Deep Space Wandering Fleet

Chapter 121: Chapter 122 Just Give It All to You

Zhang Yuan placed a bag of something in front of her, “Let me treat you to some beef jerky. If you eat something, you won’t think about other things… After all, you’ve been in cryogenic sleep for so long, your body lacks nutrition, and eating more meat won’t make you gain weight. It’s beef jerky from Earth!”

Sure enough, Lin Xuanyuan stopped crying and stared blankly at Zhang Yuan.

“Really? You still have… snacks to eat?”

This trick, which had been almost infallible in the past, worked once again.

Zhang Yuan was extremely pleased with himself.

The 183-year-old beef had offered up its life, bringing abundant joy to the people of the present. It truly deserved to be described as great.

Given the current living conditions, it seemed Lin Xuanyuan really did want to turn her grief into appetite, which terrified Zhang Yuan.

His supply of beef jerky was limited, and he had plans to savor it slowly!

[I mean, you’ve just woken up from cryogenic sleep, so it’s best not to eat too much…]

[And it’s past its expiration date, having been frozen in the universe for 183 years.]

Zhang Yuan came up with a few excuses but kept them to himself, not daring to voice them; otherwise, he would seem too stingy.

Lin Xuanyuan seemed to read his mind and, while wiping away tears, said, “What’s with that look on your face? I won’t eat too much of your stuff… You’re so stingy!”

Zhang Yuan quickly replied, “No, I was thinking, I might as well give it all to you. If you stop crying, I’ll give it to you.”

When he said this, Zhang Yuan swallowed hard, his heart aching, but he pretended to be nonchalant, glancing at the Pu Pu Grass by the road, acting as if he was very generous.

“I don’t want it, that’s your babe magnet, isn’t it?”

Lin Xuanyuan dabbed away her tears, yet she couldn’t quite bring herself to refuse the gift, “If you really want to give it to me, I guess I could take it… Are you sure you want to give it to me?”

“Ah, then I’ll give it to you! I hope it makes you feel better…”

Zhang Yuan felt as if he had been bitten, losing a piece of flesh, then forcefully picked a sprig of Pu Pu Grass and stuffed it into his mouth,

“You are so generous, this food has become a luxury. Even with a hundred million, you can’t buy these things anymore…”

Zhang Yuan rolled his eyes inwardly. His net worth was now 331 billion!

But to him, 331 billion was just a number, and indeed, it was not as substantial as a bag of beef jerky.

Lin Xuanyuan was silent for a moment, somewhat tempted, but felt the gift was too precious and struggled to accept it.

She wiped away her tears, then came up with a good idea, “It would be a waste to eat it directly like this, we should make it into more exquisite food. I have an idea… Let’s cook ourselves something to eat, how about that?”

“You can cook?” Zhang Yuan asked skeptically.

“Of course!”

“Can you really cook with beef jerky?”

“I think so, beef jerky contains various seasonings, which we currently lack. And listen to this…”

Zhang Yuan thought about it and reluctantly agreed.

The two made plans and quickly got to work.

The spaceship’s food was usually mass-produced by robots. Moreover, to reduce pollution, cooking methods were limited to boiling and steaming, resulting in less tasty food.

Condiments considered “unimportant,” were not produced on board, only crafted manually – scarce and exorbitantly priced.

The kitchen was considered a sensitive area, where accidental emissions of cooking fumes could contaminate a lot of air and were hard to manage, so ordinary people didn’t have access.

Zhang Yuan soon found the current political officer, Mr. Yu Feng, and suggested holding a large dinner party to alleviate the oppressive atmosphere.

“A large dinner party, that’s a great idea, but…”

Yu Feng was taken aback and a little hesitant, “Our community activities are usually simple, like watching movies. A dinner party is complicated to manage…”

“If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility.” Zhang Yuan’s Level 16 job position was one of the top few among the six hundred people, and this professor was only on par with him.

Since someone was willing to take responsibility, Yu Feng quickly agreed, “Then, I’ll join in. We’ll start by sending out a group message, then call a few people who can cook, how about that…”

“Thank you so much!”

A group quickly got busy, all for the sake of making themselves a fancy dinner in the midst of material scarcity.

Human ingenuity is limitless, and even without fancy industrial seasonings, there were plenty of natural ones. For example, Black Rice, a very traditional ethnic food, is made by soaking glutinous rice in black tree leaves for several hours before cooking, imparting a fresh leafy aroma.

There were other dishes like Five-Color Glutinous Rice and Hand-Pulled Rice, made with just natural plants, but still delicious.

Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at the endless domestic wisdom these girls seemed to possess. He hadn’t cooked for so long he was out of practice.

“I have a bottle of heaven-facing chili oil; can it still be eaten?” Lin Xuanyuan thought for a moment, then suddenly said.

“It should be fine.” Zhang Yuan nodded eagerly, “Chili oil, good stuff!”

He no longer cared whether it had been preserved in a vacuum at low temperatures for over a century; as long as it was edible.

Couldn’t any microorganisms survive in such conditions, so why worry about spoilage?

“We still need more stuff; go buy it.”

After that, Zhang Yuan headed to the botanical garden, attempting to purchase a large quantity of plant-based seasonings and glutinous rice among other foods.

The girl in charge of the plants frowned.

“…Mr. Zhang, according to your personal material purchase limit, buying so much exceeds the allowance.”

“I think you’ll support me, won’t you?”

After a moment of thought, her eyebrows curved in agreement, “Alright, I agree… But I have a small request…”

“What is it?”

“Can I join?”

“Of course!”

And so, Zhang Yuan spent about twenty thousand New Coins. The plant-based seasonings and glutinous rice were outrageously expensive, but he gritted his teeth and bought them.

“When did I become so generous? Twenty thousand bucks…”

“Well, I’ve always been this generous.”

When they returned to the cafeteria, they found Lin Xuanyuan carefully dripping a few drops of chili oil into a pot.

Instantly, a spicy aroma hit Zhang Yuan’s nostrils.

His mouth watered at the thought.

He quickly closed the kitchen door to prevent the scent from wafting out and polluting the entire spaceship’s air…

Over twenty people spent half a day preparing a massive amount of food, waiting for everyone to arrive.