Chapter 416: Bound to the Birth System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 417: Wasteland Gathering Daily Life (45)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

"Sister-in-law, am I disturbing you, Sister-in-law?"

Shen Yao heard someone knocking at the door; when she opened it, standing outside was a somewhat plump middle-aged woman who called herself Qian Zhuang's wife.

"It's you, Sister-in-law, come in quickly," Shen Yao said with a smile, making room and leading her toward the living room. "No disturbance at all; I have nothing to do anyway and was just planning to tidy up things at home. The house looks a bit messy, Sister-in-law, please don't mind."

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law also had the surname Qian, named Qian Yue, and truly deserved to be Qian Zhuang's wife; she looked quite eloquent and capable.

"You've only been here a few days; there's no rush about the messy room. You can wait until the Cold Season to tidy up. During the Cold Season, you can't go out, and you'd go stir-crazy if you didn't find something to do."

"Last year I bought plenty of fabric. Just making and washing clothes every day—oh my, it's busier than the Mild Season," Qian Eldest Sister-in-law said. Her family raised three children, plus several elders above and younger siblings below, with over a dozen people living together, very lively.

Shen Yao couldn't tell Qian Eldest Sister-in-law's purpose for coming, but it certainly included caring for those close to her. After all, the main pillar of her family had just gone out.

"Ai, I came just to ask you, little sister. If you're free this afternoon, let's go outside the city together to pick wild vegetables, wild fruits, mushrooms, and such."

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law, afraid Shen Yao wouldn't believe her, showed her the images stored on her wristwatch. "It's less than one li outside the Slum District. Quite a few people go there regularly. The yield isn't high, but it's definitely enough for the family's three meals a day."

It's not staple food, just side dishes. If you save a bit, you can even dry some to store.

Every time the Qian Family Mercenary Team took in newcomers, Qian Eldest Sister-in-law would come by once to build rapport, while also checking the newcomer's background and temper.

Shen Yao was measured whether chatting online or meeting offline, which greatly satisfied Qian Eldest Sister-in-law. She was someone worth further interaction.

While Qian Eldest Sister-in-law was thinking beautiful thoughts, Shen Yao had no reason to refuse.

Smiling and nodding to indicate she had plenty of time this afternoon, going out for a trip was exactly to her liking.

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law got a definite answer, chatted a couple more casual sentences, then stood up and left on the pretext of being busy.

One can't overstay one's welcome at someone else's house. Whose time isn't precious?

…………

In the afternoon, the sun hung overhead. Shen Yao wore a straw hat and held the chubby baby in her arms. Just as she arrived at the gathering point, she saw Qian Eldest Sister-in-law looking displeased, pulling a woman and saying something.

Shen Yao sensibly didn't go over, but stood in place teasing the baby in her arms, until Qian Eldest Sister-in-law smiled and waved to call her over.

"Sister-in-law."

"Sister-in-law."

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law's face no longer showed any emotion; only those brilliantly smiling eyes remained.

"Sister-in-law, you came a bit early. Why not wait longer at home?" They had agreed to gather around two o'clock, but it wasn't even one-thirty yet.

"There's nothing at home. Besides, Manman likes going out."

Shen Yao unashamedly used her daughter in her arms as an excuse. After all, Manman was still an ignorant child who would just giggle foolishly no matter what was said.

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law pretended to glance at Manman and lightly touched Manman's elastic arm. "Your child is raised really well." Compared to other families in the mercenary team, it was like heaven and earth.

Even Qian Eldest Sister-in-law's own three children, at the same age, couldn't be guaranteed to match the weight of this chubby daughter before them. Raising a chubby baby at this time showed how much this couple had put in privately.

Hearing this, Shen Yao lowered her head and smiled especially shyly, only saying the child was easy to raise.

Whether a child is easy to raise is just polite talk. Qian Eldest Sister-in-law wasn't really saying anything about Manman. The two continued chatting about other topics for a couple of sentences, until more and more people arrived. Qian Eldest Sister-in-law then led Shen Yao to help with introductions, and once everyone was gathered, they went straight out of the city to gather.

"Is your family new here? Where did you come from?" A bored young wife ran over and quietly probed into Shen Yao's family situation.

"We came from Base No. 102, on the west side. Just keep walking along the main road. Our family of three spent quite some effort to get here."

Shen Yao spoke softly and gently, and even the base was casually made up. Anyway, there were countless bases in this world. They hadn't left any related handles openly, so they could say whatever they wanted.

The young wife indeed didn't know Base No. 102, but bases with three-digit serial numbers were basically small and medium-sized bases.

Turning her head to put the matter behind her, the young wife then asked Shen Yao about her family's life at Base No. 102. She didn't really want to hear anything; she was just curious about gossip.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao casually said a couple of sentences, all about the same—either gathering or scavenging.

