Still Ate Too Much

However, Su Nian also knew that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

It had been almost half a year since they last met, and this man seemed capable enough to confidently utter such words. There was nothing surprising about that.

The only oddity was how he had ended up in a situation where he couldn't even afford a meal.

Su Nian wasn't interested in prying into other people's affairs. She lifted the iron gate together with the man.

Both of them were strong enough to carry a two to three hundred-pound iron gate up six floors without breaking a sweat.

"I have the tools for installation. I'll go get them," Su Nian said, then directly opened the door and went home, closing the door behind her.

After finding all the necessary tools in the space and grabbing a long extension cord, she finally opened the gate.

Su Nian had initially planned to do it herself, but Jing Mo took the lead.

"I'll handle the installation, you just assist and pass me the tools," Jing Mo said.

His movements were remarkably skillful, to the point that Su Nian suspected he had been a door installer before the apocalypse.

"Shouldn't we introduce ourselves first? I'm Jing Mo, 'Jing' from Jingdong, 'Mo' from inkfish. And you?" Jing Mo said.

Su Nian snapped back to reality at his words, looking at Jing Mo.

Had they really not introduced themselves yet?

But why did it feel like they were already quite familiar with each other?

Looking into Jing Mo's bright black eyes, Su Nian found her answer—it was because this man was too familiar.

"I'm Su Nian. 'Su' from grass, 'Nian' from present thoughts."

"Then is your nickname Present?" 

"No."

"What a pity, it sounds so nice! By the way, how long have you been living here? Are you familiar with the base? I want to take a look around, can you show me?" 

Jing Mo's words came one after another, making Su Nian's eyebrows twitch.

Thinking back to the first time she saw Jing Mo, he was sitting in the corner, shrouded in shadows, aloof and concise in speech. He exuded the aura of a cold and lofty male god.

But now, he couldn't stop laughing, blinding others with his charming voice, and kept on talking because of his pleasant voice.

Still ate too much!

Su Nian didn't speak much, but Jing Mo could talk endlessly even by himself. He didn't seem to feel awkward at all. It was Su Nian who felt a bit uncomfortable and had to respond occasionally.

Half an hour later, the gate was installed.

Su Nian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, packed all the tools into a box, and carried them home.

Su Nian's car was still parked downstairs and needed to be moved to the parking lot.

Just as Su Nian took two steps downstairs, she noticed Jing Mo following her.

Before Su Nian could ask, Jing Mo smiled and said, "I haven't finished bringing down my stuff."

"Then let me help you!" 

"That would be great!"

Considering that Jing Mo had helped her lift the gate and install it, it seemed unfair if she didn't help him.

Downstairs, without Jing Mo saying anything, Su Nian saw Jing Mo's car.

It was a seven-seater off-road vehicle, much larger than Su Nian's car.

Jing Mo walked up and opened the trunk, revealing a car full of supplies to Su Nian's eyes.

Seeing so many things, Su Nian's eyes twitched.

How long would it take for one person to move all these?

Su Nian didn't know.

All she knew was that together with Jing Mo, they spent a full two hours moving everything.

She couldn't even remember how many trips they made back and forth.

Once everything was moved, they piled it all up in the living room.

By now, there was hardly any space left in the living room.

So much stuff—she didn't know how long it would take to sort it out.

Su Nian also noticed that the first time she followed Jing Mo into the house, there were already many large cardboard boxes stacked in the kitchen. They must have been brought up by Jing Mo earlier.

Jing Mo's car had a luggage rack on the roof, so these boxes should have been on top of the car.

After moving everything, they parked the car in the parking lot together.

By the time they returned to the sixth floor, it was almost three o'clock.

Su Nian was sweaty and just wanted to take a shower and rest, so she directly declined Jing Mo's offer to treat her to dinner.

Despite being declined, Jing Mo still had a smile on his face.

"I'm too tired to eat today, how about tomorrow night? What time do you usually get up in the afternoon? Can I call you around seven or eight to have dinner?" 

Su Nian wanted to refuse, but Jing Mo looked at her with a pitiful expression.

"You helped me so much. If I don't treat you to dinner, I'll feel guilty."

Hearing this, Su Nian didn't refuse further. "Then call me when the time comes."

"Okay!"

Su Nian waved her hand. "I'll leave now, see you!"

Saying that, Su Nian took two steps and arrived at her door, opened it, and went in.

After closing the door, Su Nian breathed a long sigh of relief.

Su Nian agreed to Jing Mo's dinner invitation not out of weakness.

If she thought about it, wasn't it because Jing Mo helped her install the gate and she helped Jing Mo move his things?

She didn't want to owe others any favors, and Jing Mo should be the same.

With this meal, they would be even.

Thinking like this, Su Nian went to the bathroom.

She took out a bathtub, undressed, and soaked herself in it.

The warm water enveloped her body, coupled with the temperature of over thirty degrees, soon making Su Nian's cheeks flush, with a thin layer of sweat on her face.

While bathing, Su Nian kept thinking about what to eat later.

She had only eaten what she had before leaving the base, and now it had been six or seven hours.

Plus, after the physical exertion just now, she felt even hungrier after bathing.

As Su Nian dried her hair and walked to the bedroom, she turned on two air-conditioning fans before taking out some food.

When extremely hungry, she craved meat, so Su Nian took out a braised pork elbow, two vegetables, and a small bowl of rice.

After eating all of these, Su Nian felt full.

Leaning against the edge of the bed, Su Nian closed her eyes and checked the items in her space.

There wasn't much to look at except for the cooked food.

In the past half a year, because almost no one in the neighborhood cooked, Su Nian was afraid that the smell of food would attract unnecessary trouble, so she didn't cook and had been consuming the cooked food she had made before.

In the past six months, she had consumed about a fifth of it.

Although there was still a lot left, it wasn't that much.

Now that the rent was paid, Su Nian planned to stop going out and tidy up the

 kitchen sooner. In the future, she would cook three meals a day on time.

Feeling truly tired, exhaustion surged up after being full, and Su Nian fell asleep while thinking about it.

In a daze, she felt that the mat on the floor was too hard, so Su Nian crawled onto the bed, hugging the summer quilt, and continued to sleep.

When Su Nian opened her eyes again, she turned her head to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table, only to find that it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.