Chapter 42 After hanging up the phone, He Zhao ordered two takeout meals: one was porridge, and the other was cold medicine from the pharmacy...
After hanging up the phone, He Zhao ordered two takeout meals: one was porridge, and the other was cold medicine from the pharmacy. Ginger tea and the like were too difficult to buy; cold medicine was much more convenient.
Before going to bed, He Zhao turned on the air conditioner. After so much time, the room was hot and stuffy, but it was also unavoidable. That's the downside of air conditioning; too much air conditioning can make you feel short of breath and feel uncomfortable, especially since He Zhao was a patient.
So after He Zhao got up, she turned off the air conditioner. After washing up, she leaned weakly against the bed, feeling dizzy and feverish, as if she felt even worse than when she first woke up. This was mostly because of Qiao Yanyu's concern earlier.
When no one is showing concern, He Zhao is practically a superwoman, but after being shown concern, she turns into a delicate little darling, feeling extremely weak. She lay in bed for a while, and when she heard her phone ring, she didn't answer it. Instead, she got out of bed and went to the door to get her takeout.
Her throat was really sore, so she tried to avoid talking and rest for as long as possible. When she stepped out of her small room and reached the front door, she opened it to find not a delivery person standing outside, but Wang Yu, whom Qiao Yanyu had entrusted to run an errand.
Wang Yu can be quite outgoing at times. Standing at the entrance, she immediately started rummaging through her bag: "I heard from Senior Qiao that you caught a cold, probably from some yin energy. I do have some good stuff here, though it's not as good as Senior Qiao's, but you can make do with it for now."
"It's also my fault. I'm not strong enough and I wasn't careful enough. Otherwise, I would have sensed that something was wrong with you when we parted this morning." She took out something while explaining, "Here, this is a talisman that can dispel yin energy. You're an ordinary person, so you don't know how to use it, but having this around will make your yang energy stronger. Use it for now, and I'll get you more if you need more later."
Wang Yu casually stuffed the golden talisman she was holding into He Zhao's arms. He Zhao looked down and saw that the golden talisman had red symbols on it. He didn't know if it was psychological, but the moment He Zhao held it in his hand, he felt a sense of relief throughout his body.
"And this is old ginger. Senior Qiao asked me to prepare ginger tea. I don't know how to make that stuff. Look, you just sliced the old ginger and boiled it. It should be quite useful. Anyway, it's about getting you to sweat. Sweating will make a cold feel better."
She rattled off a long string of words, leaving He Zhao feeling even more confused. If she could act coquettishly in front of Qiao Yanyu, now He Zhao just wanted her to leave as quickly as possible. He Zhao nodded, accepted the gifts, said "thank you," and then shut the door on Wang Yu.
Wang Yu scratched the back of his head, feeling a little lost, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he had finished what Senior Qiao had assigned him, so he had completed the task perfectly and left happily.
After a while, the porridge and cold medicine arrived. He Zhao drank a bowl of porridge and ate some snacks, feeling a bit better. After finishing her meal, she looked at the cold medicine and the amulet Wang Yu had given her, and after much thought, she decided: trust science.
After taking the medicine, He Zhao felt a bit dizzy, but she knew she had slept for a long time that day, and sleeping any longer would only make her dizzier. She thought of the waterlogged little heater again, which made her head ache even more. But that little heater was quite expensive, and He Zhao didn't want to spend more money to buy another one, so she could only get out of bed, get dressed, wrap her scarf around her neck, and go downstairs.
As soon as He Zhao went downstairs, he saw someone loitering around his electric scooter, seemingly examining his food cart.
He Zhao didn't really care at first, thinking that the other person probably just thought her food truck was pretty and wanted to take a look, hoping to get some inspiration so she could make one herself later. There were quite a few migrant workers in this resettlement housing community, and there were quite a few people like her who ran stall businesses; there were several food trucks parked downstairs at the electric scooter parking area.
However, compared to the other food carts, He Zhao's was cleaner, bigger, and better-looking. When the system first created it for her, quite a few people would sneak over to take a look, so He Zhao was already used to it.
Before she even stepped out of the building, the system notified her: [Host, this is the person who was observing you from the fifth-floor balcony before you left last night.]
The system's single sentence made He Zhao stop in her tracks, her hand already poised to step out of the stairwell. She stood there, her head spinning, observing the person. It was a man, very tall and thin. Even though he was bundled up in thick winter clothes, it was clear he was thinner than the average person.
He was very tall, probably over 1.85 meters. Normally, He Zhao would have gotten closer to observe him, but today she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to bump into someone who might have malicious intentions while she was in a daze.
Yes, He Zhao felt that this guy had ill intentions.
