The World Turned into Zombies, So I Went Back to the Countryside to Farm 30p2

Chapter 30p2: Hunting

And so, Jiang Zao really didn’t say another word. She looked at the strands of hair by Wen Zhao’s temples, soaked with sweat, at the mottled spots of light that the sunlight in the forest cast on her side profile, felt the warmth from her back, and examined her relationship with her.

Although they hadn’t known each other for long, and it wasn’t a case of love at first sight, Wen Zhao’s kindness seemed to have seeped into her life little by little. Whether it was when they were fighting side by side, or now, she could always trust her with her back, and she had also exposed her vulnerable side, her sharp side, and her broken side to her. No matter which one, Wen Zhao had accepted it.

This was different from her relationship with Chen Jianing. In front of Chen Jianing, she showed her positive side, while with Wen Zhao, she was gloomy and negative. At first, she had the idea that they were just passing strangers and would not have any contact in the future, so she was reckless, unlike when she was friends with Chen Jianing, when she would always pay attention to her words and actions to avoid annoying others.

And most importantly, she didn’t seem to mind physical contact with Wen Zhao. Jiang Zao thought that her relationship with Wen Zhao was probably a little better than with Chen Jianing, but it was as if there was a layer of window paper between them.

It was hard to say, hard to explain.

The aftereffects of her insomnia last night made her brain feel like a mess, and she couldn’t think clearly.

She noticed a gaze on her head.

Wen Zhao smiled. “Still angry?”

Jiang Zao shook her head, then, remembering that she couldn’t see, she sighed softly. “No. You’re right. My life has always been so wavering and uncertain. But do you know that all the efforts I’ve made are for the right to choose?”

She had studied desperately for the right to choose not to get married.

She had earned money against her conscience for the right to say “no,” which was why she had the confidence to terminate her contract with the MCN company two years later.

She had exercised and learned archery like crazy for the right to choose to “save” or “not save” when she was in danger.

“I’m different from you. Coming from the bottom, I understand better that the right to choose is greater than anything else.”

Wen Zhao lowered her eyes and said softly, “The bottom… actually, I…”

A gust of wind blew through the forest, and the leaves rustled.

Jiang Zao didn’t quite hear what she was saying. “What did you say?”

Wen Zhao lifted her up a little.

“I said—judge by actions, not by heart. No one is perfect if you judge by heart. If a person wants to become strong, they must sacrifice many things, even a part of their humanity. Jiang Zao, you must have lost a lot.” [1]

Although Jiang Zao couldn’t see her expression when Wen Zhao said this, it had been a long, long time since anyone had cared about what she had lost. Although it seemed that she had lost nothing, in fact, only she knew what she had lost.

The ability to interact with people, the most basic trust between people, compassion, and even love and creativity.

Those were things a million times more precious than money.

This feeling of being seen made Jiang Zao’s heart tremble slightly.

Something sour gradually filled her chest.

Wen Zhao had been waiting for her reply for a long time. Just as she was about to turn her head to look, Jiang Zao turned her head away and suddenly asked.

“If I hadn’t saved Zhou Qing at that time, would you have blamed me?”

“No. You just made the most correct decision at that moment from your own standpoint.”

Wen Zhao looked at Kele, who was walking in front, shaking its head.

“But if we hadn’t saved Zhou Qing, Kele wouldn’t have come back with us. So you see, we can’t predict the consequences of some things at the beginning, so we can’t define them as good or bad.”

“That’s just how fate is. Maybe you only know what fate is when you don’t know what fate is.” [2]

Jiang Zao behind her fell silent, her thoughts unknown. Wen Zhao looked back at her.

“Can I ask you one more question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Last night, you said you were just taking me in for a while, that we were just acquaintances, and that you wanted to send me to the Dongyuan City survivor base. Did you mean it?”

“I’m sleepy.”

She said it in a calm tone, like a child throwing a tantrum, her voice soft and light, which made Wen Zhao’s heart feel like it was being scratched by a cat’s paw. She wished she could turn around and see her expression.

“No, you have to answer me.”

“I’m really sleepy.”

Jiang Zao closed her eyes in a fit of pique and simply lay down on her back, her cheek against her shoulder.

In a moment that no one noticed, her hair brushed against Wen Zhao’s ear, and the tickling sensation spread through her limbs.

