Reborn in the Apocalypse: A Commoner's Survival Log

After buying the watch, the group continued walking and soon reached the end of the shopping street.

Just as the group was about to head back, Zhou Yang spotted a woman holding a two- or three-year-old child, huddled in an inconspicuous corner, with some items of varying sizes vaguely visible in front of her.

Out of curiosity, he went over to take a look and found that what was displayed were several hand-woven straw hats and several rattan baskets, with two homemade cloth dolls next to them.

Looking at the mother and son again, Zhou Yang roughly understood why they were hiding in this corner.

The woman looked very young, at most twenty-five or twenty-six. Even though she had deliberately smeared dust on her face, her delicate features could still be vaguely seen in the dim light.

Perhaps due to some form of harassment, they simply chose the most secluded corner at the end of the street, far from the crowds.

However, this makes it even harder to sell these already worthless items.

Thinking this, Zhou Yang picked up the two dolls and examined them carefully.

Both were exquisite and adorable dolls, wearing sun hats, flaxen hair, and pretty princess dresses in different colors of the same style.

"Are all of these handmade by you? They're quite beautiful."

Lu Xingye and Chai Jin also came over to take a look, and even these two straight men couldn't help but admit, "It really is quite good-looking."

When the woman saw several large men approaching, she nervously hugged her sleeping child tighter and unconsciously moved back a little.

After waiting for a while without seeing them make any other moves, and then noticing that one of them was holding a little girl who was only a few years older than her own child, she finally replied in a low voice:

"Yes, I made it all myself. If you want anything, just give me some food."

Remembering that Gu Yaoyao only seemed to have brought one doll with her, Zhou Yang showed Gu Yaoyao the two plush dolls.

"Yaoyao, do you want it?"

The little girl's eyes lit up when she saw the beautiful doll. Her eyes darted towards Yan Fei, and she asked in a pitiful, coquettish voice, "Brother, can you buy it for me as my next birthday present?"

"Buy, buy, buy!"

Yan Fei couldn't stand his younger cousin, who was 20 years younger than him, acting all cute and coquettish with him like this, so he immediately surrendered.

He then looked at Zhou Yang and said, "Could you please buy these for Yao Yao first? I'll give you the supplies later."

Zhou Yang gave Yan Fei an OK sign, then looked at the woman again: "I'll take both dolls, how about two packs of instant noodles? I think your little clothes are pretty good, do you know how to make clothes?"

Hearing this, the woman nodded: "Sure. I used to study fashion design, so making some simple clothes is no problem."

Zhou Yang took out two packets of instant noodles and handed them over, then said, "You're pretty amazing! You can make clothes, weave straw hats, and make rattan baskets. Do you know anything else?"

The woman took the instant noodles and carefully tucked them into the child's small backpack: "I'm from the countryside. I learned to make straw hats and wicker baskets from my grandma when I was little. I also know how to make tofu, but I don't have the ingredients now, so I can't make it."

Zhou Yang was very surprised to hear that the woman could make tofu: "You can make tofu?"

"When I was a child, my family was poor, so we made our own tofu. If we made too much, we would sell it on the street."

Zhou Yang continued, "So, if I give you the materials, can you make it?"

"In the past, yes, I could. I could make both soft and firm tofu." The woman glanced at Zhou Yang, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Do you want me... to make tofu for you?"

Zhou Yang pondered for a moment, then didn't answer immediately. He did indeed want this woman to make tofu for him. He had some tofu in his spatial storage, but not much, so he rarely cooked tofu-related dishes.

Although he collected many video tutorials on making tofu and tried making it a few times, the finished product was not ideal. It always had a burnt smell and a rough texture. In the end, he couldn't eat it and fed it all to the pigs.

From then on, he gave up making tofu.

He felt that the instructional videos he found were wrong, but there was no one he could ask.

"Does your tofu taste burnt? And what's the texture like?"

"It doesn't have a burnt smell, and it's similar to what's sold in the market. As for the texture, it depends on whether it's soft tofu or firm tofu."

"Okay! I'll give you 10 jin of soybeans, and you can make them all into soft tofu for me."

"But I don't have a place to work, I don't have the tools, and I don't have water or electricity. I can't do it... I'm sorry." The woman lowered her head apologetically.

Zhou Yang was stunned for a moment before realizing that the woman must have been staying in the free tent. It seemed that she had suffered a lot of harassment and bullying there, and that she was a single mother with no one to help her take care of her child, so she had to bring her child with her when she set up her stall.

That place is a mixed bag; you really can't make tofu there, and even if you did, you couldn't keep it safe.

Zhou Yang was caught in a dilemma.

Should we take her back and do it? Then let her go after we're done? But that's quite troublesome. What if our secret gets discovered? It would be difficult to handle.

But he really wanted tofu...

Shen Zechuan, noticing Zhou Yang's dilemma, offered a suggestion: "Actually, you could let her work at the base's canteen with her child. The army is probably short of people who can make tofu, so she could make some to supply the canteen with her cooking, and you could also order some from her. Besides, working at the canteen should provide her with a dormitory. It would be quite convenient for her to take care of the child alone."

Upon hearing this, the woman looked up in surprise and asked excitedly, "I...I really can...work at the base's canteen?"

“Sure. But besides making tofu, you might need to do some other chores, like helping with cooking, cleaning, and so on.” Shen Zechuan nodded; he believed Uncle Gu would agree to such a small thing.

"Yes, yes. I can cook and clean, I can do everything." The woman hugged her child and nodded excitedly.

Yan Fei then remembered something and said, "Oh right, you can make clothes, right? We found a lot of fabric before. Could you make some clothes for my sister, clothes, pants, skirts, everything? Don't worry, I'll pay you. I won't let you do it for free."

"Okay, okay. No problem!" The woman's eyes welled up with tears.

"You can come back with us today. I'll let the base know tonight and they'll take you directly to the base canteen," Yan Fei said after thinking for a moment. "But is there anything you need to pack up from where you were staying before?"

The woman shook her head: "There's nothing left over there. All our belongings, mother and son, are here."

“In that case, sell me all these straw hats and rattan baskets. I’ll also give you two packs of instant noodles, how about that?” Zhou Yang picked up one of the straw hats and rattan baskets, and took out two packs of instant noodles, smiling.

"Of course, thank you so much!" The woman nodded repeatedly, wiped away her tears, and then took the two packets of instant noodles from Ke Zhouyang.

Zhou Yang raised his hand and put everything into his spatial storage.

The woman was stunned when she saw the things on the ground suddenly disappear. It took her a while to realize that this was probably a legendary spatial ability user, and she was filled with awe.

After the woman finished packing her things, picked up the child, and followed, the group went straight back.

As the group walked away chatting and laughing, none of them noticed that in a darker corner behind them, several pairs of malicious eyes were watching them intently...