Chapter 223 | Chapter 224 | Chapter 225
Chapter 223: The Past and the Present
Uncle Zao, as it turned out, didn’t find them repulsive in the slightest!
He was even overcome with joy: “Are these all for me?”
Oh dear, the quantity was a bit large; it might take some time to move all that stock.
Huai Yu, however, shook her head. “How about you take half, and give the other half to Sister Chen Xing? She has more connections for out-of-town trade.”
Uncle Zao pinched a pink Ketaro-ball, turning it over to inspect it, before suddenly asking, “Xiao Yu, are you short on points right now?”
Huai Yu nodded. “Yeah, I want to go to the wilderness. Sister Chen Xing said I need a vehicle. I’m currently saving up points.”
Uncle Zao silently set the Ketaro-ball down.
After a moment, he said calmly, “Vehicles aren’t easy to buy.”
“For one, the price is high. Secondly, only those with real strength—like the Defense Army or wealthy families with high contribution values—can afford the fuel and maintenance.”
“Thirdly, ability users graduating from military academies who want to become explorers usually start by integrating into and learning from established expedition teams. When they’re finally ready to stand on their own, the first thing they do is start saving for a vehicle.”
“In these few years since the cataclysm, there haven’t been many vehicles left from the initial searches around Flower City flowing into the market.”
“To buy a car, you don’t just need to save points; you have to keep an eye on the market at all times. I’ll help you keep watch. If you’re short on points, come find me.”
“The wilderness isn’t a place for ordinary people. But with so many good things in your possession, Xiao Yu, I trust in your ability…”
He spoke with such earnest sincerity that Huai Yu, rarely having encountered someone who trusted her so fully, couldn’t help but beam with joy.
Beside her, Zhou Qian couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anguish—what ability? Purification or force-growth? In the wilderness, how could either of those possibly be of any use?!
He had just been racking his brain to try and cool Huai Yu’s ambitions and slow her pace—after all, saving up points without drawing attention to oneself was bound to take a very long time.
And now, this—
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than a middle-aged woman darted out from the living quarters.
Her hair was disheveled, and her skin was pale, as if she rarely saw the sun. Her face was etched with deep exhaustion and the weariness of years. Her eyes were fixed on Huai Yu, unblinking.
“Are you going to the wilderness? Take me with you! I need to go find my son. My daughter hasn’t been home for years; I need to have a word with her.”
As she spoke, she turned to glare at Uncle Zao. “Hurry up. We’re going to find the kids, get moving and pack our luggage!”
While talking, she dug into her pockets, pulling out a photograph with a fanatical look in her eyes. “Look, look—my daughter, my son, aren’t they beautiful? They’ve been gone for so many years and still haven’t come home; I was even planning to introduce them to someone.”
The photo had been carefully laminated, but even so, long-term, forceful clutching by the woman had left it wrinkled. On it, a young man and woman stood in crisp, snow-white uniforms—dashing, handsome, and smiling gently.
Huai Yu felt a sting in her nose.
Looking at Uncle Zao, he seemed to have become accustomed to this routine. He reached out an arm to pull his wife close. “I know, but don’t we need to prepare some things? It’ll take at least two or three days. Come now, you go tidy up the luggage, and I’ll let you know when we’re departing.”
“Okay… okay…”
The woman’s hand, which had been gripping her clothes, slowly loosened. A hopeful smile bloomed on her pale cheeks. “Then you remember to call me, okay? What should we pack? Our daughter doesn’t like wearing the sweaters I knit—I always make the yarn too tight… Go buy our daughter a new wool sweater. Get a pink one; she likes pink.”
“Yes, yes, yes, pink. Everything will be pink…”
Uncle Zao guided her, slowly leading her back into their room.
The door clicked shut.
In the empty shop, Huai Yu sighed silently and exchanged a glance with Zhou Qian, not knowing what to say.
After a long while, Zhou Qian patted her head. “Xiao Yu, there is nothing in this world more important than your own life. If you rush into danger easily, those who love you deeply will end up just like her.”
“Even their madness is a form of agony.”
Huai Yu was speechless.
