Chapter 26: Wu Xue's Skills
1447 Words
Yang Qiqi didn’t expect that after she had agreed to let Mr. Cao accept Zhou Lin's family, Zhou Lin would treat her like this! He made her stay in the breeding facility and treated her like what?
"I told you, I don’t take in idle people," Zhou Lin said with a cold laugh. "Tomorrow my mom will teach you how to take care of these animals, and Xiao Li will show you how to manage the planting pipelines."
Yang Qiqi’s chest heaved violently, and the words of refusal almost escaped her lips, but they turned into a resentful sigh. Zhou Lin pointed outside and said, "I’m not forcing you. If you’re not willing, you can leave. It’s minus fifteen degrees outside, and the temperature will continue to drop."
Minus fifteen degrees was something Yang Qiqi had never experienced in her life, and she certainly didn’t want to experience it.
The tool room, though shabby, messy, and smelly, was solid and warm. The boiler in the corner continuously released heat, maintaining an indoor temperature of around 20°C, which felt like heaven compared to the cold outside.
"I... I want something to eat."
Faced with the reality, Yang Qiqi chose to endure. Even now, she still couldn’t believe the darkness and cold would last forever. She had even made up her mind that once social order was restored, she would make sure Zhou Lin’s reputation was ruined, and if possible, make sure he was buried without a trace!
"Why keep that woman and give her food? You put her in the tool room, aren’t you worried she’ll cause trouble? You’re not getting soft, are you? I warn you, don’t start having weird thoughts!"
In the small living room on the second floor, Wu Xue was still treating Zhou Caijun’s wound, while Cheng Yali, who was helping, seemed a bit displeased with Zhou Lin's arrangement.
"Don’t mind her, Xiao Xue. That woman has nothing to do with him. As for that Ai Bing, if Zhou Lin doesn’t do anything, I will. She’s too despicable!"
Wu Xue nodded but then shook her head. She was wearing a mask and couldn’t speak clearly. Maybe she didn’t know what to say either.
Zhou Caijun’s head wound wasn’t small. The deepest part exposed his white skull, and after Wu Xue palpated it, she suspected there might be a fracture, though fortunately, it hadn’t deformed. This area didn’t require special fixation as long as he avoided further injury in the next few months. Thankfully, Zhou Caijun didn’t show signs of a concussion or other brain injuries, so the most important thing now was disinfecting and stitching.
As a clinical doctor, these two tasks were easy for Wu Xue. She had been doing clinical work under her mentor’s guidance since her last year of undergraduate studies and was very skilled. The fact that she chose the finest thread to stitch Zhou Caijun showed her skill. People who weren’t skilled wouldn’t dare do that.
She did the entire procedure without anesthesia. Zhou Caijun, though looking thin, managed to stay still through it all. Wu Xue was deeply impressed by his endurance.
About ten minutes later, Wu Xue finished stitching and removed her mask after disinfecting the area.
At this point, she had a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, and her delicate nose was also damp, showing that she was somewhat nervous while treating Zhou Caijun’s wound.
But both Zhou Lin and Cheng Yali felt that the treatment had gone well. After the wound was stitched, it no longer bled, and after cleaning the surrounding skin with alcohol, they found no creases formed by the skin being pulled. Aside from the wound itself, everything else seemed as if it had never been treated.
"Mission accomplished."
Wu Xue breathed a sigh of relief and began to clean up. Zhou Caijun, drenched in sweat from enduring the pain, was now eager to take a nice, hot shower and then enjoy a restful sleep.
It was only after Zhou Li’s reminder downstairs that everyone realized they hadn’t had dinner yet.
Gathered around the dining table, though it was just a simple meal, one could imagine the grim situation outside from the injuries Zhou Caijun and his wife had suffered.
"I’ll bring her some food upstairs." After eating, Zhou Lin finally remembered Yang Qiqi on the rooftop.
When Yang Qiqi saw the large bowl Zhou Lin was holding, she immediately jumped up and rushed to take it, silently digging in.
"Eat well. After you’re done, you can get to work. As long as you’re obedient, I won’t let you go hungry."
After speaking, Zhou Lin began inspecting the tool room. He mainly checked to ensure all the equipment was running smoothly and that the animals and rabbits he was breeding had no adverse reactions. He also checked the food, water, and temperature conditions to ensure everything was suitable.
Strictly speaking, Zhou Lin didn’t lack poultry or meat. The cold storage on the "Lai Fu" ship, which had a minimum temperature of minus sixty degrees, was packed full. Even with Wu Xue, they wouldn’t be able to eat it all. Raising these animals was more of a nostalgia for the past, a hope for the future.
So after Yang Qiqi finished eating, Zhou Lin reminded, or rather warned her, not to even think about causing trouble in the tool room, or else he’d lock her outside!
On the 19th-floor rooftop, where it was minus thirty degrees, just thinking about it made Yang Qiqi shiver.
Although her phone still worked and Zhou Lin hadn’t confiscated it, Yang Qiqi had already tried to call the police, but the emergency number couldn’t get through. Even if she did manage to get through, what would it matter? She had finally understood—Zhou Lin had laid an obvious trap!
He hadn’t forced her, used violence, or harmed her. He had simply made her realize how warm it was here and how much food they had. That was enough.
The darkness and cold were not unique to Bashu. Yang Qiqi’s hometown, though closer to the equator, was now colder than Bashu by more than ten degrees. All the rivers had completely frozen, and more than ninety-nine percent of the plants were dead. Forget about food and vegetables—there was no edible tree bark left!
So now, Yang Qiqi had truly accepted her fate!
She wanted to live, not to freeze or starve to death!
She could only wait. Wait until Mr. Cao sent someone to pick her up. With Mr. Cao’s power, she believed that confronting Zhou Lin’s family would be easy! What she didn’t realize was that Zhou Lin thought the same way. If he didn’t know about this situation, Yang Qiqi would be like Ai Bing—sealed in a bag on the rooftop, waiting for the weather to warm up before being disposed of.
Before leaving, Zhou Lin gave Yang Qiqi an outdoor sleeping bag. "Be careful with it. If it gets dirty or damaged, I won’t have a spare for you."
"Okay... okay, Zhou Lin, why don’t you just let me go?" Yang Qiqi, tightly hugging the sleeping bag, looked at him with a pitiful expression.
Unfortunately, Zhou Lin didn’t even look back as he opened the door and left.
"D*mn it!" Yang Qiqi stomped her foot angrily and silently vented her emotions at the door, unaware that Zhou Li had seen everything and recorded it—after all, with her intelligence, how could Zhou Lin trust a stranger with the tool room?
Zhou Li had installed several surveillance cameras in the tool room. These cameras weren’t originally intended for Yang Qiqi but for observing the growth of plants and the operation of equipment. Now, they were put to a new use.
"Brother, look at this woman. She won’t learn until she sees the coffin. She doesn’t know how lucky she is to be in such a good situation!" Zhou Li said as she switched between the surveillance footage.
"A bit, but if it were you, you’d probably be even more upset," Zhou Lin glanced at the video and replied.
"Not a chance!" Zhou Li muttered to herself, continuously switching between the monitoring screens, coming up with ideas for how to use this situation to her advantage. She was planning to create a tool that would not only let her escape the rooftop safely but also leave behind a deadly mess.
Zhou Lin couldn’t help but think that if Yang Qiqi had Zhou Li’s intelligence, she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.
However, Zhou Lin couldn’t have known that there was someone even less intelligent than Yang Qiqi.
- Writer
