Lin Hongying arrived at the hospital ward, where the old man inside stared at her eagerly.  

His frail body seemed almost too weak to bear the weight of the quilt covering him, yet his cloudy eyes held a childlike innocence. Trembling, the old man said, “Comrade, you saved my life and even paid for my medicine. I don’t know how to thank you…”  

As he spoke, he pulled out his life-saving money for buying food—a few crumpled bills—and pressed them firmly into Lin Hongying’s hand.  

The three yuan Lin Hongying took suddenly felt heavy in her palm. It was the last bit of money the old man could scrape together after rummaging through his tattered pockets.  

After a bout of heavy coughing, he said, “Life and death are fated. Don’t waste money treating an old man like me.”  

“If I’m lucky enough to live and happen to be of help to you in the future, I’d go through fire and water for you. But in my current state… I have no right to speak of the future. I can’t accept you paying for my medicine. My name is Xia Hai. What should I call you, my benefactor comrade?”  

His words carried a sorrowful tone, as if entrusting his final affairs, which struck a chord of melancholy in Lin Hongying.  

Lin Hongying smiled and said, “Don’t think about such things. Since you’ve come to the hospital, you’ll get better. When you’ve recovered, I’ll tell you my name. I’ll wait for you to get well.”  

After leaving the ward, Lin Hongying secretly slipped the money to a nurse, asking her to get the old man some extra food.  

The nurse refused, saying, “I won’t take it! When this old man woke up and found out you’d paid for his medicine, he became stubborn and insisted on returning the money to you.”  

The nurse had likely heard Han Weidong call her “sister-in-law” and mistakenly assumed they were family, attributing the medical expenses to Lin Hongying.  

An older doctor emerged from the ward, shaking his head regretfully. “This old man used to be a respectable university teacher in his youth but was sent here for labor reform. He has no family left. It’s a pity.”  

“Our hospital called the farm he’s assigned to, but no one answered for the longest time.”  

The doctor, surnamed An, had worked at the hospital for over a decade and had treated Xia Hai before.  

Dr. An walked alongside Lin Hongying down the hospital corridor and said, “Comrade, this elderly comrade is severely malnourished. Aside from hypoglycemia, he also has emphysema. His condition isn’t good.”  

Lin Hongying frowned. Long-term malnutrition weakens the immune system, and repeated respiratory infections can lead to emphysema.  

For a man of his age to suffer from emphysema, especially in winter, without the means to recuperate, death was a real risk.  

She made up her mind and pulled Dr. An into a corner, whispering, “Please arrange some nutritious meals for him, Dr. An. He has no family here, and it’s hard for him to manage while sick.”  

She reached into her handbag and pulled out ten jin of egg noodles, bought at 35 cents per jin.  

“No need. The hospital will provide some nutritional soybeans for the elderly comrade. Comrade Lin—” Dr. An politely declined.  

If a patient was diagnosed with malnutrition, the hospital would prescribe nutritional powder and soybeans for supplementation, redeemable with a ticket at the supply and marketing cooperative. The nutritional powder was made of wheat bran mixed with malted milk and protein powder.  

Sometimes, the hospital would distribute bones for patients to make broth. However, pork bones were scarce nowadays, and the market hadn’t supplied them for a long time. The hospital had stopped issuing pork bones recently.  

Just as Dr. An was about to refuse, he suddenly saw Lin Hongying pull out snow-white dried noodles from her worn-out handbag. His previously calm breathing turned rapid, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head, and his throat gulping repeatedly.  

The lethality of Lin Hongying pulling out dried noodles from her bag was no less than pulling a nuclear bomb out of her pocket!  

Dried noodles were easily digestible, nutritious, and a rare commodity at the supply and marketing cooperative. They were already hard to find in the market, let alone this expensive egg noodle variety—it was a priceless treasure.  

Dr. An’s eyelids twitched, and he immediately dragged her into an even more secluded corner.  

