Chapter 13

When the sky was fully bright, Chen Huihong woke up on time.

It seemed she hadn't adapted to having a child lying beside her. After getting up, her first reaction was to eat tree bark and leave, almost stepping on Hui Niang. Only after seeing Hui Niang did she react belatedly, remembering that there was indeed such a person last night.

Seeing that Hui Niang wouldn't wake up, Chen Huihong felt impatient after waiting for a while. She left first, found the abandoned well she had discovered yesterday, and started drawing water.

Most of the wells Chen Huihong had found along the way were completely dried up, the bottoms filled with dust and mud, unable to draw a single drop of water.

For the few that weren't completely dry, the water was pitifully scarce, a thin layer whose evaporation rate was faster than its replenishment; only in the morning could one draw a trace of turbid, dirty water.

This showed the severity of the drought.

Chen Huihong drew three or four times before she could get a shallow layer of murky well water. With no container to hold it, she just carried the bucket back.

It was fortunate that the refugees who had passed by this abandoned well hadn't taken the hemp rope and broken bucket with them; otherwise, Chen Huihong would have had to twist hemp rope and find a bucket.

By the time Chen Huihong returned, Hui Niang had already woken up, sitting on the ground in a daze, her expression wooden like a puppet doll. Seeing Chen Huihong walk over, Hui Niang excitedly climbed up from the ground and ran towards Chen Huihong, stumbling, a stark contrast to her zombie-like gait from last night.

"Sister!"

"Water," Chen Huihong said concisely, placing the bucket on the ground. "It's a bit dirty, let it settle for a while before drinking."

After saying this, Chen Huihong sat down, and Hui Niang nodded obediently and sat down too.

"What does sister want to ask me?" Hui Niang knew Chen Huihong had something to ask her.

"Where do you all flee to when escaping the famine?"

Hui Niang lowered her head and thought: "At first, mother said to flee north. I heard the drought in the north isn't as severe as ours, and it even rains. The price of wheat hasn't reached 20 silver dollars per shi yet. If we go there to sell ourselves to farm, we don't have to borrow high-interest loans to buy food, and we might even have a bite to eat."

"But father didn't agree, saying the north is plagued by war, many people have died, and there are many bandits; we might die halfway there. Although the drought gets worse the further south we go, my family has a relative who is a carpenter in the neighboring county; if we seek refuge there, we might have a bite to eat." Speaking of this, Hui Niang, who had been keeping her head down, looked up and secretly glanced at Chen Huihong.

Chen Huihong was thinking about her own affairs and didn't notice Hui Niang at all, asking: "Did you go to the neighboring county?"

Hui Niang shook her head: "The neighboring county had a plague, many people died, and my family's relative also died. Villages with severe epidemics were all burnt to the ground, and no one dared to go near them."

"I don't know where father and mother want to go; maybe to Beiping, maybe to the Qin region. But on the road, we heard others say the Qin region is also dry, but some say Beiping doesn't let refugees into the city and blocks them outside. My father wanted to hop a train to the south, but many people fell off and died, and some were shot dead. Father was afraid my younger brother would fall and die, so he didn't hop it."

"Are there many people fleeing the famine?" Chen Huihong asked.

"Many." Hui Niang nodded affirmatively. "It's been dry for three years. No snow in winter, no rain in spring. At first, there was still a little harvest to barely survive, but last year the wheat harvest failed completely, and we didn't even have seeds left."

"The wheat harvest failed, but the rent had to be paid, and taxes had to be paid. Many families in our village ran away. My family has four mu of land, and those four mu were meant to be saved for my younger brother's marriage. Father couldn't bear to part with the land, so we didn't run."

"Last year, to pay taxes, we sold my elder sister. We thought maybe this year would be a good year. Who would have thought it wouldn't rain since the beginning of spring? We really couldn't live anymore. Grandparents were afraid of being a burden, so they ate Guanyin clay and died."

"Last month, father and mother buried grandparents, sold the land, and took me and my younger brother to run."

"Actually, last year father wanted to sell me too, but mother said I eat little and can work, and if I were a year older, I'd sell for more money, so they kept me until this year. As a result, when the human trafficker came this year, he complained that I didn't look good and was a waste of food, and wouldn't take me even for free." Hui Niang's tone was flat, as if she were recounting some mundane matters.

"Chun sister next door looked good, so the trafficker took her and gave two bags of wheat. The trafficker said he would sell her to Beiping. Chun sister was so happy; she left her red hair ribbon to me and told me that if she went to Beiping, she might be able to eat white flour steamed buns, and if she was lucky, she could even eat white rice."

"Sister, do you know what white flour steamed buns taste like? In our village, only Landlord Zhang could eat white flour steamed buns. I saw it once; it was so white and soft, it must be softer than the clouds in the sky. They all say white flour steamed buns are sweet, sweet even without adding sugar."

