I transformed into a cute girl and lived a carefree life in the apocalypse.

.............

Lunar New Year's Eve holds no less significance in the hearts of the Chinese people than Lunar New Year's Day. The atmosphere in the entire city of Bei'an is already in full swing, with crowds thronging the streets and various colors of red representing joy and celebration adorning the roads.

This atmosphere finally managed to dispel most of the grief brought about by the passing of the Chinese marshal.

The New Year is all about a fresh start; we can't live in the past, we must always look forward.

Bei'an City, Department Store Avenue.

This place is famous for its wide variety of goods; it has everything. Although it's just one street, it's just as popular as some large shopping malls. It's basically the first choice for everyone when buying New Year's goods.

Yan Ziming and Liu Mengxian walked through the bustling streets, attracting attention.

Yan Ziming put a scarf around her neck, and her temperament changed instantly. She looked so cute and adorable that no one would recognize her unless they looked closely.

But Liu Mengxian's appearance was too striking.

It's not that she was conspicuous wearing a cheongsam; after all, this is Bei'an, and it's quite common for some wealthy and powerful people to wear cheongsams. But it also depends on who is wearing the cheongsam.

"Everyone's watching you, Xian'er," Yan Ziming teased.

"So what?" Liu Mengxian smiled. "Of all the lights in the world, I'm content if just one of them shines for me."

"Right."

Yan Ziming agreed and led Liu Mengxian into the department store avenue to buy New Year's goods.

This is when Yan Zimo's superb household management skills were truly demonstrated.

For example, Yan Ziming has his eye on a ginseng that looks good and appealing. While negotiating with the shopkeeper, he asks, "Sir, how much is this ginseng?"

"No, no, little girl, this is not for sale; it's just on display."

"Hey~~Isn't it meant to be sold? Two Grade A crystal cores, is that alright? It's the last day of the year, out with the old, in with the new, right?"

"Uh..." The boss was tempted. Two Grade A crystal cores, equivalent to more than 500,000 yuan, would be a perfect ending to this year's business if they succeeded.

"Three."

"Just two pieces, and they're already way above the normal price."

"That's fine."

"Alright! Deal!"

Yan Ziming's skill in managing a household is—to throw money at it!

She used to be very poor, but now she's a very wealthy woman, and she can afford to spend every penny she needs.

Even if she eventually returns to poverty, a ninth-tier expert can easily become rich overnight by 'plundering' a bunch of people, so she won't have any problem with being short of money.

Later, Yan Ziming bought chicken, duck, goose and other main ingredients, as well as some ordinary snacks, filling her rented shopping cart to the brim.

Whenever she bargained, Liu Mengxian would stand aside without saying a word, naturally becoming the object of everyone's attention.

Wherever they went, business boomed, and shops offered them many discounts, which was an unexpected bonus.

"Xian'er, is there anything you'd like to eat? I'm going to be making a Manchu Han Imperial Feast for New Year's Eve dinner~~"

On the way, Yan Ziming looked at the list of "things I want to eat most on New Year's Eve" that Ye Qianxue had made for her earlier. It included roast chicken, roast pigeon, roast duck, rice crackers, cherries, her older sister's ** and so on, with dozens of items. Thinking that he couldn't buy everything Ye Qianxue wanted to eat, he asked Liu Mengxian what food she liked.

—To win someone over, start with their stomach.

Yan Ziming was still harboring such thoughts in his heart.

When asked about her favorite foods, Liu Mengxian didn't have much of an impression.

It is often said that immortals feed on morning dew. Although Liu Mengxian is not an immortal, she is close to it, belonging to the kind of person who is pure of heart and has few desires.

However, if she had to choose a snack, there was one she really wanted to eat, so she said, "Lotus seeds."

"Lotus seeds?" Yan Ziming was taken aback by the fact that this was a completely unfamiliar ingredient, but then she remembered something that matched her description.

"Lotus seeds... are those little grains inside the lotus pod?"

"Yes, I peeled one by the pond and tasted it before. It was sweet and tasted good."

"..."

Yan Zimo was stumped. In this day and age, where could one find lotus seeds?

The lotus seedpod—the receptacle of the lotus flower—has honeycomb-like holes inside, where the individual seeds are located.

That stuff is indeed quite delicious. Yan Ziming had eaten it before, but that was many years ago. Now it's the apocalypse, where can he get lotus seeds for Liu Mengxian to eat?

