Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Going to the countryside? Not in this lifetime!

Enduring hardship? Not in several lifetimes!

In short, these two were her absolute bottom lines.

“Ah, but haven’t a lot of female protagonists who transmigrated to the apocalypse era done exactly that?”

“They just quickly pack up everything, get away from all the trash, head to the countryside for a fresh start, and avoid exposing personality differences. Isn’t that a good thing?”

Of course, they’d also gain all kinds of romantic encounters along the way.

Once again, her understanding was refreshed by the ignorant system, and after a moment of silence, she stared helplessly at the sky:

“Going to the countryside? That sounds way too casual.”

“Do you think the real countryside is like the mountain villa that the Wang family spends thousands of taels of silver every year to maintain?”

“Also, what could possibly happen to a weak woman in such a remote place? The number of crises is obvious if you just think about it.”

“And apocalyptic girls all have space—why wouldn’t they just wipe out people humanely, destroy the corpses without a trace, or simply use them as fertilizer? Is that really so hard?”

Don’t tell her that after surviving the apocalypse for so long, they couldn’t even decisively kill someone. They had to get entangled forever, letting the opponent bounce around in front of them and leave countless future troubles.

Running away to the countryside to avoid those scumbags? Does that even make sense?

She had no idea where Tongzi’s bizarre ideas came from and was utterly speechless.

“Most importantly, Tongzi, do you think I’m the kind of person who can endure hardship?”

An Ning pointed to her somewhat pale little face.

Thinking of her past life where her original host had pretty much coasted through life, the system suddenly fell silent.

“But host, if you don’t go to the countryside, with that scumbag father’s character, he definitely won’t find you a job. Even if he does, it’ll probably be messed up by that person. Do you really want to marry that scumbag fiancé?”

As for finding one herself, she had no connections. Now it was the countryside relocation period; jobs were fought over to the death. How easy would it be to find one?

“Besides, host, don’t forget the original body’s other wish—besides revenge, she wanted to repay a fellow villager who helped her when she went to the countryside.” Tongzi continued to coax patiently.

In this world, wherever there is light, there must be shadow, and vice versa.

During the nearly hopeless twenty years of the girl’s life, she had still met good people—the former class monitor from high school, Jiang Huai, who was also assigned to Huai Stone Village with the original body.

A character suspected to be a lovesick male supporting role.

He was only suspected because in the original body’s memories, the group in Huai Stone Village was small, but their nonsense was not few.

Most centered around a rusticated youth named Jiang Xue and a cold-faced young man in the cattle shed named Ji Peizhi.

Ji Peizhi—that kind of unique name naturally made An Ning suspicious. Together with the original body’s class monitor who was a devoted simp, it was a typical romance novel setup.

This was also why An Ning absolutely refused to set foot in that place. Thinking about the original life’s protagonist’s destructive power, knowing it was a high accident area, why would she go there?

Was she looking for trouble?

“Don’t worry, there will be a way!”

No problem, aren’t there some ready-made ones?

As for repayment, there was still plenty of time. When she had the ability, she could lend a hand. She was no White Snake spirit.

Ignoring the system’s preaching, An Ning got out of bed and directly took out a box of jujube paste yam pastries that she had purposely stored in the space from her previous life.

Because of the space’s time suspension feature, the yam pastries were still warm when taken out.

Maybe because this body was really lacking, the moment she saw the snack, An Ning instinctively salivated, and her long-empty stomach started rumbling loudly.

Even so, An Ning only dared to take two small pieces to satisfy her craving. The rest she painfully forced back into the box.

Since the space was not very large and stored a lot of medical books, the remaining space was very limited. Even for An Ning, who loved to hoard things. Currently, the space’s stock only included two boxes of cured meat, two boxes of pastries, two large jars of beef sauce, a small box of gold jewelry, and a box of gemstones, plus bags of rice and flour.

The rest were scattered patent medicines, medicinal diet recipes, and several ginseng roots over a hundred years old.

These were all accumulated during her last few decades.

But even so, relying on these to improve her quality of life was still unlikely at present.

