She had just looked at the calendar in the Feng family's main hall. It was the summer of 1975. Given the current situation, she would have to continue living with the Feng family for a while longer, but life would definitely not be easy, and she couldn't eat with peace of mind.
In the eyes of others, she was just the Feng family's daughter, and moreover, an illiterate village girl. So even if she claimed to be knowledgeable, others wouldn't believe her. If she truly displayed it, she would be suspected of having a false identity.
Working in the fields in the village, any knowledge was useless. Sigh! Feng Chuxiao sighed again. Was she going to have to find a job in the city like other transmigration protagonists? That probably wouldn't be so easy.
Let alone having no connections, with her sallow and emaciated appearance, people wouldn't take a liking to her.
Feng Chuxiao picked up a small stone by the river and skipped it on the water, making splashes. Whirring... What should she do?
After a while, she took out a few "True and False Daughter" era novels from her space, wanting to see what her transmigration predecessors did when faced with similar situations.
Although she had read many transmigration novels before, most of them were about transmigrating into an 18th-tier celebrity, a concubine, or a legitimate or illegitimate daughter. She had read relatively few era novels.
Quickly skimming through two or three books, some started with the true daughter returning home, and then either coolly severing ties and going to the countryside, getting married, or engaging in catfights. Whether it was the true or false daughter, one of them was always the author's favored child, seemingly framed everywhere but ultimately holding victory in hand.
There were also cases where the true and false daughters shook hands and made peace, becoming sisters amidst mutual suspicion. She felt this possibility was too small and decided not to read them.
She threw all the books back into her space. None of them offered any reference for her current situation. Forget it, she'd just live like this for now. Anyway, if the Feng family members caused trouble for her, she would beat them soundly.
It just so happened that many people now thought she had gone silly from the fever. So she would just play dumb. This way, she could act recklessly without being blamed.
It was just a pity that her companions from the apocalypse hadn't transmigrated with her. Now she was all alone.
Feng Chuxiao touched her shriveled stomach. She was hungry again, but she didn't want to eat bread anymore. She wanted something warm.
Feng Chuxiao looked around. Where could she start a fire to cook? Her space had one drawback: it could only store things, not living beings.
This was a plain, without mountains, but across the stream was a large forest. That would be a good place. She just didn't know if anyone else was there. No matter, she'd go in and check first.
Feng Chuxiao waded through the stream, which came up to her knees, and reached the other side. Then she walked deeper into the forest. There were no green grasses underfoot; they had probably been pulled up by someone to feed pigs.
Walking all the way, she didn't encounter anyone. Her mood brightened, and she stopped at an empty space about two meters square.
She had wood, a gas tank, and coal in her space, so she never lacked things to cook with. Today, she would use gas to cook. This way, it would be fast and smokeless, and she wouldn't be easily discovered.
After taking everything out, Feng Chuxiao first boiled a pot of hot water and poured it into a thermos. Then she started cooking dried noodles. However, this pot had no eggs and no green vegetables.
This was because after the apocalypse began, all sorts of plants and animals mutated. The rulers of the earth were no longer humans, but everywhere were man-eating plants and beasts hidden deep in the forests. Even if the chickens and ducks laid eggs, they had no ability to obtain them.
Relatively speaking, coming to this world, although life was temporarily unsatisfactory, her safety had the greatest guarantee.
After the dried noodles were cooked, Feng Chuxiao took out a shallow basin and poured the noodles and soup into it. This way, it would cool down faster.
Although she was starving, she first washed the pot clean. After putting the gas stove into her space, she picked up her chopsticks and began to eat.
As she ate, she vigilantly observed her surroundings, making sure not to be discovered.
After eating her fill, Feng Chuxiao was sweating profusely from the heat, but she felt content and comfortable.
However, she still took out two fever-reducing pills from her space and swallowed them directly. She was afraid of falling asleep and waking up back in the apocalypse.
After throwing the basin and chopsticks into her space, she found a long-sleeved shirt and put it on. Then, she zipped up the side of a nearby tree. She didn't lie directly on the branches because it wasn't safe. Instead, she took out a rope and wrapped it around two adjacent branches a few times, creating a simple hammock.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves onto her face. She didn't feel hot at all, just lying in the hammock with her eyes closed.
This body was too weak, caused by both exhaustion and hunger. It needed not only nutritional supplements but also ample rest. Therefore, Feng Chuxiao decided that from now on, she would just eat and sleep, and sleep and eat.
...
Old Feng and his two sons heard that their kitchen had burned down and both returned home.
Seeing how thoroughly the kitchen had burned, the father and his two sons had grim expressions. Rebuilding the kitchen would take at least three to four days, which would delay earning a lot of work points.
First, they had to clear the ashes, push down all the remaining wall stumps, level the entire ground, and then compact the foundation. This task alone would take the three of them a full day.
Building the walls didn't require bricks or adobe. They could directly use straw and mud, then stack it up layer by layer.
Such walls were also very sturdy and kept warm in winter and cool in summer. Moreover, a kitchen didn't need to be very tall, so the walls could be finished in two days. But this required hauling soil from the river; without soil, they couldn't build the walls.
In addition, they needed to prepare the roof beams. They had these at home because they were planning to build two more rooms after the autumn harvest for the eldest son, Feng Tiezhu, to get married.
Then, they needed to prepare wheat stalks, as the roof would be covered with wheat stalks.
"Eldest son, you're back. Our kitchen burned down, and the money I saved was stolen too! Sob... Son..." Old Woman Feng started crying as she spoke.
Feng Daping hadn't expected that the family's money had also been stolen! He anxiously asked, "Mother, when was the money stolen?"
"During the fire."
Then she recounted everything to her son, from the kitchen catching fire to the money being stolen.
Feng Daping was silent for a moment and then asked, "Where is Chuxiao?"
Old Woman Feng shook her head. "I don't know where she ran off to."
"Eldest son, I suspect that dead girl set the fire and stole the money!"
Feng Daping had thought the same thing, which was why he had asked where Feng Chuxiao had gone.
When Feng Tiezhu and Feng Tiedao heard this, they were furious. The family's money was gone; how would they get married and have children? At this moment, they truly wanted to beat Feng Chuxiao to death.
However, they also blamed Old Woman Feng a little. Feng Tiezhu complained, "Grandmother, you're old now, so you shouldn't be in charge of the money anymore. With so much money lost, when will you save enough for me to get married?"
Old Woman Feng felt both sad and pained seeing her eldest grandson blame her. She wiped away her tears and said, "Can you blame me? I wasn't spending the money myself; wasn't it all for you guys!"
Feng Daping also resented his mother in his heart, but he couldn't say it. However, from now on, he would keep the family's money himself. But for now, he needed to find Feng Chuxiao.
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