Leng Xiaoyu's home was extremely poor and filthy. When Leng Yue entered, she thought she had stumbled into an Indian slum.
A rickety door, mud walls crumbling with dust, and a bed whose original color is unrecognizable.
"What's going on?" Even though Leng Yue was somewhat prepared, she was still shocked.
Are there any houses like this on Earth?
After Leng Xiaoyu was cleaned, her pair of dark, bright eyes looked especially large.
Leng Xiaoyu blinked, somewhat confused. "Sister, our house hasn't been repaired in a long time, that's why it's so dilapidated."
"What about other people's families? Why don't we live with other people?" Leng Yue asked curiously. She was a little confused. Was this how it was when she transmigrated to this era? Or was it just that Leng Xiaoyu's family was poor?
Since Leng Xiaoyu had no neighbors nearby and no one to refer to, Leng Yue could only ask Leng Xiaoyu.
At this moment, Leng Xiaoyu's face showed envy. "Dazhuang's family has moved into a tiled house, and they've built such a high brick wall underneath. It looks so beautiful."
Blue bricks? Tiled roofs? Leng Yue thought to herself, could this be from the 1980s? She'd never seen anything like this before!
What on earth is going on? Is fate playing tricks on her again?
"Sister, I'm hungry!" Leng Xiaoyu pitifully tugged at Leng Yue's clothes, interrupting Leng Yue's deep thoughts.
It would have been better if Leng Xiaoyu hadn't mentioned it, because as soon as he opened his mouth, both of their stomachs started growling wildly.
Without a word, Leng Yue picked up the fish and went to the kitchen. Even though she had mentally prepared herself repeatedly, she was still shocked once again in the kitchen.
A moldy cutting board, a rusty kitchen knife, a blackened stove, and dilapidated pots and pans.
Leng Yue sighed and asked Leng Xiaoyu where there was water. Leng Xiaoyu led Leng Yue to the back of the house. It turned out that there was a small ditch behind their house. It was small, and the current was not strong, but the water was crystal clear.
Leng Yue moved everything out of the kitchen and washed it, then gutted and cleaned the large fish. After tidying up the kitchen, she threw the fish directly into a pot and started stewing it.
Because Leng Yue had never seen a traditional earthen stove before, she needed Leng Xiaoyu's help to start a fire. It was the first time Leng Yue realized that starting a fire was actually a skill. Back then, she could easily handle gas stoves and induction cookers.
Unexpectedly, she was stumped by this earthen stove today!
"Little Fish, thank goodness you're here." Leng Yue chatted with Leng Xiaoyu while throwing firewood under the stove and wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Leng Xiaoyu chuckled foolishly, and the siblings chatted casually, while Leng Yue gathered more information.
Starting a fire in an earthen stove is difficult, but once you succeed, it's much faster than a gas stove. Before long, the aroma of fish and meat filled the pot.
Leng Xiaoyu kept staring at the white smoke rising from the earthen stove, swallowing hard. "Sister, when can we eat?"
Leng Yue was also starving, and she swallowed hard, comforting Leng Xiaoyu, "It'll be ready soon, we can eat in a little while. Xiaoyu, count from one to one hundred, and then we can eat."
Leng Xiaoyu was a little dumbfounded, "Sister, I can't, I can only count to ten."
Leng Yue looked at Leng Xiaoyu in surprise. Don't the children here go to kindergarten? Shouldn't they be taught these basic things?
Leng Yue bent down to add some firewood, then turned and asked, "Don't your teachers teach you to count?"
"Sister, what are you saying? I'm only five years old and haven't even started school yet, how could I have a teacher?" Leng Xiaoyu wondered, was her sister better or not?
"Um, don't you go to kindergarten?" Leng Yue thought that even the children in their orphanage had teachers teaching them to read from the age of four!
Are the children here in worse condition than those in an orphanage? Leng Yue wondered, but when she looked up and saw the dilapidated kitchen, she believed it. This place was indeed worse than an orphanage!
Then look at Leng Xiaoyu, who is also staring at Leng Yue as if she were an idiot. Leng Yue doesn't explain, she just grins, and she really does look incredibly silly.
"Little Fish, shall I teach you to count?" Leng Yue said, and started counting from 11.
Leng Xiaoyu was also quite interested and started counting with Leng Yue. When they reached one hundred, Leng Xiaoyu reminded Leng Yue that they could eat the fish.
Leng Yue smiled, opened the pot to check, and only added salt to taste after confirming the fish was cooked. She hesitated for a moment before adding the salt.
Because the salt here was in large chunks and looked dirty, it didn't resemble table salt at all. Leng Yue and Leng Xiaoyu checked it several times before carefully placing a piece into the pot.
This piece of salt is as big as a baby's fist! And it's the smallest piece in the salt shaker!
After putting it in, Leng Yue tasted it and found the fish soup too salty. However, the two of them were already starving and didn't want to add water and cook it again, so they ate it as is.
The two of them each ate a large bowl of fish and fish soup, and they finished it all.
At this moment, Leng Yue felt like she had come back to life, and Leng Xiaoyu jumped around happily.
It was completely dark, and there was only one kerosene lamp in the house. Leng Xiaoyu was reluctant to let her use it, so Leng Yue just helped him wash up quickly, didn't clean the kitchen, and went to sleep in the makeshift place.
Lying on the hard bed, Leng Yue couldn't fall asleep. The bed looked fine at first glance, but there were several holes in the middle. Even sleeping on it felt like being caught in a trap. Leng Yue had never seen a bed like this before.
Leng Xiaoyu slept on the innermost side, where there was a large hole in the middle, so Leng Yue could only sleep on the outermost side.
She couldn't move, the bed was hard, and it smelled musty and had a strange, indescribable odor. Leng Yue felt utterly tormented.
"Sis, are you having trouble sleeping?" Leng Xiaoyu suddenly asked in the darkness.
Leng Yue hummed in agreement, "It's uncomfortable, smells bad, and itchy, like something is biting me."
“Those are lice, sis, we have so many lice on our bed,” Leng Xiaoyu replied calmly.
"Lion? What lion?" Leng Yue thought she had misheard.
"It's lice, right? They bite and make you itchy. They're in your hair and on the bed!" Leng Xiaoyu tried his best to explain. He didn't know how to talk to his sister about something so common.
"Lice?" Leng Yue realized; she had heard of them. They were parasites that infest people who didn't pay attention to personal hygiene, and they were in the same category as fleas and ticks.
"Oh my god, lice!" Realizing what she was doing, Leng Yue exploded. She was supposed to sleep with these little animals? She wanted to die!
"Maybe I shouldn't sleep..." Leng Yue hesitated.
"Sis, let's go to sleep. If we don't sleep, the monsters will capture us. Ha~ Go to sleep, sis." Leng Xiaoyu was still sleepy and couldn't help but yawn.
“It’s all a lie to fool children…” Before Leng Yue could finish speaking, a series of strange cries came from outside the house. If you listened carefully, you could also hear the howling of wolves in the distance.
Leng Yue shuddered and obediently lay back down. She knew the noises outside were from some kind of animal, but in this pitch-black place, she was genuinely scared!
Darkness always conceals the unknown and fear!
Leng Yue decided that even if she were bitten to death by parasites, she would still be a coward to the very end!
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