Chapter 13 – Breaking Off the Engagement

Tang Xiaoman smiled calmly and once again invented a convenient “friend.”

“I have a friend who plans to open a private clinic. He asked me to help him acquire a batch of standard medical equipment, medicines, and vaccines.”

After a pause, she added, “There’s nothing illegal on that list, right?”

Lu Jingming steadied himself and flipped through the entire notebook before answering.

“No, there isn’t.”

“Then would you be willing to help, Dr. Lu?” Tang Xiaoman pressed while the iron was hot.

Once he agreed, she immediately transferred five million yuan as a deposit into his account. The remaining balance would be paid after he confirmed the final price of all the supplies.

“My friend is in a hurry, so I’ll have to trouble you to get everything together as soon as possible.”

—

After lunch, the three of them parted ways outside the restaurant.

“Goodbye, Sister Xiaoman!” Shanshan waved happily, her sweet smile bright as sunshine.

Tang Xiaoman gently patted the girl’s head and said softly,

“Sweetheart… live well.”

Lu Jingming found the words a little strange, but she had saved his daughter’s life. He owed her an enormous debt of gratitude.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. “I’ll handle the matter you asked about as quickly as possible.”

Tang Xiaoman waved goodbye to the father and daughter, then got into her car.

This time she started the engine and drove straight to the electronics mall.

—

Inside the mall, Tang Xiaoman launched into another frenzy of shopping.

Ten large storage freezers.
Five battery-powered medical refrigerators for storing medicine.
Ten car refrigerators.

Twenty portable radiant heaters and twenty evaporative air coolers—devices meant to combat the extreme cold of polar nights and the scorching heat of endless daylight.

She bought twenty business laptops from various brands, fifty high-capacity smartphones, twenty tablets, twenty miniature voice recorders, ten high-capacity external hard drives, and fifty USB drives.

Once the apocalypse began, each year would grow harsher than the last. Industrial production would almost completely collapse.

Even if a few factories continued operating, their products would be outrageously expensive.

These electronics would essentially become nonrenewable resources in the future.

Tang Xiaoman left the delivery address for the large appliances—freezers, medical refrigerators, car fridges, heaters, and cooling fans—so the store staff could send them directly to the club.

The rest of the electronics were carried into her vehicle.

After shutting the privacy windows, she waved her hand and swept every item into her space.

Then she drove to a department store to stock up on daily necessities and clothing.

Tang Xiaoman bought women’s clothing for all four seasons—dresses, shoes, hats, scarves, handbags.

After all, she was still a young woman with a natural love of beauty.

Even though she knew the chances of wearing those pretty outfits in the apocalypse were slim, she couldn’t resist buying a few for herself.

Life needed something to look forward to.

Otherwise, what was the point of living?

She tipped the sales assistants and had them load the boxes and shopping bags into her car.

Once again, she sealed the privacy windows and stored everything in her space.

Then she got out and took the elevator to the floor with the down jacket specialty stores.

Ten down coats in various styles.
Ten pairs of down pants and ten down vests.
Ten sets of thermal underwear.
One hundred sets of pajamas for all seasons.
One hundred sets of underwear in different styles and materials.
One thousand pairs of panties.

Tang Xiaoman stocked up on everything she might possibly need for the rest of her life.

After adding another small tip, she had the staff carry everything to her car again.

Once they left, she stored it all in her space.

When she stepped out of the car again, night had already fallen.

The scent of food drifted through the air, instantly stirring the hunger in her stomach.

After surviving four years of the apocalypse, her obsession with food ran deep.

Tang Xiaoman decisively paused her hoarding mission.

First things first—she had to appease her growling stomach.

—

She went to a roast duck shop that specialized in fruitwood-roasted duck and ordered one fresh out of the oven.

Grease glistened on her lips as she devoured it, completely satisfied.

“Boss, give me another hundred freshly roasted ducks!” Tang Xiaoman called out.

