Chapter 69: Wet Nurse

The woman’s son was not far from her, only a few dozen kilometers away.

That family was well-known in the area as an extremely impoverished household.

There wasn’t a single able-bodied person in the home. There were the paralyzed, the mentally disabled, the physically handicapped, the sick…

The young man had begun to shoulder the family’s heavy burdens from a very young age. Housework, farming, earning money, and taking care of his family members.

His grades were excellent, but he couldn’t even finish high school.

In recent years, policies had improved. The government helped the family build a house and provided subsidies, which made life slightly better.

When the police found him, he was building a pigsty for his family, laying bricks.

When he was told that he was not a child of this family, that he had been abducted. The young man, in his twenties, squatted on the ground and wailed loudly.

He had thought his fate was bitter. He had thought this family was his responsibility. He had thought this was a debt he owed from a past life…

But now he knew that the people he had regarded as family were a pack of demons who had been clinging to him, sucking his blood, gnawing his flesh, and chewing his marrow!

–

The rescued women were provided with tickets arranged uniformly by the provincial bureau and were escorted back to their local areas by police officers.

Qin Qing couldn’t bear to watch them leave, but she heard that some of these women had children born here who were already quite old. When the children heard the news, they went to the station to stop them. Some pleaded for them to stay, while others wanted to go with them.

But they didn’t take a single child with them, not even a nursing baby in swaddling clothes.

They left without looking back.

But Qin Qing also saw someone who was held back by her children.

It was the woman who had been a child bride for over forty years, Chen Gehua.

Chen Gehua was the name given to her when she was registered for a household permit during a census, taking her husband’s family name. She could no longer remember her birth name.

The police brought her to Qin Qing, hoping she could help find her family.

But Chen Gehua, who was not yet fifty but looked like an old grandmother, was bewildered and had no opinion of her own.

Her parents-in-law had long since passed away, and her husband was already in custody.

Upon learning that the police wanted to help her find her family, her several children were all against it.

They accompanied Chen Gehua to Qin Qing’s place, trying to persuade her all the way.

“What’s the use even if you find them? So many years have passed. Grandpa and Grandma might not even be alive anymore. Even if you have siblings, you didn’t grow up together, so what kind of bond could there be?”

“Exactly. It’s not like they’ll provide for you in your old age like we siblings will.”

“Your grandson is still so young now, Mom. Are you really going to just abandon him?”

“No matter what, we are your biological children. We’re the only ones who will ever have your best interests at heart. Those police officers are wrongly accusing Dad without distinguishing right from wrong. The most important thing now is to get Dad out. I’ve asked around; as long as you go and tell the police you married him voluntarily, Dad will be fine.”

“You’re so old now, why stir up trouble? No matter how you got married in the beginning, haven’t you been living together all this time? It’s been decades, you’ve developed feelings long ago. The police make it sound nice, saying they’re helping you find your family, but who knows what they’re really thinking. I think they’re just trying to boost their own performance stats.”

“Right. And they’re trying to tear our family apart just for their own stats. What kind of officials behave like this?”

Yin Chang couldn’t stand it anymore and kicked open the door to the waiting room.

The group of chattering, unfilial children instantly fell silent.

Qin Qing didn’t want to spend any more time with these people either. Ignoring them, she focused on looking at Chen Gehua’s information.

Chen Gehua’s parents were still alive, thousands of kilometers away.

The compass could only show a direction, not a destination. The System Panel was the same once the distance limit was exceeded.

If she wanted to find them, she wouldn’t even know where to buy a ticket to.

To deal with this kind of situation, Qin Qing had done some research in the Energy Mall and finally spent 1 Energy Point to buy an attribute called “Trajectory.”

This attribute would display the trajectory of the System Panel’s owner’s movements in space from birth to the present.

In a way, it was a bit like the footprint feature on a mobile map.

Following the clues provided by the trajectory, she took out a paper map and pretended to make some calculations. Finally, she pinpointed a city for the police.

