Chapter 171: The Neighbor, Imperial Doctor An Jibo

(from ""Restarting the Farm at the End of the World"")

Chen Yisha tried to play the role of a confidante, but failed—she was instead talked into a funk by Bian Changxi. The two of them sat together, sighing gloomily. Before they knew it, Bian Changxi had wandered off to the fields again, picked a tomato, and stuffed it into Chen Yisha’s hand. As she fussed with the potato seedlings, she asked, “You keep talking about my problems, but what about yours?”

“Me?” Chen Yisha sighed. “Didn’t I tell you ages ago that the second son of the Lei Group was pursuing me?”

Bian Changxi tried to recall, but had no memory of this. Still, she didn’t interrupt.

“Both families want us to get married, but I don’t like him at all. He’s too frivolous. Just because he’s a lightning-type ability user, he flirts everywhere. He says he wants to marry me, but really, he just wants me as his mistress.” Chen Yisha’s face flushed with anger—she no longer looked like a wise older sister, but more like a girl in need of comfort and help.

Bian Changxi paused in her work. Lightning-type, huh? That’s a powerful one. She couldn’t help but think back to when Gu Xu became a lightning-type user, but she couldn’t remember. In her previous life, she’d known far too little about him.

“So, what happened next?” she asked.

“You know, there are more and more ability users now. After we got to the base, even water could be bought and sold. If it weren’t for the job Captain Gu gave me, I probably wouldn’t even have a say at home anymore.”

At first, Chen Yisha’s water ability made her the darling of her family. But at the base, water was no longer scarce, especially with people working on inventions to recycle water—like Qu Yi. And now, offensive abilities were more valued. After all, few people were like Gu Xu, still dealing with “domestic affairs” instead of going out to expand territory.

It was easy to imagine how quickly Chen Yisha’s status had plummeted.

By her calculations, something would happen to Sasha in a month or two, but the culprit didn’t seem to be surnamed Lei.

“So, you can’t take it anymore?”

“It’s not that. They want me to cozy up to Lei Yao, just to build a relationship. But my cousin beat me to it and slept with him first. So that’s that.” Chen Yisha snorted, then grew even more dejected. “But my grandfather was furious at me for being ‘immature’ and immediately found me another match. This time it’s some government official—higher status, but even worse conditions.”

An old creep! He’s fifty or sixty, with yellow teeth and a lecherous look. Rumor has it he’s got some perverse hobbies.

When Chen Yisha first heard, she was so angry she shook. Was her only value to be used for her looks? What were these people thinking? The most despairing part was that her father seemed to agree.

Bian Changxi nodded in understanding. Everyone has some rotten relatives; that’s why she’d said the Chen family were no good.

“Changxi, next time you go out, take me with you. I’ve finally seen it clearly—if things go on like this, I’ll be controlled for life. I used to think that if nothing else worked out, I could just sell water to get by. But now they say that’s shameful. I don’t get it—how is selling water more shameful than selling your body?”

Go out?

Bian Changxi looked at her and answered honestly, “It’s dangerous out there. I don’t think you could handle it.”

“What if I team up with others? I won’t drag anyone down.”

Bian Changxi hesitated. The truth was, bringing someone with little practical use was a burden for any team. In field combat, few teams would bring a pure support-type water user—unless there were special circumstances and that water user was basically a walking reservoir.

That’s why she’d found it funny when Bian Wei showed up at Hongri Wholesale. Bian Wei was a pure support-type water user—she could only provide water, with no other skills or combat ability.

Wood, space, and water abilities were the three recognized support types. For field teams, having a wood-type was a must, and a space-type was a great bonus. Water-types were optional; everyone could just bring a bottle or two for themselves.

Maybe because the work was less intense, most support users were women, and women were generally less suited for combat. So most were pure support. Chen Yisha was like this, so was Lin Rongrong. Bian Changxi had tried to teach them how to develop offensive skills, but they just didn’t get it, and she was helpless.

Take Qiu Feng, for example—also a water user, and only awakened a month ago, but already quite skilled.

A support who could fight was always in demand.

Seeing Bian Changxi’s reaction, Chen Yisha slumped her shoulders. “Forget it, I’m just talking. But you have to help me figure something out—I really don’t want to become some old creep’s mistress. I’d die!”

“Mm, I know. I’ll help you.”

It was getting late and the temperature was dropping. They tidied up and went back to the villa. Chen Yisha and Lin Rongrong stayed in the first-floor guest room; Bian Changxi was still on the third floor. Passing by Gu Xu’s room, she thought to herself that she should switch rooms—being so close was just asking for discomfort.

She hadn’t considered moving out of the villa—that would be too obvious. She’d already “moved out” once; doing it again would just be embarrassing.

…

Early the next morning, Chen Yisha and Lin Rongrong left, but the dining table was still packed—everyone was present for once.

