Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Qin Shen handed the full lunchbox to Yan Bubu. He walked towards their room, not turning his head, seemingly either angry or something else.

Yan Bubu, clutching the lunchbox, hurriedly followed him.

"Are you angry with me?" Yan Bubu asked apprehensively.

Qin Shen didn't respond, just pressed his lips together and strode forward.

Someone had left a bamboo basket in the hallway, which Yan Bubu didn't see and tripped over. Just as he was about to fall, Qin Shen caught him and also managed to steady the lunchbox that was about to fly out of his hands.

"Brother, I was wrong. I shouldn't have lied to you," Yan Bubu said, grabbing Qin Shen's arm before he could steady himself.

Qin Shen glanced at his tightly grasped arm and then at Yan Bubu's panicked face. After a moment of surprise, his expression softened as he realized something.

"I'm not angry with you, don't be afraid." He gently pried open Yan Bubu’s fingers and saw his once plump fingers had become slender, the knuckles almost imperceptible.

"Don't be afraid," he reassured Yan Bubu, holding his hand in his own. "I just don’t want you to starve yourself."

Yan Bubu sighed in relief, "It's okay. During the day, I drink lots of water, my stomach gets so full."

Qin Shen led him back to their room and sat him down, uncovering the lunchbox and pushing it towards him, "Don't worry about conserving credit points. Today a meal costs eight points, maybe tomorrow it'll be ten, and the day after fifteen. Saving points is actually wasteful; it’s a pity."

Yan Bubu nibbled on a bun, hesitantly saying, "But I don’t want you to work too hard."

Qin Shen asked, "So you think by eating less, I won’t have to go out to work?"

"Yes, the uncles working with you said it's hot, exhausting, and dangerous outside. I don’t want you to suffer," Yan Bubu replied.

Peeling a potato, Qin Shen said lightly, "I don't find working hard. Our training was much tougher than this. I work to ensure we have enough to eat, but if you don’t eat, it feels like my effort is wasted. That’s what really bothers me."

"Is that so?" Yan Bubu's mouth hung open slightly in realization.

"What do you think? So, I wasn’t angry with you, just upset."

"Then, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have skipped meals and made you upset," Yan Bubu said softly.

Qin Shen placed the peeled potato in his lunchbox, "If you don’t want me to be upset, then eat well. Don’t worry about credit points; I’ll take care of that."

"Okay." This time, Yan Bubu agreed readily, taking a bite of the potato and smiling at Qin Shen, "The potato tastes so good. I could eat ten in one go."

Qin Shen chuckled softly, "Let’s see if you can really eat ten."

Yan Bubu playfully stuffed almost half of a large potato into his mouth, but then couldn't chew, mouth full and eyes looking expectantly at Qin Shen.

"Slow down, can't you be more moderate?"

Frowning, Qin Shen helped to break up the potato in his mouth and disdainfully tore off a piece of paper towel to wipe his fingers.

After dinner, the two went to the water room. Feng Chen skillfully rinsed the lunch box under the tap, while Yan Bubu stared at his hands and suddenly said, "Brother, I know your birthday is coming soon."

"Ah... yeah, it seems so." Feng Chen straightened up, realizing he had forgotten about his upcoming birthday. But in their current situation, just surviving was enough; birthdays seemed trivial.

After Yan Bubu's abrupt remark, he didn't continue, and Feng Chen put the thought to the back of his mind.

"You wait here for me. I’ll put the lunch box away and come back to shower."

"No... I want to come with you."

"It's just for a few minutes."

"I want to be with you for those few minutes too."

"…Suit yourself."

The next day, after Feng Chen left for work, Yan Bubu also got up early.

After washing up and having breakfast at the canteen, he slung the bag with Binunu over his shoulder and left the room to find Wu You.

"You want to work?" Wu You sipped his thin porridge, looking up and down at Yan Bubu, "Jingjing, what kind of work do you want to do?"

"I can go to the plantation to grow corn, or follow the soldier uncles to fight mutants. If it's moving dead bodies, I think I can do that too..." Yan Bubu often overheard conversations in the cafeteria, so he knew what kind of work there was.

Wu You laughed, "You're not even as tall as a hoe, how can you grow corn? Forget fighting mutants, don't end up being a meal for them."

