Chapter 5: If You Don't Feed Me, I'll Pick Your Lock

Leng Hui looked at the mess covering the table, ignored it entirely, and turned to walk into the kitchen.

Calling it a kitchen was a stretch; it was actually just a small cubicle partitioned off with wooden boards. Inside, there was only enough space for a coal stove, a few pots, and one person to stand.

It was difficult for a person to even turn around in there; if a few more people entered, they would have to be squeezed in. No one liked entering a kitchen in such a cramped environment.

If guests came over, it wasn't convenient to cook inside, so they would have to carry the coal stove out to the corridor to stir-fry dishes.

Making breakfast didn't produce much smoke, so doing it inside didn't have much of an impact.

Leng Hui rummaged through the cabinets at home. Aside from half a bag of mixed grains, she didn't see any noodles or flour. She only saw a snakeskin bag next to where the coal balls were kept, which contained half a bag of sweet potatoes.

In the apocalypse, sweet potatoes were considered quite precious food, but Leng Hui had just arrived in this world and knew that delicious food consisted of more than just sweet potatoes.

For example, the egg Leng Feng had eaten earlier.

Her stomach was already hungry. Cooking mixed grain porridge would take quite a while; it seemed there wasn't enough time for that.

Leng Hui picked out a few sweet potatoes of moderate size, put them in a basin, and went to the water room at the end of the corridor, where there was a faucet.

She turned on the water, scrubbed the sweet potatoes clean one by one, and trimmed off both ends.

After washing the sweet potatoes and returning, she first put them in the pot to steam.

Immediately after, she came out of the kitchen and set her sights on the locked wooden chest under Old Lady Leng’s bed.

She hadn't done this any less in the apocalypse—violently breaking locks. She even had hydraulic cutters in her space.

This tool was useful; while breaking the lock, it wouldn't cause any damage to the chest.

She took the hydraulic cutters out of her space and cut it directly, tossing the broken lock into her space while she was at it.

She dragged the wooden chest out. What was stored inside should be Old Lady Leng’s treasures.

Leng Hui opened the old-fashioned camphor wood chest. Inside were flour, rice flour, some candies, and over a dozen eggs.

There was about four or five jin of flour, maybe two jin of rice flour, and the candies were wrapped in bags. Seeing the intact packaging, they were likely one-jin bags.

With eggs and flour, what Leng Hui wanted to eat most was an egg pancake.

It was just that she had searched the house for a long time and couldn't find any oil, so in the end, she could only make dough drop soup.

In an era where even rations couldn't be fully supplied, a bowl of dough drop soup was supreme deliciousness.

She had taken a fall yesterday, and her clothes and pants were stained with mud. After eating, Leng Hui first changed into a different set of clothes, washed the ones she had taken off, and hung them up to dry.

By now, the sweet potatoes on the stove were cooked. Leng Hui found a mesh bag, packed the cooked sweet potatoes into it, picked up her lunch box, and headed to the hospital.

Before she even entered the ward, Leng Hui heard voices inside. Thinking someone from the Leng family had come to cause trouble for Tang Lin, she rushed into the ward in three steps, only to find a man and a woman sitting on either side of the hospital bed.

Leng Hui’s sudden intrusion caused the laughter in the ward to stop abruptly, and the three pairs of eyes landed on her.

The woman closest to the door reacted the fastest, asking with a smile, "Sister Tang, is this your youngest daughter?"

"Yes, this is my Huihui." Tang Lin introduced them with a smile: "Huihui, these are my colleagues from the factory. Hurry and call them Auntie Yang. The other one is our Section Chief Li; call him Uncle Li."

"Uncle Li, Auntie Yang, hello."

Leng Hui noticed a mesh bag of canned fruit on the bedside table. She smiled at them, turned, and placed the mesh bag in her hand on the bedside table next to the other hospital bed.

