Chapter 36: Offering Cigarettes and Alcohol

Jiang Yuan started getting nervous too—11th floor was just one level above the 9th.

If Ye Mianmian opened the door, or if someone discovered she had a lot of supplies,
that would be dangerous. Not just for Ye Mianmian—all four of them would be in danger.

Jiang Yuan tried tagging Ye Mianmian in the group chat again, but there was no response.

Who knows what was going on—maybe she was still asleep. In any case, she was unlikely to open the door.
All they could do now was leave it to fate.

After a quick bowl of hot tomato egg noodle soup, the chill in Jiang Yuan’s body finally faded.

She stood by the window—power was out, and outside looked bleak and gray.
Sky and floodwaters blended into one; you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

The storm this time seemed even worse than in her past life.

The water level had already reached the second floor. The man from yesterday had clearly been upset—
he cursed and posted many photos. From the look of it, water had flooded into his home up to ankle depth.

Furniture was damaged, and the people from apartment 0202 were among those affected.

They didn’t say much—just offered money, hoping someone would take them in.

There were elderly and children in their household. Without a proper place to stay, their health could be at risk.

But in the group chat, everyone pretended not to see—nobody responded.

In the end, they had no choice but to copy what the ground-floor residents were doing and move into the stairwell.

They knocked on doors unwilling to give up, hoping someone would let them in.

But no one was that naive. Even though they’d lived in the building a long time, how many people truly knew each other?

Most neighbors were just nodding acquaintances. In this situation, letting someone in
was inviting trouble.

No one knew when the rain would stop. It was easy to invite someone in, but hard to kick them out.
Nobody wanted to deal with that mess.

Soon, the knocking came up to the 21st floor, but Jiang Yuan chose to ignore it.

There was no sound from Song Yi’s place either. If no one opened the door, the person outside could only give up.

The corridor now had two doors—one that Jiang Yuan installed herself,
and one from the original property management, which had a steel gate with bars allowing a view of the opposite unit.

Inside that, there was also a fire door—not particularly sturdy,
but sealed well enough to offer some protection.

If they didn’t open the door, it wouldn’t be easy for anyone outside to force their way in.

Jiang Yuan sighed to herself—so much for human warmth.

Even after living again, she still felt sad. People’s hearts really were selfish—
hers included.

The knocking finally stopped, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

But five minutes later, the main entrance door sounded again.

She checked the surveillance camera—it was Song Yi, so she opened the door.

“What’s up?”

“I just came to tell you—not to go out the next couple of days.
The rain looks like it’s getting worse. Let’s wait a few days before heading out again.”

He spoke so matter-of-factly, like he already considered her one of his own.

“Alright. Things in the building aren’t exactly peaceful these days either.
A few quiet days won’t hurt.
By the way, I have some cigarettes we split—my dad doesn’t smoke,
so I want to sell them. Do you think that’s okay?”

Selling stuff meant someone would have to come by, even if they didn’t enter.
It might disturb the neighbors, so it was only right to give him a heads-up.

“You want to trade for supplies?”

“No, I want cash.”

Song Yi sighed, quickly gathering himself again.

“Jiang Yuan, listen—money doesn’t mean much right now.”

“But those cigarettes and alcohol aren’t any use to us either,” she said, playing innocent.

Song Yi frowned, then nodded.

“I don’t smoke either. I’ll bring mine over and give them to you.
But if you can, trade them for food. Cash doesn’t matter…”

“I get it. But you keep yours—I don’t need that many anyway.”

They’d split a lot of cigarettes and alcohol, and she already had some stockpiled.
If she sold it all, she could easily make tens of thousands.

If she could expand her storage space or extend the time she could stay inside it,
that would be worth far more than cash.

“Alright then, it’s settled.”

With that, Song Yi turned to leave. Jiang Yuan didn’t want to take advantage of him,
so she made a mental note to give him something later in return.

First out the door was a huge dog, which made her instinctively shrink back.

“Don’t be scared—Xiaobudian doesn’t bite.”

“It’s called Xiaobudian?” (lit. “Tiny Bit”)

“Yeah.”

Seriously? A dog that big called Tiny Bit? Who names these things?

“These are for you—no need to thank me.”

Uh…

“…Okay then.”

Jiang Yuan took the bag and hurried back inside—she was really afraid of dogs.
She always felt like they might bite. And this one was taller than her daughter—how could she not be scared?

Seeing her come back with a large bag, Jiang Xingzhi (her father) was curious.

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

“Cigarettes and booze from the neighbors. I’m planning to sell it for some cash.”

“You out of money?”

“Yeah, things are really expensive these days…”

She hadn’t figured out how to tell him that everything she brought back was from other people’s homes.

She’d been raised to never steal or rob, and now she was out scavenging…
She was afraid her parents wouldn’t be able to accept it.

“Your mom still has some money—I’ll go get it for you…”

The moment she heard money, Jiang Yuan’s eyes lit up.

Her dad moved fast, and her mom came out too.

“This is what we had left from shopping before—just over eleven thousand.”

That much? Awesome.

Jiang Yuan happily took the cash, feeling on top of the world.

“Right—since we don’t have much going on, let’s start cooking more.
The electricity’s out—I’m afraid gas and water might not last much longer either…”

Qin Yue (her mom) frowned with concern.

“You’re right. We’ve still got a lot of meat too—let’s cook ahead.”

There was still plenty of food in the fridge.

The takeout meals they’d bought were gone, but they still had a lot of ready-to-eat items.

Jiang Yuan’s suggestion got her mom thinking—what if they really couldn’t cook later?
She started planning.

Official news said a typhoon would likely arrive tonight and last about a week.

It was like another punch to the gut.
The internet was full of complaints and desperation.

When she checked the group chat, she saw a few friend requests on WeChat.

All from Xia Chaoyang.

“Jiang Yuan, you must still have supplies at home, right?
We left in a rush and didn’t bring anything. Could you give us a bit?”

“Jiang Yuan, I’m not mad anymore. I know you did what you did because you love me.
Let’s just forget the past, okay?”

“Let me at least see Xiaonuan. I bought her a new toy. Are you home? I’ll come see you.”

“Please accept my friend request. Let’s talk, okay?”

Clearly, they were running out of food.
So much for how capable Xia Chaoyang was—couldn’t even stock up properly.

And who knows how things were going between him and his mother-in-law?

Jiang Yuan smirked in satisfaction.

Then, she started typing in the building group chat:

“I have cigarettes, alcohol, tea, and drinks available for trade.
Prefer food, but cash is also accepted. Serious offers only.”