Hungry for Five Days

After Ding Yuqin finished speaking, she immediately began gently kneading the muscles in Wang Tao's arm without waiting for him to refuse.

As Ding Yuqin drew closer, a faint scent of shampoo drifted into Wang Tao's nose, making him feel inexplicably restless.

Wang Tao had originally wanted to refuse. He was a real man—what was such a minor injury? But Sister-in-law meant well, and seeing how serious she looked, he really couldn't bring himself to turn her down. It definitely wasn't because her little hands felt so comfortable.

"Oh, right! I have a Medical Kit at home. Wait for me..."

Ding Yuqin rose to leave, but when she reached the door, she hurriedly turned back and gave Wang Tao a somewhat ingratiating smile.

"Wang Tao, don't forget to open the door for Sister-in-law later!"

She was afraid that the moment she left, Wang Tao would lock the door.

"Sure."

Wang Tao nodded and left the door open. After all, they lived across from each other, only a few steps apart. The zombie in the hallway was already dead, so it was safe for the time being.

Before long, Ding Yuqin came out of her apartment carrying a medicine box. When she saw Wang Tao's door open, her face immediately lit up, and she hurried inside in her High Heels.

"There are some medicines for bruises and sprains in here..."

Ding Yuqin opened the medicine box, revealing all kinds of medicine, bandages, and the like.

Wang Tao stared at the medicine box without saying anything.

He had searched two apartments and hadn't found a single medicine box. At most, he had found some cold medicine and anti-inflammatory drugs. His own home had none either; he had always been in good health and hadn't been to a hospital in years. He didn't keep any medicine stocked at home.

Medicine had expiration dates, after all, and it was expensive. Other than people with spare money or a certain sense of crisis who prepared professional medicine boxes, most people wouldn't buy something like this.

"Brother Zhao bought all these. They haven't even been used yet..."

Ding Yuqin said with a hint of pride.

But after saying it, she deflated again. If the money spent on this medicine box had gone toward food, she could have eaten well for a long time...

When Ding Yuqin applied some ointment and medicinal liquid to Wang Tao's arm, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Because he saw a change in his Health Bar.

+1

+1

+1

118/120

Those medicines had restored 3 points of health to Wang Tao!

He could also clearly feel that the pain in his arm had eased significantly, leaving behind a slight tingling numbness.

Once the pain was gone, his health went up. Perfectly reasonable.

From this, Wang Tao could roughly infer that he probably hadn't injured the bone. Otherwise, there was no way he could have recovered so quickly.

"This medicine works pretty well!"

Wang Tao praised.

"As long as it helps!"

Seeing that Wang Tao wasn't merely being polite, Ding Yuqin was immediately happy that she could help him. After all, if she wanted to borrow food, it was best for her to offer something in return. No one was foolish.

After applying the medicine, Ding Yuqin continued massaging the muscles in Wang Tao's arm to help the medicine absorb.

But after kneading for a while, Ding Yuqin began to complain inwardly.

His muscles were way too hard. Her hands were already sore! On top of that, she was starving and had no strength left...

When Wang Tao felt Ding Yuqin's grip growing weaker and weaker, he spoke directly.

"Sister-in-law, you don't need to keep massaging it. It doesn't hurt anymore. It's about time to eat anyway. How about you have a meal before going back?"

"Okay!"

At the mention of food, Ding Yuqin's mind hadn't even caught up before her mouth agreed.

But perhaps realizing how embarrassing that looked, she quickly added, "Ahem, I've got nothing to do at home anyway, so I can help you out! Big men like you probably don't cook much, right? I'm actually pretty good at cooking..."

Wang Tao suddenly noticed that Ding Yuqin's Health Bar had actually increased.

+1

+1

...

Sure enough, Ding Yuqin's Health Bar wasn't low solely because of hunger. Fright, a lack of security, and other factors were also involved.

"Fine, then I'll trouble you, Sister-in-law."

An extra person meant an extra pair of hands, so Wang Tao didn't refuse. Besides, he really wasn't good at cooking. His standard was simply that it had to be cooked through.

He had just taken some less-than-fresh vegetables from Apartment 301. They had already been sitting around for several days and would spoil if left any longer. He might as well treat Ding Yuqin to a meal. Brother Zhao had asked him to look after Sister-in-law, after all.

Men and women working together made the work less tiring.

It didn't take long for a fairly sumptuous lunch to be prepared.

Looking at the four dishes and one soup covering the table, Ding Yuqin swallowed again.

Five days. It had been five whole days! She hadn't eaten a proper meal in five days! She didn't even know how she had endured it.

As she stared at the food on the table, tears suddenly blurred her vision. Only those who had experienced hunger could understand how precious food was.

"Sister-in-law, what's wrong?"

Wang Tao found it strange when he saw Ding Yuqin suddenly cover her mouth and cry.

Had Sister-in-law misunderstood and thought he had prepared all this especially for her? Was she too moved? Then she was probably overthinking it.

"No, I'm fine. Sorry you had to see that..."

Ding Yuqin hurriedly wiped away her tears. Even while wiping her eyes, her other eye never left the food. She was afraid this was a dream, and that if she closed her eyes, everything would disappear.

Seeing Wang Tao washing his hands, she quickly washed the bowls and chopsticks, set them neatly on the table, then stood to one side and waited for Wang Tao to sit first.

"Sit down. No need to be polite."

Only after Wang Tao sat down did she take her seat. Holding a small bowl heaped with rice and feeling its warmth in her hands, she nearly cried again.

"Oh, right. I'd suggest that you don't eat too much all at once, Sister-in-law."

Wang Tao suddenly said.

"Mhm, I understand!"

Ding Yuqin nodded hurriedly. She understood as well that if someone had been hungry for too long, eating too much at once could be too much for the body to handle.

She carefully picked up a little green vegetable and put it in her mouth. The moment she bit down, she was overwhelmed with happiness! Though the vegetables had wilted long ago, she felt they were the most Delicious Food she had ever eaten in her life. "Mm? This tastes really good!"

Wang Tao was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Sister-in-law's cooking to actually be this good.

As he ate, he observed her. He noticed that as Ding Yuqin began using her chopsticks, her green Health Bar also slowly started rising.

+1

+1

+1

...

And it had to be said that Ding Yuqin was someone who could restrain her desires. Wang Tao could tell that she wanted nothing more than to devour all the food, but she still tried to eat slowly, even though her table manners weren't exactly elegant.

After eating for a while, Ding Yuqin felt strength gradually returning to her body, and only then did she have the chance to secretly look at Wang Tao.

No wonder Wang Tao was so big and muscular—he could really eat! Wang Tao alone could finish half of this whole table of food...

But it was only then that she realized how awful her own eating manners looked.

To avoid the awkwardness, she lightly wiped her mouth and took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Sigh, Wang Tao, you have no idea how unlucky Sister-in-law has been. Good thing we're neighbors..."

After Ding Yuqin explained, Wang Tao finally understood why she had been starving so badly.

Simply put, she and her Husband had returned to their hometown last month. They had originally planned to stay there for a month, so they had cleared out all the food in their home beforehand.

But her Husband suddenly had something to take care of, so they came back early.

When the two returned home, there was no food at all. But they didn't care much at the time. They made do by eating at restaurants outside, planning to go grocery shopping together once her Husband wasn't busy.

The next day, she slept in. When she woke up, the virus had already broken out.

In other words, even if other households had little food, they could at least hold out for a few days.

But what about her? There hadn't been a single grain of rice in her home. If she hadn't previously bought some snacks, along with the bag of bread Wang Tao had given her, she might really have starved to death...