Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Gu Changfeng stood by the bed, his gaze falling on Meng Yaya, who was watching the show with wide eyes.

"This bed..." Gu Changfeng began, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Dad, this bed isn't even as big as the millstone in our village," Meng Yaya added bluntly.

Gu Changfeng was taken aback and didn't respond. He turned and walked to the writing desk, where two wooden chairs painted with clear varnish were placed.

He lifted the chairs with one hand each and placed them on the open floor of the room, managing to fit them together perfectly.

"You guys sleep in the beds," Gu Changfeng said, pointing to the two chairs. "I'll sleep in this one."

"How can that be!" Lin Wanrou took a step forward anxiously, then stopped abruptly. "You're the commander, and you have to lead troops into battle. How can you sleep on a chair? I... Ya Ya and I will sleep on the floor. We can just lay a straw mat on the ground and sleep there."

She was used to sleeping on the haystacks in the woodshed at the Meng family's house, and this cement floor looked cleaner than the kang (heated brick bed) at the Meng family's house.

"That's an order."

After Gu Changfeng finished speaking, he didn't even look at the mother and daughter's reaction. He turned around and picked up the basin and thermos flask in the corner: "I'll go get some water. Take off your coats."

The door clicked shut.

Only the mother and daughter remained in the house.

Meng Yaya immediately switched from "cute and cuddly girl" to "post-apocalyptic boss" mode. She took a few quick steps and spun around the room.

This dormitory room is only about fifteen square meters. The wall is half painted green, and a world map is pasted on it, with circles drawn in some places with red and blue pencils.

The window had an old-fashioned latch, and the glass was polished to a shine. Meng Yaya stood on tiptoe and tested the tightness of the latch; if someone tried to pry it open from the outside, it wouldn't last a second.

However, this is the core area of ​​the military compound, and unless the soldiers under this cheap father's command turn against him, no one can sneak in.

Security level: A.

"Ya Ya..." Lin Wanrou called her softly, "Don't touch your dad's things. He'll be angry if you break them."

Lin Wanrou was holding a rag, intending to wipe the table, but found that there wasn't a speck of dust on it. Holding the rag seemed a bit redundant.

"Mom, sit down and rest for a while." Meng Yaya climbed onto the hard bed, sat cross-legged, and said, "This bed sheet is as hard as iron. Aren't you afraid of rubbing your hands raw?"

Lin Wanrou gave a wry smile. Her hands were already covered in calluses and frostbite, so she wasn't afraid of any metal sheet.

Just then, the door opened.

Gu Changfeng carried in a basin that was more than half full of steaming water. The basin was the kind of yellow basin issued by the army, with the Double Happiness symbol printed on the bottom. Several pieces of porcelain had been chipped off the edge, revealing the black iron blank.

He placed the basin on the ground, and the steam rose up, finally bringing a touch of life to this cold, lifeless dormitory room.

"Come here and wash your face." Gu Changfeng soaked the towel in water, wrung it out until it was half dry, and handed it to Lin Wanrou.

The towel was rough, even a little prickly, but the moment the heat hit her face, Lin Wanrou's eyes reddened.

In the past, when they lived in the Meng family, they had to fetch water from a well two miles away. In winter, the well would freeze over, and to save firewood, their mother-in-law, Wang Guifen, never allowed them to boil water for washing their faces. This was the first time in three years that she had used such scalding water.

She hurriedly took the towel, wiped her face haphazardly a couple of times, and tried to hand it back.

Gu Changfeng didn't take it, but nodded his chin at Meng Yaya: "Wipe it on the child too."

Lin Wanrou quickly squatted down and carefully wiped Meng Yaya's face and hands.

A hot towel was used to wipe Meng Yaya's small hands, which were covered in mud and grime, revealing the originally fair and tender skin underneath. However, her wrists were as thin as reeds, and would break with the slightest force.

Gu Changfeng stood to the side, looking at the thin wrist, his brows furrowed into a knot.

How did they survive these three years?

After washing up, I poured some water.

Lights out has started.

The nights in the military region are quiet, with only the occasional sound of patrolling footsteps in the distance.

Moonlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, cutting a bright white stripe across the concrete floor.

Lin Wanrou and Meng Yaya lay in bed. The blankets smelled of soap and the dry, sun-dried scent—a unique aroma that belonged to Gu Changfeng.

Meng Yaya was caught in the middle, so she turned over.

The bed was indeed hard, but it was a million times better than the ruins of the apocalypse.

On the open ground next to the bed, Gu Changfeng lay fully clothed on two chairs pushed together.

The chair was too short, so his long legs could only rest on the crossbeam of the desk, putting him in an extremely awkward position. But he remained motionless, his breathing deep and even, as if he were already asleep.

Meng Yaya knew he wasn't asleep.

As a superhuman, her hearing was extremely acute. She could hear that Gu Changfeng's heartbeat was a little fast, and that his breathing was being deliberately suppressed.

the most important is,

"Gurgle..."

A very faint sound, yet remarkably clear in the still night, rang out.

Meng Yaya opened her eyes and stared at the dark ceiling.

At lunchtime in the cafeteria, this cheapskate father poured almost all of his own food into the lunchboxes of his wife and daughter. He only drank a few sips of the oily vegetable soup.

After a whole afternoon of meetings and work reports, I'm probably exhausted by now.

Gu Changfeng shifted awkwardly in the darkness, trying to turn over to cover up the rumbling in his intestines, but the chair creaked loudly, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet room.

Lin Wanrou on the bed paused in her breathing, clearly startled awake, or perhaps she hadn't been asleep at all, but she dared not make a sound.

Meng Yaya sighed inwardly.

In this family, the father is so concerned with saving face that he suffers for it, while the mother is as timid as a mouse and afraid of getting into trouble.

It seems that without Meng Yaya, this family would really fall apart.

She touched her shrunken little belly. Although she had eaten a lot of braised pork at noon, her three-year-old body was chronically malnourished, like a bottomless pit, and she felt empty again after only a short while of digestion.

"dad."

In the darkness, a sweet, childlike voice suddenly rang out.

Gu Changfeng stiffened in his chair: "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I'm hungry," Meng Yaya said matter-of-factly.

Gu Changfeng remained silent for two seconds.

"Bear with it." His voice was somewhat helpless. "The canteen has been closed for a long time, and Old Wang from the cookhouse is probably snoring right now. I'll take you out for meat buns first thing tomorrow morning."

"I can't stand it." Meng Yaya sat up, the blanket slipped off, revealing a head of messy, soft hair. "I'm still growing. What if I starve and end up as dark-skinned as you?"

Gu Changfeng: "..."

That child never says a kind word.

He sighed and lowered his long legs off the table beam.

"Wait here." Gu Changfeng stood up in the dark, opened the drawer, rummaged through a pile of documents for a while, and pulled out a compressed biscuit that was hard enough to crack a walnut. "This is all we have. It's military rations. It's too much trouble to chew it dry. I'll get you a glass of water to soak it in."

Just as he turned to grab the thermos, a small hand tugged at his clothes.

"That doesn't taste good, I have something delicious."