Having a period in this kind of weather was miserable. The heat already killed her appetite, yet she couldn’t eat anything cold.
Jiang Ting didn’t usually suffer from severe menstrual cramps, but during the first two days, she always felt dizzy and lacked strength.
Cong Yixing stopped making her store water. While he worked during the day, Jiang Ting would curl up on the living room sofa under the air conditioning, a thin knitted blanket over her stomach. She’d play games or surf the internet, occasionally taking ingredients out of her space as Cong Yixing requested.
Setting aside the physical discomfort, Jiang Ting felt this kind of life was actually quite good. They had water, electricity, and internet; countless delicacies in the space; and a capable boyfriend by her side twenty-four hours a day.
The only downside was that Cong Yixing stopped taking her with him when he went out at night, whether it was to pick up packages or buy supplies.
Jiang Ting was prone to overthinking, and whenever she was left home alone, she constantly worried about her boyfriend’s safety.
Although bringing her along didn’t actually increase the safety factor—and might even have been a liability at times—she still wanted to go with him.
She was clearly a homebody who was used to and enjoyed the sense of security “home” provided. In the past, she had gone a month without stepping outside and hadn’t found it difficult.
But when this solitude was laced with worry for her partner, it became an ordeal.
That evening, Cong Yixing brought back ten large plastic storage bins with a capacity of 160L, complete with airtight lids.
He didn’t ask Jiang Ting to go downstairs to collect them; instead, he carried them up himself in several trips.
Jiang Ting asked him, “What are these for?”
Cong Yixing listed the uses for the storage bins: “Storing water, organizing clothes and quilts, storing loose packaged food, and in special circumstances, you can even sit inside to take a bath.”
Jiang Ting stepped into one and crouched down, gesturing with her hands. “A crude version of a bathtub!”
“Exactly.”
She asked again, “Where did you buy them?”
“Zhongyun Road. That whole street sells home and hotel kitchen supplies. I also ordered several large stainless steel soup pots; I’ll pick them up tomorrow night.”
“Don’t we already have soup pots at home?”
“They’re called soup pots, but they’re actually more like stainless steel storage buckets. They can be used to cook food or store grain, oil, and water. However, my plan is to cook more soups and porridges. These finished products need containers. Storing them in the space is easy, but getting them out would be a problem otherwise. With these pots, we can skip the portioning step; when we need some, we can just take the whole thing out, serve what we need, and put it back.”
Jiang Ting nodded, feeling that Cong Yixing was much more thorough in his thinking than she was.
However, the following night, Cong Yixing didn’t just bring back six stacked stainless steel soup buckets—he also brought four 15kg liquefied gas tanks!
Jiang Ting stomped her feet in anger. “In this heat, who gave you the nerve to transport gas tanks in a car! What if, what if on the way…”
Cong Yixing pulled her into his arms to coax her. “It’s okay. I drove very carefully. The temperature isn’t that high at night and there aren’t many cars on the road. Nothing was going to happen. Be good, don’t be afraid.”
Jiang Ting was terrified by the lingering fear and forced him to promise: “You aren’t allowed to buy such dangerous items again! We’ve prepared enough food already. Gas isn’t a necessity; we can’t take risks for the sake of something like this!”
“Okay, I promise.” Cong Yixing gently patted her back, trying to distract her. “Look at these soup buckets. Guess how much soup I’ll have to cook to fill them up?”
The six pots were lined up; even the smallest was 50L, while the largest reached a capacity of 180L. That one bucket alone weighed over 20kg and stood 60cm tall. Cong Yixing pointed at it and said, “This one alone can hold 300 catties of water.”
Jiang Ting’s attention was indeed diverted. She exclaimed, “Our stove won’t even fit that!”
Cong Yixing replied, “We can cook it in other pots and pour it in for storage.” He then gave her a challenge: “Think quickly—what kind of soup should go in this bucket? I’ll start cooking it tomorrow.”
Jiang Ting began to think. Meat broths were complicated and required long cooking times, making it impractical to fill such a large bucket. So she said, “Rice porridge? Multigrain porridge? Egg drop soup? Or green bean soup?” Finally, she decided: “Green bean soup! It’s so hot; drinking that will help clear the heat!”
