Chapter 46

Yong Ge felt dizzy and reached out to touch the bag of rice. After hearing Cheng Duo say what was inside, he carefully felt it and then looked up at Cheng Duo, saying, "This bag is so sturdy. Can we use it to make clothes after it's empty?"

Cheng Duo hurriedly said, "Better not. Clothes made from this type of plastic bag are uncomfortable to wear. Let's keep it for storing food. Besides, we're not short of money to buy fabric!"

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, some people might have done that when they were very poor, but even they knew that this material didn't breathe and wasn't suitable for wearing close to the body. Yong Ge seemed to have the mindset of a poor person, thinking similarly to those in the 1960s and 1970s.

Cheng Duo's use of "us" in his words made it sound like they had already been living together and had a certain understanding.

"Oh." Yong Ge was not disappointed, but rather happy.

Cheng Duo's words gave him courage. Originally, he didn't dare to reach out, but encouraged by Cheng Duo, he became interested and started to examine the items one by one.

The first thing that caught his attention were the shiny labeled cigarettes and white liquor: "Are these words? How did they put them on? They're so beautiful!"

Cheng Duo immediately understood, "Those are all made of paper. They dissolve when they come into contact with water."

He didn't want his future clothes to have "XX Cigarettes" printed on the front and "Special Brew" written on the back. Just thinking about it was awkward.

"What's this?" Yong Ge saw several irregularly shaped stones about the size of fingers and reached out to pick them up.

"Don't touch those!" Cheng Duo quickly held him back. "Those were dug out from the bodies of zombies. They might carry viruses, and nobody except me should touch them."

Upon hearing that they were dug out from the bodies of the undead, Yong Ge immediately became scared and said, "Then you should get rid of them quickly. Just thinking about such things is unlucky."

Cheng Duo smiled and said, "I need them for my body to recover."

"Really?" Yong Ge no longer minded. He looked at the dozen or so stones as if they were treasures, his eyes shining. He even carefully counted them, "One, two… thirteen, fourteen. Is that enough?"

"It's enough. The largest one is a third-level crystal nucleus, and there are five second-level ones as well. It's enough for me for a long time." Cheng Duo actually planned to keep three to five more as emergency supplies for dangerous situations. For example, like the situation in the sinkhole, if he could find and obtain a crystal nucleus earlier, Yong Ge wouldn't have had to carry him.

"Is it dangerous for you to use this? How do you use it?"

To demonstrate it to Yong Ge, Cheng Duo absorbed a first-level crystal nucleus on the spot and then circulated the energy in his dantian for a while. When he opened his eyes again, Yong Ge next to him was already holding his arm and dozing off.

Cheng Duo carried Yong Ge back to the room, but unexpectedly, his body became increasingly stiff. Just a few steps, and when he put Yong Ge down, he almost stopped breathing.

Cheng Duo suppressed his laughter and kissed Yong Ge on his smooth forehead. Then he pulled up a blanket to cover him up to his chest. "Sleep, I'll be in the main room. Don't be afraid."

Yong Ge slowly pulled the blanket up, covering half of his face, and then turned over, leaving the outer side of the bed empty.

Cheng Duo: "…"

Because their house was poor, the bed was actually quite narrow, with a wooden board underneath and thick straw on top. Since it was summer, they only put a half-worn mat on top of the straw.

However, Yong Ge was very clean. The straw had a natural scent from being dried in the sun, and the mat was wiped clean.

Cheng Duo couldn't bear to refuse Yong Ge's goodwill, but he also felt a bit challenged to lie on the same bed as his future wife. It was a hot and dry season, and he was at the age of vigorous blood. It was easy to lie down, but not doing anything was difficult.

He didn't have the conditions back in the mountains, but now he had all the necessary tools…

After thinking for a moment, Cheng Duo found a compromise: he sat halfway at the head of the bed, with one leg hanging over the edge, and leaned against the cabinet behind him.

Yong Ge, who had been listening for movement behind him, turned his head back and saw Cheng Duo sitting next to him, secretly pulling the blanket and smiling.

Cheng Duo felt a round object rolling over his leg and saw the fair and handsome face hidden in the blanket. From Cheng Duo's perspective, he could only see a pair of reddened ears.

Cheng Duo rubbed the head, and in the quiet night, his voice sounded a bit low, "Sleep."

Cheng Duo absorbed three crystal nuclei during the night and felt refreshed. While Yong Ge was still asleep, he went to the main room and gathered the scattered supplies, leaving only enough breakfast for two, including steamed buns and mantou.

As for the grains and rice, he definitely intended to keep them for Yong Ge, but he would change the packaging before Yong Ge woke up.

At this time, it was still very dark outside, around four o'clock in the morning, when most people were in their deepest sleep. Even the most diligent villagers would not wake up and go to the fields for at least another half hour.

Cheng Duo quietly went out of the house and when he returned, there was already a dead hen in the space. This wasn't exactly stealing; after all, didn't Wu Guihua like taking advantage of others? This time, let her taste the feeling of "finding money"!

"You're back?" Yong Ge saw Cheng Duo and thought that Cheng Duo had left before he woke up, so he stopped his steps, and his eyes couldn't help but show joy.

He thought Cheng Duo didn't wait for him to wake up…

The coldness on Cheng Duo's face instantly melted away, and he looked kindly at Yong Ge. "Hmm, I went home to get some things." He changed the subject, "Let's have some rice porridge for breakfast, with steamed buns and mantou, some pickled vegetables, and stir-fried fresh lettuce?"