Tongzi was right; the space really needed an upgrade.

Thinking this, An Ning reluctantly put the jujube paste cake back into the space and ran to the table, gulping down three cups of cold water in a row to make sure no aftertaste remained in her mouth. Then, wearing the original body’s thunderous outfit, she opened the door and strode out.

In the front room, after so long, including Lu Huaimin, Lu Xu, and Lu Qing, the family of four had mostly finished eating. Even the wooden table now only had a pile of leftovers.

Not far away, the pot was clean, even still cold.

Obviously, as usual, not a scrap had been left for An Ning. Even now, when she came over, Lu Qing and Lu Xu, the two siblings, only glanced up and half-heartedly called out “Sister,” then lowered their heads to busy themselves with something else.

Their father, Lu Huaimin, didn’t even look up, pretending not to see his grown daughter, and continued talking to his “cheap” son beside him:

“Xu, you’ll be graduating from middle school soon. I heard from above that things will only get worse in the coming years. It’s uncertain if the nearby high school will stay open.”

“So what do you mean, Dad?” Lu Xu, cautious about his future given the tense situation, didn’t dare be reckless.

Jiang Yuhua also put down her bowl and chopsticks.

At the table, Lu Huaimin took a deep drag of his cigarette: “Once you finish middle school, I’ll arrange for you to work in the factory.”

“Start with the simplest production line. Later, I’ll talk to Uncle Yang to see if they can transfer you to the security office.”

Uncle Yang was the husband of the neighbor, Aunt Guihua, and a small team leader in the factory’s security department.

Though his power wasn’t big, he could be useful at critical moments.

This arrangement was obviously well thought out. Jiang Yuhua nodded in approval but glanced at her daughter, who looked unhappy.

“That can wait a while. These days, everyone’s scrambling for factory jobs. How can all the positions be reserved for our family?”

Lu Huaimin sipped his tea and waved his hand impatiently.

Obviously, compared to his enthusiasm for Lu Xu, the stepson, Lu Huaimin was much more perfunctory toward Lu Qing, the cheap stepdaughter. Though he said “wait a while,” judging by her expression, he clearly didn’t plan to do any favors.

Jiang Yuhua frowned deeply, wanting to say something, but she knew this man looked refined but had the coldest heart.

There was no way she could reason with him by playing cute.

After all, he could be so heartless to his own biological daughter, how could she expect him to care about his stepdaughter?

Suppressing Lu Qing, who was about to speak, Jiang Yuhua gently shook her head, signaling her not to be anxious and to wait for a better plan later.

Each member of the family harbored their own thoughts.

Under the system’s puzzled gaze, An Ning, just body usually did, first took some hard leftover steamed buns from a basket nearby and poured a cup of boiled water from a thermos.

Despite being such a tall person, she seemed like a ghost in this room. Even when eyes occasionally glanced at her, they quickly shifted away again.

Only when she passed by the scumbag father did her hand suddenly tremble, spilling all the hot water in her cup onto his shoulder.

Before he could get angry, An Ning seemed so frightened that she hurriedly dashed back to the bedroom, deliberately locking the door behind her.

She left the scumbag father swearing angrily in place.

After all, Lu Huaimin, who fancied himself a well-educated gentleman, felt it wasn’t worth bothering with a useless person who couldn’t fight back after venting his anger.

He soon returned to his room with a sullen face, leaving Jiang Yuhua outside washing a big pile of pots and bowls.

An Ning thought that having a good reputation still had its advantages, and looking at her own slightly thin but not labor-marked hands, she nodded in satisfaction.

Unhurriedly, she took the top-quality skincare ointment mixed with Spirit Spring Water from the space and applied it little by little on her hands and body.

As for her face, An Ning took a deep breath. It was better to wait a bit longer. Now was not the time for drastic changes.

Inside her mind’s sea, the system, seeing its host so calm and composed, suddenly jolted:

“Host, what did you put in that cup of water just now?”

Thinking about the earlier talk of humane destruction and fertilizer, the system suddenly let out a sharp shriek:

“Host, calm down! This is a society ruled by law… a legal society!”