Chapter 22: Chapter 22

At six thirty in the evening, just as the workers from the nearby textile factory were finishing their shifts and heading home, a few familiar wives were gathered in the hallway, cooking vegetables in iron pots. They chatted casually while keeping an eye on the cooking.

The narrow corridor was filled with the pungent smell of burning oil.

The tube-style apartment building had its downsides; to save space, each floor had only two communal kitchens, so cooking was always a crowded affair.

At this moment, something caught the attention of one middle-aged woman, slightly plump with freckles on her face. She immediately stopped what she was doing. Having just finished cutting tomatoes, she casually wiped her hands on her dark green apron and craned her neck to look toward the nearby doorway.

She didn’t forget to shout out loud:

“Hey, isn’t that Xiao Jiang? Look at all those big and small packages—what good stuff did she buy this time? Among all of us here, Xiao Jiang’s definitely the lucky one. Remarried with a pair of almost grown kids, yet still married to someone as capable as Director Lu.”

“She’s always so extravagant; she must be living the good life. None of us can even afford a scrap of fabric, especially with the New Year coming.”

“She’s got a pretty face, so she’s favored! Even her little brats down there get to live well.” She clicked her tongue, her narrow eyes flicking repeatedly over the obviously bulging chest and the well-maintained fair face.

Aunt Guihua was known for her loud voice in the building, and soon the busy wives in the hallway all turned to look.

The newcomer, however, was Jiang Yuhua, whose expression didn’t change at all. Her melon-shaped face still held that gentle and refined look:

“Aunt Guihua, you’re joking. This year the factory’s profits aren’t good, and I hadn’t planned to spend much. But with An Ning and Qing Qing about to graduate high school, both big girls, they should at least have some bright new clothes.”

With that, she pulled out a piece of bright red cotton cloth from her cloth bag.

In those days, red cloth was a rare commodity. If it weren’t for Lu Zhenguo, who was the production department director, it would have been very difficult to get.

No sooner had she taken it out than the wives swarmed to look, though a few sharp-eyed ones commented:

“Whoa, that cloth sure looks nice, but with that little bit of material, it probably can’t make more than two outfits.”

Being pointed out like that, Jiang Yuhua could only smile awkwardly:

“An Ning is older after all, so she should have the priority. Besides, Qing Qing usually doesn’t like such bright colors.”

“Oh, Xiao Jiang, you’re wrong there. Which young girl doesn’t like bright colors?”

Jiang Yuhua just pursed her lips and smiled, but her steps quickened noticeably, clearly struck by the comment.

After she left, a few of the aunties continued waving their spatulas and chattering:

“Xiao Jiang looks glamorous, but in the end, she’s a stepmother. Everything has to come before the biological daughter. Her own daughter always ends up behind.”

“It’s one thing the first time or twice, but every time? She’s not afraid her real daughter will drift away from her?” A younger wife sympathized a little. But Aunt Guihua quickly retorted:

“That’s not right, Sister-in-law Ping. An Ning is Director Lu’s biological daughter after all. Those two behind are nothing. Even though they changed their surname, they’re still just burdens. The Lu family supporting them is already a big favor.”

The aunties in the building kept babbling on.

However, thanks to Jiang Yuhua’s usually good reputation, most people still felt sympathy. Being a stepmother really isn’t easy.

Due to the tube-style building’s almost nonexistent sound insulation, An Ning, who had just woken up and was forced to listen to this free show, almost couldn’t help but give two sharp claps.

Truly, every era has its formidable figures!

If it weren’t for the original girl’s memories, An Ning might have really believed that this stepmother surnamed Jiang was some self-sacrificing, saintly white lotus, willing to endure grievances.

Willing to wrong her own biological daughter just to satisfy her stepdaughter.

But in reality, An Ning sneered coldly in her heart. The original girl’s past tragedy was at least half caused by this stepmother.

The original girl was named Lu An Ning, a pitiful little girl whose biological mother had died young, just like her in the last life. But unlike the openly cruel stepmother Lady Hada in her previous life, this one’s level was unknown but definitely higher.

On the surface, she never lacked anything to eat or wear. Her clothes were even brighter than those of the younger stepsisters who came after her.

An Ning looked down at her outfit: a pink top made from decent fabric, about forty percent new, paired with conspicuously bright green pants.

Even without a mirror, An Ning felt her eyes were about to go blind.

This kind of deathly clash of colors would be impossible to pull off without a face like a fairy’s. Otherwise, it would just look tacky.

Maybe the original girl was too young to understand, but An Ning, an adult from a future information-rich society, could easily see the signs of cold neglect in this treatment.

Who said harshness toward children only came in physical forms? The silent mental abuse toward unformed children was the most terrifying.

For example, now that Jiang Yuhua had returned, behind the door, the family of four was sitting together, chatting warmly. But after all this time, no one had paid any attention to An Ning, who lived under the same roof.

Not even a single question.

And scenes had happened countless times since the original girl was five, according to her memories. If An Ning didn’t take the initiative to leave today, there wouldn’t even be a scrap of dinner left for her.

At first, her worthless father had asked perfunctory questions now and then. But seeing the original girl was really a closed-off lump and not likely to amount to anything, he just pretended not to see her.

In the longest stretch of time in her memory, the original girl hadn’t spoken a word to anyone for an entire month and had been locked in a pitch-dark room by these two because it was inconvenient for them to have her around during work.

This term, well understood in the future, was unknown at the time, yet someone was using it to the extreme.

What kind of personality would a child raised in such an environment have? The answer was obvious.

And it didn’t end there. Another month later, just half a month after the original girl received her high school diploma, the massive Down to the Countryside movement would rapidly spread to Kun City.

According to policy, each family must send one person to the countryside.

With almost no exceptions, the person with the lowest presence and the least favored in the family—the original girl—became the prime candidate. The arranged marriage her late mother had set up was taken by her stepsister Lu Qing instead.

The original girl, already sensitive by nature, felt completely abandoned by the world after this blow. In a depressed state, without proper medical care in the countryside, she fell ill and wasted away, dying far from home.

Before she left, the girl was not even twenty years old.

Outside the door, the family’s voices continued as usual.

After hearing about the original girl’s experiences, even the system beside An Ning was nearly about to explode in rage:

“Damn, what kind of family is this? Host, didn’t you get five-star praise on your last mission? That’s 100 points. After deducting the 1.5 owed, you still have 98.5 points.”

“How about spending fifty points to upgrade the space? When we go down to the countryside, we’ll take all the family’s treasure savings with us and report them. That useless father of yours obviously isn’t clean.”

“We absolutely can’t leave these bastards with a single cent.”

The system was eager for action.

Yes, because of completing a hidden mission that indirectly took down the mastermind behind the original girl’s death—who had envied and hated An Ning for life—the previous mission recipient was very satisfied and gave a five-star rating.

So An Ning’s hands were a bit freer now, and upgrading the space was a must. But...

Seeing the system so riled up, as if it was about to pack its bags at any moment, An Ning laid back on the bed, rolling her eyes in utter speechlessness:

“Even so... who told you I’m going to the countryside?”