Pampered By All In Different Planes

Su's mother yelled so hoarsely across the way that she failed to get a response, her excitement causing her to forget to keep her voice down, waking Su's father in the process, who gave her a skeptical look. In the end, it took all kinds of explanations from Su's mother to dispel his suspicions.

On this side, Su Zhiruan had already taken the time while cooking porridge and frying potstickers to wash up, Wen Qingyu hurriedly did the same, and then they sat down to eat face to face.

Soft and sweet millet pumpkin porridge, with a bottom layer of golden, crispy, and savory beef potstickers.

The taste was especially good, and they ate a lot.

"Shall we continue digging the hole together later?" Wen Qingyu glanced at the half-finished project outside.

Chewing on her potsticker, Su Zhiruan swallowed and replied, "Yes, let's keep pushing on today."

After the meal, Wen Qingyu took the initiative to wash the dishes, while Su Zhiruan went upstairs to find tools.

As she looked for tools, she also went up to the third floor to check out the situation outside.

The snow was still falling today.

Although the snowflakes were much smaller than before, they kept falling incessantly, accumulating little by little, leaving only a gap the size of a fingernail on the third floor, through which one could see the outside scene.

After retrieving the tools, Su Zhiruan went back downstairs.

Once Wen Qingyu finished washing the dishes, they began their work.

Digging through the ice was like tunneling. The snow was so deep that what came down was all ice scraps. Even during the day, there was no light here, so they needed a powerful flashlight to illuminate the space.

Soon, the space they had cleared grew larger and was already big enough to accommodate about five people standing outside the door.

Halfway through the digging, Su Zhiruan also checked on the frozen pears.

After freezing for several days, the pears had turned black and seemed ready to eat.

She took two frozen pears back, placing them in warm water to thaw.

"The person you were talking to on the phone this morning, were they your family members?" Wen Qingyu asked her while chipping away at the wall's ice.

"It was my mom, trying every possible way this morning to find out where I am now, then she had a nice dream, dreaming I'd bring her over to feast and cater to her every day," Su Zhiruan said indifferently. She had no affection for her family, even disgust, and just felt sorry for the original host.

"They really don't deserve to be parents," Wen Qingyu sighed, looking at her with a touch of sympathy.

Su Zhiruan nodded in agreement.

Before binding with the system, she had always worked and earned her own money for food and drink. Who knew there could be so many parents in this world who are not good to their children?

Some parents were simply biased in favor of sons over daughters, while others were heartless and twisted in their humanity.

Having done so many tasks to this day, she had seen quite a few oddities. Now, no matter how bizarre the people or situation, she had a certain capacity to accept them.

Faced with such families, most people choose one of two paths.

One is to accept that their parents don't love them as much, but because they lack the ability to strive, they can only live a muddling life.

The other is self-reliance, hoping to change their parents' outdated feudal attitudes with their own efforts, and to gain enough economic stability to provide their children with a better upbringing and avoid a tragic childhood.

The original host died too early; Su Zhiruan didn't know what path she would have taken if she had persevered.

But Su Zhiruan knew, now that she was here, the only path was the latter.

After a morning of ice digging, they were both ravenous.

Around 11 o'clock, Su Zhiruan took two well-prepared large pork knuckles from the fridge, put them in a pot with cooking wine and ginger slices, and cooked them until done.

While cooking, she deliberately controlled the heat to prevent overcooking, aiming for tender skin and flavorful meat.

Then she cooked rice in the rice cooker.

She added some oil to the pan, sautéed onions, carrots, and other vegetables, added the cooked pork knuckles, and tossed until evenly mixed. She then seasoned with soy sauce, dark soy, cooking wine, and other seasonings to add color to the meat.

Finally, she filled a bowl with rice, topped it with the cooked pork knuckle and vegetables, then poured over the sauce.

The enticing, sticky pork knuckle rice was ready to be served.

The taste was exceptional, the sauce was rich, the meat was tender and glutinous, with a generous helping of vegetables and seasonings. Each bite of rice was smothered in the thick sauce, the meat aroma was irresistible, and the knuckle skin was tender and chewy.

Wen Qingyu couldn't stop praising the meal.

"Delicious, truly too scrumptious,"

Having spent so much time in Small World, Su Zhiruan's cooking skills were already good. And now, with nothing else to do at home during the apocalypse, she could only research recipes and think about what to cook next, naturally leading to rapid progress in her culinary skills.