Fresh lemons, washed clean and wiped dry, were sliced and deseeded before being dropped into a glass. A spoonful of honey was added and stirred until dissolved, followed by a few ice cubes popped from the tray. A simple honey lemon water was complete.
Setting the glass on the dining table, Jiang Ting went to the open space between the TV and the coffee table in the living room. One by one, she released the items she had collected from the car earlier.
One machine, then another; a small cardboard box, then another; a milk tea bag, and then… Wait, a milk tea bag?
Jiang Ting tore open the mouth of the thermal bag to look inside. She then ran to the bathroom door, holding the bag which clinked with two cups of milk tea and half a bag of loose ice. She called out to Cong Yixing, who was currently covered in soap suds, “Cong Yixing! Why is there milk tea?”
Cong Yixing replied, “Didn’t you want milk tea this morning?”
“Oh, goodness! I didn’t want milk tea, I wanted the milk tea shop’s ice cubes!”
Cong Yixing let out a mock “Oh, goodness” of his own, mimicking her tone. “There’s ice too! It’s right there in the bag!”
Jiang Ting rolled her eyes in annoyance.
After teasing her, Cong Yixing reminded her, “Put it in the space quickly before the ice melts.”
“I want to drink it,” Jiang Ting said.
“Then drink it.”
“I want to drink all of them!”
“Then drink all of them!”
Jiang Ting peered into her space and marveled, “You bought so many!”
“Yeah, one of every flavor. Didn’t you want some? Stick a straw in all of them; you’ll be full just taking one sip of each.”
Jiang Ting was eager but offered a polite, fake gesture: “That wouldn’t be right; they’d all be mine then. Should I save a few for you?”
“No need. I’ll just drink your leftovers.”
And so, Jiang Ting managed to taste over twenty varieties of milk tea in one go.
When Cong Yixing finished his shower and came out in clean clothes, he found Jiang Ting sitting on the sofa, hiccuping.
He asked with a smile, “Satisfied?”
“Satisfied!” Jiang Ting stood up and suddenly lunged from the sofa onto him.
Cong Yixing was long used to her surprise attacks; he opened his arms and caught her steadily.
Sniffing the faint, fresh scent of shower gel on him, Jiang Ting asked the question on her mind: “Why was the milk tea shop still open so late?”
“Probably because there’s no business during the day. It was almost closing time when I got there, though.” Cong Yixing hoisted her up by her rear to adjust her. Finding the sensation a bit too nice, he couldn’t help but give a few squeezes, his mind wandering. “This seems to have gotten bigger. What kind of exercises have you been doing lately? The results are great.”
Jiang Ting: “…Maybe I did too many squats. I guess I’ll do fewer sets tomorrow.”
Cong Yixing was confused. “Why?”
“It doesn’t look good if my butt is too big. I want to be thin!”
“Nonsense. Thin is beautiful in its own way, but big has its advantages.”
Finally realizing what he meant, Jiang Ting leaned her head forward and gave his nose a sharp headbutt. She said crossly, “Why is your mind always in the gutter! We have serious business to do right now!”
His nose bridge stung, but since Cong Yixing was holding her, he couldn’t free a hand to rub it. Instead, he buried his nose in the crook of her neck and rubbed it back and forth.
The rubbing tickled her neck. Jiang Ting refused to yield, her legs wrapped around his waist flailing as she tried to get down. Unfortunately, since Cong Yixing was holding her upper body securely, she couldn’t descend at all.
She was forced to threaten him: “I’m counting to three. Put me down!”
Cong Yixing folded instantly before she even started counting. He gripped her waist and set her on the ground in a second.
The moment Jiang Ting’s feet touched the floor, she stepped on his foot and said fiercely, “Do you still dare to provoke me? Be careful, or I’ll flatten your toes!”
“Ouch, ouch!” Feeling the feather-light pressure on his foot, Cong Yixing still played along with a pained expression.
Jiang Ting, half-doubting, moved her foot away and looked down, preparing to check if she had actually hurt him. However, the moment she looked down, Cong Yixing forcibly pulled her back up.
Jiang Ting: “What are you doing!”
Cong Yixing: “Your Grace need not perform such a grand salute.”
“…” Jiang Ting wanted to hit him.
