Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 956 - 468: Life (The End)

Chen Ping'an was somewhat hesitant, and Qin Huai could see that he wanted to say something, but he felt that he was already a burden and had no standing to speak.

Zhao Cheng'an seemed a bit out of the loop. He looked at Chen Qiusheng, then at Chen Ping'an, then at Liu Sheng, and finally at the group of half-dead wounded in the cellar, directly asking Chen Ping'an, "Ping'an, do you want to keep them here?"

Chen Ping'an hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly.

"Ping'an!" Chen Qiusheng scolded sternly.

"Father, they also defended the city for us," Chen Ping'an said softly. "I want to leave but can't, and Brother Sheng can leave but doesn't. Now the Japanese Army must be searching the entire city. In their condition, where can they go if they leave tonight? Letting them out is like sending them to their death."

Chen Qiusheng hesitated as well.

He didn't know what to say and found it hard to make this decision, so he looked at Zhao Cheng'an and asked, "A sheng, what do you think?"

Zhao Cheng'an simply asked, "Are we going to feed them?"

"The food we've brought will only last the three of us half a year. If we feed them, it might only last three months."

Liu Sheng's eyes, which had lit up with hope, dimmed again. He said in a small voice, "Uncle Chen, don't worry. We won't hold you back. Tonight, we'll just..."

"Now there's not enough food to eat, can I go steal some tonight?" Zhao Cheng'an asked with eager anticipation.

Liu Sheng: ?

Chen Qiusheng: ...

Chen Ping'an: ...

The three wounded soldiers in the cellar: ...?

Chen Qiusheng wanted to sigh, but he knew it wasn't the time. Every minute spent on the surface increased the danger: "Okay, since A sheng and Ping'an want you to stay, you can stay for now. Things aren't settled these days, but there should be two bags of grain in your cellar; make do with that for now."

"We don't have any medicine here. Whether the wounds on you can heal, whether you can survive, is up to fate."

"Xiao Liu, you also go down first. We'll clean up your footprints and bloodstains. Don't come out for the next couple of days, and for the rest..."

"Let's see what happens after we get through these days."

If one could live, who would want to go out and die? Hearing Chen Qiusheng say this, Liu Sheng quickly and excitedly said, "Thank you, Uncle Chen, thank you, Ping'an, thank you, A sheng!"

"Alright, go down quickly."

Watching Liu Sheng stumble down the ladder, Chen Qiusheng closed the cellar door and instructed Chen Ping'an to hide back in the cellar while he and Zhao Cheng'an stayed on top to clean up the traces.

Chen Ping'an was slow. If there was noise outside, he wouldn't be able to run back to the cellar in time, so the risky work was left to Chen Qiusheng and Zhao Cheng'an.

The two of them worked with the efficiency of being in the kitchen, swiftly cleaning up the traces left by the wounded soldiers. Even the marks on the outer gate of the house, Zhao Cheng'an daringly and deftly wiped away.

After tidying everything up, Zhao Cheng'an and Chen Qiusheng hid back in the cellar.

The cellar was pitch-black, and without lighting a lamp, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Chen Ping'an lit a kerosene lamp, but the feeble glow couldn't even illuminate the three faces clearly.

Chen Ping'an held a storybook that he ought to be reading, but his mind wasn't on the book at all. Lost in thought, he suddenly asked after a long silence, "Father, did I just make a mistake?"

Chen Qiusheng sighed, fished out a small piece of malt sugar from the corner, broke it in half, and stuffed a piece into Chen Ping'an's mouth, then another into Zhao Cheng'an's: "Have something sweet."

"It's normal to want to save people; I want to save them too."

"Xiao Liu's father, Manager Liu, has treated our family well over the years. Every time we went to buy cloth, it was always good quality. The school you attended was also because he said it was good that I chose it."

"They defended the city for us; it's unreasonable to drive them out to die now that they can't defend it anymore."

"It's just..."

"I know, it's just a lack of food, and at such times, it's up to me!" Zhao Cheng'an interjected.

Chen Qiusheng chided with a bemused smile, "You and your chatter."

"Alright, Ping'an, don't just stand there. We don't have much kerosene, and this lamp won't last long, so focus on reading your book."

"Okay." Chen Ping'an moved the book closer to the kerosene lamp and began to read softly, one word at a time, in a very calm tone, as if this was just an ordinary night where three people gathered around a kerosene lamp reading a book.

If his hand holding the book hadn't been trembling slightly, it might really have been just an ordinary day.

The three of them hid in the cellar for more than half a month, and as for why it was over half a month, Qin Huai couldn't really say for sure how many days it was. Time during this period seemed to speed up like watching a movie. Qin Huai felt like it was just a blink of an eye; sometimes he watched Chen Ping'an read in the cellar, and sometimes he felt it was too dark and went above to get some air. Sunrises and sunsets, time just passed like that.

During this period, two groups entered the house. They weren't searching for people but simply for valuables. They didn't search very thoroughly, and neither of the two cellars was discovered.

After being looted twice, the house became very safe because everyone knew it had been looted twice, and the owner had fled to Jinling, leaving it an empty house.

After a long period of hiding, Chen Qiusheng finally dared to venture out once to check on the condition of the wounded in another cellar.

The situation was not optimistic at all.

Initially, there were 5 wounded soldiers hidden in the cellar. One died from grievous injuries on the first night, and over this half month, two more succumbed to infection from their wounds.