Chapter 4: The Shabby Home

“Xiao Yi, look over there. Every so often there are two big trash bins. From now on, the first stop of our work will be there. I’ll take the left side, you take the right. Efficiency will be awesome.”

“But after a month of investigation, around here you can basically only find things like discarded bottles and cardboard. They’re not worth much. If you want to sell them for more money, you can only rely on quantity.”

Along the way, Shen Zechuan kept talking about all sorts of matters related to collecting scraps. Gu Jingyi did not understand much, so he hardly interrupted. He only listened quietly and nodded along in agreement.

Hearing this, he could not help but ask, “Then do you know where there are valuable things to pick up?”

“There’s no fixed place for that, little brother. You can’t find them anytime either.” Shen Zechuan said, “After all, Xiaoshi Village is full of ordinary common folk. There aren’t any rich people. Once in a while you might run into something slightly valuable, but basically your ge has already snatched it up quick as lightning.”

Gu Jingyi smiled. “Then don’t the other scavengers secretly curse you behind your back?”

“Ahem…” Shen Zechuan touched his nose somewhat awkwardly. “Naturally… they’ve cursed me plenty.”

“You heard it with your own ears?” Gu Jingyi blinked, looking curious.

“Yeah, heard it several times.” Shen Zechuan shrugged helplessly. “I figure they originally didn’t even plan to whisper behind my back. Their voices weren’t quiet at all. It would’ve been hard for me not to hear.”

Gu Jingyi gave an “mm” and said, “Actually, that’s understandable. Competition. Everyone’s just trying to survive.”

“I know, so I’ve already stopped caring about these things.” Shen Zechuan said with a light smile. “But I still won’t give up what should be mine. Now that I have a younger brother, I have to work even harder from now on.”

Hearing this, Gu Jingyi felt warmth in his heart and immediately responded, “Mm, together.”

Shen Zechuan held a smile at the corners of his mouth and raised his hand to rub his head.

Pretty soft.

Gu Jingyi did not mind that his hair had been messed up. Instead, he asked directly, “By the way, after talking for so long, you still haven’t told me what the people here are like. Are they easy to get along with?”

Shen Zechuan paused, his voice a little hesitant. “People… let’s just say there are all kinds.”

“I can’t give you a definite answer on this. You’d better find out for yourself.”

“Okay.” Gu Jingyi looked at him, then quickly responded without asking further.

In the end, Shen Zechuan still did not want to say that everyone in the village had opinions about him. After all, he had just gotten a younger brother and had finally stopped being lonely. If he scared the kid away, what then?

But if Gu Jingyi discovered it himself in the future…

Forget it. Take it one step at a time.

This younger brother seemed both obedient and clever. Even if he really heard something, he should come back and ask him.

He would adapt when the time came.

For the next short stretch of the road, both of them fell silent and walked side by side, each with their own thoughts.

Only when they turned into the end of a stretch of abandoned houses did Shen Zechuan say, “We’re here. This is the place.”

Gu Jingyi suddenly came back to his senses and stared blankly at the… dilapidated house in front of him.

After a long moment, he finally voiced a question: “Where’s the door?”

“The main gate is broken.” Shen Zechuan said, “But there are doors inside the house. It’s not a big problem.”

With that, he walked straight in. Gu Jingyi followed close behind and carefully looked over this so-called “home.”

The yard was not big, but there was quite a lot of garbage flying around with the wind. In the time it took Gu Jingyi to turn his head, he almost got a plastic bag plastered onto his face.

There were three small rooms in total. The biggest one was probably where they would sleep. In the relatively smaller one, a large stove could be seen from outside, so it was most likely a kitchen. And the smallest one had to be the toilet.

As for why Gu Jingyi was so certain, it was because a strong gust of wind had just blown over, and he had smelled it.

Fortunately, the toilet had a door. It did not need to be publicly displayed.

“Do you know why I chose to live here?” Shen Zechuan asked him with a laugh.

Gu Jingyi thought for a moment and said, “Because compared with other abandoned houses, this one is still relatively intact, right?”

“Smart.”

