At around eight o'clock, two express parcels arrived together. One car contained warm clothes and thick quilts, and the other car was full of instant noodles and ham.
She bought a lightweight and warm down jacket for cold weather, and a down quilt and a large cotton quilt. She asked the store to vacuum compress them, but the store said that the down balls in the down that keep warm would be destroyed, so it was best not to compress them. So in the end, they only compressed the cotton quilt. She put the things on top of the existing supplies in the space, and planned to put the down jacket and quilt on top after everything was bought.
Looking at the instant noodles, Qiao Qingqing couldn't help but drooling. She was really greedy for the taste of instant noodles. In the sixth year of the apocalypse, she smelled the smell of instant noodles on a certain floor while working at the base. That fragrant smell mixed with flavors and spices was synonymous with "unhealthy" and "junk food" before the apocalypse, but at that moment, the smell attacked Qiao Qingqing's brain, making her miss it very much.
The smell lingered in Qiao Qingqing's mind for several days. She ate instant noodles in her dreams. At that time, she thought to herself that if she and her husband's savings were converted into instant noodles, they could buy 30,000 boxes, and each bowl could be served with an egg and ham. 30,000 boxes would be enough for them to eat for several lifetimes. Thinking about it, she laughed, and then cried again.
She took out a bag, crushed the noodles first and then opened the package. She poured a little bit of the seasoning bag into the crushed noodles, grabbed the bag and shook it quickly to mix it evenly, then pinched out a piece and put it in her mouth.
It was still a familiar taste. She ate a whole bag of instant noodles with red eyes and ordered a milk tea. While drinking milk tea, she decided to stock up on some milk tea. It was a waste of money to buy ready-made products, so she bought milk tea making materials online and planned to make it herself in the future.
At ten o'clock, Qiao Qingqing turned off the faucet and felt very satisfied when she saw the water tank full of water.
The tap flow rate in the factory was much faster than at home. It took more than three hours to fill a large water tank. She had already filled two, and the rest would be filled in the next few days. She put the filled water tanks into the space, locked the warehouse, and drove home.
Qiao Songzhi said that she had already gone to the hotel and slept. Qiao Qingqing went to the hotel front desk to ask a few questions and made sure that her mother had indeed checked in before going home with peace of mind.
After an afternoon, the house had changed a lot. The third anti-theft door at the entrance had been installed, and the living room was very clean. It must have been cleaned by her mother. The floor heating in the master bedroom and the second bedroom was completed, and the cement slurry was backfilled. The door was opened for ventilation to accelerate the solidification. She checked the house and the anti-theft windows on the windows had all been installed. She touched them and found that they were very clean. It must have been wiped by her mother.
Sitting in the living room, she was stunned for a while before going to the bathroom to take a shower. While taking a shower, she looked at the drain and started to think again. At that time, she went to another place to visit her parents-in-law at the accident site. The water on the road was getting deeper and deeper. She didn't find anyone and almost couldn't come back. It was the rescue soldiers who brought her back in a kayak. When she came back, the water in the community had flooded to the second floor. The house was full of water, and heavy rain flowed in through the gaps in the windows.
Later, the water level continued to rise and the drainage outlets flooded back. She used many methods to block the water outlets at home, including the toilet. But the outlets still leaked every day, and she had to use a towel to absorb the water on the ground and wring it into a basin, and then pour the dirty water in the basin out of the window.
This damp and smelly life lasted for almost half a year until the cold winter came and froze all the flood waters, and the problem of sewage backflow at the house's drain was solved. Although she was almost frozen to death in the extreme cold, the shivering Qiao Qingqing still breathed a sigh of relief. She put on all the clothes she could wear, took out all the quilts in the house to wrap herself up, and hid in the bathroom to burn chairs to keep warm. In the first few days, she didn't dare to open the door or window at all, for fear of freezing herself to death. It was not until everything that could be burned in the house was burned that she barely adapted to the weather of more than 20 degrees below zero Celsius, and bravely went out to collect firewood. The trees were frozen in the ice, so she went to break the ice...
Thinking too far ahead.
Qiao Qingqing thought as she put on her clothes that it would be impossible to fill the drain now. There was still about a month before the sewage backflowed into the sewer, and life at home would be inconvenient during this period. She could buy cement and gravel at home first, and then mix simple concrete to seal the drain at home when the time was right.
After leaving the bathroom, Qiao Qingqing immediately wrote this down on the shopping list for fear that she would forget.
