Chapter 173: Regulations

Half of all the food went into Yu Yuan's stomach; although there isn't a very precise study, so far it seems that as long as you stay around this guy, you indeed won't feel hungry.

No wonder; we last ate something almost a whole day ago, yet we don't feel hungry at all.

He Ying and Chen Mu split a potato in half, but even holding it, they still had little appetite.

Unlike Li Bo and his two companions, they didn't find tomatoes and roasted potatoes particularly tempting.

"In that case, the dozen or so crates of eggplants and green peppers at home will have a use." He Ying laughed.

"It's not certain yet; we'll see after Tang Jing looks at it." Chen Mu nibbled at the potato in his hand; although he wasn't hungry, his habit from childhood made him unwilling to waste food.

"What do you think of that Xin Ping from before?"

He Ying held the potato in her hand for a while, but had no desire to eat it; seeing Yu Yuan finish his portion and glare at Li Bo and Zhou Xu Liang, she gave him her half.

Xiao Pangzi gave countless thanks, saying ten thousand times that the senior sister was really beautiful.

Chen Mu swallowed the potato in his mouth and said: "There are too many people in Qingbei, so it's inevitable that there are good and bad; having someone like Song Yu naturally means there will also be someone like Xin Ping."

"He won't die, will he?"

"I don't know; I'm not a doctor, but if bleeding is stopped in time and there's no tetanus, he won't necessarily die… but… his hand probably can't be saved."

"Yeah, I think you've messed it all up." He Ying's expression didn't change much; since the apocalypse, she's seen plenty of even bloodier, crueler scenes.

"The other hand is probably worse; it might necrose first."

"Then isn't he basically useless?"

"If his ability requires both hands, it should be affected." Chen Mu nodded, then sighed: 'Back then I was afraid he'd fight to the death, so I struck hard; you saw it—his ability is terrifying, and without first disabling his hands, I wouldn't even have the heart to negotiate.'

"Do we count this as a full-scale war with Qingbei?" He Ying felt a little uneasy.

"We can only prepare for the worst." Chen Mu also felt helpless.

"Speaking of which, that guy named Liang Yan is also terrifying."

"Now that I think about it, that person is more likely bluffing; otherwise, he would have launched energy blasts at us from the start, which would have saved a lot of trouble."

"I think so too."

"It's a pity I don't dare to gamble." Chen Mu also said: "But this situation with no deaths should be the most acceptable for both sides; I hope Qingbei can figure it out."

"Fortunately they don't know our location."

"That's not necessarily true."

"How so?"

"Even Yi Zhong could detect us; Qingbei might also be able to, perhaps they've already secretly sent people to monitor us." Chen Mu said.

"Surely not."

Although He Ying said that, she obviously lacked confidence herself; thinking about being constantly monitored made her feel uneasy, and she suddenly recalled something and asked again: "I can't figure out why, as soon as we found Yu Yuan and the others, Qingbei's people showed up right away—it can't be that much of a coincidence."

"Maybe they've been following us all along?" Chen Mu also frowned.

"So now…"

"Thinking about all this is useless; in short, from now on we must treat everything as if our base has been exposed." Chen Mu sighed.

"Mm, let's go back and quickly tell Tang Jing about this." He Ying nodded.

……

Three hours later.

Chen Mu's group of five hadn't yet reached the front door when Dong Junwei, leading Wei Dalei and the others, had already come out to greet them.

Although Chen Mu wasn't leaving home for the first time, each departure and return required the family to perform a little ceremony, seeing them off and welcoming them back.

Come to think of it, this was Tang Jing's idea.

She directly wrote this into Qiming's "External Affairs Execution Regulations", even stipulating the number of participants and the minimum rank of the leader.

Chen Mu actually felt a bit awkward about this; especially when he returned, seeing Dong Junwei leading a "large troop" in formation to welcome him always gave him the feeling of an emperor receiving a triumphant general.

He could sense that Dong Junwei was also embarrassed.

Whenever the two sides faced each other in such a situation, they didn't know what to say.

Thus a habit has formed: each time Dong Junwei says "Welcome back," Chen Mu replies "I'm back," and then the welcoming ceremony concludes smoothly.

Meanwhile, Tang Jing, who established this rule, never attends such occasions; Chen Mu sometimes wickedly wonders if she just likes to hide and watch others act chuunibyou.

No matter what, Tang Jing is very interested in all ceremonial affairs and likes to establish norms and operating procedures for everything.

The most extravagant example is that she even posted a toilet guide on the bathroom wall, clearly stipulating: which direction to face when using the toilet; how to properly use the squat toilet's handrails; the folding method for toilet paper and the suggested number of sheets per use, etc.

Although in practice no one actually follows what she wrote, Tang Jing still enjoys it immensely.

……

Back inside the house.

Dong Junwei also held a welcoming ceremony for Yu Yuan and the three others.

The welcoming ceremony for newcomers naturally has corresponding regulations, and it varies depending on the number of people and their importance level, with different specifications.

These, of course, are also Tang Jing's doing.

Although it was constantly complained about at first, after getting used to it everyone found it actually more convenient—especially Dong Junwei; although Qiming is small, it has all five viscera complete, and she has many things to decide each day, but with the various regulations in place, it also saves her a lot of trouble.

Upon entering the storage room, Yu Yuan and the three others' first impression was that it was clean and tidy.

This tidiness was not the empty spaciousness they used to feel.

but rather a sense of orderly comfort.

After humans shrank, objects that were once within easy reach are now unattainable, so looking at anything gives a feeling of helplessness.

But looking at Qiming's environment,

it seems that every object in the room is something that present-day humans can use, so even though it's the first time entering, there's always an indescribable sense of familiarity.

It feels like returning to the past, walking into one's own bedroom.

A mouthful of hot food, a cup of warm water.

It is the current standard setup for Qiming to welcome newcomers, with the specific style determined by the ingredients on hand.

Du Jia Jia made iron-plate stir-fried green pepper and eggplant today; after adding the sauce, the delicious taste made Chen Mu, who had been out for three days, feel a bit nostalgic.

Yu Yuan and the other two were already eating to the point of tears welling up in their eyes.

After finishing their meal, the first thing the three newcomers had to do was take a bath.

Qiming's existing members had long been unable to tolerate the feeling of not showering for several days, and the dirt and smell that Yu Yuan and the two others had accumulated over two months really made the whole group choke; Chang Junyan, as the senior guiding them on how to use the bathroom, covered his nose while pushing the three into the bathroom, completely forgetting that he himself had not been much better before.