The Zuo Family's Reach Is Seriously Limited

The New Year's Eve dinner was indeed lavish, but Ming Jiu and Ming Rong really did not eat much.

They ate from eight to ten, and Ming Rong started making dumplings. The dishes covering the table had barely been touched.

But it was not a big problem. Ming Jiu took out disposable food containers of all sizes and carefully packed up every dish. There was simply no room in the refrigerator.

Ming Jiu went up to the attic and brought down an empty storage bin. She put the leftovers inside and carried it straight to the rooftop.

A completely natural freezer. Truly worth having.

None of this food would go to waste. Once she drank the Gene Optimization Potion in two days, she would give Ming Rong a little shock at just how much a human-shaped rice bucket could eat.

Ming Jiu felt that her clever little sister had definitely realized something. Ming Rong made dumplings in bulk, preparing four kinds of filling alone—vegetarian three-delicacy, shrimp three-delicacy, celery and pork, and pure beef.

The Spring Festival Gala was nearly over, yet they were still not done wrapping dumplings. There was no room in the refrigerator, so they carried them directly to the rooftop to freeze.

As she ate steaming-hot dumplings, Ming Jiu had expected her sister to ask something, but Ming Rong did not ask a single question.

Since she did not ask, Ming Jiu did not intend to tell her yet either. Saying it would only create unnecessary anxiety.

A string of message notifications rang out. Ming Jiu picked up her phone and opened WeChat to check.

They were all New Year's greetings—from former coworkers, university classmates, Sister Bai, the large owners' group and neighborhood grid group for Dragonview Court... as well as Zuo Junhao. Finally, there was Zuo Zhenrong's request to add her as a contact.

Her coworkers and university classmates... Ming Jiu had actually always gotten along quite well with them. Even though she had not stayed in City B after graduation, they had remained in frequent contact, until her mother and father were suddenly killed.

But for the current Ming Jiu, seven years had already passed—seven years in an apocalypse filled with repeated trials of survival. Her memories of these people had long since become blurred.

Ming Jiu replied to the important messages, then opened the owners' group and neighborhood grid group for a look, paying particular attention to the group members.

[Sis System, are there any members of the Chu Family in the group?]

The next second, two red circles appeared on the owners' group member list on her phone.

[The first is Chu Lanning. The second is Chu Jingning.]

Chu Lanning's profile picture was blank, while Chu Jingning's was a gold ingot. Ming Jiu exited the member list and scrolled up through the group chat. Neither of the Chu siblings had said anything.

The neighborhood grid group was the same.

In the grid group, Ming Jiu found Aunt Zhang, whom she had already greeted, the old lady from 2401 downstairs, and four IDs with abstract profile pictures marked 2503.

They were probably young office workers sharing an apartment.

Nothing seemed unusual. Ming Jiu scrolled to Zuo Junhao's message.

Zuo Junhao's WeChat had a distinctly businesslike style. His nickname was simply "Zuo," and his profile picture showed a seaside view.

Besides the New Year's greeting, there was a more casual question.

[How have you been lately? Is Xiao Rong doing well?]

Ming Jiu did not reply. Instead, she opened Zuo Zhenrong's friend request. It had a similar style to Zuo Junhao's: his nickname was his full name, and his profile picture was a landscape painting.

Ming Jiu neither accepted the request nor replied to Zuo Junhao's message.

If she wanted to know how the Zuo Family was doing, she could just ask the system. There was no need to probe for information on WeChat.

Zuo Junhao's greeting was fairly normal, but Zuo Zhenrong's friend request looked more and more like it came with bad intentions.

Could it be that they were out of money and wanted to get their hands on the old man's inheritance?

Bad luck!

She did not want to deal with the Zuo Family, but the Zuo Family refused to leave her alone.

That bastard Zuo Junhao directly pulled Ming Jiu into the family group chat.

[One Big Happy Family].

Ming Jiu nearly laughed at the group name.

Honestly, if the sketches and crosstalk on the Spring Festival Gala had been this entertaining, she definitely would not have been bored enough to look at her phone.

[Zuo Zhenrong: How have you been lately? Is Xiao Rong doing well?]

[Waiting for Flowers to Bloom: You're being far too polite, child. Why didn't you come home for the New Year? It would have been livelier at home.]—This was Madam Zuo.

To this day, Ming Jiu did not know her surname or given name.

[Zuo: You haven't replied at all. Are you very busy? Did you run into any difficulties?]

Ming Jiu set her phone aside, finished her last dumpling, sent Ming Rong to the sofa, then went into the kitchen to put the used pots, bowls, and utensils into the dishwasher.

Nearly half an hour later, she finally appeared in the group chat.

[Xiao Rong and I are both doing well. We've been busy moving these past few days and haven't had time to celebrate the New Year.]

[Zuo Zhenrong: That's good, then. If anything happens, tell the family.]

[Waiting for Flowers to Bloom: Have you received everything the old man left you? Did it go smoothly? If there's anything you don't understand, ask your eldest brother.]

[Waiting for Flowers to Bloom: Your eldest brother is average in other respects, but he has a pretty good eye for investments. Xiao Rong is still young, so you must make proper plans for financial management.]

Ming Jiu: ...

The Zuo Family's reach really was limited.

[Thank you, Auntie. I understand.]

To avoid more probing and nonsense, Ming Jiu directly @mentioned Zuo Junxin in the group.

[Where's my cousin? I remember she studied design too. What has she been busy with lately?]

What else could Zuo Junxin be busy with? Of course, she was busy "resting and recuperating." To her, the Zuo Family was a miniature mental hospital. Not only was she locked in her room and unable to leave, all her communication devices had been confiscated too.

After a long while, Mother Zuo finally said: [She's still working overtime. She's grown used to living abroad and isn't the least bit enthusiastic about traditional holidays.]

Then the chat fell completely silent.

February 6th, the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Ming Jiu was busy early in the morning.

She dug out a household flour mill and rice mill from her stockpile and installed them in the space kitchen.

A few days ago, she had kept quite a bit of wheat and unhusked rice for herself, drying them directly in the space. They were nearly ready now, so while lying in bed, Ming Jiu milled more than a hundred jin of rice and white flour.

This was the food reserve she was preparing for when she drank the Gene Optimization Potion the day after tomorrow.

Once the staple foods were taken care of, Ming Jiu got up and washed up, then placed the bagged flour in the kitchen.

She steamed the rice directly in the space's steam oven; the rice cooker at home was too small. She did not know how to work with flour, so she would have to trouble Xiao Rong with that.

She dug out the insulating heat-resistant film she had bought online from the space and covered every pane of glass in the house, preventing the indoor-outdoor temperature difference from damaging the windows.

They had stayed up late yesterday, so Ming Jiu had only just finished applying film to every window except Ming Rong's room when Ming Rong woke up.

Lying in bed, Ming Rong watched Ming Jiu stand on a ladder and diligently apply film to the windows.

Mm, her sister was amazing.

She opened her tablet—typed—and used text-to-speech. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Ten minutes later, Ming Rong stood in the kitchen and started the dough mixer.

She would steam big fluffy buns and large stuffed buns for her sister, and boil some dumplings for breakfast while she was at it.

After breakfast, while the dough rested, Ming Jiu carried an empty storage bin down from upstairs. She put the energy boxes, converters, and various electrical tools she had bought in advance into the bin, then shut off the main power breaker.

She planned to replace the main breaker with a dual-power transfer switch, connecting it to the municipal power grid and the energy box converter.