But after several decades, even the most barren places had been picked clean. Where were there any buried modern "antiques" waiting to be cheaply taken by them?

"Ai, who says otherwise? Nowadays when we go out, we mainly gather. The last time we scavenged was under a unified command from the base, going to a town." Her family of five worked hard, and in the end harvested two basins full of rust, with a usability rate of approximately zero.

"By the way, my name is Su Wen. My husband and younger brother are both on duty in the mercenary team."

Su Wen's parents passed away early. She and her younger brother grew up depending on each other. Later, Su Wen married her current husband, bringing her younger brother along to live together.

"My name is Shen Yao, and this is my daughter Manman," Shen Yao said, reaching out to pat the daughter squirming in her arms. Manman showed a cute smile the next second, clearly a child who knew how to act coquettish.

Su Wen's eyes immediately went straight. She had been married for three years without a child and was planning to have one. Now a living little cutie was swaying right before her eyes, and Su Wen immediately asked if she could hold her.

Shen Yao:... There's such a request?

Confirming Su Wen had no malice, the two chatted about a lot more content along the way. Shen Yao even indirectly asked about methods of communicating with the outside world.

Smiling, Shen Yao handed Manman in her arms over and traveled with empty hands.

Su Wen:...

Su Wen was so frightened she fumbled with her hands and feet. The little cutie in her arms was soft and chubby; she herself didn't dare to use force.

But the child's birth mother stood by and advised her not to be nervous, saying children were tough and not so easily hurt.

"You trust me too much." Although happy, she felt a mix of laughter and tears.

Shen Yao looked relaxed. She and the system were both by her side, so naturally she didn't worry about Su Wen secretly causing trouble.

As the main force arrived at the destination, everyone began to scatter.

Su Wen and Shen Yao walked together. Manman went out to let off steam for a circle and then returned to her birth mother's arms, babbling and pointing at the flowers and grass around.

Shen Yao coaxed the child while gathering edible wild vegetables and wild fruits around her. Occasionally encountering relatively unfamiliar plants, she would also ask Su Wen for guidance.

The system was speechless. "Why not ask me?" Its detection ability was hundreds of times stronger than human effort.

"Of course to take the opportunity to build a good relationship, so I won't lack friends in the future," Shen Yao said frankly, thinking to herself that she and Qian Eldest Sister-in-law ultimately had different statuses, so it was more natural to get along with Su Wen.

After a long time, she still needed a few close friends she could communicate with normally, and Su Wen seemed quite suitable at present.

After being out for over two hours, by the time she returned it was five in the afternoon.

Manman had already fallen asleep in Shen Yao's arms, and showed no reaction when placed on the wooden bed.

Shen Yao tidied Manman's somewhat messy hair, carefully covered her with the quilt, and when going out did not forget to bring the room door.

Cheng Qi would return tonight, because he had taken an instant mission.

Wash the freshly picked wild vegetables clean, and put the wild fruit on a plate as dessert after the meal.

Shen Yao took the rice bought from the base, carefully ground it, rinsed it clean, and put it into the rice cooker to stew; as for other dishes, she would make a meat dish as well.

The kitchen knife in her hand was wielded with great might, and all the idle tools in the kitchen were put to use.

When Cheng Qi pushed open the door and carried fresh meat inside, what greeted him was the fragrant aroma filling the whole room.

"The food is ready, go wash up and call Manman," Shen Yao called out while looking up, and continued busying herself with the task that was almost complete.

Cheng Qi grunted in acknowledgment, took the meat to the storage room and put it in the refrigerator, then ran to the washroom to clean himself up simply.

With the sound of splashing water, Cheng Qi washed his face, then returned to the room and picked up Manman, who had already woken up and was lying on the bed chewing her fingers.

"Daddy, Daddy"

Manman could already recognize people and call them; the child's tender, lively voice made Cheng Qi's cold heart soften into a puddle of water.

Shen Yao served all the prepared dishes, and brought out the child seat specially made for Manman; the family of three could finally sit together to eat.

"The resources outside Base No. 25 are much richer than at Dawn Base.

The place we went today was only twenty or thirty li from the base, and we easily hunted several wild mountain goats; it is said that further away there are wild cattle herds, a new species the base moved here from afar."

The task Cheng Qi was responsible for today was driving to transport goods; although the mountain goat meat allocated to him was mediocre, the danger was greatly reduced.

Because they were not yet very familiar with the Qian Family Mercenary Team, Qian Zhuang considered that Cheng Qi had misgivings, so these days he would follow the mercenary team on missions, but mainly handle some logistical work, which could be considered as reassuring Cheng Qi's heart.