After quite some time, Uncle Zao finally emerged. Seeing Huai Yu looking at him nervously, he waved his hand. “It’s fine, she’s better after her medication…”
He looked at Huai Yu’s slender frame—which didn’t look like it could defeat anything—sighed silently, and said no more. Instead, he resumed picking through the Ketaro-balls in the basket as if nothing had happened.
“These are indeed convenient to sell in the outer city and are quite popular. My connections aren’t as extensive as Chen Xing’s, so let’s stick to one-third for me. Though, let me pick out more of the pink ones.”
Huai Yu nodded and pushed the basket over, letting Uncle Zao take his time picking. She and Zhou Qian wandered around the empty home goods shop, pretending not to hear the heavy, muffled sobs of suppressed grief leaking from behind the door.
Only when she had determined the angles of the geometric patterns on the bed sheet before her did she finally hear Uncle Zao call out:
“All picked. Come over and settle the bill. These are selling well right now, so I’ll give you a premium price.”
It was a truly high price.
The rate of 30 points apiece made Huai Yu’s heart skip a beat. She had intended to refuse, but Uncle Zao’s eyes were slightly red, and he had already swiftly presented his transaction wristband.
Huai Yu: …
She had no choice but to accept it in silence.
Recalling something, she transferred 500 points back. “Uncle Zao, I want to collect mutated meat or fruit that no one wants at the highway exit, but I don’t have the time to go stake it out there.”
“Would you mind asking that uncle who delivered my goods last time if he’d be willing to take on this job? He can just drop them off at the usual spot.”
She estimated the timing from last time. “I’ll go there to collect the goods at 9:00 every day.”
If the goods were there, she would haul them back; if not, she wouldn’t be at a loss for making the trip. Of course, she would have to entrust the payment and logistics to Uncle Zao, who was more conveniently located in the city.
This was a minor request, and since Uncle Zao often went there to stake out goods anyway, he agreed immediately. “Don’t worry about it.”
Huai Yu smiled, quickly leaving him a pile of vegetables.
Uncle Zao didn’t decline this time, returning to his former self. “Alright, leave the rest of the tea here, and I’ll take it to Chen Xing later. She’ll probably have to buy on credit.”
Huai Yu waved her hand. “It’s fine, we already agreed on that.”
Once they were out of the shop, Huai Yu felt distressed again. “The wilderness is so huge—if I can’t find them when the time comes, how am I supposed to explain it to Uncle Zao?”
She sighed again. “I dream of so much, so why can’t I dream of the two of them? Do I need to put in the effort to keep thinking about them to make it happen?”
Zhou Qian turned back to look. At the window on the second floor of the shop they had just left, the pale-skinned woman was gripping the security bars with both hands, gazing blankly at their retreating figures.
It was as if she understood everything, and yet, as if she preferred to remain lost in the past.
Zhou Qian paused and reached out to nudge Huai Yu. “Walk faster, the vegetables are too heavy.”
Huai Yu finally snapped out of it. “Oh, oh, oh, okay! If I had known, I should have sold the vegetables first…”
She hadn’t expected to run into Uncle Zao while just passing through.
Chapter 224: Sprouting Anew
Huai Yu and Zhou Qian continued on to sell their vegetables, while back at the home goods shop, the middle-aged woman, who seemed to have calmed down after taking her medication, silently made her way downstairs.
Just as a customer happened to walk in, she tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled faintly. “What are you looking for? Everything in our shop is at a discounted price.”
If one looked at her now, she seemed like a completely different person from the one having a breakdown moments ago.
Uncle Zao inhaled deeply. Accustomed to this routine, he silently boiled water, thought for a moment, and chose a pink tea ball to drop into the pot.
A faint fragrance of roses gradually filled the hot water. The tea took on a delicate pink hue, reminiscent of the unhealthy, artificially colored drinks the children used to love.
The prices in the home goods shop were fair. After a brief bit of haggling, the customer realized they couldn’t squeeze any more off the price, happily accepted a freebie, and the transaction was concluded.
Once the customer had left, the woman moved like a phantom, sat down at the tea table, and stared blankly at the cup of pink tea.
After a moment, she said abruptly, “Our son liked drinking this pink stuff, too.”
