The Divorced Wife of the Richest Man is Reborn

Chapter 93

Just moments ago, Wang Gebi and Mi Lan had breathed a sigh of relief when the doctor said Yan Ha's body was normal. Now they were trying to comfort Mi Xue.

"It's alright, Little Snow. Mom's here, Mom's here for everything," Wang Gebi said, kissing Yan Ha's little cheeks.

Mi Xue was crying inconsolably. She had contracted syphilis - what was she going to do?

Wang Gebi signaled to her: "Go ahead and cry. Cry as much as you want. Cry louder."

After all, she had several hundred thousand in her account.

As long as they could continue to receive sympathy from the leaders and family members, as long as the leaders didn't bring up auditing the accounts again, as long as they could get through this and the military leadership released her. Once they got to a developed country like America, they could treat Mi Xue's illness. Syphilis wasn't a terminal disease - with penicillin treatment, as long as it didn't recur, everything would be fine. So Wang Gebi wasn't in a hurry.

But just then news came that the "good brothers" had finally recognized the price discrepancies between internal and external sales. Moreover, the logistics director who had been partnering with her to resell military supplies was also going to fall.

She was going to be formally prosecuted!

After hearing this, Wang Gebi was stunned for a long time. Her teeth chattered up and down, trembling continuously.

The military district was isolated from the outside world. The soldiers didn't consider economic accounts and had no concept of money. It was precisely because of this that she had been able to profit from the price differences between internal and external sales all along. It was no exaggeration to say that towels Wang Gebi had previously resold from the military district for 10 yuan could sell for over 500 yuan outside.

Moreover, supplies had always been accounted for at 0.02 yuan until last year, when Minister Wu feared the accounts looked too fake and changed it to 0.5 yuan. So in fact, she had basically been taking supplies for free and selling them outside for twenty whole years.

The amount of money in her account was enough to give a group of old leaders collective heart attacks if they heard about it.

Who was it? Who had seen through her get-rich scheme and ruined her money-making path?

Sitting on the ground, she and Mi Lan exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with malice, full of grievance, anger, and unwillingness to accept the situation.

If the huge sum of money was investigated and prosecuted by the military district, she might be sentenced to prison.

The problem was the money - it would certainly be confiscated!

As several doctors pressed the elevator button to go downstairs, they heard Wang Gebi let out a heart-wrenching, agonized howl.

Meanwhile in the elevator, Chen Meilan and Yan Zhao had been quite happy earlier.

But as they say, blessings lie where calamity crouches and calamity lurks where blessings lie. When they reached the elevator exit, Minister Cui suddenly said: "Old Yan, let's have a meeting to discuss this today. Although the Military Commission has issued a document telling us to appropriately open up military assets for contracting, I think we should forget about it. To avoid trouble, let's not contract out military assets externally in the future. What do you think?"

Yan Peiheng nodded in agreement: "Alright."

From the marijuana-smoking Feng Yu to the massive corruption of Wang Gebi, the leaders had been frightened.

They were inside high walls, completely ignorant of the external economic society, in the dark about everything.

Contracting out military factories was intended to solve the military district's financial difficulties, but if it led to major cases like Wang Gebi's, not only would they not be able to retire peacefully, they might tarnish their reputations in their later years.

For this reason, Minister Cui decided that the factories under the General Military District's jurisdiction should simply be locked up and not contracted out externally.

Suddenly, Chen Meilan's impulsive husband turned around, looking at her with a shocked, incredulous expression.

Chen Meilan responded with an equally shocked smile.

Yan Zhao had wanted Chen Meilan to contract the military factory in order to hire those demobilized soldiers who were now running around in the city without work, to give them jobs.

But now he had made a mess of things himself. One thing had led to another - the leaders, once bitten twice shy, directly announced that from now on Factory 271 would not be contracted out externally.

After exiting the elevator, a group of leaders went to have a meeting.

Chen Meilan's family was going to the hospital.

On the bus, Yan Zhao let out a deep sigh. Although not loud, it was clear he was very unhappy.

Of course, with so many military supply factories across the country, if they all locked their doors from now on, it would be a heavy blow to the economy, not to mention profits. The military factories all had well-equipped large-scale production lines that had to be imported from abroad at great expense. Those private bosses outside were begging on their knees, drinking themselves to alcoholic liver disease, pleading with Taiwanese and Hong Kong investors for precisely these kinds of production lines.

