Transmigration: I Have Storage Space in the Apocalypse-Chapter 22 - 0: Jingchen, Brother Jing, Brother Chen?

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"Come in." Zhang Shanni straightened out her slightly wrinkled old-fashioned clothes, and after confirming that there was nothing inappropriate, she calmly replied.

Following her voice, the one who pushed the door and entered was Xie Jingchen. Seeing that it was him, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Taking a closer look, she saw that he was carrying bamboo mats, bedding, and pillows intended for sleep, so she hurriedly stepped forward to help, "Xie Jingchen, let me do it."

Inside the inner room, the bed was already covered with a straw mat, with a thick pillow and a thin blanket on it.

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This meant that what Xie Jingchen had brought in must be for her.

"Little girl, step aside." Xie Jingchen shook his head, refusing her kind offer to help, directly placing the bamboo mat and bedding aside, feeling the temperature of the bed with his hand. Finding it not too hot, just a touch warm, and noticing some dampness along the edges of the bed, he realized that the little girl had once again wiped down the bed herself.

He skillfully spread the bamboo mat, placing the pillow with the freshly changed pillowcase and the bedding on top of it. As a military man, he made the bed quickly and neatly; Zhang Shanni wanted to step in and do it herself, but everything was already quickly taken care of by him!

"Xie Jingchen, thank you," Zhang Shanni could only say these two sentences.

"You need not be so formal. We are going to spend a lifetime together. These things within my power I can do myself when I'm home. Also, shouldn't you change the way you address me?" What wife calls her husband by his full name?!

Zhang Shanni blushed involuntarily under Xie Jingchen's glance. Of course, it wasn't noticeable unless one looked closely. Seeing his serious expression, she relaxed a bit and tentatively called out:

"Oh, Brother Shitou?"

Hearing this, Xie Jingchen's eyebrows knitted together, that Sichuan-character wrinkle on his forehead could almost trap flies: "No good. You're used to calling that at home, but you'll have to change it again when we go out. It's superfluous."

"Brother Xie? Brother Jing? Jingchen? Brother Chen?" Zhang Shanni mentioned a few names in succession, all derived from his actual name, until she reached Brother Chen. Seeing his face relax, she knew he preferred this nickname.

"Let's go with Brother Chen." In Qingfeng Village, there were too many people with the surname Xie; there were already four in his own home alone called Brother Jing, so who would respond to that? Calling him by his given name seemed improper, especially as the little girl was a full ten years younger than him. Brother Chen it was!

"I'll follow your lead," Zhang Shanni obediently nodded. It was just a nickname, after all. She felt anything was fine as long as it wasn't a derogatory term.

"Little girl, you should sleep early. Tomorrow we'll go to register our marriage certificate. In three days, we'll host a few wedding feasts. I've inconvenienced you." Xie Jingchen said somewhat awkwardly and, without waiting for her response, quickly added, "I'm going to take a bath, so you should go to sleep," and prepared to leave.

"Wait, wait a minute!" Zhang Shanni called out to stop him as she saw him leaving.

"Hmm?" Xie Jingchen hesitated, looking back at her, but his body remained outside without turning around.

"Brother Chen, I don't feel mistreated at all, and I'm really grateful for your help! Really, thank you! I'll go to bed now, and you should also rest early. I want to set out early tomorrow."

What was there to feel mistreated about? Xie Jingchen was willing to take her in and provide her a place to stay. She should be thanking him. She had no money now, and when going to the town in the morning, she could go to the mountain to hunt for game to trade in exchange for silver. This way, she wouldn't need to depend on others for everything, making herself look lowly.

The independent Zhang Shanni couldn't bear asking men for silver to spend.

"Alright, sleep well." Xie Jingchen said as he closed the door.

Zhang Shanni didn't wait for him to come back; after he left, she thought about it and washed the original owner's clothes, hanging them to dry in the partition.

The inner room's wall connected to the bed, with almost half of the wall taken up by a large platform bed, leaving the partition with about five or six square meters of space—not too small. Houses at this time wouldn't be too cramped, but also wouldn't be excessively large unless they were intended to be used as storerooms.