Uncle Zao shook his head. “Nonsense, he didn’t. That pink drink in the photo you saw? He took that at a bar.”
“Our daughter ordered it for him. It was called something like ‘Dreamy-whatever’…”
The two whispered to each other, the steam obscuring the pain in their eyes. Moments later, the woman spoke again: “Pour me a cup.”
She wanted to taste it. She wanted to know if the pink color the children loved so much was bitter or sweet.
The tea had sat for a while and was no longer scalding. Uncle Zao, breathing in the swirling scent of roses, poured her a cup. She took the cup and downed it in one gulp, sweat breaking out across her body from the heat.
It was bitter.
A slight bitterness bloomed on the tip of her tongue, as if it had drawn out all the pain in her life. Yet, just as that bitterness peaked, a faint, subtle sweetness welled up from the back of her throat.
This trace of sweetness within the bitterness was incredibly precious. She savored it slowly, unwilling to let a single drop fade away.
“How is it?” Uncle Zao asked. “Good, right? I put a high price on this tea, hoping to help Xiao Yu save up…”
He cut himself off and changed track: “Besides, the quality really is excellent. I’ve tried a few varieties. Some are refreshing and reduce internal heat, others are warming to the stomach. Each color has different effects.”
“I don’t know what the benefit of this pink one is.”
Uncle Zao rambled on, desperately trying to keep her mind occupied.
However, a moment later, the woman opposite him swayed, as if dizzy, and collapsed face-first onto the table.
The glass in her hand clattered onto the surface, spilling, with only a few drops of tea left at the bottom, slowly trickling away.
Uncle Zao was terrified. He shook her twice and realized she had lost consciousness. He quickly set aside his own tea, hoisted her onto his back, and ran out the door!
He shouted as he ran: “Tricycle! Does anyone have a tricycle?!”
With the streets only a corner away, Zhou Qian, who had been watching Huai Yu continue to fret over game consoles, felt his ears prick up. He bolted out the door.
Before long, he came running back. “Xiao Yu, Uncle Zao’s wife fainted. People are taking her there on a tricycle now. I’m strong, so I’ll go ahead. You take the bus and meet me there later.”
Huai Yu hadn’t even processed what was happening: “Huh?”
But Zhou Qian had already vanished into the distance. Looking at his agile form, no one would ever guess he was wearing a bio-prosthetic limb.
Huai Yu had no heart for game consoles anymore. She turned to Boss Tang. “Boss Tang, I’m heading off too! Just give me the money for the vegetables next time!”
“Alright!” They weren’t strangers to working together. Boss Tang waved his hand readily. “Go on, hurry!”
…
Not having a car was truly inconvenient.
By the time Huai Yu reached the hospital, she had to ask several nurses before finally finding Uncle Zao’s family in the ward.
Zhou Qian was helping lay the woman onto the bed. Uncle Zao stood to the side, his arms still trembling.
“Brother, thank you for your hard work,” he said to Zhou Qian, giving him a thumbs-up. “Xiao Yu is lucky to have a big brother like you.”
Huai Yu walked in, looking at the woman lying quietly and soundly on the bed, and whispered, “What happened?”
Uncle Zao wiped the sweat from his brow. “Don’t ask! She drank a cup of tea and just passed out! I nearly died of fright!”
Huai Yu: !!!
I nearly died of fright too!
“She passed out from drinking tea?!” She grew nervous as well.
Seeing her panic, Uncle Zao laughed instead. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not the tea’s fault. She probably just took her medication, and the two clashed… The doctor said it’s nothing to worry about; it’s like she’s just fallen asleep…”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Qian tapped him on the shoulder. Following his gaze, they saw that the sleeping woman was slowly curling the corners of her lips into a smile, while bean-sized tears streamed down the corners of her eyes.
The three of them fell silent.
After a long while, Huai Yu spoke softly: “She looks… like she’s very happy.”
…
She was indeed happy.
The middle-aged woman, known as Zhou Yunfang, hadn’t seen her son and daughter for many years.
