Unfortunately for her, the public’s eyes were as sharp as snow.
Lin Qingqing’s petty tricks had not brought any negative impact to Jun Ning; instead, they had left everyone with a bad impression of her, making them feel she had a foul mouth and liked to badmouth others behind their backs. Some straightforward villagers and educated youths had even mocked her to her face, saying she simply couldn’t compare to Jun Ning. Lin Qingqing often tried to “steal a chicken only to lose the rice”—ending up worse off than before—and was frequently driven mad with anger.
The original Jun Ning’s purpose in this book was to become the “gold finger” for the trashy male lead, Qin Yan, and the female lead, Lin Qingqing, after her death. They took advantage of Jun Ning’s connections and her family’s guilt over her early passing to cozy up to her father—who was later rehabilitated and returned to a high-ranking position—as well as her uncle’s high-ranking family. This provided a powerful boost for the trashy couple’s rise in the business world.
Now, she was here. She would absolutely not let the schemes of this trashy duo succeed again, let alone give them the chance to exploit the original host’s father and uncle. If this trashy pair dared to cross her, she would show them exactly what she was made of!
The horse carriage swayed along the road for over half an hour before finally coming to a stop.
“Alright, we’re finally at the Educated Youth Point. Everyone, hurry up and get off!” After the Old Secretary spoke, he turned to Jun Ning. “Jun Ning, can you get off by yourself? If not, let Jingwei carry you in on his back.”
Jun Ning quickly replied, “No need, Old Secretary. I can get off by myself. I don’t need a back-ride.”
Hearing her say this, the Old Secretary didn’t push. He smiled and said, “That’s fine. Get off yourself and rest for the next two days. Once your body is better, you can go back to work.”
Jun Ning nodded. “Alright, thank you, Secretary.”
Once Jun Ning, Fu Jingwei, and the others had all gotten off the carriage, the Old Secretary urged Fu Jingwei and the rest to take good care of her. After Fu Jingwei agreed, the Secretary finally drove the carriage away.
Fu Jingwei looked at Jun Ning with concern again. “A-Ning, come, let me help you in.”
Jun Ning shook her head and smiled. “No need to support me, I can walk by myself. Thank you for your kindness.”
Watching her enter the female dormitory of the Educated Youth Point, Fu Jingwei stood at the door and said, “A-Ning, I’ll go make you a bowl of noodles and bring it over in a bit.”
This time, Jun Ning didn’t refuse his kindness. She smiled back. “Alright, Fu Jingwei. Thank you. Once my body is better, I’ll properly thank all of you.”
Fu Jingwei waved it off nonchalantly. “We’re all on the same side, no need for formalities.” After speaking, he went into his dormitory to get dried noodles and two eggs, then headed to the kitchen to personally cook noodles and fry poached eggs for Jun Ning.
This Educated Youth Point housed a total of twelve youths, all of whom had come from Yangcheng. There were seven men and five women. The Educated Youth Point was a U-shaped house made of earth-bricks and tiles. The entrance led to a front hall with an open-air courtyard in the center. There were three rooms lined up on each side, and the main room at the top served as a parlor for guests.
In the three rooms on the left, the male youths occupied two, while the one nearest the gate was the kitchen. Of the three rooms on the right, the female youths lived in two, and the one closest to the gate served as the washroom and toilet.
To Jun Ning’s disgust, the trashy female lead, Lin Qingqing, actually shared a room with her. The original host had a good personality, didn’t know the plot, and didn’t care about personal gains or losses. She treated everyone warmly. Even though she had been taken advantage of many times by Lin Qingqing, she never had any unpleasant fallout with her.
However, the current Jun Ning came from the apocalypse, knew most of the plot and the ending, and couldn’t tolerate any “sand in her eyes.” Naturally, she had no desire to live with a “white lotus” like Lin Qingqing. She had to find a way to move out and live separately as soon as possible.
Lin Qingqing, who had stayed behind to talk to the original male lead, Qin Yan, finally entered the room after Fu Jingwei left. Her gaze was complex as she looked at Jun Ning with a forced smile. In a sour tone, she said, “Jun Ning, Fu Jingwei is so good to you. He’s even making you those dried noodles that he usually can’t bear to eat himself. Is there something going on between you two? You wouldn’t be ‘dating,’ would you?”
Jun Ning gave her a cold sideways glance. Seeing her sarcastic and peculiar manner, she felt annoyed. She didn’t hold back and directly retorted, “Whether we’re dating or not, what does it have to do with you?”
Lin Qingqing never expected that the always-smiling Jun Ning would one day have such a sharp tongue and rebuff her so ruthlessly. She was stunned for a moment, then immediately put on a heartbroken act. She complained plaintively, “Jun Ning, how can you be like this? I’m just looking out for you.”
Jun Ning let out a light, mocking laugh. “Then I thank you for your concern. But I’d appreciate it more if you’d concern yourself with me less in the future. I’ll thank you even more then!”
Lin Qingqing stomped her foot in hatred and shouted at Jun Ning in an angry, delicate voice, “Jun Ning, you’ve gone too far! At any rate, I was one of the people who helped send you to the health center today. Is this how you treat your savior?”
Hearing Lin Qingqing shamelessly call herself her “savior,” Jun Ning couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This woman was truly shameless!
In the original book, Lin Qingqing and Qin Yan had used the pretext of having saved Jun Ning and having helped her often to get Jun Ning’s father and uncle to lend them a hand, contributing greatly to the trashy couple’s commercial rise. Thinking of this, Jun Ning’s expression toward Lin Qingqing grew even colder.
She gave a chilling smile and spoke with a serious expression, “Lin Qingqing, I, Jun Ning, acknowledge the kindness of you all taking me to the health center, and I will certainly repay you for that favor. But if you want to consider yourself my ‘savior,’ I think you’re not qualified!”
These words, which directly tore off the mask of civility, caused Lin Qingqing’s face to darken instantly. She glared at Jun Ning with hatred, gritting her teeth as she said, “Jun Ning, I really didn’t expect you to be such a heartless person! Fine, today I’ll just treat my kindness as having been wasted on a dog. If anything happens to you in the future, don’t expect me to lift a finger!”
Jun Ning smiled faintly. “If you don’t care, that’s for the best. I truly thank you for that!”
Seeing that today’s Jun Ning didn’t have her usual smiling face and instead kept snapping at her like she’d taken the wrong medicine, Lin Qingqing knew she wouldn’t get any advantage by staying. She gave a heavy huff, turned decisively, and walked out.
Peace and quiet at last.
Jun Ning closed her eyes. While resting her spirit, she continued to use her wood-element power to nourish this body. Previously, she had used the wood element to regulate the body; now, she was using its repair and optimization abilities to enhance the body’s physical strength and potential, giving it more explosive power and impact for the future. Once the body was well-nourished, Jun Ning would begin practicing her Body Tempering techniques from the apocalypse.
(End of Chapter)