Yun Qing left the house and washed up while discreetly surveying the siheyuan courtyard. It was a two-courtyard siheyuan courtyard, and his family lived in the eastern wing room of the Front Courtyard.
More than a dozen households, comprising several dozen people, lived in the entire siheyuan courtyard. It was extremely cramped, with absolutely no privacy. Without exaggeration, if you farted in your own home, the neighbors next door could hear it.
This environment made Yun Qing frown. He had never lived in a siheyuan courtyard like this, nor had he experienced this era. Everything he had known before had consisted of only a few scattered lines in books.
If he had to live according to the usual routine, he would not last three days. Leaving everything else aside, he could not adapt to the food.
The steamed corn buns scratched the throat and were not even filling. There was not a drop of oil in the dishes, and meat was out of the question. The famine had yet to pass, and each family received only two ounces of meat coupons a month. For a family like the Zhou Family, with three adolescent boys, they secretly exchanged the meat coupons for grain; otherwise, there would not be enough to eat.
Rice and white flour were even more impossible to find. Zhao Hongmei had exchanged them all for coarse grains, either cornmeal or sweet potato flour. Cornmeal was made by grinding an entire ear of corn into flour, without even discarding the cob. It was extremely scratchy to eat.
He had never eaten this kind of flour even during the Apocalypse, yet now he had to try it. It was not that he was being fussy; he genuinely could not swallow it. Not stealing food was impossible, but in an environment like this, stealing food? He could dream on.
People with no oil in their bellies could smell even the slightest hint of meat. He had no intention of being mistaken for an enemy agent and arrested.
It seemed he could only make arrangements outside. He would eat before returning; doing so in the courtyard was absolutely impossible.
According to the Original Host's memories, this child had never even eaten a white-flour steamed bun, much less rice. He had eaten meat only once during the New Year, and then only a tiny slice.
Sigh! This was difficult!
Breakfast was cornmeal porridge so thin that one could see a person's reflection in it. Except for Zhou Hongjun, everyone received one small cornmeal bun and a dish of pickles. Watching them eat it without changing expression, Yun Qing expressed his admiration! Enormous admiration!
Discreetly putting the cornmeal bun into his pocket, Yun Qing finished the bowl of watery porridge, wiped his mouth, and got up from the table. He planned to go out and eat something later. The Space had everything, so why make things difficult for himself?
“None of you are to run around today. We’re running low on firewood, so go gather some!” Zhao Hongmei said immediately when she saw Yun Qing trying to leave. Although she was not speaking directly to him, her meaning was obvious: she was saying it for him to hear.
“Got it, Mother.” Zhou Yunxi answered obediently at once.
No wonder Old Third was favored by his parents. He really knew how to read the situation. Of the three brothers, he alone had answered. What parent would not like such an obedient child?
The Original Host had always had nothing to say to them, and Yun Qing did not dare ruin the established persona. In this era when enemy agents were rampant, changing too much meant waiting to be arrested. Just like the Original Host, he said nothing, picked up a back basket, and left the house.
Zhao Hongmei glanced at her stepson and likewise said nothing. In any case, if he failed to bring back firewood, the head of the household would deal with him.
After leaving the siheyuan courtyard, Yun Qing headed toward Jingshan. There was only one mountain nearby. Although they called it gathering firewood, they were really collecting kindling; picking up some small branches was enough. They had gathered firewood here before as well. Normally, the family burned coal briquettes.
He walked very quickly and reached Jingshan in less than half an hour. His family lived in Shajing Hutong, Nanluoguxiang, in the Eastern District, so it was not far away.
After finding a secluded spot, Yun Qing entered the Space. Filling his stomach came first. Although this body did not possess a wood-type ability, the imprint of his Soul allowed him to easily distinguish which things were deadwood and which still had vitality. Gathering firewood? Easy!
Yun Qing spent half a day in the Space, preparing many cooked foods. He even steamed white-flour steamed buns, mixed-grain steamed buns, and pure cornmeal buns. He also steamed several large cooking pots full of baozi.
Thanks to the final years of the Apocalypse, the things he had collected consisted of living supplies besides crystal cores, gold, and silver. He even had steaming baskets and a portable stove, along with all kinds of food-processing machines. He had thought of practically every aspect.
Otherwise, he would probably have been completely at a loss right now.
After finishing all that work and eating until he was completely full, he left the Space. Using his divine sense, he removed every trace of food smell from his body. Only after ensuring that not even the slightest fragrance remained did he finally relax.
He gathered a back basket full of branches and slowly made his way home. The sun was setting, and the afterglow dyed the earth red. The children in the hutong played happily, comparing the stones they had collected, occasionally bursting into laughter.
There were no Zombies and no strange creatures. Although life was poor, it was filled with the rich warmth of everyday life.
Yun Qing's heart also settled. So what if they were poor? It could always be overcome. Compared with the Apocalypse, he preferred this world much more.
With a faint smile, he stepped through the main gate.
After turning through the moon gate, the smile on Yun Qing's face froze. The Original Host's heavily patched underpants were swaying in the breeze on the clothesline beneath the eaves.
This? Who had washed them? They were the pair he had changed out of after bathing last night. He could wear the Original Host's clothes without the slightest pressure, but underpants were different, so he had changed out of them.
He had planned to take them outside and throw them away today, but he had been in such a hurry to get extra food that morning that he had forgotten. Yet now they were hanging beneath the eaves. It was simply a scene of utter social death.
“Second Brother, you’re back?” Zhou Yunlan's voice rang out, snapping Yun Qing back to his senses.
“Mm.” Yun Qing nodded in response.
“Give me the back basket. There’s quite a lot of firewood here; it’ll last several days.” Zhou Yunlan took Yun Qing's back basket and walked toward the coal shed. The family's coal briquettes and kindling were all piled there.
Yun Qing hurried beneath the eaves and took down the oversized underpants. They had frozen stiff, making it impossible to bunch them up and hide them.
“Second Brother, don’t hide your dirty clothes so deeply next time. I wouldn’t have found them if I hadn’t cleaned the room,” Zhou Yunlan complained as she watched him collect the underpants.
Yun Qing's old face instantly flushed red. This girl…
“Don’t wash this kind of underwear anymore. You’re a grown girl now; you should avoid such things.” After saying this, Yun Qing ran back into the room.
Zhou Yunlan watched her second brother's retreating back and blinked her large eyes in complete confusion. Hadn’t she always washed these clothes before? She did not want to wash them, but if she did not work, she would not get food, and Mother would beat her to death.
Yun Qing exhaled repeatedly inside the room. It took quite a while for the heat in his face to subside.
Remembering the cornmeal bun left over from breakfast, he took it out of the Space and left the room.
Seeing Zhou Yunlan busy preparing dinner in the makeshift kitchen, he walked over, stuffed the cornmeal bun into her pocket, and turned to leave. He did not want to speak with the girl; it was too awkward.
Zhou Yunlan lowered her head and looked at the cornmeal bun in her pocket, then raised her head to watch her second brother's departing back. Her eyes suddenly stung, and tears fell.
She hurriedly raised her arm and wiped them away with her sleeve. Her second brother was truly kind, giving her his own ration. From now on, she would wash his clothes for him, and wash them perfectly clean.