Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Mind your own business, and Zhongqiu won't pee all over the place," Tang Man snapped, glaring at him. "Go clean yourself up, then come help with dinner."

"Oh." Sheng Yao nodded, wincing as he hopped back to his room.

"Change into clean shoes and socks before you come down—don't wash them in the bathroom again!" Tang Man called after him.

Sheng Yao's face flushed slightly. "Got it!"

After feeding Zhongqiu, Tang Man began preparing their own meal.

Everyone had been busy since brunch and was surely starving. As usual, she steamed a large pot of rice and whipped up a few quick dishes: stir-fried tomatoes with scrambled eggs, stir-fried pork with fermented black beans, lettuce with oyster sauce, and a big pot of radish and pork rib soup.

This time, Sheng Yao was quick, coming down in less than five minutes.

"What should I do?" Sheng Yao rolled up his sleeves, brimming with confidence.

He might be useless in a fight, but surely he could handle kitchen work!

"Peel the radishes and cut them into rough chunks, wash and slice the tomatoes, and just rinse the lettuce," Tang Man replied, transferring the blanched ribs into the pressure cooker.

Five minutes later…

Sheng Yao stared at the unevenly peeled radish, at a loss. "Uh… what exactly are 'rough chunks'?"

Tang Man frowned at his question, glanced at the radish in his hand, and fell silent for a moment. "Just cut it however. Bigger pieces are fine—it all ends up in your stomach anyway."

In the time it took him to struggle with the radish, Tang Man had already prepped the other ingredients and started cooking.

By the time dinner was served, Sheng Yao had only managed to cut one radish and half-peel a tomato, almost cutting his finger in the process.

Tang Man couldn't help but think Sheng Yao was utterly useless—aside from being handsome and strong, he had no redeeming qualities. In this apocalypse, without someone to protect him, it was doubtful he'd survive even a week.

Despite the bandage on his finger, Sheng Yao was in high spirits. Food tasted so much better when he helped make it!

"Mom, Third Brother, dinner's ready! You can finish up later!" Sheng Yao called toward the yard. "Sis and I made today's meal!"

"Really? Son, which dish did you make?" Sheng's mother washed her hands and gracefully took her seat at the table. "This soup must be yours—Manman's knife work isn't this sloppy."

She served herself a bowl of soup first. The flavorful broth warmed her from mouth to stomach, instantly easing her day's exhaustion.

"It’s delicious! I didn't know my son was such a good cook—first time making soup and it's already this tasty…" she praised approvingly.

"Mom, actually, Sis made the soup. I only cut a radish," Sheng Yao admitted with embarrassment.

Sheng's mother: "..."

Tang Man had been cooking since she was barely tall enough to reach the stove. Years of experience had honed her skills, making even simple home-style dishes incredibly delicious.

The tomato and egg stir-fry was perfectly balanced—tangy yet sweet and appetizing, with the eggs cooked just right, light and fluffy. Sheng Yao even scooped extra sauce over his rice.

The stir-fried pork with fermented black beans was savory and rich, the marinated meat slices tender and satisfying, perfect with rice.

Even the simplest dish, lettuce with oyster sauce, was crisp and flavorful under Tang Man’s hands.

After a long day of physical labor, everyone ate heartily—even Sheng's mother, who usually ate little, went for seconds.

After dinner, Sheng's mother and Tang Teng continued curing meat in the living room while Tang Man went to the backyard to use her wood-based powers.

She pressed her hands to the ground, and the seeds planted at noon sprouted, tiny green shoots pushing through the soil.

Sheng Yao strained to see, watching the garden intently. His disappointment grew as the sprouts stalled after barely emerging; he had expected Tang Man’s power to instantly grow giant vegetables.

"Sis, why did the vegetables stop growing?"

"Out of energy," Tang Man replied, brushing dirt off her hands as she stood. "Come on, let’s sort through today’s haul in the garage."

The supplies bought the night before last were neatly stacked in the garage, already sorted by Sheng's mother. Today’s haul, however, was tossed in a pile, everything jumbled together.

The garage looked completely different from when Tang Man first saw it. Sheng Yao had moved two extra-large beds from the second-floor guest rooms, placing them side by side with a blue curtain partition.

Beside the beds stood a massive wardrobe holding clothes and shoes for all seasons—Tang Man had no idea how they’d moved such a heavy piece. Two lounge chairs and a large wool rug completed the comfortable arrangement.

