Chapter 11 – The Starving Pigs

The military guesthouse was located not far from the family housing compound and was used to accommodate family members visiting soldiers.

Lu Fengnian brought Liu Shuning and Ruibao to the guesthouse, opened a room for them, and left shortly after.

That night, he would be sleeping in his old dorm. He hadn’t officially moved yet, so his bed space was still available.

After he left, the guesthouse staff gathered together and started whispering.

“Auntie Wang, wasn’t that Deputy Battalion Commander Lu from the 3rd Battalion who just checked in? I heard he recently went to get married. That must’ve been his wife with him just now. But they just got married, so how do they already have a two- or three-year-old kid? Could his wife be divorced and remarried?”

“Chunmei, don’t talk nonsense. Just from her demeanor, Deputy Battalion Commander Lu’s wife is clearly an unmarried young lady. That kid is probably her nephew, and she married Lu while bringing him along. There were so many girls who liked him, and he picked someone with a kid…” Auntie Wang sighed. What a pity—she had been planning to introduce her niece to him!

“No way, why would she take care of her brother’s kid? Don’t tell me she’s an orphan?”

“Maybe. Alright, stop gossiping and get back to work! I still have to clean the third floor!”

Liu Shuning had no idea that just bringing a child had sparked so many rumors. She was more than willing to help take care of Ruibao. After all, if she registered as his temporary guardian, she’d also gain three extra sign-in points as rewards.

Inside the room, Liu Shuning was unpacking her things while Ruibao crawled around on the bed. Whether it was because he had truly started thinking of Liu Shuning as his mother, or he was just naturally brave, he didn’t cry or fuss even in an unfamiliar place.

After playing for a while, Ruibao got bored. He rubbed his stomach and crawled over to Liu Shuning. “Mama, baby’s hungry. Want food.”

Seeing the sky outside grow dark, Liu Shuning thought it might not be convenient to go out and look for food. The guesthouse probably had a canteen.

She smiled at him and said, “Good boy. Mama will go ask if we can eat here, I’ll be right back.”

“Mama, I’ll go too.”

“Alright, let’s go together.”

Liu Shuning carried him downstairs and happened to run into Auntie Wang.

Auntie Wang greeted her warmly, “Miss, do you need anything?”

Liu Shuning smiled politely, “Auntie, where can I get food nearby? The child is hungry.”

“You’ll need to go to the military canteen. Let me show you the way.” Auntie Wang pointed out the direction.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

Just as Liu Shuning was about to go upstairs to get her food container, she saw Lu Fengnian coming over with a lunch box.

“Wife, why did you come downstairs? Let’s go eat quickly.”

“I thought you had gone back to the dorm. Ruibao and I were just about to go buy food from the canteen.”

“I was worried about you two, so I came back. You’re new here—I figured you might feel awkward going to the canteen alone, so I brought food for you.”

Liu Shuning felt a wave of warmth. She hadn’t expected Lu Fengnian to be so considerate. “Thank you, that’s really kind of you.”

Lu Fengnian smiled. “It’s nothing. Come on, let’s go upstairs—the food’s getting cold.”

The three of them returned to the room. Lu Fengnian opened the lunch box. The delicious aroma of vegetables, tofu, and braised pork wafted through the air.

Ruibao’s eyes lit up at the sight of the food. He clapped his little hands and shouted, “Eat food! Eat food!”

Liu Shuning sat on the edge of the bed with him in her arms. Lu Fengnian sat nearby.

She spoon-fed Ruibao, who devoured the food hungrily and finished half a bowl in no time.

Watching Liu Shuning and Ruibao, Lu Fengnian felt a warm sense of contentment. After the meal, he helped her tidy up.

“You and Ruibao should rest early tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll borrow a car from logistics and take you to the nearby county town. We can stroll around and buy some necessities.” He might be sent on a mission soon, so he wanted to make arrangements for his wife before he left.

Liu Shuning nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll come find you in the morning,” he said before leaving to return to his dorm.

After Lu Fengnian left, Liu Shuning washed up Ruibao and coaxed him to sleep. She lay on the bed herself, thinking about everything that had happened that day, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, she was awakened by the cold.

Harbin was freezing—even though it was only late September, the temperature was already biting cold. In another two months, the mountains would probably be sealed off by snow.

“Sign in,” she said. She had learned her lesson: first thing in the morning was sign-in time.

[Sign-in successful. Host has received: 1 set of furniture, 100 honeycomb briquettes, and 1 ton of firewood.]

Everything she got today was practical—and in the northeast, these were winter essentials!

What she was most pleased about was the furniture set. It included a table, chairs, wooden bed frames, bunk beds, a wardrobe, dressing table, sofa, coffee table, and cabinets.

The house they’d been assigned lacked everything. Once the renovations were done, she could ask Lu Fengnian to help borrow a car so she could “pretend” she bought these from town.

With the honeycomb briquettes, she could buy a coal stove—perfect for boiling water or heating up food in winter.

[Host, if you don’t feed the pigs soon, they’re going to starve to death.]

The system never failed to ruin the mood, always appearing just when she was feeling pleased.

She hadn’t been able to enter the space while on the train, so she’d only been tossing in raw sweet potatoes to feed the pigs. While only a week had passed outside, seventy days had gone by in the space.

The sweet potatoes and greens she had harvested from the Liu family’s estate were long gone. Looking at the two emaciated pigs inside her space, Liu Shuning couldn’t even bear to look them in the eye.

She checked on Ruibao, who was still asleep, then quickly rushed to the bathroom and locked the door to enter the farm space.

The farmland inside was still barren. The all-purpose hoe still lay where she had last put it.

The large pot on the stove in the space kitchen was still in place. She grabbed the corn and potatoes from the stove, cooking up a huge pot of pig slop.

Once it was ready, she hurried to the pigsty to feed them. The two pigs, smelling the aroma, squealed and ran over, devouring the food with glee.

Even the chickens, ducks, and geese next door started clucking and quacking in protest. They didn’t want to keep eating dry corn kernels either.

After feeding the pigs, Liu Shuning looked around her farm space and realized she really needed to start planting things. If she didn’t, the pigs would soon have nothing left to eat. She couldn’t bear to use her precious reward seeds of sweet potatoes and potatoes to feed them.

She picked up the universal hoe and began tilling the soil.

It really was a great tool—within minutes, she had turned over a large patch of land.

She planted her system-rewarded sweet potato and potato seeds. But before she even covered two-fifths of the plot, she heard Ruibao calling “Mama” from outside.

She quickly exited the space, washed her hands, and stepped out of the bathroom.

Ruibao was awake and sitting on the bed rubbing his eyes.

“Good boy, Mama’s right here.” Liu Shuning walked over and picked him up.

Just then, Lu Fengnian’s voice came from outside: “Wife, open the door! I brought breakfast!”

Liu Shuning responded and went to open the door with Ruibao in her arms.