Bai Lu set down her cattail fan and swept her hair back, her messy locks instantly slicked into a neat style. She then reached out to help massage Wen Nuan’s arms.
Wen Nuan couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “This massage actually works wonders; I feel so much better already.”
Bai Lu smiled but didn’t say much. Once Wen Nuan had a few more years of experience under her belt, she would slowly learn all these little tricks.
“I’m going into town with Bai Lu tomorrow,” Wen Nuan said, turning to look at the others in the room. “Does anyone else want to come along?”
Another nurse chimed in, “I’ll go if I can wake up. If I can’t, I’m staying put.”
Having been exhausted for so many days, whether they could actually get out of bed tomorrow was a total unknown. No one wanted to make promises they couldn’t keep.
Once their hair was dry, they took their lunch boxes to the canteen for a meal and then immediately lay down to rest. They were so worn out that if they didn’t sleep now, their bodies wouldn’t be able to handle it much longer.
Bai Lu brushed her hair, climbed into her top bunk, and lay down. Staring at the ceiling just inches away, her thoughts drifted back to Jin Qiu. She wondered what he was doing at this moment—had he returned to his base, or was he still in Su Shan City? The reconstruction of Su Shan would take time; she wondered if his team was still needed.
Lost in thought, Bai Lu eventually drifted off to sleep.
Because she had so much on her mind, she didn’t sleep as deeply as the others. After only a few hours, she woke up, gathered her things, and quietly slipped out. Ever since returning from the disaster zone and completing those trades with the restaurant and clothing store, she hadn’t had another chance to trade. Now that she was back, she needed to resume her normal routine.
The bicycle Bai Lu had used before belonged to a colleague, but she didn’t borrow it today. She couldn’t very well take someone’s bike while they were sleeping; taking it without permission would surely cause offense. Instead, she chose to walk until she reached a secluded area, where she rented an electric bicycle directly from the Myriad Realms Mall and rode off.
With the electric bike, she was significantly faster, saving two-thirds of her usual travel time. What used to take a full trip was now enough for a round trip.
After finishing her business with the two shops, Bai Lu returned. She reached a remote spot, returned the electric bike, and walked back to the dormitory. She didn’t bring any goods back this time; since she was going to town with Wen Nuan tomorrow anyway, she could just buy things openly then.
Once she lay back down, she pulled her blanket over her head and scrolled through the Myriad Realms Mall in the dark. Seeing that she already had over ten million mall coins and several tens of thousands in cash stored in her warehouse, she was overjoyed. No matter what Jin Qiu wanted to do in the future, she would be able to support him.
Back in Su Shan City, she had already donated millions of mall coins worth of medical and living supplies. Thinking of the upcoming reconstruction and the need for massive amounts of food, she continued browsing the mall.
She ignored the expensive items, as they weren’t practical for large-scale aid. At a time like this, filling stomachs was the priority. She placed orders for ten thousand catties each of over a dozen cheap, filling items: white radishes, carrots, onions, pumpkins, potatoes, sweet potatoes, jicama, taro, and Chinese cabbage.
The total cost was a little over two hundred thousand mall coins. The quality of products in the Myriad Realms Mall was guaranteed—no inferior goods were ever substituted. The prices were likely so low because they were sold directly from the source. With her shopping finished, Bai Lu closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.
This time, she slept straight through until dawn. Sunlight streamed through the window, bright and piercing. Bai Lu shielded her eyes, waiting for them to adjust before getting out of bed.
After Bai Lu and Wen Nuan got ready, they skipped the hospital breakfast and headed straight for the intersection to wait for the bullock cart. As for the others who weren’t yet awake, they didn’t bother calling them—disturbing someone’s sleep was a sin. Besides, they had agreed the night before that if they didn’t wake up, they wouldn’t go, meaning it was optional for them.
The two stood at the crossroad for a while before the bullock cart from the mountain village arrived. There were already quite a few people on it. To Bai Lu’s surprise, Zhao Yonghong and Su Xueqing were among the passengers. Thinking about the mess between Su Xueqing and Jin Jialing in her past life, a wave of disgust rose within Bai Lu.
Jin Jialing was truly repulsive for cheating. He could have just divorced her to be with someone else, but he didn’t. She wondered what he had been after—was it her family’s money?
Fortunately, she had been reborn before the “marriage.” If she had returned to a point after they were wed, she would have felt equally disgusted with herself for marrying such a man and enduring three years of a stifling life. More absurdly, during the five years after his death, she had constantly rejected the person she truly loved, wasting years of potential happiness.
“Nurse Bai, come sit over here by me,” Zhao Yonghong called out.
“Thank you, Auntie,” Bai Lu said, pulling Wen Nuan along as they climbed onto the cart and sat next to Zhao Yonghong.
Zhao Yonghong asked, “Nurse Bai, where have you been these past few days? I haven’t seen you around.”
“We went to support the efforts in Su Shan City,” Bai Lu explained. She knew Zhao Yonghong must have been waiting anxiously, but with the emergency, she hadn’t been able to contact her.
The events in Su Shan City were broadcast daily on the radio and printed in the newspapers; almost everyone knew about the disaster. Hearing Bai Lu mention it, the people on the cart turned around one by one, looking at Bai Lu and Wen Nuan with concern. Someone asked them to describe the situation, as news reports were naturally different from the experiences of those who were actually there.
Bai Lu gave a brief, simple account of what they had seen on the road, without going into too much detail.
Zhao Yonghong listened with a racing heart, clutching Bai Lu’s hand. “I was wondering why you looked so much thinner after just a few days! It turns out you went to such a dangerous place. Nurse Bai, you all are truly great.”
Bai Lu smiled modestly. “We were just in the rear caring for the wounded. The truly great ones are the soldiers, rescue teams, and volunteers at the scene. They faced the danger head-on—they are the ones who are truly great.”
While the group continued to discuss Su Shan City, Su Xueqing curled her lip in the corner, her face full of disdain.
The road was in poor condition, and the bullock cart jolted the entire way. When they finally reached the entrance to the town, Bai Lu immediately hopped down. Zhao Yonghong asked if they wanted to walk together, but Bai Lu politely declined. Once the others had moved on, she and Wen Nuan started walking ahead.
Seeing someone selling breakfast by the roadside, Wen Nuan tried to pull Bai Lu over. Bai Lu had taken care of her quite a bit in Su Shan City, and she had eaten plenty of Bai Lu’s food; she felt it was only right to treat her to breakfast.
“I don’t have an appetite; I don’t want to eat right now,” Bai Lu said, waving her off. After the bumpy ride into town, she didn’t feel like eating a thing.