Jiang Wan didn't respond. She simply took off the twins' backpacks and carried them in her own hands, then put her arm around the two children and closed her eyes to rest.
The old lady squinted her eyes and said nothing.
Back at the Silver City Elegant Room, everyone took the elevator upstairs together, and Jiang Wan then learned that the old lady lived right above them.
This is a two-unit-per-floor design. The owner of one unit on the 18th floor was eaten by the mutated asparagus fern she was raising on the first day of the apocalypse. Only the old lady in unit 02 was left. At that time, the twins worked together to "save" her life.
However, Jiang Wan was rather aloof and didn't like to chat. When they reached the 17th floor, she took one child in each hand and got off the elevator.
The elevator doors slowly closed behind her, and a middle-aged man asked, "Mom, you live upstairs from her. Haven't you seen her coming and going before? Didn't you even ask her if she still had any oxygen tanks?"
The 18th floor was reached in the blink of an eye. The old lady snorted, took out two crystals from the man's waist bag, put them together with the one she had painstakingly dug up that day, and went home.
The middle-aged man continued upwards; he lived on the top floor.
Back home, the central air conditioning and oxygen circulator started working, and the two little ones, who had been listless, seemed to come alive, chattering away. Of course, they were talking about the younger sister, Jiang Xiaoxin, while Jiang Xiaoshu sat calmly on the sofa, slowly drinking the milk that her mother had poured for her.
Jiang Wan urged them to take a shower and change their clothes. She also took a shower, changed into clean pajamas, took out the solar power generator, connected it, and threw all the dirty clothes that the three of them had changed out of into the washing machine.
In the apocalypse, electricity bills are paid with crystals, but since she has a solar power generator, why should she suffer the pain of using expensive electricity?
Thinking this way, I connected the induction cooker, rice cooker, and slow cooker to the solar generator and made a sumptuous and free dinner!
It was supposed to be dinner, but it was only a little past 2 p.m. However, because they had left the city today and an oxygen cylinder had caused such a big trouble, she didn't give them anything to eat in order to avoid attracting more attention and causing more trouble.
By now, the two little ones were starving, so Jiang Wan simply prepared a meal for them to fill their stomachs. She could always arrange a late-night snack for them later!
The next morning, as usual, Mi Mang knocked on the door at the appointed time, smiling as she reminded Jiang Wan, "You didn't dig up many crystals yesterday, did you? We're leaving the city today, so hurry up!"
"I'm not going today." Jiang Wan refused. The twins had obviously been exhausted from following her out of the city yesterday. They fell asleep as soon as they got back, and even had a slight fever in the middle of the night. They were not feeling well this morning.
She guessed that harmful gases in the outdoor air had damaged the twins' health.
She already had plenty of resources, so there was no need for her to desperately mine for crystals, let alone risk the health of her twins.
Mi Mang smiled and said, "Ordinary people without a work unit need to go out of the city to mine every day. This is not only for your own convenience, but also to reduce the pressure on society."
But she didn't make things difficult for her; she just made a note on the attendance sheet and left.
But on the third day, she still knocked on the door at the appointed time. Jiang Wan could tell that this girl was very responsible and conscientious. It seemed that she had anticipated that Jiang Wan still did not plan to go out of the city to dig for crystals that day, and even reminded her:
"You still have a child with you. If you don't mine crystals, how will you buy things in the future? Even just living here, you still need crystals to pay the water and electricity bills."
Jiang Wan thought to herself that she didn't need to use the unstable water and electricity resources in the apocalypse. In fact, she knew that soon the water system would be completely paralyzed, with water outages everywhere and any water available being sewage.
But before she could say her refusal, she suddenly stopped because the elevator doors opened, and the old lady who lived on the 18th floor came out of the elevator. She was also taken aback when she saw them standing at the door.
He then laughed and stamped his foot, exclaiming, "Oh dear, I'm getting senile! I went to the wrong floor!"
As he spoke, he retreated back into the elevator, his eyes seemingly glancing unintentionally at the closed door behind her.
Once the elevator was up, Mi Mang lowered her voice and said meaningfully, "Are you really not going? Actually, everyone is quite curious about you, a single woman living here with two children."
As he spoke, he opened the attendance sheet.
Jiang Wan spoke up at the right moment: "I'm going today. I'll pack my things. What time do we leave?"
Mi Mang smiled and nodded: "Ten more minutes, then I'll wait for you."
Jiang Wan closed the door and went inside. She saw the two little ones standing in the living room, already dressed and carrying their bags, looking ready to go out at any moment.
Jiang Wan frowned: "Don't come out of the city with me today."
She planned to dig up more crystals today, but bringing them along would be a bit of a burden.
But the two little ones shook their heads in unison, insisting, "Mommy, we want to go!"
"But the air outside contains toxic substances, which are bad for your health."
Despite her small stature, Jiang Xiaoxin had a big idea and immediately put forward her own brother: "My brother said that he used purification as soon as he left the city, so the poisonous gas can't hurt us!"
After saying that, she seemed to realize something was wrong, tilted her head, and quickly added, "It will also be used by Mommy, so Mommy won't get hurt!"
So, they have a strong will to survive.
Jiang Wan was both amused and exasperated. After thinking about it, she agreed. To be honest, she was extremely worried about leaving them alone at home in the apocalypse, so it was better to have them by her side.
"You should wear oxygen masks. Don't take them off outside. Take them off when you come back. Xiao Shu, try not to use the purification device if you don't have to. You're still young, and using it too much isn't good for your health."
As Jiang Wan explained, she helped them put on their oxygen masks. Last time they went out of the city, they had used up half of the small oxygen cylinders they were carrying, so she put the two half-filled cylinders into the oxygen circulator at home. This time, she gave them new oxygen cylinders.
Jiang Xiaoxin immediately nodded obediently and made her promise!
She was met with disdain from her own brother. Her mother was clearly instructing him, but the silly little sister was nodding more enthusiastically than he was.
When Jiang Wan brought the twins and the rest of the group together, she unsurprisingly saw the old lady from the 18th floor on the bus again. She greeted them warmly, saying, "I told you you were going too, come sit here."
With only two seats left out of the 50 available, Jiang Wan had no choice but to walk over and sit down. She let the twins sit by the window while she sat between the old lady and the twins.
After the bus departed, the old lady said earnestly, "Young lady, raising a child isn't easy, is it? The world is different now. We have to be diligent to survive! If we don't mine crystals, what will we eat and drink? Don't you think so?"
Jiang Wan remained indifferent, showing no embarrassment, and continued speaking. Suddenly, she changed the subject and asked, "You're raising two children alone, where is their father?"
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