Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 138 Niu Niu

Xu Xiaoyan stood quietly on the periphery of the commotion, her gaze passing over the distorted faces of the adults, finally settling firmly on the young girl Niu Niu who was being held tightly in someone's arms.

She was waiting, waiting to see if the mother would choose to fight to the death to protect the child in the face of reality, or... ultimately compromise.

After Qiang Ge's words, which sounded like an ultimatum, the young woman named Xiao Yi seemed to have all her strength drained away. With tears welling up in her eyes, she lowered her head, her long, tear-dampened eyelashes trembling, and kissed the child's tender cheeks again and again.

She raised her head, her face still wet with tears, but she forced a smile that looked worse than crying, a submissive one. She spoke to the man called Brother Qiang, her voice still choked with sobs, but with a resigned calm, "Brother Qiang... I... I'll listen to you. I'll go look for Niu Niu and see... see if there are any kind people in this line who are willing to adopt her. You... you go exchange your clothes first, don't delay our business. I... I'll be back in a bit."

The mean-spirited woman next to her clearly showed no sympathy for her "sensible" decision; instead, she was filled with undisguised disgust. She let out a clear and grating sneer, as if to say, "It should have been done long ago," and turned her head away, not even wanting to look at the "burden" mother and daughter again, as if they carried bad luck.

On the contrary, Brother Qiang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief because of her "sensible" decision, which met his expectations. The tense muscles on his face relaxed, and he even squeezed out a reassuring smile. His tone was also deliberately softened a bit as he whispered to comfort her, "Hey, that's right! Xiao Yi, it's good that you understand! It's okay, you go ahead and find Niu Niu a... find a reliable family with good conditions. Our... team will set off in half an hour. You... don't be too late." He even symbolically patted Xiao Yi's thin shoulder, as if rewarding her "deep understanding".

Xu Xiaoyan took in all of this, subtly adjusted her position, and casually walked past the woman named Xiaoyi, who was holding a child and looking around blankly, trying to attract her attention.

However, the woman merely glanced at her with her teary eyes before quickly looking away, clearly not believing that Xu Xiaoyan would be a suitable adoptive parent to entrust the child's future to. In her view, adoptive parents should at least be those who appear more capable, more experienced, and more... like "parents."

Carrying her child, she walked towards the relatively denser crowd at the back of the convoy, anxiously searching among the sitting or lying down people with blank expressions, specifically looking for older women or mothers with children in tow.

She leaned closer, a humble and earnest smile plastered on her face, and in a low voice, repeated the heartbreaking question over and over again, asking if the other person would be willing to have a change of heart and raise another child, and urgently assuring them that the child was very well-behaved and ate very little...

Xu Xiaoyan followed at a distance, watching the woman approach again and again with a glimmer of hope, only to be coldly rejected each time, and watching her go from initial expectation to gradual despair.

This woman hadn't completely lost the last bit of conscience and instinct she had as a mother. She knew to find partners who seemed to have parenting experience for her child, fantasizing that her child might be able to live a slightly better life in a relatively "normal" environment and suffer less.

Unfortunately, she was too naive. In this chaotic era where everyone was struggling to survive, every bite of food had to be carefully calculated, and even lives had to be risked to fight for it, who, unless they were blood relatives, would be willing to accept a "little mouth" that only consumed precious food but could not provide any labor and might even cause trouble? Unless it was someone with ulterior motives and ulterior motives, and in that case, the fate awaiting this child would probably be even darker and more tragic than being abandoned directly.

Xu Xiaoyan originally thought that under the dual pressure of time constraints and despair, this woman would be driven to desperation and ask anyone she met. In that case, she could seemingly "accidentally" and naturally step forward as a "kind-hearted passerby" or a "survivor with some ability" and passively take in the child. But now it seems that the other party's remaining unrealistic fantasies and pickiness have disrupted her original approach.

She watched as the woman, holding the child, went from the middle of the convoy to the end, asking questions. She watched her be rejected time and time again, yet stubbornly persist. She watched her initial cautious, humble pleading turn into increasingly urgent, tearful pleas, and finally into almost numb repetition. Without exception, the only responses she received were indifferent headshakes, annoyed handshakes, and swift avoidance as if fleeing from a plague.

Finally, seemingly having exhausted her last bit of strength and hope, she collapsed to the ground, holding her bewildered child in her arms. She buried her face in the child's small chest, sobbing and crying in suppressed sobs.

Now is the time.

Xu Xiaoyan knew the time was ripe. If she waited any longer, either the so-called "team" would come to urge her, or the woman would completely break down and do something irrational. She took a step forward and walked to the mother and daughter who were slumped on the ground, and stood there.

The weeping woman noticed someone approaching, and looked up blankly at the young girl who had returned, her face calm to the point of indifference. Her eyes were filled with confusion, lingering despair, and a faint hope that even she herself could not believe.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't waste any time with pleasantries; she went straight to the point. "If I take this child," she paused, "won't you change your mind? Won't you later find all sorts of excuses to ask me to take the child back?"

The woman was stunned, seemingly not expecting the other person to ask so directly and so...uncompromisingly. But then, a surge of overwhelming joy instantly overwhelmed the bewilderment and sorrow on her face! An incredulous light shone in her eyes!

She hurriedly and forcefully wiped the tears and snot from her face with her already soaked and dirty sleeves, afraid that her blurred vision and disheveled appearance would make the other person change their mind. She urgently, almost as if she were swearing, promised, her voice trembling violently with excitement, "No! Absolutely not! Girl! As long as... as long as you are willing to have a kind heart and give her a bite to eat, so that she... so that she can live and not starve or freeze to death... I will absolutely not go back! I swear! I swear to God!" She even excitedly wanted to raise her hand and point to the sky to swear an oath.

