Lin Xiaobao’s joking words—no one took them to heart. After all, Wan Feng was Wan Decai’s cousin. How could she go on a blind date with him? If they really married, in the future she’d have to see the Wan family all the time, lowering her head and looking up—awkward, wasn’t it?
“Little imp, you’re clever beyond your years. What do you know about marrying and taking wives?” Lin Cui pinched her nephew’s cheek, laughing at his childish nonsense.
“Then forget it.” Lin Xiaobao shook his head and went back to playing with mud, muttering under his breath, “Then I won’t get to eat wild boar meat.”
So it was all for the food. The several adults couldn’t help but laugh.
Early summer weather was changeable. It had been clear during the day, but in the middle of the night, a fine, patteringly drizzle began to fall. Lin Cui lay in bed without sleeping. Instead, she thought of the evening’s family conversation—one moment Accountant Zhao, the next Educated Youth He. Because of her little nephew’s joking remark, a tall figure even appeared in her mind.
The many thoughts in her head were dampened by early summer’s lingering fine rain. Little puddles gathered beneath the eaves. The raindrops dripping from the eaves splashed into small bursts of water.
The rain stopped and the wind softened. A slit cracked open in the clearing sky, as if brilliant golden light were struggling out. Radiance spilled onto the loudspeaker on the utility pole at the brigade headquarters. Brigade Leader Sun Weiguo’s voice, announcing that commune members should go to the brigade headquarters for a meeting and a speech, drifted out—not quite clear.
Right. This plot existed in the novel.
Lin Cui vaguely remembered that in the book, she seemed to have gone mad and been possessed, vowing to oppose the Wan family. After the broken engagement, she’d caused several scenes at the Wan family. Later, at the brigade meeting where the brigade leader invited Wan Decai and his two comrades to give speeches, she’d thrown a hysterical fit, disrupting the meeting. In the end, the meeting was forced to stop, and she suffered either consolation or accusations from everyone. Her reputation plummeted even further, so much so that afterward no one dared introduce her to a partner or a job.
“Cuicui, go listen to that speech with your second brother and the others.” Song Chunhua called her daughter to go. These were young people’s matters. She couldn’t be bothered to attend.
“Mother, I’m not going either.” Lin Cui didn’t want to set foot in a place where important plot developments occurred in the book—especially when they involved her.
Song Chunhua figured her daughter wasn’t feeling well and didn’t force her. She sent the younger ones in the family out and rested in the house herself.
The commune’s work-point tasks were heavy. There was one rest day every week, but during busy farming seasons there was no rest—everyone had to work overtime. Lately, the tasks were lighter. Every Sunday, people could move about freely.
“Cuicui, not feeling well again?” Song Chunhua scooped half a spoonful of white sugar into a porcelain bowl, poured in more than half a bowl of hot water to dissolve it, and after blowing it half-cool, brought it to the child. “Drink some sugar water to sweeten your mouth.”
Her daughter had suffered since birth, constantly ill since childhood. As a mother, that was the hardest thing. There weren’t many good things in the village. This sugar water was the best.
Since her awakening, Lin Cui’s body hadn’t really felt unwell. It was only then that she understood—her frail health from childhood to adulthood had all been because she’d transmigrated into the book in the womb and had never fully merged.
“Mother, I’m fine. My body’s good.” Though she said this, Lin Cui was still urged by her mother to drink half a bowl of sugar water. Sweet and delightful, it filled her heart. “Mother, I can’t drink anymore. You drink it quickly.”
Song Chunhua never drank these good things. Whatever there was, she gave wholeheartedly to the children. Now, urged by Lin Cui and fed to her lips, she could only sweeten her mouth—and sweeten her heart.
“Your body really needs proper care. Mother previously thought Wan Decai had prospects. Marrying him, you wouldn’t go hungry or cold. Who’d have thought…” Song Chunhua truly hadn’t expected that Wan Guangfa and his wife had arranged the betrothal without even notifying Wan Decai. “This time we have to choose carefully. The requirements can’t be too low. Otherwise, it’s better to stay home. Your father and mother and your brothers can support you for a lifetime.”
