Chapter 29
The couple in apartment 1202 were in good condition. Apart from being a little stiff from the cold, they had no other problems. Tong Shu left a bag of hand warmers and a pot of ginger tea, and then bid farewell to the couple amidst their repeated thanks.
The 11th floor is mostly occupied by residents who moved from other buildings. Several families live together in one apartment. Because of the large number of people, when the temperature suddenly drops, there is someone to take care of them immediately. The situation is not serious, except that a few elderly people and children have frostbite of varying degrees. Tong Shu applied frostbite ointment to each of them and distributed ginger tea.
As soon as she reached the 10th floor, she heard heart-wrenching cries coming from apartment 1001. Tong Shu remembered that this was the Sun family, where the accident had happened not long ago. At this moment, the hoarse cries continued to come from the crack in the door. Tong Shu's heart tightened, and she quickly went up to knock on the door.
After a while, the security door opened slightly, and Sun Xiaolong's son, Sun Chengcheng, timidly peeked out from the crack in the door. His cheeks, red from the cold, were covered with frozen tears, and he looked completely dazed.
"...Chengcheng, how is your family?" Tong Shu asked hesitantly, looking at the little boy who only reached her chest and abdomen.
Sun Chengcheng, who had just stopped crying, couldn't hold back her tears any longer and her eyes turned completely red: "Grandpa... my grandpa is gone..."
Tong Shu reached out and grasped the boy's hand; the icy temperature made her shiver.
"I brought ginger tea, let's go inside and take a look." Tong Shu led Sun Chengcheng into the house. Without Sun Xiaolong, the strong laborer, the Sun family had a much harder time than other residents, and had been relying on community relief to get by until now.
It seemed they only had one thick quilt in their house, which was now wrapped around Sun Chengcheng. Sun Xiaolong's mother was wearing layers of clothes from different seasons, and Tong Shu felt like she couldn't breathe. On the small bed lay an elderly man dressed in thin clothes. From a distance, his chest was no longer rising and falling; it must be Grandpa Sun.
"Grandma Sun, I'm Tong Shu from apartment 1201. I'm bringing you a pot of ginger tea." Tong Shu stood at the doorway and said to the grieving old woman.
Grandma Sun was a little stunned. She turned her head and looked over while sobbing. Sun Chengcheng ran to his grandma's side with tears in his eyes and said a few words to her.
The old man shakily got up from the ground, slowly moved to the doorway, took the ginger tea from Tong Shu's hand, and thanked Tong Shu: "Thank you, Tong, you're so kind..." Then he wiped away the tears that he couldn't stop falling.
"The old man just passed away, so he won't let you in..." Tong Shu quickly said that it was alright.
Grandma Sun, carrying ginger tea, was still shivering: "The temperature dropped so suddenly, I quickly grabbed a thick blanket. Chengcheng just lost his father and was sleeping alone in his room. I was afraid something would happen to him, so I quickly covered him with the blanket... I never expected that in the short time I turned around, the old man would have a heart attack... I was still looking for warm clothes, but everything in the house had already been searched during the hot weather..."
"Now the only one who could do anything in the family is gone, and Chengcheng is so young. Oh God! How are we supposed to live?" Grandma Sun could no longer hold back and burst into tears. Seeing her grandmother crying again, Sun Chengcheng also sobbed softly beside her.
Tong Shu felt depressed. Since the natural disaster broke out, she had witnessed many separations of life and death, but she still felt heartbroken because of these hardships. She didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only stay by Grandma Sun's side and silently comfort her.
As the old woman gradually lost her strength, she helped Grandma Sun to sit down on the sofa outside and poured ginger tea for Grandma Sun and Sun Chengcheng in two cups.
"Grandma, please accept my condolences." Tong Shu handed the ginger tea to Grandma Sun. "Chengcheng is still young. You must cheer up. The community will definitely not ignore your family's situation. For Chengcheng's sake, you must take good care of yourself."
Grandma Sun looked at Sun Chengcheng's thin face, a trace of pain flashing in her eyes: "You're right, Xiaotong. For my grandson's sake, I have to live well."
Tong Shu pursed her lips and said, "I'll go see Director Zhu later. The community should be able to help with Grandpa Sun's matter. My family's convenience store has some warm clothes and blankets. I'll bring some over for you later."
Grandma Sun was deeply moved, but also felt a little ashamed. Back then, because of Sun Xiaolong's death, her family had resented the Tong family, since he had died near their speedboat. But now, in this situation, Tong Shu not only didn't hold it against them, but also helped them. It was truly commendable in this situation.
After saying goodbye to the Sun family, Tong Shu went to the 9th and 8th floors. Now each unit building in the community only has five floors.
The situation at Lin Tao's home on the 9th floor seemed quite serious. It was said that two elderly people had fallen into comas of varying degrees. Lin Tao, disregarding everything, smashed the wooden bedside table and started a fire in the house.
When Tong Shu arrived, Lin Tao was still busy patting his twin daughters. Fortunately, both of his daughters were alright. As soon as the temperature dropped, the couple tucked their daughters into their underwear to keep them warm. Otherwise, such small babies, especially those who had previously had pneumonia, would have been in great danger if exposed to cold air.
"Xiao Tong, I'm so sorry to have troubled your family again." Lin Tao was overwhelmed, but he took a moment to thank Tong Shu. "I need to hurry up and feed this pot of ginger tea to my parents. I was so scared just now. My mom and father-in-law wouldn't wake up no matter how much I called them. Now the bedside table is almost burned out, and they're finally groggily complaining that they're cold."
