"As the saying goes, 'A red bird is redder than a black bird.'"

A cold voice broke the silence in the main banquet hall.

Cheng Wei raised her head and looked at a young man about twenty-five years old sitting in a wheelchair on the right side of the living room.

He had the typical appearance of a man in the Cheng family, with long eyebrows, big eyes, and a high nose bridge. He had thin cheeks, deep sunken eyes, a gloomy gaze, and a rebellious expression. He looked at Cheng Wei with hostility and it was obvious that he disliked Cheng Wei.

This person is Cheng Qiming, the son of Cheng Jindong and his wife, a member of the Cheng family's branch.

"Qiming!" Cheng Jindong, who was sitting next to Cheng Qiming, shouted in a low voice: "It's not your turn to speak here, shut up!"

"Why, Miss Cheng has done something so bad, and you won't let anyone talk about it?"

Cheng Qiming sneered, "That bastard Cheng Suming has been back for so long, it's ok for him not to come visit grandma, but he also got married quietly without informing anyone in the family. This shows that he doesn't take our Cheng family seriously!"

Cheng Jindong was speechless. Everyone outside knew that Cheng Suming was a child he adopted from an orphanage, but they didn't know that his wife had been married to him for five years and had no children, and was ridiculed by the entire family and other people.

In order to fight for the family property and to prove himself, he found a woman outside. After Cheng Suming was born, he was thrown into an orphanage to be raised.

When Cheng Su Ming was five years old, he adopted him from the welfare home and told others that Cheng Su Ming was adopted as the "prime".

In fact, the entire Cheng family knew that it was his illegitimate child, and his wife actually became pregnant with Cheng Qiming the following year.

Cheng Jindong and Cheng Suming's biological mother were just having a casual affair, using her as a surrogate mother to bear a child, and he had no feelings for the mother and the child. He gave Cheng Suming's biological mother a huge sum of money to shut her up, and asked her to abandon the child and move away.

In his eyes, Cheng Suming was just a tool to fight for the family property, and he never regarded him as his own son.

His original plan was that as long as Cheng Suming was obedient, he would fulfill his legal responsibilities as a father, provide him with food, clothing, shelter, and education, and would leave him a share of the family property in the future.

But unexpectedly, Cheng Suming was ungrateful and almost killed Cheng Qiming at such a young age. He also teamed up with the Xia family to put Cheng Qiming in prison for several years, ruining Cheng Qiming's bright future.

After Cheng Qiming was released from prison, he had one leg broken by the Xia family. He became a laughing stock and a cripple in the eyes of the Cheng family. His resentment towards Cheng Suming grew day by day.

Today, Cheng Su Ming has long been out of his control and ignores the existence of him and the Cheng family. Even if he has many grievances in his heart, he can only suppress his anger in front of Old Lady Cheng.

Uncle Cheng looked at Cheng Qiming and his son with dignity. The two of them shut up tactfully. He then looked at Cheng Wei: "Do you know what the consequences of doing this will be?"

Cheng Wei's third aunt wanted to say something for Cheng Wei, but when she thought of the Cheng family rules, she couldn't speak.

Cheng Wei lowered her head, her body trembling slightly, and suddenly she felt a broad and warm palm tightly holding her small hand hanging by her side. She tilted her head to look at Yang Wentao who was kneeling beside her, his eyes full of tenderness and encouragement.

Cheng Wei felt relieved and said through gritted teeth: "I know that everything will be handled according to the family rules, but I will not give up Wentao, nor will I become a pawn in a family marriage and marry someone I don't like. If you force me..."

She turned to look at Uncle Cheng, her beautiful eyes flashing with determination: "I will fight to the end, and would rather die in glory than live in disgrace!"

"You!" Old Mrs. Cheng, who was sitting on the magnificent sofa in the middle, slammed the sofa in anger, stood up with her crutches, pointed at Cheng Wei with a trembling hand and said, "You are really my good granddaughter! I have loved you so much for so many years, but you actually did such a shameless thing! What a sin! It's all my fault, my fault!"

After saying this with deep sorrow, Old Mrs. Cheng's eyes suddenly rolled back and she leaned back straight.

"Mom/Grandma!" Everyone was shocked and went to help Old Mrs. Cheng.

