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墨書 Inktalez
Zhang Yi's family stayed in One Village. They definitely couldn't move into the Old House, but they still got a new house on the east side. Although the house was a bit smaller, Zhang Yi was satisfied to have a place to take refuge. Li Yan secretly delivered two bags of rice at night, mainly to avoid being targeted by some starving people in the village. They weren't too worried themselves, but for Zhang Yi's family... sigh, they hoped they could get by well.
Zhang Yi knew that Li Yan was doing this out of consideration for Zhang Agou, but he still gratefully accepted it. After seeing so many instances of ingratitude outside the Safe Zone recently, he had a clearer understanding of human nature. He understood but said nothing, only urging Li Yan and the others to return early and not be seen.
By the time Li Yan got home, it was already late. As soon as he entered, he heard Li Ming rushing out from inside. The child seemed frightened and pointed towards the rabbit hutch, saying, "The mother rabbit gave birth to six."
Zhou Miao laughed upon hearing this and patted Li Yan on the shoulder, saying, "Good job, buddy! I didn't expect you to be so capable. Tsk tsk, maybe you can share some tips with my wife later."
Li Yan ignored him and went straight into the rabbit hutch. The mother rabbit had given birth to six little rabbits—four males and two females. The newborn rabbits looked like tiny mice, pink and hairless. Li Ming was so scared that he didn't dare to touch them, fearing he might harm the little ones. Grandpa Zhou was quite happy; seeing new life born during such times was something worth celebrating, regardless of the species.
The villagers had sharp ears; within a few days, several households came to order rabbits. Li Yan thought about it and agreed; this benefit shouldn't be monopolized by one family. Only by allowing several families to have rabbits could their own rabbits be safe. Initially, Li Ming wasn't pleased and sulked for several days, even giving his favorite eggs to Grandpa Zhou. However, children are fickle; after a few days, he got over it.
The Safe Zone consisted of five villages plus the townspeople, totaling nearly three hundred thousand people. For pre-apocalyptic China, this wasn't much—just a small town's population at most. But for the current Safe Zone, this number represented a massive system with many problems to face. The first and foremost issue was food; only when basic sustenance was secured could other developments take place.
The District Chief issued a direct order: no matter if they were black cats or white cats, as long as they could stabilize and cultivate land, they were good cats. So as spring began, everyone went to clear land in the back mountains; in these times, planting more was essential for future preparations. Who knew if it would rain or snow tomorrow? The common folk were frightened by the temperature fluctuations. Many elderly villagers had developed a habit of storing water at home due to last year's water shortages.
Most of One Village consisted of original residents; no matter what happened, these people had roots here and didn't have to worry about food and clothing for now. Then there were those wealthy city folks who had fled here; they arrived with large vehicles loaded with supplies that could last them several years. This led to their reluctance to farm. Of course, these issues were theirs alone; the Safe Zone's policy required only that two acres of responsibility land produced food for submission.
Besides these two groups in the village, there was another type of person—refugees. If they hadn't stubbornly refused to leave when the troops were eager to expand the Safe Zone, only a few "nail households" would have been allowed to stay inside; otherwise, they would also be among those on the other side of the wall who couldn't see tomorrow.
Although these people were inside the Safe Zone now, they had brought nothing with them when they fled and lived in extreme poverty. They dared not report their difficulties to the Safe Zone or protest; all they could do was find ways to survive on their own...
Thus a peculiar scene emerged in the village: every night near those new houses, many doors were left open. Most of these open-door homes had young girls or young wives inside, along with a few single men who looked decent.
At first, everyone felt somewhat shy about it; they waited until midnight before seeing a figure enter one of the houses in the dark. Now that there was no electricity and everything was pitch black, those entering usually provided candles from "buying" families; after confirming everything was satisfactory, they would negotiate prices before heading inside directly.
Gradually, this matter became an open secret. The men would even openly discuss whose daughter was more delicate and who had better skills in bed. Among these women, the one with the most "business" was Huo Yan. She used to be a second-rate star, the kind whose face was familiar but who never really made it big. She had played many roles in television dramas, mostly as a mistress or a concubine. Now that the apocalypse had come, her looks no longer mattered, and after being with several men, she ended up being discarded. Now she found herself in One Village, where she was actually recognized.
A star? Have you ever seen a star? Not only can you see one now, but for a bit of food, you can also spend a night with her. Because of this, many men flocked there at night.
The women in the village were not to be trifled with either; they would often band together to go to the men's door and shout at them. They would scold for half an hour or more, and someone would even bring them water. Once, a man was caught by his wife, and his pleas for mercy could be heard from half the village away. Since then, the women in the village united even more; they would point fingers at those women with disdain. At the same time, they kept a tighter watch on their husbands. Unfortunately, the men's cunning proved effective; they employed all sorts of tricks and tactics to escape detection. The antics were quite varied, and Li Yan's family watched it all like a show; it was surprisingly amusing.
Li Ming and Li Yan had also been busy lately. Besides farming, they diligently practiced cultivation. Ever since that robbery incident, Li Yan and Zhou Miao realized that merely being healthy was far from enough. Being strong enough to protect their families was what truly mattered.