Cong Yixing nodded. “Lily green bean soup, or honeysuckle green bean soup? Or maybe seaweed green bean soup?”
Jiang Ting was confused. “You can cook green bean soup with honeysuckle?”
“Yeah, it’s great for summer. It clears heat, detoxifies, moistens the lungs, relieves coughing, and helps with urination and swelling.”
It sounded great, but having never tried it, she didn’t know how it tasted. Jiang Ting said, “Then cook a small pot tomorrow for me to taste. If it’s good, we’ll cook more to store.”
Cong Yixing replied, “Yes, ma’am!”
By noon the next day, Jiang Ting was drinking honeysuckle green bean soup with rock sugar.
She took a sip. The sweetness of the sugar and the fresh aroma of the green beans carried a hint of medicinal bitterness. After swallowing, a trace of coolness seemed to linger in her mouth. It was actually quite delicious.
Cong Yixing wouldn’t let her drink too much. “Just a taste for now. Both honeysuckle and green beans have ‘cold’ properties; wait until your period is over before drinking more.”
Now that they had the soup buckets, Cong Yixing had Jiang Ting take out the previously stored pig trotters and pig heads, along with the brine that had been used several times. Combined with other meats suitable for braising, he prepared a massive pot and began braising meat again.
When the scent of the braised meat wafted out, Cong Yixing opened the door to stand in the hallway for a moment. He came back and told Jiang Ting, “Even with the windows closed, the smell still drifted out. The hallway is full of the aroma of meat.”
Jiang Ting remembered last winter when she was playing on her phone at midnight and often smelled someone’s spicy beef tallow hotpot. The scent made her so hungry she couldn’t sleep. Back then, she had complained to Cong Yixing: “How can that family eat hotpot so late every day!”
Now their own home was filled with the aroma of cooking all day long. Surely others could smell it too, and perhaps they would complain just like she had: “How can this family cook all day long!”
Knowing Cong Yixing didn’t want to attract attention, Jiang Ting suggested, “Should we block the kitchen doors and windows with something?”
“Not really. The smell will still be vented out through the range hood’s flue.”
Jiang Ting sighed. “Ah, then there’s nothing we can do. We can’t just not use the range hood. They’ll just have to deal with the smell!”
The afternoon passed amidst the fragrance of braised meat.
Near evening, Cong Yixing received a phone call. A few minutes later, he walked out of the kitchen and said happily to Jiang Ting, “Babe, I got a lead through a friend for a batch of grain.”
“Huh?” Jiang Ting was surprised.
Cong Yixing had been playing an online game since middle school and only gradually quit after meeting Jiang Ting. Before that, he had played for many years and met many online friends from different cities.
One of his regular teammates was from Yu City. After Cong Yixing came to Yu City for university, the two of them met up in person. Because they got along well, they had stayed in touch over the years.
This friend was a bit older than him. His family owned an entire building in the southern suburbs of Yu City. Although the location was remote, with the rapid development of Yu City over the years, suburban property prices had soared. The rent from that one building alone was enough for the whole family to live comfortably for a lifetime.
Cong Yixing had visited his house during university. Supposedly, he lived on his own floor, and because he loved gaming, his e-sports room was larger than the living room they were currently in!
Cong Yixing said, “I remembered there was a grain and oil shop downstairs from his place. I asked about it while we were chatting, and I didn’t expect him to actually be able to help.”
Now, except for supermarkets, most stores were closed, and the common roadside grain and oil shops were no longer open. If one wanted to buy grain in bulk, it could only be done online or by contacting distributors.
With the rise in food prices and difficulties in logistics, Cong Yixing didn’t dare order online. He was also worried about the reliability of contacting distributors himself in real life, so he thought of asking this friend to check with the shop owner who rented his space to see if they could share a distributor’s phone number.
He didn’t get the number, but there was an unexpected windfall instead.
The shop owner was from a nearby village and rented the shop from his friend’s family. Because the location was remote, business had been average.
Later, both of the owner’s elderly parents fell ill. While other shops closed after the heatwave hit, he had closed his shop even before the extreme temperatures to return home and care for his family.
