Si Nan took the rainwater that Cheng Suming collected on the balcony, filtered it simply with a gauze and a clean bucket, poured it into a large aluminum pot, and boiled a pot of hot water on the gas stove.
After the water was boiled, she added cold water and carried the bucket to the side-lying toilet.
As soon as she opened the toilet door, a white shadow rushed in front of her, scaring her. When she looked closely, she found it was a big white goose.
It spread its wings and fluttered to Si Nan's thighs, with its neck held high and making clucking sounds in its mouth, as if asking her where she had been. It also told her that it missed her so much and wondered what kind of life the goose had been living when she was away.
It's easy to imagine that Cheng Suming, who didn't like the two geese, didn't kill them these days and just locked them in the toilet. They were lucky.
Si Nan put the bucket on the ground, stroked its goose head with amusement, and comforted it, saying: "Okay, okay, don't be angry, I'm back, I know you and Xiaobai have been wronged, you two go out first, I'll make you something delicious after I finish taking a bath."
Dabai seemed to understand what she said. He took Xiaobai out of the bathroom with a wronged look on his face, took small steps, and squatted outside the door, waiting obediently for her to come out of the shower.
The couple followed her closely, watching her chop up some vegetables and mix them with cornmeal to feed them. After they finished eating, they slowly strolled around the house, patrolling their territory.
Si Nan let them wander around, but she was not idle either. She went to the balcony to check on the condition of the awning. There was a hole about the size of a soup bowl at the place where it was burned by the high temperature a few days ago. The rain was pouring down from that hole. An 8,000-liter super-large capacity water storage barrel was aimed at the hole and was filled in less than two hours. It can be seen how heavy the rain was.
There are one hundred 8,000-liter water barrels stored in the Sinan space. They were originally intended to hold more tap water in case of high temperatures and lack of water.
But it would take at least eight hours to fill an eight-ton water storage barrel with tap water. She had previously run the tap day and night to drain water, but she only had ten water storage barrels because she was afraid that the water meter would turn too fast and arouse suspicion.
An 8,000-liter water barrel, filled with water, can last a family for about twenty days. Ten barrels can last for two hundred days. In the past six months, she has also stored a lot of drinking water in her space, so she has never lacked water.
During the hot season, if she didn't go downstairs to collect supplies, she would often use the tap water stored in the water barrel to take a bath and wash clothes. Who could have thought that hail and heavy rain would come so early.
Fortunately, this hailstorm was normal ice rain, without any acidic corrosiveness. The rainwater can be collected and used, or drunk after boiling.
Anyway, she had nothing to do, so she set an alarm for herself to go off every two hours. After the water bucket was filled with rainwater, she moved the space with her mind, then took out the empty water bucket and aimed it at the hole of the burnt awning, intending to fill all the water buckets in the space, and then find a way to block the broken awning, otherwise, with such heavy rain, the balcony would be collapsed by the accumulated rainwater sooner or later.
While waiting for the rain, she took off her coat, went to the fitness area in the living room, and did her daily physical training including weighted running, push-ups, sit-ups, and barbell raises.
After the high temperature, there was a shortage of materials, people's hearts were unsettled, and criminal incidents emerged one after another. After experiencing several fights, Si Nan knew in her heart that there would be more and more similar things in the future. If she encountered a large number of people with bad intentions, her crossbow for long-range shooting would not be enough.
In a large-scale fight, no one would give her time to reload arrows or kite shoot, and most of the time they would engage in head-on close combat.
She couldn't always rely on Cheng Suming's promise to never leave her and to protect her.
After experiencing the scumbag Zou Shichu, men are dispensable to her. Instead of relying on men, it is better to rely on herself, exercise more, and practice combat shooting.
After she finished her physical training and combat shooting training, the alarm rang. Two hours had passed. She went to the balcony to move the full water bucket into the space and replaced it with an empty one to store water.
The Dabai couple had finished patrolling their territory early and were taking a nap not far from Sinan. When they saw her go to the balcony, the couple followed her with their big goose-webbed feet.