Afraid that Xu Xiaoyan wouldn't believe her, she quickly added, as if she had remembered something, "That's right! I... I can write! I can write an abandonment letter! I can even write a guarantee! As long as you're willing to take her in, I'll write whatever you want! It'll be in black and white, I'll put my fingerprint on it! I'll never go back on my word! Please!" She looked up at Xu Xiaoyan, her eyes filled with humble pleading and desperate determination.

Xu Xiaoyan looked at her anxious expression, which was almost as if she wanted to tear out her heart to prove her point, but she was not very moved. She knew that under the absolute drive of interests or emotions, the binding force of so-called oaths and documents was as fragile as a spider web. If the biological parents were determined to find their child in the future, they would always find various ways and reasons. On the legal and moral ruins of the end times, a piece of paper had almost zero effect.

But she still needed this thing. It wasn't just a formality; it was a psychological separation and proof. With this, she could at least put a psychological shackle on the woman. If she ever regretted it and had any delusions that led her to try to harass her, this written document would at least make her morally untenable and give her some initiative and room to maneuver. Although Xu Xiaoyan never intended to take the child with her from beginning to end, she had her own plans and destination.

"Okay," Xu Xiaoyan nodded, and directly unzipped the backpack (actually taking it out from her spatial storage). She naturally took out an ordinary black ballpoint pen and a slightly worn notebook with curled edges. She skillfully tore off two blank pages, the paper making a slight "rip" sound, and then handed the pen and paper to the woman who was slumped on the ground.

"Write it down," her voice remained calm, carrying an unquestionable command. "Write clearly that you voluntarily relinquish custody of the child, handing her over to me. From now on, life and death are in the hands of fate, wealth and honor are determined by heaven, and we will have no further connection. Then, write a separate guarantee that you will never in any form or for any reason demand, harass, or attempt to take the child back." Her demands were clear, explicit, and left no room for ambiguity.

The woman, trembling, reached out her hands, which were somewhat unresponsive to the cold, and carefully took the pen and the two sheets of paper. She almost crawled on the ground, with her knees together, and spread the two sheets of paper out. She began to write, stroke by stroke. Tears still dripped uncontrollably onto the rough paper from time to time, blurring the ink. But she wrote with determination, her wrists gripping the paper tightly, as if she wanted to pour all her helplessness, pain, despair, and that last, twisted "love" and resolve as a mother into these few lines.

After finishing writing, she even bit her index fingertip hard, ignoring the cold ground, and pressed a bright red and glaring fingerprint on the signature. The blood looked particularly shocking on the gray paper.

Xu Xiaoyan carefully checked the contents of the document, and after confirming that there were no errors, she carefully folded it and put it into her backpack. Then, she reached out her hand and said calmly to the woman who was still slumped on the ground, "Give me the child."

The woman hugged the child tightly, planting a tearful and desperate kiss on the little face, and then, trembling, offered the tiny, milky-scented body to Xu Xiaoyan's outstretched arms.

At the moment of handover, her fingers gripped the edge of the child's clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white, before finally letting go in despair. She buried her face in her knees and let out a suppressed sob.

Xu Xiaoyan steadily took the child. The child seemed to sense his mother's sadness, his little mouth twitched, and he was about to burst into tears. Xu Xiaoyan seemed to have been prepared. With her other free hand, she magically pulled out a small piece of milk candy wrapped in candy wrapper from her backpack and quickly stuffed it into the child's slightly open mouth.

The sudden sweetness instantly captured the child's attention. The impending cry was swallowed back, turning into a satisfied, soft sucking sound. Her big, dark eyes were still filled with tears, yet she was already curiously observing the unfamiliar older sister who was holding her.

Holding the little girl who had suddenly quieted down, Xu Xiaoyan did not return directly to her own carriage. She hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the front of the train. There were some things that needed to be discussed in advance, especially with such an obvious "extra burden" in tow.

Soon, she found Jiang Shan near the front of the car, whispering something to his soldiers. When Jiang Shan looked up, he saw that Xu Xiaoyan was holding a beautiful little baby. His brows immediately furrowed, and his eyes were filled with obvious disapproval.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't give him a chance to speak. Using her body as cover, she stuffed a pack of cigarettes into his hand and said in a low voice, "Uncle Jiang, this is the child's 'fare.' Please keep it safe."

She paused, looking at Jiang Shan's still furrowed brows, and continued to explain, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'll send her away as soon as we get to Linchuan City. I definitely won't keep her around and cause myself any trouble."

Hearing Xu Xiaoyan's clear and unambiguous assurance, especially the words "I won't keep her with me forever," Jiang Shan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, but the disapproval in his eyes did not completely disappear. He sighed, his tone softening a bit, but still carrying the earnest advice of an elder, "Xiao Xu, it's not that I'm being nosy or trying to control you, but in this world, it's already difficult for a girl like you to survive. If you're dragging along such a young child who doesn't understand anything, it will be even more difficult. Take my advice, don't be soft-hearted, send her away as soon as possible."

"I understand, Uncle Jiang, thank you for reminding me. I know what's important," Xu Xiaoyan nodded with a smile, her attitude very sincere, without the slightest impatience or rebuttal, fully indicating that she had taken it to heart.

Having settled Jiang Shan's situation, Xu Xiaoyan, holding Niu Niu who was starting to wriggle restlessly again because the candy had melted, turned and walked towards the back of the third-to-last military vehicle they usually rode in.

When she struggled to climb onto the train carriage carrying this "little bundle," Xie Yingtang and Wang Xiao were almost simultaneously stunned. Their faces were instantly filled with immense shock and disbelief. Wang Xiao even exaggeratedly rubbed his eyes and opened his mouth wide, unable to close it for a long time.