Chapter 20: Honey-Glazed Ribs

Once the contact got the honey from Ah Yuan, it was sent directly to the Ye family.

Ye Jianggui hadn’t been feeling well these past few days and hadn’t gone to the research institute.

Ye Fengwan, thinking of Ruan Ming’s honey, came back at noon.

When she opened the bag and saw the large, completely full container, she couldn’t help but hold her breath.

For years, Ye Jianggui had sustained her body entirely on organic food. The vegetables and grains the Qu family sent each time were always very little, and every gram had to be carefully budgeted.

Ruan Ming, however, had given ten jin in one go.

She opened her wristband, touched the screen, and typed out a message: You said you’d send a little honey, but your ‘little’ is very different from what I imagined.

She waited a moment, and seeing no reply, carried the honey into the study.

Her study also held a set of instruments, more precise than standard food detectors on the market, capable of showing exact numerical values.

She dropped a honey sample into the testing slot. As she watched the data on the screen jump and rise point by point, Ye Fengwan, who was normally calm and composed, rarely widened her eyes.

…

Ruan Ming spent the day weeding in the cactus field.

The fairy peaches’ harvest season was between June and October. It was now mid-April, still two months from full ripeness.

Besides weeding, there was bug catching.

In this world where almost all living things mutated, insects had become exceptionally robust, some even as thick as a human toe.

Ruan Ming had gone from feeling her scalp tingle at first to now being able to pick them up with a stick without batting an eye, even watching those fat, white, wriggling creatures struggle with some amusement.

Too bad she didn’t raise chicks; these bugs could have been useful.

She was busy until the sun began to set when she heard a familiar call from the territory entrance.

Ruan Ming straightened up, patted the dirt off her clothes, and looked toward the sound.

Ah Yuan shouted from far away, “Sister Ming, hurry home, I bought some grain for you.”

“I’m coming back, wait for me at home,” she called back from a distance.

She gathered her tools and walked quickly towards the small courtyard.

Ah Yuan, on his bicycle, was faster. When Ruan Ming got home, he was already sitting at the courtyard gate.

“Sis, why didn’t you answer when I called you?”

Ruan Ming raised her wrist and realized her wristband had run out of battery at some point.

“Forgot to charge it last night. This wristband is old; the battery doesn’t last anymore.”

She pushed open the courtyard gate, then looked back at the large and small bundles on the bike and asked, surprised, “Are all these for me? Isn’t this too much? You know your sister here is still poor.”

Ah Yuan smiled and lowered his voice, “I didn’t buy it. Someone sent it to you.”

Ruan Ming’s eyes widened, but she quickly realized something, her expression turning pleased. Together, she and Ah Yuan pushed the heavily loaded bicycle into the yard.

Then they moved the things into the kitchen.

Opening them, she found a large bag of rice, a pumpkin, two bundles of green vegetables, a big piece of cured meat and a fresh slab of ribs, a bag of dried vermicelli, and a bunch of bananas that weren’t quite ripe yet.

Ruan Ming, who usually subsisted mainly on fairy peaches and nutrient solution, had never seen so much food at once. She was momentarily dumbfounded.

“Sis, the stuff is delivered. I’ll head back now,” Ah Yuan said cheerfully.

Ruan Ming finally snapped out of it and stopped him, “Don’t rush, let me pack something for you to take back.”

Ah Yuan waved his hands hurriedly, “No need, sis. The person who picked up the goods also prepared a share for me. I don’t need you to give me any.”

Seeing Ruan Ming didn’t believe him, he took two steps out of the living room door and opened a bag hanging from his bicycle handlebars, revealing green vegetables and a piece of cured meat. It didn’t look like much, but for Ah Yuan, it was already a very rare gift.

Just think, how many people nowadays could afford to eat cured meat?

“See, I wasn’t lying.”

Only then did Ruan Ming nod. “Alright, you go back then. Be careful on the road.”

“Okay, sis, I’m off.”

Ah Yuan swung his long leg over the bar, mounted his bicycle, and rode off with a ding-ding-ding.

Seeing him leave, Ruan Ming instinctively wanted to send a message to Ye Fengwan, before remembering her wristband was dead. She hurried to charge it.

…

Ye Family Residence.

Ye Fengwan entered the room with a cup. Ye Jianggui was lying on her side in bed, holding a book to read.

Hearing the footsteps, the person on the bed turned her head. Her delicate nose wrinkled slightly as she sniffed in the direction of the cup.

“What is that? It smells sweet.”

Ye Fengwan placed the cup on the nightstand and took the book from her hands, “Didn’t I tell you not to read lying down? Do you want to go blind?”

Ye Jianggui ignored her nagging, propped herself up to sit, and tilted her head closer to the cup.

“I think you should get tested again; maybe you awakened an olfactory ability,” Ye Fengwan said.

Ye Jianggui looked up at her, “What is it?”

Ye Fengwan adjusted the pillows and helped her sit steadily before handing her the cup, “You just took medicine. Have something sweet.”

Ye Jianggui took the cup. Her left hand gently fanned the air above it, and the fragrance hit her nose.

She took a light sip.

Her usually indifferent expression instantly became animated.

“Organic honey!”

Ye Fengwan raised an eyebrow.

But Ye Jianggui shook her head again, “More than that. This honey is absolutely extraordinary.”

Ye Fengwan clicked her tongue. “I think the high-precision detector in the lab is inferior to your mouth.”

Ye Jianggui looked at her, eyes bright. “You tested it, right? What’s the value?”