"Grandma!" Cheng Wei was also anxious to help Old Lady Cheng, but was glared back by Uncle Cheng, "Go back to your room and reflect on your mistakes, and wait for your parents to come back and decide on this matter."

Without waiting for her to answer, he shouted again, "Butler Wang, bring someone in and ask Mr. Yang to go to the guest room to rest!"

Immediately, a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing a thick vest and with gray hair came in with a dozen sturdy bodyguards. He politely extended his hand to Yang Wentao and made a gesture of invitation: "Mr. Yang, please follow me."

The Cheng family's house was built in the shape of a U-shaped villa, with all floors below the ninth floor submerged in water, leaving only the three floors above habitable.

The Cheng family has a large number of people and a lot of belongings. Apart from the original people who have been moved to the rooms above the ninth floor, the remaining so-called guest rooms are probably not even as good as the rooms for servants and bodyguards. They may even have to live in a small utility room and be imprisoned, beaten, or even confined.

Cheng Wei couldn't bear to see Yang Wentao suffer, so she shook her head at him with tears in her eyes: "Don't go."

"Don't worry." Yang Wentao smiled slightly and raised his hand to show her his muscular muscles, so that she could rest assured that no one could hurt him as long as he wanted.

Cheng Wei could only watch him leave.

When Si Nan woke up, she felt something was wrong. Why was there a hand around her waist?

Her whole body froze, and she reflexively wanted to kick the owner of her hand away and break his bones, but suddenly some memories came to her mind.

It seemed like she drank too much during the New Year’s Eve dinner last night and kept talking nonsense while drunk.

Later, she got drunk and grabbed Cheng Suming, telling him that she was really blind to fall for Zou Shichu, that scumbag, and wasted her youth. Now she is marrying him, he is handsome, has a good figure, and treats her well. He is so much better than Zou Shichu...

Then she pushed Cheng Suming down on the sofa and kissed him forcefully for a while, then she was too drunk to handle it, and she felt dizzy and vomited all over the place...

In a daze, Cheng Suming seemed to take her to the toilet and clean up the dirt on her body.

Thinking of this, she hurriedly lifted the quilt covering her body. She was still wearing her warm long-sleeved top and long pants. Except for the dizziness after sobering up, she did not feel any discomfort.

Nothing happened, she breathed a sigh of relief, looked around and found that she was not in her room.

Because this room is so clean and tidy, and everything is spotless, unlike her, where things are not placed randomly and the floor is not dirty, so in her heart it is already very clean.

This room obviously belongs to Cheng Suming, so who is the owner of the hand...

She took her hands off her waist and tilted her head to look. Sure enough, it was Cheng Suming sleeping next to her.

Thinking of how she forcefully kissed him last night while drunk, Si Nan felt her face flushed and she wanted to sneak out of bed, but when she moved, Cheng Su Ming woke up, touched his glasses and put them on his nose, and asked her, "Are you awake? Are you dizzy or feeling sick in your stomach? I'll make you some hangover soup."

He said, climbing over her and out of bed, a nice scent of fir washing over him, not a hint of alcohol at all.

He obviously drank a lot of wine last night. Did she vomit on him last night and he went to take a shower?

He felt a little embarrassed and ashamed, but when Cheng Suming didn't mention what happened last night, Si Nan's embarrassment disappeared.

While Cheng Suming was cooking the sobering soup, she went to the small bedroom, turned on the diesel engine to generate electricity, and then scooped a bucket of water from the water tank on the balcony to the side bathroom.

As expected, the Dabai couple were locked inside by Cheng Suming. As soon as she opened the toilet door, the two geese started to cluck and complain to her.

Si Nan helplessly took out two handfuls of corn from the space and scattered them on the ground at the toilet door, letting them eat something to calm their emotions.

She turned around and took out an electric water heater from the space, placed it in the bucket, plugged it in, boiled the water, and took a comfortable bath in it.

After taking a shower, she changed into a clean, soft, warm autumn outfit, and still wore a set of bulky and tacky cotton pajamas on the outside. She wiped her wet hair with a towel and walked into the living room.

