Chapter 93: Chapter 93

Bai Xue kept the matter in her heart and wasn’t anxious. She believed she could find a solution before the exam. Watching her younger daughter finish eating the egg cake, she tidied up a bit and took her daughter out onto the street.

Ye Ling lay in the East Room all along. It was only after she saw her mother and sister leave that she came out, and checked the kitchen. There was only some leftover millet rice from the morning, and not much, just about two bowls. Ye Ling looked down at her hands, and with these two hands, it was really hard to do anything, so she simply found some radish in the house, diced it, heated the pan with a bit of oil, and fried the chili powder for aroma before adding the radish dices. Because there was little rice, Ye Ling used almost half a radish and finally made a simple fried rice with radish and egg using the millet rice.

Looking at this simplest method, Ye Ling’s hands were inconvenient, which made her slow. Moreover, her hands constantly tugged at the wound while cooking, causing her to gasp in pain. By the time she scooped a small basin of fried rice out of the pot, her forehead was drenched in sweat.

After tidying up the kitchen and rinsing the pot, Ye Ling sat in the living room to catch her breath. Before waiting for her mother to return early, she took out a bowl for herself, and left the rest in the basin. She retrieved a triangular cloth bag she’d spotted under the shoe rack a few days back, placed the basin inside along with a spoon on top, grabbed her keys, and went out the door.

At this time, the courtyard was very quiet. People were either off to work or school, and other than a few elderly leaning on the chairs by the small grove, chatting, the courtyard was so quiet that not even a dog’s bark could be heard.

Ye Ling glanced around before running to the back of the small warehouse with the basin in hand, stepping on the stones she had used at noon to tap on the window. Soon, she heard footsteps, and then Zhao Guodong’s face appeared at the window.

"Take it and eat. I’ll wait outside. Give me the lunch box later," Ye Ling said, feeling a bit embarrassed as Zhao Guodong looked at her with a silly grin. "What are you looking at? Hurry, if someone finds out, it’ll be a disaster."

Despite having lived two lifetimes, clearly possessing an adult’s mind, she was now involving herself with Zhao Guodong and the others like a child. Ye Ling felt like she was pretending to be young. After Zhao Guodong received the triangular bag, she hopped off the stone.

Once Zhao Guodong could no longer see her, he jumped down from the chair and waved the items in his hand towards Liu Zhiyuan, "Hurry up, because if you’re late, there won’t be anything left to eat."

This time, the four people on Liu Zhiyuan’s side didn’t act as they had before. When Zhao Guodong opened the triangular bag, everyone gathered around. Counting the chopsticks from noon and two small spoons, all seven people soon cleaned it all up.

"The cooking is quite good," Zhao Guodong couldn’t help but say while wiping his mouth.

Xiang Weilai also squinted his eyes and laughed, "You’re lucky. There’s nobody delivering food to us like that."

Zhao Guodong was quite proud, "That’s right, Ye Ling is indeed our good buddy."

It was a rarity for people from both sides to speak so peacefully without quarrelling. Ye Ling, listening outside the wall, found it quite rare. In her memories of the previous life, from what she knew, Zhao Guodong and Liu Zhiyuan were like water and fire, never mixing at all.

So it seems that this confinement was, after all, not without its benefits.

When Ye Ling heard Zhao Guodong calling her, she stood back on the stone, "If it’s not convenient tomorrow, you don’t need to bring it. It’s okay to go hungry for a couple of days."

With Zhang Linong’s words in the morning, Zhao Guodong also understood Ye Ling’s difficulties.

Ye Ling was pleasantly surprised at his considerate words and smiled, "You brought along the assignments I gave you, right?"

Zhao Guodong, a bit guilty, nodded, "Alright, head back. Don’t let anyone catch you."

Without waiting for further questions, he closed the window.

Seeing his demeanor, Ye Ling guessed he was lying, but afraid of drawing attention by speaking loudly, she could only wait until next time. She grabbed the triangular bag and hopped down, turning around to see a green figure standing behind her, startling Ye Ling so much she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming.

"No visiting allowed during confinement." The person who stopped Ye Ling was a guard in the courtyard, responsible for watching over the small warehouse.

Ye Ling cooperatively admitted her mistake, "Sorry, I know I was wrong, and I won’t do it again."

Seeing her good attitude, the guard let Ye Ling go, "Don’t let it happen again. Go back."

Ye Ling said with a worried face, "Brother, can you not tell my family? I promise I won’t do it again."

The guard, just an eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man, couldn’t bear her tear-ready look, "I won’t report this to the superiors, but there can’t be a next time."

Ye Ling thanked him repeatedly, before returning home with the triangular bag, quietly opening the door. Seeing her mother’s shoes were not on the shoe rack, Ye Ling felt truly relieved. She returned the triangular bag to its place, rinsed the lunch box and basin, and stored them away before going back to the East Room.

With this incident, Ye Ling was also at ease the next day and didn’t go to the warehouse again. However, after school in the evening, she went to the Zhao family to chat with Grandma Zhao before heading home. But upon her return, she ran into Song Mei and Jiang Yan in the courtyard.

Usually, Song Mei, Jiang Yan, and Gao Tian were close, but the truly close ones were Song Mei and Jiang Yan. Upon seeing Ye Ling leaving from the Zhao family, Song Mei scornfully said to Jiang Yan, "Some people just use sneaky methods behind the scenes. If you’re capable, do it upfront. Now because of her, the folks in management and logistics have been confined, yet she still dares to go to their house. I heard Aunt Lin was so angry she wanted to go find her, but Uncle Sun stopped her."

"Really? Aunt Lin works as an accountant at the supply and marketing cooperative. Whenever anyone urgently needs something but doesn’t have the tickets, it’s mostly Aunt Lin who helps. Offending Aunt Lin is like offending many people," Jiang Yan chimed in.

The two exaggerated as they spoke, but Ye Ling didn’t spare them a glance and directly walked home. Seeing no reaction from Ye Ling, Song Mei stomped her foot in frustration and muttered something about stupidity.

Ye Ling obviously knew who Aunt Lin they referred to was—it was none other than Lin Chu, Sun Mingjie’s mother, who had stirred up trouble this time. She was an accountant at the supply and marketing cooperative. In her past life, when she got married, the wedding was hastily arranged. Her family didn’t have enough fabric tickets, so her mother took money to Lin Chu. Lin Chu assumed a grand posture, spoke down to them for ages, and only agreed to help after her mother’s repeated flattery. After facing setbacks outside, of course, it was Ye Ling who bore the brunt at home.

Therefore, Ye Ling had always remembered Sun Mingjie’s mother, Lin Chu, vividly. Just as Song Mei and the others said it, Ye Ling had already guessed who it was.

Now, still in a collectivist phase, she was curious to see how Lin Chu, who always had her way, would fare when the supply and marketing cooperatives were privatized.

When Ye Ling got to her home, she saw her mother, looking anxious, rushing out of the corridor. Upon seeing her, she coldly and impatiently asked, "Have you seen your sister?" (To be continued. If you work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)