Whether organic or edible food, the difference between the top and bottom of each rank was still huge. For example, B-tier edible food had detection values between one thousand and ten thousand. With five thousand as the dividing point, B+ was above five thousand, and B- was below five thousand.

As for A-tier organic food, the current detection range was between ten thousand and one hundred thousand. A+ value was above fifty thousand, and A- value was between ten thousand and fifty thousand.

And Ye Jianggui was now certain that this honey’s grade should be within the A+ range.

Ye Fengwan nodded, “Yes, eighty thousand value.”

Usually, the organic food the Qu family sent had values generally between ten thousand and thirty thousand. Anything exceeding forty thousand was extremely rare, let alone eighty thousand.

Hearing her sister’s words, Ye Jianggui’s eyes lit up. She lowered her head and took a large gulp of the honey water, pressing, “Where did this honey come from?”

Ye Fengwan didn’t answer.

After a long while without hearing an answer, Ye Jianggui finally turned her head.

The two looked at each other for a moment before Ye Jianggui finally averted her gaze.

She drank the entire cup of honey water, put the cup down with satisfaction, and smacked her lips, saying, “I’ll definitely sleep well tonight.”

She was usually cold and rarely showed such a relaxed and happy expression. Ye Fengwan lowered her eyes, unable to bear looking.

“Then sleep well. That honey should last a while. With such good quality, it should be greatly beneficial for your body.”

She helped her lie down and covered her with a blanket.

Then she picked up the cup from the nightstand and left.

After showering and getting into bed, Ye Fengwan noticed her wristband flashing with unread messages. She opened it and saw a message from Ruan Ming.

Ruan Ming: My wristband was dead today, just saw your message. Did Institute Director Ye eat the honey? Does she like it?

Ye Fengwan’s brow relaxed. She replied: She just finished drinking and lay down. She liked it very much. The honey water helps her sleep well. Thank you, Ruan Ming.

This was the first time Ye Fengwan called her by name. Ruan Ming felt a slight stir in her heart and replied: No need to thank me. Compared to the contributions Institute Director Ye has made for the survivors in the base, what I’ve done is insignificant.

These words were equally appreciated by Ye Fengwan. She tapped an app on her wristband linked to Ye Jianggui’s wristband, showing stable breathing and heart rate, indicating a sleeping state.

She took a screenshot and sent the picture: She often suffers from insomnia; she’s almost never had a few truly restful nights. This honey can greatly improve her condition. If it were anyone else, I’d rather exchange credits for it, but because it’s you, I accepted it shamelessly.

In these words, she defined Ruan Ming as one of her own.

Ruan Ming naturally understood. The corners of her mouth curved into a smile. She opened the picture and replied: It’s good as long as it’s useful. You had Ah Yuan bring me so much food, and I also shamelessly accepted it.

Mimicking her way of speaking.

Ye Fengwan smiled warmly: The ribs are raw meat. You don’t have a refrigerator there. Did you eat them?

Ruan Ming hurriedly sent her photos of tonight’s dinner and replied: Made honey-glazed ribs, drizzled with honey. This is the most delicious meal I’ve ever eaten in my life.

There were two photos. One was of the complete dinner table, with two dishes: honey-glazed ribs and boiled green vegetables.

The other was of Little Calico, sitting upright on the floor, her two paws resting on the edge of her small dining table, gnawing on a rib from her little cat bowl.

Ye Fengwan looked at Little Calico’s appearance and almost laughed aloud: The ribs look very tempting; I want some too. But why is there a little piggy head next to it? Its eyes are almost sealed shut.

Ruan Ming laughed: Without it, there would be no honey. So it’s a great hero, and it was even honorably injured. So I rewarded it with half the ribs for dinner.

Ye Fengwan had promised not to inquire about the honey’s source, so Ruan Ming felt no burden teasing Little Calico with her.

Even though Ruan Ming brought it up herself, Ye Fengwan indeed didn’t ask further but instead expressed her concern: Were you hurt?

Ruan Ming replied: No, I wore a protective suit. But those mutated bees were ferocious; the suit got pierced with several holes.

Ye Fengwan recalled Ruan Ming’s size in her mind, estimating what size protective suit she wore, but asked verbally: One person, one cat, one meat dish, one vegetable dish. The other three are accounted for. Where’s the person?

Ruan Ming instantly felt uncomfortable.

Was Ye Fengwan asking her for a picture of herself?

Should she give it or not?

Was it normal for friends to ask each other for photos?

She felt a little nervous and instinctively replied: I’m not good-looking.

Ye Fengwan’s lips curved up: Neither am I.

Ruan Ming bit her lip. She hadn’t seen Ye Fengwan, but among various rumors, although there was much criticism about Ye Fengwan’s abilities, no one dared utter half a word of denial about her beauty.

If she had even one unattractive feature, how could those harsh and sharp-tongued “commentators” let slip an attack on her appearance?

Talking about beauty made Ruan Ming momentarily dazed.

In her memories, there was also a person who deserved the word “peerless.”

She saved her, they had relations, and even now, Ruan Ming couldn’t control herself from thinking about that night.

But they were still strangers, with no further intersection.

She felt a little melancholy but also warned herself to look forward.

Memories should stay in the past.

Seeing Ruan Ming hadn’t replied for a long time, Ye Fengwan asked: Are you worried I’ll pressure you to look at a photo? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do something like that.

Ruan Ming came back to her senses: No, I’m just a bit tired from working in the fields today.

Ye Fengwan’s hand paused. She replied: Then rest early. Chat when you’re free.

Ruan Ming: Okay, good night.