Chapter 2

“Ah!” “Slap!”

“You’re crazy!” “Slap!”

“Stop it!” “Slap!”

…

For the first few slaps, Ji Xiaorou still had the strength to yell. After twenty-some slaps, she gave up struggling, her consciousness becoming blurry from the beating.

The slaps were delivered incredibly fast. In less than a minute, Ji Wanqing shook her hand and stepped off Ji Xiaorou. From the living room outside, there came frantic shouts!

“Xiaorou? What’s wrong, Xiaorou?” It was her stepmother, Su Xiu.

Ji Wanqing calmly poured herself a cup of spiritual spring water. The soreness in her arms immediately subsided. Su Xiu was banging on the door: “Xiaorou? Was that you calling?”

Ten years in the apocalypse, revenge for revenge, fight for fight.

She wasn’t a good-natured person.

Ji Wanqing abruptly opened the door. Su Xiu, caught off guard, stumbled in and fell to the ground, landing face-first in a heap. Her chin was bruised.

Before she could cry out in pain, the door slammed shut behind her with a decisive bang.

“Bang!” It carried a chilling coldness.

Su Xiu instinctively felt danger approaching. Before she could react, her hands were forcefully pulled back and held behind her!

She screamed, turning to see Ji Wanqing with a mischievous smile, raising her hand, now covered in new calluses, for another swift and brutal slap!

“Ah!” “Slap!”

“You’re crazy!” “Slap!”

“Stop it!” “Slap!”

…

Truly worthy of being mother and daughter, their reactions to being slapped were exactly the same.

Ji Wanqing was enjoying herself, hitting with gusto. On the bed, Ji Xiaorou sat up in a daze. Seeing her mother being pinned to the ground and slapped by Ji Wanqing, she screamed in panic, trying to crawl out and find help.

But Ji Wanqing, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back. With lightning speed, she grabbed the bed sheet and tied the two women together, then stuffed a pillowcase in each of their mouths.

The world fell silent.

Ji Xiaorou and Su Xiu, their faces swollen and their hair disheveled, sat slumped on the ground. One was shocked, the other trembling, both staring at Ji Wanqing in disbelief.

Outside the door.

Ji Xinbao was still fast asleep. Ji Jianguo had noticed something was wrong, but women’s screams often sounded similar. He thought it was Su Xiu disciplining his ex-wife’s daughter, so he didn’t pay much attention. He was leisurely putting on his clothes and buttoning his shirt.

This was a crucial period for his promotion to workshop director. Unfortunately, his foolish father-in-law had been cowardly and afraid for his life, donating all the family’s property back then!

Otherwise, he would have already bribed his way up to factory manager with all that money! Why was he stuck as a mere deputy workshop director?

Ji Jianguo put on his respectable-looking shirt, but suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

He turned around in confusion and was met with a large iron pot coming straight at him!

It knocked him unconscious.

Ji Wanqing had just taken over this body and had recovered less than one-tenth of her strength.

Beating Ji Xiaorou and Su Xiu was manageable, but beating Ji Jianguo, a 1.8-meter-tall adult male, could potentially result in mutual injury. It was no wonder she had to resort to a little trickery.

Ji Jianguo’s nose was bleeding profusely. Ji Wanqing, quick as a flash, grabbed the iron pot and, while he was dizzy, slammed it against his head repeatedly until he lost consciousness. Then, she tore a bed sheet and tied him up, dragging him to the living room.

Only Ji Xinbao remained.

Remembering how he had bounced on the original owner’s back like a trampoline last night.

Ji Wanqing’s eyes turned cold. She grabbed the jump rope from his room, tied him up, stuffed his mouth with clothes, and whipped him awake with a belt.

The excruciating pain woke Ji Xinbao. His mouth was stuffed, so he couldn’t even cry out in pain!

Seeing the terrified look in the little boy’s eyes, filled with tears and fear, Ji Wanqing felt a slight easing of the oppression and anger that had been gnawing at her soul.

It was almost 6:30.

The entire family of four was neatly gathered in the living room.