The owner blinked, thinking he had misheard.

“O-one hundred?”

Tang Xiaoman glanced at the oven and changed her words.

“Actually… however many you have ready.”

By the time she finished eating, the owner had packed thirty ducks for her.

“It’s peak hours right now, so we can’t roast more in time. If you want more, you can place an advance order.” He handed her a business card.

Tang Xiaoman took it and added him on WeChat.

“I’ll reserve one hundred ducks for noon tomorrow. I’ll come pick them up.”

The owner had a staff member carry the thirty boxed ducks to her car.

Tang Xiaoman closed the windows and, as usual, swept all the ducks into her space.

Her space preserved both freshness and temperature.

No matter how long food stayed inside, it would come out exactly as warm as when it went in.

Tang Xiaoman loved roast duck, so she planned to stockpile plenty.

After filling her stomach, she was about to continue her shopping spree when she received a text message from an unfamiliar number.

She glanced at her phone—and couldn’t help laughing again.

“**Tang Xiaoman, I’m breaking off our engagement!**”

It was from Gu Heng.

Looks like he’d finally lost his temper.

Tang Xiaoman remembered how, in her previous life, Gu Heng had constantly used their engagement to manipulate her—feeding her empty promises, squeezing every bit of value from her, and ultimately killing her.

This time, he was the one proposing to end the engagement.

Clearly, he had run out of other ways to control her.

Tang Xiaoman typed two words in reply.

“**Sure.**”

The engagement would definitely be canceled.

But the blood-deep hatred between them wouldn’t end so easily.

Only death could settle it.

—

Gu Heng had suggested breaking off the engagement partly to save face in front of the Su family. More importantly, he expected Tang Xiaoman to give in.

He still firmly believed everything she was doing was merely an attempt to get his attention.

At the end of the day, she was just jealous of Su Rou.

And in his mind, she didn’t even deserve to compete with Rou’er.

But he never expected that after he proposed ending the engagement, Tang Xiaoman would reply without a second of hesitation:

“Sure.”

Gu Heng’s face darkened instantly.

Su Rou was still lying weakly in bed. She asked softly,

“Is my sister still angry with you?”

Gu Heng quickly hid his phone and answered casually,

“I’ve already hired a private detective to find her. Once we know where she is, I’ll send people to capture her. From now on, she’ll serve as your personal blood bank and spare organ supply.”

A glint flashed through Su Rou’s watery eyes, but her voice remained gentle.

“Isn’t that a little cruel to my sister?”

“I’ve already broken off the engagement with her,” Gu Heng said coldly. “That’s the only use she has left.”

Su Ke, wrapped in bandages like a rice dumpling, sat on the sofa nearby. He couldn’t help chiming in.

“Tang Xiaoman is seriously skilled. She can fight a Tibetan mastiff by herself. Brother Heng, you’ll need several capable bodyguards to subdue her.”

Gu Heng snorted dismissively.

“Last time it was Shu Jia’s incompetence that let her escape. This time we won’t give her the chance to run or call the police. Let’s see what tricks she has left then.”

At that moment, the private detective called.

Gu Heng smiled smugly.

“Looks like we’ve got news.”

He deliberately turned on speakerphone.

“Mr. Gu, we’ve located Tang Xiaoman. This morning at Tianlai Villa Estate, she fought three criminals who had broken into a kindergarten. The police even commended her. One of the children she saved was your family doctor Lu Jingming’s daughter. The father and daughter treated her to lunch afterward.”

Gu Heng frowned in surprise.

“She fought three of them alone?”

Su Ke muttered under his breath, “See? I told you she’s good.”

Gu Heng’s expression turned grim as he ordered,

“Keep watching her. Find out where she’s staying tonight.”

Su Rou’s eyes flickered thoughtfully. After Gu Heng hung up, she spoke softly.

“Lu Jingming is your personal doctor. Tang Xiaoman saved his daughter… could she be trying to win him over?”