Still hoarding supplies in the apocalypse? I'll just go on a killing spree and looting!

The fog faded from dark gray to grayish-white.

I glanced at the time on my watch; it was almost noon.

Lin You's fever finally subsided, and her arm was re-bandaged and splinted, although she no longer needed them.

But it's still quite amazing that he recovered to about 70-80% in just one day.

To avoid trouble.

Lin You continued to pretend to be injured, lying back down on the bed with her eyes closed to rest.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin You heard soft footsteps.

I knew who it was without even opening my eyes.

An An quietly sat down next to Lin You.

Seeing Lin You open her eyes, his eyes lit up for a moment, then he immediately lowered his head.

He pulled a small bag of whole cookies from under the neatly arranged blanket, and then pulled out strawberry candies from under the pillow, placing them all in Lin You's hand.

"You're injured, so you need to eat good food. Cookies are good. These are sweet, so eating something sweet after taking your medicine will make it less bitter. That's what the nurse said."

An'an suddenly lowered her head, her voice becoming softer: "Sister, are you very tired?"

Lin You's face was abnormally pale due to the fever.

Even her smile now seemed forced and weak. Lin You reached out and touched An An's hat.

An'an lowered her head and said, "I think you look very tired. My grandma used to be very tired too. She would get up very early every day and come back very late at night. She would say it was okay, she wasn't tired. One day she got up in the morning and made me breakfast, saying she was going to work. And then she never came back."

An'an's voice grew softer and softer, as if she were saying something she shouldn't have.

But this was too serious, so serious that he felt panicked. "They said she was just too tired. Not sick. Just too tired. Sister, will you end up like Grandma?"

He didn't cry when he finished speaking; he just blinked and looked at Lin You.

Lin You lowered her head, gently placed the cookies and candy on the bedside table, and then reached out to straighten An An's crooked woolen hat, her movements gentler than ever before.

"An'an. Sister isn't tired. Sister just has a lot of things to do, but sister won't be like grandma."

An'an looked up at her.

He was judging whether the statement could be believed.

A six-year-old child has already learned to tell whether an adult really means "it's okay" when they say it.

When adults say "I'll come back," do they really mean it?

He looked at her for a long time, then opened his arms and hugged Lin You's neck.

The movements were very gentle, as if afraid of touching her wound.

His face was pressed against her neck, his woolen hat brushing against her chin, and his voice was muffled: "Sister, I'll wait for you to come back for dinner. I always wait for you when you go out. If you come back late, I'll save some cookies for you. I won't steal any. I'll save them all for you. Don't work too hard, okay? I can eat a little less, you don't have to work so hard."

Lin You's hand stopped on his back, paused for two seconds, and her eyes suddenly felt a little sore.

Then she gently patted his back, just twice.

She nodded, but didn't say "okay".

She was afraid she wouldn't keep her word, but she was also afraid that if she didn't say a word, he would hide the cookies under the bed.

So she nodded.

Just a moment, very lightly, like picking a pebble off your shoulder and gently placing it back on the ground.

"Sister, would you like that candy?"

An'an held the strawberry candy high, tilted her woolen hat to one side, and her eyes shone like two stars just pulled out of the gray fog.

"Eat," she said.

"Is it sweet?"

"sweet."

An An smiled, her eyes narrowing into slits.

Lin You folded the candy wrapper and put it in her pocket, then picked up An An.

An An is still so light.

The sound of Mu Xue and Shun Zi talking could be heard downstairs.

Shunzi was bringing a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes to the table, her apron covered in oil stains.

Mu Xue stood at the kitchen doorway, still holding the bone shield in her hand.

"Where's my sister?" Shunzi put down the groceries and looked towards the stairwell.

"Upstairs." Mu Xue leaned the bone shield against the dining table and pulled out a chair to sit down.

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin You came down the stairs, her bald head gleaming with a cold white light, and she was holding another little bald head in her arms.

She glanced at the dishes on the table.

Stir-fried shredded potatoes, braised rabbit meat, canned stewed vermicelli, a dish of pickled radishes, and steamed buns made by Shunzi himself.

The sizes are not very uniform, but they smell like wheat.

Shunzi took off her apron and draped it over the back of the chair, then pulled out the chair and sat down.