Chen Gehua had lived in that city until she was three years old.

The city’s name, combined with the direction-correcting compass, was enough to find Chen Gehua’s living relatives.

The accompanying police officers forcefully refused to let any of Chen Gehua’s children follow.

Qin Qing didn’t go, but she watched the video of her reunion with her family.

It became a hot topic on the internet.

Chen Gehua’s parents were both still alive; even her grandmother was still living.

Her family ran a large business, and they were all well-maintained. Even her grandmother looked younger than her.

Standing together, they didn’t look like family at all.

Her family had never stopped looking for her over the years, but the investigative conditions were too poor when she was lost, and with limited clues, they had never found any trace of her.

Her grandmother showed the camera a photo of Chen Gehua dancing at her kindergarten. In the photo, a chubby little girl in a pink princess dress was unbelievably cute.

Compared to her current state, with her coarse hands and feet and her rough, chapped skin, sigh…

Now, she couldn’t even recognize a single word.

A netizen commented: I don’t know if this reunion is a good thing or a bad thing.

Qin Qing couldn’t bear to watch anymore. For some people, this trip to the mortal world was just too bitter.

The Lihua Village case had far-reaching implications, far beyond her control.

The interrogation of the perpetrators, the resettlement of the victims, the crackdown on the protective umbrellas—the special task force had taken over everything.

As a small screw who had played a minor but ultimately insignificant role, Qin Qing had already returned to Shanyu City.

She and Yin Chang had stirred up quite a storm on this trip.

Upon returning to the Jiangnan Branch Bureau, the bureau even held a celebration and welcome-back feast for them.

The location was, of course, the cafeteria, but Qin Qing tasted all the dishes and not a single one was made by Officer Meng.

Bad review.

Qin Qing was feeling off.

She only had a few bites before she stopped eating.

Officer Meng came over to toast her.

Qin Qing said listlessly, “With this delay, I couldn’t give you that bag of crisps. Will it affect your business?”

“You can keep them and eat them. It’s no big deal, I fried another bag.” Officer Meng waved his hand dismissively, finally saying something nice.

Qin Qing sat up straight. If he was going to say that, then she wasn’t tired anymore.

Officer Meng: “You’ve helped so much, I don’t even know how to thank you.”

Qin Qing’s eyes lit up like high beams. She had been preparing for this question in her mind for a long time, and her answer was incredibly direct.

“That’s easy. Just treat me to hot pot. I’m not picky!”

“Huh? Oh, okay. You pick a restaurant.”

Qin Qing: “Why go to a restaurant? We can just eat in the cafeteria.”

Officer Meng seemed to finally get it. He said tentatively, “How about I go make a pot right now?”

Normally, this would be the time to be polite.

But was Qin Qing the type to be polite in the face of delicious food? No, she was not.

So she sat up properly, with just a hint of modesty, “If it’s not too much trouble.”

Officer Meng: “It’s not that much trouble.”

(→_→)

After Officer Meng went to the kitchen, everyone else also stopped eating.

They very consciously cleared another table, and then surrounded the empty table with their bowls in hand, looking very experienced.

They even beckoned Qin Qing over, saving her the best spot right in the middle.

“Old Meng’s cooking is truly amazing, it’s just that we’re too embarrassed to ask. Good thing Consultant Qin is so capable. We’re benefiting from your good fortune this time.”

Qin Qing: “…”

She felt like she had been set up.

Meng Yang came out soon, carrying a pot full of water.

Seeing the circle of people, he wasn’t surprised at all.

Two gas stoves were placed on the table, with the pot sitting on top, plain water bubbling inside.

Yes, plain water.

Qin Qing tasted it with her chopsticks; there wasn’t even a grain of salt.

Meng Yang: “There’s no ready-made soup base, and it would take a lot of time to stir-fry one from scratch. Today, we’re having Lard and Plain Water Hot Pot.”