"Then, what about moving dead bodies?"

Wu You put down his bowl, "Jingjing, your brother works every day, earning enough credit points for both of you to eat and drink. Don't go moving dead bodies. Not to mention whether you can handle it, there's no thermal suit that fits your size."

"Oh..." Yan Bubu lowered his head, looking a bit disappointed.

Seeing him like this, Wu You thoughtfully said, "But if you really want to work, it's not like there's no way."

Yan Bubu suddenly looked up, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Come here, let me pinch your cheek," Wu You said.

Yan Bubu obediently moved closer, allowing Wu You to pinch his cheeks, "You've lost weight."

"How about this, you can work picking Lishi stones. The Lishi mine is right below us. Those who are physically weaker or older sift through the ores to find Lishi stones, and finding three can be exchanged for five credit points. Some kids were also doing it yesterday; maybe you can join them."

Outside the Hive, on the rightmost mountain wall of the square, there was a tunnel with a railway track extending deep inside. Every couple of hours, a small mining cart full of Lishi ores would slide out of the tunnel.

The ores were large and needed to be crushed by a stone crusher into finger-sized pieces, then sifted through bamboo sieves to separate and find the hidden Lishi stones.

The underground shelter's power supply relied entirely on Lishi stones. Dozens of knuckle-sized Lishi stones, once processed, could power the Hive and even the plantation for a whole day.

This type of Lishi ore is widely distributed in the United Federation, but extracting Lishi stones from the ore is not easy. Before the earthquake, machinery could automatically sort them, but now it has to be done by human eyes.

Yan Bubu also got a bamboo sieve, scooped up a pile of crushed ores, and mimicked the adults, sifting through to discard the powder and inspecting the remnants for Lishi stones.

The difference between Lishi stones and crushed ores wasn't very obvious, both being deep black. However, the ores lacked luster, while Lishi stones were more crystalline and would subtly refract light when sifted, making them distinguishable upon close inspection.

Yan Bubu sifted earnestly all morning without finding anything, his face becoming covered in dust. After lunch, he didn't return to his room to rest but went straight back to the mine to continue sifting.

After scooping another sieve of Lishi ore, he sat Bunu down on a nearby rock, "Bunu, I didn't find any Lishi stones this morning. Now, sit here and cheer for me, okay?"

Whether it was Bunu's good luck or something else, he soon noticed a flickering light in the shaking ore.

He eagerly searched the area and finally found a stone that looked different. Holding it up to the lamp, he could see a faint shimmer moving across its surface.

"Ha!" He exclaimed with joy, holding the stone and running to the person in charge, "Uncle, look, is this a Lishi stone?"

The man took the stone and examined it, "Yes, it's a Lishi stone. You're quite skilled, kid."

Yan Bubu smiled, his dirty face showing only his white teeth, even though one had a chip, "Not bad, just a little bit skilled."

The man stored the Lishi stone and opened his ledger, finding Fan Renjing's name on today's worker list and marking a check next to it.

"Look, each hook represents one Lishi stone. At the end of today, you will be credited with as many credit points as the number of stones you find."

"Thank you, Uncle," Yan Bubu's eyes sparkled as he stared at the hook, reluctantly shifting his gaze only when the supervisor closed the ledger.

Yan Bubu returned to sifting through the broken ore with renewed confidence and vigor, speeding up his actions. Before long, he found two more Lishi stones.

"Hey, you—rabbit," a rude child's voice came from nearby. Yan Bubu didn't need to look to know it was the chubby boy, but he couldn't figure out whom the boy was calling 'rabbit' and kept his head down, ignoring him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Why are you pretending to be dead and ignoring me?" The voice grew closer, stopping beside Yan Bubu's bamboo sieve.

Yan Bubu didn't want to engage and kept his back turned, busily working on his own, but the chubby boy didn't leave and continued to taunt him from behind.

"You look filthy."

"Why are you so dirty? It's disgusting."

"I can smell you from here; it's so bad. Do you ever bathe?"

……

Losing interest as Yan Bubu remained unresponsive, the chubby boy sulkily turned to leave but then noticed the tin toy on the rock.

Just as Yan Bubu emptied his sieve of broken ore, he heard the chubby boy's voice from behind: "What's this? Oh... is this Binunu? Ha, I found a Binunu."

