In her second attempt, Yu Xifeng changed her approach—she began by outlining the characters, then used a black marker to fill in the empty spaces in the middle.

It might not have been particularly beautiful, but at least it was neat and tidy.

Satisfied, Yu Xifeng clapped her hands and pasted the upside-down “福” (fortune) character on her bedroom door.

There was still a thick stack of red paper left, so she tried to cut out some decorative patterns.

Luckily, before the internet had gone down, she had downloaded a bunch of tutorials onto her USB drive—an assortment of random things.

To her surprise, Yu Xifeng actually managed to find a paper-cutting tutorial on it.

Apparently, she had no real talent for paper cutting. After nearly two hours of effort, what she produced still looked like a mess.

Seeing that it had already passed midnight, Yu Xifeng gathered the scraps of paper scattered all over the floor.

Though she hadn’t accomplished much, it was only while doing these things that she truly felt alive.

The new year had arrived.

New Year’s greetings and firecracker sounds came from the radio on her phone.

It was unclear whether those were real firecrackers or just sound effects.

Little Orange, startled by the sound, circled around Yu Xifeng twice, eyes full of alertness.

Its tail stayed drooped for a while before it perked up again, and it came over to nudge Yu Xifeng’s hand.

The First Day of the Lunar New Year.

Sister Yun knocked on Yu Xifeng’s door.

Her New Year’s gift was a pack of braised beef instant noodles.

“It’s the new year, but I don’t have anything good on hand. I asked a friend to buy some instant noodles—just enough for a filling meal,” Sister Yun said.

Aunt Hu also came, bringing two sweet potatoes.

These wouldn’t have meant much in the past, but under current circumstances, they were precious gifts.

In her previous life, Yu Xifeng had also known these two households. They occasionally went out to forage for food together.

But they were little more than acquaintances back then—not as close as they were now, gathering every few days to chat.

They’d discuss how things were slowly improving outside and gossip about people in the building.

Chen Caili lost her baby. After coming back from the hospital, she was still living in Tan Wanwan’s apartment.

Most of the usable items in that apartment had been burned, and the air inside was choking.

Of Tan Wanwan’s three roommates, Qian Ying had died before even reaching the hospital.

The other two had nowhere to go and ended up crowding in with Chen Caili.

Three vulnerable women with no money and no means to earn a living.

At this point, Aunt Hu shot a glare at Hu Qiangyong, who was mopping the floor nearby: “If you even think about stepping foot into that household, I’ll break your legs.”

Women who made choices like that were not uncommon in this world.

Yu Xifeng had seen many of them in her previous life.

Many men had eyed her as well.

To survive, people had to be ruthless with others—and even more ruthless with themselves.

Back then, she didn’t have much physical strength. She was often hungry and had become painfully thin and gaunt.

Her life was miserable. Unless someone had ill intentions, no one dared to get close.

In this life, both Sister Yun and the Hu family treated Yu Xifeng with respect—

And in subtle ways, they were trying to build goodwill with her.

Yu Xifeng didn’t mind. She was clear-eyed about such things. People naturally seek benefit and avoid harm—it’s human nature.

She selected two one-jin jars of daylily preserved vegetables as return gifts.

The three families still gathered at Xu Yun’s place.

“My friend said our order wasn’t large enough to qualify for delivery—the business won’t send a kayak out here for such a small amount,” said Sister Yun, discussing the rice purchase.

“Aunt Hu, does your family want to buy some too?”

Zhao Yao and Hu Qiangyong were sitting together. Zhao Yao was the first to speak: “The rain has already stopped. Why buy such expensive rice? In no time, prices will drop. If it molds, we can’t even eat it.”

Hu Qiangyong hesitated—he felt his wife had a point.

“So you’re not buying? Then, Xiao Yu, we’ll need to borrow your kayak when the time comes. We’ll head to West Fourth Road to pick up the goods, and we’ll give you a bigger share of the rice,” Sister Yun suggested another plan.

Yu Xifeng readily agreed.

She could remind others, but she wouldn’t push too hard.

Aunt Hu looked at Yu Xifeng, then at Sister Yun.

From Hu Qiangyong, she had learned that Yu Xifeng was capable, while Xu Yun was well-connected and well-informed—far more so than their ordinary family.

Naturally, following their lead would be a safer bet.

Aunt Hu asked in detail how much each of them planned to buy, then went back to her apartment and returned with three stacks of cash.

Thirty thousand yuan—her emergency savings.

With online payments down and no access to the money stored there, this cash was their family’s entire savings.

Zhao Yao’s face darkened. “Mom, what are you doing? If all we get is a pile of junk, I’d like to see how you clean up that mess.”

“How can proper rice be junk?” Aunt Hu replied. “This is my retirement money. I’ll spend it how I want—it’s not for you to interfere.”

Zhao Yao got up and stormed out.

Hu Qiangyong glanced awkwardly between his mother and wife—unsure whether to sit or stand.

“I’m not dead yet. That money is not yours to covet,” Aunt Hu said to her son.

Hu Qiangyong turned red in the face but didn’t dare talk back.

And just like that, the matter was settled.

With a total exceeding 50,000 yuan, they finally met the minimum order for delivery.

Sister Yun said, “I really never thought there’d come a day when I’d spend tens of thousands just to buy rice. And even then, you need connections to get any.”

Hearing this, Hu Qiangyong felt a bit relieved.

If it required connections to acquire, then it must be good stuff.

Even if they couldn’t eat it, they could resell it.

After all, that was the family’s only remaining money.

They had hot pot for lunch at Xu Yun’s place.

Xu Yun provided the hot pot base and dried noodles. The Hu family brought radish and oyster mushrooms, along with a small jar of medicinal wine. Yu Xifeng contributed a can of beef.

Zhao Yao, having thrown a tantrum, didn’t come to eat. Hu Qiangyong gave his portion to the two children.

Steam rose, the medicinal wine had a slight bitterness.

Yu Xifeng felt warm all over, especially her face.

Despite Zhao Yao’s sour note, the meal overall was quite enjoyable.

Yu Xifeng suddenly understood something: Even though people were dangerous, even though times were hard, survivors in her past life had still fought tooth and nail to get into settlements—

Because it was only through social interaction that you could remember you were human.

And not just some creature barely clinging to life.

In the afternoon, they gathered for a game of mahjong.

Yu Xifeng didn’t know how to play, so Sister Yun taught her as they played.

Card by card, she slowly began to grasp the enjoyment in the game.

To the others in the building, the New Year felt empty.

Most had only managed a full meal on New Year’s Eve. The luckier ones stretched meager portions of meat from the first to the third day.

It wasn’t just Sister Yun’s group—others in the building had also found connections and tried to pool their orders.

The rain had receded.

Money began to circulate again.

Prices of various supplies began to drop.

Some, having learned their lesson, took this chance to restock their homes as best they could.

Aunt Liu, leading her grandson around, scoffed: “Buying all that stuff just to get stuck with it. The rain’s over—what, afraid of starving to death now?”

She still had savings and held onto her son and daughter-in-law’s money too.

She had refused to buy supplies at inflated prices, surviving so far on leftover grain from raising chickens. She wandered with her grandson to see what freebies she could find.

Now her home had dried fish and a few bags of compressed biscuits.

She wasn’t willing to buy high, and now that prices were falling, she was even more reluctant.

She was just hoping prices would drop so low they’d practically be giving it away.