They’d even set up a temporary kitchen with a table, portable stove, cutting board, and cookware.

Tang Man hesitated for a few seconds at the rug taking up a quarter of the garage. "Let’s store the rug for now. The basement gets no sunlight or ventilation—you and your mom should move back to your rooms. We can use this as a temporary shelter."

"Okay." Sheng Yao nodded. He didn’t like the basement either—the pitch-blackness was oppressive. He bent down to roll up the rug.

Tang Man pushed the shopping cart they’d found earlier and started loading it up.

"The elevator says this is B2—is there a B1? Which rooms in your house can we use for storage?" she asked while sorting.

"B1 should be a wine cellar. The elevator doesn’t go there, but there’s a small door behind the stairs. For storage... any room except our bedrooms should work." His tone was uncertain—clearly, he wasn’t familiar with every room’s purpose.

Tang Man set down the shampoo and took the elevator to the first floor.

Aside from a few bottles by the entrance, the wine cellar was just rows of empty wooden racks.

Thanks to the temperature-control system, the cellar was much cooler than outside.

Tang Man’s face brightened—this was perfect for storing supplies! The only downside was the narrow staircase entrance, which would make moving items difficult.

She then checked the rest of the villa. The first floor had a living room, bathroom, and kitchen, plus a small storage room behind the stairs.

The second floor had three guest rooms, each with its own bathroom, and a fully equipped gym—though many machines still had their packaging intact, clearly unused.

The third floor had a massive master suite, a smaller bedroom, and a study. The master suite included a dressing room, only a third filled with clothes and bags.

By the time Tang Man returned, Sheng Yao had already rolled and tied the rug.

"Let’s move all the supplies to the wine cellar," she told him.

"Got it." He nodded.

The two worked in silence. Tang Man noted that while Sheng Yao was terrible at fighting and chores, he was decent at heavy lifting.

She categorized their stockpile, arranging boxes on the wine racks and marking each box’s contents for easy access later.

The cellar needed more shelving—maybe Tang Teng could build more later, but he’d need to finish the fence and window protections first.

Or she could find wood and build shelves herself if needed.

They worked from 7:30 p.m. until 11 p.m., only completing two-thirds of the sorting.

Tang Man massaged her aching back. "That’s enough for tonight. Rest up—we’re going out to gather more supplies tomorrow."

"Won't this be enough for the four of us?" Sheng Yao felt his hands trembling slightly.

He had no idea how long these supplies would last, but the sheer volume piled together looked impressive, like it could last them ten years easy.

"It's not enough. We burned through most of the seasonings we bought earlier to marinate meat today. We'll need to grab more. Also, in the future, we’ll have to grow our own rice and wheat, so we’ll need equipment like hullers and flour mills, right? We don’t have a stable meat source yet, so we should figure out how to raise chickens, ducks, pigs, or sheep. And when the power goes out eventually, we’ll need generators and gasoline..."

Tang Man listed item after item, giving Sheng Yao a headache.

Before bed, Tang Man went to the front yard garden and used up her wood superpower. After two rounds of wood superpower nurturing that evening, the seeds planted in the front yard had sprouted tiny shoots about two centimeters long.

As she passed the kitchen, a sweet smell hit her nose, and her stomach started growling.

She paused, then changed direction and headed into the kitchen.

Inside, Sheng Yao was leaning against the counter with his left hand braced against it, while his right hand held a peeled red dragon fruit he was chowing down on. His eyes were fixed intently on the oven in front of him.

Tang Man looked surprised—Sheng Yao actually knew how to use an oven?!

"What are you baking?" she asked, stepping closer to peek inside.

Three seven-inch pizzas were arranged side by side on the middle rack of the oven, one of the supplies they’d found at the supermarket that afternoon.

These semi-prepared pizzas only required removing the packaging, placing them in the oven, and baking for five or six minutes at the set temperature—easier than making ramen. No wonder he could manage it.

Sheng Yao was so focused that he hadn’t noticed her footsteps. He jumped, almost dropping the dragon fruit, but Tang Man swiftly caught it.

"Be careful, don’t be so reckless," she said, handing the fruit back to him. "I’m hungry too, so sharing's only fair!"

"No problem," Sheng Yao nodded.

He took two more boxes of pizza from the cabinet, unwrapped them, and set them aside. The fridge in the villa was already packed full, so they hadn’t stocked much frozen food like pizza. The three in the oven and the two on the counter were all they had to their name.