Ye Yunyi's family was living happily together, while Aunt Li, watching from the rooftop, looked pale and filled with resentment. Ever since Li Biao "died," Aunt Li had been grieving for several days, neglecting to eat and even ignoring her beloved Li Xiaoming.
She did want to take revenge on Ye Yunyi's family, but she couldn't even leave her house. She spent her days in tears, hating their ruthlessness in harming her son, hating their heartlessness for being so rich and cruel, refusing to share any of the good food with them; hating the injustice of fate—they were clearly country bumpkins, yet they could afford a villa, eat meat almost every day, and still be so heartless. They should be like those people before, handing over everything to her son upon seeing him, treating him like a dog. That was her son, her Biaozi.
She recalled how she used to live like a wealthy old lady, eating the best food and wearing the best clothes. She could not only order people around, but also had so many people flattering her in various ways. But why were there suddenly zombies in the villa area? Those days were gone forever.
Li Xiaoming was so hungry that he searched through all the food in the house, but in the end, he could only go to Aunt Li's bedside to cry and make a fuss from time to time.
After being in a daze for three days, Aunt Li staggered to her feet, hungry, thirsty, and utterly weak. She searched the house but couldn't find a drop of water. Finally, she stumbled into the yard, found a wild vegetable in the overgrown weeds, pulled it up forcefully, and without bothering to wash or wipe it, wolfed it down. The wild vegetable tasted bitter, but she found it incredibly delicious.
After eating the wild vegetable, Aunt Li felt like she had come back to life. She saw Li Xiaoming standing frozen at the living room doorway, having followed her downstairs, and her heart skipped a beat. Seeing the fear in Li Xiaoming's eyes, she realized she had frightened him. She reached out her hand and called to Xiaoming, "Xiaoming, come here, Xiaoming, come to Grandma."
Li Xiaoming looked at Aunt Li, whose mouth still had green juice on it. Her face was sunken and her skin was terribly bruised. Because of hunger, her outstretched hand looked like a ghostly claw. Li Xiaoming didn't dare to go near her.
He shouted, "Ghost! Ghost!" and slammed the door shut before running upstairs.
Aunt Li was stunned by Li Xiaoming's reaction. It took her a long time to withdraw her hand. Looking at her thin, bony hand with bulging veins, and touching her own equally skin-and-bones face, a tear rolled down her cheek.
She had to live. She had to ensure her own survival and that of her grandson, Li Xiaoming, who was the only remaining member of their Li family. She composed herself and didn't rush to chase after Li Xiaoming. She knew that everything was gone; they had eaten the last of their food the day Li Biao's accident happened.
She also had to learn to grow food, just like the country bumpkin next door. She grew up in the countryside and was no stranger to farming. However, her childhood was always filled with endless chores, and she was often hungry and cold. Things only got better when she finally grew up and married into the city.
She hated the countryside, hated the people in the countryside, hated the relatives who didn't treat her well, and hated the hardships she had endured living in the countryside. So from the beginning, she looked down on and even hated Ye Yunyi's family.
But now she has no other way to survive and can only rely on farming to stay alive.
She searched the yard little by little, and there were many wild vegetables in the yard: dandelions, lamb's quarters, purslane, plantain, water spinach, wild onions, purslane, and even a few wild onions.
There was a small puddle in the yard, with a pool of water that looked fairly clear.
There is also a plum tree by the wall, which is full of plums.
"Hahaha," Aunt Li laughed heartily, "there's always a way out!"
She went back to the kitchen, got a knife, dug up wild vegetables in the yard, and bottled up the water from the puddle so it could be drunk after it cleared.
She collected the garbage from her house, started a fire, and cooked a pot of wild vegetables with chili sauce. She found it surprisingly delicious. But Li Xiaoming took one bite and burst into tears.
"It tastes awful, Nana tastes awful! I want meat, I want snacks, I want drinks!" Li Xiaoming cried and rolled on the ground, just like before.
But Aunt Li no longer pampered him like before. She said coldly, "Stop making a fuss and get up to eat. You have to eat properly so you can avenge your father when you grow up."
"Go and kill that whole family next door, kill them all, leave no one alive."
His sinister tone terrified Li Xiaoming even more. He shouted, "I don't want to! I don't want to! Even my dad, who was so powerful, was beaten to death. I'll die too if I go! I won't go! I won't go!"
When Aunt Li heard Li Xiaoming say that, she slapped him and said, "Useless thing."
He shoved the vegetables into Li Xiaoming's mouth, saying, "You have to eat this. If you don't, you won't even have wild vegetables to eat later."
Although they had wild vegetables to fill their stomachs, the amount of wild vegetables in the yard was limited, as was the amount of water.
Aunt Li could only pick the leaves of wild vegetables; she dared not pull them up by the roots anymore. Every one she pulled was one less, and they would starve to death.
They survived by picking plums, barely managing to fill their stomachs, but the two of them looked even worse than the dormant zombies outside the door.
The plums in the park slowly turned yellow, and the peaches slowly turned red—signs that they were ripe. The residents of the park couldn't sit still, especially those whose yards only had wild vegetables and weeds, and not even a single leaf.
They started the car, which hadn't been started for five months, opened the gate, and sped towards the park. The zombies behind them couldn't catch up, and there were only a few left once they reached the park. One of them was responsible for leading the zombies away, while the other quickly climbed a tree to pick fruit.
The first person to pick fruit in the orchard filled their bowl to the brim, picking almost all the ripe fruit. After the first person, a second followed, and cars arrived at the orchard one after another. In less than three days, the orchard was empty, ripe and unripe alike, leaving only a few small fruits hanging forlornly on the branches.
Ye Yunyi and her family enjoyed the sun on the rooftop, eating their own plums and peaches while watching their neighbors pick fruit. They were very happy. Luckily, Ye Yunyi had planned to have fruit to eat all year round; otherwise, they would have had to risk picking fruit themselves.
Ye Yunyi, who used to eat fruit every day, finally returned to eating fruit every day after a long period without it.
Some went out to pick fruit, and later others went out to dig for wild vegetables. Every day, the park was a scene of vehicles carrying zombies chasing each other. But no one thought of killing all the zombies, and so far no one had been bitten. Aunt Li was also tempted by this scene, and just as she was preparing to go out and try her luck, another aunt ran out of her yard while they were driving around chasing the zombies, wanting to dig for wild vegetables on the grass across the street. A zombie hidden in the greenery jumped out and bit off half of her face, so she gave up the idea.
Looking at the dwindling number of wild vegetables in the yard, Aunt Li frowned deeply.
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