Chapter 5 - Overjoyed

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  After completing the discharge procedures, Linda, Diane, and Linda's mother-in-w, Olivia, hailed a cab to head back to their rented apartment.

  After a while, Linda turned to her mother-in-w and asked her,

  "Mom, the expenses for the private room... how did you pay for it? I... don't recall us having that kind of money, right?"

  Although Linda was just trying to guess their situation, Olivia didn't doubt her daughter-in-w, as her face hardened and she snorted with irritation as she replied,

  "It was from the people who caused the accident. They paid a lot more in compensation to the deceased's family. In our case, they pleaded not having much money left and pleaded with us not to sue them in court. As their truck had actually malfunctioned, we now know that they didn't cause the accident knowingly. In the end, your father-in-w chose to let the matter go. At least those people had the conscience to pay for your medical expenses. Unlike when... that happened to Rory. The police still haven't found the culprit..."

  Linda nodded in understanding and decided not to trouble her disheartened mother-in-w any further. As Linda pyed around with her daughter, teasing her here and there, she pondered on wanting to visit her past life parents at a ter date.

  Arriving at their rented apartment, Linda noticed the somewhat old yet functional furniture and judged the strained financial condition of her household after the death of her earning son. At some point, the middle-aged mother-in-w brought Linda's father-in-w in a wheelchair as he addressed her,

  "Daughter-in-w, it's nice to see you doing okay now. Sorry that I couldn't be of help to you during your stay at the hospital. We were so scared when we received the call from the hospital. Your accident... was very unfortunate. Just take it easy for a few days at home until you recover completely. Your mother-in-w and I pn to sell some of our ancestral farm nd in our hometown to alleviate the crisis."

  "Don't worry, we will surely pull through these tough times together. Just as a family should. That's what... Rory would have said as well..."

  Linda almost wanted to change her mind about selling the property, yet couldn't utter the words when considering her present capabilities. Although she may receive some help from the broken system, Linda couldn't hope much when it was so buggy. She would have to experiment with it a bit before she could act with more confidence. Although she desired to make big money with the help of the system, she hadn't studied it properly yet, so she decided to talk about the property matter with them at a ter date.

  The system spoke of some monetary rewards, which, as per the system ruls shouldn't be bad, but Linda's present crisis demanded money in order to resolve the pressure on her new in-ws, to pcate her past life's parents, and to raise her cute daughter in abundance.

  Money, just like in her past life, was still the stumbling block to fully enjoying life.

  As Linda gnced down at her cute daughter, holding her hand while dazedly staring at the adults talking, Linda resolved not to let her daughter suffer in poverty as she had in her past life. She wanted to quickly put the financial burdens behind her and to strive for a happy and fulfilling life in the future.

  ...

  Linda spent the next few hours doing her best to quickly bond with her newly gained daughter. As Linda helped little Diane finish her homework, she marveled over the fact that a child as young as three years old was already enrolled in kindergarten.

  Little Diane looked to have been starving maternal love as she quickly warmed up to Linda, making Linda feel even more fulfilled with her new life.

  'Truly, a daughter is her mother's cotton padded jacket. I must treat my daughter well in this life.'

  After pying around with Diane and resting for a few hours, Linda decided to take a bath at st. It had been sixteen hours since Linda woke up, and she had been feeling uncomfortable with all the sweet accumuted during the day.

  According to her mother-in-w, Linda had been unconscious for three days and desperately desired to get a bath. Although she felt disheartened since her new gender meant the absence of her 'prized handle', Linda had come to terms with reality and started to embrace the changes to move towards a brighter tomorrow.

  As Linda chose to bury he regrets behind and accept her new body, she started to undress as she entered the bathroom. Just as she took off the st piece of clothing from her body, she became frozen again after discovering a certain part of her body that she had thought was long gone forever.

  'D-Dick?! I still got a dick? B-But, my body seems to be female all around! And, the dy had been married before, too... giving birth to a baby girl as well. Hmm? The female parts are still there, however... I have a dick in addition?! And... by the looks and feel of it, this one is the same as the one in my past life! J-Junior... I really missed you! I can't bear to be separated from you for even a moment!'

  'I let you down so much in the past life... But, wait. I don't think it's normal for a man to have all of these at once. Could it be due to the system? Did it alter my body, too? Um, maybe that is the case. I recall it mentioning some adjustment thing before. That must have been the deciding factor in giving me my junior again.'

  'Oh, thank you, God! Thank you, system! Thank you for fulfilling my dearest wish. I promise to use it well in this life! I will surely live it up real nice!'

  Feeling optimistic and giddy all of a sudden, Linda took a bath happily and returned to her room in high spirits.

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