Ling Jiang stayed quiet. The man thought she found the price too steep, so he hurried to explain.
"These calcium tablets are all within their shelf life, stored properly too. They won't cause any health problems. At a time like this, people pay more for safe medicine. That's why the price is a bit higher, but I swear, it's the real thing. I even still have the receipt from when I bought it."
He actually pulled out the receipt for her to see, which made Ling Jiang want to buy them even more. It wasn't that she thought ten packs of instant noodles were too expensive. She actually thought the price was cheap, especially since she had already been prepared to trade medicine for medicine. She didn't expect instant noodles to be enough.
"I don't have that many instant noodles," Ling Jiang said. "Can I trade something else? Still food."
She took out one self-heating rice pack, five packs of instant noodles, one pack of compressed biscuits, and two small snack packs. The compressed biscuits she brought were the larger kind with eight pieces instead of the usual four, so one pack plus the snacks was roughly equivalent in value.
The man didn't hesitate and traded on the spot.
After securing the calcium tablets, Ling Jiang didn't rush to leave. She had brought the child here to browse the market, so they walked it twice before Lan Jin finally said, "Qiao Qiao, that's enough. Let's go back. Nothing much left to see."
The novelty had worn off. Finding nothing new, Qiao Qiao agreed. "Okay. Go home now."
"Zzzt. Zzzt."
They hadn't yet left the market when the walkie-talkie in Ling Jiang's arms crackled to life.
A moment later, Lao Gao's voice came through. "Ling Jiang, Sister Lan, there's a man and a woman shouting up a storm near the 31st floor. Huang went down to take a look. Said they're Lan Jin's ex-in-laws."
Lao Gao had heard about what happened to Lan Jin, but hadn't witnessed it himself. Huang Jinghe, however, had been there for the whole thing. One glance was all it took for him to recognize the couple. Knowing Lan Jin had no good relationship with them, Huang Jinghe ignored them and went straight upstairs. Then he told Lao Gao to get in touch with Ling Jiang's group.
Ling Jiang chuckled. "We ran into them on the way here. Lan Jin even kicked her once. I guess they're not willing to let it go and came to pester her at home."
What puzzled her was how they even knew Lan Jin's address.
"They probably found out before. Then the rain came, and I doubt they thought I'd survive this long with a child. So they never came looking. But after making a scene today, I doubt they'll leave easily," Lan Jin said, frowning. She really disliked these two.
It was awkward. Huang Jinghe didn't know how to handle it. Even if they ignored the couple, once Lan Jin came back they'd still kick up trouble. And driving them away wasn't easy either.
After a short pause, Lao Gao asked, "They're annoying me. Mind if I take care of it… a little?"
Lan Jin had no objection. "Do as you like. You know my situation. Your call."
"Where are you now? Did you get the calcium tablets?"
"Just got them. We're heading back, but we haven't left the market yet. It'll take some time to walk."
The market was close to the community, but the path was bad. Even with good gear, they'd need twenty to thirty minutes to get home safely.
"Got it. Take your time."
The line went dead.
Knowing Lao Gao, Lan Jin expected him to have "taken care" of them by the time she got home. She thought they'd be gone without a trace.
She had overestimated him.
When they returned, her ex-in-laws were still there on the 31st floor, gagged with strips of cloth, hands and feet bound with rope, one dumped in each corner like mismatched door guardians. It was a strange and almost comical sight.
Ling Jiang burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Oh… this… this is exactly something Lao Gao would do."
Lan Jin sighed. She should have known better than to expect too much. "Stop laughing, or you'll swallow cold air into your stomach. Come on. Let's go home."
Before entering, she glanced at her former mother-in-law's face.
That same vicious glare. Just like before, as if she wanted to tear her apart and eat her alive.
Lan Jin ignored their struggles and went upstairs.
With the low temperature outside, sitting in the corner for a short while was fine, but any longer and they'd be frozen solid before the night was over.
She had no intention of rescuing them. Whether they appreciated it or not wasn't the point. Lao Gao had only tied their hands and feet. Anyone with half a brain could think to roll toward each other and untie the knots.
The question was whether they had that much brain.
Lan Jin didn't think so.
Once home, Lan Jin ignored her ex-in-laws and shared the news she'd heard at the market. She had been planning to start burning charcoal right away, but Lao Gao stopped her.
"Sister Lan, how about you let me use your radio? How do you keep missing all the news?"
Lan Jin froze, then gave a wry smile. She honestly didn't know how it happened. She somehow always managed to miss the broadcasts. But today's news hadn't come from the radio anyway. She'd heard it firsthand.
Lao Gao didn't believe her and didn't even let her explain. He just told her to hand over the radio and turned it on.
Sure enough, the radio was broadcasting the exact same news they'd heard at the market.
"Latest news, latest news…"
They locked eyes.
Lan Jin felt a little embarrassed. "I swear it's not because I don't know how to use it. I've checked all the channels. I'm not that dumb."
"I didn't say you're dumb. Just… unlucky."
The words weren't the same, but the meaning was.
Lan Jin sighed and handed the radio over.
With some free time, she began teaching Qiao Qiao again. She had prepared plenty of children's books, blank paper, and crayons. But for such a young child, there was only so much she could learn. She started with Arabic numerals.
Qiao Qiao could count aloud from one to one hundred without trouble, but writing them was harder.
At a little over three years old, she was still small for her age, with short arms that made holding a pen difficult. Lan Jin had to abandon her original plan of having Qiao Qiao copy the numbers and instead switched to pointing at them.
Recognizing them would be good enough for now.