Seeing some stagnant water next to the water barrel, the couple happily ran over, bent their goose necks, and splashed the water on themselves to take a bath, making excited gurgling sounds.
Playing in water is the nature of all ducks and geese. They can spend most of the day playing in the water without feeling tired. Seeing that Dabai and the others were having fun, Sinan took out a large laundry basin from the space, filled it with rainwater and let them play happily in it.
He collected water like this for the whole day, and soon it was evening. Si Nan took out a slaughtered chicken from the space at the right time, added some ginger, peppercorns, and dried mushrooms that had been soaked in advance, put them into the pot to cook, and then steamed some rice on it in a steamer.
Free range chicken is very firm and takes fifteen minutes longer to cook than regular feed chicken.
Sinan took out the cooked native chicken, chopped it into small pieces with a knife, added the fragrant chili oil made from pure farm rapeseed oil that she bought when she returned to Zizhu County Town, appropriate amount of pepper powder, soy sauce, a little sugar, scallion segments, minced garlic, a little salt and MSG, and cut two chilies into the mixture and mixed them evenly. A large bowl of Sichuan-style spicy cold chicken with a full color, aroma and taste, bright red color, and a spicy smell was ready.
She took out two cucumbers as thick as her wrists, which she had grown locally, and removed the bitter tail and the prickly skin. She cut the cucumbers into thin slices, added salt, MSG, minced garlic, sesame oil and vinegar, and mixed them together to make a sour and refreshing cold cucumber salad. She didn't plan to make any other dishes. She would wait for Cheng Suming to come back, and then call Cheng Wei and Yang Wentao from 1503 next door to have dinner together.
Not long after she finished cooking, Cheng Suming came back from outside and saw her in the house wearing an apron, unharmed. The air was filled with the rich aroma of food. She looked like a virtuous wife who had prepared dinner and was waiting for her husband to come back. Cheng Suming's heart was filled with an inexplicable throbbing and warm feeling.
Si Nan saw him coming back and shouted in surprise: "You're back? Quite punctual."
Cheng Suming put the medical kit on the ground and placed two packs of purple sweet potato bread distributed by the rescue team as a thank you for his help on the table. He strode over, hugged her tightly in his arms, and whispered, "I'm back. Sorry for the long wait."
He was not wearing much, just two thin autumn clothes, and his body was wet. Si Nan could feel the burning temperature of the man's strong and stiff body through her down jacket, which made her ears and face turn red uncontrollably. She struggled slightly in Cheng Su Ming's arms: "What's wrong with you, let me go, you are wet.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault." Cheng Suming let go of her, lowered his eyes to look at the blush on her face, and smiled happily: "I'm glad you're okay, I'll go change into clean clothes."
Si Nan stopped him: "Don't be in a hurry, I'll boil a pot of hot water for you, go take a hot bath and wash off all the bacteria on your body, and I'll make you a bowl of ginger soup to drink, so you don't catch a cold."
"good."
Cheng Suming watched her busying around with a smile in his eyes. After the fever was over, he found two sets of thick warm winter clothes at Sinan's request and went into the master bedroom bathroom to take a shower. When he came out, he saw Cheng Wei and Yang Wentao sitting at the dining table.
, Si Nan greeted him: "Drink ginger soup first and then eat."
Cheng Wei watched him wipe the water droplets from his hair, and then sat obediently on the seat next to Si Nan, drinking the small bowl of ginger soup that Si Nan scooped over. She shook her head in amusement, "It's true that there is always someone better than you. My brother didn't eat ginger before because he disliked its taste, but now he's willing to drink it. It's true that my sister-in-law is so charming."
Si Nan was stunned for a moment and handed the bowl of ginger soup to Cheng Su Ming. It was not right to give it to him, nor was it right to not give it to him.
"Cheng Wei!" Cheng Suming's face darkened, and his eyes were filled with warning: "If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"
"Sister-in-law, I didn't mean anything else." Cheng Wei realized that she had said the wrong thing belatedly, and explained with tears in her eyes: "I just want to say that my brother has changed a lot because of you, sister-in-law. He used to be very picky and wouldn't eat many things. Now he eats everything. It turns out that the power of love can change everything."