Knowing when to stop, Cong Yixing quickly let go. “I’m suddenly so thirsty. I sweated so much today. Let me see where that lemon water my baby made is.”
He chatted as he put distance between himself and Jiang Ting. Only after reaching the dining table and guzzling half the glass of lemon water did he saunter back as if nothing had happened.
Thinking of him running around outside in the high heat until midnight, Jiang Ting’s tiny flame of anger had long since fizzled out. Seeing him glancing at her face as he walked, she couldn’t help but pout and ask, “Am I really that fierce in your heart?”
“Are you afraid of me?”
Cong Yixing stepped closer. “Of course I’m afraid. I’m afraid that if you can’t hit me, you’ll get angry at yourself, and I’m afraid that if you do hit me, your hand will hurt.”
Recalling the few times she actually hit him only to have her own palm sting from the impact, Jiang Ting muttered, “That’s only because your bones are too hard!”
“Right, it’s all my mom’s fault for giving me such hard bones.”
Jiang Ting: “…I really don’t have time to mess around with you.”
Cong Yixing gave a light chuckle. “Then let’s get down to business.”
He set down the glass, walked over to put an arm around her shoulder, and pointed at the largest cardboard box on the floor to explain. “This is a household variable-frequency gasoline generator. It’s small, so the power output is also small—only 8KW. It weighs 40KG.”
Jiang Ting instantly forgot her previous mood and peered into the box curiously. “So how much electricity can it generate?”
“At 8KW, it can generate 8 units of electricity per hour. That’s enough to run three air conditioners in our house simultaneously, plus the fridge and lighting.”
“That’s great!”
Cong Yixing let go of her shoulder and lifted a green gasoline canister. “But we can’t use it continuously. It consumes too much fuel. One canister of gasoline can only keep it running for six to seven hours.”
Jiang Ting suddenly remembered: “In our country, isn’t gasoline purchase restricted?”
Cong Yixing sighed. “Yes. Not only do you need real-name registration, but you also have to state the purpose. After I bought the generator, I went to the gas station to buy fuel. The staff said one person can only buy 20 liters at a time. Here, just this one canister.”
“That only lasts a few hours. It feels kind of useless.” Jiang Ting felt a bit discouraged.
“There’s no other way. Next time, the two of us will go together. If we go a few more times, we should be able to stockpile some. It’s not enough for daily use; it’s just for emergencies.”
After finishing with the generator, Cong Yixing introduced the ice maker to Jiang Ting: “UV sterilization, scheduled timers, fast ice production—it can make 25KG of ice in 24 hours. Don’t be fooled by its small size; it wasn’t cheap.”
“Wow, it sounds so high-tech. I’ve never used an ice maker before. How much was it?”
Cong Yixing started by saying, “I’ve never used one either.” Then he broke down the cost for her: “I checked, and they’re all big brands. The generator was eight thousand, no bargaining. The ice maker’s original price was 1,399, but I haggled a bit and got it for 1,199. They threw in an ice bucket, a water filter pitcher, and even an insulated cup.”
Jiang Ting clapped supportively. “You’re so good at haggling!”
The two of them unpacked the gifts and found the insulated cup was actually quite nice.
Jiang Ting felt gleeful, as if she had scored a massive bargain. “Wash it for me. I’ll give you my old insulated cup, and I’ll start using the new one tomorrow!”
“Okay,” Cong Yixing agreed. Out of habit, he took out his phone to scan it and check the prices online.
He went silent after checking. A few seconds later, he said to Jiang Ting with a long face, “I got ripped off!”
“Huh?” Jiang Ting leaned in to look. The generator price was about the same, but the ice maker was only 999 online! And it came with the same gifts!
Cong Yixing was usually very composed, so this rare blunder felt terrible to him. He said, “I’m going to return it tomorrow night.”
Jiang Ting was used to losing out and tried to comfort him: “Forget it! Shipping from other cities is very slow now; the courier will take forever. We didn’t lose that much anyway. See, the original price was 1,399; it’s just that the online discount is bigger!”
“Besides, the electronics mall is so far. It would be so tiring for you to make the trip. You were sweating like that even in the insulating suit; it would break my heart~”
After much persuasion, she managed to stop Cong Yixing from returning the item. Jiang Ting quickly changed the subject: “It’s late. Let’s get to sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow!”
