Xiao Cheng tidied up his things a bit, then looked at Zhan Honglin standing to the side: "Little brother, do you want to sleep at opposite ends, or should we sleep side by side?"

After all, this was his bed, and as someone who was staying there, Xiao Cheng wanted to respect the owner's opinion.

This was also the first time Zhan Honglin had ever squeezed in with someone, especially someone from the city. He had never even been to the county town in his life, and the place he came from was even farther and bigger than the county town. He was a little embarrassed: "I'm fine with anything."

"Then let's each sleep at one end tonight, it'll be a bit more spacious." Xiao Cheng felt that this way the two of them wouldn't feel so awkward. "If you're not comfortable, we can switch tomorrow."

"Okay! I'll do whatever you say." Zhan Honglin nodded and started taking off his clothes to go to bed.

Xiao Cheng also lay down. Logically speaking, after taking a boat, then a car, and then walking for two hours today, he should be comfortable lying in bed, but he didn't feel that way.

The bed board is very hard, it feels like lying directly on a wooden board; the quilt is also very hard, not soft at all, and very heavy. Is it sure that it is filled with cotton?

The pillow was also strange; it rustled when moved and felt like individual grains. Zhan Honglin said it was a buckwheat pillow, but he still found it too hard and couldn't get used to sleeping on it.

The pillowcase on the pillow was yellow and old. Zhan Honglin said it was clean, but Xiao Cheng seemed to smell a faint musty smell, as if no one had lived there for a long time, or the smell of clothes that had been left in the closet for a long time.

Xiao Cheng lay in bed, feeling bugs crawling on his body, but he was too tired to care. He just let it be!

Hehehe~~

The rooster crowed.

Xiao Cheng opened his eyes. Everything around him was so unfamiliar that he felt disoriented. He turned around to face the inside, intending to sleep a little longer, when a pair of smelly feet were planted right in front of him, instantly waking him up.

He immediately got up and sat on the edge of the bed to observe the entire room.

It was too dark yesterday, so I couldn't see anything at all. He didn't even unpack his luggage; he just left it spread out on the cabinet.

The whole room was a bit messy, and he was momentarily unable to accept it.

Suddenly, a familiar morning feeling jolted him awake, and he quickly got up and put on his shoes.

Standing in the courtyard, Xiao Cheng was a little confused. Which room was the toilet? He was about to burst!

"Xiao Cheng, what are you doing standing there so early in the morning?" Zhan Chunlan saw Xiao Cheng standing in the yard as soon as she came out, his hands covering his lower abdomen and his feet pacing back and forth.

"Zhan Chunlan, you're finally here! I need to use the restroom!" Xiao Cheng heard Zhan Chunlan's voice, which sounded like heavenly music. He strode forward and grabbed Zhan Chunlan's hand. The strength of his grip truly expressed his urgency!

"Come with me." Zhan Chunlan looked at him with a teasing expression, thinking to herself, "He's finally here. I wonder if he'll get used to this first hurdle in the countryside?"

Xiao Cheng stood at the toilet door, hesitant to move forward: "Are you sure this is a toilet?"

“Yes, I’m absolutely certain, this is the toilet!” Zhan Chunlan stood at a distance, her words reaching his ears one by one.

Looking at the toilet in front of him, Xiao Cheng felt that perhaps he didn't need to use it.

"Then..." Xiao Cheng, unwilling to give up, turned around and looked earnestly at Zhan Chunlan: "Perhaps... there are other toilets in your village?"

"Hmm~~" Zhan Chunlan shook her head, unable to suppress the smile on her lips: "No, it's the same in every house!"

She didn't know about other places, but in Xiangshu Brigade, every household's toilet was a pigsty, with a latrine underneath and wooden planks or logs placed on top, pieced together one by one, mostly with slightly wider gaps in some places. This was where people used the toilet.

“Conditions are much better now. Back when we raised pigs, even when you were using the toilet, the pigs would come and nudge you. That was when you were most vulnerable.” Zhan Chunlan recalled the original owner’s memories and couldn’t help but shudder. Fortunately, when she came here, it was no longer possible to raise pigs on her own.

"At least, when you go to the toilet now, there are no pigs in it."

Helpless, Xiao Cheng could only grit his teeth and go inside. He carefully looked at the wooden planks under his feet, walking with trepidation, careful not to step on anything dirty, and worried about whether the planks were sturdy. His heart was in his throat.

