With a faint hum of the motors, the sleep pod slowly closed, and the system automatically injected a sleep aid. Xu Qing's body temperature dropped, and she drifted into slumber.
Ou Zhanpeng floated into the cockpit and began his routine observations.
Mars remained covered by storms, the orbit was peaceful, and Phobos showed no anomalies.
Another uneventful beginning.
Exhaling softly, and patting his shrunken belly, Ou Zhanpeng put on his full gear, pressed the switch, and the airlock slowly opened before him. On the right side of the external storage bay, packages were neatly arranged like soldiers awaiting inspection; on the left, packages of varying sizes and thicknesses were haphazardly piled together.
He floated to the right first, took three days' worth of rations, carefully packed them, and brought them to the left. He randomly picked a package and pulled out a bag of damaged food.
"Meat chunks with eggplant?" Ou Zhanpeng murmured to himself. "This will do!"
He took out a laser knife, carefully cut off the damaged portion, and collected the larger pieces to eat later. The small piece that might have been contaminated with radioactive dust should have been discarded, but after a moment's thought, he specifically cleared a package to store it.
Now, there was still the luxury of being selective, but when that condition was no longer available, these scraps could come in handy in a pinch. Wouldn't it be better than starving?
Thus, in a short while, Ou Zhanpeng had chosen three days' worth of rations for himself, including porridge and rice, buns and noodles, soup and eggs. Neither in variety nor in quantity had he shortchanged himself.
Returning to the fighter with his chosen rations, the external storage bay returned to silence, though the rations on the right had diminished, while those on the left seemed unchanged.
Three days later, the two would switch.
Observing the situation on Mars, Xu Qing prepared to select her rations. As she floated past Ou Zhanpeng's sleep pod, she unconsciously paused, looking at Ou Zhanpeng's sleeping face, and let out a long, faint sigh.
Her speed was much faster than Ou Zhanpeng's, but her quantity was less than half of his.
Days passed like this. Not long after, Ou Zhanpeng, upon waking again, suddenly noticed something was wrong. He grabbed Xu Qing, who was about to enter the sleep pod, "Why have you lost so much weight?"
Xu Qing looked astonished, "No way? Maybe the pressure is too high."
"Acting, keep acting!" Ou Zhanpeng saw through her immediately, "With your acting skills, no one would hire you even if you paid them!"
With that, he closed the pod cover, preventing her from entering the sleep pod, "Wait here!"
Xu Qing became anxious, "Ou Zhanpeng, what do you want?"
"Nothing much!" Ou Zhanpeng quickly put on his gear. In a short while, he returned with several portions of rations, "You're sleeping in late today, eat all of this!"
"Ou Zhanpeng..."
"Ou what Ou? I order you to eat all of this, not leave a single crumb. Eat!" Ou Zhanpeng's words were incredibly domineering, his face showing no room for doubt.
Xu Qing glared at him resentfully, but no matter how much she resisted, Ou Zhanpeng refused to budge.
Knowing that direct confrontation would yield no results, she immediately changed her approach, softening her tone, "Ou Fatty, I don't need to eat that much anyway. Just consider it a diet, okay?"
"No, nothing you say will work today. Honestly eat it, and from now on, I'll be checking. You must eat it all on a fixed schedule and quantity!"
"Ou Zhanpeng..."
"Are you eating it yourself, or should I help you? You choose!" Ou Zhanpeng gave her no chance to speak.
He then revealed an eager expression, as if suggesting that if Xu Qing dared to refuse, he would force the food into her mouth.
Regardless of Xu Qing's tantrums, denials, or pleas, Ou Zhanpeng refused to relent. Finally, Xu Qing conceded, having no choice but to eat the food Ou Zhanpeng designated.
She glared at Ou Zhanpeng with every bite, as if she were chewing his flesh.
Only after the last bite was finished did Ou Zhanpeng earnestly advise, "Our rations are already very little. If you reduce them further, your body will surely develop problems from malnutrition!"
"Mind your own business!" Xu Qing retorted, furious.
Let her be angry if she wished. As long as the food was eaten, Ou Zhanpeng didn't care.
From then on, every time Xu Qing woke up, she would see the rations Ou Zhanpeng had prepared for her, with standard meals three times a day.
What was even more frustrating was that Ou Dashao always marked the portions and checked the packaging when they switched, absolutely forbidding her from knowingly violating the rules.
Another month passed in a blink of an eye. The rations on the right were only half left. When it was Xu Qing's turn to be on duty, an idea suddenly struck her: perhaps, while there was still time, she should quickly figure out a way to sort the irradiated food into light, medium, and severe categories?
Even if she ultimately had to drink poison to quench her thirst, she should at least prioritize, starting with the least dangerous options.
No sooner said than done, she immediately got to work. But upon opening the packages, she discovered there were virtually no lightly damaged ones, and not many moderately damaged ones either. Instead, there was still a large pile of perfectly intact items.
Xu Qing was instantly stunned. The truth of the matter unraveled in her mind like a movie.
Finally understanding everything, she slammed open the sleep pod and glared at the sleep-dazed Ou somewhere, "Ou Zhanpeng, you scoundrel!"
She slapped Ou Dashao on the chest, not noticing the slight oddity in her tone.
Ou Dashao looked bewildered, "What's wrong with me? Are you crazy?"
"How dare you say that!" Xu Qing immediately threw a bag of food at Ou Zhanpeng, who then realized what had happened and showed an astonished expression, "All this for this?"
"How could you do this!" Tears welled up in Xu Qing's eyes as she sternly accused Ou Zhanpeng of his crime.
"How could I not do this?" Ou Zhanpeng looked at her as if she were being ridiculous, "I'm a man, do you understand? In times like these, protecting the female is a male's instinct, do you understand? It's not just you, if it were anyone else, I would do the same, do you understand!"
"Ou Zhanpeng!" Xu Qing gritted out the words through clenched teeth, "You are a scoundrel!"
"Hey, hey, why are you cursing? Forget it, forget it. I won't argue with you. Hurry up and get to your post, don't disturb my... sleep... uh...!"
Mid-sentence, Xu Qing had already thrown herself into his arms, her tears no longer containable.
Ou Zhanpeng, having never experienced such a perilous encounter, didn't know where to put his hands or feet, "Hey, hey, what are you doing, what are you doing, hey, hey, you've made my clothes wet with your tears!"
Without lifting her head, Xu Qing grabbed Ou Zhanpeng's arm and pulled it down, placing it around her waist.
You really are a block of wood!
She thought to herself.
How could Ou Zhanpeng be a block of wood lacking sentiment? He simply had his own principles and did not wish to take advantage of the situation.
Feeling the warmth transmitted through his palm, he swallowed the rest of his words and silently savored the tenderness of the moment.
Silence was more eloquent than words.