She patted her forehead and recalled that she had promised Wen Ling to give her a strawberry cake.
"Alas -" Lin Qingqing sighed. Wen Ling's birthday was in June, but it's already July. Last month, for the whole month, another "Lin Qingqing" controlled her body, and "she" would not think about celebrating Wen Ling's birthday.
"If I send a replacement now, I don't know if it's too late..."
Lin Qingqing touched her nose guiltily, then thought about it and parked the car in front of the cake shop.
The glass door of the cake shop had been smashed. Lin Qingqing walked through the broken pieces and saw a mess inside.
She walked straight to the back kitchen, which was also a mess, with pots and pans scattered everywhere.
After rummaging for a long time, Lin Qingqing finally found a small half bag of flour in the corner, two boxes of milk that had not yet been opened, and some small candies for decoration.
The flour can still be used, the milk...it's exactly one week past the expiration date, but the candies are still well packaged.
"well--"
Holding these things, Lin Qingqing sighed again: "It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice~".
Although this birthday was already late, she still planned to give Wen Ling a cake.
After grabbing her things and driving her car, Lin Qingqing started looking for materials everywhere in Lishui Town.
Although the zombies in the whole town are not a threat to her, the materials needed to make the cake are really hard to find.
It took her half a day, after rummaging through countless food stores, to finally find the last thing.
Returning to the cake shop again, Lin Qingqing took a bunch of miscellaneous things into the kitchen.
The flour was found in another snack bar, and the sugar and condiments were from various convenience stores. Eggs were a no-brainer. They couldn't have been stored until now. There were no fruits, but she did find some dried fruits.
As for the most important strawberries, Lin Qingqing drove directly to their "small vault". She clearly remembered that there were two bottles of canned strawberries in it.
Everything was ready. Looking at the pile of materials in front of her, Lin Qingqing suddenly thought of a key question - there is no electricity in the doomsday. How to bake things without electricity?
"Gotta~ have to run again."
This time she didn't wander around, but searched purposefully in banks, construction sites, schools, etc. She didn't believe it. She tried her best in Lishui Town but still couldn't make a cake.
After a long search, Lin Qingqing's efforts paid off. She finally found a working diesel generator in a bank warehouse.
She moved the generator back to the cake shop and connected it to the oven.
The generator suddenly started working, and now I could finally start making cakes.
The materials are limited, so Lin Qingqing is very cautious. This is the first time she has made a birthday cake without eggs and butter, and she doesn't know if she can succeed.
After handling various materials, Lin Qingqing took out a 6-inch cake mold, greased it with oil and sprinkled it with a thin layer of flour, then poured the mixed batter into the mold, and shook it gently to make the batter smooth.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, then carefully place the mold in. Bake for 20 minutes, adjusting the temperature twice in the middle.
Lin Qingqing stared at the oven nervously until a "ding" sound was heard. Then she took a deep breath and reached out to open the oven.
The moment the oven was turned on, a sweet smell hit her nose. She added condensed milk and vanilla extract. The two flavors were mixed together, giving it a long-lost familiar feeling.
"It should be a success."
Lin Qingqing took out the baked cake and carefully took off the mold.
Under the golden skin, there is a pale white soft cake body. Although it does not have the unique sweet aroma of eggs and butter, it is still fragrant and delicious.
"Done! Now comes the decoration."
Lin Qingqing found a tray, divided the cake into two, and sandwiched a layer of whipped cream and strawberry jam made from canned strawberries in the middle. Then put the eggs
Spread cream evenly on the surface of the cake, decorate it with the remaining strawberries, sprinkle with chopped nuts and small candies, and finally write the words "Happy Birthday" with chocolate sauce.
"Little Lingdang must be over fourteen years old, right?"
Lin Qingqing packed the cake in a box and tied it with a beautiful ribbon. Lin Qingqing counted 14 more colorful candles and put on a matching birthday hat and small fireworks.
Then she breathed a sigh of relief and left the cake shop with the cake.
In order to make this cake, she spent a whole day in Lishui Town. By the time she hit the road again, she was already tired.
Lin Qingqing used her powers to protect the cake, and then drove to the Xiangcheng base overnight.
When they almost arrived at the base, it was already early the next morning. In order to give Wen Ling a surprise, she waited until the morning to enter the base.
"Tuk~Tuk~Tuk~"
Early in the morning, while everyone was still sleeping, a crisp knock on the door suddenly rang.
"Who is it? Knocking on the door so early?" Isn't this disturbing someone's dream...
Qu Xingchi muttered, put on his clothes, put on his slippers, and opened the door while yawning.
! ! !