"If you don't have it, there's no need to force it."

Seeing her like this, Liu Mengxian smiled gently, pointed to a roadside stall, and said, "That one looks quite similar to lotus seeds, let's go with that one."

Yan Ziming followed her gaze.

"Takoyaki..." Yan Ziming's lips twitched.

They're not similar at all! Don't assume that just because they're both round, you can force a connection between them!

Despite the initial outburst of complaints, I felt mostly frustrated.

On New Year's Eve, we couldn't even get Xian'er the only thing she wanted to eat. That was such a failure.

"Fine......"

While saying this, Yan Ziming was thinking that perhaps he could try his luck at some high-end places.

3. This is what is called...

Yan Ziming led Liu Mengxian to the takoyaki stall, held up two fingers, and said:

"Boss, two orders of takoyaki, remember to add extra takoyaki, extra, understand?"

Perhaps intimidated by Yan Ziming's powerful aura, or perhaps stunned by the beauty beside her, the shopkeeper abandoned his plan to leave out the octopus and reluctantly added one to each...

"Um--?!"

Yan Ziming's gaze suddenly sharpened several times over, and the boss felt a chill in his heart, as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.

"Yes, yes, I just accidentally slipped..."

The shopkeeper, sweating profusely, hurriedly added a dozen or so more takoyaki to each of them, until the entire takoyaki was almost completely filled, before Yan Ziming nodded in satisfaction.

Hmm, that's more like it!

Do you think I don't know your little tricks?

Having been ripped off countless times before, Yan Ziming naturally knew that in China, takoyaki doesn't contain octopus, beef noodles don't contain beef, wallets are always empty, and even wife cakes don't have wives on them...

These are the consensuses of all the people of China.

Hey uncle, you're still so stingy even though I'm such a cute and adorable girl and Xian'er is such a beautiful beauty. No wonder you're still single!

Yan Ziming could tell at a glance that the man in front of her, who was in his early twenties, was a bachelor and had never even held a girl's hand!

Don't ask her how she knew; it was all from tears.

"It's thirty yuan in total, but I'll give you a 20% discount, so I'll just charge you twenty-five."

"......" Boss, your math skills are terrible.

However, Yan Ziming was too lazy to argue about the one yuan; he just considered it as rounding up the bill!

With that thought in mind, Yan Ziming, under the astonished gaze of the shopkeeper, put down a twenty-yuan RMB note and left with Liu Mengxian in a dashing manner.

What? Didn't you say 'I don't care, I'll just round it off'?

Yan Ziming: No problem, twenty is just a round number! Don't worry about it so much.

Besides, although there is only a one dollar difference between twenty-four and twenty-five, when rounded up, that's a hundred million!

As the head of the household who manages the family's finances, how could Yan Zimo tolerate such waste?

The shopkeeper took a while to come to his senses. He picked up the twenty-yuan note and sighed, "These young girls nowadays are really hard to fool. But why does she look so familiar..."

After saying that, he put the banknotes into his cash box and earned fifteen yuan with tears in his eyes.

............

"Xian'er, don't eat yet, let's go somewhere."

Pressing down Liu Mengxian's hand as she was about to start eating, and with Liu Mengxian's compliant gaze, Yan Ziming led her away from the department store avenue and headed to a place quite different from the ordinary neighborhood.

——Jinliufang

Jinliufang is a street jointly created by wealthy families in Bei'an City. The prices of the items sold there are many times higher than elsewhere, and the quality is naturally also higher. In addition, there are places such as jade gambling and auctions, which are generally places that ordinary people cannot have much contact with.

Yan Ziming came here for only one purpose—lotus seeds.

She refused to believe that she couldn't buy these things here, since some wealthy families liked to eat things that were usually unavailable. She thought she might be able to find some of them here.

In short, Yan Ziming is determined to get these lotus seeds today!

Xian'er doesn't have many things she wants to eat, and it's rare for her to have such a wish. If even this small request can't be fulfilled, she might as well go home, wash up, and go to sleep!

Upon entering Jinliufang, Yan Ziming immediately noticed the difference between it and the Department Store Avenue.

Compared to the department store avenue, although this place is also bustling with people, the atmosphere here is more tranquil, yet still festive.

Moreover, the artistic conception should be elevated to a higher level.