Chapter 17: A Mattress

When Shi Yuebai told Second Sister-in-law Shi to push her, with Shi Yaoyao on her back, they went scavenging again in the newly opened wasteland.

The problem with Second Sister-in-law Shi pushing Shi Yuebai was that they couldn’t get through places that were too uneven.

After all, a flatbed cart isn’t made for climbing hills and crossing rough terrain.

But along the easy roadsides, there was simply nothing left to scavenge.

Any area by the road had already been picked clean by other survivors.

How could it possibly be Shi Yuebai and her group’s turn to pick through it?

After searching through the ruins for several hours, Second Sister-in-law Shi was starting to feel hopeless.

She looked up, feeling the sun beating down above her—it was particularly harsh today.

On the wasteland, the temperature, weather, and even the seasons were unpredictable.

It might be bone-chilling cold one day, and then scorching hot the next.

No one could say for sure.

After all, no one in the wasteland had the leisure or resources to monitor the weather or make forecasts.

And everyone knew: the stronger the sun, the higher the radiation.

Lately, after being out in the sun, Second Sister-in-law Shi would feel dizzy.

Before Shi Er died, she’d even had a few nosebleeds.

She’d had a bad feeling about it back then.

She worried that she might have developed some terminal illness from radiation.

But in this family, they were either fools or cripples, not to mention Shi Mother, who was a bit crazy.

Only she and Shi Yuebai had anything close to normal intelligence.

And Shi Yuebai had that kind of temperament…

How could Second Sister-in-law Shi tell her family she might not have long to live?

Feeling the sunlight heating her face, Second Sister-in-law Shi’s head throbbed.

It was as if something inside her skull was about to burst.

“Yuebai, the sun’s getting stronger. How about we find some shade to hide in?”

Second Sister-in-law Shi was getting anxious.

She couldn’t afford to collapse now. Shi Mother was about to be sent back, Shi Yuebai couldn’t move, and Shi Yaoyao was still just a child.

She was the only one with a normal mind and able-bodied.

If she died, what would happen to the rest of them?

Shi Yuebai was also fed up with the sun—absolutely sick of it.

Just a little time in the sun, and her weight would start shooting up.

All she could do was keep holding Shi Yaoyao’s little hand, pouring energy into her.

She even filled both glass bottles in Shi Yaoyao’s backpack with water.

Once they were full, she had Shi Yaoyao drink them.

Before long, Shi Yaoyao’s little belly was bulging.

When she heard Second Sister-in-law Shi’s voice, Shi Yuebai responded and pointed to a ruined building ahead.

“There’s a house up there that hasn’t completely collapsed. Let’s go there and find some shade.”

Following Shi Yuebai’s directions, Second Sister-in-law Shi, stumbling and bumping along, managed to get Shi Yuebai and Shi Yaoyao to the half-collapsed house.

Luckily, it was right by the road.

She didn’t have to struggle much to push Shi Yuebai in on the flatbed cart.

As soon as they got inside, Shi Yaoyao, still on Second Sister-in-law Shi’s back, started fussing in a clear, stuttering voice:

“I need to pee, I need to pee!”

“Waaah, need to pee!”

She had never before expressed herself so clearly.

Before this, Shi Yaoyao couldn’t even manage her own bathroom needs.

She often soiled her pants, and the Shi family’s tarp shelter was always filled with the stench of urine and feces.

Of course, the Shi family wasn’t the only one with a mentally disabled member.

In fact, among the survivors outside the city, everyone’s living conditions were about the same.

The Shi family was just a bit more miserable.

They had fools, madwomen, and cripples—all in one household.

“Mama, mama, pee!”

Shi Yaoyao was holding it in.

Her aunt had just made her drink so much water—she couldn’t hold it anymore, really couldn’t.

Second Sister-in-law Shi was at a loss for how to respond.

She’d never encountered this situation before.

Shi Yuebai calmly instructed, “Hold it for a bit. There’s nowhere to go right now—”

Before she could finish, she spotted an exposed toilet behind a collapsed wall.

This room must have been a bathroom before; the roof was blown off, but the toilet itself was intact.

“There’s a toilet over there,” Shi Yuebai said. “Take her there.”

Second Sister-in-law Shi quickly fumbled over and set Shi Yaoyao down by the open-air toilet.

Shi Yuebai, still on the flatbed, dutifully turned her head to keep watch, in case anyone with no sense happened to wander by while Shi Yaoyao was using the toilet.

Her gaze landed on a slingshot in the corner of the ruins.

She struggled over and picked it up, her hands scraped raw by the rough rubble.

Just then, a foul stench wafted over.

Shi Yuebai turned around and saw Second Sister-in-law Shi leaning over the half-collapsed wall, retching.

Shi Yaoyao sat on the toilet, her face red with embarrassment.

Seeing Shi Yuebai looking over, Shi Yaoyao shook her big head and said shyly,

“I pooped black and yellow stuff, Auntie.”

Shi Yuebai didn’t mind at all. “It’s fine, just detoxing.”

Both Shi Yaoyao and Second Sister-in-law Shi had a lot of radiation pollution in their bodies.

Shi Yuebai had just made Shi Yaoyao drink several bottles of pure, zero-radiation water, which was bound to have some effect on her body.

As long as it wasn’t a bad effect, it was fine.

With her aunt’s reassurance, Shi Yaoyao was delighted. Her freshly washed face glowed with a rosy hue.

Second Sister-in-law Shi couldn’t see what her daughter had passed.

But she was shocked again.

Her daughter could now speak in full sentences.

Before, she could only scream or blurt out single words.

At most, two words.

Now she could even describe the color of her own poop.

It was a rare bit of progress.

Seeing that it was getting late, Shi Yuebai pointed to the broken beds in the collapsed house.

“Let’s drag one of these mattresses back.”

She had already counted—there were three broken beds, each with a mattress.

Even though they were old, a good wash would make them usable.

It was still better than the whole family sleeping on rocks.

And Shi Mother was about to be sent back. Shi Yuebai’s memory told her that not only was Shi Mother crazy, she was also heavily pregnant.

She could give birth any day now.

In this wasteland, there was no way to expect a healthy baby from Shi Mother.

But a newborn was still a newborn—you couldn’t just put it on bare rocks.

Human babies aren’t like witch tribe babies.

Human infants are so fragile, a breath could snuff them out.

Second Sister-in-law Shi was already numb from the stench.

She was blind—radiation had taken her sight—but her other four senses were much sharper than most people’s.

Maybe Shi Yuebai just thought it was smelly.

But Second Sister-in-law Shi would have a visceral reaction and throw up.

She fumbled to strap her daughter back on her back, then followed Shi Yuebai’s instructions to drag the mattress.

By the time the sun set, it had taken them several hours of stumbling and struggling, but they finally managed to drag one mattress back to the group.

As expected, the whole group burst into laughter.

“Oh my god, hahaha!”

“The Shi family’s sick, weak, and disabled actually dragged back a mattress?!”

“Are they planning to eat it?”

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!"