During an apocalypse, canned goods were the most shelf-stable and convenient food. lody Sumrs went to a canned goods wholesaler, where the shelves were lined with a dazzling array of every imaginable kind of can.
First up was canned at.
Canned beef, Spam, five-spice yellow croaker, pig’s trotters, curry chicken... There were all sorts of flavors and varieties. lody Sumrs picked and chose, buying 200 cases in total.
There was also canned fruit. Even though the Arcadian Space produced its own fruit, it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, canned fruit would be hard currency in the apocalypse.
lody Sumrs rembered how, in the third year of the apocalypse, Simon Lancaster had spent over eight thousand dollars on a single can of bayberries just to cheer Sylvia Lancaster up. lody had been so envious back then.
This ti around, she would make sure her family could eat whatever they wanted.
lody Sumrs bought 10 cases of every type of canned fruit in the store.
After buying the canned goods, lody saw the store also had various compressed biscuits, self-heating rice, and self-heating hot pots. She picked out the flavors she liked and bought 200 cases in total.
After having the owner and staff help load everything onto the truck, lody Sumrs secretly moved it all into her space and continued on her way with an empty vehicle.
lody Sumrs arrived at a farrs’ market and began buying various dried goods in bulk.
Dried vegetables, dried fruit, jerky—these were all highly shelf-stable. lody Sumrs selected so of each, adding up to over a thousand pounds in total.
lody Sumrs had the owner divide everything into smaller, sealed portions, box them up by category, and finally load them onto her truck.
By the ti she finished buying the dried goods, it was already noon. lody Sumrs didn’t have ti to go out for a al, so she quietly slipped into her space to open a few cans for a simple lunch.
lody Sumrs went to the Arcadian Warehouse and saw that the supplies she had just collected were already neatly organized. Cases of food and water were sorted by category and stacked tidily in compartnts and on shelves, creating a satisfyingly orderly sight.
lody Sumrs opened a case of canned goods and a case of self-heating als. The savory yellow croaker was fragrant, crispy, and delicious. She added it to her self-heating rice and enjoyed a wonderfully satisfying al.
After her al, lody Sumrs opened a can of yellow peaches. The cool fruit lted in her mouth, filling it with sweet juice.
lody Sumrs patted her stomach contentedly.
*
After lunch, lody Sumrs went to the grain and oil market.
Peanut oil, canola oil, corn oil... lody Sumrs bought many drums of each, adding up to over a thousand pounds in total. This would be enough to last her family for several years during the apocalypse.
After buying the oil, lody went to buy several thousand pounds of rice, flour, and corn. These were staple foods that could also be used as animal feed. She had the owner divide them into ten-pound, vacuum-sealed bags and load them onto the truck.
As for other grains and legus, lody Sumrs bought soybeans, oats, mung beans, adzuki beans, black beans, purple rice, peanuts, lotus seeds, and almonds... These also added up to several thousand pounds. She had the owner pack them into five-pound bags and load them onto the truck.
After moving all the rice, flour, grains, and oil from the truck into the Arcadian Warehouse, lody Sumrs went to a nearby spice wholesaler. She bought salt, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, curry paste, chili sauce, soybean paste, various other savory sauces, and braising packets... purchasing 200 cases in total.
For her final stop, lody Sumrs went to a wholesale snack market.
Using the excuse that she was opening a supermarket, lody Sumrs went from one end of the market to the other, buying everything in sight.
All kinds of sliced bread, jam-filled pastries, cake rolls, cookies, calcium-fortified crackers...
All kinds of instant noodles, sausage links, rice vermicelli, rice noodles, and glass noodles...
All kinds of dried tofu snacks, spicy gluten strips, fruit jellies, chocolate, candied fruit, potato chips...
All kinds of drinks: Sprite, Coke, milk, yogurt, sparkling water, fruit juice...
lody Sumrs bought 10 cases of every single item. For whole milk alone, she bought over a hundred cases from various brands.
The staff made trip after trip carrying the goods to her truck. If lody Sumrs hadn’t been secretly transferring everything into her space, the truck would have been filled to overflowing.