Never heard of it.

But a moment later, Qin Qing understood why it was called that.

A large scoop of white lard was added to the boiling water. The heat melted the lard, and droplets of oil floated on the surface.

Then, chopped scallions, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes were added to the pot, seasoned with salt, sugar, and chicken essence.

Officer Meng stirred the pot and announced, “The soup base is ready. Let’s eat.”

Qin Qing was hesitant.

What happened to the gratitude he mentioned? Was this how he was going to fob her off?

But the others, as if they had heard the call to feast, were already swishing sliced meat and vegetables into the pot.

As for Officer Meng, he was holding a small basin, pouring dipping sauce into everyone’s bowl.

That dipping sauce didn’t have a single drop of oil. It was pitch black, and the strong aromas of chili and Sichuan peppercorn hit the nose instantly. She picked one strand—inside were bits of green onion, garlic, and celery.

In short, whether it was the bottom of the pot or the bottom of the bowl, the style was one thing: rough and straightforward.

Everyone else was already fighting over the food like mad. Qin Qing didn’t sit still either—she stood up and started snatching food from the pot.

Seriously, it was like these people had never eaten before. The moment someone threw in a bunch of pea shoots, people were already fishing them out—some of them hadn’t even touched the broth yet.

Same with the meat slices. You could still see streaks of blood on them.

Basically, they were fighting for half-raw food.

This combination of ingredients and this almost barbaric hotpot style… was unexpectedly delicious.

That faint rawness of the just-barely-cooked vegetables actually added a crisp freshness that went surprisingly well with the intense flavor of the dipping sauce. The meat slices had the same effect.

Among all the dipping sauces Qin Qing had ever tried, this one easily ranked near the top—spicy, bold, and appetite-whetting.

They devoured the meal with gusto and came out of it drenched in sweat. All the bottled-up frustration from the past few days vanished.

Their attention was wholly consumed by the numbing spice dancing on their tongues.

It was so good it made you want to cry.

So then, why wasn’t Officer Meng a chef?

He might honestly have a brighter future as a chef than as a cop.

Qin Qing asked him that too.

Officer Meng said, “Being a police officer has been my dream since I was a kid.”

Well, that left nothing more to say.

Back in kindergarten, when the teacher asked the kids to share their dreams, little Qin Qing had immediately said she wanted to be a scientist.

She didn’t become one in the end. In fact, it was more like she got kidnapped by a scientist.

Now she was being pushed into working for the System Panel.

As if on cue, the System Panel’s notification popped up.

> [Directly assisted in rescuing 7 trapped individuals. Gained 14 experience points.]

> [Indirectly assisted in apprehending Sin Value targets and rescuing trapped individuals. Gained 100 experience points.]

> [Current EXP Level: 6 (224/320)]

Qin Qing thought that was the end of it, but the announcements continued.

> [Directly or indirectly assisted in rescuing 100 doomed lives—cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, etc. Greatly boosted mood value of multiple individuals. Gained 210 experience points.]

> [Current EXP Level: 6 (434/320), leveled up to 7. Reward: 20 energy points. Merit Calculation System activated.]

> [Current EXP Level: 7 (114/640)]

> [Merit Calculation System activated. Current cumulative merit: 109.4. Merit Exchange function unlocked. See instructions for details.]

“Consultant Qin, what’s wrong? Did the spice get to you?”

Qin Qing had been frozen in place for a while, so her fellow officers started teasing her.

“So this is what they call getting petrified by spice?”

“Consultant Qin’s not afraid of fierce suspects, but spice—now that’s her weakness.”

Qin Qing came back to her senses and said, “Keep it up. Next time your Bureau Chief tries to call me over on loan again, I’ll tell him I don’t get along with you folks from Jiangnan District. That I’m being ostracized and I’m not happy working here.”

That fired them right up.

They clutched their chests dramatically and said, “Oh no, oh no.”