"I know," Chen Huihong said. "White flour steamed buns aren't white, and the flour isn't white either; they're gray, and not sweet."

Chen Huihong's honesty left Hui Niang somewhat disillusioned, but Hui Niang still couldn't help but swallow her saliva. Clearly, compared to Hui Niang's purely imaginative description, Chen Huihong's words were more realistic.

Thinking that Chen Huihong had actually eaten white flour steamed buns, Hui Niang looked at her with even more respect and asked cautiously: "Sister, are you a young lady from the city?"

Chen Huihong didn't answer, so Hui Niang took it as an admission and continued to ask: "Chun sister worked as a maid in the provincial capital. She said that young ladies in the city now imitate Shanghai, wear foreign clothes, eat foreign food, and go to foreign schools to learn foreign languages. Do you young ladies in the city also eat white flour steamed buns?"

Chen Huihong was choked for a moment and said: "Yes, we do; everyone eats steamed buns everywhere."

After thinking, Chen Huihong added: "And we eat rice too."

"The rice is white."

Hui Niang asked curiously: "Do young ladies in the city flee from famine too?"

"... Yes, everyone flees."

Hui Niang nodded: "Chun sister also told me that the master of the family she served before died, and the family all fled. Several concubines grabbed a lot of jewelry, and Chun sister even picked up a silver hairpin, but unfortunately, it was discovered and snatched away by the steward."

Seeing the topic drifting further and further, Chen Huihong took the initiative to ask: "The trafficker didn't buy you, so why did your father and mother bring you along when fleeing the famine?"

This question could be said to be quite heart-wrenching, directly silencing Hui Niang.

After a long time, Hui Niang whispered: "Mother said she couldn't bear to."

"Anyway, I don't eat much, and I can find food. I can take care of my younger brother on the road, so it's better to bring me along. Just in case... I might be useful."

"You know how to find food?" Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang.

Hui Niang nodded repeatedly: "I know. I can dig for grass roots in the fields, I can find insects, I can find water, and I can find rat holes. Sometimes if I'm lucky, I can not only find the food hidden by black rats but also catch the rats."

"Although many rivers have dried up, there are always places with water. No matter how severe the drought is, if you dig deep enough, you can always get water." Speaking of this, Hui Niang secretly sized up Chen Huihong again. "Sister, you don't seem to have a jar for storing water."

"It broke," Chen Huihong said perfunctorily. "Continue."

Hui Niang thought for a moment and added: "If the price of grain wasn't so expensive, and the promised disaster relief grain hadn't been seen, and extra taxes hadn't been added this year, my father wouldn't have sold the land and fled."

"I know," Chen Huihong said flatly. "I know you people... rural farmers who farm, those with land are considered to have decent conditions. Many don't have land and rent from landlords; if they can't pay the rent, they borrow high-interest loans from the landlord, and the interest rolls over until the family is broken and children are sold."

After saying this, Chen Huihong added: "I heard it from people at a tea stall."

"Where are you going now?" Chen Huihong asked.

Hui Niang was a bit dazed, but also a bit expectant, looking at Chen Huihong cautiously with deer-like eyes: "I don't know where to go."

"Sister, can I follow you?"

"I don't know where to go either; it's useless for you to follow me," Chen Huihong said.

"Then... can I follow?"

"Whatever." Chen Huihong was like a heartless game player, completely unconcerned with the NPC's sad past, only caring about her own mission progress.

Although she didn't seem to have any missions that needed rushing.

"Thank you, sister." Hui Niang happily followed behind Chen Huihong, letting her shadow completely merge into Chen Huihong's, as if that would provide a sense of security.

"Sister, what's your name?"

"My name is... Hong Niang."

"Then what is your surname, sister?"

"What is your surname?"

"My surname is Chen." "What a coincidence, my surname is Chen too."

"Then sister, where are you going?"

"Don't know." Speaking of this, Chen Huihong stopped and asked, "Where... is there a lot of people and safe?"

Hui Niang thought for a moment: "Beiping."

"The Emperor used to live there."

"And then?"

"Then there was no more Emperor," Hui Niang said. "But there are many other masters. Chun sister told me that in the past, if you accidentally bumped into young ladies, young masters, ladies, or masters in the city, you had to kneel and kowtow. When the opera troupe came to our village to perform, the people in the opera also had to kowtow when they saw the Emperor. Maybe the Emperor and those masters are about the same."

Chen Huihong frowned: "I don't like kowtowing to people."

"Sister, you are a young lady, of course you don't need to kowtow to people," Hui Niang said, revealing her first smile since meeting Chen Huihong. "I don't like kowtowing to people either. Mother always scolded me for being pretentious and having a sick brain. In the village, whenever I saw Landlord Master, I would hide and walk away, so when Chun sister went to the city to work, I didn't go. Even when father and mother beat me, I wouldn't go."

Chen Huihong didn't speak and continued walking forward.

Hui Niang followed behind her like a little shadow, sticking close.

