Chapter 43: Receiving Guests

Although Dong Junwei was the class monitor of Class 4, her social circle had already expanded to the whole school; she and He Ying weren't necessarily close, but they had exchanged quite a bit. At the very least, during the past few school sports meets, Dong Junwei, who often served as the host, and He Ying, the athlete representative, must have had some interaction.

"Let's go inside first and talk."

Dong Junwei didn't immediately inquire about what had happened; instead, she directed everyone to start moving things.

The eight seasoning packets were taken out one by one, and the group relayed them, stuffing them under the door crack.

Then, three or four people lifted each packet, carrying all the seasoning packets inside.

As for the remaining instant noodle packaging, Chen Mu couldn't bear to throw it away, and had Wei Dalei pull it in as well.

Upon entering the room, Chen Mu felt a bit dazed, almost thinking he had taken a wrong turn.

The storage room, as it was before, had now changed greatly.

The towels scattered on the floor were neatly stacked in the corner, and the defective utensils that had been scattered there were also sorted out and lined up against the wall.

The floor had clearly been swept.

Overall, it was much cleaner and tidier than when they had set out.

"After you left, we figured we had nothing else to do, so we tidied this place up. Since we'll be staying here for a long time, we might as well treat it like our own home—we can't keep it in a mess."

Dong Junwei explained: "But we could only do what we were capable of; those items that were too big were beyond our ability, so we'll have to wait until you and Da Lei return to discuss them."

The storage room is about two meters square, with shelves on the walls taking up some space; the rest of the floor is stacked with cardboard boxes. It used to look rather messy, but now it's noticeably neat.

"Much tidier." Chen Mu smiled; everyone prefers to live in a clean place.

"Not just that—we also cleaned out the toilet." Du Jia Jia obviously thought of something, her face showing a hint of grievance yet also great pride as she spoke.

"Toilet?"

"You still have a toilet?"

He Ying and Sun Yuan exclaimed simultaneously, their voices full of disbelief.

These days, just getting enough to eat is a problem for everyone, yet these people actually have a toilet?

"Actually, it's just a few pit latrines; they can't drain waste, so they need to be cleaned out regularly."

Dong Junwei said: "But Chen Mu, you might have to make us another batch of tools; the few plastic buckets and shovels we had before were thrown away along with the filth."

Earlier, while practicing his abilities, Chen Mu had also helped make various tools for everyone: plastic buckets, metal shovels, forks, carrying poles, winnowing baskets, brooms, plates, cups…

Whenever he thought of something, he would just make a bit.

As Tang Jing said, human evolution began with the use of tools; once everyone had handy tools, their work efficiency obviously increased a lot.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

Chen Mu could imagine how difficult it was to ask a bunch of students who had never even cooked to clean out a toilet.

"There's no way you and Da Lei had it harder." Dong Junwei smiled.

"And me." Zhao Xiao Yan jumped out.

"Right, and you." Dong Junwei stepped forward and hugged Zhao Xiao Yan's petite frame, smiling: "You even managed to bring your best friend back?"

Dong Junwei obviously knew about the relationship between Zhao Xiao Yan and He Ying.

"Hehe, we just happened to run into each other."

Everyone chatted as they walked inside.

When He Ying saw the two plastic-made rooms ahead, she instantly felt uneasy.

"Is this… a house?"

Although they look rather crude, they are indeed two houses; especially that door, whose handle is exquisitely crafted.

At that moment, He Ying inexplicably felt a bit wronged.

She even felt a twinge of jealousy.

While others were struggling to survive, risking their lives for a bite of food, these people… had actually gone and built houses!

"Why is that?"

"Why is there such a huge gap between people?"

Thinking of her deceased companions and the hardships of these days, He Ying even felt like crying.

Tang Jing seemed to sense her mood and explained: "We've been relatively lucky, but along the way we've also lost two classmates."

"You've been… doing quite well."

He Ying didn't know how to describe it for a moment.

Meanwhile, Sun Yuan had already rushed to the two rooms at the first opportunity, flung himself onto them, wearing an expression of enjoyment, while shouting in amazement: "Awesome, awesome…"

Zhu Hao reminded: "Brother, lying there peeking into the girls' dorm—what's your intention?"

"Ah… sorry, senior!"

"Haha, just joking."

Over there, Qian Fei and the others were horsing around with Sun Yuan, while Tang Jing asked Chen Mu: "You're coming back at this time—does that mean you were traveling at night?"

"Yeah, we ran into some special circumstances."

Only then did Chen Mu begin to recount the three of them's experiences.

The towels on the ground remained spread out as before, except for two small pieces that had been cut off and laid in the rooms; normally, when everyone occasionally rested during the day, they would also lie on them.

But now they happened to be used to receive guests.

Dong Junwei and the others greeted He Ying, inviting her onto the towels, and everyone sat cross-legged.

He Ying stroked the soft, white mat.

She was struck again.

"So you have rooms and bedding even at night?" Sun Yuan shouted excitedly: "Amazing, amazing…"

Chen Mu ignored him and continued to recount the experience of over a day.

But because He Ying was present, many details weren't elaborated; only when they spoke of how she and Chen Mu met, and after the involved party added more, did everyone finally understand.

They were still talking.

Du Jia Jia carried a large plate over: "Everyone, have something to eat."

The plate still held her signature dish.

She spread out the rice pancakes.

The seasonings she had brought back were still unopened, so Du Jia Jia couldn't use them for now, and she hadn't touched the flour or celery leaves either.

But since guests had arrived, under Tang Jing's direction she still made a few rice pancakes to serve as hospitality.

What He Ying noticed first was not the food, but that exquisite stainless‑steel tray.

Only now did she realize where the strange feeling she'd felt since entering this place came from.

These things, perhaps, used to be nothing special.

But in the present circumstances, where could such refined objects have come from?

Rooms, tools, trays, including that flatbed cart she had wanted to ask about but never dared to.

These are clearly things that shouldn't be here.

But the next moment.

Her attention was completely drawn to the rice pancakes before her.

Hot.

Steaming hot.

After eating days of cold scraps picked up from the ground, this was the first time she'd seen hot food.

He Ying even forgot to be polite.

She extended her trembling hand and slowly took a piece of rice pancake.

"Is it really hot?"

She couldn't believe it.

"Try it and see how my cooking is; I recently improved the technique Chen Mu taught me, and it feels much tastier than before." Du Jia Jia said, not without pride.

Dong Junwei smiled and introduced: "This is our current head chef, Miss Du Jia Jia."

Du Jia Jia extended two fingers to her temples, gave a strong flick, and made a chic salute gesture.

"So, you still have a dedicated chef?"

He Ying asked blankly, then lifted the still‑warm rice pancake to her mouth.

A crisp crack.

The sensation of fragrant crispness filled her whole mouth.

The next moment.

He Ying could no longer hold back.

Tears streamed down.