“They are twins,” Xu Song explained when his mother asked about the children.
Yue Zheng noticed that Mother Xu was giving him an odd look, so he quickly clarified, “They are a pair of twins we met on the way, only six or seven years old.”
Mother Xu finally understood and nodded, then she became amazed again. “So it was just the two of you who came to B City? You didn’t join up with others?”
“When we left Y City, we were initially with Yue Zheng’s colleagues from the army. But we got separated along the way. After some time, we met a few others from the group and went to S City together. Near S City, we encountered Tiancheng and Tianyou, and the three other people who were traveling with us stayed in S City. Brother Xu and I came to B City with Tiancheng and Tianyou,” Yue Zheng briefly explained the situation. He didn’t want to worry Mother Xu, so he omitted unnecessary details that might alarm her.
The fact that only the two of them managed to make it to B City was already impressive, let alone with two children!
Mother Xu felt relieved but still hesitated. “I’m afraid I’ll be a burden to you.”
“Mom, don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything,” Xu Song reassured her.
“Yes, Auntie,” Yue Zheng understood what Mother Xu was concerned about and explained, “We might take on some tasks outside the city that we can handle. Even though we’ll be driving, you can stay in the car. If we earn enough, we can rent a house with a yard later, and you can help take care of the house.”
After pondering for a moment, Mother Xu gritted her teeth and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you.” The work in the factory was indeed difficult, and the workload was heavy. It was only a matter of time before she developed occupational diseases.
Moreover, the future was uncertain. Most of the people who stayed in the factory were those who had no other choice. Mother Xu had long wanted to leave and see if there were better survival opportunities within the base.
Mother Xu packed all her belongings into a small cloth bag. The bedding and pillow on the bed were shared items and couldn’t be taken with her.
Before leaving the dormitory, they were subjected to a last-minute inspection. Even Xu Song’s mother’s backpack had to be opened and checked. Xu Song’s heart ached when he saw this.
Leaving Zone E, Yue Zheng hailed a larger pedicab. It wasn’t to show off, but with only two children in the vehicle, he didn’t want to waste any time.
As it was nearing evening, there were more teams returning to the base, completing their tasks. Some huge mutated creatures were seen walking alongside their owners. Seeing these creatures, one could understand why the roads within the base had to be so wide.
When they reached the intersection between the main street and the auxiliary street, they noticed that there were more vendors compared to when they had passed by earlier.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The pedicab driver smiled and said, “Are you new to the base? Don’t you know that the currency in the base is not very valuable now? It’s better to exchange goods instead of using money. Just think about it, the paper money from before the apocalypse, is it worth anything now? People find even toilet paper scarce these days! Nobody trusts money anymore, they prefer to trade with goods.”
Mother Xu nodded and added, “When we take the meat to a restaurant to cook, they also ask for a portion as processing fee.”
This… this…
Xu Song couldn’t find the right words to describe it.
Yue Zheng sympathetically patted his shoulder and said, “Let’s slowly adapt to it.”
As they listened to Mother Xu and the pedicab driver chatting along the way, they learned a lot about the current situation in Base B. It was said that the two most prosperous forces in the base were the military and the team of power users.
The military had a large number of people and access to firearms, making them highly effective in scavenging for supplies. Power users, on the other hand, possessed strong firepower and were agile, often yielding unexpected results. However, neither of these forces could penetrate the city area due to the abundance of mutated plants and creatures, making it too dangerous to handle.
“Here we are, three of you.” When they arrived at the entrance of Zone G, the pedicab driver stopped. Yue Zheng handed him a package of soda crackers.
“Oh, you don’t need to give me so much…” The driver hesitated when he saw the unopened biscuits.
“It’s alright, you can have them all.” The children didn’t like eating them, and the adults rarely consumed them either, so they had been stored in a tree hollow with a short expiration date.
“Thank you then, and remember to call me if you need a ride in the future!” The driver happily put the biscuits into a bag attached to the front of his tricycle. Most people in the base didn’t take taxis since the poor couldn’t afford them and the wealthy had their own vehicles. As a result, the pedicab drivers could only rely on those who were well-off and in urgent need of transportation.
Especially with the increasing number of people doing the same job, their business has been declining. Nowadays, if they could earn two-thirds of a pack for each ride, it was considered good.
Together, Mother Xu and the two men entered Zone G. Xu Song pointed ahead and said, “It’s not far from here, just up ahead.”
Before they reached the destination, they saw a large tail wagging behind a wall not far away. As soon as the creature heard someone approaching, it lifted its head from the ground and upon seeing Xu Song and the others, it straightened its body and let out a “woof,” its tail wagging like a propeller.
Mother Xu thought it was just a stray dog, but when she heard her son call out, “Abu!”
“Daddy’s home!”
