Chapter 5: Supporting a Useless Brother? Not Happening!
Lin Zhifeng walked out of the pharmacy and headed straight for the convenience store. With a wave of her hand, she pulled ten yuan out of the system and let Xie Laidi pick out two 5-yuan ice creams.
The ice cream, coated in crispy chocolate and filled with creamy sweetness and crunchy chocolate bits, was something neither of them had ever tasted before. They were so delighted that all the frustration from that morning vanished into thin air.
Xie Laidi nibbled it down to just the little wooden stick and still couldn’t bear to throw it away. She held onto it all the way to the hospital entrance before finally tossing it in the trash.
When the two arrived at the orthopedics inpatient ward, they hadn’t even reached the door when they heard Xie Yaozu swearing inside, accompanied by Wang Tingmei’s constant apologies.
“You can’t even handle a chamber pot—what use are you? I must’ve been cursed for eight lifetimes to have married a jinx like you!”
“Don’t be mad, Yaozu, I’ll wipe it up right away. Getting upset isn’t good for your injury.”
Lin Zhifeng couldn’t help but laugh when she heard that. Wang Tingmei really was the perfect example of a modern-day virtuous wife!
She worried about Xie Yaozu’s health even while being cursed at—if he hit her, would she worry that he hurt his hand?
She led Xie Laidi into the room and saw that the large ward had eight beds in total, but seven were empty. No wonder Xie Yaozu acted so arrogant.
“You’re finally here? Your dad’s starving!”
Wang Tingmei was quite pretty, with large, watery eyes and delicate features, but even though she was only about thirty-three or thirty-four, she looked like she was already in her forties.
With her brows furrowed and that fierce look on her face, it was hard to tell she had once been a beauty.
She had been abandoned as a baby and taken in by a family in the village surnamed Wang. Because of her background, she had always been very self-conscious. Marrying the handsome Xie Yaozu felt like she had struck gold.
She complained that her daughter was too slow, snatched the thermos container out of her hands, and placed it by the hospital bed. After shaking Xie Yaozu awake, she handed him chopsticks and a spoon, doting on him like a servant waiting for a reward.
“Pah—damn it! Is this even fit for human consumption?!”
Ravenous, Xie Yaozu gulped down several big mouthfuls of the steaming porridge and chugged some freshly simmered bone broth. The hot liquid scorched his gums where he was missing teeth, burned his mouth and throat, and seared all the way down to his stomach.
Though it was his own fault for not being careful, he immediately blamed the cook. He knocked over the thermos container by the bed and pointed at his two daughters as he started yelling.
“You trying to kill me or what? Raising you two was a damn waste—can’t even get breakfast right!”
“What kind of food did you make?” Wang Tingmei didn’t even care about the truth. The moment she saw Xie Yaozu writhing in pain, she raised her voice and scolded her daughters anxiously. “Get back home and make another batch! Bring it over when you go to work!”
Lin Zhifeng cast a cold glance at Xie Yaozu, who was clutching his chest and howling, then glanced at Wang Tingmei, who was visibly distressed. Her tone was filled with impatience as she said, “Is the food the issue here? Not knowing hot from cold—that’s a problem with his brain.”
Xie Yaozu and Wang Tingmei were both stunned. This damn girl actually dared to talk back?
But Xie Yaozu was in too much pain, and Wang Tingmei was busy trying to wipe the spilled hot porridge off of him. Neither of them had the time to hit her.
“You’re still being mouthy? Clean up the porridge on the floor! Laidi, go wash your father’s chamber pot!” Wang Tingmei was both furious and distressed seeing how much pain Xie Yaozu was in.
“How come there are bugs buzzing around in a hospital? Laidi, let’s go. Don’t want to pick up any bacteria,” Lin Zhifeng said, as if she hadn’t heard a word Wang Tingmei said. She grabbed Xie Laidi’s hand and walked straight out the door, not sparing another glance at that “loving couple.”
Xie Laidi, already startled again and again, saw the defiant expression on Lin Zhifeng’s face and pressed her lips together in worry. She kept waving her little hands, signing anxiously: “Sister, when Dad gets out of the hospital, he’ll beat us to death!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let them hurt you again.”