Wen Zhao turned her face away, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

“Alright, alright, I really don’t know what to do with you.”

Jiang Zao, with her eyes closed, slightly curved her lips.

“You saved me, so you have to repay me. Didn’t you ask me before if I wanted to learn martial arts? We can talk about it after I’ve learned.”

When they were almost home, Jiang Zao still insisted on getting down and walking by herself. Wen Zhao couldn’t persuade her and muttered, “Aren’t you sleepy?” She put her down and helped her limp into the courtyard.

Jiang Wuni and Li Mi were both waiting for her. When they saw her like this, they were both a little worried and quickly came over to help her.

“What’s wrong?/Big sister, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was chasing a rabbit on the mountain and accidentally missed my step.”

“Are you really okay? Why is your foot so swollen?” Jiang Wuni’s eyes were practically trying to poke a hole in her.

Jiang Zao smiled. “It’ll be fine after a couple of days of rest. I didn’t eat when I went out in the morning, and I’m feeling hungry now.”

“Serves you right. Little Zhao said she would go with you, but you went out with a dog. Can it save your life or what!”

Jiang Wuni was harsh with her words. She glared at the innocent Kele beside her and still went to get her food, grumbling.

Li Mi ran to get her medicine. “Big sister, I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

“Alright.”

Only two people were left in the large main hall.

Wen Zhao took off her sock. The bruise on her ankle was shocking, and it was very swollen. She squatted on the ground and gently rubbed it for Jiang Zao.

“Fortunately, it’s just a sprain. If you had injured a bone, let’s see what you would do now.”

“It was just a slope. It’s not that serious—”

Before she could finish, Wen Zhao applied a little more force, and Jiang Zao immediately cried out in pain, biting her lower lip.

“If you don’t take care of your foot, you can’t learn martial arts from me.”

“Wen Zhao, you—”

Jiang Zao was about to start cursing when Li Mi ran down with the first aid kit and was stunned for a moment when she saw the two of them.

Jiang Zao quickly pulled her foot out of her palm.

“Get up, get up. I’ll do it myself.”

While Jiang Zao was treating her wound, Li Mi was squatting by the side, looking at the rabbit. She played with it for a while and found that it was not dead, just its hind leg was broken, and it was on the verge of death.

“Big sister, this wild rabbit’s belly is so big.”

Jiang Wuni happened to be bringing in food for Jiang Zao.

“Let me see.”

She touched it with her hand. “My goodness, it’s a female. There must be babies in its belly. It’s about to give birth.”

Li Mi gently stroked the soft fur on the rabbit’s back.

“Big sister, why don’t we keep it for now? I can go and cut grass to feed it. Then we’ll have an endless supply of rabbits to eat in the future.”

Wen Zhao: “Rabbits have a strong reproductive ability and don’t eat much. They’re indeed very suitable for raising at home.”

Jiang Zao smiled slightly. “Alright, let’s keep it for now.”

Li Mi cleaned the rabbit’s wound, then tightly wrapped the broken part with a bandage. She put it in the cage where the chickens used to be and also prepared clean water and grass for it.

Li Mi watched as it struggled to get up and slowly came over to drink water, muttering, “Little rabbit, little rabbit, you have to live. Whether we can eat meat or not all depends on you.”

Jiang Zao was too tired after dinner. She sat for a while and then went upstairs to rest. When she woke up, the sun had already set.

She looked at the afterglow of the sunset on her desk. The smoke from the kitchen downstairs was curling up. For a moment, she thought it was a dusk from her childhood.

Until a few barks came from the door.

She quickly put on her clothes and got out of bed, opening the window.

“What’s wrong?”

Wen Zhao looked up and replied, “It’s nothing. Kele found a few zombies wandering at the door. I’ve already dealt with them.”

Jiang Wuni came out of the kitchen with the dishes.

“Perfect. Since you’re awake, come down and eat.”

Although the conditions were harsh in the apocalypse, and they naturally couldn’t eat whatever they wanted like before, and meat was rare, they would only take it out to eat once every ten days or half a month. But none of them were picky eaters, and besides, Jiang Wuni would use the limited ingredients to make delicious food in various ways.

Today, she had made stir-fried dried long beans. The dried long beans were soaked and cut into small pieces, then stir-fried with the chilies and scallions grown in their own flower pots. It was a simple dish, but it was very appetizing.

