Chapter 124 The Agreement
After everyone finished eating, I and a few other women cleared out the tableware. Since there were so many people, we cleared it out in a few trips.
The men blushed and began dividing the pork. I didn't go near the front of the group, afraid that if I got too close, people would think I wanted the meat.
It was already past 3 p.m. After eating, I should stay a little longer before heading back.
I hadn't seen Xiaodi and Xiaogua for a while. When I went outside, before I could even look for them, I saw six dogs, one of them lying on the ground gnawing on a bloody bone.
After everyone had finished dividing the meat and gone home, I also felt it was time to leave.
"Sister Liu, I'll head back now. It'll be dark and hard to walk if I wait any longer."
"Aren't you staying overnight? You've come all this way, why don't you stay with your sister-in-law for one night?"
When Aunt Liu heard that I was leaving, she stopped what she was doing and wiped her hands on her apron.
"We can't stay here. We still have pigs at home, and we've already gone hungry by noon."
"Then I won't insist you stay. It's not safe to leave too late. Wait for me a bit."
Aunt Liu went into the back room and came out again a short while later, carrying a bag of meat in each hand and a basin.
"What are you doing, Aunt Liu? I'm just here to eat pork. I don't want to eat and take some at the same time."
When I saw Aunt Liu bringing me things, I quickly waved my hand and walked out of the house.
"Oh dear, come back quickly, don't let the people outside see us."
When Aunt Liu saw me walking towards the door, she quietly called me back inside. Seeing that she was anxious, I came back in.
"I'll get you two pieces of fresh meat. You didn't slaughter a pig this year, so what will we eat for the New Year if we don't get some fresh meat? This radish and blood sausage stew was left for you by your sister-in-law when it was cooked. It's not leftovers. Take it home and heat it up to eat slowly."
As she spoke, Aunt Liu stuffed the object into my hand.
Suddenly, I didn't want to be polite anymore. Listening to her babbling on and on, stuffing things into my hands, it felt like I was being loved all over again.
Children who lack love are like this: they can't help but get close to anyone who cares about them.
I accepted Liu's things, but I didn't say anything; I just stood there watching her.
"What's wrong with you, kid? Did eating pork make you stupid?"
Aunt Liu was startled to see me standing there without reacting.
"No, it's nothing... Sister-in-law, I haven't been cared for like this in a long time."
"You child!"
I suddenly became emotional, which brought tears to Aunt Liu's eyes. I knew she was missing her child.
“If you want someone to care about you, then find a partner, or move in with me. What’s the point of living alone in the middle of nowhere?”
Aunt Liu wiped away her tears, and as if to distract herself, she blamed me for living in such a remote place.
“I’m used to living alone, so moving here is definitely not an option, but I can come visit you often.”
"Girl, your sister-in-law and I have already discussed it. You can come here for Chinese New Year. Now that it's settled, I don't need to come over. You can just drive over."
Brother Liu had just returned from outside and immediately started talking about the Spring Festival.
Sister Liu picked up where Brother Liu left off: "Yes, yes, feed the pigs and chickens in the morning, and then come over early to help your wife cook."
I've been thinking about it, and I do feel really lonely every year during the Spring Festival, so I might as well bring more things over and celebrate with everyone.
"Okay! I'll handle it myself then!"
I readily agreed, and Aunt Liu was happy to hear that.
"Okay, okay, you promised you'd come, so don't lie to me."
"Wait a minute."
I suddenly remembered that I hadn't taken the cotton-padded coat off the car, so I put the things I was carrying into the car and took the things out of the car.
"Are you leaving, sister?"
I was rummaging through the car when Taozi suddenly appeared behind me like a ghost, startling me.
But I happened to have a cotton-padded coat for him, so I called out to him, "Perfect timing, wait for me a moment."
Taozi stood obediently in front of the car without moving until I took out my cotton-padded coat.
"For you."
I handed him the cotton-padded coat.
Taozi looked incredulous, yet also pleasantly surprised, and asked, "For me?"
"Okay, take it quickly."
I gave it to him because I felt sorry for him; his parents had died and he had no one to take care of him. I couldn't let him misunderstand, so I expressionlessly stuffed the cotton-padded coat into his arms and took the other two cotton-padded coats back to Aunt Liu's house.
"Sister-in-law, this is new, please take it and wear it."
Aunt Liu was wearing two brand-new cotton-padded coats, and she shook her head frantically, trying to push them away.
"You can't take this. There's nowhere to buy it now. You should keep it for yourself and wear it slowly."
"Oh, I didn't refuse when you gave me meat, so just wear it."
He forcefully stuffed the two large cotton-padded coats into Liu's arms and turned to leave.
"I'm leaving now, sister-in-law, see you for the New Year."
"Slow down, kid."
Aunt Liu put her cotton-padded coat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and went out to see me off.
"Hey girl, let me see you off."
When Brother Liu heard that I was leaving, he prepared to borrow a car from the base.
"No thanks, it's too much trouble to borrow and return, and it wastes oil. It's still early, I can manage on my own."
Not wanting to trouble them too much, I called four dogs and got them in the car.
"Then you must be careful."
Brother Liu and his wife stood at the door watching me start the car.
As I drove away, their figures grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. I already felt a little lonely before we even left the Baizhen base.
As I arrived at the entrance of the Baizhen base and was about to leave, I saw Taozi standing there holding a cotton-padded coat.
"Slow down, sister, thank you for the clothes."
He hugged his cotton-padded coat tightly, his face beaming with a smile brighter than any flower.
This kid is terrifying; he gives me the feeling that he's clinging to me and I can't shake him off. So I didn't even reply and just drove away.
When we arrived in town, we didn't rush to leave. We took some things with us to go back.
Last time I only focused on taking the important things, this time I'll search for some other things to take back with me.
After the summer and autumn seasons, even if there are corpses in the room, it's not as scary as it used to be.
I turned into an alley and went into a residential building inside. The houses on the street had been searched almost completely.
The supplies inside this room were clearly more plentiful than those outside.
Now that it's daylight, finding supplies is much easier than last time.
The main purpose of this trip is to find more clean cotton cloth. The sanitary napkins and toilet paper at home will spoil soon, so I can stock up on a batch of cloth, wash it, and keep it to make sanitary napkins and toilet paper in the future.
I rummaged through many closets and took away as many of the remaining, clean-looking fabrics as possible.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something in the crack of the bed—a laptop. This was an unexpected bonus; if it didn't have a password, I could keep it for myself.
These households still have quite a few old and broken appliances left, which may be related to the power outage during the apocalypse.
Soy milk maker, microwave oven, blender, juicer, scale, charger, etc., although old, they were all taken away as long as they looked intact.
Also, when stocking up, I forgot to stock up on light bulbs, so I unscrewed all the light bulbs and tubes from each room and took them with me.
As darkness fell, I realized I had been scavenging for three hours. I loaded the items into the car, one trip after another, and prepared to go home.
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