Chapter 180 - 147: Don’t Break Down

Chapter 180: Chapter 147: Don’t Break Down

Building houses with Earth Abilities was truly fast and reliable.

As Liang Zhu and her team packed up to leave, three large trucks approached from the distance. Two were loaded with materials, and the third with people. They all wore the standard Defense Army uniforms, looking just as organized and motivated as the team that had built her house back then.

The difference this time was the lively chatter and laughter among them. Unlike last time when they had been too close to the Rose Corridor and initially only dared to keep their heads down and work in dead silence, afraid to make a peep. Huai Yu herself had been wallowing in the agony of her destroyed home and the loss of Lin Xuefeng’s relics, leaving her with no mood to chat with anyone.

Thinking back to the words Zhou Qian had used to comfort her, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Little did she know, a young girl standing by herself was quite conspicuous. Someone immediately recognized her:

"Isn’t that the girl who chased after us in the middle of the night during our mission?"

"Sure looks like her! Skinny and petite, long hair, fair skin—I think she’s Captain Zhou’s sister."

"Ah! Captain Zhou..."

As the group murmured among themselves, a clear, loud voice rang out: "Huai Yu! Are you here to watch them build Captain Zhou’s house?"

Huai Yu looked toward the voice. The speaker was a dark-skinned young man whose face she couldn’t quite remember. All she could do was flash him an equally bright smile. "Yeah!"

With that, a chorus of familiar voices echoed through the team:

"I almost forgot! Captain Zhou and Huai Yu are super close..."

"See? I told you she’s on great terms with the Rose Corridor. There’s nothing to worry about at all!"

"Who borrowed a camera? Whoever has the camera, go take a picture of Little Yu next to the Rose Corridor!"

"Exactly! Last time we worked a whole day and night—our one and only chance to get that close to the Rose Corridor—and no one even took a single photo..."

"Don’t remind me. When I went home and bragged about it, nobody believed me..."

Amidst the chatter, it didn’t take long for the entire truckload of people to learn that Huai Yu was the legendary girl living next to the Rose Corridor, highly suspected to be Zhou Qian’s long-lost sister.

Liang Zhu, who had just gotten into her car, was thoroughly confused. She poked her head out the window. "They built your house too? That proves the Rose Corridor really has softened its temper..."

She gazed at the distant, overlapping layers of pink flowers, her voice laced with longing.

Huai Yu thought for a moment. "Liang Zhu, do you want to come over to my place and have a look?"

Liang Zhu immediately shook her head. "No, no thanks.

"I have one great virtue—I lack curiosity. I have absolutely zero curiosity. In this day and age, playing it safe and lying low is nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll pass on the visit."

Huai Yu was speechless. Though she had anticipated this answer when she asked, the rejection was still remarkably hesitation-free.

Once Liang Zhu departed, Huai Yu watched the Defense Army troops enthusiastically begin laying bricks. She then hopped onto her bicycle and briskly pedaled her way home.

The massive cowpea vine, thick as a grounded python, still coiled around the vegetable garden, mostly hidden by the tall, thick weeds she had intentionally allowed to grow wild. The other vegetable seedlings in the garden were thriving, looking only slightly better than meticulously tended ones.

During the day, Ke Taichiro remained a hardworking employee, practically never home. The goose chick was currently leading a flock of baby chicks, rummaging through the bamboo grove. Looking at it all, the secrets of her home were still exceptionally well-kept!

Huai Yu set down her woven basket and organized her newly purchased items. Then, she dug out the previously roasted Bamboo Heart Tea and generously packed half a bag.

She had noticed earlier that the Defense Army had set up a pot specifically for boiling water. Everyone had their own cups, ladling the water in and setting them aside to drink whenever they wanted. However, it was just plain hot water.

If memory served her right, when people helped build your house, the host was supposed to provide not only meals but also tea and cigarettes. She couldn’t provide anything else at the moment, but she could definitely offer some Bamboo Heart Tea. She hoped everyone would put in a little extra effort to build Zhou Qian’s house as sturdy as possible. That way, even if they ran into that jinx Wu Yue again, it wouldn’t collapse so easily.

At that thought, Huai Yu lifted the bag and gave it a shake, feeling as though the Bamboo Heart Tea inside was radiating a brilliant glow!

The heavy-duty, twenty-eight-inch black bicycle, paired with her tiny frame struggling to reach through the crossbar to pedal, made for quite a conspicuous sight in the deserted wilderness. But Huai Yu recalled the bus driver’s words from before and figured she really must have grown taller. Since the seat had already been adjusted, maybe in a little while, she would be able to ride it normally!

With that in mind, she felt an even stronger need to eat well and eat to her heart’s content every single day. Any points she earned should go straight to her stomach! She needed to grow taller, stronger, and a little plumper.

Back at the construction site, the Defense Army troops in charge of building the house watched her with curiosity. "Huai Yu, you’ve been watching all afternoon. You still have energy?"

Poor thing, they thought. A little girl living all by herself out here not only had no entertainment, but she didn’t even have anyone to talk to. They figured she was probably reluctant to leave after finally seeing a lively crowd.

But Huai Yu’s eyes sparkled. She pulled a bag off her handlebars. "Sirs! You worked so hard building the house last time, and you’re working even harder this time... I brought you some tea!"

Tea?

At the word, everyone who heard her couldn’t help but turn their heads to look. Who still had tea to drink in this day and age?

The team leader was stunned for a moment. "No, we can’t. Tea leaves are too precious, we can’t accept—"

Huai Yu opened the bag and held it out to him. "I roasted it myself. It’s got to be better than drinking plain boiled water."

Especially since the plain boiled water wasn’t sweet or refreshing at all; instead, it carried the bitter, bizarre taste typical of high contamination levels.

The team leader was both tempted and hesitant. "Bamboo Heart Tea is still tea... Smelling this fragrant, it must be even harder to come by..."

Huai Yu simply inverted the bag, dumping the entire half-bag of Bamboo Heart Tea straight into the boiling pot of water.

The dried, tender bamboo hearts didn’t have a very appealing color, looking rather grayish-green. Yet, as they fluttered down, they completely covered the surface of the large pot in the blink of an eye. The water in the pot had just begun to simmer with small bubbles. The moment the large heap of Bamboo Heart Tea hit the water, the scalding heat unlocked the unique, refreshing fragrance and sweetness of the bamboo.

The Defense Army soldier tending the fire instantly snapped his head up from the stove, his flushed, soot-darkened face full of excitement. "It smells amazing!"

"Amazing my foot! Hurry up and scoop it out!" The team leader had already rushed forward and snatched up the water ladle. "There’s enough Bamboo Heart Tea here to brew ten pots! How can we just boil it all in one go? Hurry, hurry, hurry! Scoop it out and split it up—"

Huai Yu stood innocently to the side, watching them scramble. Her voice softened. "Ah, did I pour too much? Will it taste bad if it’s too strong?"

The team leader looked up and shot her a glance before sighing. "Are you really not Zhou Qian’s biological sister?

"Because your stubbornness is exactly like his!"