In the past, Luo Cheng wasn’t popular with women. He had acne during high school, wasn’t as tall as he is now, and his academic performance was average.

Later, he attended a technical school, majoring in driving and vehicle repair. Not only was there no girl in his class, but there were no girls in the entire school pursuing this field. So, Luo Cheng had always longed for interaction with the opposite sex. Even though the two girls he met now were not particularly attractive, Luo Cheng was still quite enthusiastic.

The older one was named Qin Xiaoli, and the younger one was her cousin, Qin Lan. Qin Lan lived in a village near Longyang Town, so Qin Xiaoli asked Luo Cheng to escort her cousin back home. She wouldn’t accompany them because she lived in the city, having married out of the village years ago.

To be honest, Qin Xiaoli’s request made Luo Cheng feel a little awkward. The problem was that, in these times, there were no vehicles, and people had to rely on their legs to travel. But men always have that damn self-esteem, and under Qin Xiaoli’s eager request, he still agreed.

The bus wasn’t full, and they had to wait for quite a while before it finally started. Luo Cheng didn’t understand the situation and didn’t know what “1961” meant. This was just a trip from the city to the county town and village. If they were returning, there would be even fewer passengers.

The fare was a few cents, which not everyone could afford, especially in the rural areas. That amount could buy several pounds of cornmeal.

Before leaving, Qin Xiaoli reminded Qin Lan repeatedly, especially about her small backpack. She warned her to be careful with it, which piqued Luo Cheng’s curiosity.

“Comrade Qin Lan, what’s in your bag? It looks so mysterious.”

On the bus, Luo Cheng, feeling bored, couldn’t help but ask as he saw Qin Lan tightly clutching her backpack. Of course, the special term “Comrade” was added, which was common in that era.

Qin Lan immediately became nervous. If Luo Cheng hadn’t been wearing a military uniform, she would have been more cautious. Qin Xiaoli had asked Luo Cheng to help because he was wearing military clothes; otherwise, it would have been unthinkable to trust a stranger with such a task.

Qin Lan glanced around the car to see if anyone was paying attention. Seeing no one, she felt a little more at ease. After all, Luo Cheng was a soldier. If he had ill intentions, no one would be able to stop him. So, quietly, she opened her bag just a little and whispered to Luo Cheng.

“It’s cornmeal. My cousin is helping my family.”

Cornmeal. Luo Cheng’s eyes lit up as he took a small handful from Qin Lan’s bag to examine it. This was the famous cornmeal. Though cornmeal still existed in the future, it was very different from the cornmeal of that time.

It was rough, with large grains and lots of impurities, and its color wasn’t like the fine yellow cornmeal that would appear later. The cornmeal of the future was considered a high-quality grain and was even sold more expensively than regular flour.

“Is this stuff tasty?” Luo Cheng asked. He had never eaten it and was curious. Qin Lan nodded seriously. This was life-saving food. How could food like that not be delicious?

The two-hour ride seemed much longer in these times. In the future, this distance would take about an hour, but now, with the condition of the roads and the car itself, it took much longer.

The car stopped at a dirt road intersection. Luo Cheng and a few other passengers got off. This intersection led to several places. Apart from Luo Cheng and Qin Lan, no one else was heading to Longyang Town.

They didn’t have phones or watches to check the time, but Luo Cheng was hungry. When he got off the train, it was actually almost ten o’clock in the morning. There was a wall clock at the train station. He roughly calculated the time and it must have been past twelve o’clock.

Luckily, the season had changed. In the future, it would have been late May, around graduation time, but now it was autumn, the season for soldiers to return home in November. This worked out well for Luo Cheng; if it had been summer, carrying a quilt and belongings would have been unbearable due to the heat.

However, even in November, it was still quite hot by midday. With both hunger and heat, Luo Cheng couldn’t take it anymore. He knew that the new sign-in wouldn’t be available until midnight, and there was nothing to eat in the system, though he still had water in his bottle.

His stomach growled. He couldn’t eat sunflower seeds, but a bag of peanuts would be nice—hopefully it is five-spice flavor or salted. He wasn’t used to creamy or sweet flavors. Alternatively, there was instant noodles, but he didn’t have hot water.

No matter what, dry instant noodles were better than eating somewhat stale steamed buns.

“Comrade Qin Lan, are you hungry? Do you have anything to eat?” Luo Cheng stopped and took a sip of water from his bottle before asking.

Qin Lan felt embarrassed. In these days, no one was without hunger. She hadn’t had a proper meal in a while. Apart from the cornmeal in her backpack, she didn’t have any other food. She had planned to skip lunch and just eat the cornmeal when she arrived home in the evening.

But now, Luo Cheng had offered to escort her home. She felt bad for not having anything to offer him in return. She reluctantly shook her head and looked at his water bottle. Unable to resist, she softly asked, “Comrade Luo Cheng, may I drink some of your water?”

Looking closely, Qin Lan was very thin, with skin that was yellowish, but she wasn’t unattractive. Luo Cheng felt a little awkward, since the water bottle had been in his mouth, but he didn’t want to refuse.

“Here, I have a bottle of water here. I’ll give it to you.”

Luo Cheng reached into his backpack and took out the bottle of mineral water without any label.

The water was in a plastic bottle, which was really pretty, she had never seen it before. So Qin Lan didn’t dare to drink the water.

Seeing Qin Lan hesitate, Luo Cheng assumed she was just being polite. He unscrewed the bottle cap and offered it to her. Then, he pulled out a container of instant noodles. It was a travel-sized pack of noodles, a part of the train meal set. The noodles were packaged in a round tub, so he didn’t need a bowl to eat.

The noodles didn’t have any labels, no manufacturing details or expiration date. Luo Cheng opened the tub and broke the noodles in half, spilling some crumbs and a little bit that fell to the ground.

Qin Lan saw the crumbs and was so distressed that she could hardly breathe. How could he be so careless? Those were food, precious food.

“I’ll use the container. You can eat with your hands,” Luo Cheng said.

“No, really, you don’t have to. I’m not hungry.” Qin Lan was scared to eat the fine noodles. She was afraid of accepting such a luxury. But though she said she wasn’t hungry, her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.

In the end, Luo Cheng smiled and forced the noodles into her hands. He continued eating his own while drinking from his water bottle.

“You’re going to eat the noodles without cooking them?” Qin Lan asked, still unsure about how to eat the raw noodles.