Chapter 268: Hard Life

Chapter 268: Harsh Living Conditions

Once she’d straightened up, the room looked much cozier.

Ye Xiaoxiao tried out the bed—plush and cozy.

Others would probably think such behavior was extravagant, but Ye Xiaoxiao truly couldn’t get used to hard beds and had no intention of suffering through one.

The pillow was stuffed with buckwheat chaff. After slipping on a fresh pillowcase, Ye Xiaoxiao placed it on the bed.

By the time she finished all this, she was already exhausted. Just then, Li Zhen came by to bring water.

"This bucket is mine… Where’d all this stuff come from?"

Since Ye Xiaoxiao had been assigned here for her internship, Li Zhen never suspected she might have connections.

"Paid for 'em," Ye Xiaoxiao replied.

Li Zhen wasn’t buying it—the closest store was miles off.

"The person who brought me here bought them."

Li Zhen had indeed seen Jin Yu but hadn’t noticed him arriving by car. Still, she let it slide. Ye Xiaoxiao had a small red bucket, so Li Zhen dipped out two scoops of water into it.

"That’ll be a buck. Don’t lose track."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "...”

"The room to the south’s a little kitchen with a pot. If you want to boil water, go there, but we’re low on firewood—so unless necessary, don’t bother."

No wonder they call this place godforsaken.

You live off what’s around you: mountains, rivers... but here? Just dust.

Back in White Stone Village, at least they could hunt and chop firewood.

Ye Xiaoxiao found herself missing the firewood pile in her family’s courtyard.

"How do you usually bathe?"

"With water this tight? A sponge bath’ll do. I bathe once every six months."

Ye Xiaoxiao lost count of how many times her jaw dropped today, but she could still understand. She kept it to herself.

God bless modern times—even deserts had running water.

"All I want is to rest for a while."

All she wanted right now was to lie down on her bed and sleep.

Li Zhen picked up her bucket. "Then I’ll leave. I’ll holler for you when the canteen opens."

Ye Xiaoxiao paused. "Thanks."

Although he was a water peddler, he was a good person.

Ye Xiaoxiao locked up the doors and windows, lay on the bed for a nap, and when she woke up, it was still daylight outside.

It was 7:30 in the afternoon, but the sky outside wasn’t dark at all—it didn’t look like dusk.

Li Zhen came to call Ye Xiaoxiao to dinner.

"This is the meal ticket the Head gave you. Even though you're an intern here, you’ll need to apply for various benefits and subsidies first. These meal tickets were shared from our own rations, so remember to return the favor later."

Ye Xiaoxiao took the meal tickets. "Will you have enough for the rest of the month?"

Li Zhen: "Pretty much. We usually don’t even use up our monthly meal tickets anyway."

When it came to food, the government made sure workers here were well-fed.

Ye Xiaoxiao took her food container and went to the canteen with Li Zhen.

Along the way, the most common sights were soldiers in military uniforms and some scruffy, glasses-wearing researchers.

Many people also stared at them as they passed.

"Dr. Li, did your clinic get a new recruit?"

Someone who knew Li Zhen greeted them warmly, though their gaze lingered on Ye Xiaoxiao.

Her demeanor made it obvious she wasn’t an old-timer here—her fair complexion and clean clothes suggested she had just arrived.

This base was a den of unsung geniuses, but most researchers were so buried in their work that they skipped meals, let alone washing their faces.

A guard once recalled that he had only seen the true faces of these experts and professors when they first arrived at the base—the rest of the time, they were filthy.

So Ye Xiaoxiao could only be someone who had just arrived and hadn’t yet been broken in.

Li Zhen waved impatiently. "Buzz off, scram, mind your own business. Don’t pry into our clinic’s affairs."

Ye Xiaoxiao, however, was itching to ask the soldiers about Lu Hanchuan.

But she decided to settle in properly first.

The cafeteria lady's eyes lit up when she saw Ye Xiaoxiao. "What a cutie! Eat up, and come back for seconds if it’s not enough."

"Auntie, I can’t eat this much."

Auntie: "Eat up, or you’ll get swept off your feet!"

So much for the myth of cafeteria ladies being stingy—Ye Xiaoxiao looked in dismay at her tray overflowing with potatoes and beans.

Li Zhen dug in eagerly, while Ye Xiaoxiao made herself clean her plate to avoid waste.

In the end, Li Zhen ate the last half of the steamed bun.

"How do you survive on so little? You won’t starve to death in the middle of the night, will you?"

Li Zhen always felt like she was left hungry after meals.

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Maybe I just don’t have much appetite since I just got here."

Li Zhen: "Then you should’ve held onto a bun for when you get hungry at night."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Will the food spoil in this heat?"

Li Zhen: "It's completely dried out. Why would it spoil?"

"..."

Ye Xiaoxiao packed up her food container—this absolutely needed to be washed. But when she went back to clean it, Li Zhen thought she was wasting too much water.

"How about I wash it for you?"

Ye Xiaoxiao dodged, "No thanks. You'd definitely stint on water and not wash it properly."

Li Zhen chuckled, "I grew up here—you think I don't know how to wash dishes?"

Ye Xiaoxiao: "This is a food container, not a dish."

Luckily, dinner was just plain buns, and the vegetables were all eaten, so the food container was easier to clean. Ye Xiaoxiao gave it a quick rinse and put it away.

At night, though they couldn't bathe, they still had to wash their faces and feet.

Ye Xiaoxiao had to ration every drop.

"Does this mean no water for me tomorrow either?"

Li Zhen: "They can't register you until after the water delivery tomorrow, so no, you won’t have any tomorrow either. But aside from the water delivered by the military, there are places where you can buy water."

Ye Xiaoxiao paid close attention.

Li Zhen: "It's the nearby residents. Those who raise camels at home transport water from the town's communal water taps to sell at the base entrance, and there are quite a few buyers.

If you buy in bulk, you can even arrange for regular deliveries at fixed times.

So... do you want me to hook you up?"

Ye Xiaoxiao shook her head.

Li Zhen thought she had the upper hand with this pampered city girl. "Don’t you want to take a shower?"

Ye Xiaoxiao: "If you’re the one arranging it, you’re probably trying to play middleman and skim some profit. I bet buying directly from the residents is cheaper than buying from you."

Ye Xiaoxiao grabbed her wash basin to dump the water.

Li Zhen stood up. "Sure, I charge more but my service is better. I deliver right to your door, while they only bring it to the base entrance."

Seeing Ye Xiaoxiao unimpressed and ready to head back to her room to sleep,

Li Zhen called out again, "Heck, I can even boil the water for you. What’s the harm in me making a little cash?"

Ye Xiaoxiao didn’t respond. She entered her room and shut the door behind her.

Realizing Ye Xiaoxiao wasn't having it, Li Zhen finally stopped pushing her services.

As Yang Juan passed through the courtyard, he glanced at Li Zhen. "Don’t bully her."

Li Zhen retorted indignantly, "How am I bullying her? She’ll probably leave in a couple of days anyway. I’m just giving her the chance to enjoy herself while she can."