"Today I chatted with the family members of the mercenary team, and mentioned that there are means in the base to contact the outside world, with fees varying according to distance.

Dawn Base is at least over a thousand li from Base No. 25; if we want to contact Mom and Dad, the points spent would be an astronomical sum."

And this does not even count the possibility of failure, after all the Mutated World is considered a base autonomy policy; one base, one type of communication wristwatch, and for someone to contact people in other bases across regions, the difficulty is not ordinary.

Shen Yao had already asked the system to secretly send news to the Cheng Family and Shen Family at Dawn Base, so she was not in a hurry about this matter these past few days, but Cheng Qi did not know her methods and probably still wondered how to manage it.

Sure enough, as Shen Yao's words fell, Cheng Qi replied that he had also gathered quite a bit of news; among them there were many ways to contact the outside world, but because the distance between the two sides was too great, Cheng Qi had silently rejected them all.

What Cheng Qi was considering now was the regular contact method provided by the base, which was like opening a blind box; whether the sent information could be received depended entirely on fate.

Shen Yao:...

That works too; at worst, she could have the system secretly tamper with things when the time came.

The food on the table visibly decreased; after the family of three ate and drank their fill, they planned to rest and sleep.

These days Base No. 25 was always filled with a tense atmosphere, because the cold season was approaching.

Shen Yao and Cheng Qi relied on harvesting a bit from the wild every day, buying a bit from the Exchange Center, and taking a bit from the space; day by day, the household stockpile was very considerable.

Dawn Base, separated from Base No. 25 by a thousand li, the Cheng Family and Shen Family were both anxious and reassured.

Although the received messages were all anonymous text messages, judging from the source that could not be found throughout the entire base, the probability that they were sent by Shen Yao/Cheng Qi was extremely high.

"As long as their family is safe and sound, I will be reassured."

Song Ling and Cheng Ma went out to gather, walking along the edge of the bamboo forest where few people were, digging and talking as they went.

"They are both smart people; after being away for two months, they will surely be able to take good care of themselves in the new place."

Cheng Ma pulled a handful of bamboo leaves and threw them into the back basket, then turned to mention to Song Ling that the temperature this cold season was lower than the previous two days, and the base's policies were more perfunctory than the previous two years.

"These are all what Old Cheng said when he came back; Old Cheng argues with Eldest Brother all day, and they father and son truly never have a good time to discuss things properly."

Cheng Ma kept shaking her head and sighing; mainly because the base was getting worse and worse, which made her unconsciously feel some regret—why didn't she go with Second Brother's family back then? Now she worried about Second Brother outside and also about Eldest Brother who was trapped in, simply having no moment of ease.

Song Ling, being very tactful, did not follow up on that topic, but instead turned to talk about what the people in B District had been busy with recently.

Cheng Ma's attention was diverted by Song Ling's words; after the two filled the back baskets they had brought out, they hurriedly picked them up and headed back.

They parted at the doorway; Song Ling smiled and waved at Cheng Ma, and when turning to enter the door, she seemed as if someone was chasing her, hurriedly greeting Shen Jiancheng who was staying at home.

Since Li Jia gave birth to the child, and with the base's situation worsening day by day, Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu would intentionally separate when going out.

Each time they went hunting with the mercenary team, only one person went, and the rest stayed home to guard.

Shen Jiancheng wore a thin shirt and organized the fine bamboo strips dried earlier to weave with.

Hearing Song Ling wave and call him, he hurriedly ran over to ask what the matter was.

Song Ling rolled her eyes, "Can't I call you if there's nothing wrong? How is the child at home?"

Li Jia was still working at the hospital, and it was not yet time to get off work.

"Quite good, lying on the bed sleeping right now," Shen Jiancheng grinned, scratching the back of his head.

"I just heard from my in-laws that this year's cold season, the base does not interfere, and the situation is worse than last year."

Song Ling furrowed her brow and muttered in a low voice that otherwise they could also run away.

"Staying in the base is waiting for death; haven't you noticed that houses in A District are being sold?" They definitely wanted to cash out before leaving; otherwise, the house couldn't be taken away, and doing nothing would be a great loss.

"Set off in the mild season next year? Our daughter left us two vehicles; I and Little Yu will take turns driving, and pay more attention on the road; we will surely be able to reach the new base."

Shen Jiancheng did not stammer when mentioning leaving, showing that his temperament had changed a lot over these two years.

"Don't rush these for now; if we really leave, we must discuss it with the in-laws together," not to mention the relationship between the two families, just saying that one family traveling alone was not safe.

Song Ling handed the back basket in her hand to Shen Jiancheng, then turned and ran outside, "I'll go ask around about the situation; you go back to the room and busy yourself."

Shen Jiancheng:...