AYLS – Chapter 2 Quest Instance Begins

Feeling disliked, Lin Qiao decided not to speak to the fat cat. She lay in bed and turned over a few times before getting up to wander around the room. After a while, she noticed something was wrong.

Her once fair and delicate hands, though still slender, were now dark and covered in calluses.

“My hands… how did they become like this?”

“No… my body has changed too. Where’s my chest? Where’s my butt?” Lin Qiao touched her chest. The once full curves were now flat. Her backside wasn’t perky anymore either.

She nearly broke down.

The fat cat immediately said, “Don’t worry, this isn’t your real body. This one is malnourished. Once you recover later, it’ll go back to normal.”

Lin Qiao grabbed at her dry, brittle hair. “It’ll really recover? Back to how I used to be?”

“Yes. Just eat properly. I’ll help you adjust as soon as possible.”

Only then did Lin Qiao feel a bit relieved.

She could endure hardship, but becoming ugly was absolutely unacceptable.

From now on, she had to eat more and make up for it.

And this body didn’t even need to fear getting fat. Like this, gaining weight would be difficult anyway.

Eat, eat—she needed to eat well.

Best if there were supplements too.

Thinking of all the delicious food she had once given up in order to diet, Lin Qiao suddenly felt hungry.

“Wait… this doesn’t feel right. I’m actually hungry.”

The fat cat muttered, “…I’ve said it eight hundred times already, this is the real world, the real world, the real world…”

Lin Qiao stood up from the bed, rubbed her belly, and said, “I wonder what’s for lunch. I still want to eat roasted truffle and honey-glazed foie gras from home…”

Just as she spoke, someone knocked on the door, calling her downstairs to the cafeteria.

The county’s Public Security comrades were still very considerate toward ordinary people. For poor folks like Lin Qiao, who had been implicated by their employers and forced into investigation, the comrades made sure they weren’t mistreated. Even though food supplies were scarce, they still arranged meals for them.

And not just any meals—these were considered high standard: two liang of staple food, a vegetable-and-meat dish, and a bowl of egg-drop soup at each meal.

In any unit, that would count as a luxurious spread.

For lunch, the first staple was a scallion pancake. The savory aroma alone made mouths water.

The others ate happily, thinking this was even better than the meals they got while working for their masters.

Lin Qiao muttered, “…We’re eating this?”

“Little Qiao, what are you standing there for? Eat! Smells great,” an old lady who had also worked at the Song family called out.

A nearby policeman reminded them not to chatter casually.

Lin Qiao slowly shuffled to the table, slowly picked up her bowl, and just as she was about to eat, paused and asked, “So… this is all we’re eating today?” Wasn’t there something else later?

Like dessert after the meal, maybe some afternoon tea.

The waitress snapped impatiently, “Yes, just this. You’re lucky enough already. The Public Security comrades specially brought this grain. Our guesthouse normally doesn’t even cook meals, and today we had to prepare food just for you people. Hurry up and eat, we still need to clear the dishes.”

They were eating better than the guesthouse staff themselves, and yet still dawdling.

Lin Qiao: “…”

She reluctantly took a sip of the egg-drop soup. There was no oil at all, and barely any salt, but it was still drinkable.

Then she ate some vegetables.

Since she had once forced herself to eat raw lettuce and cucumbers for the sake of dieting, these oil-less greens weren’t hard to swallow.

Though they didn’t taste great… if only there were some salad dressing.

She tried the scallion pancake too—it was actually pretty good. Not as good as the ones her chef made at home, but edible.

So this was the “hard life” her grandparents always talked about? Didn’t seem so hard after all.

Lin Qiao felt a little proud. She thought to herself that maybe she really could endure hardship, not the useless spoiled girl others claimed she was.

To prove she could endure, she forced herself—almost like bearing a great humiliation—to finish everything.

Besides, the portion wasn’t large. She only felt a bit stuffed.

After the meal, everyone returned to their rooms. Lin Qiao, however, asked for a toothbrush and basin to wash up.

Even in hardship, hygiene was a must.

“So troublesome.” The waitress with braided pigtails pointed at the end of the corridor unhappily. “The tap’s by the toilets. Might as well use the bathroom while you’re there, so you don’t have to run back again.”

