CH 100

Apr 24 2023

Xu Qing stomach had started to ache again, causing him to furrow his brows and sit carefully on the cotton blanket. He lay back for a while until the pain subsided a bit.

Once the throbbing subsided, Xu Qing stood up while supporting his stomach and walked towards the small hole that was letting in some light.

Xiao Bao raised his head to glance at Xu Qing before burying his head in his fur again.

As soon as Xu Qing reached the mouth of the hole, a gust of wind blew in, causing him to shiver. His clothes had gotten wet during their climb up the mountain, and the cold wind made him feel even chillier.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

He crouched down and looked outside the hole, where he saw a two-meter-high rocky slope surrounded by large trees. There didn’t seem to be any dangerous things around, but Xu Qing still extended his head to take a closer look, just in case he missed something.

Raindrops fell on Xu Qing’s face, causing a chilling sensation to spread through him.

Once he saw that there was nothing dangerous around, Xu Qing pulled his head back and returned to the side of Xiao Bao, who was curled up in a ball.

Seeing that it was already getting late, Xu Qing dragged his tired body to the space and took some firewood out to light up for warmth.

The dim firelight cast a unique atmosphere in the cave. If it weren’t for the wrong time and place, Xu Qing would almost feel like he was spending a very romantic day.

He placed a not-so-large iron pot on the matchstick and fetched some water, pouring it into the pot before scooping a bowl of white rice, which was one of the supplies he gathered back in the apocalypse world, and then simmered it in the pot.

As Xu Qing looked at the pot on the fire, his thoughts wandered. He had previously thought about when he and Li Changfeng would take out the rice and pork from the space to eat under bright daylight, but he did not expect it to be him and the child.

The air was filled with the long-lost fragrance of rice porridge.

Unconsciously, Xu Qing swallowed, scooped a bowl of porridge, and walked to the side of Tuan Tuan, who was sleeping inside the quilt.

“Tuan Tuan, come and eat something.”

Xu Qing gently shook Tuan Tuan, who had a flushed face and opened his eyes to look at him, “Ama.”

“Be good, eat something before sleeping.”

Tuan Tuan ate a little and didn’t want to eat anymore. He turned his head and lay on the cotton quilt, falling asleep again in no time.

After Xu Qing finished his meal, he fed some to the donkey and Xiao Bao outside, tidied up, and slept while holding Tuan Tuan across the fire pit. However, in the middle of the night, Xu Qing was awakened by Tuan Tuan’s whimpering, and he felt that Tuan Tuan had a fever when he touched him.

Xu Qing was startled and quickly lit up the remaining firewood, added some more firewood and checked on Tuan Tuan. He felt Tuan Tuan’s forehead and confirmed that he had a fever.

After giving Tuan Tuan a small sip of spiritual spring water from the bottle, he put him back in the blanket. Tuan Tuan was young and couldn’t drink too much of the spiritual spring. Besides, while spiritual spring could repair the body and promote healing, it wasn’t a cure-all.

Suddenly, Xu Qing remembered that he had planted some herbs in the space that were good for treating colds.

He quickly picked some and prepared a herbal soup. After Tuan Tuan drank it, Xu Qing stayed up with him all night until the fever went down at dawn. He finally relaxed his mind and body when Tuan Tuan fell asleep. He was so tired that he lay down to sleep for a while.

Xu Qing stayed in the cave with Tuan Tuan for three days. During that time, Tuan Tuan’s health had improved, but Xu Qing’s condition was not so good.

He caught a cold that day, but being pregnant, he dared not take any medicine for treating colds. Drinking spiritual spring didn’t help at all. He felt dizzy, and his stomach was aching, but he had to hold on. If anything happened to him, the baby in his belly and Tuan Tuan would be in trouble.

“Ama, go to sleep,” Tuan Tuan reached out and touched Xu Qing’s haggard face.

Xu Qing smiled and shook his head.

“Ama isn’t sleepy. Be good, don’t get too close to me in case you catch a cold,” he was afraid of passing on his cold to Tuan Tuan.

Tuan Tuan obediently sat by the side and stretched out his little hand to warm it by the fire. After a while, Tuan Tuan suddenly looked towards the small hole and stood up to take a look.

“The rain is gone! Ama! Tuan Tuan can go out and play now!” Tuan Tuan’s face was full of excitement as he turned to call out to Xu Qing.

However, Xu Qing lay on the quilt and didn’t answer him. When Tuan Tuan saw that Xu Qing didn’t respond, he walked over to his side and saw that Xu Qing’s eyes were tightly closed and his face was pale.

Tuan Tuan smiled, touched Xu Qing’s slightly cold cheek, and said, “Ama is sleeping, Tuan Tuan will go out and play.”

With that, he stood up and walked towards the entrance of the cave. Xiao Bao, who was guarding the narrow passage outside, heard the sound of Tuan Tuan’s footsteps and immediately stood up. Tuan Tuan hugged him and said, “Xiao Bao! Let’s play!”

