Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH40

Chapter 40

“Xiao Shen, you’re still young. At your age, in your twenties, don’t just focus on immediate gains and losses. Do you think I care about those few points of yours? I just don’t want you to feel that our Qiao family has grown distant from you. Your father drove for my father, and you drove for me. How could the bond between our two families just be cut off like that?”

Qiao Dasheng clearly had not taken Guanguan’s words seriously. Coming down from upstairs, he began painting grand promises again, just like before the apocalypse. “All right, after a while, once I’ve smoothed things over, you can come back to running errands at my side. At that point, I’ll also arrange some easy supply-collection work for you.”

“Mr. Qiao, thank you for your kindness, but I can’t work for you for now.” Shen Zheng’s expression remained calm. “I’m reporting to hotel management tomorrow. From now on, I’ll be specifically responsible for managing the white villa district.”

Qiao Dasheng’s face froze for a moment. “What do you mean? You got promoted to management too?”

Inside, Shen Zheng was thrilled, but nothing showed on his face. “Mm. A zombie appeared in Villa 35 just now. Before the situation got serious, I killed it in time. When the leaders heard about it, they promoted me directly to management.”

Then he lowered his head and looked at the two children beside him. “These two children are careful. Yesterday, they already noticed that the person in Villa 35 wasn’t acting right. If they hadn’t warned me in advance, how could I have gotten the chance to earn merit?”

Qiao Dasheng’s eyes widened in shock. No wonder that big child had asked him which villa Shen Zheng lived in! He himself had been standing right there, so why hadn’t they told him? How could something this good land on Shen Zheng instead? That little brat who had passed on the tip had almost become his foster son!

Qiao Dasheng was so jealous his eyes nearly turned red. Gritting his teeth and forcing himself to look composed, he said, “Not bad, Xiao Shen. You really struck it lucky. Now that you’ve risen, don’t forget your old employer.”

Shen Zheng nodded. “Easy enough, easy enough.”

Then he gently pushed at the children’s shoulders. “Guanguan, Chengcheng, go pack your things. We’re leaving now.”

Wei Cheng took Guanguan’s hand. “Okay, Uncle Shen.”

There was hardly anything in their room—just two little backpacks.

Still, to keep up appearances, the two children dawdled for a while.

Wei Cheng took the dog out of the safe house and whispered to Guanguan, “Let’s go.”

When they came out, they saw Shen Zheng being surrounded by the Qiao family.

Qiao’s mother said in a mockingly sweet tone, “Oh my, Xiao Shen, you’ve really made something of yourself! Better than your father, aren’t you!”

What Shen Zheng hated most was when they brought up his father, so he shot back, “I can’t compare to Mr. Qiao’s cleverness and talent for networking. I’ve only got brute strength. Actually, I was just basking in Guanguan’s light. Who would’ve thought that after so long, he’d still remember one insignificant little driver?”

That made every face in the Qiao family darken. Wasn’t he openly saying they had thrown away a pearl and kept a fish eye instead? If they had taken good care of this child, then even after returning him, there would still have been some bond. How could he have skipped over Qiao Dasheng and gone to warn a driver instead?

Qiao Yaoyao saw that Guanguan had come out. “Dad, Mom, I want that dog!”

Guanguan hugged the little black dog and bared his teeth ferociously. “Kid, this is Guanguan’s doggy!”

Qiao Yaoyao immediately burst into tears. “I want it! I want it!”

Perched on Guanguan’s shoulder, the little black dog bared its teeth and growled irritably twice.

Qiao’s father and mother hurried to coax the child. “Yaoyao, we don’t want it, we don’t. What would you even do with a dog? You can barely keep yourself alive, and raising a dog only raises trouble!”

Zhao Xin smiled sweetly. “Xiao Shen, look, now that you’ve become management, these two children will get to see all kinds of good things with you. So why don’t you just leave this dog for Yaoyao?”

Wei Cheng frowned. “This is my brother’s dog. I’d like to see who dares take it.”

