"Grrr..."
In the early morning, Lu Qing woke up to the sound of his stomach growling.
Feeling the hunger in his belly, he sighed and rubbed his stomach.
"Growling won't help. Where am I supposed to find food right now?"
Looking around at the bare, dilapidated house he was in — one that could barely be called a home — Lu Qing gave a bitter smile.
Others get to travel to other worlds and live like heroes, but here he was, struggling just to fill his stomach. What kind of luck was this?
He had already been lying in bed for two days.
Two days ago, Lu Qing had opened his eyes to find himself in this strange world.
Dressed in rags, skin and bones, and even in a completely different body — that of a boy around ten years old.
After some time, he managed to figure out his situation.
He had transmigrated.
He had been reborn into the body of a boy who had just lost both parents. After selling off what little the family had to bury them, the boy had been too weak and devastated to survive a single cold night.
Perhaps, for the original owner of this body, death was a kind of release.
That was Lu Qing's first thought after receiving the memories in his mind.
For a boy this young to survive in a world like this... it was simply too hard.
Maybe death wasn't the worst thing that could happen.
But just then—
"Big brother, you're awake!"
Lu Qing's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a joyful shout.
He turned his head and saw a little girl, around five or six years old, holding something gray in her hands, standing at the doorway with a face full of delight.
The little girl quickly ran to Lu Qing's bedside. "Big brother, are you better now?"
"Mm, I'm better now. No need to worry anymore, Xiaoyan," Lu Qing replied with a smile.
"That's great! You're finally better!" As soon as she heard that he was okay, the little girl's eyes turned red and teardrops began to fall. "Your face was so red and hot the last two days, and you kept saying you were cold. I didn't know what to do! You wouldn't respond no matter how I called you… I thought you were going to leave Xiaoyan like Daddy and Mommy did!"
Seeing the little girl crying tugged at Lu Qing's heart.
For the past two days, he had been integrating the memories in his mind. His body had appeared unconscious, and although he could vaguely sense things around him, his awareness wasn't fully present.
Other than briefly waking up a few times, he had mostly been in a coma.
He had faintly heard her crying, but had been unable to respond.
Lu Qing reached out and gently rubbed the little girl's dry, yellowed hair. "It's big brother's fault. I promise you, I won't get sick anymore and make you worry, okay?"
"Okay." Xiaoyan wiped her tears and held out her little hand. "Then let's pinky swear."
Lu Qing extended his pinky and hooked it with hers.
"Pinky swear, pinky swear, for a hundred years no changes — whoever breaks it is a puppy!"
After the pinky promise, Xiaoyan immediately brightened up.
In her little mind, once a pinky swear was made, it was set in stone — her big brother would never get sick again.
"Xiaoyan, what are you holding in your hands?"
It was then that Lu Qing noticed what she was holding.
"It's a steamed bun! Big brother doesn't recognize it?" Xiaoyan held out the gray object in both hands and beamed. "Grandpa Zhang from next door gave it to me. I didn't want to eat it all by myself, so I brought it back to share with you. I didn't expect to see you all better when I came back!"
"A steamed bun?"
Lu Qing looked at the grayish lump. It looked quite different from the steamed buns he remembered.
But then again, this was another world — of course things would be different.
While thinking this, his gaze lingered on the bun for a few seconds. Suddenly, a line of text appeared before his eyes:
[Mixed Grain Steamed Bun: Made from rice bran, wheat flour, and wild vegetables. Limited nutritional value.]
At the same time, the bun gave off a faint gray glow.
What the...?
Lu Qing froze. He blinked, but the words were still there, floating above the bun.
So it wasn't a hallucination…
Before he could delve deeper, Xiaoyan brought the gray steamed bun up to his mouth.
"Big brother, you eat it! You just got better. Grandpa Chen said that people need to eat to regain strength after being sick."
Smelling the coarse grain aroma from the bun, Lu Qing felt the hunger in his belly surge again.
He didn't hesitate. He took it, tore it in half, and handed one piece back to Xiaoyan.
"Mm. Let's eat together, Xiaoyan."
He hadn't forgotten what she just said — that she brought it back to share with him.
But to his surprise, the little girl shook her head and pushed the half bun back into his hands. "You eat it, big brother. I'm not hungry. You just got better, so you need to eat more to get strong again."
Even as she said that, Lu Qing clearly saw her unconsciously swallow her saliva when she handed it back.
Looking at her dry, yellowed hair, his heart ached. He firmly returned half of the bun to her hand.
"Big brother just recovered. I can't eat too much all at once — it'll upset my stomach. So you should eat this half."
"Really?" she asked, tilting her head. "But that's not what Grandpa Chen said…"
"When someone's just recovered from an illness, they shouldn't eat too much at once. You can ask Grandpa Chen next time — he'll say the same thing," Lu Qing replied seriously.
"Okay." Xiaoyan nodded with a hint of confusion.
She didn't realize that half a coarse bun was hardly "too much" by any means.
Taking the chance, Lu Qing added, "Since I can't finish it, Xiaoyan should help me eat it. Otherwise, it'll get cold and won't taste good."
"Okay!" Xiaoyan nodded firmly. "Since big brother can't finish it, Xiaoyan will help you!"
And so, the brother and sister each held half a bun, happily munching away.
Very soon, Lu Qing finished his half. Though his stomach still felt a bit empty, the warmth of some food inside brought a touch of energy back to him.
To be honest, the bun didn't taste great — but it was filling, and it was big enough.
Even half a bun was enough to take the edge off his hunger, so he no longer felt dizzy or weak.
Seeing Xiaoyan still chewing away on her half, Lu Qing didn't disturb her. Instead, he shifted his attention to something else.
He recalled the line of text he saw above the bun earlier.
Thinking it over, he stood up, walked over to the table, and picked up a chipped ceramic bowl.
He held it in front of him and stared at it quietly.
After a few seconds, a faint gray glow appeared on the bowl — and a new line of text surfaced:
[Damaged Ceramic Bowl: A chipped ceramic bowl. Doesn't look very clean.]
So it's real… Lu Qing's lips curled into a slight smile.