Chapter 162: The Phoenix Chicken

Li Guifen brought her youngest son and, after much hardship and many close calls, finally made it here—only to receive news of Cuntou’s death.

She immediately flew into a rage and started cursing at Chu Peipei.

When she saw Zhao Ping’an, who was on good terms with Chu Peipei, she hurled even more vile insults, saying whatever came to mind.

The old women from the mountains are thick-skinned, and when it comes to cursing, no one can outdo them. If it weren’t for Hu Cuilan from the 15th floor being so fierce, Li Guifen would have chased after Zhao Ping’an to curse her too.

After hearing all this, An Nan couldn’t help but frown. “It’s not like you caused her son’s death. Why is she taking it out on you?”

Chu Peipei sighed softly. “She’s never liked me, so of course she’s going to seize any chance to torment me. Honestly, she just wants an excuse to cling to me, so I’ll have to support her.”

“Support her?”

“Yeah. She insists I’m a loose woman, that I schemed against her son, and stole the Zhang family’s property. She wants me to give it all back.”

An Nan was speechless.

It’s the apocalypse—what property is there to fight over? Even if you had a hundred million in your bank account, it’s just a useless number now.

All the supplies in Chu Peipei’s apartment were painstakingly gathered after the apocalypse. They had nothing to do with the late Cuntou.

An Nan asked, “So what are you planning to do?”

She glanced around the room. There were no signs of anyone else living here. Clearly, Chu Peipei hadn’t let them into the 14th floor.

She might be kind, but she had her boundaries.

If she really let them move in, it would be impossible to say who the supplies belonged to in the future. Over time, it wouldn’t be surprising if they tried to take over completely.

An Nan had seen too many cases like this in her previous life.

Chu Peipei’s thoughts matched hers. “There’s no way I’d let them into the 14th floor. I just gave them the key to their old place, 1301, so they’d have somewhere to stay.

“Jiandong was good to me when he was alive. For his sake, I couldn’t just watch his family die on the streets, so I packed up two boxes of biscuits and a box of water and sent it down to them.

“If they ration it, it should last them a month.”

An Nan nodded. If it were her, she’d probably do the same.

Give them a month’s worth of food to buy some time—after that, they’d have to fend for themselves.

Who can expect someone else to support them forever?

Zhang Xiaobao was about the same age as An Nan. If Li Guifen wanted to rely on someone, it should be her own son, not Chu Peipei.

Chu Peipei went on, “But I didn’t expect them to blow through everything in just five days and come back to ask for more. I tried to talk some sense into them and gave them a bit more, but a few days later, she was back again!”

Chu Peipei had seen through them—they were a bottomless pit of greed.

In the apocalypse, every grain of food and every drop of water is precious, but Li Guifen actually used drinking water to soak Zhang Xiaobao’s feet!

“The worst part is, she actually—she actually…” Chu Peipei trailed off, embarrassed.

An Nan looked at her. “What happened?”

Chu Peipei gritted her teeth. “She actually told me to have a child with Zhang Xiaobao, so the Zhang family line could continue!”

An Nan’s eyes widened. “What?!”

Now she was truly shocked.

Never mind that it’s the apocalypse, with little medicine and high risks—pregnancy could be deadly. Even if it weren’t the apocalypse, how could Chu Peipei have a child with her brother-in-law? That’s just inhuman!

An Nan asked, “So what are you going to do?”

Chu Peipei seemed to have made up her mind. “I already told her I won’t give them anything else. That’s why she’s been cursing me every day in the building and hallways lately!”

An Nan nodded.

Chu Peipei looked at her. “Sorry, Nannan. I dragged you and Fugui into this today. If she says anything nasty to you again, don’t worry about me—teach her a lesson if you have to.”

She paused, then added, “But please, don’t take her life. After all, she’s still Jiandong’s family.”

An Nan nodded, understanding.

She knew what Chu Peipei meant. In the apocalypse, there are a thousand ways to die, but Chu Peipei’s mother-in-law absolutely couldn’t die by her daughter-in-law’s hand.

The two chatted a while longer, when suddenly An Nan heard banging from the second bedroom.

An Nan asked, “What’s that noise?”

Chu Peipei said, “Oh! I got so caught up talking to you, I almost forgot about Laifu!”

She quickly went to open the door.

An Nan remembered too—right, Laifu hadn’t come home yet!

Was all that banging from Laifu?

As soon as Chu Peipei opened the door, a burst of dazzling color shot out and ran straight to An Nan.

An Nan looked closely and was stunned.

This was Laifu??

When she left, Laifu hadn’t fully grown into a rooster yet—he was still in that awkward stage, half down, half feathers.

Now, he was a full-grown rooster, with especially gorgeous plumage. His tail and wings were far more splendid than any ordinary rooster.

At first glance, he almost looked like a phoenix from TV!

Well, not quite as beautiful as a real phoenix, but definitely something between a rooster and a phoenix—a kind of mutant.

Seeing An Nan’s expression, Chu Peipei laughed.

“Surprised? I was too! He’s grown so much faster than my hens. And he’s so smart, it’s like he can understand human speech.”

By now, Laifu was flapping his wings and had hopped onto An Nan’s lap.

She picked him up and saw him nuzzling into her arms, acting all cute, his little eyes darting around.

Chu Peipei watched in amazement. “Wow, this little guy actually recognizes his owner!”

She explained, “He’s not like this with me. He holds his head high and acts all proud. Unless I’m feeding him, he ignores me.”

An Nan studied the beautiful, clever chicken, once again marveling at the magic of the spring water from her space.

She hadn’t expected Laifu to keep growing so well, even without the spiritual spring water lately.

She made a mental note to always use the spring water to raise Fugui and Laifu from now on.

After chatting with Chu Peipei a bit longer, An Nan took Laifu home.

As soon as she walked in, the old rivals—one chicken, one dog—locked eyes again.

Laifu lifted his head, Fugui bared his teeth, and the tension crackled in the air.

An Nan ignored them.

After a long night with nothing to eat, she went into the kitchen to make herself a simple bowl of teriyaki beef rice.

She mixed the sauce the way Gu Zhiyu had taught her, and when it was done, she carried the bowl to the table and took a big spoonful.

Hmm… Why does it taste different?

It wasn’t bad, but compared to Gu Zhiyu’s cooking, it was a far cry.

She frowned and took another bite, thinking to herself, I wonder if Gu Zhiyu’s made it home yet?"