The pain from the earlier beat up remained, but after a while, she could feel some strength reaching her limbs.
That said, though this strength did not reach supernatural levels, it was very disproportionate to her body’s current size and condition.
She vaguely knew that her injuries still needed a lot of time to recover. As much as she’d like to torture this one, she didn’t have much time.
She knew that what she needed to do was run away. Otherwise, just this mere act of hurting Xiuying would get her beaten up again. If she did get beaten up again, then she might as well say goodbye to this new life.
She had escaped this life once, and she could do it again.
She raised her hand again, this time she grabbed Wang Xiuying’s hair and dragged her deeper into the room.
Wang Xiuying looked at her in horror. Was this woman always this strong?!
Su Qinghua grabbed the rag and shoved it into Wang Xiuying’s mouth, using the old, patched-up blanket as a rope to keep her in place.
Slap! Slap!
After smacking the other’s face twice for good measure, Qinghua went out of the room with bright eyes.
She looked out the window and saw that it was some time in the afternoon. It would be dusk in a couple of hours and by that time, the other two would’ve returned home from work.
Gurgle
She gripped her stomach and frowned. If she recalled correctly, she was beaten up by that bastard the previous night, which meant she was unconscious for nearly a day, and hadn’t eaten a single meal since then.
Ironically, she didn’t cook for the family for one day, but it was only because they were depriving her of basic human rights.
She went to the dining room, checked the cupboards, and saw that there really wasn’t anything to eat. It wasn’t surprising. She had been cooking for this family since she was a child. Since she was indisposed, they likely just ate outside.
Wang Xiuying probably went home from school, thinking things had been settled (maybe she even cut classes). She probably spent her allowance as well, which ultimately led her to look for the ’incarcerated’ Su Qinghua.
Su Qinghua quickly whipped up a simple congee and egg to regain some of her strength.
Strength.
She dazedly lifted her hand.
It couldn’t be said to be super strength, but it was definitely the strength of an adult man, not right for the body of a malnourished sixteen-year-old girl.
Not to mention, she had been beaten up and her body was still in pain. She probably had bruises all over her body, yet somehow she could drag a full-grown woman across the floor.
Her eyes glistened. Could it be that she had awakened already?
With a thought, the bowl she used while eating disappeared.
She had really awakened!
She shot up in excitement, but flinched in pain when it triggered her current injuries.
Pushing down the discomfort in her body, she didn’t waste any more time and took away whatever she could. There were a few catties of grain, cornmeal, and flour in the cupboard, a couple of potatoes, and a few vegetables like peas and cabbages.
She also took the earthenware jars containing potable water. There were also smaller jars with oil, salt, lard, vinegar, soy sauce, and so on.
She swiped her hands over them, and they disappeared in a blink of an eye.
She also took all the kitchen knives, ladles, pots, pans, utensils, wok, thermos, and other things. Su Qinghua knew her current space was still small, so she didn’t do anything outrageous like stealing whole furniture, even if she would’ve liked the idea.
She did take Wang Xiuying’s jacket that was hanging on the chair’s backrest, a few newly washed blankets, and other clothes inside her mother’s cabinet (she didn’t have many clothes herself).
Although Jingning City did not experience harsh cold, autumn and winters were still cool. With her current weakened state, she might die of pneumonia if she didn’t protect herself well when she landed in the colder North.
Thinking of this, she also went to her mother’s room to get her household registration—her only proof of identity and a very important document to do, well, anything major—as well as a few yuan she had lying around.
It was only 10 yuan, and in coins, too. Why couldn’t she get hundreds of yuan just by opening cabinets like in those stories?
In Dahua, youth fictions were already very popular when she died, and some of them were nostalgic and semi-fictional novels about life in the 80s.
There was also online literature, which began in the 90s and was already entering the mainstream by the time of her death.
She had read a lot of books, both paperback and online. In some of those books, there were protagonists who could find treasures everywhere, including wads of cash inside the cabinets of random family members.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seemed like she wasn’t blessed with such luck.
She also vaguely remembered them buying a few things to curry favor somewhere, which was likely why there wasn’t much savings left.
Besides, knowing her mother’s greedy nature, she wouldn’t be surprised if her money was sewn into her underwear on a daily basis. It was probably why this 10 yuan equivalent in coins was there, because it was a hassle to bring around.
However, she decided not to be ungrateful. Ten yuan was a fraction of the average monthly salary. There were also a number of coupons that would definitely be useful for her. In this era of scarcity, one didn’t just need money to buy some things, but these coupons were needed, too.
Besides, taking a big amount could get her hunted down.
It was why she didn’t hurt Wang Xiuying too much earlier. She wasn’t even sure if she could really run away in her current condition; why would she cut off her path for a moment’s impulse? At least now, she could think of plenty of excuses.
Those people are not worth it.
...anyway, there were plenty of ways to make them suffer worse fates later.