But this had nothing to do with Chen Meilan.

The money wasn't hers, and the benefits generated by the military factories didn't have much to do with her either.

Moreover, from a capitalist's standpoint, demobilized soldiers were not necessarily better employees than ordinary people.

Because when they were in the army, their wives had mostly quit their jobs to take care of the family. Although now due to the one-child policy each family only had one child, men whose wives were unemployed had much higher salary requirements than women or those whose wives had jobs.

At present, there were no preferential policies for hiring retired soldiers domestically.

If Chen Meilan really took over Factory 271, she would have to consider efficiency first.

Wages were a major expense - why pay 280 yuan to hire a demobilized soldier when you could hire an ordinary person for 200 yuan?

Under the cruel market economy, only by frantically compressing costs could one obtain profits.

This was also why demobilized soldiers who couldn't be placed in jobs could only make a living on their own these days.

So even if Chen Meilan took over Factory 271, she wouldn't want to hire demobilized soldiers.

Now that the factory couldn't be taken over, the equipment would be left to gather dust. Chen Meilan couldn't help but feel schadenfreude. This was the trouble caused by Wang Gebi - because of her, a large batch of production equipment would be covered in dust, and it might even affect the country's economic growth rate. That woman was really something.

On the way to the hospital, small carts hauling honeycomb briquettes shared the road with Crown and Xiali three-wheelers. The newsstand also sold hot sweet potatoes. The red spaghetti strap-wearing women on magazine covers contrasted with the newsstand owner's military cap covering a face full of chilblains. On the capital's streets in this era, the traditional and modern intermingled in a strangely harmonious way.

Along the way were billboards with red characters proclaiming "Successful Asian Games, All Hope for the Olympics".

When they arrived at the hospital, coincidentally there was a subway station right in front. And the subway entrance happened to be where porn sellers gathered.

They had talked about this yesterday and said they wouldn't mention it again, but as soon as Little Wang saw it, he got excited: "Mom, look! Porn! My favorite!"

His voice was loud. Not only did it startle Yan Zhao into turning around, but the hospital was a crowded place, especially busy on Mondays, like visiting a temple fair. Immediately people stopped and said things like: "Does this kid have no home training?"

"How old is this child? His parents must watch a lot of porn at home," someone else said.

"His dad must be a policeman, look at the green pants," another person said.

Yan Zhao and his wife had successfully gained notoriety at the hospital entrance thanks to their unruly child, even being labeled as porn lovers.

Yan Zhao had already been kneed by Chen Meilan this morning, and was angry about the Wang Gebi situation. Now his son had embarrassed them in front of strangers with one sentence. He instinctively reached out to grab the back of Little Wang's collar.

This slap would probably be unforgettable for Little Wang for the rest of his life.

Chen Meilan could coldly observe major events, but she couldn't stand by and watch her child be hit without intervening. She quickly said: "You take Little Lang to get his blood drawn. Leave Little Wang here, I'll deal with him."

She handed all the medical records to Yan Zhao.

"I have to discipline him. You can't talk to him about that kind of thing," Yan Zhao said.

Chen Meilan turned and pushed Yan Zhao: "I won't talk about sex or porn, but trust me, I'll definitely make sure he never asks about that kind of thing again, okay?"

With that, she took Little Wang's hand and walked towards the exit of the hospital.

Yan Zhao watched Chen Meilan's back for a long time before finally taking the two little ones in to queue.

Little Wang, holding his mother's hand, still looked confused: "Mom, did I say something wrong again just now?"

Chen Meilan thought to herself that Yan Zhao detested evil, while Little Wang was selling porn. In his previous life, Little Wang had probably been beaten by his father many times for this. And how embarrassing would it be for a deputy police chief's son to end up in juvenile detention for selling porn?

But it wasn't easy to talk about sex and porn with a 9-year-old child, and it certainly couldn't be discussed directly.

Porn wasn't such a big deal. Who in this world wouldn't be curious about sex after becoming an adult, or watch some porn?

Little Wang was about to enter puberty. The hormones in the child's body would increase more and more. At this time, the more you try to prevent him from exploring porn, the more curious he'll be about it, stimulating him to explore.

