Zhou Ying looked at him, placing her trembling hand near his nose to gently check his breathing.

“Oh my god, that scared me to death! Thankfully, he’s not dead.”

Still shaken, Zhou Ying withdrew her hand and patted her chest with her jade-like hand. The bouncing motion was quite pronounced, a clear sign of her ample figure.

Then she lightly patted his face.

“Hey, hey, wake up. Are you okay?”

After patting him several times without any response, she grew anxious. He hadn’t been dead earlier, so he better not die here now!

Noticing his pale complexion, she recalled her own experience with low blood sugar and thought the symptoms seemed similar. She quickly rummaged around and found a packet of glucose powder in her bag on the table.

Seeing the electric kettle on the tea station maintaining a constant temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, she hurriedly poured some water into a cup and mixed in the glucose powder.

Once the glucose water was ready, she returned to Wang Qingsong’s side.

At this moment, Wang Qingsong was feeling faint and dizzy, aware that he was starving.

Suddenly, he heard a voice: “Hey, are you okay?”

Hearing the voice, he groggily opened his eyes.

A young woman was crouching nearby, looking at him with a wary expression.

She was wrapped in a white towel, which clung tightly to her slender waist and accentuated her graceful curves. Her smooth, long legs were straight and well-proportioned.

Her oval face and willow-leaf eyebrows gave her a delicate and refined appearance.

Is this… a fairy?

That was his first thought upon seeing Zhou Ying.

In all his life, he had never seen such a beautiful woman, not even in the city.

“Hey, are you okay? You must have low blood sugar. Here, drink some glucose water.”

Before he could speak, Zhou Ying brought the cup to his lips.

Without time to think, Wang Qingsong felt a sweet taste flood his mouth, satisfying his hunger and thirst.

“Gulp, gulp~”

There wasn’t much water, and he drank the glucose solution in one go.

Sweet, so sweet.

He had never tasted such sweet sugar water before.

In the village, after completing the annual planting quotas assigned by the authorities, they would receive a small amount of sugar ration tickets. Typically, each household would get about half a pound of sugar per year.

When they drank sugar water, it was only enough to barely taste the sweetness.

When was the last time he had sugar water?

Three years ago?

Snapping out of his thoughts, Wang Qingsong sat slumped on the floor in front of the sofa, looking around the room in confusion. “Where… where is this?”

Then he remembered something. Wasn’t he in the haunted house?

How did he end up here?

With trembling lips, he asked, “Are… are you a ghost? Am… am I dead?”

Children from poor families mature early, but after all, he was only in his teens. He didn’t want to die so young.

Seeing his panicked expression, Zhou Ying felt both annoyed and amused. “Hey, what are you talking about? You’re the one who’s dead! Wait, no, if you were dead, I’d be in trouble.”

Then she questioned him, “Kid, this is my house. How did you get in? Are you a thief?”

Hearing this, Wang Qingsong looked utterly bewildered. “I… I was in the haunted house, then I fell, and I don’t know how I ended up here.”

Zhou Ying looked at his expression and listened to his words.

She couldn’t help but shiver.

Living alone in this apartment, she was already a bit scared. Hearing this made her feel even more uneasy.

“Could this guy be mentally ill?”

Zhou Ying muttered to herself.

She clicked her tongue and moved to the nearby sofa, keeping her distance from him. “Whether you’re a thief or not, the police will figure it out. I’ve already called them. You can explain it to them yourself.”

Worried that Wang Qingsong might suddenly attack her, she avoided saying anything too provocative.

However, seeing how shabbily he was dressed, she thought he might be someone stranded in the community due to the lockdown.

A homeless person, perhaps.

It’s pitiful that someone so young is already a vagrant.

She silently sympathized with him.

Then she sat quietly, pretending to watch TV while keeping an eye on him, her knife still tightly gripped in her hand. She was also waiting for the community staff to arrive and take him away.

She considered kicking him out.

But sensing that his mental state seemed off, she didn’t dare to approach him.

Wang Qingsong shook his still-dizzy head, feeling uncomfortable. He closed his eyes and lay back on the floor, not daring to make any sudden movements.

“Brother Bear~ Look, there’s honey~~”

The sound from the TV made Wang Qingsong feel strange.

It sounded like the same voice he had heard in the “haunted house.”

But at this moment, he didn’t want to open his eyes.

After five or six minutes, when his heart felt less panicked, he sat up.

He began to take in his surroundings.

When he saw the furniture, Wang Qingsong was stunned.

“Is… is this the house of a big capitalist?”

“What big capitalist’s house? This is my rented apartment. As for why you’re here, I have no idea! I locked the door.”

Seeing his expression, Zhou Ying didn’t think he looked like a thief, so she asked him directly.

Wang Qingsong shook his head in confusion.

“I really don’t know.”

He genuinely had no idea.

Then he continued to look around the room.

It was beautiful, so beautiful. How rich must someone be to live in such a place?

And all those strange things in the room—he had no idea what they were.

An electric fan.

They sold those in the city, but they were rare and expensive, costing dozens of yuan each!

That’s one or two months’ salary for an ordinary worker!

Is that a glass cup?

So pretty.

It must be expensive!

And this lamp, so beautiful.

His gaze fell on the TV: Is… is that a television?

He had heard that in the city, there was a box called a television, with little people inside. Is this it?

Watching the talking Brother Bear and Brother Bear on the screen, he felt a strange fascination.

Is this a cartoon?

It’s so interesting.

Looking at all the strange and fascinating things in the room, he felt overwhelmed.

Then he turned his gaze to Zhou Ying, eventually landing on her long, fair legs and then her chest.

He quickly lowered his head.

He had heard that capitalist women dressed provocatively.

But for a man to be here, and for her to dress like this…

If the women in his village saw this, they’d tear her reputation to shreds.

She really has no shame.

Then he said, “Can… can you put on some clothes? There’s a man here.”

Zhou Ying had been keeping an eye on him the whole time. It was impossible not to feel scared.

But his behavior was strange.

Now, hearing him say this, she looked down at her outfit and realized it was indeed inappropriate. She had been too frightened earlier to care.

But in this day and age, was there still someone so shy and old-fashioned?

She suddenly found Wang Qingsong somewhat endearing.

After a moment’s thought, she got up and went into the inner room.