Yan Bubu whirled around to see the chubby boy holding his Binunu and shouted, "That's my Binunu!"

The chubby boy hugged the tin toy closer: "You haven't settled the score for stealing my bread last time, and now you want to take Binunu too. I found it on the ground, so it's mine now."

"I left Binunu there to keep me company," Yan Bubu dropped his sieve and hurried forward to retrieve Binunu, but the chubby boy dodged him.

"If it's left on the ground, it's discarded, and whoever finds it keeps it."

Yan Bubu reached out for Binunu: "It wasn't discarded; my brother made it for me. If you don't believe me, look at its left ear; there's a mole behind it."

When Feng Chen made Binunu, there was a rice grain-sized dent in the tin, right behind its ear, which Yan Bubu claimed was a mole that had grown there.

"No, no, you're lying," the chubby boy refused to look at the toy's ear, clutching it and hurrying towards the beehive.

How could Yan Bubu let him take Binunu away? He rushed in front of the chubby boy and reached out to snatch it back. The chubby boy, holding the toy in one hand, fiercely pushed him with the other, saying, "Get lost, don't block my way."

Yan Bubu, smaller and lighter than the chubby boy, stumbled from the push. Regaining his balance, he saw the chubby boy trying to leave and resorted to his usual tactic: sprinting a few steps and ramming into the boy's back.

The chubby boy nearly fell from the impact, dropping the toy. Yan Bubu quickly moved to pick it up, but the chubby boy also reached for it, and both grabbed onto Binunu, refusing to let go.

Their angry gazes sparked in the air, and it was unclear who struck first. The next moment, the two boys were rolling and wrestling beside the pile of ores.

At a disadvantage in size and weight, Yan Bubu was thoroughly overpowered by the chubby boy, who also managed to take Binunu. Yet, Yan Bubu kept lunging at every opportunity, preventing the chubby boy from escaping with the toy.

The chubby boy threw Yan Bubu to the ground repeatedly, but he kept getting up and persistently tried to snatch Binunu back.

Yan Bubu didn't utter a sound throughout the ordeal, even when some falls were particularly painful and his eyes brimmed with tears. He bit his lip and held back the tears.

The chubby boy, unable to escape and frustrated, started twisting Yan Bubu's fingers and pulling his hair. Yan Bubu ignored the pain, not retaliating but focusing solely on reclaiming Binunu.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The supervisor finally noticed the commotion and approached to see the two boys fighting.

Yan Bubu had been working diligently all day, a tiny child more earnest than the adults. The supervisor, feeling a bit of pity for him, turned to the chubby boy and roared, "What are you doing? Disturbing our mine's workers?"

The chubby boy, intimidated by the adults, turned to run, but Yan Bubu clung to his arm and appealed to the supervisor, "He's trying to steal my Binunu!"

"Take it back, I don't want this junk anyway."

The chubby boy threw Binunu onto the pile of ores, where it bounced and rolled away. Yan Bubu quickly let go of his arm to retrieve it, and the boy took the chance to run away.

Made of tin, the toy, despite being dropped loudly, was not damaged, but its right ear, embedded in the top, was missing, leaving only a seam where the ear used to be.

"What's wrong? Did it break?" asked the supervisor.

Yan Bubu touched the seam with his dirty hands, trying to hold back tears, but shook his head and said, "It's okay, just lost the ear. I'll find it."

"Okay, take your time looking." The supervisor, needed elsewhere for Lishi stone submissions, hastily left after speaking.

Binunu's tin was the same dark black as the ores, making it difficult to distinguish. The ear, small and leaf-like, could have fallen into any crevice.

Yan Bubu climbed over the ore pile, searching for Binunu's ear. Fortunately, the area was well-lit, making it easy to see without getting too close. Eventually, he found the thin, round ear in a gap between two stones.

"Aha!" Yan Bubu carefully retrieved the ear, examined it, and then reinserted it into the seam on Binunu's head.

Straightening up and wiping the sweat from his forehead, he realized that everyone around the Lishi mine had left, leaving him alone.

Oh no!

Yan Bubu suddenly remembered his brother was returning, but he hadn't gone to meet him.

