Chapter 104 Playing with Fire

Published Mar 30, 2026, 07:07 AM

Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Playing with Fire "Go ahead, I came early and already bought meat, a full half-pound of it!" To buy meat, you needed a meat coupon, and for an average family in the city, being able to buy a half-pound of meat once a week was a cause for joy. The reason? Aside from the monthly ration provided by one’s unit, getting a few extra meat coupons was not easy. Kang Li smiled and turned away from the older sister who had spoken to her, lining up at the back of the queue for meat. Fortunately, the clerks at each window were quick enough that it only took about forty minutes to buy all the vegetables, fresh pork, chicken legs, and a frozen belt fish she needed for the day. In modern times, with a forty-minute shopping trip to the supermarket, you wouldn’t know how much you could buy. However, in that era, being able to purchase all of Kang Li’s groceries in forty minutes at the vegetable supply point was really not a long time. She didn’t pay attention to the admiring glances that fell upon her as she carried her basket of vegetables back to the courtyard where she lived. Like the day before, she wore a simple, slightly loose braid, a white short-sleeve shirt paired with a black knee-length A-line skirt, the fabric of both the shirt and skirt was of fine and smooth quality. Tucked into the skirt, her slender waist was accentuated, her walk reminiscent of a fragile willow in the breeze. Alright, Kang Li’s body was indeed frail. You could tell she was inherently weak just from her often pallid complexion, not to mention her thinness. While she wasn’t skeletal, she was unmistakably slim. However, the parts of her body that were supposed to be plump were not lacking at all. Knowing her body was not strong, and even though she could take Power Pill for immense strength, her constitution hadn’t changed in the slightest. Kang Li didn’t want to appear too delicate, so she used the unique charm emanating from her bones to cover up the frailty as much as possible, to avoid being referred to behind her back as "the sickly one." However, the expression she wore daily and, when viewed from the front, the sense of frailty was really not too apparent. But her silhouette still seemed very delicate. And without Kang Li’s knowledge, some people in the courtyard had already begun using "the sickly one" as her nickname. "How come Professor Luo chose to bring a sickly one into his household?" "It wasn’t Professor Luo who chose her, it was Director Song..." The speaking person whispered into the ear of the woman next to her: "It was Director Song who found her, you hear? I got this from Comrade Wang at Deputy Director Wei’s place, and there’s no way it could be false." "What was Director Song thinking? If he was representing the organization to find a partner for Professor Luo, why would he purposely choose a sickly one?" "Who knows." "I think Director Song had good intentions. Think about it, Professor Luo already has two sons and a daughter. If the new wife is sickly, it means she’s unlikely to conceive; that way, wouldn’t you worry less about her being cruel to the three kids?" No sooner had the woman finished speaking than the few women standing next to her coughed awkwardly a couple of times, then glanced toward Su Man, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Yes, they were looking precisely at Su Man, who stood among them. She had come back from buying vegetables and run into a few of the women from the courtyard. Since they were familiar with each other, after entering the courtyard, they couldn’t help but gather for a chat. Unexpectedly, they encountered Kang Li coming in from outside the courtyard with her basket. So, as Su Man "casually" steered the conversation towards Kang Li, the few women began to gossip and criticize. But Su Man never expected that the fire would burn her as well. Especially since one of the women, who got along quite well with her, knew about her pregnancy. What would that woman think of her now? And would she spread the news of her pregnancy, so that slanderous rumors about her might begin circulating throughout the courtyard?

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