Cong Yixing replied, “You go to sleep first. I still need to tidy this up and assemble it to see if it runs properly.”
Jiang Ting refused: “Do it tomorrow! Sleep first!”
“Alright, alright.”
Jiang Ting acted spoiled: “Carry me in!”
Cong Yixing gripped her under her armpits, lifting her up like a child. He hoisted her and said, “Your butt might be bigger, but your weight hasn’t changed. You’re still light as a feather.”
“Your butt is the big one!”
“Fine, let’s compare and see whose is bigger.”
“I don’t want to! You’re such a pervert!”
August 14th. The temperature stabilized at 48°C and had remained unchanged for nearly a week.
While everyone prayed that the temperature wouldn’t rise any further, the tension in their hearts eased slightly.
Cong Yixing’s workload had decreased significantly. He said it was because the company’s business was gradually scaling back.
Cong Yixing had more free time, which Jiang Ting was very happy about.
The two spent the entire day at home cooking the pig they had bought from his classmate’s family.
In the morning, Cong Yixing fried several batches of crispy pork strips. For lunch, he made Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce and Sautéed Pig Liver with Chili, along with a massive pot of rice.
He made large quantities, setting aside a portion for the two of them to eat now, and portioning the rest into food containers for the space. In the future, if they didn’t have time to cook, they could just take it out and eat—they wouldn’t even have to cook rice.
After lunch, Jiang Ting continued storing water while Cong Yixing made a phone call home.
He had tested the generator that morning and felt satisfied with the results, so he wanted his family to buy one as well, just in case.
His family had many members, so they could buy more gasoline, which would sustain them longer when they actually needed to use it.
After finishing the call home, he dialed another number. During a break in Jiang Ting’s water storage, she heard Cong Yixing say, “Baby, I ordered some clothes from an online shop.”
Jiang Ting was shocked. “What kind of clothes!” She didn’t quite trust her boyfriend’s fashion sense!
“Short-sleeved shirts and shorts for both of us, quick-dry clothes, ice-silk pants, and some highly elastic, durable long pants. Twenty sets for each of us.”
Seeing Jiang Ting’s mouth hang wider and wider, Cong Yixing smiled. “When you have time this afternoon, look on your phone too. Buy some underwear and socks you like. You can also buy any summer clothes or dresses you fancy. I’ll go pick out a few pairs of sneakers for us. Which sports brand do you like?”
Jiang Ting shook her head blankly. “Anything is fine.” She didn’t usually exercise and rarely wore sneakers, so she didn’t know much about them.
Cong Yixing nodded and walked away. It took a long time for Jiang Ting to process what had happened. She lunged onto the back of Cong Yixing, who was fiddling with the ice maker, and locked her arms around his neck, howling, “Cong Yixing, have you lost your mind?! Why are we buying so many clothes?! You’re making me so scared—I’m going to think the world is ending!!”
Cong Yixing wasn’t actually thinking about the apocalypse. Preparing more clothes was simply because he feared that if water became scarce in the future, they wouldn’t be able to waste it on laundry; at least they would have clean clothes to change into.
After hearing Cong Yixing’s explanation, Jiang Ting finally clutched her chest and relaxed. She had been genuinely terrified just now.
Jiang Ting’s mind began to wander: “Speaking of which, why even buy underwear? I’ll just buy disposable ones. I can throw them away after wearing them and won’t have to wash them!”
Cong Yixing nodded. “Order some more daily necessities online too—towels, soap, shampoo, hand sanitizer, that sort of thing.”
Jiang Ting added, “We can buy disposable towels too! I’m almost out of face towels anyway; I’ll buy a lot more. Sometimes they can be used as regular towels, and they save more water than towels do!”
Cong Yixing said, “Sure, buy whatever you see fit. Although delivery is slow now, it’s at least still arriving. I’m just afraid that if the temperature rises a few more degrees, even logistics will shut down. It’ll be really hard to buy anything we’re missing then.”
Imagining the situation Cong Yixing described, Jiang Ting’s heart was instantly filled with a sense of crisis. “Buy! We’re buying a lot!”