Cheng Suming had already prepared a hangover sobering soup and left it on the table to cool for a while. When he saw her coming out, he asked her to sit at the dining table to drink the sobering soup. He took out a hair dryer from the cabinet in the master bedroom, plugged it in, stood behind her, and helped her blow-dry her hair.

Sinan actually doesn’t like using a hair dryer to blow dry her hair. She always feels that the hair quality becomes very bad after being blown dry by a hair dryer, and the hair becomes dry and split. She has always let her hair dry naturally.

But Cheng Suming meant well. It was winter now, and she felt cold and uncomfortable having wet hair sticking to her back without a hair dryer, so she didn't refuse.

She sat on the chair, drinking the unpalatable hangover soup with the smallest possible movement, so that Cheng Suming could blow-dry her hair.

Cheng Suming is a surgeon. His fingers are longer and more sensitive than those of ordinary people. He is very gentle when grasping the hair and blows the hair at a suitable distance so that his scalp will not be burned.

Si Nan felt his fingers moving across her scalp, which made her feel slightly itchy, like a massage and made her feel very comfortable.

She drank the sobering soup in no time and listened to the buzzing sound of the wind. She felt her dizzy head become comfortable and she couldn't help but close her eyes to enjoy it.

Cheng Suming saw that she was enjoying it, and a smile flashed in his deep eyes: "If you think I blow dry your hair well, you can ask me to blow dry it for you after washing your hair in the future."

"That's so embarrassing." Si Nan did not refuse, but pretended to be reserved.

They both got a marriage certificate. From a legal point of view, she had to fulfill her sexual obligations as a couple, but because of the agreement between her and Cheng Suming, Cheng Suming had never touched her.

To be honest, Cheng Su Ming's appearance is exactly the type she likes, handsome features, strong physique, abdominal muscles and waistline, he has it all.

If she had not experienced Zou Shichu, if she had not encountered natural disasters or man-made calamities, she might have fallen and captured Cheng Suming long ago.

She was in a blackout after getting drunk and couldn't remember many things about what happened last night, but she could remember forcibly kissing Cheng Suming.

Although it was a bit embarrassing to think about it, she understood that she might have fallen in love with Cheng Su Ming, otherwise how could she do such a hungry wolf-like thing.

"I'm willing to serve you." Cheng Suming raised his lips, put the hair dryer away, walked out of the room and asked, "What do you want to eat this morning?"

"My stomach feels a little uncomfortable. Let's have some spicy Xinjiang rice noodles." Si Nan didn't hesitate and ordered directly, "Also a cup of hot soy milk and a fried egg."

"If your stomach is upset, shouldn't you eat some light porridge?" Cheng Suming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "If you want to eat, I can make it for you, as long as your stomach can handle it."

Sinan: "I have an iron stomach, I can eat anything, just do it."

Xinjiang rice noodles are vacuum-packed rice noodles bought in the supermarket. They come with a seasoning packet. You just need to open the bag, take out the rice noodles, boil them until soft, scoop them out and put them in a bowl, add various seasoning packets and stir them, and you're done. It can be said to be a blessing for lazy cooks.

If you feel that the rice noodles are not rich enough, you can add some of your favorite foods.

For example, Cheng Suming blanched some lettuce, cut two small tomatoes, and finally fried an egg and placed it on the noodles. The originally red rice noodles looked emerald red and golden yellow, with charming colors that made people's appetites grow.

Sinan couldn't wait to pick up a handful of rice noodles with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. The rice noodles were soft but not mushy, and chewy. Each strand of rice noodles was covered with spicy chili sauce and fragrant pork sauce. It tasted spicy and fragrant. He couldn't stop eating one mouthful after another.

Cheng Suming seldom ate rice noodles, whether in his past life or this life. Seeing her eating with relish and the rice noodles looking very spicy, he picked up the chopsticks and hesitated for a moment, then wrapped the red meat sauce and the bright red rice noodles together and tried to put a bite in his mouth. It was so delicious, with all its color, aroma and flavor!

It’s just – too spicy!

He hadn't finished swallowing a mouthful of rice noodles when the strong spicy taste choked him and he started coughing violently. His cold white skin turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Si Nan quickly massaged his back to help him calm down, and poured him a glass of water to moisten his throat. Then he sat next to him and said, "Aren't you from Xingcheng? Why can't you eat spicy food?"

