Si Nan was awakened by a burst of crying. She got up in a daze and looked around, but didn't see Cheng Su Ming. She felt strange and was about to look for the source of the crying when Cheng Su Ming came back from the door.
"Where have you been so early?" Si Nan asked, rubbing his eyes.
"There was an elderly couple living in room 1504 on the same floor. The temperature suddenly rose to 50 degrees last night, and the power went out. Grandpa Huang from room 1504 couldn't hold on and passed away this morning."
"! Don't they have insulation and generators at home?"
"I did, but the old lady didn't know how to use it. I thought I could just bear with it no matter how hot it was. But it died in the middle of the night. Both of Grandma Huang's children came over, accusing each other of being unfilial, and even fighting. It was very noisy, so I went out to take a look."
Cheng Suming locked the door, walked to the kitchen and asked, "What do you want to eat this morning?"
His cooking skills were not very good at first, but after watching Si Nan cook a few times, he also wanted to learn various cooking videos online. Now his cooking skills are much better than before. Every time he takes the initiative to cook, Si Nan will not refuse.
"Eat whatever you think is convenient. I'm not picky."
This sounded familiar. This was what Cheng Su Ming said when Si Nan cooked for him for the first time.
Cheng Suming smiled and said, "Then cook preserved egg and lean meat porridge, fry two fried eggs, and squeeze two cups of fresh juice."
These were the ingredients available in the refrigerator. Cheng Suming washed the rice, threw it into the pot and added water to boil it. He took two preserved eggs wrapped in wood ash and cracked open the shells, revealing the crystal-clear orange-yellow preserved eggs with some pine flower patterns inside. He cut them into pieces with a knife and poured them into the boiling pot together with the minced meat.
When the porridge became thick, I took a handful of wilted lettuce, washed it, chopped it up, and put it into the pot to cook. The white porridge instantly turned black and green, which looked a bit weird.
While cooking porridge, he was not idle. He took out half a watermelon left over from yesterday afternoon from the refrigerator, carefully removed the black seeds, put them on a piece of paper to preserve the seeds, cut the watermelon into pieces and put them into the juicer to squeeze out two cups of watermelon juice. He turned on the ice maker, made some ice cubes and put them in the cups to keep them cool.
After doing this, I fried two tempting golden eggs in a frying pan. Knowing whether Sinan liked soft-boiled eggs or not, I fried the eggs until they were golden and slightly burnt.
Si Nan came out after washing up. Breakfast was already set on the dining table in the living room. Cheng Su Ming, who was sitting by the window, greeted her: "I have cooled the porridge for you with ice cubes. It is neither too hot nor too cold now, and it tastes just right."
All the window glass in the house is covered with three layers of heat-insulating film, heat-insulating curtains and the like, and the light in the house is very dim.
Cheng Suming had previously taken down the luxurious chandelier on the ceiling of the living room and replaced it with an energy-saving five-watt compact lamp. Although the light was not very clear, it was enough to illuminate people walking in the living room without causing any problems.
Si Nan walked over and sat opposite Cheng Suming. He picked up the spoon and scooped a mouthful of porridge into his mouth. It was indeed neither cold nor hot, salty, fresh and soft, with a special meat and vegetable aroma mixed with century eggs, lean meat and lettuce. It was paired with a small dish of crispy pickled mustard tuber and a fried egg that was drizzled with soy sauce and tasted fragrant and slightly burnt. A bowl of porridge was quite comfortable to eat.
Si Nan drank the cold watermelon juice, slumped in the chair, and took a nap without much image. It took him a long time to remember something: "I heard that starting from 7 o'clock tonight, the government will supply emergency water and food to most areas of the city, but we in Shenxianyuan don't seem to have received any notice."
"It will be our turn sooner or later." Cheng Suming wiped his hands and walked out of the kitchen: "Before dawn, let's go to the dock to pick up the boat, and then go to the gas company to buy gas tanks."