She was indeed very tired. Today, her rebirth had been quite spectacular. Jumping into the river could be brushed aside—that was the original host's action, but she was the one who suffered from it. The sudden feeling of suffocation in the water was terrifying to the extreme!

Who, just after being fatally pierced through the heart by a monster, in pain and despair, could then fall into water to suffocate and remain calm? At that time, she had truly been scared out of her wits, or else she wouldn't have clung to Xie Jingchen's neck for dear life—

Luckily, Xie Jingchen had saved her just in time, so she didn't swallow any turbid water. After arriving at Uncle Grandpa's place, she steeled her heart to induce vomiting and expelled all the accidentally ingested water from her stomach, only then did she gulp down the Ginger Soup that Aunt had specially made for her!

Following Xie Jingchen, she had walked on the mountain path for nearly an hour. During that time, she even used spiritual power. By the time they reached the Xie family, her nerves were even more tightly wound. Thankfully, his parents seemed alright at the moment. Particularly after seeing Dad, Zhang Shanni was truly overjoyed.

Then she cooked food, washed dishes, bathed the children, and after soaking in a bath herself, her body was incredibly weak!

In a daze of drifting memories, Zhang Shanni curled up and fell into a deep sleep.

A quarter of an hour later, Xie Jingchen took a cold bath, then patrolled around the whole yard. After ensuring there were no hidden dangers, he leisurely returned to his own room.

The night sky was pitch black, adorned with twinkling stars.

He gently pushed open the heavy wooden door, which creaked softly. In his ears, the sound seemed very loud. He listened carefully to the inner room, noting that it was completely quiet, then lifted the door gently as he closed it to minimize the creaking noise.

Xie Jingchen tiptoed into the dimly lit inner room. Through the sparse moonlight, he saw the small lump on the bed and let out a sigh of relief—he was actually somewhat worried that she'd still be waiting for him when he got back!

For the first time in twenty-eight years, he was spending time alone in a room with a strange woman. To say he wasn't nervous would be untrue.

Considering the things these young men discuss privately, their conversations are quite bold. Even he, a novice who had 'never seen pork', had a pretty good idea of such matters. In the past, when his energy in the military was too overwhelming, he could always climb and train to exhaust the surplus physical energy, falling onto the bed and sleeping straight away without a second thought.

But Zhang Shanni was different in his heart.

She was soon to be his little wife, becoming his mother-in-law.

Xie Jingchen dared not approach the bed, silently lying down on the couch, closing his eyes to erase some fanciful thoughts that had started to wander in his mind...

When Zhang Shanni woke up, the sky was just beginning to brighten faintly, the room illuminated by a hint of residual white light. In the countryside, dawn came early; apart from the mountains, there was nothing to block the light, hence it felt like daybreak came quickly.

She turned her head in confusion towards the bed and found it empty—where was he?

She sat up all of a sudden. The inner room was completely silent, no other presence but herself.

On the table against the wall, she found an additional water cup and kettle, and also...a military watch?

Zhang Shanni put on her cloth shoes and quickly approached the table, picking up the watch to see that it was just 5:50 AM. So early, where had Xie Jingchen gone? Suddenly remembering that she hadn't set the time on the mechanical watch prepared in her Space, she hurriedly adjusted it before stowing it back in the Space. Seeing that her clothes were still decent, she tugged at them and used her hands as a comb to tidy her shoulder-length, short hair.

Seeing there was water and a pot, she took advantage of the solitude to wash up.

The bed and pillows were neatly arranged, so she guessed Xie Jingchen must have gone to do his morning exercises! As a military man, it was quite normal to have a habit of morning training.

Before the apocalypse, humans also liked to absorb not-so-fresh air in the early morning, walking slowly, briskly, or running—all simple ways to exercise.

But in the years of the apocalypse, she had developed a habit of being alert. Had she slept too soundly last night?

Thinking of her body, she was just a new occupant and could only helplessly accept that she still had some instinctively slow reactions...