When the cataclysm came, life became hard for everyone, and survival was a struggle. But her children were capable; they gained abilities quickly. They volunteered, went to military school, and chose to join the army…
In the end, at the Flower City Municipal Hall, General Lin presided over a collective memorial service. She and her husband brought home two medals.
No bodies, no ashes, not even a final memento. She… she had even begun to struggle to remember her children’s faces! The pair of siblings in the photo looked increasingly like strangers. Every time she looked at them, she had to focus, to strain, just to catch a glimpse of her children’s shadows.
Even in her dreams, she could no longer see their faces clearly.
But right now, she was holding hands with her daughter in her crisp, white uniform. They looked so much alike, though the young girl had dimples when she smiled.
To her right was her son. Since becoming an ability user, he had grown tall—much taller than his father. Years of training had darkened his skin, but he remained as quiet as ever.
“Mom, look. This is the wilderness… it’s a vast, mysterious, and dangerous forest. When I was little, I used to imagine I was a real explorer, maybe encountering a giant python in the rainforest…”
“Silly,” her younger brother chuckled. “Explorers today aren’t something an ordinary person can do. Unlike me, I want to be majestic and have many, many people remember me! Mom, will you remember me?”
“Hey! You brat, you looking for a beating?”
The two of them began to bicker.
Zhou Yunfang watched them through her tears, her expression tender, smiling slightly. “I remember. I remember everything. And many others remember, too… The country said there is a monument, and your names are written on it.”
The siblings smiled. “Then, Mom, you must remember us, too! Plant us under a tree. We died under the trees, so let us sprout anew in the soil.”
Chapter 225: Pink Dreams
Zhou Yunfang slowly woke up from her dream.
What a long, blissful dream it had been.
Her son and daughter were both by her side, surrounded by a lush, green jungle, as if they were taking her out for a mountain hike. Everything was so ordinary, yet so incredibly happy.
It was so happy that even as she awoke, she felt no regret.
She opened her eyes and stared vaguely at the ceiling. The world that was usually so painful, ignorant, and cruel—the one she had lived in like a madwoman—now felt peaceful and serene.
It was as if her children had never left; they had simply gone far away for school, as they always did.
She turned her head slightly. A needle was taped to the back of her hand, and the medicine dripped slowly through the transparent tube. Beside her, her husband was sitting on a stool, his elbows propped on his knees, his hands supporting his face, his head bobbing… clearly exhausted.
After one last nod, he jerked awake with a start, instinctively looking up at the IV bag first. Finding it still quite full, he breathed a sigh of relief. Turning his head, he saw his wife lying on the bed, quietly watching him.
“You’re awake?”
He grew excited. “It’s my fault, my fault! I knew you had just taken your medicine, I shouldn’t have given you that tea. There’s an old saying that tea counteracts medicine; this must have been a conflict. The hospital couldn’t find anything wrong…”
The unkempt man’s eyes were a little red. “You scared me to death! If Xiao Yu’s brother wasn’t so strong and hadn’t carried you out to run, I wouldn’t have been able to pedal the tricycle…”
As he spoke, tears almost spilled over. “My legs are still shaking.”
“Yunfang, there’s only the two of us left now. Let’s live well…” His voice choked with sobs, Uncle Zao lowered his head, not wanting her to see him and be distressed again.
“I know.” Zhou Yunfang interrupted him, placing her hand—taped up with medical adhesive—gently over the back of his hand.
“Li Zizhao, there’s only the two of us left, so we must live well.”
She smiled a happy, genuine smile. “I dreamed of the children. They haven’t suffered, and we shouldn’t continue to suffer either.”
“The children said they liked gardenias—they bloom so lively, and they’re so fragrant… Go buy one, I like them too.”
…
In another ward, Chen Xing was finally packing her things to prepare for discharge.
It was such a coincidence; they hadn’t wanted to make another trip to the hospital, which was why they had entrusted all the Ketaro-balls to Uncle Zao. But as things turned out, they ended up in the hospital anyway.
Other than her carrying basket, she had nothing left on her; she would have to retrieve her belongings later.
Seeing Huai Yu approach, she laughed. “Perfect timing. I was just about to tell you that I want to place an order for a batch of dried vegetables. I don’t know if you’re taking orders.”
