"Whatever you need, just say the word. Uncle will make it happen." Seeing Tang Mo push the card away again, Wen Jianshu knew she was determined not to accept it, so he picked it up and pressed it into Lin Yi's hand.
"First, I'd like you to reinforce our family's supermarket and install the sturdiest fingerprint-activated security door. And while you're at it, please take down the supermarket sign. We won't be operating it anymore, but it's the home where I grew up. Mom and I won't be living here anymore, so I want to make sure it's properly protected."
Tang Mo's family home was a small, two-story building. The first floor was a supermarket, and the second had two bedrooms. Having been born and raised there, her attachment to the place was naturally profound.
But she was the only one who knew her most important reason for reinforcing the supermarket: to safeguard its contents for her mother.
The goods in the supermarket didn't seem particularly valuable now, but after the apocalypse arrived, they would become an enormous fortune.
Countless people had starved to death in the first six months of the apocalypse, and she couldn't bet on Wen Jianshu treating her mother well forever.
'If they really do separate one day, at least Mom will have a fallback. She can return to the reinforced house and live off the supermarket's stock. She could last a long time without even going outside—long enough for me to get out of school.'
Taking down the supermarket sign was another measure to protect the supplies. Just in case. She knew better than anyone how obsessed people became with food during the apocalypse.
"Alright. Uncle promises. I'll make sure your supermarket is well-protected."
"My second request is… Uncle, can you help me get a good knife? An unregulated one would be fine, too."
Tang Mo spoke cryptically, but her meaning was clear: she wanted to use Wen Jianshu's connections to get a high-quality, restricted blade that couldn't be bought on the open market.
She was confident Wen Jianshu would understand.
"It's always been just me and Mom living here… If we had a knife like that, it would feel like someone was always here, protecting us…"
Tang Mo lowered her head slightly.
She was tactful, knowing when to be firm and when to feign weakness. Tang Mo understood the simplest ways to get what she wanted.
Her words made both Wen Jianshu's and Lin Yi's eyes well up. This child must have felt so vulnerable and insecure all these years to have thought up such a way to protect herself and her mother.
'It really has been hard on Lin Yi all these years,' Wen Jianshu thought. 'From now on, I have to protect her. I'll never let her live such an insecure life again.'
Wen Jianshu's gaze on Lin Yi grew even more tender. Lin Yi, however, got up and sat beside her daughter, clasping Tang Mo's hand tightly.
Feeling the warmth from her mother's palm, Tang Mo, who had only been acting, now genuinely felt tears welling up.
Good knives were hard to come by. The ones available on the market were of mediocre quality, and she couldn't afford the better ones.
For the next six months at school, she would need something for self-defense, and after that, she would have to face the ever-present mutant beasts. She desperately needed a good blade.
Although she had fabricated the reason for needing the knife, her emotions were real. The fear she'd felt over the years, trembling alone at home—that was all true.
To Wen Jianshu, Tang Mo's requests were trivial, so he agreed at once, promising to handle them properly.
Wen Jianshu, of course, understood that the young girl before him was not as fragile and helpless as she appeared. She had other plans for the knife.
But from his interactions with her, he could tell that Tang Mo was not a reckless child.
Besides, after her emotional plea, he couldn't find it in his heart to deny the girl's request.
The three of them finished their meal together. Wen Jianshu then left reluctantly, agreeing to return the next day to pick up the mother and daughter and take them to his villa after they had finished packing.
The next few days flew by. Tang Mo moved with her mother into Wen Jianshu's villa. To Tang Mo's relief, Wen Jianshu had been living alone for a long time, so her mother wouldn't have to deal with any complicated family relationships.
'She knew her mother, after all. Gentle on the outside, but with a will of steel underneath. How else could she have raised me so well all on her own?'
Tang Mo's room was on the second floor of the villa, decorated in an elegant, light blue that perfectly suited her tastes. It was obvious Wen Jianshu had consulted Mrs. Lin and designed it with great care.
The bed was made with fresh linens, and the bathroom was fully stocked with toiletries. It was completely move-in ready.