Grotesqueries of the Old Domain

Chapter 27: Harvest

"Homework? Forget it, even if she dares to write it, I wouldn't dare use it."

After speaking, Zhang Wenda turned his head to size up Fatty, noticing that his body was plump and white, without any injuries.

"Are you... okay?" A scar reappeared on his body—unfortunate yet fortunate—Zhang Wenda was already starting to get used to it.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" Fatty reached out to grab the fried dough stick in Zhang Wenda's hand.

Zhang Wenda let go and handed it to him. "Isn't it a problem that you didn’t go home at 6 last night?"

Although that damned cat explained it yesterday, she wasn't the type he could trust just based on her words.

"Why would not going home at 6 cause injury? Is it because I missed dinner and my stomach hurt from hunger?"

Hearing Fatty say this, Zhang Wenda immediately understood—punishments from such harsh rules seemed to apply only to him.

"Why is that? Where exactly do these rules come from?" As he thought, Zhang Wenda pulled out the Student Handbook and added another entry: Prohibited from not going home at 6 PM.

Then he laid out all the rules he had recorded in front of himself, trying to find some logic behind them.

From the incident at the Youth Center, it could be seen that the rules of this world didn’t appear out of nowhere—there had to be some underlying logic behind them.

As long as he could figure out that logic, perhaps he could find a way to break free from the rules.

No being late or skipping class.

No asking others questions.

No saving others.

No staying out past 6 PM.

"What kind of logic is this? Why do they only apply to me and not to others?" Zhang Wenda frowned deeply as he stared.

But after looking them over, he still couldn’t deduce any necessary connection between them.

If it were a set of behavioral codes for students in this bizarre world, then why prohibit helping others or asking questions?

It didn’t make sense—what kind of good student isn’t allowed to help others?

"Fatty, let me ask—if you break the rules, say the ones in the Student Handbook, what happens?"

Hearing this, Fatty, who was chewing on a fried dough stick, immediately showed a trace of fear in his eyes. "They’ll... deduct points."

"That’s it?"

"Points deduction is scary enough! If you lose too many, they’ll make you write a self-reflection, and in severe cases, call your parents!"

Zhang Wenda let out a sigh and couldn’t help but lament how different people live different lives—compared to his own rules, Fatty’s seemed way more relaxed.

No, not relaxed—they were just normal school rules! Even back when he was a kid, it had been like that.

"What’s going on with this world, really?" Zhang Wenda looked at the bustling street outside. It was his childhood, yet somehow different.

Even putting aside the stuff about special abilities and the Youth Center, things were still a bit off—like, he never used ration tickets or saw a supply-and-marketing cooperative as a kid. Those were clearly from his elders’ generation.

As for campaigns like “Eliminate the Four Pests,” even they never experienced that.

This world seemed like a blend of a more distant past and his own childhood—familiar, yet different.

"Sigh, whatever. One step at a time. Let’s just focus on getting that special ability first."

The morning sun warmed his body, and Zhang Wenda felt a bit drowsy. After all, he hadn’t slept all night.

"Fatty, keep an eye on her for me. I’ll nap for a bit. When I wake up, I’ll treat you to some grilled skewers."

"Really? No problem, leave it to me!" Fatty pounded his chest with a loud thump.

He gave Song Jianguo a series of commands: no hurting him, no leaving the city, and to keep working continuously. After carefully checking the contract to ensure there were no loopholes, he finally closed his eyes.

That nap was very restful. When Zhang Wenda woke up, the sun was already leaning westward.

Aside from the increased pile of rat heads and sparrow heads, Fatty was on the side, boredly poking at ants with a stick.

"You’re finally awake. I’m hungry. I need to go home for lunch."

Just as Fatty was about to leave, Zhang Wenda pulled him back. "Don’t rush. I said I’d treat you to grilled skewers, and I meant it."