With that, he walked out of the cave with his short legs. It had been more than half a month since the rain, and Tuan Tuan was eager to go out and play. Xiao Bao looked back at the cave where Xu Qing was, then looked at Tuan Tuan’s back and decided to follow him.

The lame donkey was left lying at the entrance of the cave.

****

Li Changfeng was about to go crazy.

The heavy rain had stopped, and they were sent back to the village. Li Changfeng almost ran back home, but what he saw in front of him was a scene that almost drove him to despair.

His and Xu Qing’s home was gone. A huge boulder had landed right on top of their room. If Xu Qing had been inside at that time…

Li Changfeng slapped himself hard and frantically started digging with his hands. He would dig out the stones no matter what. He didn’t believe that Xu Qing had left him like this! He didn’t believe it!

Stones were stones, and hands were flesh and blood. How could they win? Not long after, Li Changfeng’s hands were covered in blood, but he didn’t stop. He just kept moving the stones with his head down…

The rain had stopped in the early morning. Xie Ama and Uncle Xie had a reunion dinner with the Lin family in the town and didn’t return to the village until the afternoon.

When they arrived in the village, the village head had already brought back the villagers who had gone to escape the flood. The men waiting in the village rushed up to embrace their families.

Li Changfeng had returned early and had run straight back home from the road at the edge of the village. He had no idea that there was no one left in the village, nor did he notice the damage caused by the falling rocks.

So naturally, he didn’t think about whether Xu Qing had gone with the village head to take refuge.

On the other hand, Xie Ama thought that Xu Qing had left with the village head and other villagers.

So when Xie Ama eagerly wanted to hug Tuan Tuan and see Xu Qing, he searched through the crowd but couldn’t find them.

“Xie Ama…”

Second Wei’s wife and Second Wei walked up to Xie Ama.

“Good, good, it’s good that nothing happened!” Xie Ama saw that although Second Wei’s wife’s complexion was not good, he was fine.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

“By the way, where is Ah Qing and the child? Haven’t seen him yet. And also Changfeng, have they already gone home?” Xie Ama thought again, something was not right. When they returned, village head and the others had just arrived.

“I don’t know. As soon as we were released, Changfeng ran away. According to reason, he should have been home already,” Second Wei said.

Second Wei’s wife immediately turned red-eyed and started crying. “A Qing, Ah Qing is gone…”

“What?! What do you mean he’s gone? What does that mean?!” Xie Ama, Uncle Xie, and even Second Wei exclaimed in shock!

“It’s my fault,” Village head walked up to them with a sigh, followed by Xia Feng.

“What do you mean?” Xie Ama was unusually calm, which surprised Uncle Xie who knew him well.

“It’s my fault for not thinking things through. I…,” Village head didn’t even finish his sentence when Xie Ama grabbed his neck. Uncle Xie and the others hurriedly pulled them apart.

“Do you have the face to say that? Do you have the face? Aren’t you responsible for Ah Qing’s child in his belly and the adorable Tuan Tuan? Aren’t you responsible?” Xie Ama’s tears also flowed down.

It was his fault. If he could have taken Xu Qing away, this wouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have listened to Xu Qing and left him behind, especially when he had been warned of an impending disaster during the New Year.

Xie Ama grabbed Uncle Xie’s hand and cried silently. Uncle Xie hugged him tightly and said, “Let it out…”

Xie Ama bit Uncle Xie’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

The villagers around them all felt a sense of relief at the reunion with their loved ones, but they also felt a sense of sadness when they looked at the destroyed village and the neighbors who were crying because they lost their loved ones.

Village head rubbed his throat and came back to his senses without being angry.

“Let’s go to the mountain and take a look. Li Changfeng might be there.”

Uncle Xie immediately patted Xie Ama when he heard it.

“Let’s go, let’s check on Changfeng in case he ran into some trouble…”

Xie Ama immediately pushed Uncle Xie away and scolded him harshly. “Bah! What are you talking about? Changfeng will be fine, and nothing will happen to Tuan Tuan and Ah Qing!”

“Yes, yes, let’s go check on him.” Uncle Xie quickly agreed.

“We’ll go with you to help out.”

“Right, let’s go.”

The villagers who didn’t have anything urgent at home followed towards Xu’s house.

“Changfeng! Stop it! Are you trying to kill yourself?!”

Second Wei ran the fastest and was in the front. As soon as he entered Xu’s courtyard, he saw Li Changfeng, whose hands were bleeding, still digging at the stones without stopping.

“Get out of the way!”

Li Changfeng, with his eyes red, pushed away Second Wei, who was trying to hold him back.

“Changfeng…”

Xie Ama trembled as he looked at Li Changfeng’s crazy appearance and the bloodstains all over his body.

Ignoring everyone else, Li Changfeng stumbled and bent down to continue digging.

“Quick, brothers, let’s help!”

With Second Wei’s shout, the villagers behind them joined in, but Li Changfeng still moved the stones on the roof expressionlessly.

“My wife, you can’t have any accidents. Don’t leave me behind. But don’t be afraid either. I will come to accompany you and our child.”

Thingyan: I can’t imagine the despair our ML is feeling :'(