Chapter 17: Moving House

The fierce wind howled through the rain, flinging water in all directions.

Going out in that kind of weather was no different from suicide.

Xia Xiaoman said, “I didn’t sleep from late last night until this morning. I noticed that around 7 or 8 a.m., the wind outside is noticeably weaker than it is at night. We can take advantage of the calmer winds in the morning to leave.”

Severe weather has time periods too — even thunder gods need to catch their breath during the day!

“I noticed that too. These past few days, the wind is clearly weaker during the day, and the rainfall isn’t as heavy either,” Zhou Qiuyang added. With nothing else to do at home, he often stared out at the storm and had already observed the pattern of weaker daytime winds.

Since he hadn’t planned to move in the storm before, he never mentioned it to the neighbors.

Sun Qing glanced at Ye Xiaojie. Seeing she had no objection, she said, “Then let’s wait till morning and check the situation. If the wind isn’t too strong, we’ll leave together.”

Between fighting for space on the 8th floor and risking a move, Sun Qing preferred the latter.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of a fight — she just didn’t think the 8th floor was a long-term solution. If the floodwaters kept rising, they’d have to move eventually anyway. Better to do it sooner than later.

The four of them still decided on heading to Chenyang Community. Whether they would settle there would depend on tomorrow’s situation.

If they found a suitable spot along the way, they’d stop early. If not, Chenyang would be their final destination.

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By around 7 a.m., the wind and rain began to ease.

Zhou Qiuyang, who had been closely watching the weather, immediately knocked on Xia Xiaoman’s balcony to alert her. After that, he went to notify Sun Qing and Ye Xiaojie.

In just one night, the water level had risen several more meters. Below the hallway windowsill, within half a meter, it was all water.

Fifteen minutes later, the group began lowering inflatable rafts from the hallway windows one by one.

The wind was still strong. As soon as a raft was lowered, the gusts would blow it several meters away.

Thankfully, they had tied ropes to the rafts. Zhou Qiuyang pulled one back, and Xia Xiaoman threw some supplies onboard to weigh it down and keep it from drifting.

Among the three households, they had a lot of supplies. It took them over half an hour to load everything and set off from the community.

They were lucky — the direction they needed to go was downwind. With minimal effort, the wind pushed the rafts forward.

Fortunately, they had plenty of gear and had tied several inflatable mattresses behind the raft to haul their supplies. The weight helped stabilize the raft and kept the wind from flipping it.

“Someone ahead!” Zhou Qiuyang pointed at a figure floating in the water.

Before Xia Xiaoman could see clearly, Ye Xiaojie said, “It’s a corpse — completely swollen.”

Zhou Qiuyang’s face turned pale, and he silently paddled around the body.

People crowded at windows on both sides of the street, begging for help. Xia Xiaoman and the others pretended not to see, focusing straight ahead, paddling hard, searching for a place to stop.

They passed several high-rise complexes along the way, but there were too many people inside. With four outsiders carrying a mountain of supplies, it would’ve been like sheep entering a wolf’s den.

They also passed some office buildings and towers that appeared to be occupied — probably used by rescue teams to house evacuees during the storm.

None of the buildings along the way seemed ideal. Eventually, they made their way to Chenyang Community.

Chenyang was made up of unfinished shell apartments — just the walls and windows, nothing else. Probably because of that, no rescue teams had used it as a resettlement site. It was nearly deserted, with only a few new owners who had bought and renovated units before moving in.

The group picked a building near the roadside and entered through a balcony.

The building had 25 floors, with the bottom two being commercial spaces. The floodwaters had already reached the 7th floor.

Xia Xiaoman and the others made 4–5 trips back and forth before hauling all their supplies to the 13th floor.

The 13th floor wasn’t too high or too low. Even if the water rose again, it wouldn’t reach them. And being separated from the flood by several floors meant the humidity was more manageable.

The apartment layout had two elevators and four units per floor. The north-facing units had 4 bedrooms and 2 living rooms, but the wind had blown out the balcony doors and windows, making them very exposed.

The south-facing units had 3 bedrooms and 2 living rooms — smaller, but safer and drier.

Zhou Qiuyang volunteered to take Unit 1, the windy north room, leaving Units 3 and 4 for Xia Xiaoman and the others.

Sun Qing had picked the locks with a wire without damaging the cores, so the locks still worked normally.

Xia Xiaoman locked her door and began sweeping with a broom from her storage space.

The shell apartment was dusty. Just a few swipes brought out clouds of dirt. After three rounds of cleaning, the dust and cement crumbs were mostly gone.

She wiped down her inflatable mattress and set it to dry, then pulled out ingredients from her storage to prepare lunch.

After days of noodles and buns, she wanted some rice.

With limited ingredients, she cooked a pot of rice in a clay pot. When it was nearly done, she sliced two Cantonese sausages, placed them neatly on top, and cracked an egg into the center, adding a dash of soy sauce.

She covered it, drizzled a bit of peanut oil on the lid, and let it simmer — the fragrant claypot rice was ready. The only flaw: no leafy greens.

With a sigh, she opened a sealed jar of pickled radish, added a few pieces to the pot — a substitute for vegetables.

After eating and resting for two hours, Xia Xiaoman knocked on Unit 1303 next door.

Sun Qing, clearly just up from a nap, opened the door groggily. “Xiaoman, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing serious. I just wanted to train some sparring with Xiaojie. Are you guys still resting?”

Yawning, Sun Qing said, “I’ve been awake for a while, just feeling sore all over and didn’t want to move. I’ve been lying in bed playing with my phone.”

Xia Xiaoman was surprised. “You still have signal?”

“Nope. Lost it the day the storm hit. But I downloaded a few offline games, so I just play those to kill time.” She stepped aside to let Xia Xiaoman in.

Inside, all their supplies were neatly arranged. The floors and walls were clean — clearly already tidied up.

Ye Xiaojie was on the balcony collecting rainwater. Seeing Xia Xiaoman, she nodded in greeting.

“You’re collecting rainwater?” Xia Xiaoman asked.

“For flushing, washing, and laundry. Don’t you collect rainwater?” Sun Qing asked in surprise.

Actually, she didn’t. She used plastic bags for toilets, bottled water from her storage for hygiene, and stored dirty clothes for washing later when life became easier.

She never thought about collecting rainwater.

But now, thanks to Sun Qing’s reminder, she realized maybe she should. Water bills in big cities weren’t cheap — she used to pay dozens of yuan monthly. If she collected enough rainwater, she could save quite a bit.

The more she thought about it, the more doable it seemed. She decided she’d set up a rainwater collection system later. But for now — time to train some self-defense with Ye Xiaojie.