Chapter 20: It’s Raining

“These past few days, we’ve been running low on fresh vegetables at home. The ones in the fridge aren’t fresh anymore either.
We need to eat them soon or they’ll all go to waste,” said Qin Yue as she set the table, complaining to everyone.

It had already been quite a while, so it was natural that the older stock of vegetables wasn’t good anymore—only the newly bought ones remained.

“If I had known earlier, I would’ve placed a few foam boxes on the balcony to grow vegetables. By now, we could’ve harvested some,” she added.

Her parents had wanted to plant vegetables before, but the weather was too hot, and watering would use too much water.
Plus, space at home was limited, so Jiang Yuan hadn’t agreed.

Now, looking back, it seemed like a missed opportunity. Store-bought vegetables were mostly things like Chinese cabbage—stuff that stored well.

Thankfully, her mother had frozen quite a bit of food before and had also made dumplings, buns, and wontons. So there was still some preserved food available.
Especially the frozen vegetables—once cooked, they weren’t much different from fresh ones.

“Let’s not plant anything for now,” Jiang Yuan said. “The weather’s too hot, and we don’t have space. We’ll think about it later.”

Though she said that, in her mind she was already planning to plant vegetables in the space she discovered.
The temperature there was just right—not too hot, not too cold.
It was a perfect environment for growing things.
Leafy greens like bok choy and Chinese spinach could sprout in just a few days and be harvested in about 20 days.

“Don’t we still have a lot of beans at home?”
“Right! Let’s soak some and grow bean sprouts!”

Qin Yue suddenly found a new mission, full of energy and enthusiasm.
They still had their self-grown mushrooms too, which already put them ahead. Many families were relying on emergency supplies to get by.

After dinner, Jiang Yuan casually but stealthily transferred some milk, bread, sausages, and other items into her space.
She didn’t dare move too much at once—if Qin Yue noticed, she wouldn’t be able to explain it.

It was all too fantastical. She didn’t want to scare her parents.
She also transferred some bottled water and seeds.

The soil in the space was loose and easy to till. She didn’t waste time—just stayed in there for an hour.
The timer now showed 10 hours 32 minutes and 18 seconds remaining.

She planted about a third of the area with:

• Lettuce
• Baby bok choy
• Chinese cabbage
• Water spinach
• Chinese flowering cabbage

She didn’t plant anything else for now. She had plenty of other leafy green seeds, but there wasn’t time or room to plant them all.
These were the ones her family liked and were easiest to grow.

She came out drenched in sweat, completely exhausted.

Clearly, her physical condition wasn’t good enough. She needed to start exercising.
When the extreme cold came, physical strength would be critical.
Even with supplies, if you were too weak, you wouldn’t survive.

Using stored water, she wiped herself down. She didn’t dare take a full shower—it would waste too much water.

Right now, the home still had some space. Their bedroom had supplies stuffed under the bed and in the wardrobe.
Opposite the bed was a row of storage bins filled with daily necessities, socks, underwear, and so on.

The master bedroom’s bathroom held two large barrels of water, but not much else.
The living room was mostly filled up too—only the area near the dining table had a bit of space left.

Little Nuan was still a child, running around was normal. Jiang Yuan didn’t want to hog every bit of space.
Her parents’ room, apart from the bed and a narrow passage, was also packed.

Their bathroom was for her parents’ use and also had a lot of water stored. Nothing else.

At first, she thought they had stored enough. But now it was clear—it still wasn’t enough.
With the help of the space, they had more security, but she needed to fill every bit of it.

In a critical moment, those supplies could mean life or death.

She checked the time—tomorrow would be October 15.
If things went according to plan, it would start raining then.

It might be manageable at first, but after a month of continuous heavy rain,
the water levels in the city would rise, and lower-lying areas would flood.

When that happened, a lot of places would suffer as a result.

Jiang Yuan knew that if she wanted to stockpile more supplies, she had to act during the early days of the rain.
From what she remembered, in the first two days, some stores still opened.
Hopefully, she could find some good stuff then.

With these thoughts swirling in her head, she drifted off to sleep.

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The next morning, she was woken by the vibration of her phone.

Since the apocalypse started, she had set it to silent—but not turned it off.

Little Nuan was still asleep. Jiang Yuan got up and walked over to the window with her phone.
She gently pulled aside the curtain—sure enough, it wasn’t as hot as before.
She opened the curtain a bit more.

The sky was dark and gloomy. The scorching sunlight from before was gone.
It really looked like it was going to rain.

The air was stifling. Even with the air cooler running, it was hard to breathe.
Jiang Yuan returned to bed and checked her phone.

All the apps were pushing updates about the typhoon “Tianyue”,
and announcing the end of the extreme heat and a return to cooler weather—
every headline was met with joy.

It was already mid-October. Normally, this was the season of crisp autumn air.
The most comfortable time of the year.
Unfortunately, this year, the extreme heat had ruined everything.

By noon, the stuffy air had become unbearable.

Then, all of a sudden—the wind picked up.

Jiang Yuan hadn’t opened the window, so she couldn’t feel it directly.
It was only from the group chats that she found out.
When she looked outside, sure enough—the trees were swaying.

“It’s really windy! Let’s open the window and get some air!”
“Yeah! After all this time, it’s finally cooling down.”

Jiang Yuan opened the window just a crack—not too much.

The wind outside kept getting stronger—now it felt like a level 3 or 4 breeze.
Most people had their windows open. The chat groups were buzzing, everyone cheering.

Downstairs, someone was even singing:

“Just like that, conquered by you,
I drank the poison you secretly brewed…”

Surprisingly, not a bad voice.

But Jiang Yuan didn’t let her guard down.
Last time had been just like this.

Many had survived the extreme heat, only to fall during the extreme cold.

Just as she was thinking about this—big, fat raindrops suddenly poured down.

It all happened in a flash.
No one was prepared, and with the wind,
the rain blew straight into the houses.

People scrambled to close their windows and doors.

Many had gone out to enjoy the breeze. Now they were caught off guard,
running back while covering their heads.

The young people managed okay, but the elderly and children suffered.
Those who couldn’t run fast got drenched.

For a while, the entire neighborhood was filled with complaints and curses.

Jiang Yuan started planning again.

The rain seemed normal for now.
She wondered how long social order would last.

In three days, she planned to make her move.

Hopefully, everything would go smoothly.