After seeing Wang Daguo off, Shen Lu didn't take off her raincoat. Instead, she locked the door and went back out.
It was still early, so she wanted to make another trip to the general store to buy scavenging tools.
She bought an identical set of tools, and also picked up a kitchen knife and some other cooking and eating utensils.
Without exception, all of these items were made of metal.
"Don't you have any made of wood?" Shen Lu asked curiously.
The general store owner chuckled. "Sure, but you'd have to go to the Upper City District to buy them. I don't have any here."
Wooden products were luxury goods. How could a lower-class citizen afford them?
At a recent auction, a wooden chair sold for the shocking price of a million Star Coins.
A million Star Coins. He'd never earn that much in his entire life, yet the rich used it to buy a chair they wouldn't even dare sit on.
Sigh, the gap between people was just too vast.
Upper City District.
Shen Lu mulled over those words. Flashes of the original owner's memories surfaced in her mind.
The Upper City District was completely different from the Seventeenth District. There were even green plants along the roads, and the ground was clean enough to see your reflection in.
After paying, Shen Lu returned to her rented room.
First, she returned Granny Jin's kitchen knife, and only then did she come back to dismantle the mechanical arm.
The tools she bought included ones specifically for disassembling parts; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to take it apart on her own.
It took her ten minutes to get the mechanical arm into pieces. In one of the joints, Shen Lu found a circular component made of titanium.
When the system announced what ingredients the titanium could be exchanged for, Shen Lu's jaw dropped.
"This much?" Shen Lu asked.
[This piece of titanium is very pure and heavy, so its value is indeed quite high.]
Shen Lu broke into a lazy grin. "Does this mean I can be a couch potato at home tomorrow, the day after, and the morning after that?"
[You could, but I would advise against it.]
'Laziness leads to regression, Host!'
Shen Lu giggled. "We'll see about tomorrow. For now, I'm going to make dinner."
The hot pot base was ready. Even though only half was left, it was more than enough for a one-person meal.
Shen Lu exchanged for some ingredients that would cook quickly. This time she didn't get too much, just enough for one person.
Shen Lu put everything she wanted to eat into the spicy hot pot base. She planned to add some dough drops to the clear broth base so Fu Cheng could eat it too.
It would be a while before everything was cooked, so Shen Lu sat on the sofa, crossed her legs, and silently requested a lottery draw.
[Congratulations, Host! You have drawn Blind Box Prize #555: Permanent 80% Cleanliness.]
[Permanent 80% Cleanliness: Still worried about cleaning? With this privilege, you'll have a brand-new experience.
No matter how dirty the dishes or how greasy the floor, a single wipe is all it takes to achieve 100% cleanliness!]
'I can even get this kind of perk?'
It would be a lie to say she wasn't curious.
Shen Lu immediately picked up the bowl she had used to mix the dough drops. The rag was still the one she'd torn from her skirt. It had gotten greasy from wiping the bowls that afternoon, but now it didn't feel very oily in her hand.
She swirled the rag around the inside of the bowl. When she pulled it away, the bowl was sparkling clean, as if it had been washed with dish soap.
"Holy shit?" Shen Lu couldn't help but curse. "It works this well?"
A wave of immense joy washed over her.
'This perk is amazing! With this, I'll never have to worry about washing dishes again. One wipe with a rag and it's spotless. So easy.'
She loved to cook but hated washing dishes and cleaning up. In her past life, she had a dishwasher and a robot vacuum; now, she only had her two hands.
Shen Lu had even thought that after she opened a shop, the first thing she'd do—before anything else—was hire a dishwasher whose only two jobs would be washing dishes and mopping the floor.
The novelty of her new perk was still fresh. Shen Lu excitedly wiped down all the used utensils at once, making them gleam, which brightened her mood considerably.
By this time, dinner was ready.
Shen Lu turned off the hot pot machine, ladled the food into two separate bowls, and set Fu Cheng's dough drops aside to cool. She would feed him after she finished eating.
Since she was in such a good mood, Shen Lu also exchanged for a bottle of cola from the system's store. Pouring the bubbling drink into her Ice Ice Cup doubled her happiness!
'It would be even better if I had a phone or a TV,' Shen Lu thought with a tinge of regret.
This world actually had things like TVs and computers, but at the moment, she couldn't afford to buy them.
'I'll just wait.'
'I just need to get through this month. By next month, I should be able to move somewhere else.'
Granny Jin was very kind, but the Seventeenth District was just too dangerous. Living here, Shen Lu didn't even dare to fall into a deep sleep.
Lying on the bed, Fu Cheng's nose twitched a few times.
He was just too curious.
'Where did Shen Lu get this food?'
'If I remember correctly, aren't we in the Seventeenth District, the poorest in the Imperial City?'
'How could there possibly be ingredients for sale here? And where did Shen Lu get the money to buy them?'
Besides, a fragrance like this couldn't be produced by simple ingredients and seasonings. He had only ever smelled something like it at the grand banquets in the military headquarters.
Shen Lu ate and drank her fill, letting out a loud burp.
She flopped onto the sofa for a moment before picking up the bowl of clear-broth dough drops, which had cooled to the right temperature, and walked over to the bed.
Shen Lu tilted her head, studying him for a moment, then gently patted Fu Cheng's shoulder. "Wake up, time to eat."
Even when unconscious, Fu Cheng seemed to have a chewing reflex, but Shen Lu figured that if he could eat while awake, it would go faster.
Fu Cheng's long eyelashes trembled a few times, and his right eye opened a crack.
Shen Lu sat on the edge of the bed and used a newly bought spoon to feed Fu Cheng the dough drop soup.
Considering Fu Cheng's condition, she had deliberately mixed the dough bits until they were very small, almost the size of rice grains.
As a spoonful of the fragrant, smooth dough drop soup entered his mouth, Fu Cheng felt his mind go fuzzy from the aroma.
Just from the smell, he knew it wouldn't taste bad, but he never expected it to be *this* delicious.
He barely had to chew. The thick dough drop soup slid down his esophagus and into his stomach, and a familiar sense of comfort spread through him.
'So it's not just the mint water and egg waffles that have this effect, but the dough drop soup too?'
'What do these three have in common?'
In a flash of insight, Fu Cheng felt like he had grasped the key point.
'It's the water.'
'All three are made with water.'
'So... where did Shen Lu get such magical water?'
'Is she really Shen Lu, the young lady from the Shen Family?'
'Or... does she have another identity?'
Fu Cheng's mind raced with possibilities, but it was all just his own speculation; he had no concrete evidence to support his theories.
Shen Lu didn't know what he was thinking. After feeding him, she also gave him half a cup of water to rinse his mouth.
Half an hour later, she gave him his medicine.
"Time for a dressing change tomorrow." Shen Lu checked the gauze in some spots, which was soaked with fluid from his wounds. She also opened the foldable first-aid kit to check the medicinal powder. "There's not much powder left, just enough for tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to go buy more medicine in a couple of days."
There were no pharmacies nearby; she would probably have to go somewhere farther to look for one.
Shen Lu counted her money. She had just over 2,000 Star Coins now and had no idea if it would be enough.
"I'll have to sell a bit more spicy hot pot tomorrow," the young woman murmured to herself.
Fu Cheng was her Lucky Cat, after all. There was nothing wrong with treating her Lucky Cat a little better.