"You, you, you are...captain?"
Seeing the people outside the door, Qu Xingchi suddenly became excited. He rubbed his eyes and couldn't believe how Lin Qingqing came back suddenly.
"If it's not me, who else could it be?"
Lin Qingqing looked at him with a funny expression and said: "What? You don't welcome me back?"
"No, no!" Qu Xingchi shook his head quickly.
"Come in quickly!"
He quickly opened the door to let Lin Qingqing in, then turned and shouted inside: "Everyone, get up quickly! The captain is back!!!"
"Get up! The captain is home!"
"What? The captain is back?"
"Captain? Where?"
"Where?"
...
Everyone woke up after Qu Xingchi's loud voice. They rushed downstairs as fast as they could and trotted to the door.
"team leader?"
"It's really captain!"
"Is this our former... captain?"
...
Seeing the chirping of the team members, Lin Qingqing smiled slightly: "How come we haven't seen each other for a few days and everyone doesn't recognize me?"
"Minmin, Xiaolingdang, Qu Xingchi, Yaxiu, and Cheng Xiaohe?"
She counted them one by one, and then her eyes fell on Wen Ling.
The little girl has been following them for almost half a year and has grown a lot taller than when they first met.
"Happy birthday, little bell! I'm sorry I forgot to celebrate your birthday before."
With that said, Lin Qingqing handed the cake in her hand to Wen Ling.
Wen Ling took a square box in a daze, and the next moment she smelled a sweet smell of cream, mixed with a hint of the familiar strawberry fragrance, which hit her nostrils.
"F-strawberry cake?" Wen Ling was stunned.
She hugged the cake box in confusion, and then memories came flooding back:
"By the way, little bell, when is your birthday?"
"Coming soon, June will be fourteen!"
"Is there any gift you want for your birthday?"
"I...want to eat cake!"
"Cake? What flavor do you like?"
"Strawberry flavor?"
"Okay, then strawberry cake!"
...
"Woooooooo~~ Captain, it's really you!" Wen Ling cried loudly and threw herself into Lin Qingqing's arms.
"Hey, be careful with the cake! I put a lot of effort into making this!"
Lin Qingqing was startled by Wen Ling, and quickly stretched out one hand to pick up the cake box, and then
Then he used his other hand to hold the little girl's back.
After coaxing the little girl to stop crying, Lin Qingqing took her hand into the living room.
Seeing everyone's curious and anxious expressions, Lin Qingqing put the cake box on the table and said, "I owed Little Bell a birthday before, so I'll make it up to you today, okay?"
"Yeah~" Wen Ling hugged Lin Qingqing's arm and refused to let go, and responded softly.
Next, amidst the sound of blessings, Wen Ling put a small crown on her head, made a wish seriously, and then blew out 14 birthday candles in one breath.
"Happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday little bell~"
After a burst of cheers, everyone turned their attention to the birthday cake on the table.
The cake looks like it was made by yourself. The soft cake base is wrapped in snow-white cream and decorated with strawberries, nuts and sugar. Although not exquisite enough, it is precious.
And they haven't seen this thing for more than half a year... They are very curious about how the captain did it, even finding strawberries and cream.
"What are you still doing? Eat!"
Lin Qingqing cut the cake, handed one piece to Wen Ling first, and then divided the rest equally.
The sweet and soft taste spreads in the mouth, gently soothing every taste bud. The cream is wrapped with traces of strawberry jam, sweet and slightly sour. Although the cake tastes a bit different from what I remember, it is still amazing enough.
"Captain, where did you get it from?"
Lei Min reluctantly took a small bite and put it into his mouth, then narrowed his eyes with happiness on his face.
"Lishui Town, there is a cake shop there. I searched all over the town to find such an ingredient."
Lin Qingqing said it easily, but everyone knew that this was definitely not an easy task. Not to mention the patience and perseverance in finding materials, few people dared to rummage through the entire town so blatantly based on their strength alone. And just to find a few ingredients for making cakes.
"Captain, are you already at level four now?" Lei Min asked tentatively.
She remembered that Lin Qingqing was only at the third level when she left. She had only been out for less than ten days. Could it be that the other personality had already been solved?
"No." Lin Qingqing shook her head: "I'm done now!"
No one spoke for a while.
"Ahem~ You... are lying, right?"
Lei Min opened his mouth in surprise, and it took him a long time to find his voice.
"What did I lie to you for?"
Lin Qingqing raised her fingers and gently closed her chin: "I'm really done. I just got promoted the day before yesterday."
"What about the other you?"
"No, I was killed." Lin Qingqing said with a smile.