Then added, “We might be useless down in Jiangnan, but our hotpot’s amazing.” The guy talking had his mouth stuffed with meat, voice muffled.

If you drew the scene in a comic, it’d definitely be hilarious.

Qin Qing joked around with them for a bit, fanning herself and exhaling warm air. “I’m about full now. It is spicy. I’m going to grab an ice-cold Coke to cool down before I go again.”

She got up and went to the fridge by the cafeteria wall and took out a can of Coke.

Drinking it, she leaned against the windowsill beside the fridge, pretending to enjoy the breeze.

In reality, she had reopened the System Panel.

—

[Merit Exchange Instructions]

Attribute Notes:

1. Merit is a score the Cradle Holder accumulates by performing actions that produce positive effects on others. Normally, for every 10 experience points gained, 1 merit point is added. After the Merit Calculation System is activated, it’s also possible to gain merit through transfers from others under specific conditions.

2. The Merit Exchange Function allows the Cradle Holder to use their merit points to fulfill personal or others’ needs, based on their abilities.

Caution:

1. The theoretical max of merit is 100 points. Overflow is possible.

2. Cradle Holders may use their own merit to fulfill any need. Deduction depends on the complexity of the wish.

3. Only when merit exceeds 100 can holders assist others with exchanges, and they must charge a portion of the recipient’s merit as handling fees. The rate depends on the request’s complexity.

4. Merit deductions are irreversible. Choose wisely.

Operations:

1. To exchange for oneself: open the exchange interface and express the wish clearly by either speaking it aloud, mentally visualizing it, or writing it down.

2. To exchange for others: same process, but you must be within 5 meters of the recipient.

Special Note: You may not exchange merit for others without their knowledge or consent. Handling fees may be charged, but merit may not be redirected toward benefiting the Cradle Holder themselves—doing so will trigger a severe backlash.

—

Qin Qing finished reading.

She kind of got it. Kind of didn’t.

There were a lot of rules, but the key point was this: any wish could be exchanged.

Could it really be what she was thinking? Would she now have her own personal wishing tree?

She opened the System Panel again—and sure enough, a new tab had appeared next to Energy Exchange: Merit Exchange.

She clicked it.

Aside from the merit total in the upper right corner, the interface was blank.

Qin Qing couldn’t immediately think of a wish.

Her eyes landed on the TV mounted on the cafeteria wall, which was showing a hit drama about time travel. The leads would meet and part in the seams of time. It had been making everyone cry lately.

Qin Qing raised a brow.

Playfully, she made her first wish in a soft but clear voice.

“I want to rewind time.” Then, after a thought, she added, “By one minute.” Just in case it got expensive—better to start small.

The blank interface, like still water, suddenly began to ripple. From beneath the surface, a scattering of faint marks floated up and began forming letters.

Her wish appeared: Rewind time by one minute.

Did that mean it had worked?

Qin Qing watched her surroundings closely.

Was the wish that Doraemon never granted her as a child finally going to come true through the System Panel?

Just the thought made her excited.

But nothing around her changed.

Then suddenly—the words on the screen shattered like glass.

> [WARNING: Intervention in time is forbidden without full Cradle Activation.]

As the system’s voice ended, Qin Qing felt like an invisible hammer had slammed into her chest and back. She lurched forward, and a metallic sweetness surged into her throat.

She vomited blood.

The red splashed across the speckled tile floor of the cafeteria—alarming even in color alone.

“Consultant Qin!”

The hotpot group saw the commotion and rushed over.

In that moment, Qin Qing had just one thought:

This damned System Panel had screwed her over again.

If something can’t be done, fine—just say so. Why hit her like that?

And that manual? Half-complete nonsense. Not a word about the important parts.

What difference was there between this thing and a clueless boss who barked orders without knowing how anything worked?

You can’t mess with time. If you do, it hits back.

So how could she dare to make wishes freely? Did that mean every forbidden rule had to be discovered with blood and bruises, one hammer blow at a time?

