C6 Chapter 6

After Tiantian left, Wenmei remembered that this time Tiantian had set her up using a homemade remedy Tiantian had stumbled across in her past life while working at a pig farm.

Tonight, Wenmei was going to let Tiantian taste what a real “medicine” felt like.

Wenmei pulled out a drug from her space—something she used to deal with mutant beasts. It could throw even a mutant beast into a heat-crazed haze, and the effect was no joke.

She sorted through the items in her space that were suitable to use right now, then ran through a round of the body-refining technique. Even though she’d just absorbed a few crystal cores, training with this body was still a stretch. By the time she barely finished one full set, her clothes were soaked through with sweat.

She took out some water from her space, wiped herself down quickly, lay on the bed to catch her breath, then went out to help Guihua.

Guihua had dinner mostly ready: brown rice and sweet potato porridge, boiled greens, pickled vegetables, and mixed-grain steamed buns.

Before long, Mingde came back with a few people from the work crew. Wenmei studied them closely—every one of them had sun-darkened, yellow-brown skin, and their clothes were covered in patches of all sizes. Then she thought about herself, and even the thick skin she’d developed in the apocalypse felt a little hot.

Her skin was fair. The “village beauty” nickname in Big Willow Village was probably just because she was pale—because being fair covered a lot of flaws. And then there were her clothes: in the entire Liu family, she was the only one without a single patch. It made her feel restless. After all, the money she was spending now was their hard-earned sweat.

No one seemed to notice her discomfort. Aixiang washed her hands and came over to take Wenmei’s hand. “Mei, I heard from your brother that you fell into the river. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just slipped and fell in by accident. When I got back, Grandma heated up water for me. I washed up, and I’m okay now.” Wenmei hadn’t felt this kind of family concern in a long time, and the hard shell she’d built up in the apocalypse softened a little.

“As long as you’re okay.” Xianming, hearing their exchange, finally relaxed too.

Even though it wasn’t the busy season, everyone was worn out after a full day of work in the fields. After dinner, they chatted a bit about the day’s work, then each went back to their room to sleep.

Once she was back in her room, Liu Wenmei ran through the Body Refining Technique once. After washing up, she found the whole house already asleep. She quietly cracked the door open, slipped out, climbed over the wall, and took off toward the sent-down youth dormitory.

The sent-down youth dormitory was also at the foot of the mountain, but it was a good distance from her home. Eight sent-down youth lived there—three women and five men.

There were five rooms total: two for the women and three for the men. Sun Tiantian had a room to herself, which made things convenient for Liu Wenmei.

Liu Wenmei climbed over the wall into the dormitory courtyard, found Sun Tiantian’s room, and deftly picked the lock. With a sharp chop to the neck, she knocked the sleeping Sun Tiantian out cold. Then, with one hand, she hoisted her up and ran for the river.

At the riverbank, Liu Wenmei forced the medicine down Sun Tiantian’s throat, then waited nearby for it to take effect.

It didn’t take long. Sun Tiantian began to moan unconsciously, her body twisting. Liu Wenmei kicked her into the river. Sun Tiantian thrashed in the water, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and when she realized where she was, she panicked. Seeing Liu Wenmei on the bank only made her more stunned.

“Wenmei, how did I end up here?” Sun Tiantian could feel something changing in her body. Unease flickered in her eyes, but she put on a confused act.

“Sun Tiantian, Wu Xiaowu already told me everything about your plan,” Liu Wenmei said coldly. “If you weren’t here, where would you be—running off to Wu Xiaowu?” If this had happened before, she would’ve ended it with a blade without a second thought. But after learning how things worked in this world, she couldn’t bring herself to throw away the family she’d only just found.