Cheng Suming coughed twice, drank a sip of water, and felt much better. He then said, "I have been abroad for five or six years. The food there is very light. I am used to the diet there and cannot eat spicy food."

"What a pity! It seems like you won't be able to happily eat spicy hot pot, skewers, barbecue, etc. with me in the future. When I cook food in the future, try to cook yours first, and then make it spicy for me, so that you won't be unable to eat it."

After they finished their breakfast, they walked around the living room several times. Just as they had digested their food and were about to play with their phones or read books, they suddenly heard screams coming from between the buildings.

The two looked at each other and walked to the balcony to read gossip tacitly.

The rain was not heavy, and I could see several nearby buildings clearly.

In the 15th and 16th buildings closest to them, residents on floors nine and above were almost all running around their homes and screaming.

Si Nan was just wondering what they were doing when suddenly a huge mouse with dark fur and a pair of cunning little green eyes appeared on the glass railing of the sealed balcony in front of her and looked at her face to face.

Soon one, two, three... a long and dense line of mice climbed up the railing.

Si Nan's hair stood on end. She tilted her head to look at Cheng Su Ming. He also looked at her. The first thought of both of them was that the hole burned by the awning on the right side of the balcony had to be repaired immediately, otherwise the group of rats would crawl down through the hole and occupy the balcony, and they would have no chance of keeping their balcony.

Sinan immediately took out a large piece of waterproof cloth, wooden boards, iron sheets, nails, super glue, a herringbone iron ladder, and a universal toolbox from the space, and moved all the water barrels that were not full of water into the space.

Cheng Suming opened the ladder and climbed up. He first used waterproof cloth and super glue to block the hole, then nailed down the wooden boards and iron sheets layer by layer to reinforce them, and then used super glue to stick them tightly everywhere to prevent the mice from using their strong bite force to bite open the awning and climb into the balcony.

Now the entire roof of the awning is crawling with rats, cockroaches, snakes, insects and the like. The overwhelming shadows are enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Fortunately, Cheng Suming repaired the hole quickly, otherwise these bacteria-covered creatures would have climbed out of the water and along the sewer pipes outside onto the balcony, and Si Nan would have had to engage in a sterilization battle with Cheng Suming.

The two of them checked again and again that there were no problems with the repair of the hole, then closed the balcony glass door, returned to the sofa in the living room, boiled a pot of water, each made a cup of instant coffee, drank the coffee tacitly, picked up their mobile phones, and watched the large group chat records of thousands of people in Shenxian Garden.

After the high temperature, most of the power company's equipment was soaked in water, and Xingcheng basically stopped supplying electricity to residents. It only found ways to supply electricity to public areas such as hospitals, shelters, government departments, network communication towers and other places with high terrain.

Nowadays, those who have mobile phones with power and can talk in the group either have wealthy families with diesel generators, or spend money and food to charge their phones at the homes of wealthy people.

Even so, the group is still chatting lively.

"Fuck! Snakes, rats, insects and ants from somewhere swarmed into my house through my toilet and sewers. I couldn't get rid of them. They were running around everywhere in the house. I was going crazy!"

"Wow, wow, wow! I've never seen a mouse bigger than a cat in my life! A cockroach bigger than my fist! I feel like I'm going to lose my soul. Someone help me!"

"Fortunately, I had foresight. I blocked all the pipes and toilets in my house when we were attacked by cockroaches and mosquitoes during the high temperature. My wife scolded me for being sick at that time, but she won't scold me now."

"What's there to be afraid of rats, snakes and insects? I don't have much food left at home. I can catch them one by one and make them into jerky. It will last for a long time. When I have caught all the rats and snakes at home, anyone who doesn't dare to catch rats and snakes can ask me for help."

"The ruthless man upstairs, aren't you afraid that these snakes and rats carry bacteria and will kill you if you eat them?"

"I'm almost starving to death, why should I be afraid of bacteria! Our elders ate rat meat during famines and never got sick. They lived well. What's going to happen to me if I eat it? Don't curse me."

"But those snakes, insects and rats crawled out from the dirty water that had been soaked in corpses and all kinds of garbage..."