Xiao Cheng squatted down. There was no other way; everyone has to go to the toilet eventually. No matter how good a person is at holding it in, they can't go forever without using the restroom.

He found a relatively clean spot, his gaze fixed firmly ahead, but... sometimes he just couldn't help it, and unconsciously lowered his head, "Ugh..."

The bottom of the pit was full of feces, and on top of it were fat, white maggots wriggling.

"Hoo~~~"

He had only one question: Why do people need to use the toilet? Can't they digest everything?

Zhan Chunlan ignored him. Although she spoke very casually, this was actually the first time she had experienced such a situation. She had mentally prepared herself for a long time before she could say those words so calmly.

She didn't come back as a guest; she was too tired yesterday. Xu Fenglian and Lin Hongcui weren't that heartless after all, so they didn't ask her to take care of the old lady last night.

However, that was their last act of kindness: "Who told her parents to be so heartless? They'd rather have their daughter come back to take care of the old lady than spend that little bit of money. If anyone's to blame, it's her parents!"

"Grandma~" Zhan Chunlan walked into Grandma Zhan's room and greeted her loudly, afraid that the elderly woman might not hear her.

Grandma Zhan lay diagonally on the bed, her face rosy and her figure somewhat plump, showing no signs of the weakness that a rural old woman would experience after a serious illness.

She slowly opened her eyes, her cloudy gaze sweeping over Zhan Chunlan, and softly asked, "Zhan Chunlan?"

"Yes, it's me." Zhan Chunlan didn't care about her reaction. Anyway, this old lady had never liked any of the girls in the family, so she wouldn't be surprised if her attitude was bad.

Zhan Chunlan stepped forward and straightened the blankets for her, then tidied up some bowls, chopsticks, and water glasses by the bedside: "What would you like to eat for breakfast, Grandma?"

"What can I eat?" the old lady pouted in annoyance. "I want to eat dragon meat. Can you get it for me?"

"I can't do that." Zhan Chunlan wasn't angry. She hadn't really come back to be a dutiful daughter and granddaughter. She got up, brought in a basin of water, wet the washcloth, and vigorously washed the old lady's face. She also wiped the old lady's hands a couple of times. Then she took the basin out to pour out the water.

The old lady thought Zhan Chunlan would be back soon, but she was gone for most of the day, and her stomach was rumbling with hunger.

"Hmph, don't think you can get away with hiding from me." The old lady grabbed the cane that was placed by the bed and knocked on the door. "Knock! Knock! Knock!" The whole house could hear it.

Old Man Zhan looked at Zhan Chunlan, who was sitting on the stove slowly drinking her porridge, and said unhappily, "Your grandma is calling you, aren't you going in to see her?"

“It’s alright,” Zhan Chunlan said without looking up, continuing to drink her porridge without any reduction in volume. “My grandma knocked on the door so hard, she sounded very healthy, she’ll be fine.”

"Chunlan!" *Thump!* "Chunlan!" *Thump!*

"Pfft," upon hearing this duet, Zhan Chunlan spat out the porridge she was holding. The firewood burning in front of her released a lot of soot when it came into contact with the porridge. When Zhan Chunlan looked up, she saw that the old man's head, which was wrapped in a white cloth... well... she couldn't see anything, but a layer of wood ash had fallen directly onto his shoulder, white like dandruff.

"Ugh~~~" Disgusted by the thought, Zhan Chunlan shivered and lowered her head to continue drinking her porridge, only to find that the porridge was evenly covered with a layer of ash.

"Sigh! It's all fate." Zhan Chunlan got up, put the bowl on the stove, took a clean bowl from the cupboard, and then hesitated.

There's still a big bowl of porridge left. It would be such a waste to just throw it away. Wood ash is such a clean thing!

Without hesitation, Zhan Chunlan gently skimmed off the layer of ash from the porridge with her chopsticks, and without even changing the bowl, placed it directly in front of the old lady.

"Grandma, this is breakfast that my second aunt made this morning. Please have some."

The old lady got angry when she saw the bowl of thin porridge in front of her. She had a broken bone, and she was still eating thin porridge and wild vegetables every day. She had asked her eldest son for so much money, but he didn't even know to make her a bowl of bone broth!

"You leave it there, I can't drink it now."

She said that, and Zhan Chunlan obeyed, neatly placing the bowl on the stool beside her.