The next morning, Shen Hanyin made beef noodles and casually slipped some sleeping pills into the broth.
There was no way she could keep a complete stranger in her home forever.
Jiang Yanbei took one bite and stopped.
“What did you put in this?”
“What?” Shen Hanyin played dumb.
“Shen Yan, I thought we could coexist peacefully.”
Being exposed made her a little nervous.
Only a little.
“The noodles are good. Make plain noodles tomorrow morning instead.”
Jiang Yanbei stood up and left, while Shen Hanyin remained seated at the table, looking as if all hope had left her body.
He was far too perceptive.
Her chances of winning against him were practically nonexistent.
After breakfast, Jiang Yanbei went out while Shen Hanyin stayed home as usual.
According to him, he would be responsible for finding food from now on.
Naturally, she had no objections.
He returned unusually early that day.
This time he brought back a bag containing salt, cooking oil, soy sauce, and several scallions.
So today’s harvest was nothing but seasonings.
The two silently agreed to pretend the morning incident had never happened.
Shen Hanyin only cooked twice a day and informed him there would be no lunch.
Jiang Yanbei raised no objections.
“There’s one more thing. Since you’re staying here, you’ll be the one operating the generator from now on.”
Jiang Yanbei frowned but said nothing.
Unable to read his expression, Shen Hanyin immediately backed down.
After all, he was the stronger one.
Knowing when to retreat was important.
“I pedal it for one hour every day. You handle the rest.”
“Fine.”
Hearing him agree, she finally relaxed.
Living under the same roof meant she couldn’t secretly charge things inside her space anymore.
If she also had to spend several extra hours every day powering the generator, her body simply couldn’t take it.
Near dinnertime, Shen Hanyin came out of her room and found Jiang Yanbei diligently pedaling the generator.
She headed into the kitchen to look through the ingredients.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Anything. I’m not picky.”
Shen Hanyin made stir-fried lotus root slices and shredded potatoes.
She didn’t particularly care whether the smell drifted outside.
The apartment was sealed well enough.
And if trouble really came knocking?
Jiang Yanbei could deal with it.
…
A few days passed.
While Jiang Yanbei was away, Shen Hanyin secretly moved the generator into her space and charged it for a while before heading out herself.
If she stayed indoors any longer, everyone in Building 9 would probably assume Jiang Yanbei had quietly disposed of her.
As usual, she wandered around Times Square.
After spending some time there, she still hadn’t found the mysterious “destined buyer” interested in cigarettes and alcohol.
Instead, she witnessed two robberies and murders in broad daylight.
When she returned to the apartment building, she ran into the woman from the sixth floor.
The woman was little more than skin and bones now.
Her hair was filthy and tangled.
She muttered to herself constantly.
The moment she saw Shen Hanyin, she started screaming incoherently.
Looking at her, Shen Hanyin said calmly,
“If you’re willing, I can help you find peace.”
The woman burst into laughter.
Shen Hanyin drew her Tang saber, then lowered it again.
Instead, she pulled out her pistol and aimed at the woman’s head.
A gunshot rang out.
It attracted quite a few onlookers.
Among them was Jiang Yanbei, who had just returned.
Shen Hanyin thought to herself:
I wonder if my innocent high-school-boy persona is still salvageable.
She dragged the woman’s body to a corner of the residential complex.
Many corpses had already been piled there.
Without laws or moral restraints, and with death everywhere in the extreme cold, nobody cared anymore.
Returning to the apartment entrance, she found Jiang Yanbei waiting.
Seeing her approach, he simply said,
“Let’s go.”
The two of them went upstairs together.
…
As soon as the door opened, Suisui pounced over.
At least you still know who your owner is, Shen Hanyin thought.
Even so, Suisui received its third vaccine shot that night.
The two humans and one cat continued living together peacefully.
Every morning after breakfast, they went their separate ways.
Jiang Yanbei always brought food home.
Shen Hanyin was beginning to suspect he had a storage space of his own.
Otherwise, he must have been robbing people every day.
With three floors of ice covering everything, food shouldn’t have been this easy to find.
Eventually she stopped pretending to search for food altogether.
She simply wandered through the trading market each day.
After all, she was only the “cook.”
Young Master Jiang was the one supporting the household.