"Okay, okay, you are noble, you are great, I'm not asking you to eat, why are you in such a hurry?"

"I am a professional door-to-door pest control and snake and rat catching expert. The price is very favorable. I only accept special services such as food collection or beauties. If you are interested, please chat privately..."

Si Nan read the chat records with great interest, then walked around the room worriedly.

A large balcony and three terraces at home were sealed off, and the windows had been kept closed and locked since the heavy rain began. She replaced the glass with bulletproof glass. No matter how strong the rats' bites were, or how snakes, insects, and cockroaches tried to squeeze in, they could not get into the house. She felt much more relieved.

In fact, this situation has occurred before when the water level rose, but at that time snakes, insects and rats all hid in the homes of residents on the lower floors. People living on higher floors have never experienced this and have only heard about it.

Some people are even complacent, thinking that they made the right decision by buying a house on a high floor, as at least they can avoid having their house flooded and being invaded by snakes, insects and rats.

As the accumulated water rose higher and higher, snakes, insects and rats also gradually shifted their positions. That night, countless cockroaches, snakes, insects and rats seemed to have disturbed their old nest, and they swarmed up from the water and drilled into the homes of people in the high-rise buildings in Xingcheng.

The screams of people could be heard everywhere in the dark city, which was creepy.

In the following days, this matter was discussed everywhere on the Internet, in forums, and in groups.

Everyone was speculating what caused the dormant snakes, insects, and rats to suddenly move to new locations. Was a new disaster about to happen?

Before anyone could guess a result, nearly 60% of the people in the city developed symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, headache and fever, weakness in the limbs, and even bloody stools.

Among them, these symptoms were mainly found in temporary shelters with large crowds. On the night of the attack by snakes, insects, rats and ants, the shelters located in the central city and office buildings covered a large area, had no doors or windows to block them, and no blocked plumbing toilets, causing snakes, insects, rats and ants to run around on every floor.

Although people try their best to drive them away and kill them, the germs carried by snakes, insects, rats and ants can also be transmitted and spread to humans.

When groups of people in temporary shelters were vomiting, having fever and fainting, the person in charge of each temporary shelter realized that something was wrong and reported to their superiors, requesting them to send medical personnel to treat them and to mobilize the corresponding medicines stockpiled in the national treasury to treat the people.

As for the people living in high-rise buildings outside the temporary shelters, those with such symptoms can only save themselves for the time being.

"Doctor Cheng, do you have any medicine for diarrhea, abdominal pain, and colds? How much is the food? Just tell me."

"Doctor Cheng, my daughter is dying of diarrhea. Please come to my house and check on her."

"Doctor Cheng, my whole family has fever and weakness, and we have blood in our stools. We can't buy medicine anywhere. What should we do?"

…

Cheng Suming's phone was bombarded early in the morning. Some people called, some sent text messages, and some sent video and voice messages in the group. Many people wanted him to treat them and asked him if he had any life-saving medicine.

Cheng Suming said expressionlessly in the Shenxianyuan group: "You refuse to be treated without medicine. Your symptoms are contagious. It is best to stay at home and wait for government rescue."

Then just turn off your phone.

But those sick people obviously would not let him go. They gathered in groups of three or five in front of the iron gate of passage 1501, banging on the door and wailing for help.

Si Nan couldn't help but say, "If you don't go out and explain clearly, those people will keep coming to our house. Sooner or later, they will pry open the iron door again and force you to save people."

Cheng Suming rubbed his brows, looking impatient, "Don't these people understand what we're saying?"

"Okay, don't be unhappy. Put on the mask just in case." Si Nan took out a mask made of excellent material and excellent sealing from the space, and tiptoed to put it on both sides of his ears.

Cheng Suming lowered his eyes and looked at her serious and beautiful face, and his mood suddenly became very good.

Ever since Si Nan got drunk on New Year's Eve, Cheng Suming clearly felt that Si Nan's attitude towards him had improved a lot. He was no longer on guard against him as before. He drew a clear line between him and not having any physical contact with him.

Now, she doesn't resist his approach or his touch, and today, for the first time ever, she put on a mask for him herself.

He felt that the future was becoming more and more promising.