Seeing this, Xu Lai, who was carrying the rubber boat at the front, couldn't help but admire these people from the bottom of her heart.
Indeed, the strong never complain about their environment!
As soon as they appeared carrying the huge rubber boat, they instantly became the focus of everyone's attention.
"Look, someone in our building actually has such a big rubber boat!"
After a young man in the corridor uttered an envious sound, everyone else in the hallway also cast envious glances.
Although City C is traversed by the country's longest river, geographically speaking, it is still a city in the central part of China.
Unlike coastal cities, where there are many people who enjoy water sports and there is a lot of equipment such as rubber boats, speedboats, and sailboats, this place is different.
Honestly, in this inland city, what kind of decent person would buy water sports equipment and keep it at home for no reason?
So when Xu Lai saw her neighbors Li Qingya and Xiao Rui preparing to carry a rubber boat out at her doorstep, she was quite surprised.
It seems that her neighbors, or rather the Xiao family father and son, are quite extraordinary!
"Excuse me, could you please move aside? Thank you!"
Seeing the passageway completely blocked, Xu Haiguo quickly called out to everyone to make way.
However, this might be unpleasant to some jealous people.
"What's the big deal? It's just a rubber boat, is it necessary to be so arrogant!"
Hearing the moderately loud voice, Xu Lai looked up at the person who spoke.
She was a woman in her thirties, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a professional skirt, and black-rimmed glasses.
They might be someone who's doing quite well in a certain industry.
Having a large rubber boat was already quite eye-catching, and Xu Lai and his group didn't intend to waste any more time there.
None of the five paid any attention to the elite woman. They squeezed through the narrow passage and walked to the third-floor corridor. They placed the rubber boat on the water outside the corridor and quickly boarded the boat.
It was Xu Lai's first time paddling a rubber boat, and although it was in a flood, the people sitting in the rubber boat seemed quite excited.
Where are we going?
When Li Qingya went out, she was focused on gathering as much firewood and other things as possible to start a fire. However, since both families were going out together and the rubber boat belonged to the Xu family, she felt that she should respect the Xu family's wishes regarding where they were going.
"There's a large shopping mall about five or six miles to the southeast. How about we go check it out?"
At the entrance of the residential compound, Xu Lai glanced at the small supermarket that was submerged underwater and shared her thoughts.
Xu Lai remembered that in her previous life, two months before the torrential rain disaster struck, this large shopping mall was still operating normally.
At that time, Xu Zhen's family used their own money and asked someone to buy a lot of things at that mall, but the prices were ridiculously high.
The thought of going shopping excited Li Qingya, who was usually quiet, before anyone else could answer.
"I think it's a good idea. Let's go take a look first. Maybe we can even buy something!"
This shopping mall is a large, multi-functional shopping center, located much higher up than their neighborhood, with a full seven floors.
Moreover, the department store inside is located on the third floor.
The first floor is an arcade, and the second floor is a children's playground.
The third floor is the department store, and the fourth floor has various clothing items.
All five people on the rubber boat paddled towards the large shopping mall.
Because there were many obstacles along the way that had been washed away by the flood, it took them almost an hour to reach the vicinity of the main entrance of the shopping mall.
"Wow, the mall is still selling things! Let's go over there!"
Xu Lai's space warehouse was stocked with plenty of food, drinks, clothes, and other necessities, including a large quantity of various snacks to satisfy her cravings.
So when he saw people paddling homemade rafts, rubber boats, or even speedboats in and out of the mall, Xu Chao, the youngest of the group, wasn't too excited.
Of the five, Li Qingya was the most excited.
Although her husband reminded her to prepare enough food so that she wouldn't go hungry, rice, noodles, radishes, and cabbage couldn't satisfy her cravings for fish, meat, or strongly flavored foods.
The mall's floors are higher than ordinary residential buildings, and the mall itself is located on a high ground. Xu Lai and his group rowed the rubber boat to the front entrance and found that only two floors of the mall were flooded.
"Let's go inside quickly!"
No wonder they're big business people; I wonder who came up with this idea.
The mall staff placed an inflatable castle from the second floor onto the water and secured it with ropes as thick as a finger, creating a platform that could accommodate more than a dozen people at the same time.
Then, many ropes were also fixed to the edge of the inflatable castle, specifically for securing guests' inflatable boats and other watercraft.
What if someone scratches away the vehicle that is attached to the edge of the inflatable castle when the customer goes in to buy things?
There's no need to worry about that!
Two tall, burly staff members with stun guns were stationed at the mall.
Once customers go inside to buy things and get onto the inflatable castle platform, they will be given two identical number tags, one for the customer to carry and one for them to place on their vehicle.
When you come out after buying your things, simply match the number on your license plate with the number on the vehicle. If the numbers match, it proves that the vehicle belongs to you.
Xu Lai's license plate number today is twelve.
After taking their number plates, the five of them entered the third floor of the mall.
Because of the heavy rain, the ground at the entrance of the department store was no longer as clean as usual, but was covered with muddy water.
But at this point, nobody cares about that.
Xu Lai and his group of five only found two carts, and squeezed into them amidst the bustling crowd.
The entire third floor is a department store, which usually has everything you could want, but at this time some shelves were empty.
Because there were so many people, in order not to get separated, everyone decided to go shopping together.
Eating and drinking were the most important things, so the five of them headed straight for the grain and oil section without prior arrangement.
Fortunately, there were quite a few items on the shelves in the grain and oil section, so it seems that the store has some stock.
"This is way too expensive!"
Xu Haiguo, who was walking at the front, casually picked up a 20-jin bag of rice. When he looked at the price tag, he was surprised to find that it cost 500 yuan a bag.
"It's definitely much more expensive now. This bag of rice usually only costs fifty yuan!"
Li Qingya also came over to take a look and said.
Xu Lai also looked at the prices of other rice and cooking oil next to her, and they were basically at least ten times more expensive than usual.
However, in two months, let alone ten times the price, even if this 20 kilograms of rice were sold for 5,000 yuan, there would still be plenty of people scrambling to buy it.
Money was worthless at that time; instead, food, which could fill one's stomach, became extremely precious.
Clearly, the mall owner did not anticipate that the torrential rain and flooding would last so long.
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