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墨書 Inktalez
Zhang Liang had been hiding at home for several days, too afraid to go out. It was said that he was ill, but no one knew what was wrong with him; they only heard that he couldn't see anyone.
If it were someone else, the villagers would show concern if someone in their family had a headache or a fever. But Zhang Liang was too lacking in conscience; he was comfortably lying at home while those from Zhangjia Village who sold their houses were uncertain if they were alive or dead. So when the news of Zhang Liang's illness spread, the most anyone could say was that he deserved it. Originally, Zhang Zhong was on the same side as him, but now he also avoided going to his house, even though he wanted to get closer to Li Yan's family; unfortunately, he couldn't find an opportunity.
Although the robbers had left, the atmosphere in the village did not improve. The deceased Zhang De had an elderly parent and young children at home; his youngest son had just turned three. With his passing, how would the widow and orphans survive? Zhang De's wife cried inconsolably, and the villagers felt heartbroken watching her. After some discussion, it was decided that since Zhang De died because of village matters, each household would contribute sixty pounds of rice as a gesture of sympathy for the deceased.
Everyone agreed, and some villagers suggested that the new households should also contribute since they were part of the village now. Zhang Zhong was sent as a representative, but those newcomers simply threw out a dismissive remark: "Not my problem." This led to immediate opposition from the old residents. There had already been underlying tensions, and now it truly became a matter of irreconcilable differences.
Fine, if you want to act like it's the first day of the month, we'll act like it's the fifteenth. The next day, a meeting was held in the village where Zhang Zhong was appointed to inform the newcomers that from now on, everyone would be divided into upper and lower villages; those newcomers did not belong to Zhangjia Village. The newcomers were quite agreeable about it; sure enough, the next day they came looking for some of the village elders to negotiate.
The representative from their side, surnamed Min, directly stated their conditions: today it was decided by the villagers themselves to split up. From now on, if there were any messy issues, they shouldn't expect help from them. His belly shook visibly even through his down jacket as he spoke with an air of superiority. Before leaving, he disdainfully glanced at Tang Zhaodi, who looked dirty and disheveled. "Don't let these little beggars dirty our land; we are not people like you can associate with." This infuriated the village elders who shouted about injustice; if it weren't for Zhang Liang stirring things up by selling houses in the village back then, would this have happened today?
At this moment, Zhang Liang was still afraid that Li Yan and their group would retaliate against him and stayed hidden in his house; thus, he later learned about these events from his wife. Zhang Liang already suspected that Zhang Zhong was trying to frame him; now that he wasn't helping him either, he thought about how he would deal with him in the future.
The village children were curious about those impressive-looking cars and envied the new kids' toy guns and model cars as well as delicious snacks they couldn't name but found very tasty. In short, there was all sorts of envy and jealousy; however, even little kids knew they should oppose them. As a result, those new kids lost their enthusiasm. No one followed them to let them be leaders anymore; those fun toys seemed less interesting than before.
By late February, the weather showed no signs of improvement. The men still went up the mountain every day to check but found little. Fortunately, many families had some old furniture; back then many homes in the village had been renovated because villagers valued thriftiness and didn't want to throw away perfectly good old furniture. Now it served well as firewood and could burn for quite some time.
Li Yan's family also had some old furniture. Zhou Miao took an axe to chop wood—perhaps due to his training—hitting perfectly every time. In no time at all, he chopped up an Eight Immortals table. Li Ming's little friend watched enviously but lacked Zhou Miao's strength; it took him five strikes just to break through. The child gave up on chopping and insisted on competing with Zhou Miao in jumping high; at this point, he could jump onto rooftops with impressive stability.
Dumplings and wontons were becoming less dog-like every day as they bounced around in the yard by three or four o'clock each day. Once when the family went fishing in their space, both Tibetan Mastiffs jumped straight into the river; their speed at catching fish far surpassed fishing with rods. The two Tibetan Mastiffs were quite excited and ignored their owners' objections as they kept catching fish. In the end, they ate fish for seven consecutive days until Li Ming's little friend protested vehemently against allowing wontons and dumplings to join in on fishing again—a proposal that received widespread support from others.
