Chapter 35: Borrowing Medicine

An Nan walked to her own stairwell and opened the firing slot in the stairwell door.

Zhao Ping’an had helped her modify this firing slot. Inside, there was a peephole that could be rotated into place—when the lens aligned with the hole, it became a door viewer; when the lens was moved aside, it reverted to a firing slot.

An Nan peered outside through the peephole, only to see an unexpected figure.

It was the crew-cut man’s wife, Chu Peipei.

Chu Peipei’s brows were tightly knitted, her features twisted in pain, and her forehead was drenched in sweat. One hand gripped the doorframe, the other clutched her abdomen, looking as if she could barely stand.

Was she injured?

“Miss An, are you there?”

An Nan hadn’t planned to respond, but suddenly thought of something.

She considered for a moment, then opened the door, still gripping her triangular bayonet, staying on guard. “What’s wrong with you?”

Chu Peipei’s face lit up with relief when the door opened. She hurriedly said, “Miss An, sorry to bother you. I’m Chu Peipei from 1301 downstairs. Do you have any antibiotics or motherwort? If you do, could you lend me some?”

An Nan glanced at her stomach.

If she remembered correctly, Chu Peipei was pregnant.

She had given motherwort to Fugui before—it’s a medicine that promotes blood circulation and regulates menstruation, and pregnant women shouldn’t take it.

An Nan frowned. Had Chu Peipei miscarried?

She thought back carefully. In her previous life, she hadn’t interacted much with Chu Peipei and her husband. She only vaguely remembered that the crew-cut man had drowned while searching for supplies, and not long after, Chu Peipei was found dead at home.

Looking at Chu Peipei now, pale and clutching her belly, An Nan guessed she’d died from weakness after a miscarriage, lacking medicine and food to recover.

Seeing An Nan remain silent, Chu Peipei looked embarrassed. “I know it’s abrupt to ask for medicine, but I really have no other choice. I can only come to you and beg for help.”

After her husband died, life had become even harder. Every day was a struggle to find food, and she was exhausted and malnourished. Her pregnancy had already been unstable.

Two days ago, some masked men broke in to rob her. During the struggle, they kicked her to the ground, and she started bleeding.

She lost the baby, and her husband was gone. Chu Peipei lost the will to live and lay on the floor waiting to die.

In a daze, Sun Peng’s face suddenly flashed through her mind.

He was the one who’d caused her husband’s death, leaving her alone and helpless, and now her once-healthy baby was gone too.

Yet Sun Peng was still living just fine.

She was a doctor, her husband a programmer—their life had once been peaceful and stable, but now their family was destroyed.

And Sun Peng, that murderer, was still alive, wearing a mask of false kindness...

A fierce will to survive suddenly surged in Chu Peipei’s heart.

She had to live! She couldn’t let things end like this!

She forced herself to expel the dead fetus, but without antibiotics or medicine to clear out the remaining blood, she wouldn’t last long.

Of all the people in the building—or even the whole complex—who might still have medicine at home, only An Nan and Zhao Ping’an on the top floor came to mind.

Motherwort was unlikely to be found at Zhao Ping’an’s place, so she came straight to An Nan, hoping for a stroke of luck.

An Nan looked at her, expressionless. “Why should I lend you medicine?”

Chu Peipei lowered her gaze.

She was right—why would anyone help her?

She didn’t try to guilt-trip or beg further, just apologized, “Sorry, I was being presumptuous.”

There was no point in saying more. If the other party wouldn’t help, there was nothing she could do.

She hadn’t held out much hope when she came. Not to mention An Nan’s personality—she was cold to almost everyone who came to her door.

Even if someone was friendly, what right did she have to ask them to give up precious medicine?

In a disaster, all supplies became incredibly valuable, especially life-saving medicine.

If this really was the end of the world, anyone with medicine would surely keep it for themselves.

She muttered another apology and turned to leave.

Everyone has their fate; maybe hers was meant to end here.

No matter—at least she’d tried.

But An Nan suddenly called out, “Wait.”

Chu Peipei paused, turning back.

An Nan, using her clothes as cover, took out a slip of paper from her space. “Did you leave this note on my door?”

The note was folded, its contents hidden.

Chu Peipei replied, “I did leave a note on your door before...”

An Nan stared into her eyes. “What did it say?”

“It was to warn you someone was coming to steal your food.”

Chu Peipei hadn’t taken part in the food raid. After her husband’s death, she’d left the building’s group and searched for food on her own.

That day, she’d left her apartment and seen the door to 1302 wide open, with neighbors gathered together.

She overheard the girl from the 8th floor suggesting everyone go upstairs to rob the single woman’s food.

Maybe because she was also a woman surviving alone, she felt a sense of sympathy. That night, while no one was watching, she wrote a note to warn An Nan.

An Nan’s expression said “just as I thought.”

She’d already suspected it was Chu Peipei; otherwise, she wouldn’t have opened the door today.

That day, almost all the neighbors had come to attack her, but the face she’d just seen through the peephole—Chu Peipei’s—hadn’t been among them. So she’d wondered if Chu Peipei was the “note hero.”

—The same note hero who’d warned her in her previous life.

That note had been the only act of kindness she’d received in her past life.

With this connection across two lifetimes, An Nan’s expression softened a little.

“Thank you for the warning back then. What medicine do you need?”

Chu Peipei was stunned. She hadn’t expected that a small act of kindness over half a month ago would now save her life.

“I need antibiotics—cephalosporins, azithromycin, anything will do. And motherwort. If you don’t have that, any medicine that can help expel the remaining blood will work.”

An Nan asked, “You know how to use these?”

“I’m a doctor. Not an OB-GYN, but I know the basics.”

A doctor?

An Nan suddenly thought of the messy handwriting on the note.

It really did look like the scribbles on prescriptions she’d seen as a child.

An Nan said, “Wait here.” She closed the door and went to look for medicine in her space.

She took out three boxes of cefixime dispersible tablets, two boxes of motherwort granules, then added a box of red date and donkey-hide gelatin supplements, and a five-liter jug of drinking water.

If she was going to help, she might as well do it properly—she couldn’t let Chu Peipei take medicine with floodwater.

She opened the door and handed everything over.

Chu Peipei’s face was full of disbelief.

She’d already been surprised that An Nan was willing to lend her medicine, but she hadn’t expected to also receive supplements and drinking water.

To An Nan, whose supplies were piled high, these things were nothing. But in these times, when medicine was as precious as gold, they meant everything.

Chu Peipei’s eyes grew moist. “Thank you.”

She looked up, meeting An Nan’s gaze with sincerity. “If I’m lucky enough to survive, I will definitely repay you.”"