Because he closed early, he missed the panic-buying phase that followed the abnormal temperatures. Now, he still had a large batch of grain in the shop that hadn’t been sold.
The owner really wanted to deal with it but couldn’t get away. Hearing that the young landlord’s friend wanted to buy grain and oil, he offered a price that was relatively low for the current times, only seeking a quick sale.
Although he was still making a profit at that price, it was truly reasonable compared to current food prices.
However, such a good thing obviously came with a condition: he also had a batch of dried goods, spices, and seasonings in the shop that had to be bundled and sold with the grain.
After thinking it over, Cong Yixing quickly agreed. With Jiang Ting’s space, they didn’t have to worry about these things expiring. Even if they overstocked, they could just sell them once the weather returned to normal.
Although it was a hassle, it wasn’t completely unmanageable. At worst, they could eat it themselves for the rest of their lives; they’d finish it eventually, right?
His friend was very generous. Not only did he put Cong Yixing in touch with the person and help negotiate the price, but he was also willing to lend out his family’s van.
Cong Yixing made his plan: “I’ll go tonight. I’ll drive his van to transport the goods, and then just like before, you’ll come downstairs to the car to collect the items.”
Jiang Ting wanted to go with him. She said, “It sounds like there’s a lot of stuff. How can you move it all by yourself?”
It was true. Even with the shop owner’s help, moving that much grain and oil was no easy task.
Cong Yixing thought for a moment and said, “I’ll call Zhong Rui. He’s idle anyway, constantly saying he’s going to grow mold in his rental room. Might as well put that strength to use.”
Jiang Ting giggled. “Right! ‘I’ even lent him money; working for us can be the interest!”
She asked again, “Is your money still enough? I’ll transfer some more to you.”
Cong Yixing took out his phone to show her his balance and recent expenses. He said, “I’ve bought a lot of things lately. There’s 180,000 left of the money you gave me. The estimated price for this batch of grain is less than 150,000, though the dried goods and spices haven’t been calculated yet. We’ll have to settle that on-site.”
To be safe, Jiang Ting transferred another 100,000 to him. Whether she was comforting Cong Yixing or herself, she said, “This money is well spent. We have to eat grain anyway, and this will be enough to last us for many, many years!”
After dark, Cong Yixing was preparing to head out. Since he would be working soon, he wore heat-insulating clothes inside and a set of old clothes and pants on the outside.
Jiang Ting sprayed cooling spray on his exposed face and neck when a thought suddenly occurred to her: “Babe, your friend helped us out a lot. Shouldn’t we thank him? Treat him to a meal or give him a gift?”
Cong Yixing had clearly already thought about it. He replied, “Not many restaurants are open now, so I can’t treat him to a meal. I don’t know what to give as a gift either. I planned to buy two cartons of cigarettes for him outside the supermarket later.”
Jiang Ting didn’t understand these social etiquettes either. She asked doubtfully, “Isn’t giving that a bit unhealthy…”
Cong Yixing recalled something and said to her, “I remember he liked my post about cooking on WeChat Moments. Wait for me.” He put down his car keys and turned back into the kitchen.
The meat braised in the afternoon was still soaking in the brine to absorb the flavor. Cong Yixing lifted the lid and fished out three oily, glossy-brown pig trotters and a whole chicken. Jiang Ting, following behind, timely pulled a suitably sized container from the space and handed it to him.
Two of the trotters and the chicken were for the friend who was helping.
Cong Yixing said, “Giving only cigarettes does feel a bit lacking. With these added, it should be about right.”
The remaining pig trotter wasn’t put in a container; Cong Yixing put it in a clean bag along with some chicken feet, duck wings, pig head meat, and duck gizzards. He smiled and said, “This bag is for Zhong Rui. It’s not even enough for him to finish in a day. He can just throw the bag away when he’s done; if I used a box, he’d have to wash it.”
After packing the braised food into a sturdy paper bag, Cong Yixing prepared to leave. Standing at the door, he instructed Jiang Ting: “Lock the door immediately after I go out. I’ll message you when I’m back. Open the door only when you hear my voice. Be good at home by yourself, and don’t worry too much about me.”
“Mm-hmm,” Jiang Ting promised, proactively puckering her lips for him to give her a kiss.