Jiang Wuni also steamed some sweet potatoes. There was no other way. There were too many, so they had to eat them at every meal, which could also reduce the consumption of rice and serve as a staple food to fill their stomachs.

Kele’s dinner was the same as theirs, sweet potatoes cut into pieces and mixed with vegetables. Just as the food was poured into the stainless steel basin, Kele rushed over with a howl.

“This dog looks so precious, but it eats everything.”

“This is the apocalypse. It’s good enough to have something to eat, right, Kele?”

Kele raised its head and barked twice, as if in response to Jiang Zao’s words. The few people at the stone table all laughed.

After dinner, Jiang Zao was teaching Li Mi to read in the main hall.

In the height of summer, the refrigerator consumed a lot of electricity. To save some electricity, Jiang Wuni had even taken out the old kerosene lamp from the 1980s.

Jiang Zao held Li Mi’s hand and wrote on the paper stroke by stroke. Jiang Wuni also wore her reading glasses and sat by the side with a notebook, watching seriously.

After a long time, the black smoke from the burning kerosene lamp made Li Mi keep rubbing her eyes.

“Take a break.”

Jiang Zao put down her pen and turned to see Jiang Wuni’s appearance, which was a little comical.

“What are you doing? At your age, I taught you to read a long time ago, but you wouldn’t learn.”

“Sigh, I know a few words, but I can’t write them. I was just thinking that since you’re teaching Little Mi, I’ll listen in too.”

“What, are you going to a university for the elderly?”

Jiang Wuni spat at her. “Pah, a good memory is not as good as a bad pen. I was just thinking that you don’t know how to farm, you’re not even as good as Little Mi. I have to write down these agricultural planting methods. In the future, there will be fewer and fewer people who know how to farm. I don’t know how long this disaster will last. With grain at home, you won’t panic.”

The three of them were studying in the house. Wen Zhao was busy cutting some bamboo from the small hill behind the house and was making a dog house for Kele under the locust tree.

She clapped her hands and looked at her work with satisfaction.

“The dog house is done. Come and see. What do you think?”

Wen Zhao’s hands-on ability was extremely strong. She split the bamboo in half, then used a file to clean the bamboo joints in the middle and cut them into bamboo strips to form the walls of the bamboo house. A few particularly thick tree trunks she had picked up from the mountain were the keel of the bamboo house. The roof was made into a slope, so if it rained, the rainwater would flow down the bamboo poles. She also left two windows for Kele for ventilation.

“Big sister, is this sturdy?” Li Mi’s eyes were already sparkling as she looked at her. Kele was also circling Wen Zhao, wagging its tail, its small eyes filled with admiration.

“You try it.”

The small house prepared for Kele, Li Mi was the first to climb in, which made Kele very dissatisfied. It bit Li Mi’s clothes and pulled her back.

“Wow! This bamboo floor is so cool! I want to sleep here. Kele, why are you biting my clothes!”

Under the starry sky, smiles appeared on the faces of the few people.

When Jiang Zao smiled, her eyes would squint slightly, revealing two small canine teeth. The sharp and cold part of her body faded, and the innocent and naive nature of a young boy gradually emerged.

“Let me try. I want to lie here and cool off too.”

Wen Zhao looked at her side profile, rubbed the cut on her hand from the file, and thought to herself:

As long as Jiang Zao is happy, she is willing to have a few more cuts on her hands.

Translator’s Notes

[1] “Judge by actions, not by heart. No one is perfect if you judge by heart. If a person wants to become strong, they must sacrifice many things, even a part of their humanity.” (论迹不论心，论心无完人，一个人要想变得强大，就必须牺牲掉很多东西，甚至是一部分人性。) – This is a philosophical statement. The first part, “论迹不论心，论心无完人” (lùn jì bù lùn xīn, lùn xīn wú wán rén), is a well-known saying that means one should be judged by their actions, not their intentions, because if judged by intentions, no one is perfect. The second part is the author’s addition, reflecting on the sacrifices required to become strong in a harsh world.

[2] “Maybe you only know what fate is when you don’t know what fate is.” (也许不知道命运是什么，才知道什么是命运吧。) – This is a paradoxical and philosophical line, suggesting that true understanding of fate comes from letting go of the need to control or define it, and simply experiencing it.