"Why haven't you come back yet?" Seeing that it was already eleven o'clock on the clock on the wall, Qiao Qingqing was very worried and sent a text message.
After more than ten minutes, the husband replied: "I can't go home tonight, go to sleep first, don't worry."
How could she not worry? It was illegal to sell gasoline on the black market. Sheng An bought so much at one time and had to deal with those people in the black market... Qiao Qingqing told herself not to let her mind wander and to have faith in her husband. She was not sleepy yet, so in order to divert her attention, she began to organize the space, striving to use the space to pack things as efficiently as possible.
It was already late at night when she finished, and she finally felt sleepy. She sent a text message to her husband asking him to go to the hotel to sleep, otherwise he would not be able to sleep for several hours tomorrow when the master came to work. After sending the message, Qiao Qingqing turned off the lights and went to sleep, habitually leaving a small light on in the entrance hall.
Shao Shengan came back around six in the morning, reeking of alcohol and cigarettes, as well as a mixture of other smells. Qiao Qingqing was startled when he opened the door: "You're back?"
"You go to sleep, I'll take a shower first."
He took a quick shower and came out five minutes later smelling of shower gel.
He got on the bed and hugged Qiao Qingqing. He snuggled into her neck, took a deep breath, and said in a muffled voice, "I entertained Brother Wang and the others until after five in the morning. They were all drunk and had to be checked into the hotel one by one." Smelling the fragrance of his wife, he was a little distracted, but he was really too tired after not getting much sleep the whole night, so he fell asleep without any rest.
Qiao Qingqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She touched her husband's face and looked lonely.
But Shao Shengan didn't sleep for long, because the master came knocking on the door at nine o'clock.
Qiao Qingqing had already prepared breakfast. He squatted on the balcony with the bowl in hand to eat. Qiao Qingqing laughed and scolded him, "Why don't you get a stool? It's not like we don't have stools at home."
"Honey, come and see, there are a lot of ants moving here."
When Qiao Qingqing moved closer, she saw dense swarms of ants crawling up from downstairs. The long team looked like a winding, flowing black line.
"They climbed really high. They must know that it's safer to be at a high place when it rains." Shao Shengan turned around and smiled at her. "Our home is on the eighth floor. It's very safe."
"Yeah." Qiao Qingqing responded softly, "By the way, let me tell you something. Come up to the attic with me after dinner."
The solar energy installer had not arrived yet, and Qiao Qingqing told him in the attic that she had made an appointment for sterilization.
Shao Shengan was unable to react: "What surgery?"
"Tubal ligation. Sheng An, I don't want to have children anymore." She stared into her husband's eyes, not missing any emotion in his eyes.
Shao Shengan finally understood. At this moment, he felt very complicated. He first thought of the names of his future children that he had discussed with his wife. They could have two, one with his last name and the other with his wife's. He also thought about where to buy a school district house so that the children could get better educational resources in the future... Those beautiful futures that he had been enjoying suddenly became a bubble. Shao Shengan's first reaction was confusion, and then loss, but he immediately noticed the way his wife was looking at him closely.
There was a lot of anxiety hidden in it, his heart was in a knot, and he woke up instantly.
He forced himself to smile gently: "I thought it was no big deal, it's just a small matter, if you don't want to have a baby, then don't have one, we can just live in our own world."
Qiao Qingqing relaxed a little and her expression wasn't so tense anymore.
"I know you like children very much. I made the decision on my own. I am sorry for you, but I will not change my mind. I am really scared."
"Having a child is a matter for two people, and I respect your opinion." Shao Shengan hugged her to comfort her, and added in his heart: You also like children very much.
"Thank you, Sheng An."
Looking at his wife's eyes, Shao Shengan's heart was more solemn than ever. Qingqing overturned the future they had planned together, and prepared for the end of the world with all her heart and soul, leaving no weakness for the end of the world. At this moment, he finally believed that the end of the world was really coming.
After completely accepting this fact, Shao Shengan was heartbroken. How serious a psychological trauma did the end of the world leave in Qingqing's heart? She didn't want to have a child in the end of the world, and didn't want the child to suffer. He wanted to say that he would not let her and the child suffer as long as he was there, but it was not him who experienced those disasters, and it was Qingqing who had those painful memories. His comfort was powerless and futile.
The truly effective way to comfort Qingqing is probably to follow her wishes and not let her feel so much pressure.
Shao Shengan did not fall asleep that night. He went to the bathroom, turned on his phone, and searched for relevant information. As the sky gradually brightened, he made a decision.
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