…
Building 9 never organized another group expedition after that.
The temperature finally stabilized at minus sixty degrees Celsius.
One morning, Shen Hanyin watched Jiang Yanbei finish breakfast and leave.
She had no plans to go out that day.
Her period had arrived.
Her stomach hurt badly.
She took out hand warmers, heat patches, and hot water from her space.
Then she grabbed a bag of fragrant candied chestnuts and a large milk tea topped with cake cream.
Holding Suisui in her arms, she lay on the sofa with a tablet and watched a drama.
Three episodes of Ningguta later, she heard the lock turning.
Shen Hanyin immediately stuffed all the evidence back into her space.
Jiang Yanbei had come home much earlier than expected.
Hearing the noise, Suisui hurried to the front door.
The moment Jiang Yanbei entered, the kitten leaped into his arms.
Suisui was still young.
It had rarely encountered outsiders and had almost no sense of caution.
It was affectionate by nature.
Shen Hanyin often wondered how she could train it not to trust strangers so easily.
One day, the apartment might no longer withstand the disasters outside.
When that happened, she would have to leave.
And Suisui would become extremely vulnerable.
Not everyone liked cats.
Nor was everyone as unconcerned about food as Jiang Yanbei seemed to be.
After greeting her, Jiang Yanbei placed a bag on the table and returned to his room.
Since moving in, he had never asked questions about anything in the apartment.
Every day he went out searching for supplies, came back to pedal the generator, and spent his spare time playing with Suisui.
The reason Shen Hanyin had tolerated his presence for so long wasn’t just because she couldn’t beat him.
It was also because he understood boundaries.
He never pried into things that weren’t his business.
…
That evening, Shen Hanyin wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to cook.
Jiang Yanbei didn’t complain.
Instead, he cooked some noodles himself and brought her a bowl.
Looking at the surprisingly decent presentation, Shen Hanyin felt her appetite return.
She took a bite.
Barely managed to swallow it.
Years of good manners prevented her from saying anything too harsh.
But the noodles tasted exactly like plain noodles.
Nothing else.
Terrible.
Since she had already taken a bite, she couldn’t return the bowl.
And throwing it away would be wasteful.
So she found an excuse.
“I’m suddenly not very hungry. I’ll save it for breakfast tomorrow.”
Jiang Yanbei knew exactly how good—or bad—his cooking was.
He instantly understood that her real message was:
Your noodles are awful.
If she truly wasn’t hungry, she wouldn’t have accepted the bowl just to taste it.
Looking at Shen Hanyin and the untouched noodles in front of her, he tried to salvage a bit of dignity.
“Picky eater.”
Then he poured her leftovers into his own bowl.
Shen Hanyin had always considered herself a good actress.
Yet this time she had been seen through immediately.
Had she really been that obvious?
Besides, she’d already eaten from that bowl.
Jiang Yanbei didn’t know she was a girl.
But she did.
The fact that someone else was eating her leftovers made her feel strangely awkward.
“I could eat it tomorrow. It wouldn’t go to waste.”
“Oh?”
Jiang Yanbei smiled in a way that wasn’t kind at all.
“Then I’ll cook for you again tomorrow.”
“No need.”
Young Master Jiang’s culinary talents could be reserved for someone else.
…
A few more days passed without Shen Hanyin leaving home.
That morning, after seeing Jiang Yanbei off, she entered her space for a bath.
After soaking for a while, she looked at the water in the tub and decided Suisui needed a bath too.
After drying her hair, she didn’t bother with makeup or disguise.
Assuming Jiang Yanbei had already left, she casually threw on a nightdress and went to catch the cat.
Suisui wasn’t in its bed.
She checked her room, then stepped into the living room.
“Suisui?”
No response.
The heater was running, but wearing only a thin nightdress still felt cold.
Her patience quickly ran out.
As she pulled a blanket from her space and draped it over herself, she called out:
“Suisui, if you don’t come out right now, you’re not getting any canned food tonight!”
Then—
The door to the spare bedroom opened.
Jiang Yanbei walked out.
Suisui was in his arms.
Shen Hanyin had only one thought:
If I run back to my room, put on makeup, change clothes, and switch to a male voice right now… would it still be in time?