Chapter 62: Friendship

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Chapter 62: Friendship
Seeing such bright lights, Li Yijun felt a bit dazed, as if he hadn't seen such illumination in a very long time.
Lu Ruisheng walked over to the collection of wines, and upon seeing them, he was equally astonished. It was not just red wine; there were also numerous bottles of Moutai. It seemed the owner of this place was far from ordinary, having hoarded so many fine liquors.
After looking around, he asked Li Yijun, "How do you plan to trade these?"
Li Yijun thought for a moment and replied, "To be honest, originally I wanted to bring out a few bottles and trade them with you in batches, but I don't have the capability to transport these out without them freezing, nor do I have the means to preserve them for very long. Moreover, my children are truly starving. I can see you are honest people—could you manage to get me another box of milk powder? If so, this entire wine cellar belongs to you, including this location. How long you can preserve these things will depend entirely on your own abilities. I swear I won't tell a single soul, not even my family."
After listening to him, Gu Pan felt the deal was acceptable. The man seemed trustworthy, and these wines were indeed worth exchanging for two boxes of milk powder from their perspective.
Therefore, Gu Pan directly stated, "Alright. I happen to have six cans of milk powder in my backpack that I was going to use to trade with someone else. I'll give them all to you right now, and as for the other person, we'll just have to source more later."
Her backpack always looked bulging and full, appearing as though it was packed with heavy items. In reality, it was just filled with bulky, lightweight things to serve as a cover. Whenever she needed something, she would simply open the bag and retrieve it from her spatial dimension, purely to deceive onlookers.
Li Yijun was overjoyed. "That's wonderful! But I don't dare carry this milk powder back by myself; I'm afraid of getting robbed on the way. Could you escort me back?"
Gu Pan agreed, "Very well, we'll escort you back first, and then we can come back later to retrieve the wine."
Li Yijun said gratefully, "Thank you so much then, I won't stand on ceremony."
Lu Ruisheng turned to Li Yijun and said, "Let's head up then. You walk in front, and I'll walk in the middle with the light so that both the front and back are visible."
Gu Pan understood her husband's intention perfectly. She handed the emergency lamp to Lu Ruisheng and took up the rear herself.
Li Yijun walked at the very front, moving at a fairly brisk pace.
Lu Ruisheng directed the beam of light as far forward as possible.
Once they were moving, Gu Pan used her mind in the rear to quietly gather all the wine from the cellar into her spatial dimension. To say nothing else, those bottles of Feitian Moutai were already out-of-print treasures, and right now, very few people had the ability to preserve such items properly, meaning they would only become more valuable in the future.
Neither she nor Lu Ruisheng believed that if they simply escorted Li Yijun home and came back later, these items would still be intact. In this apocalyptic era, who could easily trust a stranger? If Gu Pan did not possess a spatial dimension, they would never have agreed to the other party's terms in the first place; doing it this way simply saved them a lot of trouble.
After emerging from the cellar, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng escorted Li Yijun back to his residential compound and bid him farewell. They didn't even need to return to the wine cellar and could just head straight home. Nowadays, Gu Pan was growing increasingly adept at utilizing her spatial dimension.
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At noon, Gu Pan retrieved a Western meal from her spatial dimension and selected a bottle of red wine. To be honest, neither of them knew much about red wine, so they simply picked one that caught their eye.
Lu Ruisheng even lit candles, maximizing the sense of ritual.
Gu Pan gently swirled her glass of red wine and remarked, "In the blink of an eye, today is already the Lesser New Year. In another week, it will be the Lunar New Year—the first New Year of the apocalypse."
Lu Ruisheng sighed. "If it weren't for the apocalypse, the streets outside would be bustling with activity right now."
"Indeed. How many people even remember what day it is anymore?"
"We have electronic devices, calendars, and clocks. As for the rest who don't, they probably don't remember at all."
"Actually, the two of us have it relatively easy because it's just the two of us celebrating. For those large families, this New Year will truly be a sorrowful one."
"Being able to survive right now is already no small feat."
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Today is the Lesser New Year, let's try to be cheerful."
"Mm, cheers."
The two glasses clinked, and they drained the wine in one gulp. The more they drank, the more spirited they became, until they both ended up slightly drunk. When Gu Pan woke up again, it was already pitch dark.
Lu Ruisheng brewed a cup of honey water for her.
Gu Pan took a sip and smiled. "To be able to experience the apocalypse in this lifetime, and to have a spatial dimension—truly, our lives have not been lived in vain."
Lu Ruisheng smiled as well. "That's certainly true."
Rebirth and a spatial dimension—these were two things others couldn't even begin to imagine.
The next day, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng discussed visiting several friends in advance to deliver some New Year gifts, hoping to bring a little more hope and yearning for life and the New Year into their lives.
The two of them packed four sets of New Year gifts, consisting of rice, flour, cooking oil, meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, fruits, melons, and dried nuts.
Of course, everything was brought out in a state that seemed reasonable for the current times. For instance, the vegetables and fruits were freeze-dried, the milk was in powder form, and the eggs were braised eggs.
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After packing everything, they set off with the supplies, heading first to Guo Gang's home. The journey along the way went smoothly.
They went upstairs and knocked on the door. Guo Gang's wife, Zhang Xiumin, opened it. "You're here, come in quickly."
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng walked inside. Hearing their voices, Mengmeng came running out. "Hello, uncle and auntie!"
Gu Pan took off her gloves, walked over, and patted Mengmeng on the head. "Mengmeng has grown even prettier." With that, she pulled a small doll out of her pocket and handed it over. "For you."
Mengmeng was utterly delighted. "Thank you, auntie!"
Zhang Xiumin said with a smile, "This child has been looking forward to your visit."
In the apocalypse, children didn't go outside, so their world was populated by very few people, making the ones they remembered stand out vividly in their minds.
Not seeing Guo Gang, Lu Ruisheng asked, "Sister-in-law, did Brother Guo go out again?"
Zhang Xiumin nodded. "Yes. I used to go with him, but over the past couple of days, the old lady hasn't been doing well. She sleeps for long stretches and wakes up very rarely. Even when she's awake, she's confused and hardly eats anything. I'm afraid she doesn't have many days left. I was worried that if the old lady suddenly passed away, it might frighten the child, so I haven't been able to go out."
Hearing this, Gu Pan felt quite helpless. There was truly nothing that could be done about such matters. The only fortunate thing was that even in her final moments, the elderly woman wasn't suffering terribly or bedridden with paralysis, which could at least save the family some trouble.
Lu Ruisheng opened his backpack, pulled out two bags, and placed them on the table. "Sister-in-law, the New Year is approaching, so I brought you some New Year goods in advance. With the old lady in this condition lately, it's hindered you from scavenging for supplies. Hopefully, these can help tide you over in an emergency."
Zhang Xiumin declined politely, "No, this is too much. What times are these? You need to keep more for yourselves. Our family is still managing to get by, so please don't give these to us."
Gu Pan urged, "Sister-in-law, just accept them. There are only two of us, and we can both go out to scavenge for supplies, making things much easier for us than for you. Don't be so formal with us."
Zhang Xiumin's eyes turned red. "It's not that I'm being formal with you. It's just... I don't even know what to say. In this building alone, I don't know how many people have starved or frozen to death, yet we are still able to eat our fill—all thanks to you two."
Gu Pan gently patted Zhang Xiumin's back. "Sister-in-law, let's not talk about that. Being able to survive is a good thing. If Ruisheng and I ever run out of food and come to you, would you really turn us away?"
(End of this chapter)
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