Shen Zechuan snapped his fingers and led him into the big room. “Look, leaving everything else aside, at least the previous owner of this house left behind a pile of wooden boards. I’ve checked them. They’re especially sturdy. Put them together and they make a perfect bed.”

“With this many boards, never mind the two of us. Even if four more came, we could all sleep on it.”

“That’s true.” Gu Jingyi nodded in agreement. “But we probably don’t need to add more boards. The ones you’ve already put together are enough.”

“That’s what I thought too.”

Shen Zechuan smiled and patted his shoulder. “Come on, let’s re-lay the blankets. The thick one goes underneath, and we’ll cover ourselves with the thin one.”

“Are the blankets picked up from somewhere?” Gu Jingyi asked as he busied himself alongside him.

“No, Auntie Guan gave them.” Shen Zechuan said softly. “She’s the auntie from the place where I buy steamed buns, the one before I met you.”

Gu Jingyi had been hiding in the alley the whole time, so he did not know who he was talking about, but he still softly responded, “That auntie is pretty nice then.”

“Mm, Auntie Guan is really nice.”

As Shen Zechuan spoke, he reached out and smoothed the blanket, then forced up a faint smile. “But I can’t always trouble her. Just buying steamed buns from her shop is enough. I’ll pay when I should.”

After making the bed, Gu Jingyi sat down beside him at the edge of the bed. He quickly noticed the pots, bowls, and ladles piled in the corner, along with some messy small objects.

“Are those also things left behind by the previous owner?”

“No.” Shen Zechuan followed his gaze. “Those are things I picked up. They looked usable and weren’t damaged, so I kept them for now.”

“By the way, Xiao Yi, I still have a question I want to ask you.”

“Hm?” Gu Jingyi’s alarm bells went off. “You’re not going to ask again whether I’m from a wealthy family, are you?”

Shen Zechuan was caught between laughter and tears. “Not asking that.”

“I’m just a little curious. You said before that your home isn’t here. Then on the way to Xiaoshi Village, why didn’t you think of finding something to eat? How did you let yourself get this hungry?”

Gu Jingyi lowered his eyes slightly. Only after several seconds did he speak in a low voice. “I was scared…”

“On the road, I didn’t dare stop. I kept running. If I hadn’t been so exhausted after getting here that I couldn’t run anymore, I might not have stopped either.”

Shen Zechuan looked at him, his expression also turning serious, though his tone was very cautious. “Is your family looking for you?”

“…Yes.” Gu Jingyi bit his lower lip, his voice strained. “But I don’t want to go back. Even if I die outside, I don’t want to go back again.”

“Mm, then we won’t go back.”

Shen Zechuan reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, his voice gentle. “The world is vast. Anywhere can be home. Ge is here. Don’t be afraid.”

He knew Gu Jingyi probably did not want to mention his family matters, and he did not plan to ask any further.

They both had pasts too unbearable to look back on, and perhaps they had both suffered harm to different degrees. But fortunately, they had both escaped and had the chance to live new lives. That was lucky.

As for those past things, let them get lost!

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. Who knew how much time passed before Gu Jingyi realized that Shen Zechuan’s arm was still around him, and he could not help feeling a little embarrassed.

“Um… I’m not sleepy right now. This big cabinet must have been left by the previous owner, right? Let me see what’s inside and do a simple sort-through.”

“Sure, take a look first then.” Shen Zechuan smiled. “I’ll go to the toilet and come back in a bit to help you tidy up.”

“Okay.” Gu Jingyi responded.

This cabinet had probably been a wardrobe before. It was very tall and wide, with an upper and lower layer inside, and it truly had quite a lot of things piled in it.

He discovered that the left cabinet door seemed stuck. He pulled hard several times, but there was no response, so he could only open the right cabinet door.

But the things were basically all on the left side. Gu Jingyi had no choice but to crawl all the way inside.

The inside of the cabinet was indeed quite spacious. With him alone in there, it was not cramped at all, and he could still move freely.

However, he had just picked up two items and was looking at them seriously when a bang suddenly came from behind him. The wardrobe door closed from the outside without any warning.

The sudden darkness made Gu Jingyi tremble all over, and his mind went completely blank.