The cargo ship he ordered last month was delayed for more than a month due to the hot weather and high temperatures that made it difficult to operate. It was originally scheduled to be delivered in half a month, but it happened to be that they were going out today, so they had to go to the dock to pick up the ship before the scorching sun came out.
The space in Sinan is very large, and you can't see the end at a glance. As long as it is not a living thing, anything can be put in it. However, the bigger the thing is, the stronger the willpower is required. After putting too many things in at once, the body will easily become tired.
Outsiders didn't know the status of the things stored in Sinan Space, and she didn't plan to tell Cheng Suming. The two of them packed up their personal belongings, put them into their respective backpacks, closed the doors and windows, and walked down from the fifteenth floor.
After the power supply in S Province ran out half a month ago, all public areas in Xingcheng, except the hospital, turned off their power to save electricity. Even the traffic lights were turned off, and it was all up to the traffic police to direct traffic in the high temperatures.
The residents' homes have power outages at set times every day, leaving no extra electricity for the elevators. In a community like Shenxianyuan, which has 30 floors, people have to rely on their own feet to go downstairs.
It’s okay for those who live on the lower floors, as they only need to climb a few floors to get there without feeling tired. However, for those who live on floors above the 20th floor, just climbing the stairs can make them tired to death, not to mention the elderly and children with mobility problems.
Many residents living on floors above the 20th floor asked the community to provide electricity for the elevators. Some were even willing to spend a lot of money to buy electricity, or buy generators out of their own pockets to generate electricity for the elevators, but all ended in vain.
Si Nan's physical fitness has greatly improved since she started learning combat and self-defense training from Cheng Su Ming. She used to be unable to climb seven or eight floors, but now she can climb the fifteenth floor easily.
She has a portable space, and all the large items she buys can be put into the space without having to carry them herself, just a backpack as a cover. Unlike other people, climbing stairs is tiring, and sometimes she has to carry large bags of rice, flour, grain and oil, and her children on her back to climb up step by step. Although she can pay someone to help carry them up the stairs, it is extremely tiring to go up and down the stairs by herself when there is no elevator.
Si Nan and his friend had just closed the iron gate of the passage with their backpacks on their backs when the door of room 1504 at the other end of the passage opened. A plump, white, middle-aged woman in her fifties walked out of the door aggressively, followed by a group of men and women of all ages with gloomy faces. Among them stood an old lady in her eighties with white hair and wrinkled skin who had opened the door to see Si Nan's renovation.
When the old lady saw Si Nan and the other man, she stared at them with her cloudy eyes for several seconds. Suddenly, she stretched out her trembling hand, pointed at Cheng Suming and said, "Xiao Cheng, you're back."
"Hello, Grandma Huang." Cheng Suming nodded politely to Grandma Huang: "I have been back for almost two months."
"It's been so long since you came back, why didn't you come to see grandma?" Grandma Huang gestured weakly to Cheng Suming twice: "I remember when you first moved in, you were only this tall, there was no adult at home to take care of you, you didn't know how to cook, and no one knew when you fell down at the door when you were sick. It was my husband who found you and sent you to the hospital... Since then, you said you wanted to be a doctor and take good care of yourself. Are you a doctor now?"
Cheng Suming smiled: "I already have it."
"Is that so..." Grandma Huang smiled kindly, "I said that Xiao Cheng, such an excellent child, you will definitely be a doctor, and sure enough..."
Si Nan felt a slight pain in her heart when she heard the conversation between the two. No matter how pitiful she was as a child, at least she had her uncle and aunt to take care of her. However, Cheng Su Ming had to be self-reliant since he was twelve years old. She couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if a twelve-year-old child fell ill and fainted at the door without being discovered by Mr. Huang.
