Chapter 47: The Doomsday Artifact ~ Pre-made Meals

After some discussion, the three of them decided to forgive Yang Rongrong, considering there were extenuating circumstances. However, from now on, she would be solely responsible for giving the three of them back massages every evening.

"By the way, just as I mentioned earlier, in just a few short days, eighty percent of the wrinkles on my face have vanished."

Li Siyao leaned her face forward and said to Yang Rongrong, "Take a look and see if I have any wrinkles left!"

After examining Li Siyao's face closely, Yang Rongrong couldn't help feeling secretly astonished.

"What brand of skincare products do you use? Not a single trace of wrinkles—no wait, you're still young, so having no wrinkles is normal!"

Li Siyao smiled and shook her head.

"People from the Dragon Country age very slowly. Someone like you, at forty-three, looking like you're in your late twenties, is practically cheating—no, it's a crime!"

"Even though my heart belongs to the Dragon Country, my body is that of a foreign devil. Foreigners age extremely fast; usually, they only look decent between fifteen and twenty-five."

"Some foreign women reach their peak at twenty-eight, but generally, after twenty-five, they age terribly! Do you know why I look so young, charming, and wrinkle-free?"

Yang Rongrong's eyes widened. No topic could possibly attract her more, not even the arrival of the apocalypse.

pn"Yaoyao, tell me quickly! I'm all ears!"

Li Siyao gave a seductive smile and whispered a few words into Yang Rongrong's ear.

Instantly, Yang Rongrong covered her mouth with both hands, her face full of shock, while her earlobes turned bright red, making her look extremely shy.

"That—that thing has such a function too? How come I've never heard of it?"

Li Siyao shrugged and said, "I suppose only Yang Jie's has that kind of effect!"

Blushing deeply, Yang Rongrong nodded involuntarily. It had only been a few days since she got together with Yang Jie, and she had already unlocked more than a dozen positions.

It seemed she would need to drink a bit more during the evenings from now on.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

At that moment, someone knocked on the room door.

The door opened, and upon seeing who had arrived, Yang Rongrong was dragged away by Cui Huizhu amidst wails of protest.

Training endurance meant continuously pushing beyond the body's limits without rest, otherwise, endurance would never improve.

After washing up, the three of them got out of bed.

Yang Jie began to research the situation of pre-made meals online and called local pre-made meal suppliers, learning that as long as an order exceeded one thousand yuan, delivery would be made the same day.

Before Yang Jie could finish placing his order, a female sales representative called to inform him that the rental apartment had been successfully secured.

Yang Jie immediately took Li Siyao and Zhao Baitong over to check out the rental property, which also provided a convenient opportunity to inspect how the renovation of the duplex suite was coming along.

Upon arriving at the rental apartment, the sales representative was already waiting there.

"Mr. Yang, how does this feel? The properties at Cloud Peak Palace are currently the best residential community in the entire Shanghai. Even when the housing market is sluggish, many people still finish their renovations."

After a careful inspection, Yang Jie nodded involuntarily.

The renovation was indeed complete, though it was of a simple variety. Appliances and furniture were present, but sparse. The entire apartment spanned one hundred and fifty square meters and felt very spacious.

Yang Jie directly paid the amount in full. Seeing the one hundred thousand yuan commission instantly within her grasp, the female sales representative's eyes turned red. This was extra income; her salary for this month would undoubtedly reach fifty to sixty thousand yuan.

At this thought, the way she looked at Yang Jie changed completely.

"Alright, let's leave it at that. If I need any help in the future, I'll give you a call!"

"Certainly, Mr. Yang!"

After dismissing the sales representative, Yang Jie immediately placed his orders and arranged for a cleaning crew to thoroughly scrub the entire apartment from top to bottom.

At the same time, he decided to cook a meal.

When the suppliers delivered the pre-made meals, Yang Jie was utterly dumbfounded. He hadn't placed his order for quantity, but rather ordered a few portions of every single variety, virtually gathering every category available from the local supplier.

