Chapter 5: Walked In on While Bathing

Aunt Zhang stumbled when Lin Shuqiao yanked her, instinctively about to curse.

But as soon as she heard Lin Shuqiao say she wanted to take the matter to the compound to settle it publicly, a flash of panic crossed her face. She struggled to shake off Lin Shuqiao’s arm.

“I’m not going! If you want to go, go by yourself. You want to make a scene and lose face, I don’t!”

Lin Shuqiao didn’t stop. She gripped both of Aunt Zhang’s wrists tightly and started dragging her forward—almost like dragging a pig.

“Let me go! I said I’m not going!”

Aunt Zhang hadn’t expected Lin Shuqiao to be this strong. Even though she used all her strength, she was still being dragged forward.

Seeing she was about to be pulled down the steps, Aunt Zhang finally panicked. With no other options, she flopped onto the ground and yelled with her eyes shut:

“Oww! She hit me! Lin Shuqiao hit me!”

Lin Shuqiao paused for a moment, then turned and coldly said to the woman lying on the ground pretending to be hurt, “Shout a little louder—might as well call everyone out so we can settle this right here.”

Aunt Zhang opened one eye and indeed saw that many doors nearby, which had been shut, now had cracks in them. Some people were already standing at their doorways, clearly watching the drama unfold.

Seeing this, Aunt Zhang scrambled to her feet and gritted her teeth.

“Let me go! If this becomes public, you won’t come out of it looking good either.”

Now she was starting to regret this. She knew exactly what kind of person Lin Shuqiao was—loud, unreasonable, lazy, and shameless. There was nothing she wouldn’t do. Why had she even decided to mess with her today?

But Lin Shuqiao still didn’t let go. Aunt Zhang forced out a smile.

“Lin girl, it’s Auntie’s fault. Your money’s definitely not fake—I must’ve been seeing things.”

She turned to Madam Wang, who was still frozen in place holding the pig trotter.

“Elder sister, say something to help me out!”

Only then did Madam Wang come to her senses. She gave Aunt Zhang a fierce glare before turning to Lin Shuqiao with a smile.

“Lin girl, don’t take it to heart. You know how your Aunt Zhang runs her mouth.”

“I’ve looked at the money. It’s real. You must be in a rush to cook, right? It’s getting late, and you’ve got a little one at home. Don’t let this hold up dinner for the child.”

Aunt Zhang quickly chimed in, “Exactly! Listen to elder sister. I was totally out of line—someone ought to smack this mouth of mine.”

As she spoke, she slapped her own mouth hard.

Lin Shuqiao sneered coldly. She knew exactly what Aunt Zhang was up to.

That woman always loved to gossip and stir the pot, but she also cared a lot about her reputation. If this really went to the leadership, they’d have to call a meeting to handle it, and that would be a huge loss of face for her. That’s why she backed off so quickly.

But Lin Shuqiao never actually intended to drag her to the compound to report her. After all, her own reputation wasn’t great either. Plus, she had just promised Lu Zheng she’d behave for a while.

Seeing Aunt Zhang admit fault, Lin Shuqiao finally let go of her arm.

But she still said coldly, “I don’t want to hear any more nonsense or rumors about me coming from your mouth again.”

She was clearly referring to the gossip about her and Jiang He.

Aunt Zhang, seeing herself released, cursed under her breath and quickly scampered off toward home. She really seemed frightened by how “crazy” Lin Shuqiao was acting.

But just as she reached her door, she muttered again, “Little tramp, just you wait!”

Madam Wang turned to Lin Shuqiao and said warmly, “Don’t worry, girl. I never doubted your money for a second.”

Then she handed over the items.

“The pig trotter is 1.1 yuan per jin. The veggies and soybeans aren’t worth much—just give me 1.1 yuan, and we’ll call it even.”

Lin Shuqiao pushed back the extra 40 cents. “Just consider it payment for the meals I’ve eaten at your place before. If you feel bad, you can just give me a few more vegetables next time.”

Madam Wang now looked at her with new appreciation. Without arguing, she went to the field, pulled up a few more vegetables, and stuffed them into Lin Shuqiao’s basket.

After thanking her, Lin Shuqiao finally returned home with her groceries.

She set everything down in the kitchen. Seeing how dusty and unused it looked, she gave it a quick cleaning.

Now she had pig trotters, soybeans, cabbage, and some potatoes she had peeled earlier.

She decided to make soy-braised pig trotters.

She wasn’t sure whether she could “butcher” pigs from her space, but both she and Lu Ziqi needed nourishment.

She focused her thoughts and reappeared in her modern agricultural space. After inspecting the pigs there, she selected a small black pig and was about to check if she could slaughter it—when she suddenly noticed she could buy specific cuts of pork directly!

Every part of the pig was available for purchase—super convenient.

Looking at the prices, her eyes lit up. Pork was only 0.3 yuan per jin, and pig trotters just 0.4 yuan per jin.

Considering that even with Madam Wang giving her a discount for being a neighbor, pork still cost over 1 yuan per jin, and pig trotters 1.1 yuan—this space was definitely her golden cheat code.

She also wanted to test whether she could buy vegetables here, too.

After all, a single jin of pig trotter wouldn’t be enough for three people.

So she went ahead and bought three jin of pig trotters—at least now everyone could gnaw on a big chunk.

Especially Lu Ziqi—he was thin and frail and really needed some good nourishment.

In her past life, while she hadn’t physically abused him, she had said plenty of hurtful things and indirectly caused him to suffer a lot.

Before she died, she swore she would make it up to him, to avoid scarring his childhood with lasting trauma.

She also bought some braising spices. Then she returned to her kitchen, washed the pig trotters and soybeans, added the ingredients to the pot, and started simmering everything.

Ever since founding the Lin Group in Nan Province in her past life, and as her material life improved, she had also become a decent cook through trial and error.

Braising pig trotters until they were soft and flavorful would take a while, so she decided to use the time to go take a bath—she was filthy.

She had never realized in her past life just how dirty she had been at 18. Now, just smelling herself made her feel nauseous.

Looking back, she couldn’t understand what had gone through her younger self’s mind. She didn’t care about hygiene, went weeks without bathing, didn’t wash clothes, and walked around covered in grime.

—

When Lu Zheng returned, he saw Lu Ziqi reading quietly but didn’t see Lin Shuqiao. His expression darkened.

Probably off messing around again.

He had just helped someone from the neighborhood committee fix a bicycle and came back with dirty hands and clothes.

He headed for the bathroom. Hearing no noise inside, he casually opened the door.

And was instantly met with the sight of a fair, naked body. His pupils shrank sharply—!