Chapter 23: Sleeping in Separate Beds

During the day, Leng Yongkang had even complained that Tang Lin wasn't virtuous enough and didn't treat her husband as her "heaven." As a result, when night fell, he was kicked out of bed to sleep in Leng Hui's small bed.

The mother and daughter shared the large bed, while Leng Yongkang, a grown man, had to sleep in the small one.

In truth, the large bed wasn't that big—only 1.2 meters wide—and the small bed was about 80 centimeters wide.

It was just that since their daughter was grown, sharing a sleeping space with her father felt a bit awkward.

Leng Yongkang felt indignant, thinking that once he reclaimed the large bed, he would certainly make things difficult for Tang Lin. Little did he know that being relegated to the "cold bench" was like being a Consort Wang sent to the Cold Palace; he was destined to be shut away for thirty years without seeing the light of day, and whether he would ever be reinstated was anyone's guess.

All in all, he slept reasonably well that night.

Aside from Leng Yongkang's snoring, there was the occasional creak of the bed from the neighbors in the second branch of the family turning over. These sounds disturbed one's dreams, but compared to the sleep quality in the apocalypse, it was much better.

When they woke up in the morning, Tang Lin saw that Leng Yongkang was already dressed and nudged Leng Hui: "Time to get up."

Leng Yongkang glanced at Leng Hui, who was rustling around under the covers, and smiled. "Springtime brings extra sleep; it's fine to let her sleep a bit longer."

Tang Lin didn't say whether she agreed or not, but instead pointed to the clothes placed on top of a nearby trunk. "Are these the clothes you changed out of yesterday?"

Leng Yongkang nodded. "Yes. Now that you're out of the hospital, if I'm not diligent about changing, you'll complain that I'm not clean."

He didn't dare *not* be diligent.

"Take them yourself and soak them in a basin. Even if you change your clothes, you won't be much cleaner if you don't wash up," Tang Lin said, still sounding disdainful.

Leng Yongkang: "..."

Leng Hui poked her head out from under the covers. Watching his dejected figure walk out while clutching the clothes, she teased, "You criticize him every day; don't drive him into depression."

"If you don't take clothes that have been worn for days to be washed and leave them in the room, the whole place will smell. If sleeping in the stench of sweat is your hobby, that's fine, but I don't have that hobby," Tang Lin said, giving her a light pat to make her get up quickly.

With a large extended family living together, if you woke up a little late, you could only eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Breakfast was the usual unchanging fare: coarse grain porridge and a large bowl of pickles.

Leng Yongkang took a sip of porridge and asked Leng Hui, who was eating seriously, "Huihui, what are your plans for today? If you have nothing to do, stay home and look after your mother, and help your grandma glue matchboxes while you're at it."

"I don't have time to glue matchboxes. I have other plans today."

Gluing matchboxes only paid ten cents for two hundred boxes. Even if one glued from morning till night, excluding time for the bathroom, water, and meals, one could only make two or three tenths of a yuan a day, and it would leave one with neck and back problems.

"What plans do you have?" Leng Yongkang asked curiously.

Seeing that everyone else had pricked up their ears, Tang Lin kicked Leng Yongkang under the table. "She can walk on her own now; she doesn't need her daughter's care. If she has things to do, let her do them. Don't meddle too much."

With her biological mother shielding her, Leng Hui didn't care what the others thought. After breakfast, she grabbed a jacket and left the house.

A habit formed during the apocalypse meant that whenever she had time, she thought about going out to scavenge supplies. Whether it was daily necessities or food, she wasn't picky as long as she could bring it home.

Leng Hui checked the items in her space. Now that the whole family was living together, many things were unsuitable to be taken out for personal use.

The family's greatest shortage right now was food. Leng Hui was thinking about how to obtain more food under these limited conditions.

Grain stations and agricultural markets were all state-run; to get food from these places, one needed coupons. What Leng Hui lacked most right now were various types of coupons.

As for buying high-priced grain at the so-called black market, she didn't have much money on hand.

Leng Hui's head ached from thinking, and she had no idea where to find more food.

"Leng Hui, where are you going?"

As they passed each other, Li Yiyun realized Leng Hui hadn't noticed her, so she eventually turned back to block her path.

With someone blocking her way, Leng Hui looked at the person. It took a moment for her to dig through her memories to find a connection.

Li Yiyun, a high school classmate of the original host. They were about the same height, around 1.65 meters, so in school, when seats were assigned by height, they were often seated together.

Either as desk mates or one in front of the other.

"I asked where you're going. Why aren't you answering me? What are you so lost in thought about?"

"Yiyun."

Leng Hui pulled her to the side of the road, noticing a green canvas bag slung over her shoulder. "Yiyun, let me ask you: how can one ensure they never lack food or drink?"

Li Yiyun's eyes widened; she hadn't expected Leng Hui to ask such a question.

"Of course, by finding a man with a good job and a decent family background. If you marry a man like that, you'll never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of your life."

"Why are you asking such a stupid question? My mom said it's better for a woman to marry well than to have a good job. If you marry into a good family, you'll enjoy a lifetime of luxury. If you marry someone whose fate doesn't align with yours, you'll spend the rest of your life suffering in a pit of fire, no matter how hard you struggle to climb out."

Leng Hui disagreed. "Isn't it good to have a good job of your own? Why must one rely on a man?"

Li Yiyun clearly had her own opinions. "Even if you have a good job, if you don't marry well, you'll still be soaking in bitter gall, suffering endlessly."

Leng Hui didn't want to discuss this topic right now. "Let's set marriage aside for a moment. What I want to ask is, where can I get grain, meat, eggs, or other food?"

"Agricultural product outlets, grain stores, meat processing plant shops—you can find what you need in those places. If all else fails, there's the black market."

Li Yiyun was bewildered. Even a three-year-old knew those places. Was Leng Hui asking this to test her intelligence?

"But I have no coupons and no money right now."

"Then go rob someone."

Li Yiyun rolled her eyes at her. If she had no coupons and no money, the only thing she could do was robbery.

Leng Hui shrugged. It was obvious that Li Yiyun wasn't grasping the point of her question.

"Hey, hey, hey! Where are you going?"

Seeing Leng Hui wave her off and walk away without looking back, Li Yiyun hurriedly chased after her.

"I'm going to my father's factory."

"What are you doing at your father's factory?"

"To ride a bicycle. He took the one at home."

Just as Li Yiyun was about to say something, she noticed a person riding a bicycle approaching from the opposite direction and excitedly grabbed Leng Hui.

"Leng Hui, don't leave yet! Let me introduce someone to you."

Seeing Li Yiyun's shy and bashful expression, Leng Hui was about to turn around to see who could make her act like this.

However, the person had already braked their bicycle right in front of them.

He had a side-parted hairstyle and somewhat rugged features. He was half a head taller than them, had dark skin, and looked to be about twenty-one or twenty-two years old.

In the words of the older generation, he was a "spirited young man."

"Yiyun, who is this comrade?"

Standing to the side, Leng Hui gave off the first impression of a cold, frost-like beauty; it was impossible for others to ignore her.

Li Yiyun pulled Leng Hui forward and introduced her: "My high school classmate, Leng Hui."

"Leng Hui, this is my boyfriend, Mu Bin."

Even her surname was "Leng" (Cold).

A slight smile curled at the corner of Mu Bin's mouth as he extended his right hand toward Leng Hui. "Hello, Comrade Leng Hui. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Leng Hui glanced at Li Yiyun, gave Mu Bin a polite nod, but did not shake his hand. Instead, after nodding in greeting, she turned and walked away.

She was not the original host; without those memories, she and Li Yiyun were essentially strangers.