"It's alright, you go and take care of your family. If you need anything, just let the community know. Director Zhu has prepared a lot of things." Tong Shu didn't dare to delay Lin Tao and went to deliver ginger tea to each household.
Two families on the 8th floor have lost their children, and the entire floor is filled with an atmosphere of grief. The wailing of the adults pierces the cold night, making everyone else feel the pain as well.
After silently delivering the ginger tea, Tong Shu climbed over the threshold of the 8th floor and headed to the next building to find Zhu Cheng.
As soon as her foot touched the ice, she slipped hard and fell to the ground, sliding three meters away due to inertia.
Fortunately, Tong Shu was wearing thick clothes, so apart from some pain, she wasn't seriously injured. It took her a long time to finally stand up, using both her hands and feet; the ice was so slippery that she couldn't stand steadily at all.
Tong Shu had no choice but to lower her center of gravity and slowly move back to the wall, carefully feeling her way through the cracks in the brickwork to the window of the building next door.
In just a short while, the biting temperature had seeped through her thick clothes and into Tong Shu's skin, even though she was wearing thermal underwear made of "magical fabric." Tong Shu looked up and gazed at the supply ship moored in the small square. The beams of flashlights on the ship flickered, indicating that the soldiers on board were carrying out rescue operations overnight. Tong Shu felt a deep sense of admiration for them.
Inside the office, the dim light from a small, windproof candle barely illuminated the small workspace.
Zhu Cheng wasn't inside, but several community workers were squatting down, sorting out the disaster relief supplies they had prepared earlier.
"Oh! Xiao Tong!" A female staff member saw Tong Shu walking in through the door and was pleasantly surprised: "Are you here to see Director Zhu? He took Xiao Cai and the others to Building 6. There are many elderly people there, and he's worried something might happen."
Tong Shu called out "Sister" as a greeting: "I have already checked the situation in our building. If Director Zhu comes back, please tell him. There is no need to go there in person. It's just that a few elderly people and children have passed away in 1001, 802, and 804. They may need the community to help with the funeral arrangements."
The female staff member's face also showed a sorrowful expression: "Actually, this was expected. We had been preparing for winter for a long time, but no matter how much we planned, we couldn't outsmart the heavens. Everyone was mentally prepared, guessing that this winter might be difficult, but who knew it would be this difficult? In just a short while, I didn't even dare to think about how many people had died outside..."
"You've done your best. Anyway, take care of yourselves first."
"Yes!" The female staff member nodded: "When Director Zhu comes back, I'll tell him that you're very thoughtful. You made a trip in this cold weather and helped us a lot. We'll distribute the cold-weather supplies as soon as possible and deliver them to each building tomorrow morning."
Tong Shu thanked them, left a pot of ginger tea on the table, then climbed up to the rooftop convenience store and returned home via the connecting corridor.
"Shushu is back!" Shuhua had been restless ever since Tongshu left. Seeing Tongshu finally come in, she felt relieved and quickly went up to check on her.
"You're back." Tong Shu took off her glasses and mask, and gasped sharply, "Hiss... Why is it so cold at home?"
“The generator just stopped. Your dad said it might have broken because it was too cold. He’s fixing it on the terrace, and both of your uncles went to help,” Shuhua said.
"It's so cold on the terrace, why are you fixing the generator now? We can still do it when it gets light." Tong Shu was furious. She put her mask back on and ran to the terrace in a few quick steps.
On the terrace, flames leaped from a large diesel drum. After tightening the last screw, Tong Songming took the oil drum handed to him by Qin Jiaqiang and poured oil into the generator.
"Shushu? What are you doing up here? Your dad has already fixed the generator." As soon as Wang Jianye finished speaking, the generator started running with a whirring sound.
Feeling the warmth of the terrace, Tong Shu felt relieved: "I was worried the terrace was too cold, so I came up to check."
"Hehe, once the fire is lit, it won't be cold anymore." Qin Jiaqiang said with a smile, "Your dad is really good at this. He uses the empty diesel drum to burn firewood. It's safe and easy to use."
Looking at the diesel drum, Tong Shu remembered that when her father was collecting fuels, he had collected all kinds of fuels. He even went directly to a boat captain he knew to collect the diesel, bringing back a whole drum. The generator on her balcony was a diesel generator, which used diesel fuel. However, Tong Songming had always filled up the tank on the island to refuel, so Tong Shu didn't remember having such a large diesel drum.
“That’s great. Do we have any extra? We can share them with the community,” Tong Shu said.
“There are plenty. I’ll take them to the office tomorrow morning,” Qin Jiaqiang said.
The generator was fixed, and Tong Shu quickly called Tong Songming and her two uncles back downstairs. Wang Jianye put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, carefully checked the terrace, and then followed them downstairs.
The family gathered in the living room, holding hot tea and roasted sweet potatoes, huddling together in twos and threes to keep warm.
Tong Shu recounted in detail what she had seen and encountered just now, and everyone sighed upon hearing it.
"The generator in the community must have frozen too, otherwise it would be a little better if everyone turned on their air conditioners." Tong Songming rubbed the sweet potato in his hands and shook his head.
"Just when things were getting a little better, everything changed again. Why is life so hard?"
...
Tong Shu listened to her family's discussion in her ear, and sat there in a daze.
These natural disasters come one after another, seemingly without end. How long will it take, and what do people need to do to end this calamity?
She recalled the faith point collection mission she was struggling with, and the vague mission reward, the so-called "star power to reverse time and space," was it the key to ending this apocalypse?
Tong Shu's palms were sweating.
We absolutely must go faster.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