After eating rich and heavy meals, it's good to have a light breakfast to cleanse the stomach.

"Hmm, I'll go pick the vegetables!" Yong Ge agreed and quickly ran to their vegetable garden without even hearing Cheng Duo remind him to wash up first.

On the other side, at Li Mancang's house, Wu Guihua also woke up early. It wasn't because she was diligent, but because ancient people didn't have many entertainment activities at night, so they slept early and naturally woke up early. Plus, she was getting older and needed less sleep, so she got up early.

As mentioned before, Li Mancang's house was located in the middle of the village, which meant they could only grow some onions, ginger, garlic, and seedlings nearby. To get vegetables, they had to walk a distance to pick them.

Wu Guihua took a basket and went out of the house to their vegetable garden. As soon as she pulled out a lettuce plant, she suddenly noticed three copper coins scattered in the nearby area!

The placement of these copper coins was quite clever, exactly tucked between a lettuce plant and the weeds beside it. If it weren't for someone coming to pick vegetables, it would be difficult to notice.

At first, Wu Guihua thought someone had come to steal her vegetables at night and accidentally dropped the coins. But when she turned around, she found that none of the vegetables in her garden were missing. Without any hesitation, she quickly picked up the coins.

After picking them up, she wasn't satisfied and looked around. To her surprise, there were more coins ahead!

Wu Guihua picked up five or six coins along the way until she reached a crevice in a cliff, where she found five more coins inside!

Wu Guihua was overjoyed and without thinking, she squeezed into the crevice to pick them up. The placement of the coins went from near to far, and it was easy for her to pick the first one. But when she reached for the third one, she realized that the crevice seemed to be getting narrower. However, in order to get the money, she struggled to squeeze in.

As mentioned before, Wu Guihua was a big and strong woman, especially her arms and, particularly, her upper body. It was quite spectacular…

Moreover, the crevice had a bottleneck shape, starting from large to small, and then from small to large, giving the illusion of spaciousness inside, as if one could squeeze in.

The reality was indeed like that. Wu Guihua was stuck in the crevice and managed to pick up all four coins. However, when she reached for the fifth coin, she startled a group of scorpions that were feeding in the gap. They crawled out in a frenzy, and one even crawled over her hand.

"Ah!" Wu Guihua was horrified. She struggled to get out, but because she was stuck tightly, her body didn't move. Instead, her head hit the front wall due to inertia, and she immediately lost a tooth!

Wu Guihua's mouth was full of blood, but she couldn't move in the crevice. Her hair became disheveled, and her clothes were torn open. She looked completely disheveled.

Moreover, some protruding parts of the rock wall had been deliberately polished, making them sharp. The more she struggled, the faster those sharp edges cut through her thin summer clothes, causing her pain all over.

Unable to do anything, Wu Guihua had to call for help.

The first villager to arrive was Wang Shen. She had previously praised Wu Guihua because of Feng Ge's wedding. When she saw Wu Guihua stuck in the crevice and unable to move, she burst into laughter, "Oh, Wu Guihua, what are you doing stuck in a hole? You're not a dog!"

"Pull me out quickly!" Wu Guihua shouted in frustration.

Fortunately, Wang Shen was just teasing her. After laughing, she went to help Wu Guihua. However, Wu Guihua was stuck tightly, and every time Wang Shen pulled, she would cry out in pain.

Wang Shen couldn't do much, so she called a young woman who happened to pass by. The two of them managed to pull Wu Guihua out together.

The young woman curiously looked at the scattered coins in Wu Guihua's hand, "Auntie, did you… hide the money in this hole?"

With such a large house, wasn't there a hidden corner to stash money?

Thinking about how Wu Guihua was caught stealing grains from Li Wang's house the day before, the young woman instinctively took a step back, "Is this money stolen again?"

That's why she didn't dare to hide it at home, fearing it would be discovered!

"You're the thief, not me! I found these!" Wu Guihua, with her bloodied tooth, glared fiercely at the young woman. Can't she speak properly? How come she wasn't beaten to death for talking like that!

The young woman, who had been trying to help, gave up, "Who do you say is stealing? You're already so old, yet you were caught as a thief in your own home. Shameless old thief!"

Wu Guihua had just gone through such an ordeal, and she was already simmering with anger. As soon as she heard the young woman pointing at her and calling her an old thief, she immediately got up and pounced on the young woman, trying to hit her.

"Oh, why are you fighting!" Wang Shen, who had been watching the spectacle, stepped in to separate them. By now, a group of villagers had gathered to watch the commotion.

A middle-aged woman, seeing Wu Guihua fighting with her daughter-in-law and her daughter-in-law's face scratched, immediately shouted angrily and also joined the fray.

In no time, Li Mancang and Li Changsheng heard the commotion and rushed over, but they were beaten up by the men from the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law's family.

Before, they had been afraid to do anything to Li Mancang because of his two bullying nephews, but now that Li Da and Li Er had been missing for so long, there were rumors that they had met their doom.

Therefore, when the Liu family trio beat them up, they showed no mercy, venting all the frustrations they had suffered under Li Da and Li Er!

It has to be said that this turn of events was beyond Cheng Duo's expectations. He only wanted Wu Guihua to suffer a bit, but he never expected her to lose a tooth.

You see, in ancient times, there was no advanced dental technology to fix teeth. From now on, whenever Wu Guihua opened her mouth, people would immediately notice her prominent missing tooth. It could be considered retribution for her lack of moral character!