Chapter 2628 - 1514

Ding Ning could feel the exhaustion in her body, the usual weakness, being nourished by the Pills and Spiritual Spring Water, a warm current flowing through her whole body.

She could feel her body recovering; she already felt much more spirited.

She was hungry at the moment, but she still felt that her body had gained strength.

Ding Ning took out another Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, drank a mouthful of Spiritual Spring Water, and swallowed this Pill.

After she took a few sips from that bowl of water, it still didn’t seem to have decreased.

Was this water really never going to run out?

Ding Ning felt a surge of joy. As long as she had Spiritual Spring Water, even after she finished these Pills, she would still be able to raise herself to a level strong enough to protect her body.

She felt pain all over her body, the kind where bones and blood were being restructured.

Ding Ning closed her eyes and endured that pain.

As she endured the pain, that hatred in her heart burned it away.

The pain she felt when she was dying and the pain she felt now were about the same. She had been able to endure it back then; now that she had hope, she could endure it even more.

Even though the pain made Ding Ning collapse to the ground and roll around on the floor.

Ding Ning’s hands trembled as she shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth, so she wouldn’t bite her tongue or make any sound that would alert the people outside, the neighbors next door.

She had no idea how long the pain lasted; it hurt so much she blacked out.

When she woke up, all she could feel was a foul stench.

By then, some neighbors in the corridor outside had already gotten off work or out of school; they were all chirping about how it stank, saying it smelled like a dead rat.

Ding Ning felt hungry and also noticed the stench on her body. She knew it was already evening; the time she’d spent passing out from the pain had gone on for two or three hours.

She could smell the stench clearly. Their home only had a tiny kitchen with a small stove for cooking and a little iron stove just for boiling water.

Using one stove to boil hot water made it hard to wash the whole body clean.

But she couldn’t use cold water right now; she could only change out of her clothes first and use that bit of hot water to slowly wipe herself down.

She wiped away the stench on the surface; while wiping her body, she also dripped a few drops of Spiritual Spring Water into that basin of water.

Boiling water again and again, wiping her body again and again, she finally cleaned off all the grime on the outside of her body.

Only then did she change into fresh clothes.

Ding Ning didn’t choose to go to the big public bathhouse. Going there reeking like this would definitely make people gossip, even if she did nothing else.

After wiping her body and washing her hair, she finally felt that the stench on her had faded away.

But the room still reeked. She opened all the windows in the place to let the smell dissipate.

Right now, the buildings near the family compound and the one they lived in could all smell this awful stench.

Up until now, the smell in their unit still hadn’t completely gone away.

Ding Ning didn’t choose to go out immediately, but stayed inside to cook something else for herself.

She searched the kitchen. She hadn’t been in the mood these past few days, hadn’t even gone into the kitchen, and there wasn’t much grain left.

The cupboard was empty too. It used to be locked, but when she was muddle-headed, they had taken the key and moved all the stuff out.

There was no grain left here now, though thankfully this month’s rations hadn’t been collected yet.

"Ding Ning... open the door..."

The one knocking was that cheap slut Xiao Yuhuan. She was holding a bowl in her hands, and as she knocked, the neighbors next door and nearby all looked over.

Behind her, Mrs. Xiao came out to explain, "Ding Ning’s in a bad mood and doesn’t want to eat every day. We’re kindly bringing her meals every day."

"Mom, if Ding Ning knew how kind our family was, she wouldn’t lose her temper anymore."

The cheap slut Xiao Yuhuan said with a voice full of grievance.

"Yuhuan, just let it go. After the way Ding Ning acted today, she’s obviously in a bad mood. Let her sleep a bit more."

"Jianhua, I’m her good friend. I have to talk some sense into her, and I know my good friend definitely likes you."

"Don’t say that. We’re all good neighbors; you can’t put it that way. I’m like her big brother. Isn’t it normal for me to care about her?"

"Ding Ning, good child, open the door, will you? How can you not eat?"

Mrs. Xiao kept trying to persuade her as they went on talking and knocking.

Ding Ning wasn’t ready to tear her face off with them yet, but she also couldn’t let them in.

The stink in the room hadn’t completely dispersed yet, and she needed these few days to plan out her own affairs. Better not let them come in.

"Mrs. Xiao, you just brought porridge at noon. We don’t have any grain left at home; it’s all been taken away by you. From now on I’ll cook for myself. My body’s already much better, and I’m really tired, I’m going to sleep. Stop making noise."

"Ding Ning, open the door first. I’ve already brought you food and dishes. There wasn’t much grain left in your house to begin with, just enough for us to bring you meals for a few days. But we have such a good relationship with your family, and since you’re in a bad mood and sick, it’s only right that we take care of you."

The cheap slut Xiao Yuhuan refused to give up. If this cheap bitch Ding Ning wouldn’t open the door, how was she supposed to get anything off her?

"I already said I’m not eating. Stop knocking, you’re annoying."

Ding Ning deliberately spoke in a weak, feeble voice. She couldn’t let it seem like after just one afternoon she’d turned full of energy, with her previously sickly look completely gone.

Ding Ning was hungry, pacing irritably in the kitchen. The last bit of coarse grain was just a few sweet potatoes, which she cooked on the small stove.

She hadn’t eaten that bowl of plain congee at noon, not because she wanted to waste food, but because she was afraid they’d put something in it.

And she was afraid the food they brought now had something in it too.

It would just make her body get worse and worse.

Ding Ning knew that when cannon fodder faced the protagonists, they were very likely to stay cannon fodder.