A sharp glint flashed through Director Xu’s eyes before disappearing just as quickly. He said to Qiao Zhenzhu, “I still have work to do, so I won’t see you off.”
“No need to, Director Xu. Go ahead and get busy!”
Qiao Zhenzhu glanced at Wang Anquan one last time before lowering her head and leaving together with Lu Huai.
Only after they had walked two streets away did she finally raise her head again.
There was no trace of sadness left on her face—only a brilliant smile.
Lu Huai looked at her with a smile as well. “Where are we going now?”
“To the newspaper office. Such good news deserves to be published!”
She wanted to completely sever ties with Wang Anquan once and for all!
The two of them headed straight to the newspaper office. After spending one yuan, they finalized the publication of the announcement.
By tomorrow morning, the declaration cutting off relations would appear in the newspaper.
With another burden lifted from her heart, Qiao Zhenzhu knew they could not stay in Shanghai much longer.
“Before we leave, I want to go to the black market again. I want to buy common vegetables and fruits from around here—preferably some seeds too. And pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, plus eggs, duck eggs, and quail eggs!”
Hearing her list, Lu Huai had no objections at all and immediately agreed.
“Alright. We’ll spend the next two days visiting more black markets around Shanghai. We’ll leave in three days. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect!”
After deciding, the two began disguising themselves and wandering through different black markets.
Sometimes they paid cash, and sometimes they bartered goods.
After two days, Qiao Zhenzhu’s space contained six slabs of pork, two sheep, one cow, fifty hens, twenty roosters, forty geese, thirty ducks, over a hundred fish of various kinds, and more than three hundred jin of shrimp and crabs.
Everything had been alive when purchased, but once placed inside the space, they all died.
And after taking them back out, there was no way to revive them.
It was a bit of a pity, but not a major issue.
Once they reached the Northeast, they could raise some animals themselves or buy more from the black market.
Besides that, they also stocked up on five hundred free-range chicken eggs, three hundred duck eggs, and one to two hundred quail eggs.
There were also dozens of pound each of homemade sausages and smoked meats.
It was June now—the season when all kinds of fruits and vegetables were ripe. Prices were cheap, everything was fresh, and she bought large quantities of every variety.
But what Qiao Zhenzhu valued most were seeds.
Give her one seed, and she could grow as much of that crop as she wanted. Far more worthwhile than buying the produce directly.
Still, most sellers only agreed to sell her a few dozen seeds after she bought their vegetables.
Qiao Zhenzhu wasn’t short on money, so she bought everything anyway.
They also visited every state-run restaurant and hidden private eatery tucked away in alleyways.
They bought dozens of portions of every meat dish and specialty dish. To store all the food, they even specially purchased extra plates, bowls, and clay pots.
Fortunately, the space was huge, and she also had shelves she had looted from large supermarkets in her previous life, making them perfect for storing prepared food.
As soon as the three days of shopping ended, Lu Huai went to buy train tickets.
He bought them in the afternoon, and the train would depart at ten o’clock the next morning.
That evening, Qiao Zhenzhu and Lu Huai went to eat at a state-run restaurant.
As soon as they stepped out, they ran into Director Xu.
Director Xu was in an excellent mood, smiling broadly.
From him, they learned that Chen Wan and Wang Sinian really had transferred assets.
It was the missing dividend money.
Hundreds of thousands of yuan had been exchanged by Chen Wan into gold and Hong Kong dollars.
She had intended it to be her private stash.
Since she handled all the family finances, once the Qiao family assets were sold off, Wang Anquan would never notice some gold and Hong Kong dollars missing among so much wealth.
But now, all that hidden money had become evidence of crimes committed by Chen Wan and Wang Sinian.
What had originally been one person sentenced to labor reform had become an entire family of three.
Plus Xie Chenggong from the Xie family.
A family of four, neat and complete, had already departed early that morning.
In another three to five days, they would arrive in the far northwest, where they would begin twenty years of labor reform.
As for the fact that all four of them were injured?
Who cared?
After saying goodbye to Director Xu, Qiao Zhenzhu felt even happier.
The culprits responsible for the original owner’s death had all received the punishment they deserved!
She had avenged the original owner, repaying the debt of living a second life in her body.
On the train.
“Zhenzhu, stand to the side for a moment while I spread out the bamboo mat.”
Lu Huai laid down a cooling bamboo mat on Qiao Zhenzhu’s bunk and even covered the pillow with a clean pillow towel before letting her sit down.
As a soldier, Lu Huai received preferential treatment when buying tickets and had successfully gotten two soft-sleeper tickets.
The soft sleeper compartment had four berths. Qiao Zhenzhu and Lu Huai occupied the two lower bunks.
Since they had the space, and many of their large bags had already been mailed back through the post office, Lu Huai only carried two luggage bags.
Even those were mainly for appearances.
He placed both bags on his own bunk.
After sitting down, Lu Huai took out two aluminum lunch boxes and opened them on the small table.
One contained washed fruit: dates, grapes, and sliced apples and pears.
Actually, they had also managed to buy rare fruits such as cherries, strawberries, blueberries, durian, mangoes, dragon fruit, and more.
After all, Shanghai was a major city. Even rare fruits could be found there—as long as one was willing to pay the higher prices.
But those fruits were too eye-catching. With so many people constantly moving through the train, it wasn’t suitable to take them out and eat them.
The other lunch box contained biscuits and pastries.
The pastries bought from shops and the loose biscuits had originally been wrapped in kraft paper, but that packaging crushed too easily. So Lu Huai had simply removed the wrapping and stored them neatly inside the lunch box.
Besides the fruit and snacks, Lu Huai also took out a military canteen filled with cooled boiled water.
Looking at everything in front of her, the smile never left Qiao Zhenzhu’s face.
They had only been together for a week, yet Lu Huai had already memorized all her habits and preferences.
The more she looked at him, the more satisfied she became.
If she weren’t pregnant right now, throwing herself at him wouldn’t have been out of the question.
Just as Qiao Zhenzhu was thinking this, she noticed a shadow fall across the doorway.
Turning her head, she saw a man carrying a three- or four-year-old boy walk in, followed by a woman.
The man looked at the upper berth, then at Qiao Zhenzhu, and finally at Lu Huai.
“Comrade, hello. We have a child with us, so the upper berth isn’t very convenient. Could we switch with you?”
Lu Huai nodded. “Sure.”
As he spoke, he tossed his two bags onto the upper berth above Qiao Zhenzhu.
Qiao Zhenzhu patted the spot beside her and said to Lu Huai, “Sit here for now!”
If Lu Huai went up to the top bunk, it would be inconvenient for them to talk.
The woman frowned at Qiao Zhenzhu. “Why don’t you let him stay on the upper berth?”
Qiao Zhenzhu: “?”
“The aisle is so narrow, and my son still needs space to play in it. Can you make your man stay up there? And you too—can’t you just lie down? Also, put your shoes away so my son doesn’t trip over them.”
Qiao Zhenzhu laughed in anger.
With her temper?
There was absolutely no way she was tolerating this today!