problem."
Shen Que nodded, finding his reasoning sound.
"That is a real concern. We should stock up on water while the tap water is still available."
Shen Que agreed with Meng Ci's suggestion, wiping the water from his hands as he glanced around Meng Ci's kitchen.
"Do you have anything to store water in?"
Meng Ci nodded quickly, afraid Shen Que might offer him something else.
"Yes, yes! When I renovated the place, the workers left behind a bunch of metal drums. I haven't thrown them out yet. We can use those."
They were just paint buckets, but they'd work fine for storing tap water.
Besides, at this point, who could be picky?
"Do you have any? If not, I can give you a few!"
Shen Que mentioned he'd also renovated his home recently and had spare metal buckets.
After seeing Shen Que off, Meng Ci opened the room with the bricked-up window. He retrieved five metal buckets, washed them clean, and filled them with tap water.
Of course, this water was purely for show-Meng Ci wouldn't drink it.
In his storage space, he'd previously purchased numerous food-grade plastic barrels, each holding twenty to thirty liters.
Over the past few days, he'd gradually filled them all and stowed them away in the space.