381: Chapter 381 The Brother-in-Law, Once Again Plucking the Strings of Fate

On this day, the Zhang family was especially happy; for dinner, Zhang Hui's mother even stewed a pot of meat.

"Eat more, come, eat more."

"It's too much, I can't finish it all."

"Hui'er, do you still remember me?"

"I... I've forgotten."

"Alright, stop it. It's a good thing that Hui'er could wake up, a good thing indeed." Father Zhang's eyes were filled with tears as he took a deep drag from his hand-rolled cigarette.

"Right, right, right." Zhang Mother wiped her tears. "It's good that he's awake, it's good that he's awake."

"Come, this is the braised pork you used to love most, eat more."

And so, Tang Ping took on Zhang Hui's identity and settled down with the Zhang family.

The news of Zhang Hui waking up spread among the neighbors, and many came over to offer their congratulations. It must be said that the relationships between neighbors in this small town were quite good.

Since he had just woken up, the Zhang family insisted that Tang Ping continue to recuperate at home, fearing he might collapse again.

As the days passed, Tang Ping truly integrated into this Luangang Town.

Fifty to sixty thousand people lived in the town. People here generally married and had children around fourteen or fifteen, forming their own small families.

By twenty-five or twenty-six, one was already considered middle-aged, and by thirty, one could already be a grandfather.

Most people here lived into their fifties, which was a miracle in this Wasteland. These people had absolutely no concept of a contamination index; if it was edible, they ate it, and they would drink water from streams and rivers just by leaning over.

If one didn't know better, they would think these people were intelligent Aberrants.

"Zhang Hui, out for a stroll?"

An auntie washing clothes by her door greeted him.

"Hello, Auntie Li."

Tang Ping had just returned from the east side of the town.

The east side of town housed the ironworks, a gunpowder factory, and numerous blacksmith shops that forged everything from hoes and shovels to iron swords, axes, and iron armor.

The west side contained textile mills, flour mills, and places for tanning hides and processing herbs.

As for the father of this identity, the place where he mined was within the Grey Cedar Forest. There were Pollution Beasts in the Grey Cedar Forest; these things were extremely ferocious and incredibly difficult to kill, so miners often died.

Fortunately, there were turrets stationed at the mines. These Pollution Beasts had the fear of artillery fire etched into their bones and did not dare to intrude easily.

Of course, this was all because there weren't any overly powerful Pollution Beasts in this area.

Otherwise, this ordinary artillery fire would have no effect on Level 4 Pollution Beasts.

"Brother, where did you go today?"

His younger sister was processing potatoes. These potatoes were dark and dusty, and they didn't look very appetizing.

It had to be said that if one excluded the attribute of contamination, there was basically no need to worry about food. After all, it could be considered a type of transcendent substance that could greatly increase crop yields; there was edible food everywhere in the Grey Cedar Forest.

The reason the population couldn't grow was primarily because the environment was too dangerous.

"I went to the east side of town, thinking I could find a job."

Zhang Xiaomei stopped her work and shook her head with a smile. "Brother, you should just rest well from now on. If worst comes to worst, I'll support you. Besides, Mom and Dad can still work; they can support you for another ten years without a problem, and after that, I'll take over."

"Are you getting married?"

Zhang Xiaomei nodded naturally. "Yes, to the family of Blacksmith Lu at the east end."

Tang Ping had an impression of them.

"That silly boy with the missing arm?"

That Little Lu was seventeen and also a blacksmith. He was honest and simple, and his family forged iron swords. With their unique skill, they were considered quite well-off. However, the reason such a good family hadn't seen him married by seventeen was that he had lost an arm as a child. He couldn't forge things like iron swords and could only assist his father.

As for his siblings, he had three older brothers. The eldest was in the hunting squad and lost his life during an exploration; the second brother was scalded to death by molten iron as a child; and the third brother disappeared in the Grey Cedar Forest and had not been seen since.

And Old Lu, the blacksmith, was old now. He was older than Father Zhang at forty-three, and it looked like he didn't have many years left.

"Are you really going to marry into that family?"

"I'll have to marry sooner or later. And if it weren't for you waking up, Brother, I might not have been able to marry into such a good family. Hehe, once I marry over, I can learn blacksmithing too. We women aren't lacking in strength, you know!"

Tang Ping remained silent, not interfering much with these fates. Furthermore, although that Lu boy was missing an arm, he knew the boy was a very decent person.

While he couldn't forge delicate items like iron swords, forging hoes and pickaxes was no problem, and the family had accumulated quite a bit of savings over the years.

"Yeah, that boy is pretty good."

"Brother, do you plan on getting married?"

"Me? Haha, I'm already so old I can barely walk."

"Hehe, you still look quite handsome, Brother."

Tang Ping shrugged. Zhang Hui was indeed good-looking, and having been in bed for three years, although his skin was somewhat dark like everyone else's, it was much better than most. It was just that his body looked so frail that no family would willingly send their daughter into such a predicament.

Even if someone did marry him, they might end up having to support him.

Of course, this was better; after all, he wasn't the real Zhang Hui.

The current Zhang Hui was still in the Azure Realm. His body had mostly recovered, but Tang Ping hadn't cleared the contamination from his body; he had only strengthened it. After all, here, contamination itself was their capital for survival.

His family still wouldn't let him go out to find work for no other reason than he was too weak. In the eyes of Father and Zhang Mother, being able to live peacefully was the greatest blessing from heaven.

As for Zhang Xiaomei, she got married a month after Tang Ping woke up as Zhang Hui.

Marriages here involved no dowry or banquets; the two families just agreed, pooled some resources together, and a new small household was formed.

At his brother-in-law's house, Tang Ping watched his sister learning to forge. To be honest, his sister was indeed much sturdier than Zhang Hui; her name sounded delicate, but her strength was not small at all.

Clang! Sparks flew, and the smiles of Old Lu, Little Lu, and Xiaomei were reflected bright red in the glow of the sparks.

Tang Ping wondered if these people ever thought about what the future would be like, if they would ever want to explore the world outside, or if they would one day leave the Grey Cedar Forest for more distant places.

He had originally intended to stay for a few months and then leave, but Tang Ping waited until his little nephew and niece were born—twins, a boy and a girl.

"Brother, how about you give them names?"

Tang Ping stared at those wrinkled little faces. Because children here were born early, they looked like kittens.

His fingertips brushed over the foreheads of the two little ones.

"Hmm, let's call them Lu Zhi and Lu Hui."