Ji Jianguo was unconscious, the other three had their mouths tightly stuffed, unable to dislodge the objects even with their tongues.

She was sweating from all the physical labor.

Ji Wanqing went to the bathroom to wash her hair and take a shower, then pulled out some of the original owner’s old clothes and put them on.

In the mirror, the poor girl’s hair was sparse, her cheeks sunken, her complexion sallow. The oversized hem and empty sleeves hung loosely on her body, clearly showing that she had been worn down. Clothes that had fit her perfectly at seventeen, now two years older, were too big for her.

Ji Wanqing looked at the person in the mirror, feeling both strange and familiar. After all, she had never been this thin in the apocalypse or before, only her eyebrows and bone structure resembled her former self.

To put it simply, she had been a school beauty since childhood, always the center of attention wherever she went.

Suddenly becoming this kind of wilted cabbage, the disparity was a bit much for her to handle.

“Sigh.”

Ji Wanqing decided to set a small goal.

— Use the blood and bones of the Ji family to get herself back on her feet!

In the living room, Su Xiu watched with tears streaming down her face as Ji Wanqing bustled about in the kitchen, rummaging for a piece of cured meat, then grabbing a bag of rice. Her heart ached beyond words! In her heart, she cursed Ji Wanqing thousands of times!

Ji Wanqing, following the ingredients available in the Ji family kitchen, made a fragrant cured meat rice dish.

While the rice was cooking, she deliberately went out and found Ji Jianguo and Su Xiu’s colleagues and neighbors, asking them to help call in sick for the factory.

“What’s going on, girl? Why do your parents both need to call in sick?”

In this era, both big and small factories were chasing production targets. Unless there was a special situation, calling in sick would lead to criticism.

Ji Wanqing lowered her eyes, putting on a pitiful act, and explained softly: “Yesterday, Aunt Su brought home a bag of rotten pork to make dumplings, and the whole family ate it and got sick, almost throwing up on the bed. So, I had to come over and ask you to help my dad and Aunt Su call in sick.”

Wang Liyun scoffed: “That stepmother of yours, she’s from the countryside and has shallow eyes. It’s June, it’s almost summer, and she still cooks with rotten meat! Serves her right for getting diarrhea!”

Li Daming, who was listening in, asked: “Nizi, how come you’re okay?”

Ji Wanqing twisted her fingers, stammering: “I, I don’t have a job, so I don’t get to eat the meat and vegetables at home.”

Hearing Ji Wanqing say this, the people around them looked at her differently.

So Su Xiu was a hypocrite, being stingy and not giving her stepdaughter any dumplings, which was why the girl escaped unscathed.

It had been a year since the Ji family’s daughter had arrived and caused chaos.

Besides, who didn’t have a troublesome child who caused trouble? This kind of small matter had long been forgotten by the neighbors. It was far more interesting to talk about a stepmother’s cruelty towards her stepdaughter.

After calling in sick, Ji Wanqing immediately retreated, ignoring the gossip behind her.

Back at the Ji family, she happened to see Su Xiu and Ji Xiaorou helping each other, trying to untie the ropes behind their backs.

Ji Wanqing’s eyes narrowed, and she kicked them both over.

Their faces were already swollen beyond recognition. She grabbed Ji Jianguo’s belt and whipped them a few times to teach them a lesson.

Feeling refreshed after a good workout, Ji Wanqing whipped Ji Xinbao, who was watching the spectacle, and also didn’t spare the unconscious Ji Jianguo.

The motto was, “We suffer together.”

She pulled on the belt, making a crisp sound, pointed at the three who were still conscious and warned: “Next time, if I see you harboring any inappropriate thoughts, don’t blame me for switching from a belt to an iron rod.”

Su Xiu, seeing her son being beaten unjustly, was heartbroken and almost fainted. Hearing Ji Wanqing’s words, she struggled to get up and charge towards her, making unintelligible sounds as she cursed.

Heh, still not being honest.

Ji Wanqing, expressionless, whipped Ji Xinbao again with the belt. Su Xiu’s head instantly filled with blood, her eyes rolled back, and this time, she really fainted.