After waiting for an hour or two, the sky outside had completely darkened, and the people downstairs finally returned.

At this moment, the fat man and the thin man were muttering to each other: “Strange, why didn’t this kid get a nucleic acid test? The checker just said everyone did it!”

The thin man shook his head: “Who knows! Didn’t they say that households with special patients don’t need to come down for the test? Maybe he wasn’t registered in the first place. Whatever, let’s not worry about it!”

Hearing this, the fat man nodded in agreement.

Just as they were about to urge people to return to their buildings, they saw Wang Qingsong disappear into the stairwell.

…

Wang Qingsong returned to the door of Room 301 and sat there, lost in thought.

He kept wondering what was going on.

But no matter how hard he racked his brain, he absolutely couldn’t figure out where he had ended up.

Time passed bit by bit.

“Gurgle~~”

A strong sense of hunger hit him, making his stomach growl incessantly.

Zhou Ying stood at the door, peeking through the peephole to see what was happening outside.

When she saw Wang Qingsong’s confused expression, she felt a pang of pity.

After thinking for a moment, she took out her phone and posted the photos she had taken earlier in the group chat, asking:

“Whose child is lost? He’s at the door of Room 301. Come and take him back.”

Since everyone was bored during the lockdown, the replies started pouring in immediately.

“Not from Room 102.”

“Not from Room 201…”

…

Zhou Ying looked at the messages in the group. The building had six floors, with two units per floor, totaling 12 households.

However, there were many people sharing apartments, and some rooms were even partitioned, housing multiple families.

There were quite a few duplicates.

She checked the room numbers.

Only two households hadn’t replied, including her own, which meant only Room 601 hadn’t responded.

After thinking for a moment, she tagged the two residents of Room 601.

“Not from Room 601!”

A reply came shortly after.

Looking at the messages, Zhou Ying felt puzzled.

None of them?
The building had been locked down for over ten days. It was impossible for someone to sneak in. He must be a resident here.

But why wasn’t anyone claiming him?
Did they not want him anymore?

That couldn’t be.

This wasn’t like the old days. Abandoning a child could land you in jail.

After some thought, she went to the door and peeked through the peephole again.

When she saw Wang Qingsong clutching his stomach, she remembered that he seemed to have had low blood sugar earlier.

She went back to the kitchen and found a bundle of dried noodles. She had over a dozen bundles of these, but she didn’t particularly like them.

She boiled some water and cooked a bowl of noodles.

She added a bit of salt, chicken bouillon, and scallions. After some thought, she cracked an egg into it.

Carrying the bowl of noodles, she went to the door.

She gently opened the door and, seeing Wang Qingsong standing up, quickly said, “Don’t move. This is for you to eat. When you’re done, just leave the bowl by the door.”

“Click!”

With that, she closed the door.

Wang Qingsong had calmed down by now. He just wanted to ask where this place was.

But she didn’t give him the chance.

Looking at the bowl of noodles by the door, he swallowed hard.

So white?
Is this dumpling flour?
In the past, the city sold white flour and “Fuqiang” flour (with extraction rates of 85% and 70%, respectively).

Dumpling flour was Fuqiang flour.

Since the food crisis, the city no longer sold white flour or Fuqiang flour. All that was available was gray flour.

This was flour ground with the wheat bran, giving it a grayish color, hence the name gray flour.

How could someone still afford to eat dumpling flour now, and even have eggs? What kind of family was this?
How high-ranking must they be?
He swallowed hard again.

Picking up the bowl, he blew on it and started eating hungrily.

So delicious~
It was the most delicious noodles he had ever eaten in his life.

“Ha! Ha!”

The noodles were a bit hot in his mouth. He blew on them, and once they cooled a little, he swallowed them down.

Zhou Ying watched him eat through the peephole.

Seeing him wolf down the noodles, she muttered, “How long has it been since he last ate? He’s starving. Honestly, watching him eat like this is making me hungry too!”

She then went to the kitchen, cooked a pack of instant noodles, and added an egg to it.

It wasn’t that she didn’t have other food.

But at times like these, instant noodles just hit the spot.

When the lockdown first started, things were chaotic, and food was scarce. But now, after being locked down for so long, group buying was available, and her household wasn’t really short on food.

She had even gained some weight.

After finishing her meal, she went back to the peephole to check.

Wang Qingsong was sitting there, lost in thought again.
After some consideration, she put on a mask and opened the door.

Seeing Wang Qingsong stand up again, she quickly said, “Don’t move. I’ll get the bowl.”

But then she thought of something. The rooftop was habitable. Could this guy be living up there?
She turned her head and asked, “Don’t you have a place to cook?”

No one in the building recognized him. He must be a homeless person who hadn’t been registered.

Wang Qingsong thought for a moment. Since he was about to split from his family, he definitely couldn’t go home to cook. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to buy a clay pot from the commune.

So, by a twist of fate, he said, “Not for now, but I’ll have one tomorrow. Though I’ll need to get back home first.”

“Oh!”

Zhou Ying acknowledged and closed the door.

Leaving Wang Qingsong bewildered.

He could only return to his spot and sit down again.

After about ten minutes, the door opened again, and a plastic bag was handed out.

Zhou Ying looked at him and said, “There’s some noodles in here. I don’t eat them much, so you can have them. There are also a few eggs.”

With that, she closed the door again.

Wang Qingsong walked over, picked up the bag, and looked through it.

“Is this noodles?”

Inside were five large bundles of egg noodles, each weighing about two pounds.

Seeing this, he thought of the noodles he had just eaten. They seemed similar, with some thin noodles as well.

He rummaged through the bag and found eight eggs and two strange packets.

He recognized the salt.

Then he picked up a yellow packet and examined it.

“Totole chicken bouillon?”
He had heard of monosodium glutamate in the city, but what was this Totole chicken bouillon?

Zhou Ying watched from inside, smiling as she withdrew her pretty face and went back to her room to scroll through TikTok.

September 16, 2022.

Seeing the printed date, Wang Qingsong froze.

2022?
What year is this?

Shouldn’t it be 1962?
It was still the lunar year of 1961, and the New Year hadn’t passed yet, but the calendar already showed 1962.

But 2022 was way off!
He felt a slight sense of unease.

He hurriedly knocked on Zhou Ying’s door.

“Knock, knock, knock~~”

The urgent sound echoed in the stairwell.

Soon, Zhou Ying came out with an annoyed expression, opening the door just a crack and asking warily, “What do you want?”

Wang Qingsong asked anxiously, “What’s going on with this date saying 2022? Isn’t this year 1962?”