Reborn in the end of the world, I scavenged in the empty city and bought for free

The matter of [Fairy Lake] has finally come to an end. As soon as I returned to the Cai family, the two elders of the Cai family immediately came to me and asked about the situation. They finally breathed a sigh of relief after knowing that everyone was fine.

Cai's mother pressed her fingers on her chest and took a deep breath. After worrying for an entire afternoon, she finally found out that the person was alright. "Your father and I wanted to go look for you, but we were stopped at the intersection. All the roads leading to Fairy Lake were blocked, so we had to go back home and wait for news. You don't know how worried your father and I were about you."

Originally, in the afternoon, seeing that the weather was good, Cai's mother and Cai's father went to the yard to separate the firewood to be burned in the next few days, and then moved the charcoal in the cellar to the kitchen to prepare to raise the temperature in the house in the next two days. Unexpectedly, the neighbor who came back from outside passed by their house and mentioned the road closure outside.

The neighbor had just returned from the field. His field was only six or seven hundred meters away from the Fairy Lake, so when the incident happened at the Fairy Lake, the man rushed to the shore. Later, because there were too many people on the shore, he didn't see the mutant black fish for a long time. The man thought of the porridge cooking in the kitchen at home, so he planned to go back. Unexpectedly, he found that the way home was blocked as soon as he left, and only entry was allowed but not exit, as if they didn't want people to get close to the lake.

The Cai family's two elders knew about this and kept calling Cai Min, but Cai Min's phone always showed no one answering the call. Later, they called their son-in-law, but neither of the young couple answered the phone. This made the two elders very anxious, and finally they could only call their youngest son who was currently performing duties in the security team.

"I just heard about the Fairy Lake incident, but our team was not sent there this time. Let me ask other teams about the situation later. Don't worry too much for now. My sister and brother-in-law are not impulsive people. Besides, didn't you say they were going there with guests? They must have known their limits. No matter what, they would not let the guests take risks with them. I think they were stopped at the intersection."

Cai Xing kept comforting the two elders on the phone, fearing that they would worry too much and affect their health.

Fortunately, the group finally returned home before dark, and the two old people finally put their minds at ease. However, they were still saddened when they heard Cai Min recount what happened at Fairy Lake.

"The lake seemed fine in the past two years, and we haven't seen any mutant fish. But now that you mention it, I remember that there used to be some silver carp and black carp in the lake, but I haven't seen any recently. Even if someone goes fishing, what they catch are black carp. It seems that these black carp have eaten up all the other fish in the lake." There was still some fear in Cai's mother's tone, because just in July and August last year, she followed a few old sisters who she had a good relationship with to the lake to wash clothes. At that time, she seemed to have seen so many black carps in the lake, and even when the neighbors caught a few black carps and sent them to her family, they ate them with gusto. But since she learned that the few people who disappeared by the lake every year were most likely buried in the stomachs of fish, she felt a blockage in her throat and didn't even dare to think about it anymore.

Perhaps seeing that Cai's mother looked unhappy, Cai Min quickly comforted her: "Mom, don't think too much. The snakehead fish we ate before are different from the ones that attacked people today, so they should not be the same species."

In fact, she herself also felt uncomfortable. Although the fins of the black fish that attacked people today were different from those of other black fish, the fins of the mutant black fish that attacked people were sharper, like a knife, and the scales covering its body were also extremely hard, but the black fish that Yan Fan had caught from the ice cave before obviously did not have those strange black scales.

"Yes, Auntie, it's definitely not the same species. We brought back a few fish. Take a look." Liao Yunyun said as she handed over the black fish she had been holding in her hand.

"Oh, don't let me look at it. I feel sick." Cai's mother suddenly saw the black fish rolling its eyes and could not help but shout out. Now she felt dizzy just looking at the fish.

Liao Yunyun didn't expect Cai's mother to react so strongly. She immediately took the black fish back with some embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Auntie. I was too anxious, but there's really no problem with this fish."

Cai Min also pulled Cai's mother and said angrily and amusedly: "Mom, really, although they are from the same lake, you can see that the fish haven't mutated, they are just a little bigger, and they are the same as the ones we ate before."