"I know you mean what you said." Si Nan looked at her with a half-smile, then watched Cheng Su Ming finish drinking the ginger soup, and said to him: "Tell me if there is any food or seasoning that you don't eat. I will try not to cook dishes that you don't eat in the future."
Cheng Suming: "There is nothing I don't eat."
There was indeed nothing he didn't like to eat. Before he experienced the apocalypse in his previous life, there were many things he didn't like to eat. He also had obsessive-compulsive disorder and mysophobia. But after struggling in the apocalypse for six or seven years, these problems had long been cured by the food and water shortages and other issues of the apocalypse. Now he could eat anything.
Si Nan scooped him a bowl of rice and placed it in front of him: "Don't eat what you don't like. Don't force yourself to please me."
"Do you think I will force myself?" Cheng Suming asked back.
His eyes were extremely hot, and there was a burning light in his narrow eyes that seemed to want to say something but couldn't. Seeing this, Si Nan's heart skipped a beat. He turned his head away uncomfortably: "It's good that you don't force it. I'll go get the chicken soup."
The chicken soup is very rich, with a layer of golden oil beads unique to local chickens floating on the surface. Gently blow on the soup to reveal the clear soup base underneath. Take a sip, it has a rich aroma of local chicken mixed with the unique fragrance of mushrooms. It is not greasy and warms the heart and stomach.
After finishing her meal, Cheng Wei drank two bowls of chicken soup and wanted more. Yang Wentao, who could no longer bear it, grabbed her and carried her back to 1503. "Last time when your brother brought the chicken over, I also made chicken soup. Why haven't I seen you eat and drink so much before?"
"You put some medicinal herbs like angelica and wolfberry in the stew. I don't like food with a medicinal taste." Cheng Wei stretched out her slender fingers and drew circles on his hard chest, looking aggrieved.
"You should have told me earlier if you didn't want to take medicine to supplement your food." Yang Wentao was so angry that his teeth itched. "Anyway, the food your brother and sister-in-law cook is better than mine, right?"
"I just saw that you have been busy for a long time, and I am embarrassed to say it out loud and let you down."
Cheng Wei put her rosy lips together and kissed Yang Wentao's rough, scarred face, and said to him coquettishly, "Although the food they cook is delicious, in my heart, the food you cook is the most delicious in the world. Every time you cook, I get a round belly. I've gained several pounds, just look at me."
As she spoke, she struggled to get off Yang Wentao's hands and turned around a few times in front of him with a smile on her face, completely unaware of the deep sadness in Yang Wentao's eyes.
Yang Wentao reached out and pulled her into his arms, kissed her hard on the mouth, and said in a hoarse voice: "You always laugh at your brother being submissive to your sister-in-law, and I am no different. I have been defeated in your hands all my life, and you have controlled me completely."
Cheng Wei caught a glimpse of the strong desire in his eyes, blushed and blinked at him, "It's broad daylight now, do you want to have sex? It must be exciting if the neighbors and my brother and sister-in-law hear it!"
Yang Wentao:......
The engine stalled instantly, and I decided to just forget about some things.
That night, people in Xingcheng still fell asleep amid the crackling rain and thunder.
Early the next morning, Si Nan woke up and went to the bathroom to wash up as quickly as possible. He and Cheng Su Ming ate some biscuits and Swiss rolls. Both of them carried bulging backpacks, put on raincoats, and carried the inflatable raft that they had borrowed and returned from the people in the same building yesterday. They went downstairs to look for Sheng Youqing and the others along the route they took to Cheng's house.
As soon as I reached the fourth floor, I heard the residents on the second floor arguing with those on the third floor.
It turned out that the continuous heavy rain had not stopped and the water level had risen to the second floor.
The residents on the second floor woke up to find that their beds and furniture were all soaked in water. They hurriedly packed up the useful things and asked their familiar neighbors upstairs to take them in.
Some people also borrowed a Sinan raft and rowed out yesterday. I don’t know where they got the rafts and speedboats and left them at home. After watching the water rise this morning, they packed up their things and took their families to seek shelter with relatives who live on a higher floor.
