After dinner, they didn’t dare to throw away the hot pot broth and planned to cook noodles in it tomorrow.

In these special times, eating something flavorful was already good enough—no one cared about nitrite levels exceeding limits.

The fatty pork had already been rendered into oil, and the crispy pork cracklings were fried to a golden crisp, weighing a full five to six jin (about 2.5–3 kg), enough to last quite a while.

Zheng Weili took out the remaining dozens of jin of meat and asked, “Aning, how much salt should we sprinkle on this?”

There wasn’t much salt left. They had to use it sparingly to barely last a year. Sprinkling two or three jin at once would be a waste, but if too little was used, the meat would spoil easily.

They were lucky to get fresh pork this time; otherwise, in the apocalypse, they wouldn’t even be able to smell fresh meat. But they couldn’t just eat recklessly—they had to plan for life ahead.

Seeing that all three wanted to stockpile the meat, Jiang Ning finally spoke, “The landlord’s car fridge is pretty big. I’ll go back later to render the fatty pork oil and probably can barely squeeze yours in too.”

She wanted to borrow a device from her spatial storage to look old and lend it to them, but their solar chargers couldn’t handle the power.

Zhang Chao and the others were happy and wanted to help cut the fatty pork and render the oil.

In front of her, they all seemed like clueless city folk, yet they all wanted to help so she wouldn’t get tired of them someday.

Jiang Ning didn’t dare let them help, “No need, I’ll do it myself. You all stink, better wash up early and rest.”

Back home, she tossed the dozens of jin of meat into her spatial storage, took out the multifunctional hot tub filled with hot water, plugged in the solar power box, turned on some soothing music, and closed her eyes to rest.

Kele dragged a basin full of bones and lay next to her, gnawing happily.

Perhaps sensing approval from the other bipeds, it was especially excited, crunching the bones loudly.

Guarding food was a dog’s nature, but Kele liked this owner and specially left half a basin of bones for Jiang Ning. “Woof!”

Jiang Ning really appreciated it. “You eat yourself.”

She tossed a ham sausage over.

The next day, she woke naturally. 1801 went with Zhang Chao and Lu Yu to the department store to trade broken rice. The task was simple, so they didn’t bother waking Jiang Ning.

That morning, after enjoying delicious fried dumplings with Kele, Jiang Ning rinsed her mouth and even brushed the dog’s teeth, then carried the pig’s offal to 1803.

They brought over stools and started processing the pig’s entrails with Zheng Weili.

Doudou ran over to join, “Sister, I’ll help you.”

Jiang Ning was worried she’d get her hands dirty. “You go play with Kele.”

Once Kele arrived, the atmosphere on the 18th floor became livelier. Any slightest noise downstairs wouldn’t escape its ears.

What reassured Jiang Ning more was that Kele was a dog with principles.

Doudou sneakily stuffed some pork cracklings into the dog’s mouth. The dog drooled greedily but refused to eat it, staring at her with watery eyes. “Whimper.”

Jiang Ning teased, “It’s poisonous!”

Kele got scared and dropped the cracklings from its mouth.

Jiang Ning laughed, “Not poisonous, just kidding. Eat up.”

The dog was annoyed but sniffed cautiously before starting to eat.

Zheng Weili laughed so hard she almost hurt her stomach. “Kele’s really smart. If you don’t nod, it can resist temptation.”

This caution came from harsh life experience. Stray dogs not only had to face being driven away by humans and captured by urban management, but also stolen by dog thieves using all sorts of tricks.

If it didn’t have some skill, it wouldn’t have survived so many times.

But Kele was indeed clever—much smarter than before. It could fully understand human speech and even started disciplining others for her.

Big Gray and Little White were low IQ dogs, eating and pooping a lot, causing Jiang Ning headaches.

Kele was the boss dog. When it bit one, it would pin them down with its paws and rub hard: “You’ll pee and poop everywhere, huh?”

Then it’d grab them by the neck and drag them to the toilet.

“Go poop, right in front of me!”

Maybe because animals are easier to communicate with, after a few harsh lessons from Kele, Big Gray and Little White really learned their lesson.

When she got up today, she found them using the toilet.

There were also ten rabbits, but Kele had ways to handle them too.

Whoever pooped or peed anywhere, Kele would beat up Big Gray and Little White, baring its teeth and fiercely warning them: “Care or not? If not, I’ll feast on you!”

Kele beat the rabbits, rabbits beat the kits—there was nothing they couldn’t learn.

Awesome dog—instantly became the leader with twelve underlings.

1801 and the others came back around noon. Jiang Ning and Zheng Weili had already cleaned the pig’s entrails: intestines, liver, and some lean meat cut with seasoning to marinate as mixed pork offal. The fatty intestines were stewed and cut into pieces.

She had today’s meals planned clearly:

Lunch: each person a bowl of mixed pork offal soup; stir-fried sour cabbage with fatty intestines.

Dinner: onion-fried pig heart; peppery pig stomach stew.

The leftovers would be saved for tomorrow.

The greens and onions were Jiang Ning’s; rice, noodles, oil, and firewood came from 1803.

1801 was also generous, always bringing plenty of food during meals, though everyone knew the reality.

They weren’t people to fuss over every little thing, so they could work well together.

Zhang Chao ate contentedly, “Aning, you might as well cook from now on. When we cook, it’s just wasting food.”

Jiang Ning firmly refused, “No way, I’m not the housemaid. One or two meals now and then is fine.”

“Why did you come back so late after trading?” Zheng Weili asked worriedly. “Aning and I even thought something happened to you.”

“Trading went smoothly. Since it was still early, we went to nearby office buildings but found nothing.”

Zhang Chao shared the day’s news, “The rice at the department store went up in price again and the quantity is getting smaller. The sharp-tongued monkey gang we trade with didn’t take advantage of the situation or follow us. They still have some sense of decency.”

“Rice at 2,000 yuan per jin, ordinary people can’t afford it. How much can they sell in a day while risking being caught? We’re their major customers.”

Jiang Ning inspected what they brought back today; quality was about the same as yesterday.

None of them had much experience. “Aning, how do we eat this rice?”

Since it was salvaged from underwater, who dared eat it without worry? They couldn’t decide immediately.

“Seal it well in bags. If we really run out of food later, take it out to eat. Also watch for anyone having problems eating this rice. If none, we can mix some into meals occasionally.”

Lu Yu nodded appreciatively, “Aning, you really think things through.”

“By the way, the sharp-tongued monkey gang doesn’t just sell food. They also trade for things like tea, cigarettes, alcohol, or medicine.”

They had collected quite a bit, especially medicine. Hospitals ran out of drugs; even if available, sold by the pill, and prices were sky-high.

Holding important supplies gave them more options, which made Lu Yu and the others relieved. “How about we trade for some good rice?”

Jiang Ning disagreed, “We’re already spending 500,000 yuan, enough to attract attention. Don’t want to bring trouble on ourselves. Food is scarce, but medicine will be even scarcer. We can trade for more food later—no need to rush.”

After eating, Jiang Ning left with 1801.

1801 asked, “Can we train the dog today?”

It seemed he was really eager to start training.

Jiang Ning had no objections. She squatted down and spoke to the dog, “Kele, will this big brother take you to train every day from now on?”

The dog narrowed its eyes, full of caution and resistance, stepping back two paces in displeasure.

Like kings avoiding each other, 1801’s aura was something the dog really didn’t like.