Yang Rong worked at the community center for half a month.

It was around this time that he finally received news from his colleagues: the neighborhood they used to live in was in a low-lying area. When the floodgates were opened to release water, the surge destroyed a large portion of the houses there.

Yang Rong’s home was among them.

His whole family gave up completely.

The chill in the stairwell was indescribable—every day they feared they wouldn’t make it to the next.

If not for the comparison to Yu Xifeng upstairs, maybe they could have gritted their teeth and endured.

But knowing Yu Xifeng was living just one floor above them, so close…

With a house. With food.

It made every draft that seeped in feel colder, and every bite of wild vegetable patties taste more bitter.

Yang Rong hardened his resolve and worked diligently in the community center.

After all, he had once run a business—he knew how to bow and scrape before those in higher positions, and he wasn’t afraid to swallow his pride.

The community center had expanded significantly after the disaster, and different factions were beginning to form.

He quickly got in with his colleagues, found an opening, and after showing loyalty, was promoted to team leader.

Once he became a team leader, people began cozying up to him, hoping to secure a job through him.

One family even gave up their own home, inviting Yang Rong’s family to move in.

Coincidentally, it was in Building 1, 13th floor.

With this change, life became much better for Xu Qingrou and her family. Yu Xifeng even bumped into them once on the stairs.

Xu Qingrou looked much healthier, greeting her with a smile and inviting her in for tea.

Yang Sizhu had been cleaned up—her hair and clothes were tidier. Only her gaunt face hadn’t recovered, now small as a palm, her eyes lowered with a pitiful air.

Yu Xifeng walked past them without sparing a glance.

To get a private room in the shelter, she had been running up and down every day filing paperwork, dealing with bureaucratic nonsense—she had no time to bother with Xu Qingrou.

When it came time to transfer her household registration, Yu Xifeng sought out Yang Rong.

She used a little trick to make Yang Rong think she was trying to compete with him for a job in the community.

Having just gotten comfortable, Yang Rong couldn’t allow any potential threats.

Panicking, he kicked her off the household register.

He even made a show of it:
“I’ll just pretend I never had a daughter like you. Even if I die, it’s got nothing to do with you.”

Yu Xifeng was furious, heartbroken, and indignant.

But when she turned away with the household register, she nearly burst out laughing.

Whoever wants that dad can have him.

During this time, the duck eggs Yu Xifeng had been incubating finally hatched.

Whether due to her error or bad eggs, only 3 out of the 15 hatched.

She hadn’t bought many fertilized eggs to begin with—not even fifty each of chickens and ducks.

Geese were only thirty.

She decided to observe the growth of this batch of ducklings and tested a new round by incubating five goose eggs.

The ducklings emerged, their down wet and matted.

Without an adult duck, they mistook the chickens in the space for their parents.

They wobbled after the hen, their little heads bobbing.

The hen, whose own eggs had been taken by Yu Xifeng, surprisingly accepted the ducklings as her own.

She let them eat before her and snuggled with them to sleep.

If not for their different colors, one might really believe they were a loving family.

The sight made Yu Xifeng’s appetite surge—she treated herself that day to a rich, oily salted duck egg.

Then she harvested a batch of ripe fruits from the garden beds.

Picking durians took considerable effort, but she was thrilled when she cracked one open.

At first glance, the fruit didn’t seem particularly special, but it was full and round.

Its skin was as thin as paper, and the fruit—less than four pounds—yielded six segments of creamy flesh.

Sitting cross-legged outside the garden bed, she ate two large portions.

The chicken mom strutted by with her ducklings, sniffed around, then left—never to return.

Yu Xifeng chuckled, found a designated spot to store durians, sorted the other fruits, and only took a handful of newly picked sweet potato vines with her out of the space.

Before leaving, she took a bath and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash.

Feeling clean and fresh, she bundled up tightly before stepping out.

She still had nearly 60 hours of space-time left.

Just entering every few days to keep the farm running and take care of her hygiene would be more than enough.

Finally, the day arrived when the underground shelter officially opened to outside buyers.

She first sought out the old gatekeeper, this time giving him a pack of cigarettes.

In this crisis, all national resources were being used to run food production lines.

To save grain, alcohol had been completely banned.

Cigarettes too—hardly circulated on the market anymore.

The old man pulled one out, took two puffs, stubbed it out, then carefully wrapped it in paper and stored it away.

“A lot of people have been inquiring lately, and some are big shots. The rooms here aren’t cheap. I’ll write you a note—follow this road inside, turn left, and find the office head of General Affairs, surname Li.”

Yu Xifeng was using gold to exchange for contribution points, which weren’t very useful to her directly.

Now was the perfect time to spend them.

When she arrived at the office the old man directed her to, Director Li glanced at the note.

He looked at Yu Xifeng with a hint of scrutiny.

Anyone showing up now had to have inside info.

Her clothes looked ordinary, but Director Li recognized her winter coat—an extremely sought-after brand.

Now, such coats were nearly impossible to get.

Yu Xifeng said with a smile,
“Uncle Zhang asked me to bring you something—just a little gift to decorate your desk.”

She pulled a small pouch of cherry tomatoes from her bag.

More precious and less conspicuous than cigarettes.

Director Li glanced at it, didn’t say yes, but didn’t refuse either. Yu Xifeng placed the pouch discreetly in the corner of the cabinet.

Soon, she got her room assignment: 0605.

From her past life, she knew that rooms starting with “06” were about 20 square meters—among the largest single rooms available for purchase.

Within his authority, the director had sold her a good one.

Yu Xifeng was very satisfied. She carefully collected the documents and keys, then walked out of the unassuming little office.