Following the instructions, he heated the pre-made meals, cut open the packaging, poured them over rice, and an intoxicating fragrance immediately filled the air.

Taking a spoonful of the rice and dishes into his mouth and chewing carefully, Yang Jie closed his eyes.

The taste was exquisite, fresh, delicious, combining wonderful color, aroma, and flavor, leaving a lingering aftertaste that kept one wanting more.

Meanwhile, Li Siyao and Zhao Baitong were already devouring the food with gusto, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"Hey, hey, hey! Just taste a little bit, there are still plenty of other dishes!"

With that, Yang Jie began sampling the dishes one by one, tossing aside the ones he disliked and directly noting down the names of the ones he favored.

Finally, he consolidated the flavor preferences of all three of them.

There were dozens of varieties, including Taiwanese braised pork rice, shredded pork in garlic sauce, potatoes with beef, stir-fried beef slices, preserved mustard greens with pork, braised pork belly, cumin pork slices, and many more.

Most of these came in two-hundred-gram individual portions, while others were commercial-sized, shaped like bricks and weighing around one kilogram each. Once heated, a single package could satisfy a meal for five people.

Even more exaggerated were the five-kilogram and ten-kilogram bulk packs meant for cafeterias!

These were merely the dishes themselves. Next, Yang Jie wanted to sample noodle toppings, such as braised beef, braised beef offal, minced meat sauce, spicy beef, thick-cut pork chop, Beijing-style fried bean paste, pickled mustard greens with shredded pork, and golden mushroom soup—a grand total of over a dozen varieties of noodles.

By the time he finished tasting everything, Yang Jie was completely dumbfounded. The sheer variety and incredible flavor were simply unbeatable.

He could tolerate pre-made dishes and noodle toppings, but even braised delicacies were available. For instance, if you wanted duck leg rice, the duck leg came fully prepared; you just had to heat it and open the package. It was practically ultimate gourmet food for the apocalypse.

Aside from these, there were also popcorn chicken, chicken wing tips, pizzas, french fries, and the like. As long as one acquired a deep fryer costing a little over a hundred yuan along with some shortening, junk food could easily be enjoyed right at home.

After tasting every single item, the three of them looked at each other, their eyes filled with shock and astonishment.

"Has domestic development really become this awesome?"

Yang Jie marveled. With just a little inattention, it was virtually impossible to tell the difference between freshly cooked dishes and pre-made meals. Compared to pre-made food, canned goods were weak beyond comparison!

"What do the two of you think?"

Li Siyao nodded. "I agree to procure as much as possible. This stuff goes great with rice and tastes way better than canned food!"

Zhao Baitong wiped her oily little mouth and spoke.

"Generally speaking, canned goods and pre-made meals each have their own pros and cons."

Curious, Yang Jie asked, "Let's hear it!"

Zhao Baitong explained, "Canned food has very few requirements for storage environment. Even with the rising temperatures you mentioned, it shouldn't pose much of a problem, and if worse comes to worst, they can be stored in a basement. The downside is that the flavor is monotonous and not particularly tasty."

"The advantage of pre-made meals is that their taste is exceptionally good, easily rivaling freshly stir-fried dishes. The disadvantage is also very obvious: poor shelf life. They must be kept at minus eighteen degrees Celsius, which poses a huge challenge for storage conditions."

"I think we've already stored enough canned food to last a lifetime, but we haven't stored any pre-made meals at all. It will be troublesome if we get tired of eating canned food in the future!"

Yang Jie nodded. "I checked. Due to the rapid development of the pre-made food industry domestically, there are at least a dozen pre-made meal factories around Shanghai. Judging by their hygiene standards and procurement channels, they're quite decent. I plan to sweep up all their inventory."

Zhao Baitong nodded in agreement.

"Let's get it done quickly. The longer we wait, the more passive our position becomes!"

Yang Jie nodded and prepared to leave, but Zhao Baitong grabbed him by the arm.

"Then what are we going to do for the next few days?"