CHAPTER 257: CHAPTER 255: THE RELATIVES’ INTENTIONS

Chen Xin thought that the relatives coming to him to pull connections were just an isolated case, but it turned out it was not an isolated incident.

Early the next morning, Chen Xin got to his car, had breakfast with his parents, and mentioned the plan to let his cousin’s husband take his car to the county to exchange for supplies. His parents then told him that not only had relatives come to seek him out last night, but some had also reached out to them.

Chen Xin’s parents were naturally easier to deal with than him. After living here for half a year, any relatives, no matter how unfamiliar they were at first, had become familiar over this time.

"So what do they want?" Chen Xin felt very puzzled and asked his parents.

These relatives were neither close nor distant, and by detailed analysis, they weren’t even within the fifth degree of kinship. This made Chen Xin very curious about what these people wanted.

As for Chen Xin’s confusion, his parents were much more perceptive. Chen Xin’s father laughed and said, "Have you ever heard the saying, when you’re poor no one cares in the bustling city, but when you’re rich you have distant relatives in remote mountains? These people are your mom’s distant relatives, not even yours technically, but now that it seems things are going well for you, naturally, they want to come and catch some of your good fortune."

"What’s so great about this good fortune? Look at the world we live in now; it’s already a feat to take care of myself and a few close relatives and friends, where do I find the time to care for distant relatives!" Chen Xin couldn’t help but complain.

As he said this, Chen Xin couldn’t help but scoff, "And even if when you’re rich, distant relatives come, what can they gain from me? Once I help Uncle with the equipment upgrades, I’m returning to Xiang Province. Do they plan to follow me to Xiang Province?"

However, as he spoke, Chen Xin noticed the look in his parents’ eyes, and he suddenly understood while also finding it hard to believe.

He looked at his parents and asked, "Do they really think like that? Are they crazy?"

"Crazy? They’re smart!" Chen Xin’s mom gave him an annoyed look without explaining further or saying any good words for those relatives of distant relation. It seemed she left everything to Chen Xin to think about and judge.

Yet Chen Xin’s father, seeing Chen Xin still puzzled, offered him a hint: "Do you think your current life is bad?"

Hearing his father’s reminder, Chen Xin immediately realized.

Is his own life bad? Certainly not!

If Chen Xin said his life was bad, in the current apocalypse, probably no one would dare say theirs was good.

In a private shelter, not worrying about food and drink with a stable supply of resources. As long as there’s no world-destroying catastrophe or a disaster severe enough to change terrain, with his current resources, even with complete disconnection from the outside, Chen Xin could survive in his shelter.

Moreover, he had the capacity to travel across four provinces and cover more than six hundred kilometers to bring his parents back home—something those struggling on the survival line could only dream of.

Especially the supplies Chen Xin took out after reaching his hometown shelter. Other foods aside, the dried meat was genuinely scarce now—it’s something ordinary folks could only dream of just smelling.

But Chen Xin could directly take out a box of dried meat to give away, indicating that the resources in his hand were abundant enough to do such things.

This inevitably made Chen Xin a bit annoyed with his recklessness, focusing only on bringing some gifts for relatives and forgetting the saying not to reveal one’s wealth.

Reflecting on this, Chen Xin also pondered whether these people really had it so bad that they wanted to follow him to Xiang Province.

However, after some consideration, he found that compared to him, these people’s lives weren’t going well.

Before Chen Xin arrived, they could still get by but with resource scarcity and heating shortages, their living conditions were nowhere near good, just slightly better than the nearby village shelters where people might starve to death.

As for the town and county situation, perhaps it wasn’t so bad, but considering the high number of people with hypothermia in town and frostbite cases in the county, one could imagine their lives weren’t very ideal either.

Through such comparisons, Chen Xin realized that if it were him, he might make the same choice to go with a relative who was clearly doing well rather than staying to suffer hunger and cold.

It only required letting go of a bit of pride to connect with distant relatives, surely a worthwhile deal.

Whether Chen Xin was willing to take them along, for them it was naturally a gamble, but just a bit of face was at stake. If they won, and Chen Xin couldn’t bear not to take them, then even if it was just taking them to the city where Chen Xin stayed in Xiang Province, it would be better than freezing in the village, right?

Bear in mind, the city Chen Xin resides in is at least a prefecture-level city, four levels higher than the village, the Flame Country’s lowest administrative unit, and its resource supplies and living conditions could match those in the upper administrative unit Anqing City, where the county is located.

For people in the village, even starving and freezing in the city is better than staying in the village.

In facing such a scenario, all Chen Xin could do was shake his head with helplessness.

No matter how you put it, these people could still be considered relatives, albeit distant ones, Chen Xin wouldn’t truly take them along, nor did he need to show a harsh face, after all, you don’t hit a smiling face.

Moreover, to be honest, Chen Xin did consider taking a few people back, with the idea of increasing the manpower in his shelter.

His shelter could currently accommodate at least ten people, but with just him and his parents, there was some waste involved.

Furthermore, such a large shelter with only Chen Xin and his parents meant many things would be too busy to handle, and with his bone fracture, even back home, he wouldn’t be able to perform heavy labor for at least two to three months. His parents were also aged, and the workforce issue indeed needed consideration.

But even if he had to bring people back, Chen Xin would consider his real relatives, not those beyond five degrees of kinship.

This also reminded Chen Xin that perhaps he should mention this to Uncle, to see if any suitable relatives would be willing to go to his place. Chen Xin thought that if there were such relatives, he wouldn’t mind taking them.

As for exactly what kind of people to bring back, Chen Xin thought that it required careful consideration because in such an apocalypse, personal abilities are secondary—the key is trustworthy character, otherwise, it would be akin to inviting a wolf into the house.