What a scam.

Overwhelmed by fury and frustration, Qin Qing was hurriedly taken to the hospital by her police colleagues.

The doctors asked about her symptoms—none of them had a clue.

They asked Qin Qing directly. And Qin Qing?

Well, she knew.

But she sure as hell couldn’t tell them.

So, this whole thing turned into a bizarre case where a perfectly healthy person suddenly vomited blood while just standing still, got dragged to the hospital, and went through a full round of baffling tests.

Looking at those health reports—so healthy it was almost suspicious—even the doctors began to doubt themselves.

As the saying goes, “The worst illnesses are the ones no tests can detect.”

The doctor kept Qin Qing under observation at the hospital.

He asked her five times a day if she felt unwell anywhere.

But Qin Qing actually felt… pretty good.

In fact, far from discomfort, after that hammer strike, she felt like the gloomy energy built up from all the human suffering she’d seen recently had dissipated.

She felt refreshed and clear-headed.

The doctor didn’t buy it.

Neither did anyone else.

The doctor thought she must have some rare illness—one so obscure it couldn’t even be detected despite her vomiting blood.

Other people, however, had their own theories.

—

Wuning Substation.

Lin Feng had just hung up with Chen Deyi.

Luo Chi’a asked, “What’s the situation?”

Lin Feng’s brows were practically knotting like his hair.

“They said nothing showed up in the tests. All her lab results say she’s in perfect health. But come on, how could someone healthy suddenly cough up blood?” He scratched his head in frustration.

He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his office drawer, stuck one in his mouth, but didn’t light it.

Luo Chi’a glanced at the cigarette with visible distaste and moved a bit farther away.

He tapped the table.

“You look like you already have an answer.”

Lin Feng said, “You remember the Lin Fanghui case—the interrogation footage of Qin Qing? She explained how fortune-telling worked, said it would drain her life force. I didn’t really believe it back then. Thought it was just an excuse. But after she left the police station, she didn’t stop doing readings—instead, she even opened a studio and started taking on a ton of cases.”

Luo Chi’a said, “You’re saying this is related to fortune-telling?”

Lin Feng said, “What else could it be? Don’t all those stories say that great seers won’t casually divine fate, or they risk leaking too much heavenly knowledge? Probably the same principle. Back at Yudai Gorge, she saved hundreds of people.”

Luo Chi’a scoffed, “Leak heavenly knowledge? She didn’t vomit blood then—why now?”

But Lin Feng had already fully bought into his own theory and could justify it all smoothly.

“Maybe each fortune-teller has a threshold for how much heavenly knowledge they can leak. That last incident—busting the trafficking case—might’ve just pushed her past the limit and triggered punishment.” He muttered, “Hopefully, that threshold resets monthly…”

Luo Chi’a asked seriously, “If a case hits a dead end, and you and I throw everything we have at it and still can’t solve it—but this fortune-teller might, though it could cost her punishment for leaking heavenly secrets—would you still ask her for help?”

Lin Feng didn’t respond, but they both knew the answer.

Luo Chi’a tapped the table again and walked out.

You couldn’t blame them for thinking this way. Among those who believed in Qin Qing’s mystical persona, this theory about her coughing blood was now the dominant narrative.

Not just the group of melodramatic youngsters at her studio—even Wu Yong, who came to visit her in the hospital, asked in a hushed tone:

“Did you divine something you shouldn’t have?”

Qin Qing looked at her in surprise. She hadn’t expected this to be their conclusion.

It wasn’t even remotely the real reason—but still, not too far off either.

Hadn’t she just made a wish she shouldn’t have?

An over-the-limit wish.

Her silence made Wu Yong misunderstand.

Wu Yong said, “I won’t ask what you divined, but based on recent events, it must’ve been something heart-wrenching.”

She was solemn.

“I’ve been cultivating since I was very young. Back then, my senior once told me: human power has its limits. Don’t carry too much responsibility alone. Let things unfold as they will.”

