After three cups of wine, the three of them started talking more, and Zhou Qi, with a rosy complexion, became quite talkative.
Zhou Qi's wife had been coaxing the baby to sleep for a while when Zhou Qi suddenly slammed his hand on the table, startling her awake. She glared at him, and if it weren't for Lu Yuan and the other man being there, she might have gotten a beating today.
Lu Yuan turned his head and glanced at Zhou Xiaoyun on the bed. He immediately read a message from her eyes: I'm so hungry.
So Lu Yuan coughed softly and said, "Zhou Qi, your sister-in-law and niece probably didn't eat much for dinner. Why don't you come and eat with us? The three of us can't eat much food, so it would be a waste to leave them here!"
Hearing Lu Yuan say that, Hei Zi echoed his sentiment.
Zhou Qi's wife, seemingly not wanting to disturb them, quickly waved her hand and said, "No, no, you guys talk, we're going to sleep right away! Yunyun, go to sleep!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaoyun quickly closed her eyes.
"Alright, sister-in-law, you can't sleep at all if we talk. Xiaoyun probably hasn't eaten enough yet! Come and have some with us!" Hei Zi invited again.
Unable to persuade Lu Yuan and his wife, Zhou Qi's wife had no choice but to take Zhou Xiaoyun aside.
Lu Yuan casually took a piece of beef from the plate and handed it to Zhou Xiaoyun: "Girl, eat up! Look how thin you are!"
Zhou Xiaoyun was about to reach out to take it, but then seemed to realize something, turned to look at her mother behind her, and her mother nodded. Only then did Zhou Xiaoyun smile and take the beef, saying to Lu Yuan, "Thank you, Uncle!"
"Haha! What a sensible little girl. How old are you this year?" Lu Yuan didn't know why, but he felt a special fondness for this child when he saw her. Perhaps it was her exceptionally sensible and well-behaved nature that made Lu Yuan feel a sense of pity for her.
"I'm seven and a half years old this year!" Zhou Xiaoyun said while munching on the beef in her hand.
"Huh? Seven years old?" Lu Yuan was taken aback. He thought the little girl was only about five years old, but he didn't expect her to be seven and a half. It seems that the child's growth rate was slow due to malnutrition since childhood, which made the little girl look much younger than her peers.
"So... have you started school yet?" Lu Yuan asked casually, but regretted it as soon as he asked.
What time is it now? This is the apocalypse! Forget about going to school, even just surviving is a luxury. Although the earthquake disaster has largely subsided, various secondary disasters caused by the earthquake are still happening from time to time. Schools are only available in the wealthy inner city of Zone 5, where only the very wealthy can afford them. However, those schools still need to investigate the student's family situation and parents before admitting students, and the annual tuition is a considerable expense. Ordinary families simply cannot afford to send their children to those schools, let alone Zhou Qi's family.
"You've had too much to drink! These days, where can you go to school? Even if you could, it's not something a family like ours can afford! I teach her when I have time, but my abilities are limited. I can probably only teach her to a junior high level!" Zhou Qi said with a sigh, patting his daughter's head.
Lu Yuan also knew that there was really no way to solve this situation. There were schools in the slums, which were set up by teachers from before the apocalypse. However, the environment in the slums was extremely chaotic, with various forces mixed together and people of all kinds of personalities. There was no guarantee that someone who wanted to take revenge on society would not harm the children. Such things had happened before, so later on, basically no parents were willing to send their children to school.
"Alright! Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore! What are you planning to do during this time?" Seeing that everyone was silent, Lu Yuan changed the subject and asked.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any skills. I didn't learn anything properly when I was in school. So, I'll see if there's any manual labor I can do. I'll try to earn a little bit, which is better than staying at home all day!"
At this moment, Zhou Qi's wife put down her chopsticks and said, "By the way, the captain of our gold mining team mentioned last time that he set up a relief station for unemployed gold miners. I'll go ask him if there are any jobs suitable for you!"
Hearing his wife say that, Zhou Qi immediately perked up, turned around and grabbed her shoulder, saying, "What did you say? An unemployment relief center? Really? Why didn't you tell me sooner!"
“I only heard about this when I got off work! But it seems that all of us who stayed down there suffered from severe radiation, so…” At this point, Zhou Qi’s wife seemed to realize that she had said the wrong thing and stopped talking. Zhou Xiaoyun, who was in her arms, was also a little confused when she heard this.
"Mom! What is radiation?"
The girl's words immediately silenced everyone. Indeed, this matter was not so simple to end. After all, she had suffered severe radiation damage down there. This kind of damage is permanent. Over time, the radiation would slowly erode various organs in the human body, causing various diseases and eventually leading to death.
However, Zhou Xiaoyun was unaware of these matters. Lu Yuan was busy when he brought these people out and had even forgotten about it. But when it was brought up again, Zhou Qi and his wife felt a little heavy-hearted.
Hei Zi sighed and asked, "It's okay. It's just like an X-ray machine in a hospital, which can see some lesions in a person's body. From now on, you just need to take good care of your mother!"
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