Chapter 83 【o(￣︶￣)o】PART 1
Only now did Qin Jiulin realize he’d been deceived by the Yuan family’s performance, lowering his guard against them. Sometimes, the most dangerous people weren’t those confronting you directly, but the villains scheming behind your back. The Yuan family definitely wouldn’t let this go, and he’d need to be wary of their tricks in the future.
Qin Jiulin: “What do you think they’ll do?”
Liu Zhongyuan: “I’m not sure yet, but I’m certain… The first thing they’ll do is spread the word about my relationship with them, and then say that I’ve gained power and status and disowned my parents.”
“Of course, because of our relationship, they’ll probably go to the Qin family and cause trouble together.”
Qin Jiulin: “Hmph, in this day and age, who cares about reputation? As long as you have a full stomach and a safe place to live, you’re content.”
Liu Zhongyuan: “But it’s also because of the current situation that those idle loafers who don’t want to work have plenty of time and are easily instigated.”
Qin Jiulin: “But our status as Variant beastmen is right here. Would anyone really be incited by them to come and cause trouble for us?”
Liu Zhongyuan: “That won’t happen, but our reputation throughout Modu will be ruined!”
Qin Jiulin didn’t care at all. “So what? As long as we’re strong enough, those who need to team up with us for help will still come. It won’t have any impact.”
Liu Zhongyuan: “I won’t take action against them.”
Qin Jiulin: “Neither will I… against the Qin family.”
He would only look for an opportunity to kill Xia Liansheng. For now, he’d let Xia Liansheng play a small role in helping the military reclaim Modu.
As for the Qin family, although they hadn’t reached that point in this life, Qin Jiulin wouldn’t do anything to help them. If they took the initiative to harm him, he wouldn’t show any mercy.
Liu Zhongyuan and Qin Jiulin soon returned to their rooms to rest. Yuan Zhuo and his family, returning to the temporary free accommodation, found that the sleeping spaces left for them were different from what they had seen before.
The spots that originally belonged to them were now occupied by others. These people were already sleeping there, some even snoring. The remaining empty spots were closest to the toilet. Although the whole room was filled with a mix of various foul odors, they just couldn’t stand it.
As a result, the family of four met again in the small courtyard outside the house. Jiang Meng felt quite aggrieved. “Those women stole our spots, and they didn’t even leave any space for us. They were so fierce, the two of us were no match for them.”
Even if they were a match, they couldn’t possibly fight, curse, or pull each other’s hair with those women.
Yuan Zhuo: “Forget it, the smell inside is so strong anyway, even if we slept inside, we’d probably be fumigated by the stench all night and couldn’t sleep. Let’s go to the river to wash up and see if there are any safe corners.”
Jiang Meng: “Sleeping in any random stairwell would be cleaner than those rooms, and there’s no smell.”
They fumbled their way to the riverbank in the dark. They knew this river, of course. This was already close to the center of Modu. This river wasn’t so clear in the past.
The river in front of them shimmered silver under the moonlight, looking particularly beautiful. Standing by the river, they couldn’t smell any foul odor, only the fresh scent of grass and water vapor.
They found a spot near the river by the moonlight and carefully washed the parts of their bodies they could reach. They also briefly wet and wiped their hair. After feeling much cleaner, all four of them breathed a sigh of relief.
They really couldn’t stand being too dirty. Even when they were on the run, they would carefully choose safe-looking places to clean themselves. They didn’t know if it was because of their good luck, but they had safely avoided all dangers along the way, all the way until they found this place.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. They heard the regular broadcasts arranged by Gao Siyang, which is how they knew there was a safe stronghold established by the military here. This was also the Modu they were most familiar with, so they arrived quickly.
They originally thought that they could still enjoy many privileges and preferential treatment based on their past status after arriving here, but now it seemed that combat power was the most valuable thing.
The four of them, pampered and unable to carry heavy loads, how could they provide any combat power?
So, when they saw Liu Zhongyuan, they didn’t think much of it. It was just that they hadn’t achieved their goal yet. As for their future plans…
Yuan Zhuo touched his clean face. “Is everyone ready? Let’s go, this way.”
Jiang Meng: “Wandering around outside so late at night, won’t the patrolling soldiers send us back?”
Yuan Zhuo: “It’s okay, we’ll just look around the houses near the river. When we came over, we saw many houses with their doors closed. They should be unoccupied.”