The atmosphere was a little strange. Bian Changxi felt like she was on trial.

Probably just a guilty conscience.

She sat down. Breakfast was porridge, eggs, toast, milk, and a kind of flatbread Aunt Zhao had baked herself—everyone could choose their own combination.

After eating too much processed food, Bian Changxi had a fondness for handmade meals. She took a piece of flatbread with her porridge—the golden, crispy bread filled with minced meat and dried vegetables was delicious.

Gu Xu had already finished eating. He wiped his mouth and asked, “What’s your plan for today?”

“I’ll go to the hospital first and take care of the backlog from the past couple of days, then look into treatments for other illnesses,” Bian Changxi replied after swallowing her food. “Then I’ll stop by the workshop. I picked up something yesterday—maybe Jiang Zhihuan can use it.”

Actually, she wanted to check on the progress of the spatial device and communicator.

She’d basically initiated these two projects herself. Now she planned to keep a close eye on them—she needed them invented and profitable within five months for it to matter to Gu Xu.

She glanced at him—his sharp features and cool expression showed no sign of emotion.

Honestly, she felt more than a little guilty.

He’d been good to her, but not only had she not appreciated it, she’d even blindsided him in public.

He must be angry.

She looked down at the bread in her hand. She really was too selfish.

“Is there something you need?” she asked.

“Yes,” Gu Xu replied. “There’s a military parade today—Jiangcheng’s 100,000 troops. If all goes well, command will officially transfer tomorrow. There are a lot of seriously injured and disabled soldiers in the army. We’ve already sent a wood-type team, but they may not be able to handle the worst cases.”

“Got it. What time?”

“You don’t have to go too early. I’ll have someone go with you. After you leave the workshop, they’ll take you over.”

Bian Changxi thought for a moment. “I’ll just go after I finish at the hospital.”

It didn’t matter if she went to Jiang Zhihuan a bit later—she hadn’t gotten any mutton-fat jade anyway. The other jade was just for testing, and there was no rush.

Gu Xu nodded. “Whatever works. It’s up to you.”

Watching their perfectly normal conversation, the others felt something was off. It was as if something had changed, and subconsciously, they felt these two shouldn’t be acting so lukewarm.

Either get a bit warmer and argue, or go cold and have a little cold war—that would be normal, right? But this… was there something going on or not?

Qiu Yun was the most conflicted—he was practically poking a hole in his bowl. If it weren’t for Qiu Feng’s warning glances, he would’ve blurted out a question.

After Gu Xu finished speaking, he was about to leave the table when Aunt Zhao came in and said, “Captain Gu, there’s a guest outside. He says he moved into the villa next door yesterday and would like to pay a visit. He calls himself Sun Buqun.”

Bian Changxi nearly knocked over her bowl of porridge with her chopsticks.

Everyone looked at her. She signaled that she was fine and kept eating, but her mind was racing.

She’d first heard the name Sun Buqun from Zhang Bo, when that tough boss had been injected with some kind of truth serum and couldn’t lie. After arriving at the base, she’d quietly asked around about this Sun Buqun.

What she found shocked her. Only recently had she begun to realize just how capable Sun Buqun was.

He’d originally been a wealthy businessman from Jiangnan, a famous investor with connections in both the underworld and the government, and a powerful background. But beyond that, information was scarce. All she knew was that at the Su City base, he was a big shot. It was said that many of the facilities had been built with his money and manpower, and he’d had a hand in drafting many of the management rules. He commanded an astonishing number of ability users—even the supreme commander, Zhu Ge Yunma, had to show him respect.

Why would someone like that take an interest in her?

Bian Changxi couldn’t figure it out. But given Sun Buqun’s meteoric rise, it was suspicious—too smooth, too outstanding. His influence was everywhere in the base’s development.

She privately suspected that either he was a reborn like herself, or he had one under his command.

While she was mulling this over, Gu Xu had already sent someone to invite the guests in and went to the living room to receive them.

Two people entered the foyer. The first was about thirty-two or thirty-three, in his prime—tall, robust, and commanding, with the air of someone long accustomed to power, unlike the thuggish Li Bao.

The second was even younger, around twenty-three or twenty-four, with average looks but a healthy, energetic glow.

Bian Changxi gripped her chopsticks tightly.

The first was Sun Buqun. The second—she took a deep breath and lowered her head.

That was An Jibo, a wood-type user, and a powerful healer. In her previous life, he had been Gu Xu’s personal imperial doctor.

He was actually in Su City, and with Sun Buqun?

This man had once cast a shadow over her.

It was a year into the apocalypse, when everyone was fleeing to the capital. Bian Changxi had traveled with Zhu Yunhua and the Su City base team. Near the capital, they’d run into Gu Xu, who was out on business.

ps:

Thanks to reader 080520171932266 for the safety charm!

Thanks to zhangde324 for the pink ticket! l3l4"