The residents of 204 and 303 are quarreling now. Seeing the water level rising continuously and no relatives to go to in Xingcheng, the two families heard that the Huang family of 1504 agreed to move out a room to accommodate a family. The two families quarreled and fought over the quota, which attracted many people who came downstairs to see how high the water level was and joined in the fun.
Ever since the Huang family was taken to the Public Security Bureau and detained for a month and a half by a lawyer hired by Cheng Suming at a high price, they have been much more honest and low-key. They have been staying at home and rarely making any noise during this period. They have been trying to reduce their presence to avoid being collectively targeted.
Si Nan hadn't seen the Huang family recently, and she didn't care at all about the Huang family's strange behavior of having so many people living there and agreeing to allow residents on the lower floors to move in. When she and Cheng Su Ming were carrying the raft downstairs, they heard the people who were crowded at the stairs on the third floor to watch the water level talking and complaining.
"There were heavy hailstorms a few days ago and heavy rains these past few days. In just four days, the water has risen to the second floor. We haven't seen such strange weather in 60 years. Does God want us to live?"
"That's right. First there was the high temperature, then the hail and heavy rain. These natural disasters happened one after another, and they really cost lives!"
"What is this, I tell you,
Didn't my eldest grandson see some discussion on the Internet a few months ago?
Comments on the doomsday webpage: someone posted a message long before the high temperature, telling everyone that natural disasters were going to happen, and also predicted the order of the disasters and the approximate time of arrival. Although the hailstorm came more than a month earlier, it was still very accurate. My eldest grandson said that when he first saw it, he didn't take it seriously, just like many people, thinking that it was just someone making it up to attract attention, who knew it would come true? He now wants to find the doomsday prophecy discussion post and webpage, but he doesn't have internet access. "
“Is this true? There are such posting pages?”
"Of course, my eldest grandson would not lie to me."
"If there is, I will definitely look for it when the network is restored."
"It's so annoying to have no internet or communication signal. I can't even contact my relatives and friends. I don't know if it's the same outside as here, with water everywhere."
…
Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming placed the raft on the water at the entrance of the third floor stairs. Cheng Su Ming stood at the stairs, stretched out his hand to steady the raft that was slowly swinging outward, and let Si Nan sit on it first before he climbed up through the water.
The people at the stairs looked at the couple fully armed and paddling the raft away, and couldn't help but say enviously: "This couple from 1501 is amazing. It seems that they have everything at home, even an inflatable raft. It's so convenient for them to go out."
"I think this couple must be like Aunt Wang's grandson in 2202. They read some doomsday posts and prepared well in advance. That's why they have this inflatable raft. They are really forward-thinking."
"That's right. Yesterday we borrowed Dr. Cheng's inflatable raft and went out. We saw a large mall nearby was still open, and many people rushed to grab raincoats, swimming rings, inflatable rafts, rubber rafts and other water supplies. We squeezed in to take a look, and the prices were ridiculously expensive, more than ten times more expensive than before. There were still so many people rushing to buy them, and my husband couldn't bear to spend the money and didn't buy one. I regret it so much now. Mrs. Cheng can't be so kind as to lend us the raft all the time. She also needs to use it. If we need to go out urgently, we can only watch others go out on the raft."
"There is such a thing. I should have gone and grabbed a raft earlier! A few days ago, there was a huge hailstorm. It was as big as a ball and it smashed my husband's head. Now he is lying at home half dead. I really want to get a raft and take him to a big hospital for a checkup."
"Is the mall still open? Are there any food for sale?"
"Probably not. They just sell daily necessities. If there were any, they would be in great demand."
Si Nan could not hear the neighbors' conversation behind her. She and Cheng Su Ming followed the previously planned route, walking on the water surface of the road as much as possible to avoid hitting things they should not hit.
It was raining heavily and windy. The rain slapped my face like a slap. My vision became blurry and I couldn't see the road ahead.
Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming paddled forward with their backs hunched. In order to see more clearly, Cheng Su Ming had taken off his glasses and paddled wherever Si Nan pointed.
