During the break, Yu Xifeng handed some beef jerky to Zhang Qiu.

Zhang Qiu refused, “I’m allergic to beef.”

Yu Xifeng remembered Zhang Qiu’s exaggerated way of eating ribs and was a bit skeptical: “But didn’t you eat instant noodles with braised beef yesterday?”

“That wasn’t enough beef,” Zhang Qiu replied.

Zhang Qiu studied the map for quite a while, intermittently adjusting their route several times.

Before nightfall, they finally arrived at their destination.

This was at the speed of driving an RV; if they had walked on foot, it might have taken two days and two nights to get here.

Zhang Qiu had come to retrieve something.

Yu Xifeng asked, “Is it this spot?”

After the house collapsed, broken tiles, bricks, and stones all looked the same.

Yu Xifeng wasn’t sure how Zhang Qiu recognized it.

Zhang Qiu said, “Yeah, it’s this courtyard. There used to be a well here, there’s a slope over there, and behind the slope is an orange grove.”

Yu Xifeng looked over where Zhang Qiu pointed.

The well had collapsed, the trees were dead.

There was an empty square patch, roughly square-shaped.

You could barely make out that this used to be a courtyard house.

People who could afford a courtyard house before the apocalypse were quite particular.

Yu Xifeng stood on the ruins, watching Zhang Qiu move some stones.

Underneath the stones were dry branches, and below those was grass turf.

Under the grass turf was an iron door to a cellar.

Yu Xifeng walked over, pulled some wire from her pocket, and picked the lock open.

Zhang Qiu said, “Actually, I haven’t really gone down here much. The old man mostly went in and out alone. He told me all the medicine was stored here.”

“I was worried I couldn’t find the key, but it was under the memorial tablet. It’d have been a pain to dig it out,” Zhang Qiu said sincerely. “You really know a lot.”

No need to flatter.

This time, Zhang Qiu learned a lesson and aired the cellar out for half an hour before entering.

Yu Xifeng stayed above, worried about the RV.

Zhang Qiu started carrying things out.

First came the traditional Chinese medicine.

There was even ginseng.

No wonder it was the old man Cai’s entire stash.

Next were Western medicines.

Yu Xifeng glanced over and saw that the medicines Zhang Qiu listed yesterday were basically all here.

Many were prescription drugs; Yu Xifeng wondered how the old man had gotten the credentials to buy them.

She even saw some Valium.

Just by the quantity of medicine, it was almost on par with Yu Xifeng’s own stockpile.

Some of the drugs might even be rarer than Yu Xifeng’s stash.

Yu Xifeng asked, “You’re loading all of these onto the RV? No backup stash?”

Zhang Qiu said, “I left about a fifth behind. If the old man shows up, he can use what’s left. He’s healthier than me and won’t need this much anyway.”

Yu Xifeng nodded, “True, if you could escape from the underground shelter, he probably can too.”

All the medicine went into the rear compartment of the RV — under Zhang Qiu’s bed.

This space originally held fragile parts for the RV, but Yu Xifeng rearranged them to make room for the medicine.

She said, “I robbed all these medicines from you, and you don’t even have a place to cry.”

No wonder He Yuan was coveting this.

Hearing before that the old man bought a lot of medicine didn’t impress Yu Xifeng, but seeing it now made her want to grab it herself.

“Did you take out the ones you use regularly?”

“Yes. The rest is for you. If there’s a chance, trade for other supplies — gasoline or whatever — you handle it.”

Yu Xifeng paused, then said, “With you like this, if I sold you, you’d still have to help me count the money.”

There was digging, hauling, and loading.

By the time they finished, it was past dinner time.

Outside was pitch black.

Inside the RV, a warm light glowed like a small bean.

Yu Xifeng studied the control panel for a while, then set the glass’s transparency to the lowest level.

From outside, the RV wasn’t so conspicuous.

Otherwise, it would be like a target.

Zhang Qiu cooked mushroom and minced meat noodles, roughly snack time.

While Zhang Qiu was busy, Yu Xifeng felt a bit regretful.

She wanted to eat instant noodles.

But when Zhang Qiu brought over the noodles, Yu Xifeng quickly forgot about the instant noodles.

The noodles were good.

All the few meat strips ended up in Yu Xifeng’s bowl.

After a while, Yu Xifeng drank the calming soup Zhang Qiu made.

It didn’t taste good, but not bad either — a bit fishy and a bit sweet.

Yu Xifeng asked Zhang Qiu for the recipe.

Zhang Qiu smiled, “You probably don’t want to know.”

Still, Zhang Qiu wrote down the list for Yu Xifeng.

The names of the herbs sounded poetic, but Yu Xifeng couldn’t understand them and gave up.

After eating, she felt a bit sleepy.

Zhang Qiu suggested Yu Xifeng sleep upstairs.

Yu Xifeng nodded, and as she went upstairs, she glanced back at Zhang Qiu, who was kneading dough on the cutting board.

He was preparing to make dumplings.

Vegetable and egg filling — probably because the hens laid two eggs daily, and the vegetables kept growing in the basin.

Zhang Qiu was generous with the filling.

Yu Xifeng thought about when she had started trusting the food Zhang Qiu gave her this much.

Even the calming soup with sedative effects, she drank it without hesitation.

Zhang Qiu understood pharmacology.

She even had some knock-out medicine that Zhang Qiu prepared.

This thought circled in Yu Xifeng’s mind, waking her up a little.

Then she saw Zhang Qiu, like a thief, picking out the leftover meat strips from the mushroom minced meat noodles and mixing them into the dumpling filling.

“…”

No words, just a lot to say.

Going upstairs, Yu Xifeng accidentally stepped on Little Orange’s tail.

Little Orange let out a sharp yowl but didn’t run away — instead, it barked at Yu Xifeng.

Yu Xifeng: “…”

Why don’t you learn from Zhang Qiu?

All you do is ask me for canned food.

Yu Xifeng gave Little Orange a can, labeled salmon — not sure if it was real or not.

That night, Yu Xifeng set an alarm and switched shifts with Zhang Qiu when the time came.

Because of the abundant herbs, the calming soup’s recipe had been modified.

Its effect was even better than before.

When Yu Xifeng woke up, her headache was completely gone.

Lifting 300 pounds of stone in the space was no problem.

Downstairs was pitch black; Zhang Qiu sat alone on the sofa, lost in thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Yu Xifeng turned on the light,

pulled out a drawer from under the sofa, grabbed a can of cola, opened it, and drank.

Zhang Qiu shook his head and changed the subject: “Weren’t you into collecting antiques before? There’s a jade mine near my hometown. It used to produce jade. Want to check it out?”

A jade mine — Yu Xifeng recalled she had collected quite a few jade and gemstones in her space.

“You never know until you try,” she said. “Alright, go get some sleep. I’ll take over the late shift. Want some drink?”

Zhang Qiu shook his head, “You drink. I just remembered, my village isn’t the only one with cellars. Could there still be survivors?”

Yu Xifeng frowned, “We’ll leave after checking out the jade mine tomorrow.”

Running into survivors wouldn’t be good news for Yu Xifeng.

The RV was too conspicuous.

At dawn, Yu Xifeng put the dumplings Zhang Qiu made into boiling water.

She still knew how to cook dumplings.

Add water, cook until they float — then they’re done and ready to eat.