On the way to becoming the strongest, I first became a popular person.

Outside the dilapidated little room, sunlight shone through the window, shining into the room and lighting up everything.

Shi Chu was a little surprised. She found herself in the body of the child named Eleven again. The child was standing outside the old door. The winter sun was shining on her, making her feel warm all over.

There were sounds of conversation coming from the room, and she temporarily suppressed her doubts and listened carefully.

"Lan Yin, I heard that the Lan family has evacuated on a spaceship and fled. Why...why didn't you go with them?"

"I won't leave. If I leave, what will happen to these children? You will definitely not be able to take care of them all by yourself. What's more, I have lived here for more than 40 years. The memories of Blue Star have been deeply engraved in my body. I can't give up everything here. It's hard to leave one's hometown. I don't want to die in a corner outside. If I must die, let me die here."

"You... you are really stubborn. The Lan family must have prepared enough resources. It would be great if you ran away with them. You would have food and drink, and you wouldn't have to serve these little bastards every day. If I were you, I would just pat my butt and leave. Who would want to stay in such a shabby place and live in uncertainty every day?"

There was silence in the room for a moment, and then a surprised voice was heard.

"What are you doing? This is the ticket to the 'Spark' program. With this, you can participate in the Alliance's human drifting escape plan and board a lifeboat to find a new home in the universe. This is a life-saving thing. You want to give this to me?"

"Well, this is the last escape route left for me by the Lan family before they evacuated. I have already made up my mind not to leave, so it is useless to take it. Don't you want to leave here? Take it."

In the room, Chen Xiao glanced at Lan Yin. The other person's face was full of seriousness, and he was not joking.

She couldn't wait to reach out and take the ticket, snatching it from Lan Yin's hand in an almost snatching manner, holding the silver ticket tightly in her hand, as if it was the last straw.

After a long time, she slowly loosened her hand, put the thin metal ticket into her pocket, and kept it carefully.

"Since you gave it to me, it's mine. You can't take it back."

"Of course." Lan Yin smiled and did not blame the other party for his rude behavior.

"The ticket voucher for the 'Spark' Project is worth a lot of money. If you sell it, you can buy a lot of good things. The orphanage will be able to survive this winter."

Lan Yin was a little surprised when she heard this. The other party was shouting that he wanted to escape every day, so she gave him the ticket that the Lan family spent a lot of money to buy for her as a retreat. She said in disbelief: "You... don't want to leave?"

"Leave for nothing! There are star beasts everywhere outside, what can you escape? Don't die in some corner and no one will come to collect my body, it's better to die here. Anyway, I was born with a bad life. I have been an orphan since I was a child. I grew up with the help of the alliance. I just graduated from school and was waiting for the government to assign a job, and then the star beasts appeared. Resources are scarce, everyone is in danger, and the alliance has no time to care about us. If you hadn't taken me in, I would have starved to death on the street."

"Although I am not a good person, I know how to repay a favor. I cannot do such a thing as leaving you alone. Anyway, I will die anyway. I have lived for more than 30 years. So let it be."

As she spoke, she held the ticket tightly in her arms in a somewhat mercenary manner, fearing that someone would snatch it away. She looked at Lan Yin vigilantly and continued, "Don't even think about taking this ticket back. If you give it to me, it's mine. You're too soft-hearted. You'll definitely give it away when you feel sorry for others. Since you're not leaving anyway, it's better to give it to me than to others. I happen to have connections and know a few nouveau riche who want to leave but have no way to do so. I'll sell it to the one who offers the highest price and exchange it for some supplies to get through the winter. The winter won't end for more than a month, so we can survive."

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." Lan Yin smiled helplessly, her eyes swept across the door, as if she noticed something, and suddenly shouted, "Eleven?"

A small figure walked out from behind the door. She was wearing a poorly made piece of clothing that seemed to have been pieced together specifically for keeping warm. But even so, the clothing still seemed too thin in such a cold winter.

The gray clothes were covered with patches of various sizes. Each patch was made from different scraps of cloth, and the stitches were crooked, showing the hasty work of the mender. It was obvious that the work was done in a hurry.

The collar was badly worn and the fluff had fallen off, leaving only a circle of sparse threads trembling in the wind. The longer threads would sometimes scratch her thin cheeks.

Lan Yin stood up and walked to the door, quickly pulled her into the room, covered her somewhat cold hands, and asked worriedly: "You have only recovered from your illness for a few days, why did you run out alone again?"

"Aunt Dean, I'm cold. I want to bask in the sun and get warm."

Lan Yin was stunned for a moment when she heard this, and finally just hugged the thin girl comfortingly, wanting to pass on her body warmth to her.

Chen Xiao stood up and observed the weather outside through the window. He saw the sky was as blue as a gem, contrasting with the fiery red sun. The sunlight pierced through the clouds, pouring endless light into the weed-covered courtyard.

It was a rare sunny day.

"The sun is shining brightly today, Eleven, go get some help. Let's take the quilts and clothes to the yard to dry them." Chen Xiao looked at Eleven and said, although the child was young, she was very strong, almost as strong as her. She must have heard something outside just now. Thinking of this, she added, "Well, today's snack, one egg per person."

Anyway, we can make a lot of money by selling the vouchers and tickets of the "Spark" plan, and life will be much better then. Now we don't have to be as stingy as before, just let these little bastards be happy.

Today is a really good day, the weather is nice, and there is hope for the future life, she thought.

"Well, I'll go call someone now."

Eleven left Lan Yin's arms, waved to them, and trotted away to the room on the other side.

Chen Xiao pouted, subconsciously covering his pockets, and explained nonchalantly: "Don't look at me, I'm in a good mood today, and I've got supplies for the future, so let's eat something good to make everyone happy. Those little bastards keep complaining about being hungry, and it's so noisy, so this will finally shut them up."

Lan Yin stood up and glanced at Chen Xiao, feeling somewhat helpless: "You really are..." He has a sharp tongue but a soft heart, and it's obvious that he cares about them a lot.

She turned her head to look out the window. The cloudless blue sky and the bright sunshine seemed to foreshadow a bright future. She couldn't help but smile with relief.

Winter is almost over and everything will be fine.

What should I do with the children then?

By the way, I promised Seventeen that I would plant flowers in the yard, so I’ll take everyone to plant flowers together. Actually, the seeds haven’t been prepared yet.

Chen Xiao knew that she would be accused of spending money recklessly, not buying food or clothes, and always buying fancy things. Although she always said this, she actually agreed with herself every time. She probably liked this kind of life very much.

People cannot live just for the sake of living, there must be something more. Life should not be just the mechanical repetition of breathing, eating and sleeping. If so, what is the difference between us and being a walking corpse?

Children need some activities other than "living" to shape a beautiful spiritual world and maintain the perceptions and everything that a human being should have. The same is true for her and Chen Xiao.

Well, what flowers should I buy?

It has to be cheap and easy to grow. The flowers I promised Seventeen are red. Let’s just go buy them together when the time comes. The kids haven’t been out for a long time, so it’s a good time for them to relax.

She thought so as she looked out the window at the bright sunshine.