Chapter 7

"Not yet..."

Jiang Xiaoxiao wrinkled her little face and shook her head, pretending to sigh with worry. "Li Zheng Grandpa, are there any empty houses in the village that we can live in?"

Although she asked this, having read the original book, she knew clearly that there were empty houses in the village.

Sure enough, Li Zheng stroked his beard and smiled. "You two are lucky; there is an empty house right at the tail of the village. It was left by a hunter in the village who left last year. The house has been empty ever since; although it's a bit old, it's still habitable."

"However..." Li Zheng paused, but still added a sentence: "That house is not far from the foot of the mountain; you must be careful of wild beasts coming down from the mountain..."

"It doesn't matter, Li Zheng Grandpa, Mother and I will lock the doors and windows tightly when we sleep at night." Jiang Xiaoxiao shook her little head, not afraid at all.

What a joke, her mother was a big shot who tore zombies apart with her bare hands in the apocalypse; would she be afraid of those wild beasts?

Li Zheng was amused by her little appearance and stroked his chin beard with a smile. "Alright then, since there's no other place in the village for you to live, you stay there first, and if you have anything in the future, come find me."

"Mm-hmm, thank you, Li Zheng Grandpa!"

"Alright, you go back first; I'll take the severance document to the county yamen for a seal in two days."

Jiang Xiaoxiao waved her little hand and said goodbye to Li Zheng.

After the mother and daughter left Li Zheng's house, they rushed toward the Li Family Ancestral House without stopping.

Although the family had already been divided, their luggage was still at the Li house, so they had to go back once.

But as soon as they arrived in front of the Li family gate, the door was tightly closed, and only two small bundles were thrown outside the door, rolling in the dust all over the ground.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was so angry that she squeezed her little fists, but her mother had already stepped forward to pick up the bundles without changing her expression, patted off the dust, carried them on her back, and then beckoned to her: "Let's go, daughter, let's go home."

Looking at that face, which was equally thin but full of determination, the anger in Jiang Xiaoxiao's heart vanished, and she couldn't help but reveal a smile: "Alright!"

The mother and daughter held hands and walked toward the tail of the village in the night.

Yuhe Village was not big, but there was still some distance from the head of the village to the tail.

The mother and daughter walked for a long time and finally saw a thatched cottage hidden under a few old trees at the foot of the mountain not far away.

The courtyard outside was desolate and dilapidated, the ground was paved with gravel, and overgrown weeds sprouted from between the stone cracks.

The mother and daughter stepped through the weeds and went straight to the house. Pushing open the wooden door, they saw that inside the low mud adobe house, furniture was scattered and tilted everywhere, spider webs were dense in every corner, dust had accumulated everywhere, and a smell of decay permeated the air.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked around for a few moments; although it was a bit dilapidated, the earthen bed, straw mats, and wooden beams were all there. It was actually better than she had imagined, and it could be lived in after some repairs and cleaning.

"Although this house is a bit old, it's much better than the thatched shed at the Li house."

Jiang Xiaoxiao heard her mother mutter this, so she put down the bundles and started to tidy up.

Before long, they had cleared a clean area. The mother and daughter found some unwanted rags from the bundles, laid them on the straw mat of the earthen bed, and fell asleep in each other's arms.

Perhaps because too many things had happened today, the two of them fell into a deep sleep not long after lying down.

At dawn the next day, Jiang Xiaoxiao opened her eyes, and the wooden beams that came into view made her unable to react for a while.

The morning sunlight shot in from the broken window, the light beams slanting across, making the tiny dust motes dancing in the air clearly visible.

Jiang Xiaoxiao heard two voices sounding outside the wooden door.

"... Sigh, it's good that you can escape that family with the child; although life is a bit poor, you can still get by."

"Mm."

"Since you've divided the family with them, I'm afraid you don't have any silver on you. I still have a few copper coins here; you take them and use them first."

"No, no need..."

Jiang Xiaoxiao rubbed her sleepy eyes and pushed open the wooden door, only to see a woman wearing a blue headcloth forcefully stuffing a string of copper coins into her mother's hand.

Her mother refused, but in the end, she accepted them.

"Oh my, Er Ya is awake too; it seems it's not early anymore." The woman said, handing the basket on her arm to her mother. "I won't chat anymore; I have to hurry back to work in the fields. Come find us when you have time later."

After speaking, the woman hurried away.

Jiang Xiaoxiao watched her departing back, then looked at the basket her mother was carrying, which was filled with cabbage, chives, and eggplant, and couldn't help but smile warmly.

This woman must be Qiulian Niang, who had stood up to speak for them mother and daughter at the Old Li house yesterday.

"You're awake, that's perfect; eat something first." Jiang Wei casually stuffed the string of copper coins into her waist pouch and led her to the kitchen next door.

Entering the kitchen, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but be shocked.

The kitchen was very simple, with two stoves, one large and one small, side by side, and a table with a broken leg against the wall.

But on the side, there were actually some kitchen utensils, pots, and bowls neatly arranged.

Looking closer, these pots and bowls were even a bit new...

"Oh, I got up early today and came to look in this kitchen; many kitchen utensils can still be used, so I went to the river outside to wash them and brought them back." Seeing her gaze fixed on those pots and bowls, Jiang Wei said without changing her expression.

Jiang Xiaoxiao: "..."

Did her mother secretly take things out of her space while she was sleeping?

But she still revealed a surprised and innocent expression: "Wow! There are so many kitchen utensils; we are really lucky!"

Saying this, she turned to look at the stove, where not only was there an extra iron pot, but also an eight-tenths new ceramic jar.

Under the corner of the stove wall were a firewood knife and a sickle, and on the opposite wall hung a heavy bow.

Jiang Xiaoxiao understood in her heart.

This house used to be lived in by a hunter in the village; I'm afraid only that bow was the only thing in the kitchen...

"Alright, stop looking, come and drink this quickly."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaoxiao turned her head and saw that there were two clean porcelain bowls on the table, filled with a milky, fragrant liquid.

Her mother handed her a bowl without question.

Jiang Xiaoxiao took a sip; it was milk!

Before she could be surprised, her mother took out an oil-paper bag, opened it, and saw three hot meat buns!

"These were all sent by your Qiulian Auntie just now." Jiang Wei said concisely.

"..." Jiang Xiaoxiao twitched the corners of her mouth and gave two dry laughs. "Haha, Qiulian Auntie is really nice..."

If those meat buns didn't look like they were freshly baked, she would have believed it...

Their house was at the tail of the village, close to the foot of the mountain, and there were no other families nearby; it could almost be said that they were isolated from the people in the village. How could these meat buns be sent all the way to their house and still be steaming hot?

Jiang Xiaoxiao pretended not to know and hurriedly buried her head in drinking the milk in the bowl, fearing that her expression would reveal the truth.

The milk was fragrant and delicious, seemingly even better than what she had drunk in the modern era...

But thinking about it, it made sense; the apocalypse where the female lead stayed before transmigrating was even more advanced than the modern era she was in. This milk was probably cultivated from a new breed of dairy cow she didn't know about.

(End of chapter)