Feng Chen, back at the resettlement point, stood at the edge of the elevator. As the beehive building came into view, he looked down at the large rock and noticed, with his keen eyes, that it was unoccupied today, unlike usual.

As the elevator stopped, Feng Chen was the first to step out. He stood by the large rock, scanning the surroundings, then spotted a small figure running towards him from the right.

Yan Bubu rushed to Feng Chen, panting and smiling: "Brother, big brother..."

Feng Chen frowned at his appearance.

Yan Bubu's hair was messy, his face covered in black grime, and his light yellow T-shirt was so dirty that the pattern on the chest was no longer visible.

"Where have you been? Why are you so dirty?" Feng Chen asked, puzzled.

Just as Yan Bubu was about to speak, Feng Chen interrupted, "Don't lie to me."

"I wasn't going to lie," Yan Bubu replied honestly. "I have a job now."

"You have a job?"

Yan Bubu nodded vigorously: "Yes, I was picking Lishi stones over there. I found three today and earned five credit points."

He stretched out his hand, trying to spread his palm wider: "Look, five points, I earned five points."

Yan Bubu, filled with joy, awaited Feng Chen's delight, but Feng Chen's brows remained furrowed as he took his raised hand, asking, "How did you hurt your hand? Did you get this picking Lishi stones?"

"Oh, I was careful picking the stones; I didn't get hurt," Yan Bubu leaned in to look at his hand and saw a wound on the dirty index finger.

The cut was small, so he hadn't felt it, but seeing his hand so dirty, especially held by his cleanliness-loving brother, made him feel both pleasantly surprised and a bit uneasy.

"My hand is so dirty, don't hold it."

Feng Chen didn't let go: "Stop moving around."

Yan Bubu stayed still, letting Feng Chen fuss over his hair and touch his ear, "Who did you fight with? Your ear clearly has scratch marks, don't tell me it was from a stone."

"A fight…" Yan Bubu's gaze flickered, and he stammered, "About the fight… well, this fight…"

He had fought with kids at the kindergarten too. Even though it was always others who provoked him, his mother would scold him every time she found out.

"Bubu, you need to be more obedient. Look, which servant's child is as fortunate as you? You have food and clothes no worse than the young masters, the master and mistress like you, and they even send you to kindergarten with a car to pick you up and drop you off. We must appreciate what we have. Don't fight with other kids at kindergarten. If the master and mistress hear about it, they would be unhappy, understand? If others provoke you, tell the teacher, let them handle it, don't fight back yourself."

With Auntie Mei's repeated advice, Yan Bubu knew that fighting with other kids was wrong. Even though it was the chubby boy who provoked him, stealing his Binunu and pushing him, he feared his brother's displeasure upon finding out, making him hesitant to confess.

"Tell me, who did you fight with?" Feng Chen asked.

In his opinion, Yan Bubu was never one to suffer a loss in front of others. If he had been bullied today, he would've come to complain to him immediately. His silence now suggested he might have been the instigator but ended up on the losing end.

However, Feng Chen didn't know that Yan Bubu indeed never let himself be taken advantage of. Even when chased by someone like Chushi, he would fight back fiercely. The reason being, Chushi wasn't a child.

Yan Bubu could fight against anyone, but he knew he couldn't fight with children. His mother would be unhappy, saying it would also displease the master and mistress.

Even though the master and mistress weren't around, his brother's presence was the same.

Feng Chen looked serious, and although Yan Bubu didn't want to admit it, he dared not hide the truth and narrated the entire incident.

"... I just put Binunu there to keep me company, but he insisted that since he found it, it was his. I tried to take it back, but he wouldn't let me..."

As Yan Bubu described the struggle over Binunu with the chubby boy, Feng Chen's face grew increasingly grim, frightening him to the point of almost not being able to continue. But Feng Chen didn't say stop, so he had to bravely go on.

"... Finally, that uncle scared him away, and he threw Binunu on the ground. The ear fell off, and it took me a long time to find it..."

After Yan Bubu finished his account, he stood dejectedly, bracing himself for Feng Chen's anger. Surprisingly, the scolding never came. Instead, a gentle hand reached out, taking his.

"Come, let's go home and take a bath first, then eat."

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Author's note:

Feng Chen: In a fight, you can't lose; you must find a way.