Getting along

With that, without waiting for Nan Shao to agree, he poured eight Corpse Crystals out of the black velvet pouch, stroked his son's little head, and went out.

Chapter 7: Getting along

The sun had already set, but the shack was still as stifling as a steamer. Zhang Ruiyang huddled in a corner, nibbling an apple like a little mouse. The crunching sounds actually gave Nan Shao a strange sense of peace.

"Uncle, here." Zhang Ruiyang gnawed off the apple skin, then bit off a large chunk of flesh and offered it to Nan Shao.

The pale yellow flesh was smeared with saliva, sweat, and black grime from the child's hands. Before today, no matter how hungry Nan Shao was, he probably would have thrown up in disgust. But now, looking into the child's clear, pure eyes, he felt that this piece of apple was more precious than any gift he had ever received.

"Thank you." He reached out to take the piece of apple, took a small bite, then fished the apple Zhang Yi had given him earlier out of his trouser pocket and placed it in Zhang Ruiyang's hands.

The child froze, a conflicted look appearing on his face as he remembered Grandma saying he mustn't casually accept things from other people.

"Grandma said I can't take it."

"But I ate your food," Nan Shao said, finding the little fellow rather amusing as he waved the remaining piece of apple in his hand.

"But Grandma..." Zhang Ruiyang instinctively turned around to seek Grandma's permission, but he didn't see that familiar figure. Only then did he remember that Grandma wasn't here. He turned back and firmly placed the apple in front of the handsome uncle. "Grandma will spank me when she comes back." At the thought of a spanking, the features on his grubby little face immediately scrunched together.

"Where did Grandma go?" Nan Shao was a little puzzled. When Zhang Yi had invited him to join them that morning, he hadn't mentioned an old lady.

"She went to get her sickies treated." Zhang Ruiyang knitted his brows, then added to himself, "She'll come back when she's better."

Nan Shao suddenly realized he had chosen a poor topic, so he quickly changed it, putting the apple back into Zhang Ruiyang's hands. "Then keep it for me. We'll eat it together later."

Zhang Ruiyang was instantly distracted. Looking at the apple back in his hands, he gave it some serious thought, then nodded. "All right. But I have to tell Daddy." With that, he stared at Nan Shao, waiting for his answer, looking very much as though he would return the apple if Nan Shao didn't agree.

Nan Shao laughed and reached out to ruffle the little head in front of him, thinking the child had quite a set of principles of his own.

Perhaps because they had shared food, Zhang Ruiyang, who had still been a little timid before, suddenly became much more affectionate. Instead of crouching back in the corner, he sat down beside Nan Shao.

So when Zhang Yi returned, he found the grown man and the little boy chatting away in all seriousness. He knew how lonely the little fellow was. Now that he finally had company, he was bound to be delighted, so Zhang Yi didn't say much. As for why he felt so at ease leaving him with Nan Shao, it wasn't because the man had once saved Yangyang. After all, people's hearts changed easily in the apocalypse. Rather, as long as there was still food to spare, no one would set their sights on a child unless they were utterly deranged. His years as a police officer hadn't been for nothing; he had his own way of judging people, and Nan Shao, at least for now, hadn't reached that point.

Eight Corpse Crystals bought three bottles of water and four mixed-grain bran cakes. Zhang Yi gave Nan Shao two bottles of water and two bran cakes. After all, the crystals were his.

"Don't throw the bottles away. Keep them to get water next time," he reminded him. Since this was Nan Shao's first time here, buying water with his newcomer certificate came with free bottles. Of course, the certificate had also been taken back, so next time he would need to bring his own containers.

Nan Shao paused at the sight of his two bottles of water before asking, "Do you have a basin?"

Zhang Yi didn't know what he wanted to do. He looked around, then finally pulled an aluminum soup basin out of a corner of the shack. Nan Shao unscrewed a bottle and poured a little less than half of it into the basin, then took Zhang Ruiyang's little hands and put them in to wash them. Although he wasn't disgusted, he couldn't stand the child being this filthy, especially when those little paws were used to pick up food.

Seeing this, Zhang Yi opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing. He felt a little ashamed, but father and son had only one bottle of water a day. How could they bear to waste it like this?

"Grandma said to wash my hands before eating, and after going poop too..." Zhang Ruiyang clearly enjoyed the feeling of touching water. He obediently held out his little hands for Nan Shao to wash, murmuring away. But when Nan Shao poured out the water, now muddy soup, and went to pour more from the bottle, he objected. "Uncle, one bottle of water costs two sparklies." Sometimes, when Zhang Yi obtained too few Corpse Crystals, he could only give up buying food and go hungry for a day to buy water. Zhang Ruiyang remembered all of it, which was why he drank water so sparingly.

"It's all right. There are more sparklies. When we run out of water, we'll go get more." Nan Shao glanced at Zhang Yi. In his view, as long as Corpse Crystals were spent where they ought to be, it wasn't wasteful. Besides, conserving water didn't hinge on saving a bottle or two. His previous team had included someone with a water ability, so he had never experienced the difficulty of obtaining water and couldn't stand being this frugal with it. Of course, that was only when circumstances allowed. If they didn't, he wouldn't meddle.

"Yangyang, listen to Uncle," Zhang Yi said, thinking that, at worst, he would just work a little harder. He could always earn it back.

Zhang Ruiyang pouted and said nothing more.

How clean could one bottle of water get him? He was only a little cleaner than before. Nan Shao was about to pour out the other two bottles as well so the three of them could wipe the sweat off their bodies, but Zhang Yi stopped him.

"It's too conspicuous. It'll bring trouble." Being cleaner than everyone else, going to buy water twice, buying three bottles at a time-any one of those things was enough to draw other people's attention. They weren't strong enough yet to handle the trouble that would follow, so it was best not to stand out too much.

Nan Shao could only give up. Having managed to sustain a vast family business before the apocalypse, he was certainly not someone who only knew how to spend money and insist on creature comforts.

"This water tastes a little strange. It wasn't made by a water ability user." Nan Shao unscrewed another bottle, took a sip, and frowned as he spoke. He had noticed it that morning, but it hadn't been a suitable time to ask about it then-not until he tasted that strange flavor again.