Chapter 135: Your Punishment Is to Clean the Toilets for a Week!

You Zhizhen couldn’t help but think in this direction.

She’d thought she was here to starve.

For scavengers, finding food was all up to fate.

But now, just from moving some rocks, she was being fed—if she told anyone, they’d think it was unbelievable.

The old lady next to her gave You Zhizhen a look, as if she were a country bumpkin.

But in the end, the old lady said nothing.

It was best not to go around blabbing about things like this.

If she brought trouble to Yue Bai, not only would she be scolded to death, but she’d also end up going hungry again.

Was there any need to explain?

Believe it or not, it’s up to you.

You Zhizhen wanted to ask more, but no one answered her. Everyone was busy digging out the rocks blocking the underground shops.

Pang Zhenggong had cleared a narrow, winding path, so they could walk down from the underground shopping street, bypass the drainage ditch, and reach the second wall.

All the rocks cleared from the shopping street were transported here to be used as building materials for the second wall.

It was a bit of a trek, much less convenient than just tossing the rocks aside.

But with this plan, the area covered by Shi Yuebai’s spirit-gathering array looked much tidier.

It also made it easier to build the ditch and the second wall.

After moving rocks all morning, before You Zhizhen even got truly hungry, Pang Zhenggong’s voice came from above, telling everyone to go eat.

So You Zhizhen followed the group back from the construction site.

It wasn’t far, but she felt strangely light-headed, almost dazed.

How long had it been? Half a day? Four hours at most?

And now they were eating?

She was nervous, mentally preparing herself the whole way.

If it turned out to be cannibalism, she’d rather follow Zhang Xueyao to the city gate and sell herself.

She just couldn’t get past that psychological hurdle.

But after following the group around the second wall, You Zhizhen was shocked once again.

She felt like she’d stepped into some kind of fairyland.

Everything before her was clearly wasteland style, but the manually dug ditch was filled with rolling white steam.

The mist even spilled over to their feet.

On the other side of the ditch, in a square enclosure, even more ethereal white smoke drifted.

People walking through the mist made it swirl and flow.

You Zhizhen stared in amazement at Da Jiao, who was squatting in front of a huge pot.

Da Jiao turned around, her face as lovely as a lotus, eyes bright as stars.

She smiled at everyone, truly a beauty whose smile could topple a city.

“Line up for your bowls and chopsticks!”

Today, Da Jiao was the cook. She’d made a huge pot of mushroom soup, sprinkled with chopped scallions.

Xu Xuejiao handed out bowls and chopsticks to everyone in line.

“One person gets two packs of wasabi-flavored crackers and a bowl of mushroom soup. After you eat, you can rest for two hours. Work resumes on time after that.”

“If you’re not feeling well, you can skip the afternoon shift after eating, but you won’t get dinner.”

You Zhizhen kept her head down, staring at the soup in her bowl.

She tried to see if she could spot a fingernail, a hair, or something suspicious.

But to her disappointment, there was nothing but scallions and mushrooms.

Mushrooms?

Scallions?

Huh? Huh? Huh?

You Zhizhen’s eyes went wide.

What was this? She seemed to recognize everything, and yet nothing at all.

“What are you staring at? It’s not going to turn into a flower.”

Someone next to her urged,

“Hurry up and eat, then go rest. We still have to move rocks later.”

For the elderly, pregnant women, and disabled kids, this was already tough work.

But You Zhizhen didn’t think it was hard at all.

With just a few rocks, she could finish even without dinner.

With mixed feelings, You Zhizhen took a sip of the soup.

It was delicious.

Suddenly, she felt like crying.

Just for this one mouthful of soup, she wouldn’t regret anything that happened next.

But even after she finished the soup and ate the two packs of wasabi crackers,

nothing bad happened.

Human imagination had reached its limits.

You Zhizhen just couldn’t understand—why was this Shi Yuebai doing all this?

If there was some huge conspiracy, why go to such lengths?

It was mushroom soup, after all.

“What’s with that look? Still not full?”

Da Jiao stood in front of You Zhizhen, her face sweet and innocent, tilting her head at her.

With Da Jiao’s simple mind, she couldn’t understand You Zhizhen’s complicated feelings.

“Here, have some more.”

Da Jiao ladled another big scoop of mushroom soup into You Zhizhen’s bowl.

She explained seriously, “There aren’t any more crackers. Everyone gets the same amount, Auntie.”

“But you can have as much mushroom soup as you want.”

It didn’t even take a whole mushroom to make such a big pot of soup.

So it was always enough to fill you up.

You Zhizhen’s eyes stung. She buried her face in the disposable bowl and shook her head.

Then she gulped down the soup in big mouthfuls.

Da Jiao, being a bit simple, had just learned to say a few sentences. Seeing You Zhizhen on the verge of tears as she finished her soup,

she gave her another bowl. “Auntie, the soup will fill you up.”

You Zhizhen drank as fast as she could, and Da Jiao kept refilling her bowl.

Until You Zhizhen had finished her eighth bowl of soup,

the white drone overhead finally couldn’t take it anymore. Shi Yuebai’s voice came down:

“Da Jiao, if she drinks any more, she’ll burst.”

How big a stomach could a wastelander have?

You Zhizhen was so traumatized that as long as Da Jiao kept refilling her bowl,

she’d keep drinking.

She’d drink herself to death if she had to.

Da Jiao hurriedly put away the ladle, shaking her head.

“No more, no more.”

You Zhizhen clutched her stomach in discomfort, leaning against the wall, stuffed.

Shi Yuebai snorted coldly. “Serves you right!”

And then she flew away.

Of the four women who came this time, two had gone with Zhang Xueyao to the city to earn food.

Only You Zhizhen was left.

After two hours of discomfort, You Zhizhen, still dirty-faced, joined the old, weak, sick, disabled, and pregnant group to keep moving rocks.

In the afternoon, You Zhizhen’s stomach kept rumbling.

She felt a familiar pressure in her lower abdomen.

Oh no, too much soup.

“You can’t just go anywhere here. If you do, you’ll get yelled at.”

A pregnant woman next to her pointed toward the public toilets.

“If you need to go, use those.”

You Zhizhen felt odd, but followed the direction the pregnant woman pointed. The further she walked, the better the path became.

The environment got cleaner and cleaner.

Standing on the open space in front of the public toilets, You Zhizhen almost felt like she’d gone back to the days before the wasteland.

She’d been wanting to cry for a while.

Only two toilet stalls were open, for people to take turns.

One for men, one for women.

After all, it was just old folks, kids, and pregnant women—sitting toilets were enough.

Shi Yuebai had set a small formation on every stall door.

If she didn’t allow someone in, they couldn’t open the other stalls.

So You Zhizhen couldn’t see that there were even shower heads inside—such a luxury.

But what she could see already moved her deeply.

Everything was so clean. It was wonderful.

At the end of the day, dinner was still two packs of instant noodles and a bowl of potato soup.

Just as You Zhizhen finished eating and was about to leave,

Da Jiao stopped her, face serious.

“Auntie said you didn’t flush the toilet today. Your punishment is to clean the toilets for a week!”

I’m more and more convinced that capitalists have everything calculated.

What you earn and what you spend always just barely balance out."