Chapter 9: A Different Way to Torment Her

Wei An truly did not know how to explain it.

She had spent all her money and filled her void space with daily necessities, but the apocalypse never arrived, and she hadn't transmigrated either. She could only mumble that she had transferred the money to another account, stubbornly telling her parents not to worry, as they wouldn't need to provide for her tuition or living expenses for the next three years.

To support herself, she started filming short videos. But was it really that easy to make money? Fortunately, her parents never stopped sending her living expenses, allowing her to scrape through her sophomore year, during which her account failed to even reach ten thousand followers.

By her junior year, she began to pivot. She gave up the path of being a "talented influencer" and started learning to cook various home-style dishes as a food blogger. To her surprise, her follower count grew faster than it had when she was just singing and playing instruments. In just half a year, she reached one hundred thousand followers.

Thus, she carefully managed her account, earning money to support herself while never stopping the effort of stashing items into her space. She no longer hoarded daily necessities, however, but started collecting various seeds, as well as gold, silver, and jewelry—things that were more valuable and took up less space.

Wei An was very grateful that her space possessed a preservation function. For fish, she would toss them into the icy pool inside the space while they were still flopping about, ensuring they remained exceptionally fresh when taken out.

At this moment, Qu Xiurong looked particularly surprised: "Where did you trade for this? The crucian carp your father brought back are completely dead; they don't compare to the freshness of this grass carp at all."

"Dad traded for crucian carp?" Wei An felt lucky that she hadn't taken out the crucian carp, but the grass carp instead. In truth, she was just craving Sichuan-style boiled fish.

...

"Are you sure you don't need my help?"

It was a rainy weekend. Wei An, having nothing to do, started preparing dinner shortly after lunch. Qu Xiurong was still a bit uneasy, helping out on the side while repeatedly asking if she should take over. She was terrified that Wei An would ruin the ingredients; after all, even though they hadn't needed ration coupons, those ingredients had still cost two or three yuan.

"Oh, Mom, don't stir up trouble. Just go and knit a sweater for your grandson and wait for the meal to be served."

Wei An pushed Qu Xiurong, urging her to get out of the kitchen. At first, she had been a bit clumsy and flustered because she wasn't familiar with the cookware and wasn't used to the honeycomb briquette stove of this era. However, she was accustomed to kitchen work and soon adapted.

After pushing out the reluctant Qu Xiurong, who kept looking back, Wei An took a deep breath and began preparing to slaughter the fish. The grass carp had already stopped breathing, which saved her the step of having to kill it. Gripping the heavy, slightly awkward kitchen knife, she pressed one hand onto the fish's head. As the blade made a rustling sound against the skin, thick rows of scales were scraped away.

Next came gutting it. Without putting the knife down, she used just the tip to clean the fish's belly thoroughly. The gills were also pulled out with a light flick of the knife's tip; with a slight lift of her wrist and a sharp "thud," they were severed. Only then did she place the grass carp into a basin of pre-filled water to rinse it. After three repetitions, the scales and blood were completely cleaned off.

The grass carp was laid back onto the cleaned chopping board. Wei An took up the knife again, one hand pressing the head while the other guided the blade slowly from the tail toward the head, separating one side of the fillet from the body. Reaching the head, she used some force to chop it off, and performed the same process on the other side. Soon, the bones, meat, and head of the fish were completely separated. She sliced the meat and chopped the bones with the fluid grace of a master.

Wei An was in a great mood. Humming "The Five-Star Red Flag Flutters in the Wind," she fished pickled ginger, chili, and greens from the pickling jar. The fresh, tangy aroma made her mouth water. She popped a sliver of ginger into her mouth and sighed with satisfaction, "This is what real, organic ingredients should taste like."

Thinking of her future life, where she sometimes had to travel thousands of kilometers to find green, pesticide-free, and fertilizer-free ingredients just to film a single food video, she couldn't help but feel like crying.

With all the ingredients ready, she checked the time. It was not yet four o'clock. She decided to wait until Su Yuping and her husband arrived before firing up the stove to cook the fish.

"Mom, let's pickle another jar of vegetables. More cowpeas, chilies, ginger, greens, and radishes—let's pickle plenty."

Her mind was filled with a vast array of pickling recipes; just thinking about them made her eager to try them out. She was truly looking forward to the deliciousness of vegetables grown without any chemicals or fertilizers. She had already eaten quite a few over the past two days—stir-fried bitter melon, chili-fried cowpeas—and while the ingredients were excellent, Qu Xiurong's cooking skills were, frankly, not very good.

"Alright, you can help me when the time comes." Qu Xiurong patted the sofa, gesturing for Wei An to sit down.

Wei An leaned over obediently, "I've never done it before, Mom. You'll have to teach me." She always remembered that she was not the version of herself who was an expert cook. While she wasn't exactly someone who had never done a day's work, she had never personally pickled vegetables before.

Seeing Wei An sit down, Qu Xiurong took her hands and stroked them. "As long as you're willing to learn, I'll find someone to teach you whatever I don't know."

As parents, who would want their pampered daughter to spend her days stuck in the kitchen? But Qu Xiurong believed that whether it was a daughter or a son, everyone had to know how to handle chores. If they didn't know, it might be fine while they were unmarried or living with their parents, as the parents would take care of everything. But what about after they married or moved away? If they couldn't cook or wash clothes, what would they eat and wear?

Summed up, it was really just one thing: knowing how to do it was one matter, and whether or not to actually do it after knowing how was another.

Wei An remained unaware of Qu Xiurong's complex thoughts. She nodded with a smile, resting her head on Qu Xiurong's shoulder, her eyes fixed on the continuous curtain of rain outside the window.

...

Just as the Su family of three was enjoying their peaceful time, a near-fatal incident befell Ye Aihua, who harbored a deep, bone-chilling hatred for Wei An.

Driven by her resentment, Ye Aihua had taken the rare initiative to seek out a man—Jiang Huairen, the deputy director of the Educated Youth Office—hoping he could find a way to send Wei An to the countryside even if she hadn't volunteered.

She never expected that this very visit would lead him to find a new way to torment her. When her throat was gripped and her limbs were bound, leaving her unable to move, she finally blacked out from the unbearable agony. Even after she lost consciousness, Jiang Huairen, ignoring everything else, unleashed every cruel and twisted method he could imagine upon her.