"Look at the way you're making a fuss. You're making the children feel embarrassed." Cai's father was worried that other people might have resentment so he pretended to blame Cai's mother. However, this did make Cai's mother realize that she had overreacted, so she put on an apologetic smile on her face.

"Mom, think about it this way. Aren't the wild game we usually eat also in the mountains and in the same forest as those mutant man-eating beasts? The same goes for fish. There are mutant man-eating snakehead fish, but there are also normal snakehead fish. We can't kill them all just because there are man-eating creatures in the lake. Besides, the environment is not good now, and it's really hard to find fresh fish to eat."

Cai Min's mother was stunned by what she said. It seemed that she felt less disgusted with the black fish. She was not so disgusted when she saw Liao Yunyun holding the black fish. She even said, "Give me the fish. I'll take it to the kitchen. If you want to eat it tonight, I'll prepare it. How about making a braised fish?"

Seeing that Cai's mother was completely fine, the others breathed a sigh of relief. However, Liao Yunyun did not hand over the black fish immediately. Instead, she took the initiative to walk towards the kitchen: "Auntie, we are not in a hurry to eat this fish. We want to make some barbecue tonight. I'll put it in the kitchen first. Anyway, it won't go bad in this weather."

In addition to Liao Yunyun, Cai's mother also saw Yan Fan and Xiao Li holding two fish each. She couldn't help but asked in surprise, "How many did you bring back?"

Cai's mother had started preparing dinner before they left, and it was now kept warm on the kitchen stove. It was rare for so many people to come to the house, so Cai's father specially took out the large round table that had not been used for a long time. It was no problem for a dozen people to sit at the table.

Watching Mother Cai continuously serving dishes, even Cai Min couldn't help but look up at Father Cai sitting opposite her when the sixth dish came. "Dad, how many dishes did Mom prepare? Why do I feel like she keeps serving one dish after another?"

Father Cai's mood was very up and down today. He was happy to welcome the guests at the beginning, then nervous and worried after the "Fairy Lake Girl" incident, and then happy to know that they returned safely. Therefore, he took out the rice wine he bought at the market and poured a glass for everyone before saying, "Your mother is very happy that Xiaowan can come, so she started buying delicious dishes and put them in the cellar a few days ago, and she insisted on showing off her cooking skills for everyone to taste today."

"Then I'm in time, right? I can get this feast for free, right?" Cai Min couldn't help but joked.

"What are you in a hurry for? This is made for you. Don't you have a share?" Cai's mother held the dish in her hand and glanced at her daughter with a smile.

"Mom, we don't usually eat that well. Even when Cai Xing came back, we only had three dishes and a soup. Today is a good day." Cai Min saw that her mother was in a good mood and started joking with her.

Cai's mother was not angry at all. She still had a smile on her face. "You are so disrespectful. After dinner, take the lunch box from the kitchen to Cai Xing. He has to go on a mission today and won't be able to come back."

Today is the weekend. According to usual circumstances, Cai Xing should be able to take a day off and go home to rest. Although it is the end of the world, most work is still based on the pre-apocalyptic work system. In most cases, it is five days on and two days off, or four days off a month. Cai Xing belongs to the security team. As long as there is no special mission, they basically maintain a weekend off system. However, probably affected by the [Fairy Lake] incident, Cai Xing called before dinner to inform that he had missions in the next two days and would not go home.

Since Cai Xing joined the security team, there have been countless special missions like this, and everyone has gotten used to it, so no one is too worried about Cai Xing. Besides, the security team's office building is only a 40-minute drive away. Cai's mother feels sorry for her younger son not eating well in the dormitory, so she occasionally asks Cai's father or Cai Min to deliver meals.

After all the dishes were served on the table, Cai Min counted: "One, two, three... Mom, you made nine dishes and one soup. They are better than what we had on New Year's Eve. This is really a New Year's Day." Cai Min looked at her mother in astonishment. She never expected that her mother had prepared so many dishes in just one afternoon, and there were some hard dishes.

"I originally wanted to make six dishes, but your mother added two more cold dishes and insisted on making it ten dishes, saying it was perfect."

This time, Cai's mother really put a lot of effort into preparing the dishes for tonight. Although there are many people today, the ten dishes are indeed comparable to the New Year's Eve dinner.