Driving directly to Huai Yu’s home would have been fine, but she thought of the Rose Corridor and didn’t quite have the nerve—after all, her life was her own!
Seeing Huai Yu now made her exceptionally happy.
Seeing that she was alone, Huai Yu asked curiously, “Where are Fanta and the others?”
“Military academy preliminary tryouts are today, so I sent them over.”
“And what kind of dried vegetables do you need?” Huai Yu asked.
“Quite a few.” Chen Xing pulled out a notebook. “Convenient food that’s easy to carry—like dehydrated or sun-dried vegetables, pickles, or sauces that store well. If you have the channels, we’ll also take dried meats.”
Chen Xing wasn’t asking for these to do business. If Fanta and the others got into the school, she needed to prepare extra food for them.
They were only in their teens, at a growth stage where they could eat a mountain, and coupled with the energy drain of their abilities, the school’s rations would likely only be enough to keep them from starving.
Taking extra from Huai Yu was just a little gesture of care from her as a big sister.
Furthermore, she had to prepare supplies for her collaboration with the [Bai Zhao Subsidy] company—and beyond that, perhaps she could establish a stable stream of business for Huai Yu.
After all, explorers were wealthy and willing to spend; they were much more straightforward in their dealings than ordinary residents.
Huai Yu thought for a moment. “No problem! But my products might be of slightly higher quality, so the prices will be a bit steeper.”
“I know!” Chen Xing laughed. “Zhao Feiyan is heading to the wilderness next week, and I’ve finished my repairs, so I’ll be joining the team to train.”
“After this trip, my income should be about enough—please start preparing during this time.”
“Even if this business deal doesn’t go through, I promise you, as autumn and winter arrive and most plants enter maturity—and become sluggish in the cooling temperatures—there will be more and more people in the wilderness.”
“I won’t let your food go to waste.”
Huai Yu wasn’t worried about that at all. Besides, she had nothing else to do every day but tend to her vegetables. This business seemed quite profitable.
She nodded decisively and agreed.
“We can negotiate the specific prices when I bring the samples later.”
“But… Sister Chen Xing, are you sure it’ll be okay for you to go into the wilderness with people from their company?”
“I can handle it.” Chen Xing nodded confidently. “My earth-type ability is useful everywhere in the wilderness. Besides, I’m splitting profits with him; there are plenty of others like me in the team, so they have no reason to target me.”
“Don’t worry.”
She still looked like the same confident Chen Xing as always, and Huai Yu couldn’t help but smile, too.
…
After they parted ways, Huai Yu prepared to check on Uncle Zao’s wife again, feeling a bit worried on the way. “Should I not have sold those Ketaro-balls?”
Zhou Qian frowned as well. “I remember he picked the pink ones the most—what kind of medicinal herbs are used for the pink ones?”
Ah.
Huai Yu looked down. “No medicinal herbs were used. The pink ones are made with rose petals.”
Zhou Qian stopped in his tracks. “Rose petals? From the Rose Corridor?”
“Yeah…” Huai Yu said, feeling a bit guilty. “It blooms so many flowers every day, and the petals just scatter when the wind blows—what a waste… so I collected a few baskets for Ketaro.”
“But!” Huai Yu still had great confidence in Ketaro!
“Ketaro never said there was a problem, so it must be fine! It’s such a good creature; it wouldn’t make anything harmful!”
Zhou Qian was speechless. “Some things aren’t inherently harmful, but what if the medicinal properties clash?”
“The woman fainted after drinking one cup of tea. What if it really is a unique effect of the Rose Corridor?”
Wait a minute—the ways the Rose Corridor killed people were bizarre and varied. Did it have poison… they hadn’t detected any before, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there!
At this thought, their pace quickened.
However, as they reached the hospital door and were just about to knock, they heard someone inside say softly: “Don’t sell any more of that pink tea—keep it all. In my dream, I could smell that unique, faint fragrance of roses in the tea.”
“That dream seemed to be making up for my regrets.”
“What?” This was Uncle Zao speaking. “You drank that tea, and the dream was good?”
“No, it’s not that… I just wonder, is it because I drank that tea that I was finally able to dream of the children again?”