Lin Qiao had never suffered this kind of treatment before. If the timing weren’t so wrong, she would have argued it out with someone.

What a terrible boss to hire such workers! Look at that attitude! Even if they were just NPCs in a game, how could they be so willful? In reality, no waitress would ever treat guests like this. With service like that, how had this inn not gone bankrupt already? This game’s logic was totally broken!

She snorted, angrily grabbing the assigned toothbrush and toothpaste to wash up.

Just as she was passing by the mirror at the corner of the corridor, she suddenly stopped, turned back to take a glance, and was so startled she nearly screamed.

“Who is that?”

The person in the mirror had rough, sallow skin—who was that, and why did she look so much like her?

“It’s you,” Fat Cat yawned.

Lin Qiao: “……!!!”

“I told you already, this isn’t your body. It was later adjusted based on your body’s prototype. But in order to fit the rules of this place, the physical qualities still follow the original model.”

Lin Qiao covered her face. This was absolutely unacceptable.

She could tolerate having no curves and slowly building them back, but this face—how was she supposed to show it to people?

Thinking of how many people had seen her like this today, her eyes burned with grief, and tears streamed uncontrollably. She had never been this ugly in her life.

Fat Cat saw her crying and coughed. “Actually, you’re still quite pretty right now.”

Lin Qiao kept crying.

“It really will be adjusted back soon.”

Lin Qiao kept crying.

“At most, one week!”

Lin Qiao cried even louder.

“If you keep crying, I won’t care anymore.”

Only then did Lin Qiao stop sobbing. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “One week—no more than a single day extra!”

“No problem. But you have to eat properly, otherwise it won’t make sense. A person who never eats suddenly becoming beautiful doesn’t match human physiology.”

“I know, I’ll eat properly.”

Before, she had endured hunger just to stay pretty. Now, eating for the sake of beauty was nothing.

Although ugly, Lin Qiao still carefully washed her face, scrubbing herself clean. The only pity was that there were no face masks here.

Muttering, she said, “Once I find my fiancé in the future, I’ll buy tons and tons of face masks.”

Fat Cat covered his face.

In order to recover quickly, Lin Qiao ate diligently at every meal afterwards.

She even grew a bit proud, thinking she wasn’t useless after all. She could eat such terrible food without flinching. Even her grandparents had said that life in the bitter sixties was harsher than swallowing raw huanglian, but hadn’t she also survived that?

This was far more impressive than any “transformation reality show.”

Fat Cat didn’t lie either—every day, he systematically adjusted her complexion and skin tone.

After several days, Lin Qiao’s face visibly brightened, her skin turning paler. Though the change was noticeable, it wasn’t so dramatic as to be suspicious.

People at the guesthouse whispered behind her back: “She eats and drinks well every day, doesn’t have to do a thing—she’s living better than a landlord’s daughter. How could she not look good?”

In those times, as long as you ate well, any change in appearance could be explained away.

While Lin Qiao was working hard at eating for beauty’s sake, the county public security bureau’s investigation on them was nearing its end.

Their household registrations were all local, relatives and friends had been visited, and nothing problematic turned up.

The next step was simple: they just needed to return home.

But Lin Qiao’s placement was a headache for the county’s public security officers.

During their investigation, they uncovered something important—

Lin Qiao was actually the child of a martyr.

The old grand-uncle who had once taken her in had long passed away, but before his death, he had left behind some crucial evidence regarding Lin Qiao, kept with the village cadres.

When the investigators went to check, everything was handed over—medals, documents, and even a letter.

The letter was from Lin Qiao’s mother, stating that she had arranged a betrothal for her daughter while still in the womb.

The fiancé was the son of her father’s old comrade-in-arms.

The names of both families and the unit numbers were written down, all to ensure that after the country returned to peace, Lin Qiao could find them.

Clearly, Lin Qiao’s mother hadn’t trusted the Lin family to care for her daughter.

Instead, she trusted this comrade more.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know that Lin Qiao had been sent to a capitalist household as a maid at a very young age, and that the old grand-uncle entrusted with her care had passed away only a couple of years later.

As a result, no one had ever gone to find the comrade’s family. Logically, in this new era of free marriages, such arranged betrothals were no longer binding. But since this involved a dying wish and a child entrusted, the matter was more complicated.

