"On a date?" Qin Ling asked, his hands in his pockets.
Qin Ling himself didn't know why, but seeing her walking with another guy made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
"Tang Mo, I'm heading off. You two talk." As expected of the class president, Shi Xuan was quite perceptive.
Only after Shi Xuan had left did Tang Mo speak.
"Just buying fish. Want some for dinner? Three packs of beef jerky."
"Yes. When?" Qin Ling's eyes lit up. He wasn't sure if he was excited about the fish or because Tang Mo had made it clear she wasn't with that guy.
"Okay, wait for my message tonight." After saying that, Tang Mo turned and went upstairs. She still had two red carp, but she couldn't bear to share the silver fish with Qin Ling.
'Qin Ling's family is so rich. Once he gets out, they'll be shoving abnormal treasures into his mouth for free. What little I have wouldn't even be enough to pick his teeth with.'
Tang Mo hadn't gotten a big head; she had a very clear understanding of her own strength.
Her preparations were thorough, but compared to families with hundred-year-old foundations, they were nothing.
'I should focus on how to increase my strength as soon as possible. That's more reliable.'
'If she wanted to be with Qin Ling in this life, she had to become strong enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.'
Thinking of Qin Ling's rank on the leaderboards in her past life, Tang Mo felt a headache coming on.
'One step at a time, one step at a time. The road is long and the burden is heavy.'
The moment she thought about it, the little bit of pride Tang Mo felt about her increased attribute values was doused with cold water, and she calmed down.
'It's still far from enough.'
But the most pressing matter was to eat the silver fish she had just gotten.
The fish was clearly on its last breath from being slapped around. If she waited until it was actually dead, she didn't know if the 10 attribute points would be discounted.
In the evening, Tang Mo went out to train earlier than usual. She still had plenty of time after finishing her routine, so she took out the portable gas stove, pot, bowls, and utensils from her Space.
After cleaning the silver fish, she put it in the pot, added various seasonings, poured in a bottle and a half of water, and started cooking.
Stewed fish wasn't necessarily the tastiest, but it was the best way to preserve all the nutrients. Tang Mo wouldn't allow a single drop of this silver fish's nourishment to go anywhere but her stomach.
The fish soup simmered into a thick, milky-white broth that steamed enticingly, making Tang Mo's mouth water.
After a moment's thought, she took a block of tofu from her Space, cut it up, and dropped it in.
'Since this fish smells so good, I might as well make the most of it.'
Thankfully, it was getting dark, and the clearing Tang Mo was in was both secluded and spacious.
Otherwise, she had no idea what kind of trouble the aroma might attract.
Once the fish soup was ready, Tang Mo took out a steamed bun and ate everything in the pot, sopping it all up.
The silver fish was quite large, but for Tang Mo, who was constantly exercising and lacked fats and oils in her diet, it was far from enough. At most, she was only sixty percent full.
After finishing the fish, Tang Mo checked her attribute values again.
ID: Tang Mo
Life Value: 15
Strength Value: 14
Agility: 26
Spiritual Power: 42
Space: 0
Overall Strength: 97
After cleaning up the pot and bowls, Tang Mo rummaged through her "Space supermarket" and pulled out two barbecue grills, placing them on the stove. Then, she took out her last two remaining large carp and started to prepare them.
"Old spot. Come quick, or all you'll get are fish bones."
Once everything was ready, Tang Mo sent Qin Ling a message. They had exchanged contact information after their first trade to make things easier.
Qin Ling arrived quickly. Tang Mo even suspected he had been squatting nearby the whole time, just waiting for the fish to be cooked before showing himself.
"This fish smells amazing."
Qin Ling plopped down nonchalantly beside Tang Mo, took the fish, sniffed it, and then started devouring it in big bites.
Of course Tang Mo's grilled fish was fragrant. After all, with green onions, ginger, garlic, cooking wine, cumin, and salt, no one could have a more complete set of seasonings than her.
She tasted her own grilled fish. 'Hm, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. The fresh aroma hits you the moment you take a bite.'
Tang Mo nodded in satisfaction, extremely confident in her own cooking skills.
'Only three bags of beef jerky for this. I really let him off easy.'
After finishing one fish, Qin Ling was clearly still not satisfied. He stared eagerly at the half-eaten fish in Tang Mo's hands.
Tang Mo turned her head away. She decided that until she finished this fish, she would be intermittently blind.
"How can a girl like you eat so much? Didn't you go get your meal this afternoon?" Qin Ling said indignantly, feeling that this girl had no tact when it came to her benefactor.
"Nope. I don't get a share of Wenqing's stuff," Tang Mo said, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction as she ate the last piece of meat from the fish tail.
"You offended her too?" Qin Ling glanced up.
"What do you mean, 'too'? You don't get any either?" Tang Mo hadn't known that Qin Ling and Wenqing had a history.
"Oh, it's no big deal. She just gave me a love letter once, and I casually tossed it to my roommate."
Qin Ling thought nothing of it. If not a hundred, at least eighty people had given him love letters; how could he remember them all? If Wenqing hadn't blacklisted him, he really wouldn't have remembered the incident.
"Why don't you go hug her leg now? It might not be too late," Tang Mo teased.
Wenqing's leg wasn't one that just anyone could hug these days. Countless boys at school followed her around every day, just waiting for Wenqing to casually hand out some food or drink to them.
'Now *that's* what you call a real simp.'
"What's so great about her leg? Why don't I hug yours instead? My demands aren't high, just one fish a day will do."
Qin Ling's head slowly moved closer, his handsome face deliberately putting on a fawning expression.
Looking at Qin Ling's charming peach-blossom eyes and the incredibly familiar beauty mark under his right eye, Tang Mo's heart skipped a beat.
"Get lost." Her hand mercilessly pushed his big head away. "Hurry up and give me the beef jerky. I'm leaving."
"So ruthless." Qin Ling sat up straight, dropped his playful act, and handed the beef jerky to Tang Mo.
"If you don't have enough to eat, come find me," Qin Ling said, seeing Tang Mo focused only on stashing the beef jerky.
"And if you run into any trouble, come find me too. I'll have your back." For some reason, Qin Ling added.
He wasn't the type to meddle in other people's business, but for some reason, he just felt like saying it today.
"Okay."
Tang Mo kept her head down as she put away the beef jerky, her entire face hidden in the shadows of the night.
'I'll have your back.'
This was the second time she had heard Qin Ling say those words.
'It's so good. I can see Qin Ling again, and I can hear him say those words to me in person again.'
Before, she never understood what the point was of being reborn into such a grueling apocalypse.
But now she felt that maybe the apocalypse wasn't so bad after all. The days to come might even be quite pleasant.
Tang Mo secretly lifted the corners of her mouth into a smile.