With that, Zhang Wenda walked over to the pile of sparrow heads. Though the heads needed to be handed in, the sparrow bodies could still be eaten.

Crackling sounds rose as the firewood Song Jianguo had collected burned fiercely. Skinned bird bodies were strung up and roasted until oil sizzled from them.

Although sparrows were small and thin, they were abundant—and most importantly, Fatty had somehow gotten chili powder and instant seasoning packets, elevating the flavor of the sparrows.

"Tss~ ha tss~ spicy." Pan Dongzi said between bites, sweating all over his head as he ate.

"You're saying it's spicy—then use less chili," Zhang Wenda said as he stuffed a sparrow into his mouth.

Once roasted and placed in the mouth, the sparrow was slightly charred and crispy on the outside, and biting through revealed tender bird meat, carrying the subtle sweetness unique to poultry—it tasted quite good.

Zhang Wenda still remembered this—when he was young and his family was poor, if he wanted a snack to satisfy his cravings, he had to figure it out himself.

Scattering a handful of rice to catch birds was one such method.

Besides that, he would go to the river to catch crayfish, secretly use his family's oil to deep-fry them, collect watermelon seeds others spat out, dry them and eat them like sunflower seeds—and he even stole sweet potatoes from others' homes to roast and eat.

So many years had passed, Zhang Wenda thought he had forgotten, but the moment he started doing it again, he was just as skilled as ever.

Zhang Wenda could feel Song Jianguo's hungry gaze from afar—she hadn’t eaten all day either—but he paid her no mind.

After being entangled with Song Jianguo for this long, he could see it clearly: this person simply didn’t have the normal values of a human being.

In fact, she shouldn’t even be seen as a person—just treat her like an animal. Only stray cats and dogs would randomly snatch food from others like that.

Teaching by words wouldn’t work—experience was the only teacher for people like her. Explaining reason was useless; just let her suffer the consequences of doing wrong.

"But how did she end up like this? Don’t the adults care?" Zhang Wenda looked at her sun-darkened skin, the clothes she wore, and her bare feet.

"Right, how did she get those ears? Saying she was raised entirely by stray cats and dogs doesn’t quite fit—she can talk, dress herself, and even knows how to use collars to force others to work for her. Where did she get that collar?"

After eating his fill, Pan Dongzi, per Zhang Wenda’s instructions, took some grilled bird skewers to share with the classmates who had helped earlier.

Once Pan Dongzi left, only the two of them remained. There wasn’t much left at that spot, so Zhang Wenda took Song Jianguo to a new location.

To achieve Zhang Wenda’s goals, Song Jianguo worked extremely hard. She had gone almost twenty hours without eating or sleeping—both the girl and her cats looked visibly worn out, with many small cats lying at Zhang Wenda’s feet, gasping for air.

When the square clock in the center of town rang five times again, it was already 5 p.m., and Zhang Wenda finally told her to stop.

Not because he felt bad for her, but because if he didn’t get home by 6, he’d be punished by the rules again.

Song Jianguo found a tattered net from somewhere, bundled all the rat heads and sparrow heads into it, and began dragging it toward the health and epidemic prevention station.

The trail of rat and sparrow heads left a long bloody smear on the ground—like the grief and indignation in Song Jianguo’s heart.

Clearly, the staff at the epidemic station had never seen so many pests. Everyone in line was shocked and quickly stepped aside to clear a path.

Soon, Song Jianguo’s nearly twenty hours of harvest paid off: a total of 11 yuan and 45 cents.

"You see? Labor can clearly create wealth, so why steal money?" Zhang Wenda said with a smile as he snatched the money from her hand.

But by now, the exhausted Song Jianguo didn’t even have the strength to argue—she just wanted to sleep.

Seeing her in this state, Zhang Wenda found her much more pleasing to the eye. "Really want a special ability, huh? Fine, I’m not as heartless as you."

"How about this—when I go redeem it in a bit, you can come along and take a good look. Enjoy it with your eyes."