Once he discovers what it is, it could lead to sexual precocity and affect his studies as a result.

So the key was to make him lose curiosity about it from now on.

The subway entrance was bustling with people. If you looked carefully for a while, you could spot those selling pornographic videos. There were at least seven or eight of them, and Chen Meilan examined each one closely.

After watching for a long time, she noticed a particularly handsome man with a great physique - tall and slim, with an extremely attractive face. He seemed to have an air of righteousness about him. Looking him up and down, Chen Meilan noticed he was wearing well-polished military-issue leather shoes. Because of his good looks and the sense that he seemed trustworthy, she decided to take a chance. She took Little Wang's hand and approached him, saying, "Comrade, I have a question for you."

This man was indeed selling pornographic videos, with tapes hidden inside his coat. He pulled his open buttons closer together and said, "Sister, you've got a child with you. You shouldn't be talking to someone like me."

Usually only men bought porn, so he found it strange that a woman with a little girl would approach him.

Chen Meilan patted Little Wang's head and said matter-of-factly, "This child of mine likes to make money and doesn't want to study. She heard that selling porn videos is profitable and wants to try it. Since you're in this business, do you have any advice for her? Maybe share some business tips?"

Little Wang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, that's right!" The child genuinely felt that her mother was better - she would talk things through properly, unlike her father who would hit first and ask questions later.

The man suddenly understood - this was an unruly child, and the sister had come to him to teach the kid a lesson.

He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag and blew out a smoke ring. Then he suddenly opened his coat, revealing an August 1st badge pinned to his sweater underneath.

With the cigarette dangling from his mouth, the man bent down and helped Little Wang sit on the railing. Pointing at the child's nose, he said, "Little student, do you know what Uncle used to do? I was in the Yunnan Border Defense Army, an artillery gunner. I've been to war. But I was transferred to civilian work. The country's economy isn't good, and they couldn't arrange a job for me. I can't be a burden on the country, so I have to make a living on my own to follow the policy. But I don't know how to do business. When I was transferred, all my resettlement money was scammed away. My mother became seriously ill, so I had to do this to make money quickly. Selling porn - do you know what kind of business that is? It's unethical and shameful. It's absolutely not something you can let your parents, family, or comrades know about. Do you really want to do this?"

Little Wang listened to this long speech from the uncle, saw his red eyes, and suddenly realized that even though she didn't know exactly what porn was, it must be something really bad.

The child was stunned, "I thought it made a lot of money."

"It does make a lot, but it's dirty money. Once my mother gets better, I'll never do this again!" Halfway through speaking, the man suddenly slapped himself twice on the face, shedding two tears in front of Little Wang.

Seeing a grown man slap himself on the street had a huge impact on the child.

Even Chen Meilan felt sympathy for him.

It was pitiful - these soldiers who were transferred to civilian work in the 1990s had truly shed blood and sweat on the battlefield, only to have to shed tears to support their families after returning.

The man was fully committed to his act. Just then, a police officer was seen approaching from a distance. He suddenly handed Little Wang back to Chen Meilan and turned to run, shouting, "Run! The cops are coming to arrest us!"

The group of porn sellers immediately scattered and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

There was no need for Chen Meilan to say anything more.

Little Wang stood there dumbfounded, then suddenly burst into tears, "Mom, I'll never talk about selling that stuff again!"

That transferred soldier brother was too impressive. His act had a profound effect - Little Wang didn't even dare to mention the word "porn" again.

But she felt sorry for that veteran soldier. If his parents and relatives found out he was selling porn, it would be so shameful.

"Let's not talk about it anymore. We'll never mention it again," Chen Meilan suggested. "Come on, let's go to the hospital."

Little Wang was still looking back, "Mom, that uncle is so pitiful."

When they entered the hospital, Yan Zhao and Little Lang had already had their blood drawn and received their test results. They were queuing for the examination.

Yan Zhao had also found time to buy some special cancer medications only available in the capital for Sun Nutao.

He had registered at the capital's pediatric department, said to have the most authoritative experts specializing in difficult and complicated cases.

Chen Meilan had carefully preserved a thick stack of medical records, from two years ago until now, documenting every change in Little Lang's health. Each paper could serve as evidence.