Li Yan's space still had some charcoal left over but didn't expect there would be times even in rural areas when wood would be scarce; thus not much had been prepared. There were generators and diesel in his space but using them made too much noise right now. Li Yan had to admit that he sometimes made mistakes; for example, he hadn't thought about getting a few gas bottles until those newcomers brought gas along and reminded him of it. Now candles were also running low; however, Li Yan had several batteries stored in his space which allowed him to connect a light bulb outside for use without making much noise either. With everything sealed tightly inside his house now, even if there was light inside most people wouldn't notice.
Moreover, with those newcomers around—each household having generators and incandescent lights—Li Yan's setup barely compared at all. However, after what happened with the robbers last time, Li Yan remained cautious since this was a chaotic world and indeed an apocalyptic one.
The temperature continued its downward trend with fewer evening programs available; Li Xiaoming developed a habit of listening to broadcasts before sleeping every night since radio programs were scarce now. The previous female broadcaster hadn't appeared for a long time; instead there was a male broadcaster now whose voice was quite pleasant but sounded older—there was a deep and steady quality to it when listened to.
The show has been adapted and is called "Hope." The male host enjoys reading letters and playing songs, especially English songs. This makes Li Ming's Little Friend, who is not proficient in English, particularly frustrated. Pouting, he tells Li Yan that he wants to learn English! Li Yan comforts him, saying, "Mingming, he just doesn't understand the situation; there are more people in the world who speak Chinese than English."
Li Yan compares the population density of China with that of the UK, which makes Li Ming's Little Friend feel proud and show off. He takes out a piece of paper from the space and says he is going to write a letter to the male host. Li Yan raises an eyebrow but remains noncommittal; whether this letter will actually reach its destination is still uncertain.
It is already past nine o'clock today, while the radio station starts at eight every day. Li Ming stares at the radio and pouts, asking, "Brother, is the radio broken?"
Li Yan pats the child's head and thinks about giving him a haircut tomorrow. Hmm... it seems there isn't a book about haircuts. "Be good; the radio brother has something to do today. Let's listen tomorrow, okay?"
Perhaps due to a lack of entertainment facilities at home, the child ends up waiting until after eleven to sleep. His disappointed little face is all scrunched up; he thinks the broadcasting uncle is a fraud for being so unreliable! He wants to protest! Write a letter of protest!!
Li Yan feels that his child has been lacking exercise lately, which is why he has been thinking too much. So, Li Yan spends time with Li Ming discussing stories about fairies fighting. Li Yan explains things simply while occasionally emphasizing certain points, causing the child to cling tightly to his neck. Their lips intertwine as they get lost in each other... The child becomes completely soft and rests in his embrace, his little mouth red and pouting with an unusually charming and cute expression...
Of course, there is another person who didn't hear the broadcast: Yu Tian. His only hazy memory is of saying that shy word... Wanting to turn over, he realizes that thing is still inside him, causing his face to flush bright red. Originally waiting for the radio station, he ends up getting lost in confusion as that rascal touches him; by the time he realizes what's happening, he's already being embraced and devoured. Yu Tian instinctively touches his two little red grapes on his chest; before he can even grasp them, they are entirely taken into someone's mouth. A wave of indescribable pleasure makes Zhou Miao let out a soft sound, and the enormous sensation inside him quickly transforms into a dragon. "You... get out of me."
"Wife, darling... wife, it's hard... Oh no, wife, you can't bite!" Although Zhou Miao says this, his actions show no sign of slowing down until he hits that spot. Yu Tian feels utterly powerless and allows himself to be lifted up; their connection becomes clear when he is held.
"Don't... don't thrust... that..." Yu Tian feels his mind go blank as waves of sensation roll through him like a small boat unable to reach shore.
"Where?" Zhou Miao, with mischief in his heart, thrusts a few more times—faster one moment and slower the next... as if it would never stop... What a rascal!