It was clear that the parents had wanted their child to seek out that comrade’s family.

After much deliberation, the county bureau decided to give Lin Qiao two choices.

First, to seek out her betrothed, with full support from the bureau in helping her search.

Second, if she rejected the arranged marriage, they could assign her a position as a female worker at the local coal plant, allowing her to stay in town.

After all, it was the county’s failure that a martyr’s child had ended up as a maid in a capitalist household, suffering years of mistreatment. Arranging a job for her would not be difficult.

The same female officer who had previously interrogated Lin Qiao came to inform her of this.

She first handed Lin Qiao her mother’s relics, then explained the betrothal matter in detail.

Finally, she told her about the county’s decision and let her choose.

From the officer’s perspective, staying in town as a worker was better. Although the coal plant was tough, at least Lin Qiao could control her own life.

But Lin Qiao didn’t even consider that option. The moment she heard about the arranged marriage, she knew—this was it. Her clearance task had arrived. No more nasty food, no more rock-hard beds.

Seeing how excited she was, the officer said, “Comrade Lin Qiao, the decision is yours. If you want to search for your relatives, we’ll provide all the help we can. The county always gives special care to martyrs’ children. If you choose to stay, we’ll take care of you here too.”

It was heartbreaking to think: a martyr’s child, reduced to an oppressed little maid in a capitalist household.

The policewoman’s nose stung with emotion. “Think about it carefully. My suggestion is that you should still…” find work.

Before she could finish, Lin Qiao’s eyes burned with determination. “I want to search for my family!”

“I must fulfill my mother’s last wish!” She thought: clear the game, finish all the levels early, drive away the illegitimate child, and inherit the family estate!

Policewoman: …

Since Lin Qiao was set on searching for her relatives, the county public security bureau naturally had to assist her.

The first step was to find out the current address of that soldier with the surname Gu.

In those days, without computers, investigations weren’t easy. Fortunately, they had both his military unit number and his name. The bureau chief personally went to the provincial military district to seek help, to see if there was any way to find out. By coincidence, the other side had also been keeping an eye out for news about the Lin family all these years.

They had long asked the provincial military district leadership to stay alert, saying that if a family with the surname Lin came looking for relatives, to pay attention. This time, everything matched.

However, the provincial military district did not rush to reply immediately. Instead, they first called the Gu family to confirm the matter.

Deputy Commander Gu was not at home at the moment. The troops he led had been stationed at the frontier for years, guarding the vast rivers and mountains of the motherland.

So at home, it was Madam Gu.

This Madam Gu was named Zhang Wenjuan, the director of a certain women’s federation unit. When she received the phone call, she had just finished cooking for her two children.

Hearing the call, she thought she had misheard. Then she recalled—Old Gu had indeed mentioned this before. The person from back then was the one who had been betrothed to their child. But later they lost contact. These past years, Old Gu had also asked people to help search, but they didn’t even know the person’s hometown, only that the surname was Lin.

Now everything clicked.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Wenjuan made a quick decision. “Yes, that’s true. How about this—I’ll give you Huayuan’s unit address. Let that child go there and find him herself…”

“It’s not that we don’t want to find the child, but right now, both Old Gu and I can’t leave our duties. We also can’t delay the two children’s marriage. Don’t worry, I’ll call Huayuan and explain things clearly…”

“Yes, thank you comrades for your trouble. This really has given you extra work.”

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Wenjuan let out a sigh of relief. She replayed her words in her head and felt she hadn’t said anything wrong.

Everyone was busy, of course they couldn’t spare time. Old Gu wasn’t home either. If that child came, she wouldn’t recognize her anyway, and certainly didn’t have the time to take care of her.

As for letting that child go find Gu Huayuan herself—after all, that was the fiancée arranged by the former wife. As a stepmother, how could she meddle too much?

Even if Old Gu were home, he would definitely support this approach.

In any case, she would not get herself involved.

As for whether Huayuan would end up marrying someone who had once been a servant in a capitalist household—that was his own choice.

Once Huayuan was married, Old Gu would no longer need to worry about him, and could instead focus more on their own small family.

Zhang Wenjuan smiled lightly, humming a tune as she went to watch over her two children eating.