If yesterday he stood upstairs observing him out of curiosity, but today he has already locked onto his food truck, He Zhao doesn't think that curiosity alone could be enough to lock onto his food truck so quickly.
He Zhao didn't believe this guy didn't have some bad intentions.
After He Zhao observed the man in the hallway for a while, the man suddenly looked up alertly and glanced around. He Zhao instinctively shrank back around the corner, leaving the system to observe the man. Only after the system confirmed the man had left did He Zhao emerge from around the corner.
After the system confirmed that he was no longer observing him, He Zhao went to his food cart.
She cautiously asked the system, "System, did he do anything to my food truck?" He Zhao was worried that something might have been done to his food truck, causing problems with the brakes when he drove it.
The system dutifully scanned the area before replying to the host: "No, there's nothing wrong with the food cart."
"Okay, from now on, install a surveillance camera on the food truck. If that guy gets close, take a picture of him. Scan it every time I drive the truck."
[Okay, host. The surveillance cameras will be installed tonight, please don't worry.]
After doing all that, He Zhao opened the small cabinet, took out the small heater inside, and then took it to a nearby small appliance repair shop. These days, appliance repair is incredibly expensive. Although He Zhao hadn't experienced it firsthand, he'd occasionally overheard others talking about it while eating.
The repairman I called came to my house in the evening, but before fixing anything, he charged me 300 yuan. The water heater had a minor problem; he said the heating element inside was broken, replaced it, and then charged me 600 yuan. There's a small appliance repair shop nearby that's cheaper, and the owner is nice.
When He Zhao followed his memory and walked over, he was surprised to find that the owner was a middle-aged woman. Despite it being the dead of winter, she was sweating profusely and dressed very lightly.
Because there are very few women doing this kind of work; it's truly physically demanding, often involving climbing up and down stairs, and the difficulty is exceptionally high. Then she realized she must have been out of her mind; what can't other people do if they want to? Why should she be confined by one gender?
The boss, a muscular man, saw He Zhao carrying the little sun lamp and asked, "Is there a problem?"
"I came into contact with some water last night." She rephrased what happened last night, saying there was nothing supernatural, she just knocked over a glass of water, and a puddle of water spread across the floor.
The boss put down his work: "Simple, let me take a look." The boss did some tests, confirmed that there was no leakage, disassembled the machine, wiped all the water out of the parts, and then reassembled it. He then let He Zhao take it away without even mentioning the money.
"Boss, how much?"
"Minor issues, no charge. If you encounter any problems in the future, come to me. Minor issues are free, major issues depend on the situation. It's a small business, thank you for your patronage."
The woman was straightforward, and He Zhao even saw a resemblance to Qiao Yanyu in her, so she nodded, picked up the small heater, and prepared to leave. But before she could even step out, the shopkeeper reminded her again, "Things haven't been peaceful lately, especially around here. You... do you live alone? Be careful."
He Zhao paused for a moment, then nodded: "Thank you, I will be careful."
As He Zhao left, she was still thinking that this resettlement housing community might indeed be a bit unsafe. Qiao Yanyu's earlier warning was purely well-intentioned, but judging from the boss's expression just now, he clearly had some reservations. She didn't know what had happened, but He Zhao took the kind reminder to heart.
She put the little sun lamp back in the food cart, turned around and went back to her rented room. While waiting for the elevator, a few men dressed in a somewhat shady manner came down, muttering something under their breath.
The gist of it is: they haven't paid the rent, and when they came over, they couldn't find the person. The other party still owes two months' rent, and now they've disappeared without a trace. If they find them, they'll make them pay.
He Zhao stepped aside and waited for them to leave before entering the elevator.
Those shady-looking guys sounded like subletters, and He Zhao didn't have a good impression of them. The smell of smoke in the elevator made her frown deeply. She was already feeling unwell, and her throat was unbearably itchy; she coughed several times before feeling a little better.
He Zhao returned to her room and didn't use her phone. She just stared blankly for a while. She was feeling dizzy and her head was throbbing. Using her phone would only make her head feel worse.
After a while, He Zhao drifted off to sleep.
Compared to my previous dream of fighting alongside Qiao Yanyu, today's dream was less pleasant. Perhaps it's because when I'm awake I keep wondering what that tall, thin man is up to, and in my dream it was all bad stuff.
The curtain of darkness slowly rose, revealing a gloomy alleyway. The ground was puddled with water, and the sound of dripping water, seemingly coming from nowhere, made the atmosphere even more eerie. In his dream, He Zhao was constantly running away, with someone relentlessly pursuing him.
In her dream, He Zhao was constantly running away. Her head was spinning, and she felt her steps were heavy. She didn't know when she would be caught by the malicious guy behind her.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, startling He Zhao awake.
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