Qin Qing remained silent.

Mostly because Wu Yong was so serious that she couldn’t just jump up and say, “I goofed around and triggered a hammer.”

After that, everyone who came to visit her gave her similar advice—each in their own words, but all with the same message.

Just shy of shaking her by the shoulders and shouting: “Sis, you’re not the savior of the world!”

Qin Qing remained silent. What else could she do?

She was starting to feel a little stifled.

When everyone misunderstood you…

You felt guilty. Guilty for keeping the truth from them.

But that guilt only reinforced their mistaken beliefs—they became more convinced than ever.

“You’ve already done enough.”

What could Qin Qing do?

All she could do was let this beautiful misunderstanding live on.

After three days of hospital observation, the doctor still couldn’t find anything wrong with her. At her insistence, he finally approved her discharge.

The first thing she did after leaving?

She still wanted to test out that merit-exchange function she hadn’t successfully triggered.

If you fall where you stand, you rise from the same spot.

She was determined to figure this function out. At worst, she’d just take another hammering.

To be honest, she’d already been itching to try while in the hospital.

That place was probably one of the densest concentrations of human wishes on Earth.

But she held back. If she made a wish like “let that sick person be cured,” and the System Panel popped up with a “cannot interfere with life and death” warning and gave her another whack, she might have ended up staying even longer.

Passing by a mall, she saw a chain supermarket running a promo: top-up your membership card to enter a lottery.

The grand prize on display was a branded mountain bike.

She thought for a moment and opened the merit exchange interface on the System Panel.

She said clearly and confidently: “I want that bicycle.”

Everyone who heard her looked at her like she was crazy.

Especially a boy in line behind her—he outright burst into laughter.

Qin Qing turned to look.

He said, “I’m not laughing at you. I just suddenly thought of something funny.”

Qin Qing didn’t care what he thought.

She focused on the panel, watching the ink-black swirl gather on the blank screen.

> 【Lottery win: one bicycle. Merit cost: 1 point. Redeem?】

It actually worked!

She clicked “Yes.”

> 【Exchange successful. Remaining merit: 108.4 points.】

> 【Please note: this redemption will expire in 3 days. Be sure to use it before the countdown ends.】

A countdown timer began ticking at the bottom.

She checked the timing—it matched the store’s event window perfectly.

So the bike was now hers. As long as the event was still ongoing, she could walk up anytime and draw it out.

To confirm, Qin Qing scanned the QR code and topped up ¥100. With the receipt, she went to the staff to join the lottery.

She reached into the box and pulled out a ticket.

Carefully scratched off the coating—

Beneath the speckled surface, the words were crystal clear:

Mountain bike. One.

It really worked!

The boy behind her was also scratching his ticket and struck up a conversation:

“Well? Did you get the bike you wanted?”

Qin Qing nodded. “I did.”

The guy looked skeptical.

“You’re quite the actress.”

Qin Qing didn’t reply. She simply held up her winning ticket. The boy’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets—he even reached out for it.

Qin Qing dodged and walked off to claim her prize.

Winning the top prize caused quite a stir on-site.

Everyone said she was lucky—just casually pulled a lottery and walked away with a ridiculously expensive bike.

Qin Qing wheeled her bike out of the store, feeling quite justified.

It wasn’t luck—she’d spent 1 merit point, which equaled 10 Experience Points.

Saving a human life only gave you 2–4 XP on average.

By that metric, this bike was outrageously expensive.

There really was no such thing as a free lunch.

But not everyone thought that way.

That same boy from earlier—Qin Qing overheard him on the phone with a friend, excitedly sharing the story:

“Dude, let me tell you something crazy—I ran into a total jackpot, no, a holy saintess whose words become reality… I almost wanted to hand her my phone and ask her to divine my daily loot box drop…”

Words become reality, huh?

Qin Qing silently repeated the phrase.

