Tang Qiyue was woken by the morning reveille.
She covered her ears, trying to fall back asleep, when suddenly she felt herself being lifted and moved. Her body dropped onto the bed beside her.
"Ah!!!"
She cried out instinctively and opened her eyes to see Zhan Zeyi sitting up, rubbing his shoulder.
"You—"
Before she could finish speaking, Zhan Zeyi had already grabbed his training uniform and started putting it on.
"I'm going to drill. You keep sleeping. I'll bring breakfast back later."
He spoke quickly and efficiently. It was still very early. As a soldier he had to follow the schedule, but Tang Qiyue was not part of the army.
Tang Qiyue was never the type to endure discomfort. She pulled the blanket tightly around herself, but the hard wooden surface beneath her made it impossible to fall asleep again.
Only after Zhan Zeyi closed the door and left did Tang Qiyue realize something.
She had slept in his arms the entire night.
That jerk might have a sharp tongue, but his actions weren't bad.
The temperature difference between day and night on the island was still quite large. Although summer was approaching, the early morning air was chilly. She rubbed her arms and decided not to sleep anymore.
She got dressed, lit a candle, folded the blankets, and opened the door.
Stamping her feet lightly to wake herself up, she looked toward the sea.
Their house sat halfway up the hill. Since there was no courtyard wall yet, she could clearly see the ocean from the doorway.
The sun had not yet risen, but a faint glow had already appeared along the horizon.
Tang Qiyue wasn't in a hurry to do anything. It was her first time watching a sunrise over the sea, so she leaned against the doorframe quietly, watching the sky slowly brighten.
In the distance came the rhythmic shouts of soldiers training.
Then, like a flame igniting the sea, the crimson sun slowly leaped above the horizon.
By the time the sun had fully risen into the sky, Tang Qiyue suddenly felt a strange sense of pride swelling in her chest—something she couldn't quite explain.
Before she could think about it further, she heard a child's voice singing loudly.
"The East Is Red…"
The song fit the moment perfectly.
Tang Qiyue recognized the voice immediately—it was Hu Weihai, Xu Qiuju's eldest son. The boy might be mischievous, but he had a good sense of rhythm and sang loudly and clearly.
As his singing echoed around the island, doors began opening one after another.
The entire settlement seemed to wake up with the voices of children.
Xu Qiuju's house was right next to Tang Qiyue's, and without courtyard walls they could see each other clearly from their doorways.
"Sister-in-law! Want to go to the beach later?" Xu Qiuju called out.
Although Xu Qiuju got seasick, she had heard that the beach was full of seafood. She had been excited about it all night until her husband Hu Peng scolded her.
Seeing Tang Qiyue now, she immediately wanted company.
Tang Qiyue nodded.
She wasn't thinking about eating seafood though. She simply wanted to see what could be found when the tide went out in the afternoon.
Tang Qiyue knew a little about tides.
They were influenced by the moon. Since it wasn't the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, there wouldn't be a major spring tide, but the water still rose and fell daily. When the tide went out, the reefs would be exposed.
And that was when good things could be found.
The two women had barely exchanged a few words when Xu Qiuju suddenly turned back toward her children.
Her three kids were close in age and constantly fighting.
They were a never-ending headache.
Tang Qiyue chuckled and shook her head but had no intention of helping.
At the doorway were the buckets of water Zhan Zeyi had brought the night before. She quickly washed her face.
But then she remembered something troubling.
There was still no kitchen.
And going to the bamboo grove every time she needed to relieve herself was really inconvenient.
Tang Qiyue wasn't the type to sit around waiting for Zhan Zeyi to take care of everything. She opened her system interface and checked whether she could buy a portable toilet.
At least that way she wouldn't have to worry about someone seeing her outside.
There were some available.
She had used them in her previous life.
But they weren't cheap.
The real problem was that she had nothing to exchange for points.
Her dowry could be exchanged—but she couldn't bear to part with it.
Everything was scarce on this island.
Zhan Zeyi was a rough soldier. He only thought about buying food, not practical daily supplies.
Tang Qiyue gathered the items she wanted from the system and looked at the points required.
She sighed heavily.
If she wanted to live well, she needed to find valuable things to trade. Otherwise the system was just decoration.
The sea was the greatest treasure trove here.
Hopefully it wouldn't disappoint her.
With a plan forming in her mind, Tang Qiyue decided to head to the bamboo forest to cut some bamboo.
She knew how to weave bamboo cages and could place them among the rocks to catch seafood.
But she didn't have a proper tool.
So she picked up a kitchen knife.
Just as she reached the door, she saw Zhan Zeyi running back toward the house, sweat covering his body.
He carried two lunchboxes.
"What are you doing?"
Only when he got closer did Zhan Zeyi notice the kitchen knife in Tang Qiyue's hand.
His expression darkened instantly.
He had only been gone a short time. Surely it hadn't reached the point where his wife was greeting him with a knife?
Tang Qiyue immediately realized the misunderstanding.
The knife in her hand was pointed straight at him.
She quickly hid it behind her back.
"I was going to cut bamboo. I want to make a cage for beachcombing!"
Zhan Zeyi took the knife from her hand and stuffed the two lunchboxes into her arms.
"That kind of work isn't suitable for you. Eat first."
Tang Qiyue really was hungry, so she didn't argue.
She went inside and opened the lunchboxes.
Inside were fish porridge and vegetable pancakes.
The cook had clearly tried hard, but the dough hadn't fermented properly. The pancakes were dense and chewy in an unpleasant way.
The fish porridge was decent though.
Sea fish didn't have many bones, and it tasted fresh without being overly fishy.
Still, because it was cooked in a large pot, the flavor was only barely acceptable.
Tang Qiyue had grown up eating the delicious meals prepared by Uncle Wang.
Even after surviving the apocalypse, her taste buds had only been fooled daily by nutrient solutions.
After forcing herself to finish breakfast, Tang Qiyue made a decision.
She would cook for herself from now on.
Otherwise her stomach and taste buds would suffer.
She looked at Zhan Zeyi.
"Could you build the kitchen first? I'll cook my own meals."
Zhan Zeyi finished the fish porridge in a few gulps.
He remembered the meal Tang Qiyue had cooked at the Zhan family home.
It was a hundred times better than the cafeteria food.
Now that he was a married man, how could he refuse his wife cooking?
"Alright! Building a stove is simple. We can finish it today."
With so many soldiers around, even repairing a house would only take a day—let alone building a stove.
Seeing him agree so easily, Tang Qiyue made another request.
"Can I go swimming in the sea?"
Zhan Zeyi slowly turned his head to look at her.
There was a strange light in his eyes.
Tang Qiyue suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
"If you want to bathe, wait until the afternoon. I'll build you a bamboo shower shed."
"The sea is too dangerous for you."
He pinched her cheek and added with a teasing tone,
"Besides… can you even swim?"