Chapter 106: Mushroom and Potato Stew with Scallions

These past two days, Xiao Lingye had been waiting for Uncle Chen to bring back the two girls, Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao.

At first, he hadn’t thought it would be a particularly difficult task.

After all, what was the Shi family worth anyway?

But he waited and waited—Uncle Chen didn’t come back. Waited some more—still no sign of Uncle Chen.

Xiao Lingye was gradually losing patience.

Just then, a member of the search and rescue team came running over to report that Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao were still at the Shi family’s place.

But Uncle Chen and his men had vanished without a trace.

Xiao Lingye flew into a rage.

“Alive or dead, I want to see them! Where did they go? They can’t just disappear into thin air!”

He’d waited all these days, and this was the news he got in return?

Song Yucheng, his head wrapped in bandages, spoke weakly,

“Uncle Chen and the others were probably eaten by mutant beasts.”

“There was nothing anyone could do.”

As soon as he said this, Xiao Lingye’s anger was slowly tamped down.

It seemed like this was the only explanation that made sense for where Uncle Chen and his men had gone.

Otherwise, how could they have disappeared without a word, as if into thin air?

If they weren’t eaten by mutant beasts, what, did the Shi family kill them to silence them?

No one questioned Uncle Chen and his group’s whereabouts any further.

Even Xiao Lingye cursed his own bad luck.

He’d sent out ten able-bodied men, and now they’d all been eaten by mutant beasts.

The worst part was, not only had he lost ten fighters, but he still hadn’t managed to bring back Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao.

It was a total loss.

“So what are those mercenaries even good for?”

Someone nearby grumbled,

“The city spent so many points to hire them, but there are still mutant beasts roaming around.”

“Those mercenaries are less useful than we are.”

“You probably don’t know this, but those mercenaries spend all day chasing women. They don’t care about protecting the city at all.”

The survivor who said this was clearly hinting at the mercenaries keeping the Shi family as their mistresses.

They didn’t mention how many survivors had died outside the city before Yi Zhe’s mercenary group arrived.

Nor did they mention how, after Yi Zhe’s group came, the death rate among survivors outside the city dropped dramatically.

All they did was criticize the mercenaries.

Complaining that the mercenaries were useless, that all they did was chase women, and that they did nothing to protect the survivors outside the city.

Xiao Lingye snapped impatiently, “Enough, all of you, shut up.”

“The Chen family’s people are dead, so be it. They were useless anyway, nothing to do with us.”

In this wasteland, Xiao Lingye figured that just giving the Chen family a place to stay was more than enough—they should be grateful.

There was no such thing as workplace injury or compensation.

Xiao Lingye didn’t feel he owed the Chen family or the families of the other men any explanation.

“As for the women they left behind, divide them up as you see fit.”

He waved his hand dismissively and added,

“Send more men to bring back Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao. The higher-ups are getting impatient.”

As for Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao, Xiao Lingye didn’t have much of an impression of them. After all, everyone in the wasteland looked dusty and gray.

But he’d talked up Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao as if they were unparalleled beauties.

Now, the city’s management was a little interested in these two girls.

“The higher-ups want us to send them in as soon as possible.”

“Here’s the deal: we can exchange Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao for twenty spots to live inside the city. This time, I’ll give out two spots.”

“Whoever brings those two girls back, safe and sound, gets those two spots.”

Xiao Lingye’s eyes, fierce and irritable, swept over his subordinates.

He didn’t care where Song Yucheng’s head injury had come from.

In the wasteland, everyone got hurt—it was nothing unusual.

If you survived your wounds, you were still a man.

Xiao Lingye’s words set everyone abuzz.

Several men volunteered to go to the Shi family’s place and snatch Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao.

Song Yucheng also said he could take a few men along.

Xiao Lingye didn’t object, just nodded, then put his arm around the woman beside him and went back to his tent.

In their group, living conditions were much better than those under the bridge.

The survivors under the bridge had only tarps for shelter.

But in Xiao Lingye’s muscle-bound crew, everyone had their own tent.

No one noticed when Song Yucheng turned back and exchanged a triumphant look with a member of the search and rescue team.

The truth was, aside from being big, muscular, hot-tempered, and reckless, Xiao Lingye was actually pretty dumb.

He never realized he was being used by Song Yucheng.

Meanwhile, at the Shi family’s place, everyone could smell a fresh, delicious aroma from afar.

Pang Zhenggong, who had just resolved to lose weight, had finished helping Ah Hong build the water storage tank.

As he came down from the public toilet, he couldn’t help but salivate.

Especially when he saw Shi Yaoyao holding a bunch of fresh green scallions.

Shi Yaoyao bent down, scooped a ladle of water from the tank, and poured it into a clean basin.

Inside the basin was a big bunch of green scallions.

Shi Yaoyao washed the scallions, lined them up neatly, and chopped them into little pieces on a cutting board.

Pang Zhenggong swallowed hard.

He grinned and walked over. “Yaoyao, you already managed to grow these scallions?”

It hadn’t been many days since Liang Yimo had brought over those two boxes of scallions.

Shi Yaoyao, clumsily wielding a Swiss Army knife, answered softly and slowly,

“Scallions grow fast.”

Before, they’d used the sharp knife that killed Chen Huaihai to cut mushrooms and potatoes.

Ah Hong sharpened that knife every day until it was razor-sharp.

Shi Yuebai was worried Shi Yaoyao would cut herself using such a sharp knife, so she had her use the Swiss Army knife Liang Yimo had found in her backpack.

The adults all had their own work to do.

Now, picking vegetables, starting the fire, and cooking were left to Shi Yaoyao and Xiao Jiao.

Of course, taking care of Shi Xiangrui was also their responsibility.

Everyone was busy as could be, and after Pang Zhenggong woke up, he too found himself doing far more than a wounded man should.

Luckily, Shi Yaoyao learned quickly, and cooking for everyone wasn’t hard for her.

Just washing vegetables, cleaning pots, prepping ingredients, boiling water.

Then tossing everything into the pot to cook together.

It sounded like a lot, but really, there were only three ingredients: potatoes, mushrooms, and scallions.

Everyone had already been satisfied with mushroom and potato stew.

But that was before they added scallions.

Once the scallions were chopped, the aroma was irresistible.

Before long, Nong Yasi, Ah Hong, Pang Ziyuan, Second Sister-in-law Shi, and others all gathered around.

Guai Guai hugged a set of disposable bowls and chopsticks, squatting nearby.

Everyone stared as Shi Yaoyao sprinkled a big handful of chopped scallions into the mushroom and potato stew.

Ah, it smelled amazing.

---

Do you have any tips for elementary school study methods? I’d like to do some research."