The sun hasn't appeared for a long time. The villagers look pale; staying cooped up at home every day isn't easy either. With nothing much to do, they might visit each other’s homes for casual chats to maintain relationships. Zhang Hong has visited Li Yan's house several times; this straightforward man speaks whatever comes to mind. After coming over a few times, he even brought a wild chicken he caught while gathering firewood in the mountains.
Zhang Hong's ancestors were hunters; it’s said that there’s still an air gun at home that he hid when the government required people to hand them over back then. Since inspections in Zhangjia Village aren't strict either, he kept it as a memento even though it can’t be used now.
A few people from Li Yan's family were also tempted after hearing this; since they were just sitting around at home anyway, they decided it would be nice to go play on the back mountain. They voted on who would stay behind; in the end, it was four against two—Dumpling and Wonton were once again left behind. Dumpling and Wonton felt very sad; why was it always decided by raising hands? They don’t have hands! This is typical species discrimination!
In the end, it was Li Ming's Little Friend who felt sorry for them and suggested that next time they could raise their feet to vote. Dumpling and Wonton nodded eagerly; next time they definitely wouldn’t be left behind again.
Watching the two excited Tibetan Mastiffs, Zhou Miao couldn't help but feel emotional. How could they be so foolish? Don’t they know that Tibetan Mastiffs have claws?
On a nice day, Li Yan's family of four followed Zhang Hong and a few men up the mountain. Catching rabbits and wild chickens is an art in itself, and Zhang Hong even brought a battery-operated radio. He claimed it would interfere with the hearing of the wild rabbits and chickens. At first, everyone thought it was a bit far-fetched. However, after the radio played for a while, the rabbits and chickens came out, seemingly unaware of any danger.
Although it was quite cold, everyone was in high spirits. Li Ming spread some rice and corn on an open patch of land and set up a net and bamboo basket below. Perhaps due to the lack of food in winter, by the end of the morning, Li Yan and his group had indeed caught two rabbits. Although they were thin and meager, they were organic, pollution-free, all-natural meat products.
Since Zhang Hong was the master, Zhou Miao suggested that he could join them for a meal. Zhang Hong had also caught a wild chicken that day. With only his wife and daughter at home, they agreed that both families could share the meal together.
However, as they entered the village, they were stopped by a newcomer. The man had a large belly and his eyes lit up at the sight of the rabbits. "How much are you selling those rabbits for?" Zhao Shun had not eaten fresh meat since arriving in this poor village and was desperate for something decent to eat. He had heard that someone in the village was hunting wild game and couldn't stand the frozen food any longer, so he thought about buying a chicken or something.
"Not for sale!!" Li Ming was anxious; anyone who tried to take meat from him was bad news. "This is our meat!"
"Step aside, little brother." Zhao Shun had spent years in the city hall and could tell that Li Ming was different from ordinary people. But beside him, Li Yan and Zhou Miao were not ordinary either; they could only smile and say, "Brother, look at us—there's a whole group here in unfamiliar territory; it's not easy to find something to eat. How about I buy from you?" After all, money was worthless now; tricking these country bumpkins seemed fair since they didn't understand market value.
"Sure, bring your generator to trade." Zhang Hong had encountered such people before and felt anger rising within him. If you have the ability, go catch your own!
Zhao Shun was furious but dared not say anything; their relationship with the villagers had soured over time. The villagers' attitude had shifted from friendly to hostile due to that person named Min. If he had known better, he would have given them some food; they wouldn't have looked down on such a small amount anyway. This cursed weather made it somewhat bearable indoors with air conditioning, but stepping outside felt like freezing to death.
Once Zhao Shun left, Li Ming huffed angrily, "Brother, we shouldn't be friendly with them anymore." How dare they try to take our meat! Hmph!
"Alright, we'll just be good among ourselves." Li Yan affectionately tapped his little nose and smiled.
Zhang Hong thought Li Yan was quite nice; he treated his brother well without reservation. Plus, this family had strength; following them seemed like a good choice.
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