He was about to sit down when he stood up again and ran to the kitchen: "I forgot, I forgot, there's still a pot of soup!"

A moment later, he returned with an enamel basin containing steaming hot tomato and egg drop soup. Tomatoes are a rare commodity these days, and I wonder where Shunzi got them from.

Shunzi explained with a smile, "The tomatoes were found in the flower bed in the nearby yard, there were only six of them, and the eggs were brought by Team Leader Song."

The four people sat around the dining table.

On the table were stir-fried shredded potatoes, braised rabbit meat, canned stewed vermicelli, pickled radish, and a bowl of steaming egg drop soup.

An'an sat on a raised chair, her chopsticks held a little crookedly, and it took her several tries to pick up a piece of rabbit meat.

Mu Xue leaned the bone shield against the back of the chair, picked up the bowl, took a bite of pickled radish with her chopsticks, and crunched it down.

While ladling soup, Shunzi muttered, "The potatoes in the greenhouse have sprouted several more today. I counted them when I watered them this morning, sixteen in total. And the sweet potato seedlings, those that were wilted before have stood up again today. Sister, I'm thinking of clearing another plot of land next to the greenhouse to plant some cabbage. We still have two bags of cabbage seeds that we found in the visitor center's storeroom; it would be a waste not to plant them."

"Is there enough water?" Lin You asked, picking up a piece of shredded potato with her chopsticks.

"That's enough. I re-laid the water pipes to the vegetable garden yesterday; some sections were blocked before. Now the water pressure is even stronger than before, enough to water the vegetables. It's just that..."

He scratched his head. "It's just that we don't have enough manure. I was wondering if Team Leader Song could share some of his chicken manure with me."

Mu Xue choked on her soup, looked up at him, and asked, "What do you need chicken manure for?"

"Compost! The fertilizer made from composted chicken manure is even better than chemical fertilizer. When I was farming back home, everyone in the village used chicken manure to water their vegetables, and the cabbages they grew were big and sweet." Shunzi said seriously, completely unaware of Muxue's disgusted expression.

"I'll go to Team Leader Song's place later and I'll tell him about this," Lin You said while eating, her hands never stopping.

Shunzi was so happy she almost spilled her soup bowl.

An'an took the opportunity to pick the pickled radish out of the bowl and put it on the table. Mu Xue gently tapped the back of her hand with her chopsticks, and she obediently picked it back and put it in her mouth.

With bulging cheeks, he chewed with a crunching sound.

The haze outside the window was thinning, and although the midday sun couldn't penetrate it, it still brightened the gray world a little.

Lin You held her bowl and watched as Shunzi described his "farm expansion plan" with great enthusiasm.

Watching Mu Xue complain about the chicken manure while calculating how much fertilizer he needed, and watching An An finally swallow the pickled radish and then slurp down a big mouthful of soup.

She reached for the plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes that was almost gone, picked up the last bit, and put it in her bowl.

This meal was the best Lin You had eaten in a long time.

Five years after the apocalypse, this condition simply won't exist.

Before the apocalypse, I was so busy gathering supplies that I didn't even have time to eat properly.

After finishing her meal, An'an insisted on seeing the sweet potato seedlings in the greenhouse.

Shunzi smiled sheepishly and led An'an to the renovated greenhouse at the back.

In the corridor.

Mu Xue leaned against the wall, with the bone shield beside her.

Seeing Lin You come out, she stood up and dusted off her pants. "Sister Lin, since you're injured, I'll go for a walk with you."

Lin You looked at Mu Xue, who was pretending to be nonchalant, and said, "Did you hear everything?"

Mu Xue feigned ignorance and asked, "What did you hear?"

Lin You shook her head, feeling a little touched. "An An is just a little scared."

Mu Xue remained silent for a moment, then followed behind Lin You before speaking after a long pause.

"I heard everything you just heard. An'an wasn't talking about cookies. He treats every meeting as if it's the last. So he wants to give you the best... whole cookies, strawberry candies. He's saving the best for you, afraid that one day you might never come back."

Lin You did not stop.

Mu Xue followed behind her, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke up: "Sister Lin, did his grandmother really die suddenly?"