232 The People Here Are All Quite Cute
When they were queuing up, Du Yue noticed that it was the elderly and children who stood at the front of the line, while the young and middle-aged people waited at the back. The three of them were slower and stood at the end of the line. Wan Dapeng even consoled Du Yue and He Xing, “It’s okay, the canteen has enough food every day. Even if we’re the last ones, we won’t have to worry about not having anything to eat.”
When it was their turn, Du Yue understood why Wan Dapeng was so certain. The person responsible for giving out the food held a large metal ladle in his hand. He had been lowering his head to get food for the people in line. No matter who it was, they all had the same amount of food. The food was distributed evenly according to the number of people. Naturally, everyone could eat.
Everyone got a ladleful of rice and a ladleful of seafood hodgepodge with chili. It looked very appetizing. Du Yue took her lunchbox and sat down. Then, she took a closer look. The rice in the lunchbox was steamed with a mixture of many kinds of beans and grains. At first glance, it looked like the Eight Treasures Rice she had eaten before the apocalypse.
It had been so long since the apocalypse, but this small base still had so many kinds of grains. It could be said that this base was very rich! As for the big ladleful of seafood, there were even more varieties! Du Yue recognized a few of them, but there were also some that she had never seen before. The seafood that was stir-fried with all kinds of spices had an alluring red color.
Du Yue took a bite. It was just as Wan Dapeng had said. The color, smell, and taste were all amazing. The only drawback was that the portion was a little small, and she was only 50% full after eating it all. Wan Dapeng, who was beside them, had also finished his meal. He looked over with a smile. “Is the food to your liking?”
Du Yue smiled and gave him a big thumbs-up. “I like it very much!”
“You guys can come here often in the future. You can come over and have a meal with us!”
When Du Yue heard this, she nodded with a smile and did not say anything else. She had just observed the entire place. Everyone was engrossed in eating, and there was almost no sound of conversation in the entire canteen. Du Yue also noticed a detail. After everyone had finished their meal, no matter if they looked satisfied or unsatisfied, they would not go for a second bowl of rice.
Du Yue knew that she had a relatively large appet.i.te, but an adult would probably only be 60-70% full after eating so little food. These people did not fill their bowls with rice not because they were full but because they could only eat this much for a meal. It was no wonder that they were all so thin and weak even though the food they ate was not bad.
After Wan Dapeng brought Du Yue and He Xing to clean the lunchboxes, the three of them walked out of the canteen together. The couple returned to their room and locked the door. Du Yue then asked He Xing, “Do you want to eat something?” She was not full, so what more He Xing, who had a bigger appet.i.te.
He Xing thought for a moment. “Let’s eat something that doesn’t have a strong smell.” After all, it wasn’t like at home. Here, the smell of food could leak out through the cracks of the windows and doors.
Du Yue took out two hamburgers, which did not have any smell. The two of them had one each, and they finished it in less than three minutes. After eating, Du Yue glanced at the time. It was only half-past seven, not time to sleep yet. Just as she was about to find some variety shows to pa.s.s the time, she heard laughter coming from outside.
The sounds fluctuated from far away and near. It was children bouncing around and playing games. Thinking of the children she saw in the canteen today, Du Yue felt a little touched, “The people in this base… are very kind.”
Although they were short of food, neither the elderly nor the children were ever hungry, and their faces are healthy and ruddy. Especially the children. Although they were wearing old clothes, they were all taken care of very well.
In the small bases that Du Yue had lived in in her previous life, many children who had lost their parents and loved ones led miserable lives. They were all skin and bones from hunger and looked as if they could be blown to the ground by a gust of wind. Not only would they not be able to eat their fill and sleep well, but they would also have to face the fate of a tragic death at any time. Compared to those poor kids, the kids in this base were living happy lives.
Du Yue could not help but give Yu Xinya a thumbs-up in her heart when she recalled hearing the people around her praising her before the meal. She was so young, yet she was able to build a base in the post-apocalyptic world and become the leader of the base. She was able to take good care of the elderly and the children in the base, which was indeed worthy of admiration.
Not to mention, she also went fishing with everyone every time, leading by example and silently contributing. Du Yue thought that she could not sacrifice herself for others like Yu Xinya, but this did not stop her from admiring such a person.