Ch27 - Exchange; Bring Your Father Here
"Ouch! Easy there."
With no alcohol or disinfectant for bandaging at home, Zhang Lu boiled some water, dampened a cloth, and wiped away the dried bloodstains from Li Shanyang's wound.
When Li Xiaoya returned, neither Li Shanyang nor Zhang Lu noticed her injured foot. Ignored, Xiaoya stormed off to her room in a huff.
Liu Jie had mostly recovered, but he only ate a few bites at each meal, leaving him looking still quite weak.
"Xiaoya, what's wrong?"
Leaning against his bed, Liu Jie saw her hobble in and asked with concern.
Already feeling wronged, Xiaoya's tears welled up at his concern.
"Waaah, Brother Jie, I sprained my ankle!" She threw herself into Liu Jie's arms and began sobbing.
Liu Jie patted her back soothingly.
"How did it happen?"
"Stop crying, Yaya. Put your foot up here. I'll massage it for you."
Li Xiaoya nodded, wiped her tears, slipped off her high heels, and placed her sprained left foot in Liu Jie's lap, letting him press on it.
"No, no, no! Brother Jie, be gentle!"
"It hurts so much."
Liu Jie hadn't even applied much pressure yet, but Li Xiaoya was already crying out in pain.
"Yaya, I need to really work it out. If it swells up later, it'll be worse." Liu Jie coaxed gently.
Having barely eaten in days, Liu Jie couldn't apply much pressure to Li Xiaoya's foot.
"Yaya, stay still. If you move, it'll hurt even more tomorrow."
"Ugh!"
The pain was intense. Li Xiaoya would rather let her foot swell than endure Liu Jie's massage.
With no other choice, Liu Jie got up to boil some water for a hot compress.
But as soon as he stepped out, Zhang Lu, sitting on the sofa, potted him and rolled her eyes.
"What are you doing out here? If you can walk, get out already. Stop freeloading off our food and drinks."
A big man like him was useless, nothing but an eyesore.
Liu Jie ignored Zhang Lu. He'd heard enough of her sarcastic remarks these past two days and could now completely tune her out.
After fetching a kettle of water from the kitchen, Liu Jie scrolled through his phone while waiting for it to boil. Unexpectedly, he overheard the loud scheming of the two people across the room.
"Husband, do you think that fat guy still wants Liu Jie?"
"Why don't we figure out a way to send him back to the Fat Guy? We could trade him for some food."
Seeing Liu Jie recover, Zhang Lu's plan to sacrifice him resurfaced.
She'd brought Liu Jie back earlier to have an extra person to share the food with.
But this time, not only did they fail to get any food, they ended up with an extra mouth to feed.
What good was the meager ration they got? It would be better to trade him for a box of instant noodles.
Li Shanyang dared not move a muscle, terrified of bleeding again.
"That's a good idea. While we're at it, ask him if he has any alcohol swabs to bandage my wound." Hearing this, Liu Jie desperately wanted to dump the entire basin of hot water over them.
But the three of them were family in this room. He was outnumbered, and starving as he was, rash action was out of the question.
But the humiliation he'd endured earlier wouldn't go unpunished.
Liu Jie carried the basin back to his room without so much as a glance at Zhang Lu and the others.
Naturally, this action drew another wave of discontented muttering from Zhang Lu.
Li Xiaoya was gently massaging her feet when she overheard Zhang Lu's sarcastic remarks directed at Liu Jie. She hurried to comfort him.
Liu Jie shook his head, insisting he was fine, then began to tear off his own clothes to use as a cloth for Li Xiaoya's hot compress.
After learning the reason, Li Xiaoya offered one of her own skirts.
"Brother Jie, you're so kind to me!" Li Xiaoya was deeply moved, seeing Liu Jie's hands reddened from the hot water.
"Yaya, it's the least I can do!" Liu Jie applied the compress to Li Xiaoya's hand with focused care, never complaining.
In his mind, he was scheming-was there any way to win Li Xiaoya over to his side, to get her to help him?
After finishing his meal and seeing Shen Que off, Meng Ci turned on the surveillance feed and saw the two of them here, lost in affection.
Moved by their love, Meng Ci then began plotting his revenge.
It was only 2 PM; evening was still hours away.
After exercising for half an hour, Meng Ci thought of the seeds stored in his spatial pocket and decided to plant some vegetables inside to see if they would grow.
The spatial pocket measured one kilometer by one kilometer. Though filled with items, Meng Ci had purchased numerous shelves to organize everything neatly, leaving ample unused
space.
Meng Ci selected a packet of Shanghai green cabbage seeds and one of Chinese cabbage seeds. He exited the space, used his phone to download videos on planting these two vegetables, studied them thoroughly, then reentered the space.
He first loosened the soil in an empty patch, scattered fertilizer over it, then sowed the seeds. Using a hoe, he turned the soil again to cover the seeds before watering them with tap water.
Since time stood still within the space,
Meng Ci took two flower pots from the space, filled them with soil, and brought them outside to prevent any potential crop failure.
He moved the pots to the balcony, scattered the remaining seeds inside, and watered them thoroughly.
The video said these two vegetables usually sprout in three to seven days, but with almost no sunlight now, it was uncertain if they would.
Sweat made him sticky, so Meng Ci took a hot shower. Feeling refreshed, he cooked a meal. After eating his fill, he sat down in front of the sofa.
On the monitor, Li Xiaoya was already asleep. Outside, Zhang Lu and Li Shanyang sat on the sofa, scrolling through food videos on their phones.
Liu Jie, clutching his stomach, clearly couldn't sleep from hunger, tossing and turning on the bed.
Though it was only a little past six, the sky had grown dark outside due to the continuous downpour.
Meng Ci began executing his plan.
He retrieved a drone from his spatial pocket and loaded three packets of instant noodles inside.
He then pulled out a piece of paper, scribbled a message on it, and slipped it into a bag.
Opening the balcony window, he unlatched a pin on the protective net and released the drone.
When renting the apartment for Li Xiaoya and the others, Meng Ci had deliberately chosen a location that allowed the drone to navigate directly to their floor.
Their curtains were open, so through the drone's camera, he could clearly see Liu Jie and Li Xiaoya.
The window was closed, but that didn't matter.
Meng Ci maneuvered the drone to strike the windowpane three times before Liu Jie could confirm he hadn't misheard.
Approaching the window, he spotted the drone. Upon seeing the plastic bag dangling from it, Liu Jie hastily pulled the drone inside.
Grabbing the drone, Liu Jie removed the plastic bag. Inside were three packets of instant noodles. He tore open one and wolfed it down.
After finishing one packet, he reached for the second and found a note inside.
"Bring your dad over. You'll get more food in exchange."
The note was written by Meng Ci, though addressed using the nickname of the fat man who had abused Liu Jie before.
The book had once hinted that the fat man preferred middle-aged men over younger guys.
It seemed his childhood deprivation of paternal affection had fostered an unusual fascination with middle-aged men.
Seeing the note, Liu Jie suddenly recalled the photos of middle-aged men plastered on the walls of that fat man's room.
"Ugh!"
The memory of his days there made Liu Jie's stomach churn.
If you show no mercy, don't blame me for being ruthless.
A murderous glint hardened in Liu Jie's eyes.