Jiang Meng touched her stomach. “I’m a little hungry. I wonder if there’s anything to eat.”
Yuan Zhuo suddenly remembered. “Speaking of which, we haven’t had dinner. Should we go ask the soldiers for some food? We can eat it after we find a place to stay and then rest.”
Jiang Meng: “Okay, I’m starving.”
Yuan Qingning and Yuan Qingfeng hadn’t felt it before, but now that Jiang Meng mentioned it, they both felt their stomachs aching with hunger.
When had the two siblings ever suffered like this? Not to mention being hungry, even the food they ate was all imported, the most expensive, the best.
They soon found a patrolling soldier on the road. “Comrade…”
The soldier was surprised to see them and frowned slightly. “Why are you still wandering around so late? Go back to your accommodation and sleep!”
Yuan Zhuo: “It’s like this, we haven’t eaten anything all day, and my family and I are very hungry now. Do you know where we can get some food?”
Soldier: “Didn’t you receive food at the temporary accommodation?”
Yuan Zhuo paused. “Can we get food there? We just arrived here today, we didn’t know this… So, we didn’t see it, and no one told us.”
The soldier thought for a moment. “Maybe the person who brought you here was busy and forgot. In that case, come with me.”
He led Yuan Zhuo and his family to the canteen. This canteen was a separate one, specifically for ordinary people, and all the food inside was the most basic kind.
Of course, it was so late now, they naturally still had leftover food, but the taste wasn’t very good, and it was a bit cold. But at this time, who would care about these things? It was good enough to have something to eat.
The soldier spoke to the people cleaning the kitchen through the window, and soon the back door opened. A burly cook stood at the door, glanced at the four of them, and said gruffly, “It’s you guys, right? Come in. If it weren’t for the fact that you really just arrived today, I wouldn’t open the door for you.”
Yuan Zhuo and his family followed him inside, and the soldier left to continue his patrol after seeing the door close.
The cook placed four bowls of rice and a bowl of vegetables in front of them. The amount in the bowl of vegetables placed in the middle wasn’t much, but it had everything, clearly a mix of many vegetables stewed together.
The bowls were already a bit cold to the touch, so the food probably wouldn’t taste very good. They definitely wouldn’t have eaten it before, but now they couldn’t care less. They were starving, their stomachs burning.
The four of them devoured the food. Just as Yuan Zhuo wanted to ask if there was more, the person who let them in just shooed them out. “Hurry up and leave after you’re done eating. This is only a special case today. Remember to collect your supplies and food at the temporary accommodation on time every day after this. No latecomers. By the way, there’s only food at noon and night, not in the morning.”
After saying that, he slammed the door shut. Yuan Zhuo and his family touched their half-full stomachs. Fortunately, they could get through tonight.
Jiang Meng licked her lips. Although such food was beneath them, they couldn’t be picky now. “Where are we going now? Also, if we don’t live there, wouldn’t we have nowhere to get lunch and dinner tomorrow? This place definitely won’t make an exception a second time.”
Yuan Zhuo: “Let’s find a place to rest first, and then look for the Qin family tomorrow.”
If they could find them, they could offer them a chance to help. If they couldn’t, they could also inquire about where ordinary people lived and find the right house there quickly.
Yuan Qingning yawned. After eating, her stomach felt much better. Now, of course, she needed to find a place to sleep. “Let’s find a place to sleep first. We’ll talk about this tomorrow after we wake up.”
After Qin Jiuzhen returned to his accommodation, he also told his parents about encountering the Xia family. Apart from the initial surprise, they didn’t ask any more questions.
After learning from Qin Jiuzhen that the Xia family was now even more down and out than they were, what could they do? Rush to help them? Share their food with them?
What a joke! The food they had was barely enough for themselves. They needed Xia Liansheng’s support, how could they help others?
However, although they weren’t willing to help others, others came to their door. Early the next morning, Qin Jiuzhen was still sleeping because he was tired from the past few days. Yao Meimei and Qin Shanzhou got up early to prepare breakfast. They had been hungry before, so now they ate three meals a day, without missing a single one.
To their surprise, just as breakfast was ready, there was a knock on the door.
The two looked at the simple but plentiful breakfast on the dining table, a little surprised, as no one had come looking for them before.
Yao Meimei: “Could it be that someone smelled the aroma of our breakfast?”
____________