If their daughter married someone useless and had to work in the fields every day, exposed to sun and rain, how long could she last? Her body would collapse sooner or later.
“Mother, I know what I’m doing.” Lin Cui blinked. She was just about to say something more when she heard second brother Lin Wei’s voice from outside.
“Cuicui, Uncle Weiguo wants you to come help with some meeting records. The clerk’s education level isn’t high. He can’t write many characters and is about to scratch his head bald.” Lin Wei brought the message back and stood at the door calling for her.
“I’m not going.” Lin Cui figured that was where important plot developments happened. Better to keep her distance.
Lin Wei: “Uncle Weiguo says it counts as ten work points for you.”
“Then wait for me.” Being able to earn ten work points for the family was great. Lin Cui set off with her second brother, thinking—what was so scary about plot? Nothing was as fragrant as work points.
A dense mass of heads crowded together. Over a hundred people filled the brigade headquarters’ already small empty grain warehouse, spilling all the way out into the courtyard.
At the front, Wan Decai and his comrades He Menghua and He Changqing were recounting their army stories. At the exciting parts, at the moving parts, the hall was filled with cheers.
Only the clerk, with just an elementary school education, suffered. Encountering difficult characters and words, he could only scratch his ears and cheeks. Homophones and pinyin filled a whole basket—truly an eyesore.
Wan Feng, who had been invited repeatedly by the brigade leader, stood in the corner and watched for a while. He was rather bored and unmoved. The book’s male lead Wan Decai’s impassioned rhetoric wasn’t interesting. The clerk’s ear-scratching was equally uninteresting. What was most tiresome was the endless stream of inquiries—some direct, some veiled—from the enthusiastic widows and elders with marriageable-age family members who kept gathering around him.
The only interesting thing was the farce that occurred during this collective speech in the novel. Wan Decai’s former fiancée, Lin Cui, whose engagement he’d broken, should be about to come make a scene, throw a hysterical fit. Her combat power when fierce was quite astonishing.
It was just that for some reason, Wan Feng swept the whole scene hurriedly and didn’t see that woman, didn’t see those eyes.
Leaving the crowded warehouse, Wan Feng ran head-on into a bustling auntie. When she saw him, her voice rose even higher.
“Wan Feng! Where are you going? Not listening to the speech?” Zhao Hongmei, who had rushed back after delivering something to her mother’s family, hadn’t even put down her back basket before coming to hear the speech.
“Mm. Not very interesting. Came out for some air.” Only when he heard her speak did Wan Feng remember—this was the matchmaker who had been arranging blind dates for people everywhere on the day the wild boar meat was distributed.
At this moment, seeing Wan Feng, Zhao Hongmei’s eyes lit up fiercely. Sizing him up and down, she felt more and more that this was an excellent prospect—he had tremendous advantages in the marriage market.
His height of about 1.9 meters made him stand out like a crane among chickens. His build was sturdy, full of muscle. His strength was simply too great. A man like this, placed in the countryside—what woman wouldn’t like him?
Especially since this face was also exceptionally handsome, with sharp, distinct angles. Truly attractive.
Mulling over Lin Cui’s criteria for a partner, Aunt Hongmei had an idea: “Wan Feng, you’ve been back in the team for a while now. Do you want to find a wife? Auntie tells you—people have to start a family. Otherwise, you living alone in that house, what kind of life is that?”
Earlier she’d heard that Wan Guangfa and his wife intended to introduce a partner to this own nephew, but the man refused without a second word. Young people couldn’t think things through.
Aunt Hongmei figured it would take a good deal of talking to persuade him. But who would have thought—just as she was about to continue, her words were blocked in her throat by Wan Feng’s reply.
“Sure.” Wan Feng didn’t seem like he was looking for a partner, but rather a roommate to share life with. “Then Aunt Hongmei, help me take a look.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! Auntie does exactly this! Tell me, what kind of wife do you want?” Aunt Hongmei felt from the bottom of her heart that Wan Feng and Lin Cui were quite a match. But first she had to hear what Wan Feng thought.