"So you are the little Cheng my dad always talks about." The plump middle-aged woman suddenly changed her expression, pointed at Cheng Suming with a gloomy face and cursed: "My dad saved your life when you were a child and took good care of you. You have been home for two months, why don't you come to see my parents? As a doctor, you clearly know that the weather is hot now and the elderly are prone to heatstroke. Why don't you check on my parents every day? My dad died of heatstroke at home! Tell me, how are you going to compensate us!"
Cheng Su Ming frowned, avoided her spit, took a step back and said, "I admit that Grandma Huang and Grandpa Huang took good care of me when I was young, but I have already repaid the favor, so we are even. I have no obligation to take care of them."
Grandma Huang agreed: "Xiao Cheng is right, Shufen, you and your brother have been busy with work and have no time to visit us. More than ten years ago, after Xiao Cheng learned that it was your father who saved him, he often came to our house, washed our clothes, cooked for us and made us happy. During that time, your father always treated him as his grandson, and we lived a very happy life... One year, a thief broke into our house and wanted to steal the jade from your father's ancestors. Your father refused to give it to him, and the thief almost stabbed your father to death. It was Xiao Cheng who desperately saved your father, and was stabbed several times himself, and sent the thief to the police station... Later, Xiao Cheng went to study abroad. Although he contacted us less frequently, he would buy gifts for us during the holidays. He never forgot us. How can you blame Xiao Cheng for your father's death?"
"Why don't you blame him? He's a doctor, saving lives is his duty. Dad is so good to him, why doesn't he come to see you when he comes home?" Huang Shufen said aggressively.
Si Nan understood the whole story and a mocking smile appeared on his lips. "I have really learned a lot. You children use the excuse of being busy with work to stay away from home for many years, leaving your parents aside and letting them fend for themselves. Then your father died and you came back hypocritically to cry and make a fuss, blaming others and trying to extort money from them. How can you be so shameless? If you are really so filial, why don't you take Grandma Huang and the others to live with you? You also need an outsider to come to your house every day to check if your elderly are feeling well. Are you kidding me, or are you hoping that Grandpa Huang and the others will die soon so that you can inherit their property sooner?"
"Who are you? What nonsense are you talking about?!" These words touched the hearts of Huang Shufen, her husband, brother and sister-in-law. The group of people became angry and went forward to push Sinan.
This house of Mrs. Huang was the compensation for the land acquisition and demolition. It was in the names of Mr. Huang and Mrs. Huang. It was worthless at the beginning, but now it has been transformed into a house in a wealthy community that everyone envies, and the housing price has skyrocketed.
Originally, Huang Shufen and her siblings used the old couple's relocation money to settle down outside, but they were still not satisfied and tried many times to sell the old couple's house and take the money for themselves, but Grandpa Huang never agreed.
For this reason, the brother and sister often brought their family members to make trouble, which made Mr. Huang very angry. He would rather live alone than have them come to his house.
Cheng Suming knew this, and that was why he was unwilling to spend more time with Mr. Huang and his wife after he became an adult. He was afraid that Huang Shufen and others would say that he had bad intentions and was coveting Mr. Huang's house.
Now that he is reborn, having experienced too many sinister things in his previous life, Cheng Su Ming's character has long become cold-blooded and ruthless. Except for a few people he cares about, he doesn't want to get involved with anyone else.
Even though Mr. Huang had been kind to him when he was young, he had already repaid the debt. Moreover, Mr. Huang had only treated him as a substitute, and loved him as his grandchildren who didn't come to see him. He had done his duty, and in his heart, he had done his best to honor the old couple Huang.
Facing the unreasonable Huang Shufen siblings, Cheng Suming stood in front of Sinan with a cold face. Without saying a word, he pulled Huang Shufen's hand that was pushing him, held her wrist and pressed it down hard. When Huang Shufen screamed miserably and her wrist was dislocated, he said in a cold voice: "She is my wife. If you touch her, you are touching me. I say it again, I have repaid the kindness that Grandpa Huang has shown me. If you keep making trouble, don't blame me for being rude."
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