“I think the Leng Family will be thrown into utter chaos tonight, with no peace at all.”
In the hospital, Leng Hui had gotten a bowl of nutritious porridge and two large steamed buns from the cafeteria. She fed the rice broth from the porridge to Tang Lin, while the remaining porridge residue and buns were her own dinner.
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll cause a scene at the hospital and disrupt my recovery?”
When Leng Hui said she was going out for a while in the afternoon, Tang Lin didn’t expect her to intercept Leng Yongkang and seize half of his advanced salary for the month.
Old Woman Leng was so greedy for money that she would go crazy upon finding out the money and Food Stamps she got were halved.
Leng Hui wasn’t too worried about this. “With your ability to take on ten desperate outlaws alone in the apocalypse, are you afraid of an old woman who’s already halfway buried?”
Every slight movement made Tang Lin acutely aware of the pain from the abdominal incision, a constant reminder that she was now injured.
She had to remind Leng Hui, “Don’t forget, it’s only been twenty-four hours since my surgery, and I’ve lost my special abilities. I can’t heal the wound on my own.”
Leng Hui snorted, “Ms. Tang Lin, don’t just assume you’re a fragile woman just because we’re in a different world. With your skills, even if you were on your last breath, that old woman would be no match for you.”
Tang Lin wasn’t angered by this. She clicked her tongue, her tone tinged with schadenfreude, “Now that you’ve fallen out with them, you might as well prepare to live on air.”
After a day of understanding, she realized that in this era, having money wasn’t everything—you needed stamps to get by.
Leng Hui, however, was unfazed. She tilted her head slightly, a proud expression on her face. “You know what? I learned a way to handle things today.”
Tang Lin was slightly taken aback. “What way?”
“Advancing salaries! If Leng Yongkang can get an advance without any money, we can too if we have nothing to eat. Aren’t you also someone with a workplace?”
Having failed to get Food Stamps from Leng Yongkang earlier, Leng Hui had long planned to go to Tang Lin’s workplace to advance some salary, mainly to get more Food Stamps.
Tang Lin suddenly understood and said irritably, “So you’ve had your sights set on me all along!”
Leng Hui chuckled but didn’t respond.
Tang Lin wasn’t actually angry; it was just their usual mother-daughter banter. Having just arrived in this world, establishing themselves was the top priority. Material possessions like money weren’t that important to them.
But when it came to money and food, that was a different story.
Back in the apocalypse, even when injured, Tang Lin could slowly promote wound healing through her special abilities. After crossing over, suddenly losing her abilities was truly unsettling.
Especially since she had been lying in the hospital bed for over twenty hours, where even turning over felt like a luxury. It was easy to imagine how unbearable the days were.
Although the food was better than in the apocalypse, it lacked much plant-based essence, so it didn’t help much with physical and ability recovery.
If she weren’t injured, she would have loved to go into the mountains to search for plant essence to restore her special abilities.
Ultimately, she refused to believe her abilities hadn’t crossed over with her, especially since Leng Hui’s spatial ability had made the journey.
No matter how anxious she felt, she still hoped to recover quickly and leave the hospital.
Early the next morning, a new patient was wheeled into the ward.
The original single room was immediately upgraded to a double room. The doctor noticed the still-unmade bed and tactfully arranged the new patient on the bed closest to the door.
With a bed separating them in the middle, this arrangement maximized personal space for both patients.
The new patient’s family settled her in and immediately went to fetch hot water, following the doctor’s instructions for necessary tasks.
Leng Hui didn’t pay much attention to the new patient, only glancing briefly and noting she was a woman in her fifties.
After a quick wash, Leng Hui went to the cafeteria to get breakfast. She fed Tang Lin half a bowl of rice porridge and finished the rest herself. Soon after, it was time for the doctor’s routine rounds.
The doctor checked Tang Lin’s recovery progress. With no unexpected issues, the treatment plan remained unchanged, and everything continued as before.
When Tang Lin learned that the urinary catheter and drainage tube couldn’t be removed yet, her spirits sank. What she wanted most now was to turn over in bed. Another day lying still like this felt worse than death.
Leng Hui comforted her, “You don’t know how lucky you are. Back then, we worked from dawn to dusk just to survive, hardly ever getting a good night’s sleep. Now that you have this rare chance, just rest well.”
Tang Lin nearly exploded at these words. Gritting her teeth, she scoffed, “It’s easy for you to talk! Why don’t you try lying here yourself and see how it feels to be stuck without moving?”
Leng Hui shuddered at the thought of herself lying immobilized in a hospital bed. Better not to imagine it.
“Ms. Tang Lin, would you like some sweetened water?”
Out of pity, Leng Hui decided to open the canned sweetened water her colleague had brought last time and offer her some.
Tang Lin shot her a sharp glare. “Get lost!”
Tsk, menopausal women were hard to please. If you couldn’t handle them, you could at least avoid them. Leng Hui took the command to heart and dashed off faster than a rabbit. Staying even a second longer would be disrespectful to Ms. Tang Lin.
Tang Lin noticed the gaze of the other patient’s family member from the neighboring bed and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. Out of sight, out of mind.
Stepping out of the hospital, Leng Hui was met with a scene of dilapidation.
Low-rise buildings lined both sides of the street, the tallest only three stories high. The houses were old, and some were even made of wood.
Turning into a narrow alley on the left led to the city’s largest farmers’ market. It was now mid-morning, and the market was bustling with noise and activity.
Leng Hui peeked into the alley for a moment before continuing along the main street toward the Mechanical Factory.
Passing by the grain store, she saw a few scattered people inside collecting their rations.
It was late March. Typically, the grain store was busiest at the beginning of each month when rations were distributed.
The national economy was slowly recovering. From the original host’s memories, Leng Hui knew that during the hardest years a few years ago, urban residents received only 60% to 70% of their allocated rations.
Now, distribution had reached 80% to 90%, but most of it was coarse grains. Fine grains were extremely rare, with only well-treated cadres or technical personnel able to secure two or three pounds per month.
Even if ordinary families had a pound of fine grains, they would save it, trading their Food Stamps for more coarse grains to fill their stomachs.
For Old Lady Leng to have hidden several pounds of flour was no small feat.
Arriving at the Mechanical Factory, Leng Hui registered her information with the security guard before being allowed inside.
The Mechanical Factory had decent greenery throughout its grounds, with tall trees lining the roadsides. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and branches, casting scattered, starlike spots on the ground.
Leng Hui had visited the Mechanical Factory before and was somewhat familiar with the layout, so she headed straight to the factory administration building.
As she passed by the personnel department, she overheard a familiar voice from inside the office. She paused and glanced in.
Why was Leng Yongkang here?
It was working hours—why wasn’t he at his own factory?
Someone at the doorway blocked the light, and the person seated at the desk was the first to notice the situation at the entrance.
“Comrade, who are you looking for?”