The Barter Bazaar & A Woman Who Had Lost Her Child

The barter bazaar was located in an open area at the center of C division, with two armed policemen guarding the entrance and the exit. Judging from inside, the barter bazaar was more of a street fair, with goods spread out on the ground for sale. Every expected famous-brand handbags and jewelries could be found here. Extremely rare before the doomsday, these handbags and jewelries could be obtained only in exchange for a few packs of instant noodles. Apart from those handbags and jewelries, there were also fresh wild fruits, wrinkled dried vegetables, famous-brand laptops and cell phones waiting to be bartered.

"Look! Uncle. A Bicycle." Chenchen exclaimed. Haven't seen the crowds for a long time, Chenchen was excited all along and always stopped to inspect everything he saw. He was now attracted by a children's bicycle on the front stall. The bicycle, though not brand new, was only slightly worn. A good cleaning would give it a fresh look. There were also some storybooks, fairy tale books, tiny toys, brand new children's clothes and shoes on the stall.

The owner of the stall was a woman about thirty years old. She had a gaunt face, yet her neat and clean dressing implied that she was a person who loved to keep herself clean. When she saw Chenchen, her lifeless eyes turned red and wet with tears, as if her memory of someone else was recalled by this little boy.

"Auntie! Here you are." Chenchen took out his lollipop and handed it to the woman. No one noticed when Chenchen had squeezed his way to the woman. He believed that the lollipop could comfort this woman because his uncle Yun Che always comforted him with lollipops.

"Hmm…" Meeting Chenchen's innocent eyes, the woman twitched her dry lips and couldn't help but burst into tears. She covered her mouth with hands, in order not to frighten Chenchen.

"Auntie…Uncle…" Seeing the woman crying more bitterly, Chenchen became anxious and turned to Yun Che for help.

"Come here." Yun Che beckoned to Chenchen. Chenchen took a look at this woman, and then looked at his uncle. Before he returned to Yun Che, he squatted and left the lollipop at the woman's foot. Yun Che was certainly delighted that Chenchen was clever and sensible. Yet sometimes being clever and sensible could hurt others. If he was not wrong, this woman must have lost her own child recently, so that she lost self-control at the sight of Chenchen. Chenchen was so lovely, which intensified her yearn for her own child, thus provoking uncontrollable tears.

Painful misfortunes like this happened everywhere in the doomsday. This woman was not the first one to lose her child, and also would not be the last one.

"Sorry, our child is ignorant about what happened."

Yun Che was not a man prolific with excessive compassion, yet he knew how to talk properly. After all, this woman didn't offend him and was not his enemy.

"Ah…No, it's because I… I should be the sorry one. I frightened your child."

The women said with sobs, eyes red with tears. She couldn't help casting glances at Chenchen sitting beside Yun Che. His chubby face was depressed as if he had done something wrong.

"You are going to barter the bicycle and books for something else? What's the deal?" said Yun Che, pointing at the bicycle and the books on the ground and changing the topic naturally. Chenchen was fond of the bicycle, and he also needed the books to kill time. The clothes and toys were unnecessary for them since he had plenty of them in the Space. Even though this woman seemed miserable and he had abundant foods and necessities in the Space, he was not going to do charity to people around him. A small favor to someone in great difficulties would be received with gratitude, yet long-time excessive assistance to others will incur resentment and hatred once you couldn't satisfy them. There was no bottom line to the greed in human nature. Once others learned that he had a large stock of foods and necessities, the starving ones would definitely shred him into pieces. Most importantly, Yun Che never considered himself a good man, let alone becoming a so-called saint.

"You…I…" The woman raised her head and cast her eyes to Yun Che, then to Chenchen. Her sight moved back and forth between Yun Che and Chenchen. In quite a while, the woman lowered her head and said in a low voice: "I don't know how to make a deal either. You can just give me what you think is reasonable."

It was quite clear that this woman lived a rather decent life before the doomsday, at least with no worries about foods and clothes. Otherwise, she would know more about how to seek a livelihood.

"I see." Yun Che whispered, looking at the people gathering around with eagerness, greed, even jealousy and envy on their pitiful faces. Shifting his gaze back to this fragile woman, Yun Che waved his hand, and Lu Haixuan, with a tacit understanding, took off his backpack and handed it to Yun Che.

"How about I trade the bicycle and books with five packs of instant noodles?" Yun Che took out the noodles from the backpack and directly handed them to this woman. Though he did not call himself a good man, he was not really cold-blooded. He wanted to give her some rice, but he was worried that her rice would be snatched up by the desperate onlookers before she could get out of the barter bazaar. Injuries and death could also occur to her if she was unlucky. It was universally valid that someone innocent would get into troubles because of his/her wealth or talent. However, five packs of instant noodles would not incur misfortunes if she acted vigilantly.

"What?" This woman raised her head in surprise. Apparently, she didn't expect that these items could be bartered for five packs of instant noodles. At that time, a long day's work of building walls for the military department deserved at most one pack of instant noodles, and that was the work most people without superfunctions chose to do.

"If you don't have a different opinion, we are quits now." Yun Che said and winked at Zhou Zeyu. Zhou Zeyu went up to fetch the bicycle and collect the books, and then the three big men with the little fat boy went on to the next stall.

"Thank you, thank you so much…"

What they didn't know was that the women left behind murmured gratitude for a long time, pressing the instant noodles tightly against her chest.