They had almost finished eating, and the two of them finished off the food completely. They were about to leave when Li Chu noticed that there was less than a third of the wine left in the bottle. He then handed it to the third uncle, saying, "Here, take this and drink it."
The old man grinned from ear to ear, his face beaming like a blooming chrysanthemum. "Haha, then I won't stand on ceremony." With that, he picked up his plate, grabbed his wine bottle, and swayed as he walked home.
"Uncle, please slow down and watch your step."
The old man didn't even turn his head. "Well, it's nothing, Xiao Chu. You should get some rest too."
Li Chu cleared away the dishes and chopsticks, washed them in the yard, then filled a basin with water, added some hot water inside, washed his face and feet, wiped himself down, locked the door, poured himself a cup of hot water, lay down on the bed, took out the books he had borrowed from the library, and slowly began to read. Occasionally, he would jot down important questions in his notebook. Two years had passed, and he was now increasingly accustomed to this era of limited entertainment.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but when he looked up at his watch, it was almost ten o'clock. He closed his book, tidied up his pen and notebook, and got out of bed. He put on his coat, picked up his flashlight, and prepared to go to the toilet outside in the yard.
The houses in the front yard had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep. It was the middle of the night, and there were no lights on. Everyone used spittoons at home for urination and defecation. They only came out to defecate when they absolutely had to. Except for the cold winter months, Li Chu always went outside to use the toilet, for both urination and defecation. He simply wasn't used to using a spittoon.
When going to the toilet in the middle of the night, people usually rely on a flashlight, or they rely on the moonlight and their familiarity with the toilet to feel their way in.
After using the restroom, Li Chu went home to sleep.
The next day, I was still woken up by the sounds coming from the yard.
Lying in bed, not wanting to move, I groggily opened the system in my mind and checked in.
The "ding" sound indicated a successful check-in. The system displayed a message: "Check-in successful, rewarded with one large yellow croaker, 100 yuan in cash, 100 jin of grain coupons, and 100 jin of meat coupons." "Wow, so much today!" Li Chu immediately perked up. Upon closer inspection, oh, it was the one-month anniversary of the check-in; then everything was fine.
The system rewards one or two items daily for checking in, with a larger reward only after 30 days. I have a dozen or so small and large yellow croakers in my inventory, over 3000 in cash, and various other coupons like grain coupons, meat coupons, egg coupons, cloth coupons, cotton coupons, milk powder coupons, etc. Industrial vouchers haven't been issued yet, but I believe the system will provide them eventually.
In addition, Li Chu also bought a lot of flour, rice, pork, mutton, beef, whole chicken, tea, eggs, White Rabbit milk candy, canned fruit, canned luncheon meat, and canned fish in his space for emergencies, since they wouldn't spoil anyway.
Li Chu remained calm about the things in the space. He might be shocked if the system rewarded him with a car someday.
He leisurely got up and dressed, then went to the yard to wash up, greeting the people there and chatting for a bit. After getting ready, Li Chu would go for a run. Perhaps it was because the system had conveniently modified this body after he transmigrated, but he could run five or six kilometers every day without even breaking a sweat, and he had developed muscles—not the kind you get in a gym, but very defined, with six-pack abs, something he could never have imagined in his previous life.
I ran around for a bit and then came home. I turned on the stove to cook a bowl of thin porridge. I squatted by the stove, my stomach empty, and gently stirred the porridge in the pot with a spoon. After the porridge was cooked, I put the wok on the stove to fry two eggs.
The eggs sizzled as soon as they hit the pan, and soon a fragrant aroma wafted into the yard through the cracks in the doors and windows.
It made the neighbor's son, Aunt Wang, so hungry he cried. Aunt Wang secretly swallowed her saliva and went to cook sweet potato porridge while grumbling.
"What kind of family makes fried eggs so early in the morning? Do they even know how to make a living?"
The old man across the street also smelled the aroma and suddenly felt that his own corn porridge didn't taste so good anymore. He muttered to himself, "People won't go poor from eating or dressing, but they will if they don't plan ahead. How can you live like this? You have to make the most of every little thing."
The children lowered their heads in unison and silently drank their porridge, none of them responding.
This breakfast would seem quite lavish to others, but to Li Chu, it was nothing special.
After finishing his meal and putting down his chopsticks, he checked the time and realized he still had some time before work. So he took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket, crossed his legs, and leisurely smoked.
Although resources were scarce and food was limited during this era of famine, with many families going hungry, housing and jobs were allocated by the state. Medical care was generally free; as long as you didn't fall seriously ill, you could get treatment at your workplace's clinic. Everyone had the same food and drink, so no one had to laugh at anyone else.
He stubbed out his cigarette, grabbed the bowl and chopsticks, and went to the yard to wash them. As soon as he opened the door, he was surrounded by several children.
One of the boys, about seven or eight years old, slurped his saliva and asked, "Uncle Li, Uncle Li, did you make fried eggs? They smell so good!"
Looking at the little boy in front of me, his name was Jia Geng, nicknamed Bang Geng. He was the son of Jia Dongxu from the Zhongyuan family, the infamous "Thief Saint" from those fanfiction novels of my previous life. I haven't heard of him having any bad reputation, but he is indeed quite mischievous.
Li Chu looked down at the sticky rice and said with a smile, "Little sticky rice, want some?"
"I want to eat scrambled eggs. They're so delicious. I haven't had them in ages." His dark eyes held a hint of anticipation.
"If you want to eat, go back and have your mothers cook it," he said, showing off his empty bowl. "I've finished eating."
She pushed aside the children surrounding her and went to the sink to wash the dishes.
After returning home, I slung my military green satchel over my shoulder and dashed out of the courtyard gate to go to work.
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