Xiaoli's eyes widened as she began to name the dishes: "Eggplant and tofu, stuffed green peppers, minced meat and corn, pearl meatballs, braised chicken, carrot soup, stir-fried cabbage, this is cold tiger vegetables, and this is cold noodles? The last one is fried steamed buns. There are really ten dishes. Isn't this too rich?"

"Auntie, you don't have to work so hard. We are not picky about food. You can just make some home-cooked meals." Gu Tongwan looked at Cai's mother a little embarrassed. Although they were guests, they were invited by Cai Min to come and play, and they were staying and eating at someone else's house. They originally wanted to keep everything simple, but they didn't expect the Cai family to be so enthusiastic.

Cai's mother happily began to serve food to everyone. "Our family hasn't been so lively for many years, and you are all Cai Min's friends, especially Xiao Gu. I have heard Cai Min talk about you many times, and I have long wanted to meet you. Cai Min said that you are very beautiful, and now it is really better to see in person than to hear a hundred times. Such a pretty girl, do you have a boyfriend?"

When Cai Min heard this, she winked at Xu Xuesong, but Xu Xuesong didn't react. Cai's mother seemed to be interested and asked, "How old is Xiao Gu this year? I think he's in his early twenties?"

Gu Tongwan couldn't not answer, so he could only answer a little awkwardly: "I will be twenty-five after July."

"Twenty-five? Twenty-five means he's one year older than our Cai Xing. Forget about Cai Xing, but I remember there's a good-looking guy named A Yuan on their team. How about..."

Seeing that Cai's mother was getting more and more excited, Cai Min immediately interrupted her mother and said, "Mom, stop talking. Aren't we going to eat now? Why are you talking about this now? Can we eat first?"

Cai's mother wanted to say something more to her son, but she saw Chen Yanxi beside Gu Tongwan considerately pouring the wine in her glass into his own. "If you drink too much rice wine, it will have a strong aftereffect. You were blown by the lake this afternoon, so you should be a little more careful."

The corners of Liao Yunyun's mouth twitched uncontrollably, and then she teased, "Oh, you're showing off your affection to my face. You're just feeding me dog food every day and bullying me because I'm alone."

Cai Min vaguely remembered that Gu Tongwan had mentioned before that she was single, but that was several months ago. And when she was invited to play this time, she said that she might bring two boys. In the afternoon, she saw the two of them sticking together no matter where they were. Anyone who saw them looked like a couple. She originally wanted to ask Liao Yunyun quietly, but she forgot about it after the mutant black fish appeared in Fairy Lake in the afternoon. Now that she realized it, she immediately felt extremely embarrassed.

Cai Min was embarrassed, and Cai's mother was even more confused. She subconsciously asked, "Is this Xiao Gu's boyfriend?"

Originally, six people were going to come to the house this time. Before that, Cai Min only said that they were all friends brought by Gu Tongwan, so no one thought too much about it at the time. Firstly, Yan Fan looked like a young boy of eighteen or nineteen years old, and secondly, Chen Yanxi gave people a rather cold and difficult to approach feeling, so no one would think of either of them as her boyfriend.

Chen Yanxi's actions just now clearly made it an official announcement, and he was showing his affection to everyone openly.

I didn’t think Chen Yanxi was such a person before. How could this man be so sinister? He even declared his identity at the dinner table. He was really afraid that Cai’s mother would introduce other men to Wanwan.

Liao Yunyun kept complaining in her heart, while being curious about how Gu Tongwan would respond.

Gu Tongwan kicked Chen Yanxi lightly with her foot. It was obvious that she did not expect Chen Yanxi to make a fuss with Cai's mother.

The latter still had a faint smile on his face, as if he didn't feel anything was wrong with his actions just now.

Gu Tongwan could only sigh silently in his heart, but the next moment he received a message from Liao Yunyun.

Liao Yunyun [Don't underestimate a man's jealousy. I think Chen Yanxi is most likely jealous. Sister, you are amazing. You can make Chen Yanxi, who is so scheming, jealous. It seems that he is really afraid that you will be seduced by another man.]

Seeing that everyone at the dinner table was waiting for his answer, Chen Yanxi, one of the parties involved, still lowered his eyes and picked up the cup to drink rice wine slowly. Gu Tongwan fortunately admitted frankly: "The two of us are indeed dating."