But as Lin Hongying was abruptly yanked away, her grip loosened, and a bundle of slender noodles slipped from her fingers.

The hospital floor was made of old-fashioned cement. Outside, the thick snow had been trampled into muddy slush by the countless patients and doctors coming and going, their shoes carrying in ice and dirt that melted into filthy puddles in the warmth.  

The pristine white noodles fell straight into the grime.  

Both of them froze.  

Lin Hongying stared awkwardly at the floor, hesitating—should she pick them up or not?  

But Dr. An reacted as if struck by lightning. In an instant, she crouched down and began carefully gathering the noodles, not even letting a single broken fragment escape her grasp.  

When she looked up and saw Lin Hongying still standing there dumbly, seemingly indifferent, her eyes filled with reproach.  

“How can you just stand there?!” she scolded angrily. “This is precious food! Wasting it is unacceptable!”  

[An Hua’s Resentment +100] 

Lin Hongying swallowed hard and bent down to help pick up the noodles.  

Once Dr. An had gathered them, she immediately cradled them in her arms, gently wiping them clean with her pristine white coat. Her careful, reverent movements made it seem like she was handling gold, not noodles.  

Feeling guilty, Lin Hongying silently exchanged another pound of egg noodles from her system.  

She simply handed the entire worn-out bag to Dr. An. “I’m sorry, Dr. An. My hand slipped. There are six pounds of noodles here—five for the elderly comrade, and the remaining pound is for your trouble. Please take care of him.”  

Dr. An’s breathing grew heavier, her eyes widening in shock. “Comrade Lin, this… this is too much! It’s against regulations!”  

But then she thought of her own undernourished child at home and gritted her teeth. “I won’t take it for free—consider it a purchase!”  

She immediately pulled out two yuan and a municipal food coupon from her pocket and stuffed them into Lin Hongying’s hand.  

Opening the tattered bag, she inhaled deeply, greedily taking in the scent of the noodles, unable to resist running her fingers over them repeatedly.  

Under Lin Hongying’s strange gaze, Dr. An belatedly tried to justify her behavior: “I’m checking if they’ve gone bad… or if there’s any mold.”  

“Is this pure wheat flour? Why does it look a little yellow?”  

The faint, fresh aroma of wheat was intoxicating. With her experience, Dr. An could tell these noodles were fresh. But even if they were moldy, it wouldn’t matter—such refined grain was already a luxury. Who could afford to be picky?  

Lin Hongying’s lips twitched. “Uh… probably? I don’t know, I just got them randomly.”  

These were premium egg noodles, made from 5A-grade wheat flour blended with fresh eggs—chewy, fragrant, and rich in flavor. If just plain noodles drove Dr. An wild, what would happen if she found out they were egg noodles?  

Dr. An lowered her voice. “Where did you buy these? Do you still have contact with the seller?”  

Lin Hongying played dumb, shaking her head. “Don’t remember.”  

“None left.”  

“I don’t know anything. Stop asking.”  

[An Hua’s Resentment +100] 

Dr. An looked disappointed but knew better than to push. Getting even one pound was already a stroke of luck.  

She carefully carried the tattered bag back to her office and returned it empty a while later.  

Lin Hongying, suppressing a twinge of guilt, accepted Dr. An’s 200 resentment points and the two yuan.  

Inspired by Dr. An’s reaction, Lin Hongying felt she might have stumbled upon a lucrative opportunity.  

She returned to the payment counter, where Shao Qingfeng and Han Weidong were waiting, and said, “I still have some business to take care of. You two go ahead.”  

Shao Qingfeng said, “We came out for procurement anyway, so we’re heading back to the supply and marketing cooperative. If you’re not delayed, you can meet us there in an hour.”  

Lin Hongying considered that the return trip would cost three cents, and buses were scarce—only one every two hours.  

She nodded. “Alright, see you in an hour.”