“Miss Zhao, the older brother already said it’s Guanguan’s dog. No one has the right to decide where that dog goes.”

Shen Zheng said coldly, “Since I’ve become management for the white villa district, I won’t stand by and watch this kind of bullying happen. If you dare lay a finger on this dog, then don’t blame me when I report it and have your entire family thrown out of the shelter!”

Zhao Xin’s face flushed bright red with anger. “Shen Zheng, you… you really…”

Qiao Dasheng and the others were also swallowing down their fury.

How could they not be angry after being overshadowed by a driver and a returned foster child?

Shen Zheng did not even spare them a glance. Taking Wei Cheng in one hand and Guanguan in the other, he said, “We’re leaving!”

Even after they had walked far from the villa district, they could still hear Qiao Yaoyao crying and Qiao Dasheng cursing impatiently.

“Uncle Shen, are you smiling?” Guanguan bent over a little and tilted his head up curiously.

With both hands behind his head, Shen Zheng walked with an easy, springy step, unable to hide the grin on his face. “Guanguan, you’ve never had a job. You don’t understand!” Crushing a black-hearted boss under your feet felt way too good!

Guanguan turned to look at big brother, who was carrying Little Apricot on one shoulder. “Big brother, has Guanguan worked before?”

Wei Cheng smiled. “Back then, child labor was illegal. But now? We wash potatoes and slice sweet potatoes, and the shelter gives us meal tickets, so I guess you could say you’re doing little-baby labor.”

Guanguan understood. Tugging on Shen Zheng’s hand, he said, “Uncle Shen, Guanguan has done baby work before!”

Shen Zheng laughed heartily. “Chengcheng, Guanguan, the two of you are way too cute!”

Then he added, “But family members of management get three meals a day for free. From now on, Guanguan and Chengcheng won’t need to work at the cafeteria anymore.”

Wei Cheng did not want to keep bringing Guanguan back to the crowded, chaotic hotel anyway. This time, the system had warned them in advance that a zombie would appear in the base. The same task would not come twice. If something like this happened again in the future, how would two little children escape?

The three of them walked quite a while before finally reaching the separate villas reserved for management staff.

There were a little over twenty villas in total, and only five remained unoccupied.

In the end, the three chose a two-story villa with a large courtyard and a long flower corridor.

The moment they pushed open the gate and entered, Guanguan and the little black dog immediately began running wild around the yard.

“There are plenty of rooms. You two can live in whichever one you want.”

Shen Zheng glanced at his watch. “Uncle is going to get lunch for you in a bit, and at the same time I’ll move your things over from the other side.”

“Uncle, there’s something I want to ask you.” Wei Cheng voiced the question that had been bothering him. “Do you know why the Qiao family adopted Guanguan and then returned him? Qiao Yaoyao’s accent sounds a little strange.”

Shen Zheng glanced at little Guanguan, who was playing wildly, and sighed. “Qiao Yaoyao was lost shortly after he was born.”

The Qiao family had searched for him for many years and found nothing. On top of that, Qiao Dasheng had damaged his health from years of drinking and could no longer have children. They had felt that they would never find Qiao Yaoyao in this lifetime, so they figured they might as well adopt a child from a remote welfare home.

That child was Guanguan.

What no one had expected was that on the very night they brought Guanguan home, the police suddenly informed them that Qiao Yaoyao had been found. How could years of fruitless searching suddenly end just like that? Even stranger, a major business deal the Qiao family had been fighting tooth and nail over was suddenly finalized! In one stroke, the company that had been losing money for years was revived.

So the Qiao family decided that all the good luck had come from Yaoyao. For a time, all they cared about was Yaoyao, who had been raised dark-skinned and chubby by others. Who had any energy left for Guanguan from the welfare home?

At first, the Qiao family had even thought that since they were wealthy and could not have any other children anyway, they might as well keep the adopted child and have him work for their Yaoyao in the future. But Qiao Yaoyao was especially hostile toward little Guanguan. The moment he saw him, he cried and screamed. That was why Guanguan ended up being returned.

