Chapter 7: Going to the Machinery Factory

“I have a feeling the Leng family is going to be in total chaos tonight, with no peace to be found.”

In the hospital, Leng Hui had picked up a portion of nutritious porridge and two large steamed buns from the hospital cafeteria. She fed the rice water from the porridge to Tang Lin, while the remaining dregs and the buns served as her own dinner.

“Aren’t you worried they’ll come to the hospital and disturb my recovery?”

Leng Hui had said she was going out for a while that afternoon; Tang Lin hadn’t expected her to go intercept Leng Yongkang and snatch back half of his advanced salary for the month.

Old Lady Leng was obsessed with money. When she found out that the cash and coupons she had expected were cut in half, she was bound to go berserk.

Leng Hui wasn’t too worried about that. “With your strength—the kind that dared to take on ten desperate thugs alone in the apocalypse—are you really afraid of an old woman with one foot in the grave?”

Tang Lin felt a sharp pain in her abdominal incision just from shifting slightly, a constant reminder that she was currently a patient.

She couldn’t help but remind Leng Hui, “Don’t forget, it’s only been twenty-four hours since my surgery, and I’ve lost my abilities. I can’t heal my own wounds.”

Leng Hui snorted. “Ms. Tang Lin, don’t let changing worlds make you think you’re actually a fragile, delicate flower. With your skills, even if you only had one breath left, that old woman wouldn’t be a match for you.”

Tang Lin didn’t get angry at this. She clicked her tongue, her tone filled with schadenfreude. “You’ve fallen out with them now, so just wait to be left out in the cold.”

After a day of learning, she had come to understand that in this era, money wasn’t everything—you had to have coupons to get anything done.

Leng Hui, however, didn’t care. She tilted her head slightly, looking smug. “You know what? I learned a way to handle things today.”

Tang Lin was slightly stunned. “What way?”

“Advancing salary. If Leng Yongkang can get an advance when he has no money, we can get an advance when we have no money to eat. You’re someone with a workplace, too, aren’t you?”

Since she hadn’t managed to snatch any grain coupons from Leng Yongkang today, Leng Hui had already planned to go to Tang Lin’s workplace to get a salary advance—the main goal being to get more grain coupons.

Tang Lin realized what she meant and said irritably, “So you’ve been calculating against your mother all along!”

Leng Hui chuckled and didn’t respond.

Tang Lin wasn’t actually angry; it was just their usual mother-daughter banter. Having just arrived in this world, establishing a foothold was their top priority. They didn’t place much value on material possessions like money.

However, money linked to food was a different story.

Back in the apocalypse, even if she was injured, Tang Lin could use her abilities to slowly promote healing. After transmigrating, losing her abilities so suddenly was truly hard to get used to.

Especially since she had been lying in the hospital bed for over twenty hours, unable to even turn over—one could imagine how difficult the days were.

Although the food was better than in the apocalypse, it lacked the essence of plants and trees, so it didn’t help much with physical or ability recovery.

If she weren’t injured, she would really want to go into the mountains to find plant essence to restore her abilities.

At the end of the day, she still didn’t believe her abilities hadn’t followed her across; after all, Leng Hui’s spatial ability had come along.

No matter how anxious she felt, she still hoped to recover quickly and get discharged.

Early the next morning, another patient was wheeled into the ward.

The original single-patient room was immediately upgraded to a double-patient room. The doctor noticed the bed that hadn’t been tidied yet and, being observant, arranged the new patient in the bed closest to the door.

With a bed separating them in the middle, it left as much personal space as possible.

The new patient’s family settled them in, then immediately rushed off to fetch hot water and coordinate with the doctor on the necessary medical orders.

Leng Hui didn’t pay much attention to the new patient, only glancing briefly to see it was a woman in her fifties.

After a quick wash, she went to the cafeteria to get breakfast, fed Tang Lin half a bowl of rice water, and finished the rest herself. It was almost time for the doctor’s routine rounds.

The doctor checked Tang Lin’s recovery; since there were no unexpected issues, the treatment plan remained unchanged.

When Tang Lin learned that the urinary catheter and drainage tube couldn’t be removed yet, her composure cracked. All she wanted to do was turn over in bed; being forced to lie still for another day was more agonizing than being killed.

Leng Hui comforted her, “You don’t know how lucky you are. Back then, we were out from dawn till dusk just to survive, and it was hard to even get a good night’s sleep. Now that you finally have the chance, just rest well.”

Hearing this, Tang Lin’s temper almost flared up on the spot. She gritted her teeth and scoffed, “Easy for you to say! Why don’t you try lying here and see how it feels to be unable to turn over?”

Leng Hui imagined herself lying in a hospital bed unable to move and shuddered. She couldn’t even think about it.

“Ms. Tang Lin, would you like some sugar water?”

Seeing how pitiful she looked, she decided she could open the canned sugar water her colleague had brought over for her to drink.

Tang Lin shot her a glare. “Get lost!”

*Tsk*, menopausal women were hard to please. If you can’t afford to offend them, you can at least hide. Leng Hui ran faster than a rabbit, as if she’d been given an order; staying even a second longer would be a sign of disrespect to Ms. Tang Lin.

Tang Lin noticed the gaze of the family in the next bed, closed her eyes, and feigned sleep. Out of sight, out of mind.

When Leng Hui stepped out of the hospital, she was met with a sense of decay.

The streets were lined with low buildings, the tallest being only three stories high. The structures were old, and some were even made of wood.

Entering a small alley on the left led to the city’s largest farmers’ market. It was morning, and the market was bustling with noise.

Leng Hui peeked into the alleyway, then continued along the main street toward the machinery factory.

Passing by the grain store, she saw a few people scattered about, collecting their rations.

It was late March. Usually, the grain store was busiest at the beginning of the month, as the rations were distributed starting then.

The national economy was slowly recovering. From the original owner’s memories, she knew that during the most difficult years a few years ago, city dwellers’ rations were only distributed at sixty or seventy percent.

Now, they were up to eighty or ninety percent, but most of it was still coarse grain. Fine grain was extremely rare; only high-ranking cadres or technical personnel who were well-treated could get two or three pounds a month.

Even if ordinary families had a pound of fine grain, they wouldn’t dare eat it. To fill their stomachs, they would trade the fine grain coupons for more coarse grain.

For Old Lady Leng to have hidden away a few pounds of flour was no small feat.

When she arrived at the machinery factory, she had to register her information at the gate before being allowed in.

The factory grounds were well-landscaped, with tall trees lining the roads. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating dappled patterns of light.

Leng Hui had been to the machinery factory before and was familiar with the layout, so she headed straight for the administrative building.

However, as she passed the personnel department, she heard a familiar voice coming from inside the office and stopped to take a look.

Why was Leng Yongkang here?

It was work hours; why wasn’t he at his own factory?

Someone blocking the light at the door caught the attention of the person sitting at the desk.

“Comrade, who are you looking for?”