"Sister, are we going to Beiping?"

"Don't know."

"Then where are we going?"

"Don't know."

"Sister, it's so strange. I was so hungry, but after you gave me tree bark to eat yesterday, I'm not hungry anymore."

"Tree bark keeps you full."

"Am I going to die? People in our village who fled with us were like that; they kept shouting 'so hungry, so hungry' in front, and on the day they were about to die, they suddenly weren't hungry anymore, and then they died."

"No, people who are about to die wouldn't be so talkative." Chen Huihong paused, turned back, looked at Hui Niang, and somewhat reluctantly took out a piece of tree bark slightly larger than the one from last night and handed it to Hui Niang. "Eat."

Hui Niang took the tree bark and stuffed it directly into her mouth. Her hesitation was noticeably more decisive than yesterday, and even her swallowing action was faster than last night.

"Sister, you are such a good person!"

She's been given a "good person" card.

Chen Huihong frowned, seemingly hating this phrase, and said sternly: "Find your own food from now on."

"Sister, I..."

A flash of white light, and Qin Huai left the dream.

"Ding, congratulations to the player for unlocking the illustrated guide."

Qin Huai after coming out of the dream:...

Qin Huai after thinking for a moment:...?

Although dreams are always bizarre and varied, Chen Huihong's dream was a bit too realistic. The dozen or so days of travel weren't sped up by even a second; Qin Huai had watched a dozen days of desolate scenery with Chen Huihong.

And what is the meaning of Chen Huihong's dream?

Mother and daughter transformed into sisters?

In real life, they are a mother and daughter so wealthy they have no worries, but in the dream, they are a poor refugee duo, focusing on experiencing life, contrast + raising.

The most critical thing is—

Hong sister, you haven't finished this dream!

And the character setting is collapsing.

Chen Huihong is not the type of character in the dream who is cold with a hint of warmth. If one were to compare people to objects, Chen Huihong would definitely be the sun, burning herself to illuminate the world, passionate as fire, and unlike a candle that burns out, she has super-strong endurance.

And...

This dream is a bit too real.

Qin Huai recalled the fragments and scenes he saw in the dream; they were unrealistically real. If the dialogue in the dream didn't explicitly state it was the Republic of China era, that Chen Huihong was the young Chen Huihong, and that Hui Niang was the current Chen Huihui, Qin Huai would have suspected this wasn't a dream, but Chen Huihong's past memories.

Even if it were a dream, it felt like a dream of the past life.

While pondering, Qin Huai clicked on the game panel.

There was one more item in the unlocked illustrated guide.

Unlocked illustrated guide: 1/12

The lit-up guide was Chen Huihong's avatar; he clicked into it.

Name: Chen Huihong

Species:??? (To be unlocked)

Dream: 1/3

Recipe: Tree Bark (Click to view details)

Gift: None

Qin Huai: Species??? What on earth is that?!

Are you trying to tell me Chen Huihong isn't human?

So our system isn't actually an ordinary daily management system, but a spiritual energy recovery system / doomsday arrival system / mysterious invasion system?

Then what's the use of giving recipes?

With spiritual energy recovery, doomsday arrival, and mysterious invasion, what can cooking solve? Beat the opponent to death with a rolling pin? Or smash them with a mold? Or stuff them to death with enough dim sum?

Qin Huai clicked on the recipe with a head full of question marks.

【Tree Bark f-level】

Creator: Chen Huihong

Dish details: Although I really don't want to admit this is a dish, let's count it as one. It's unpalatable, dry, hard to swallow, and not recommended for direct consumption without processing. Unless you are on the verge of death, no one would want to eat this dish. Consuming more than 3g can quickly fill you up; it's a true light meal. (Because this dish is truly unpalatable, it is recommended to use it as a condiment.)

Daily production capacity: 0/50g

What a "light meal," what a "recommended to use as a condiment."

Capitalists would want to applaud after seeing this.

Qin Huai thought that a light meal made of a few vegetable leaves, a bit of salad dressing, two shrimp, a slice of avocado, and some cheap ingredients, sold for thirty or forty, was already ruthless enough, but he didn't expect there to be an even more ruthless one here.

Guess what? Straight-up tree bark.

And it fills you up.

Healthy and slimming, a truly good light meal.

It also fits Chen Huihong's cooking skills perfectly.

Oh no, in the process of preparing for the parent-child cooking day, Chen Huihong wouldn't actually be whimsical, bold, innovative, and fearless enough to use tree bark as a condiment, would she?

However, where can one buy tree bark?

Can the tree bark sold on Taobao be eaten?

Surely he can't go to the green belt downstairs in the residential area and peel it on the spot?

Qin Huai felt that if he dared to do that, Chen Huihong would arrest him on the spot within three minutes, even if he possessed the title 【Chen Huihong's Affirmation】, she would never show favoritism.

This chapter is a two-in-one, one update today.

(End of this chapter)