Yang Ying naturally noticed the lunch box Leng Hui was carrying. She patted the back of Tang Lin’s hand: "There’s still work at the factory, so Section Chief Li and I will head out first. You rest easy and recover in the hospital; go back to the factory to cancel your leave once you’ve recovered. We’re leaving now. Huihui, take good care of your mom."

"Section Chief Li, Officer Yang, I’m sorry to have made you come all this way for my personal matters. I’ll have Huihui see you out." Tang Lin’s eyes held a hint of guilt.

Li Yong waved his hand: "No need to see us out, you get some rest."

Yang Ying walked to the door, turned around, and shook her head with a smile: "Huihui, don't listen to your mom. You must have brought food for her in that lunch box, so hurry up and feed her while it's hot. We’re all colleagues from the same factory, so let’s skip the formalities of seeing us out. We’re leaving."

She didn't even forget to close the ward door on her way out, which showed she really didn't want Leng Hui to see them off.

Under her mother’s stern gaze, Leng Hui obediently opened the door and shouted at their retreating backs: "Then Uncle Li, Auntie Yang, take care on your way!"

Tang Lin was amused by her: "You call that seeing guests off?"

"Why wouldn't it be? It was obvious they didn't want me to see them off, so why would I be so pushy?" Leng Hui retorted.

She took the lunch box and sat on the stool, opening it: "You passed gas today, and the doctor said you can have some liquid food. I prepared half a bowl of noodle soup for you."

Tang Lin leaned against the head of the bed, smelling the fragrance of the noodles and unable to help but swallow her saliva. Having not tasted normal food for nearly ten years in the apocalypse, and then having surgery after transmigrating here, she had been warned by the doctor not to eat until she passed gas.

It could be said that the doctor’s orders were no less than a slow execution; it was a torture and a test for both body and mind.

Leng Hui didn't need to feed her the half bowl of noodle soup; Tang Lin picked up the bowl and drank it all in one breath.

"Half a bowl just barely lined my stomach. Remember to bring me more food next time. How many years has your mother gone without tasting such pure, natural food? Do you have the heart to let me finish it before I’ve even tasted it properly?"

"Just be patient. Once you’ve recovered, what won't you be able to eat?"

Leng Hui strictly followed the doctor’s orders—a small amount of liquid food was enough. If she ate too much and something went wrong, who would be responsible?

Leng Hui washed the lunch box and returned to the ward. She put the mesh bag of canned fruit into the cabinet, then took a sweet potato and began to peel it, eating it to herself.

The boiled sweet potato had been sitting for a while, and the temperature was just right for eating now.

Taking a bite, the sweet, fragrant taste instantly spread in her mouth. It was delicate, dense, and sweet without being cloying. That fragrant sweetness slid down her throat, and both her body and mind felt a sense of satisfaction.

Leng Hui swallowed the last bite of the sweet potato, clapped her hands, and asked: "You don't have the original owner's memories, so how did you know what those two colleagues were called just now?"

Tang Lin was dying of envy and glared at her: "Does your mother look that stupid to you? I just had the bad luck to transmigrate and get injured and have surgery, not lose my intelligence. If I don't have memories, can't I find out their background indirectly without leaving a trace?"

Leng Hui poured herself a glass of water: "Look at you, you’ve changed identities and worlds, yet your temper is still so fiery. We’re recovering now; we need to learn to be calm and composed. I was just curious and asked, no other meaning. Don't get excited."

Tang Lin rolled her eyes at her. *You try it—what does it feel like to not eat pure, natural food for years, and then have food placed in front of you but not be able to eat it?*

Leng Hui: "Do you want some water?"

Tang Lin snorted coldly: "Not thirsty!"

Leng Hui clicked her tongue in her heart, and after being full and satisfied, she lay down on the bed next to her: "There’s no danger in this world. Don't disturb me, I’m going to sleep for a while."

Tang Lin looked at the reclining Leng Hui and sighed. Perhaps the happiest thing in the world was to eat until full and then sleep.

The new book is in its growth phase. I hope you all will add it to your collections, leave comments, and vote for it~

(End of chapter)