The doctor looked through them one by one. Under the eager gaze of the whole family, he first gave Chen Meilan a thumbs up: "You deserve praise, madam. Ordinary parents love their children, but few can be as meticulous about their child's physical changes as you. This child's platelet count used to be very low, and he could have developed leukemia if not carefully monitored. But look how healthy he is now."

Chen Meilan let out a big sigh of relief, but also held her breath as she asked, "So how is he now?"

"I think he's very good, very healthy," the doctor surprisingly said.

Chen Meilan then told the doctor about how the child had been bumping and falling a lot recently, and asked if there might be some illness they hadn't discovered.

After listening, the doctor shook his head, "That's unlikely. I see these bruises heal very quickly. I'm more inclined to think this child has been beaten. You should investigate whether he's been hit by someone at kindergarten."

Before Yan Zhao could say anything, Chen Meilan nearly fainted from anger.

Sure enough, Little Lang had been bullied by a school bully.

This child was really too foolish. She had asked him many times, but he refused to say anything no matter what.

How could this child be like this, willing to be beaten without telling his parents?

On the bus ride home, although Chen Meilan had a weight lifted from her heart, she was still very angry. She had always taught the children to fight back if someone hit them, not to be afraid, and that even if they got their heads cracked open, she would pay for the medical expenses.

The children shouldn't be bullies themselves, but they also shouldn't let others beat them. Little Lang had a sturdy build, so why was his personality so soft?

Yan Zhao was more calm. Hearing that his son had been beaten, he reflected and thought that Little Wang had a solid foundation and strong fists. He planned to start teaching his son some boxing techniques from now on.

Increasing his agility would allow him to fight back when others hit him in the future.

But Chen Meilan was still angry, very angry.

It wasn't that she hadn't asked. Almost every time he was hit, she would try every way to ask if someone had beaten him. She had even gone to the kindergarten to look at each child one by one, trying to figure out which one might be hitting Little Lang. She had even secretly watched from outside during class time occasionally.

She hadn't discovered anything herself, and the child wouldn't tell her. All that fuss had been for nothing.

Little Lang sat in Chen Meilan's arms, sensing her unhappiness. He looked up and asked, "Mom, are you really angry?"

Little Wang, sitting in front, suddenly turned around and said insightfully, "Mom isn't angry, she's hurting. Don't you know the old saying 'A hit to the son's body is a pain in the mother's heart'?"

Little Lang's mouth opened slightly. He touched Chen Meilan's hand and surprisingly asked, "Little Lang gets hit, Mom hurts, because Little Lang came from Mom's tummy, right?"

It wasn't the right time to correct the child in this situation. Chen Meilan was still silently fuming and didn't feel like saying much, so she just gave a vague "Mm-hmm."

Little Lang seemed to make up his mind and raised his hand, "I'm sorry, Mom. I was hit by someone, but Wang Yuhan said I couldn't tell you or you would send me away, and my sister wouldn't love me anymore."

Wang Yuhan was a very cute little girl in Little Lang's class. Chen Meilan quite liked her, but she never imagined that little girl would bully Little Lang.

"You were born from Mom, so when others hit you, Mom feels the pain. How could Mom possibly not want you?" Chen Meilan stroked her belly and continued, "If Mom sent you away and you were hungry out there, Mom would feel hungry too. Now tell me, how did Wang Yuhan hit you?"

Little Lang finally explained, "It was Wang Yuhan's cousin. He's in primary school. When he comes to pick up Wang Yuhan, he always likes to push me from behind and hit me secretly. But don't worry, Mom. I'll grow up soon and be able to beat him then."

To think it was a primary school student - that was a big kid.

Wang Yuhan's cousin hit Little Lang, and to keep the parents from finding out, Wang Yuhan threatened Little Lang, saying if he dared tell his mom, his mom would abandon him.

Little Lang was a tough kid who could endure pain, and he had a kind nature.

For him, he could bear the pain, but he was afraid of being abandoned by his mom.

This must have been the reason he never dared to tell the truth all this time.

Don't underestimate children; the current social environment has influenced an entire generation.

Many people have gone into business or become self-employed, working from dawn to dusk and neglecting their children. Add to that excessive pocket money and the prevalence of hooligans in society, and many spoiled rich kids from this era grew up this way.