By the ti she finished, the sky had grown dark. She had spent several hundred thousand in total that day, with snacks being the biggest expense. lody now had just over two million left.
*
That evening, lody Sumrs drove ho to find that Winnie Sumrs and the others were already back.
Miss Lowell had already told the Sumrs family about lody selling their apartnt in the desirable school district and buying a new house. They were all shocked.
They couldn’t believe that in the few days they had been away, lody had quietly accomplished so much.
lody then explained, "A tornado is going to hit early next month. This neighborhood is in the direct path of the disaster zone, so it will be extrely dangerous. We can’t stay here."
"Is... is that true? How could we get a tornado here? The weather forecast hasn’t said anything," Winnie Sumrs asked, confused.
lody’s recent behavior was just too strange—selling the mountain and now the apartnt. Although Winnie trusted her daughter, she couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
"Mom, a friend of mine at the weather bureau tipped off. The governnt will issue a warning at the end of the month. If you don’t believe , just wait and see," lody replied with a serious expression.
Grace Sutton also chid in, "Winnie, lody predicted the mudslide before, so she’s probably right about this, too. It’s better to believe her and be prepared than to ignore it. We need to get ready."
Although Winnie Sumrs was hesitant, she still nodded.
Her uncle and grandmother didn’t say anything either. Ever since lody had correctly predicted the mudslide, they had found themselves implicitly trusting her judgnt.
That night, the family gathered for a hearty dinner. Over the al, her aunt and uncle told lody about their visit to see Ian Sumrs.
"Your cousin was thrilled to see the cured pork belly and sausages. He said he’d been craving so of our ho-cured at for days."
"He also said to thank you for the toiletries and supplies you bought. He said they were all very useful things to have in the dorm."
"Your cousin also said he misses you and will co ho as soon as he gets an extended break."
lody felt a sense of comfort as she listened. She strengthened her resolve. ’This ti, I’m going to make sure my family and I live a good life.’
*
That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Winnie Sumrs pulled lody aside. "lody, what’s really been going on with you lately?"
lody hugged her mother and said reassuringly, "Mom, a lot has happened, and it’s hard to explain in a mont. I’ll tell you everything after we move tomorrow."
Winnie knew lody had always been resolute, so she didn’t press the issue. After a mont of silence, she said, "I heard from Miss Lowell... Adam Lawson contacted you?"
lody couldn’t help but scoff at the ntion of his na. She recounted her conversation with Adam Lawson for her mother, especially the part about transferring the apartnt to Joel Lawson and then paying him rent.
Winnie’s face turned ashen as she listened.
When Winnie Sumrs and Adam Lawson first got married, the Lawson family was dirt poor. Adam was a spineless man who couldn’t make a living, so Winnie had to support the family by selling packed lunches.
Under Winnie’s care, the Lawson family’s fortunes improved, and they even bought a house in the county seat—the first family from their village to do so.
After they bought the house in town, Adam Lawson started frequently asking Winnie for money, claiming he was starting a business. In reality, he was using it to support his mistress, Noelle Quillan.
Within two years, Noelle gave Adam a daughter. He nad her Joelle—a na chosen to represent his undying love for Noelle.
Two years after that, Adam and Noelle’s son, Joel Lawson, was born. His paternal grandparents were overjoyed and imdiately had Adam bring Noelle ho.
And all those years, Winnie had been kept completely in the dark by the entire family.
For years after the divorce, Winnie didn’t dare remarry. She changed lody’s surna to her own and went to live with her brother and sister-in-law, raising lody there.
To think that so many years after the divorce, Adam Lawson and his family were still scheming to get their hands on her apartnt—Winnie was so furious she wanted to tear them to shreds.
"Don’t worry, Mom. Adam Lawson and Noelle Quillan won’t be living the good life for long," lody said, gently hugging her mother again.
lody rembered that the house where Adam Lawson and Noelle Quillan currently lived was in a designated flood zone. Even if they managed to survive the initial heatwaves and extre cold, they would inevitably be left holess when the floods ca. The house Adam had sched to take from Winnie was a house he was destined to lose.
With these thoughts, the mother and daughter drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.
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