Before the apocalypse, returning an adopted child could absolutely lead to accountability. The Qiao family knew they were in the wrong and also feared it would affect their company, so they only reluctantly donated a small sum of money.

Still, for a welfare home that had very little outside support, that little bit of money was not insignificant. So for the sake of the children’s future living and schooling, Director Wang chose not to pursue the matter.

What was laughable was that the apocalypse had suddenly arrived, and all of the Qiao family’s wealth existed only in their accounts. Riches turned into bubbles, and everything returned to the starting point.

Shen Zheng’s face was full of indignation. “What the Qiao family did—adopting and returning him—was disgusting. After that, I stopped working for them. Later, on the escape route, my family and I even ran into them again…”

Wei Cheng was silent for a long time. His eyes reddened slightly. He thought: If Guanguan were not this cheerful, if he had longed for his own father and mother the way the other children at the welfare home did, then how much would what the Qiao family did have hurt him? That kind of harm can’t be made up for with money. What gives them the right to keep him when they feel like it and kick him away when they don’t? Guanguan is a living person!

Wei Cheng’s face darkened. The adults in the Qiao family absolutely had to pay for what they had done!

At noon, Uncle Shen brought them back two portions of braised chicken leg with potatoes over rice and a few steamed buns. After telling them not to run around, he hurried off again, saying he would not be back until evening.

The main gate was locked from the inside, and Uncle Shen would knock when he returned.

Guanguan and big brother ate lunch in the soaring, high-ceilinged dining room with the little dog.

After taking one bite of potato-potato, Guanguan pushed the spinning tabletop turntable with one little hand. The turntable made a full circle, and he swung his fat little feet happily. “Haha, so fun.”

After learning the truth, Wei Cheng felt even more protective of his little brother. He took out a cup of strawberry juice and one of Guanguan’s favorite dishes from the safe house: sliced fatty beef in sour soup with fresh vegetables.

Guanguan hugged the strawberry juice at once, his eyes especially bright. “Big brother, it’s strawberry juice!”

“Drink it. Don’t you like strawberries best?”

Guanguan hugged the cup and gulped down a huge mouthful. A red ring was left around his lips, and he cried out, “Guanguan also likes melon juice, peach juice, orange juice!”

Wei Cheng laughed. “Except broccoli juice?”

Guanguan covered his ears with both little hands and shook his head. “Not listening, not listening!”

“All right, all right, big brother won’t say it. Let’s eat? There’s so much meat-meat.”

Guanguan waggled his children’s chopsticks. “Eat meat! Eat meat!”

Both of these dishes were newly bought from the mall’s prepared-food section, and steam was still rising from them.

Wei Cheng picked up some vegetables for Guanguan. “Uncle Shen won’t be back tonight. How about beef rice noodles for dinner?”

Guanguan swallowed a tender slice of fatty beef in one gulp. With both cheeks stuffed, he looked like a little squirrel hoarding food in its pouches. “Okay! Guanguan can eat mountain bowls!”

After swallowing a mouthful of rice, Wei Cheng laughed. “Big eyes, small stomach. That beef noodle portion is huge. You, little baby, will be doing well if you finish even one bowl.”

After lunch, he brought Guanguan and Little Apricot outside into the courtyard to kick a newly bought watermelon ball.

When Guanguan scampered over to the gate to retrieve the ball, he suddenly heard Uncle Shen’s voice. Turning around, he shouted, “Big brother, Uncle Shen is back again!”

Wei Cheng was a little surprised and hurried to open the gate for him.

Shen Zheng smiled. “I thought you two would be napping. Uncle came back because there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, Uncle Shen?”

Shen Zheng looked both nervous and excited. “I rushed back because I had to meet the big leader. He asked me why I knew the person in Villa 35 was going to turn into a zombie. I didn’t steal the credit from you two children—I told the truth. And the leader said that tonight he wants me to bring you two up to the mountain hot spring to play.”

Guanguan hugged his ball and blinked. “Uncle, what’s a hot spring?”

But Wei Cheng frowned slightly.

This big leader was no simple person.

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