In her previous life, Zhou Qiaofang once mentioned an incident about a rich kid in the city who, at just 15 years old, took his father's sports car for a joyride while drunk. He knocked down five trees and killed a mother and daughter. Being a minor, he feared being sent to juvenile detention. The family approached Zhou Xueqin to pull strings, offering 50,000 yuan and a designer bag to have Yan Zhao settle the matter.

This happened around 1997, when 50,000 yuan was still a huge sum.

Yan Zhao didn't accept it, and because of this incident, he firmly decided to divorce Zhou Xueqin.

Of course, this wouldn't do. After Chen Meilan returned, she would have to become a "tiger parent," confront Wang Yuhan and her cousin, and track down their parents to see what kind of irresponsible adults could raise children who not only beat others from a young age, but also use such vicious methods and threaten other kids.

For this reason, Chen Meilan prepared to play the role of a strict parent.

It was almost noon, and Little Lang's forehead injury had mostly healed.

Being healthy and uninjured was the best thing of all.

Since it was the children's first time in the capital, they had to be taken to Tiananmen Square for a visit and to take photos.

They also wanted to eat at KFC, and Chen Meilan had enough pocket money, but for Yan Zhao, frugality was always the way. So for lunch, they just had noodles with soybean paste outside.

In the afternoon, they went to the mall for a while. Since Yuanyuan already had a down jacket bought by Yan Xishan, they didn't buy any more clothes, just new cotton coats for Little Lang and Little Wang.

Little Wang, being vain, put his on right away.

Little Lang didn't care much about appearances, and he ran hot, so he didn't like wearing overly warm cotton coats.

Chen Meilan tried to persuade him the whole way, but seeing the child wouldn't wear it, she had to let it go.

She guessed Yan Zhao probably wanted to buy her a piece of clothing too. He stood in front of an advertisement for a women's leather jacket for a long time, went into the store to inquire, then came out again.

That women's leather jacket cost 1700 yuan.

The wealth gap brought by economic development was just like that. Even if Yan Zhao didn't eat or drink for three months, he still couldn't afford that leather jacket.

After walking around for a long time, the children were parched.

Of course, they could sense that their mother wanted to treat them to a good meal, but their father wouldn't allow it.

So they probably harbored some resentment towards their father.

Fortunately, Yan Zhao performed exceptionally today. After leaving the mall, he actually bought each of the three children a bag of puffed snacks and a bottle of Wahaha from a small shop.

Wahaha paired with puffed snacks, a sip of milk followed by a bite of puffed food. The public bus to the First-Class Family Compound was not crowded, everyone had a seat, eating and drinking all the way - it was simply perfect.

But all three children wanted to squeeze onto one seat with Chen Meilan, leaving her gasping for air, while the seat next to Yan Zhao remained empty, with no one daring to sit there.

Halfway through the journey, an interesting incident occurred.

A girl of about seventeen or eighteen got on the bus first, followed closely by someone else. When Little Wang saw that person, he immediately tugged at Chen Meilan: "Mom, look quick, that uncle."

It was actually the young man selling porn videos they had encountered in the morning?

Little Wang stood up, making faces and waving his hands, signaling the young man to quickly get off the bus and run.

Because his father was a police officer, Little Wang was afraid his dad would arrest the young man.

But the young man had seen too many people in a day and had already forgotten Chen Meilan and Little Wang. From the moment he got on the bus, he kept following that girl, repeatedly saying sorry.

The girl kept rolling her eyes and walked to the seat in front of Yan Zhao. Seeing him wearing army green pants, she probably concluded he was a police officer, so she sat down next to Yan Zhao.

It looked like they were a young couple having a quarrel.

The young man sat in the row in front of Yan Zhao, turned around, and just as he opened his mouth to say sorry, the girl immediately grabbed Yan Zhao's sleeve: "Police uncle, he sells porn videos, and he even tried to molest me. Quick, arrest him."

The young man probably didn't expect the girl to say this, and immediately raised both hands, saying, "Jingjing, I said I'm sorry, but I have my reasons. Will you listen to my explanation?"

"Police uncle, he's just a nasty pervert. He even tried to grope my butt just now. Uncle, hurry and arrest him," the girl said, tugging at Yan Zhao and pointing at the young man.

Yan Zhao shook off the girl's grip on his hand and, on the moving bus, reached out to grab the young man.