Yu Tian also practiced alongside them. Although his progress wasn't as fast as the others', he felt that his body had become much stronger. At least now he found it easier to work in the fields than before. He practiced his techniques at night and went out to cut grass with Li Ming during the day. In addition to growing fruits and vegetables in their yard, they also raised quite a few chickens and ducks. The two often went fishing and searching for snails by the river; little Duck seemed particularly fond of snails, waddling around plumply. Li Ming even named the little ducks—Little Red, Little Green, Little Black, Little White—only he could keep track of who was who.
Unfortunately, their good days didn't last long; Heavenly Father started acting up again. The weather turned hot unexpectedly; just two days ago it had been sunny with a gentle breeze. Suddenly it jumped to thirty degrees Celsius, leaving everyone stunned. Although June and July are typically hot months, there should be a transition period! The rice seedlings couldn't withstand such scorching sun; everyone was anxious. Some families directly made large tarps out of curtains and set up poles around their fields to cover them; surprisingly, it worked quite well.
However, not many families had enough curtains; some used old fabric or clothes instead—anything to mitigate their losses. Li Yan's family made one too; they only had two acres of land, so their tarp could only cover one acre at most—the fate of the other acre was left to chance.
At this moment, someone started taking advantage of the situation to make money. Ma Ying was a woman in her forties who used to enjoy playing tricks back in Zhangjia Village; she had quite a few followers. Over the years, she had deceived many people with her antics, and even during the apocalypse, many sought her out mainly to pray for Guanyin's protection for their loved ones venturing outside.
She was quite a character; even now she somehow managed to gather a pile of talisman paper and performed rituals in the village's Main Square. At first, Li Yan didn't believe in such supernatural nonsense, but after experiencing the jade gourd and spatial phenomena himself, he decided to check it out. Yu Tian and Li Ming followed him there and were genuinely surprised by what they saw.
Perhaps due to fewer entertainment options nowadays, getting into the crowd surrounding Ma Ying was no easy feat—there were layers upon layers of people pressing in close. Ma Ying chanted incantations while shaking like a leaf; finally, she spat water onto a peach wood sword which unexpectedly ignited into flames.
Li Ming curiously looked on and asked Yu Tian: "Tian Tian, can women really be Taoists?" The child recognized the scene from TV shows where those supernatural practitioners were best known for breathing fire.
Yu Tian nearly burst into laughter but managed to hold it back: "Ming Ming, you shouldn't be so naive about these things." He had initially thought someone might have real powers but quickly realized it was all fake.
"My brother says good kids don't lie," Li Ming instinctively glanced at Li Yan beside him.
Li Yan felt quite smug; his child was well-behaved. Then he looked at Yu Tian—ever since he started hanging around Zhou Miao that troublemaker, he didn't even blink when lying anymore.
“Li Yan, what a coincidence.” Just as they were watching, Zhang Yi's family squeezed in, seemingly more interested in the spectacle than anything sincere. “Ah, people these days can only get by if they feel secure in their hearts.”
Li Yan nodded; indeed, another family that saw through things. Ma Ying had been mumbling to herself for a long time before suddenly opening her eyes and staring in one direction, speaking softly: “As a deity, I do not wish to see the suffering of mortals, but you have incurred divine wrath. I am willing to do my utmost to alleviate this calamity, but…”
“What is it?” Zhang Sanye asked eagerly, leaning on his cane.
“You must burn scriptures for me; it must be a complete set of scriptures for forty-nine days to maximize my power. However, you cannot force my physical body to serve you; these scriptures must be offered with sincerity. My body is at risk of harm otherwise. You cannot mistreat her. Otherwise, Heavenly Father will punish you.” As Ma Ying spoke, she trembled and then touched her head, saying, “Did I dream? Did Guanyin enter my body just now? Did she say anything?”
In truth, these were all clumsy tricks to deceive people, but when faced with their only hope, even the slightest glimmer was something they did not intend to miss.
After the gathering ended, many people took the initiative to go to Ma Ying's house to offer contributions to “Guanyin.” Li Yan had no time for that, but as she turned around, she saw a woman with a little boy.
The little boy seemed to recognize Li Ming and tugged at his mother’s sleeve, pointing towards Li Yan and the others. His mother’s eyes lit up with joy as she hurriedly looked over here. When she saw Li Yan and the others, she tried to make her way through the crowd.
Li Ming also spotted them; they were the ones who had snatched his Teddy Bear Cookies when he left the city. Li Yan quickly pulled Li Ming and the others back because there were too many people in the square, and in an instant, the woman lost sight of Li Yan and the others.
“Mommy, I can’t see them,” the child complained angrily; he had been hungry for several days.
The woman struggled to lift her child and kept comforting him: “It’s okay; we’ll definitely see someone from our village again. Besides, we have enough food now. Didn’t that uncle give you candy last night?” At this moment, the woman had long lost her previous delicacy and pretentiousness; even with light makeup on her face, it couldn’t hide her weariness and fatigue.
Last year at the end of the year, her husband sold himself to his former business partner for a small bag of grain. She had been nearly driven to death by hardship but held on for her son’s sake and eventually escaped. Fearing that her husband would sell her again, she secretly ran away with her son. Little did she know that life outside was even worse than before. Fortunately, they had managed to stay in the Safe Zone. Gritting her teeth, she resolved to persevere for her son’s sake. The woman looked at her clothes with a bitter smile; right now, her only hope was her son…
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