“Daddy, I’m hungry!” The two little ones understood that Xu Song and the others had returned upon hearing Abu’s voice, so they immediately ran down to the gate, eagerly waiting.
After unlocking the door, Yue Zheng asked, “Has anyone come by?”
The two little heads shook in unison, “No!”
With their identical appearance, two pairs of big, round eyes, and their adorable fair complexions, Mother Xu couldn’t help but feel her heart melt.
Seeing Mother Xu by Xu Song’s side, the two mischievous kids immediately grabbed each other’s hands and shouted in unison, “Grandma!”
“Ah…” Mother Xu hadn’t even thought about becoming a grandmother since her son wasn’t married yet. Especially when she was busy with business matters, she didn’t have time to think about such things.
However, after the apocalypse, her longing for her family had grown even stronger. Now, seeing the two children who had become orphans because of the end of the world, her previously relatively calm heart was once again stirred up. With tears welling up in her eyes, she bent down and hugged one child in each arm.
A gigantic mutated dog, an RV, two adults, and two children. Mother Xu couldn’t help but wonder how her son had made his way all the way up north to Base B. Although she hadn’t ventured outside much since the apocalypse, she had heard some news from the outside world.
With a belly full of questions, Mother Xu climbed into the vehicle and saw the pile of skinned rabbit meat and a large piece of obstructive white rabbit fur placed inside. Could they even fit a person in this car?
“Um… We didn’t have time to clean up after entering the city, so just wait a moment,” Xu Song pulled Mo Tiancheng and called out to Xiao Shu, “Get the rabbit fur off the car!”
Yue Zheng stepped aside from the gate and said to Mother Xu, “Once they remove the items, I’ll start cooking dinner.”
Mother Xu silently nodded. Her son had indeed not learned how to cook yet. Especially when she was busy with business matters, she didn’t have time to think about such things.
Xiao Shu, a foolish tree, twisted and used almost all of its branches and trunk to hold the large white rabbit fur. Seeing the mutated plants that could move with their roots, Mother Xu’s face trembled. Fortunately, her psychological resilience was still strong, and she didn’t scream on the spot.
Mo Tiancheng picked out a vine seed and dropped it in the designated spot pointed out by Xu Song. The vine grew, with the top of the wall as the highest limit, spreading out to create a net, trying to stretch the rabbit fur as much as possible.
Although the area of this vacant land was not small, it was still cramped for a house on wheels, a large mutated dog, and the need to dry rabbit fur.
As a result, half of the rabbit fur covered the RV and Abu, leaving only the front of the vehicle and a small opening for the dog’s head to breathe. It had almost turned into a huge tent.
Yue Zheng turned on the car lights, and Mother Xu paused, “There’s still electricity?”
“The car has two solar panels, enough for a whole day’s use,” Yue Zheng said while walking to the kitchen corner.
“Let me handle it.” Although Mother Xu didn’t know how skilled Yue Zheng was in cooking, she believed that a young man, no matter how good he was at cooking, couldn’t be as proficient and efficient as a woman who cooked regularly.
After asking about the location of various seasonings and food storage, Yue Zheng saw that Mother Xu quickly got the hang of it. He took several large pieces of rabbit meat and handed them out of the window to feed Abu.
“Do you usually feed it like this?”
“Usually, it goes out to catch its own food. But today is the first day it entered the city, so we had to make do with the leftovers.”
Almost half of the rabbit meat ended up in Abu’s belly, and the car became much quieter. To avoid any accidents when entering the city, they didn’t place the rabbit fur directly on the roof as usual, and the rabbit meat was all stuffed inside the vehicle.
Now that the fur and meat were outside, the smell inside the car became much fresher. The vehicle, which hadn’t opened its curtains for a day, was finally thoroughly ventilated. Xu Song brought Mo Tiancheng back into the car and saw his busy mother in the kitchen. He became excited and pounced on her, “Mom, it’s been so long since I ate your cooking.”
“Then wash your hands and wait patiently,” Mother Xu smiled and sighed inwardly. She had imagined that even if her son came to B City Base, their lives might not be as comfortable as before. Eating, wearing, using, and moving were all different from before. Few people could smoothly adapt to the transition between the two.
Before the apocalypse, she and her husband worked hard to give their children a relatively smooth future. But now, everything was different…
Love his mom. Wonder how she’ll react when the children will call her son “mom” 😇
Although she’s just ordinary but she’s quite resilient. Xu Song’s mom is such a strong woman. Now I wonder how will Xu Song tell his mother about his real relationship with Yue Zheng.
Thank you for the chapters!🥺♥️♥️❤️♥️❤️
O(∩_∩)O
Thanks for the awesome translation! Can’t wait for the explanations! Hahaha. 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳🦔🦗
I stan Mother Xu
Love the strong female characters that aren’t obnoxious 😌🙌