She found a place to sit down and asked the question that had been burning in her mind the most.

“Tell me, what is the Cradle? What exactly is the System Panel?”

On the System Panel, the ink-like marks gathered, then faded away again.

She asked three times in a row, and each time it was the same.

No hammer to the chest, no merit consumption or exchange prompt.

A little disappointed—but not surprised.

It made sense. The System Panel wouldn’t leave such an obvious loophole for her to exploit.

She was currently seated with a bench on her left and a trash can on her right.

A couple walked by and casually placed a half-full bottle of mineral water on the trash can lid.

From the corner of her eye, Qin Qing saw the man on the bench stand up, pass by her, and pick up that bottle.

At first, she didn’t think much of it—just assumed he was collecting recyclables.

But moments later, when the man returned to the bench and twisted the cap open—not to pour the water out like a scavenger would, but to raise his head and drink—it caught her attention.

He really was drinking it. She hadn’t seen wrong.

Perhaps she stared a little too long, because the man turned his head, saw her watching, and gave a shy smile before looking away again.

Qin Qing frowned.

The man didn’t look like a homeless person.

She took a glance at his System Panel.

It turned out he was a migrant worker. He used to work on a construction project for a certain contractor.

During the project, the site delayed paying wages, and whenever they did pay, they would withhold half, saying it would be settled all at once when the project ended.

It was shady, but it was a big project with long-term work—better than hopping between temp jobs—so he stayed for over two years until the project wrapped up.

But in the end, the contractor didn’t honor his promise. At first, he could still be found, but later he simply disappeared.

Almost every worker on the site had two-thirds of their pay taken by the boss.

The man had come back after hearing from an old coworker that the contractor had reappeared. He and a few others had confronted the guy again, but still got nothing. The contractor cried poor, said he’d been scammed too, and hadn’t received his own final payment.

Empty-handed, the man was preparing to head home.

Qin Qing bought two burger meals with drinks from a fast food restaurant across the street.

She walked over to the bench, sat at the far end, and offered one to the man.

He initially refused and showed her a plastic bag he carried, with dry flatbread, cucumbers, and tomatoes inside.

“I’ve got food, really. You saw me drink that water, right? It wasn’t dirty, I just didn’t want to waste it. Back on the site, we used water meant for mixing cement—we still drank it straight.”

“I bought it for you. I can’t finish both anyway.”

After a few rounds of insisting, he finally accepted her offer.

He grinned happily. “This is my first time eating a burger. So this is what it tastes like… Honestly, it’s not that special—just two pieces of bread with some meat and veggies. Not that different from a roujiamo.”

His comment made Qin Qing laugh. It was, in fact, a perfect comparison.

She mused idly—maybe Officer Meng would change his “mission theme” again soon. Pancakes were tasty, but anything gets boring if you eat it too often.

The man was quite chatty and always kept a cheerful demeanor. He told her about his years chasing unpaid wages and said, “It’s really nothing. I’m just selling my strength, and that’s something I’ve got plenty of. As long as I don’t get cheated, it’s fine.”

Qin Qing thought he was almost foolishly sincere—not even realizing he had been cheated.

He offered her one of his cucumbers and tomatoes, saying they were from home, carried for days.

Qin Qing didn’t mind and accepted. He went on: “I came to places like this with lots of people before heading home, just so I could tell the kids what the city is like.”

He was a natural optimist—maybe life’s hardships had earned him that little bit of grace.

As he was getting ready to leave, Qin Qing said, “Why not try finding that contractor again and ask one more time for your wages?”

The man didn’t quite understand what she meant, but, being good-natured and trusting of new friends, he went.

Two hours later, he returned, excitedly shouting from afar: “I got it! I got the money!”

His voice rang out long before he reached her.

Qin Qing was genuinely happy for him. After all, she’d spent a merit point for this.

Now she finally understood how the merit exchange worked.

Well, to put it bluntly—she was basically a healer.