In the apocalypse, zombies ran rampant. After humans established a new order, scheming and double-dealing were endless. Many people formed teams to survive. Wan Feng pondered for a moment. Finding a partner to settle things once and for all—saving himself from being stared at, pestered, and disturbed—should be a good method.
As for what kind of partner to find, Wan Feng thought of the requirements for partners in the apocalypse. Lowering his eyes, he also recalled the plot in the novel. He said in a deep voice: “I want to find someone with strong combat ability. Not too delicate. Someone who can be fierce.”
Combat ability was the first criterion for survival in the apocalypse.
Aunt Hongmei, who had just been about to bring up Lin Cui to Wan Feng: “…”
Forget it. Cuicui was famously the gentlest, most good-tempered girl in the team.
Who would have thought—Wan Feng actually liked little firecrackers! This partner criterion was completely the opposite of Cuicui’s. Alas.
Unwilling to give up, Aunt Hongmei’s lips moved soundlessly. She hesitated over whether to urge Wan Feng to reconsider a gentle little wife. As she spoke, she was about to take off her back basket but it got stuck on something heavy: “Wan Feng, help Auntie take off this back basket. My mother stuffed several pumpkins and about ten ears of corn in it. It’s heavy.”
“Mm.” Since someone was asking a favor, Wan Feng naturally understood equivalent exchange. But as he casually gripped the back basket, an accident arrived unexpectedly.
The weight behind him instantly turned to nothing. Aunt Hongmei turned back and stared blankly at the back basket shattered into pieces on the ground. This—this…
“Aunt Hongmei, I’ll compensate you with a new back basket.” Wan Feng’s brows and eyes darkened slightly. He gathered dissatisfaction with himself for still not being able to control his strength after coming to this world.
“Ke ke.” Seeing Wan Feng so polite, Zhao Hongmei naturally couldn’t say anything more. But she’d never in her life seen someone with such great strength. Her original intention to match Wan Feng and Lin Cui instantly faded.
After all, Cuicui was famously frail. With that small, weak body, how could she withstand a man like Wan Feng?
Forget it, forget it.
……
At the speech meeting, the atmosphere up front was lively, and the back was equally stirred with springtime restlessness.
Ever since he’d single-handedly dragged two wild boars down the mountain and won the whole team the benefit of eating meat, Wan Feng had thoroughly made a name for himself.
During the time he’d turned back to listen to the speech again, four or five young girls frequently cast amorous glances. The bolder Widow Zhou even tried to squeeze through the crowd to press close to Wan Feng.
Unfortunately, tender feelings like water could not melt a heart like iron. The tall man coldly shifted his gaze away and moved toward the crowd of men, without the slightest lingering attachment.
Thanks to Wan Feng, the educated youths who had just received wild boar meat a couple of days ago helped block the fierce offensive. Educated Youth He raised his head to look at the tall man, his words full of admiration: “Brother Wan Feng, last time it was all thanks to you hunting the wild boars down the mountain. You’re really amazing.”
Others’ praise and admiration went in Wan Feng’s left ear and out his right, stirring no ripples.
Educated Youth He didn’t mind. It was normal for capable people to be aloof. What he envied more was Wan Feng’s luck with women: “Look at how many female comrades are staring at you… Unlike me. Giving flowers and poems to the female comrade I like doesn’t work. I’ve lost all confidence.”
Last time he’d given Lin Cui a bouquet of fresh flowers and prepared a bellyful of poetry, yet had no place to use them. How could that not be dispiriting?
Never having seen flowers and poems used as effective supply passes in the apocalypse, Wan Feng responded with a frown: “In this era, can flowers and poems be eaten as food? Better something practical like sugar.”
According to Wan Feng’s observation, this era lacked sweetness. White sugar and brown sugar could even serve as important circulating supplies, used for visiting relatives and friends. Candy was even more precious.
In order to integrate into human society as quickly as possible, Wan Feng imitated the speech, behavior, and logic of people in this era, trying his best to appear peaceful and friendly.
“Yes!” Educated Youth He was enlightened. He immediately wanted to rush out. “I need to write home and have them send some White Rabbit cream candy! Thank you, Brother Wan Feng. You really woke me up! If I really win over my sweetheart, I’ll definitely treat you to matchmaking wine!”