Lin Zhifeng wore a relaxed smile, but her voice was deadly serious. That morning, she hadn’t expected Li Amei to resort to violence, but now that she was prepared, she wouldn’t let this family bully Xie Laidi ever again!
Xie Laidi froze, then gradually relaxed as Lin Zhifeng’s confidence rubbed off on her.
“Sister, I’m so glad I have you.”
When Lin Zhifeng saw her signing, she flashed a bright smile, showing her white teeth, and beamed even more warmly.
The two of them returned home, only to be greeted by a round of scolding as soon as they walked in the door. After ranting for a while, Li Amei finally mentioned that Wang Tingmei had called and told them not to bring food to the hospital anymore.
“Her precious husband was starving, and she didn’t even think to go buy him a meal herself. All she knows is to sit around waiting for you two. Had to wait until he said something himself before she finally moved.” Another barrage of complaints followed, so sharp they made your ears itch.
In the Xie household, only Xie Yaozu, Wang Tingmei, and Xie Guibao had mobile phones. The two sisters usually had to rely on the landline at home or the increasingly rare public phones. Every time Wang Tingmei called the house, she had to endure a round of verbal abuse from her mother-in-law.
By the time all this back-and-forth was done, the clock on the wall showed it was already 8:40.
Her part-time shift at the fast food restaurant started at 9:30. Lin Zhifeng had no intention of asking for leave—and even less intention of staying home to clean the kitchen—so she headed back to her room to change into her uniform.
Xie Laidi was used to being obedient. Despite Lin Zhifeng’s efforts to stop her, she still scrubbed the pots and dishes until they were spotless.
She decided to head out with her sister to the mall to hand out flyers for work.
She didn’t want to stay home—once Xie Guibao woke up, the house would erupt into chaos. That little brother seemed to have been born to make their lives miserable, constantly finding ways to get them scolded or beaten.
The two of them hurried down the street, reaching the Quanjiayue Fast Food Restaurant in just half an hour.
“If you get tired, stop. Don’t push yourself, got it?” Lin Zhifeng was worried she might get heatstroke and gave her a few reminders before letting her go.
The fast food restaurant wasn’t open yet. Lin Zhifeng sat by the door, looking at the construction site across the street where a new mall was being built. She thought to herself, If Xie Yaozu was willing to act like a decent human being, he could at least pick up some work on a site and help support the family.
The county was undergoing major redevelopment—construction sites were everywhere, and they were all desperate for workers.
Wang Tingmei worked as a cook at one of the sites, and the boss actually appreciated her. Her salary was twice that of others—a full 8,000 yuan a month, and she even got lunch and dinner covered.
‘Isn’t that salary a little too high? Is it just a quirk of the novel’s plot?’ Lin Zhifeng didn’t think too hard about it—after all, it wasn’t her money.
‘Huh? Isn’t that Zhao Xiao’s car?’
From a distance, Lin Zhifeng spotted a black luxury sedan slowly pulling up to the construction site entrance. A group of site managers were bowing and scraping, nodding respectfully at the car window.
This character was incredibly mysterious—either he didn’t show up at all, or when he did, he would crush all opponents effortlessly. And after the fight? No flashy show-offs with the female lead, not even trying to build a relationship.
Calling him the second male lead felt a bit… presumptuous.
Lin Zhifeng found it all very strange. For someone like him to be developing real estate in a remote backwater town—it just seemed like such a waste of talent.
‘Most likely it’s because Bai Ruyue is here. The moment she changes locations, Zhao Xiao’s probably going to follow too.’
Just as she was thinking about Bai Ruyue, an excited voice suddenly came from the right.
“Zhaodi! I thought you’d take the day off today!”
“Bai Ruyue? You’re here for breakfast?”
Wearing her hair in a bun, Bai Ruyue had on a white T-shirt and a light green plaid skirt. Her long, slender legs stood out in a pair of clean white sneakers, looking especially fresh and vibrant in the summer sun. “Suddenly felt like having fried chicken—and figured I’d drop by to see you.”
Lin Zhifeng knew she came because of what happened last night. Just as she was about to tell her not to be so polite, she suddenly felt a sharp, assessing gaze sweep over from the luxury car across the street. For a moment, she couldn’t tell whether it was sizing her up, or Bai Ruyue.