As they rowed, they wiped the rain off their faces with their hands, and with great effort, they kept their eyes open, searching the empty water city for places like shopping malls, stairways, rooftops, etc. where Sheng Youqing and the other two might be.
However, it was not until Si Nan arrived at Sheng Youqing's residential area and found Sheng Youqing's home on the eleventh floor that he realized that Sheng Youqing had not returned home at all. Sheng Youqing's parents and younger brother were also very anxious and didn't know where to find her.
Si Nan could only comfort them, saying that they might have found a place to hide like she had before, or followed the rescue team to a higher place for temporary resettlement. Once the network signal was restored, they might contact everyone.
Having said that, Si Nan was still unsure. Before leaving, he took out five kilograms of rice and a dozen potatoes from his backpack and handed them to Sheng Youqing's father, then turned around and paddled back with Cheng Suming.
The journey home was relatively smooth. Sinan felt heavy-hearted for not finding his friend, and had no interest in picking up usable items along the way.
The two of them returned to the community. Cheng Wei and Yang Wentao were waiting at the stairs on the third floor. Seeing that they returned safely, Cheng Wei and Yang Wentao breathed a sigh of relief and helped them carry the raft upstairs.
Someone wanted to ask to borrow the raft, but seeing that Si Nan had a gloomy face and didn't want to talk to anyone, Cheng Su Ming was a smiling tiger and was not as easy to talk to as Si Nan, the man swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
When the group reached the tenth floor, a young man with a crew cut, less than 25 years old, helped a pregnant woman with a big belly downstairs.
Seeing Yang Wentao and Cheng Suming carrying the raft up, the man stopped Sinan who was walking in front and asked, "Mrs. Cheng, can I borrow your inflatable raft? My wife is about to give birth! I need to take her to the hospital."
Si Nan tilted his head to glance at him and the pregnant woman, and found that they looked familiar. He remembered that the pregnant woman was the one who fell down the stairs when she passed by him during the high temperature two months ago. She didn't miscarry, and her belly was still big, looking like she was carrying twins. He asked in surprise, "You've been gone for several days, right?"
The man understood what she meant. He knelt on the stairs in front of her and kowtowed to her three times. He took off a cloth bag from his back, handed it to Sinan and said, "Mrs. Cheng, these are the only food left in my family. I beg you to be merciful and lend me the raft for a few days. I will work like a cow or a horse to repay you in the future."
The pregnant woman with a round face next to her must be about to have an attack. Her face changed color due to the pain, and she whispered softly, "Husband... I can't take it anymore..."
Si Nanping received three slaps on his head for nothing. He wanted to stop the man but failed. With a headache, he helped the man up and said, "Don't do this. It will shorten my life. I'll lend you the raft temporarily. Please return it as soon as possible."
"Thank you very much. I will try to return it as soon as possible." The man's eyes were red and he kept bowing to express his gratitude.
Seeing that he was holding a pregnant woman and it was inconvenient for him to carry things, Cheng Wei said to Yang Wentao, "Wentao, help him carry the raft down."
The man thanked him profusely again.
The four of them returned to their respective homes. Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming both boiled water, took a hot bath, and changed into clean clothes.
Si Nan remembered something: "Didn't Cheng Wei say that Yu Yong came back with you before the hailstorm? Where is he?"
Cheng Suming gently kicked away the two geese that were clinging to Sinan, sat beside her, and put the thermos in her hand. "Yu Yong found an excuse to go with the rescue team early yesterday morning. I guess he went back to rescue supplies at home. His house is a two-story villa, and it should be flooded now. He may come to us in the near future."
Seeing Si Nan remained silent, he continued, "Don't worry, I won't let him live in our house. There are many vacant houses in Shenxian Garden. Let him find a house to live in by himself. You don't have to worry about your friends. The communication network will be restored soon, and we will be able to contact them then."
Sinan nodded: "I hope so."
The author has something to say:
What does it mean to have a girlfriend who is more open and passionate than you?
Yang Wentao: I really admire this Cheng Wei. She wants me to be killed by Cheng Suming in broad daylight!
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