The young man had also been in the military and was well-trained. Seeing that the girl was seriously turning against him and fearing Yan Zhao would arrest him, he suddenly leaped towards the open window amidst the gasps of the other passengers and jumped out.

Yan Zhao's grasp missed, and he shouted to the driver: "Driver, stop the bus! Someone jumped out the window!"

Not only were the other passengers on the bus unsurprised, but the bus driver also seemed accustomed to such situations: "Comrade, I need to arrive at the stop on time. These hoodlums and ruffians are always like this. Don't worry, look, he's fine."

Chen Meilan and the children all turned to look back, and saw the young man bending over on the busy road, picking up the videotapes he had dropped.

Yan Zhao was by the window, leaning out to watch the young man. The young man picked up the tapes and was still chasing after the bus. The girl, still holding onto one of Yan Zhao's hands, continued to curse: "He used to be a soldier, but as soon as he was discharged, he turned into a hooligan, selling porn videos. Shameless!"

A dozing old lady chimed in: "A veteran selling porn? Why doesn't he just dig up his ancestors' graves? How unethical, has he no shame?"

The girl squeezed closer to Yan Zhao, her face full of disgust and contempt: "Exactly!"

The driver also turned his head and spat: "Not only do they bring shame to their parents, but these discharged soldiers are also disgracing the entire country."

"Mom, I thought that uncle was a good person. Why is he doing bad things?" Little Wang was still looking out the window, his face full of bewilderment.

Yan Zhao shook off the girl, turned around, and forcefully picked up Yuanyuan to place her there, then sat down next to Chen Meilan and asked, "Do you know that young man from earlier?"

Chen Meilan nodded.

Yan Zhao licked his lips, pressing them into a thin line, his face so dark it could wring water.

But even with his "Living Yama" personality, even if he could perform his police work impeccably, he was helpless against the current state of society.

This was the situation for veterans now - shamefully selling porn videos, carrying pole baskets to sell spice mixes. Because the military had one type of educational mindset, but once out in the complex society, almost every one of them paid their transition money as tuition to the university of life.

The leaders in the military compounds could ensure a smooth retirement just by locking up military assets, preserving their lifelong reputation.

But who cared about those veterans out there?

So at this moment, Chen Meilan suddenly felt ambitious, wanting to take over Factory 271.

If all the military assets across the country were locked up, many job positions would disappear. Businessmen bringing in investments from capitalist countries would see their profits greatly diverted.

Perhaps employing veterans would lower profits, but ways to increase profits could be explored in other areas.

Closing military factories would also make the national economy flourish.

But those veterans would never have a chance to rise up.

Like Little Wang, she was shocked by that pitiful veteran, her heart aching secretly!

The bus stopped at the gate of the First-Class Family Compound. The young girl got off with lively steps, greeted the security office at the entrance, entered the compound, and then stepped into the elevator with a light bounce.

Clearly, she also lived in this compound, and in this very building.

It was a coincidence, perhaps heaven was helping Chen Meilan to take over Factory 271.

She turned to Yan Zhao and said, "Third Brother, come grocery shopping with me. Let's invite the uncles upstairs for dinner tonight?"

Yan Zhao had one good quality - no matter what Chen Meilan wanted to do, even if he had doubts, he would execute first.

So he decisively said, "Alright."

Thus, after sending the children to the doorstep, the couple went back downstairs to buy groceries.

The children thought their grandfather wasn't home - when the cat's away, the mice will play. As soon as they entered, Little Lang turned on the TV with a loud click.

It was 6:30 PM, cartoon time. Recently, they were showing an American cartoon, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."

They had previously shown another one, "She-Ra: Princess of Power."

The children had assigned roles: Yuanyuan was She-Ra, Little Wang was He-Man, and Little Lang was the adorable Orko.

After walking around all day, they were truly hungry. The Wahaha drinks and Bubblestar snacks from earlier hadn't filled their stomachs. Yuanyuan remembered that Mom had bought fruit yesterday and left it in the kitchen. So she raised one hand and dashed towards the kitchen, shouting as she ran: "Grant me the power! I am She-Ra!"

As soon as she burst into the kitchen, she saw her fierce-looking grandfather standing at the chopping board, glaring at her with stern eyes.

Yuanyuan was so startled that she trembled, her scalp tingling as she slowly backed out step by step.