Chapter 44 p1
Today, a thousand jin of fish and shrimp were added in one go, and Ji Yang’s burden became a little heavier. There was still a lot of fish food stored in her space, but she was not satisfied. After dinner, seeing that it was still early, she started to make fish food again.
From time to time, she would take out a little of the finished portion to give the fish and shrimp in the pond an extra meal, to see if their reaction was enthusiastic.
If it was enthusiastic, it meant that it was delicious.
But she found that it was very enthusiastic every time, which meant that her skills in making fish food were still good.
Should she consider cooking for herself?
As Ji Yang was thinking, her hands did not stop. She made hundreds of jin of fish food in one go. It just so happened that the ice in the living room had also bottomed out. She stretched, collected the water from the melted ice back into her space, and then went to wash up and rest.
She had thought that she could continue to collect fish and shrimp the next day.
But in the middle of the night, she was awakened by the sound of a thunderstorm.
This house was not as soundproof as her own. The sound of thunder and rain outside was exceptionally loud. Xixi had long since gotten used to it. It was just that as soon as it heard thunder, it would jump onto the bed and lie down at its owner’s feet.
During the floods, heavy rain was very frequent. Every time the water level dropped a little, there would be a heavy rain to make up for it. Occasionally, when it was serious, it would flood even higher.
Ji Yang was awakened, yawned, and then closed her eyes again to continue sleeping.
Soon, the thunder stopped, and only the white noise of the pouring rain was left, which was even more hypnotic.
As a result, when she woke up, it was already past nine the next day.
She had slept for a long time, which made her head a little dizzy when she woke up. She ran to the window in a daze and immediately woke up.
The heavy rain was still continuing. It was a little lighter than the heavy rain last night, but it was not much better. It was still pouring down, and the water level was visibly continuing to rise. The marks of the previous drop had been submerged, reaching a new height.
There was not a single pedestrian on the road.
However, at this moment, she happened to see an official patrol boat pass by. The four people on it were in a team, wearing raincoats, and the large megaphone in their hands was shouting: [Please do not go out! Please do not go out!]
When the rain was heavy, there were all kinds of situations, and it was still very dangerous to go out.
But just as the patrol boat had left, many people appeared, braving the heavy rain with all kinds of simple water transportation tools, and they were also holding fishing nets.
After a net was cast, when it was pulled up again, there would be two or three fish in the net.
Regardless of whether they were big or small, the number of fish was still a little more than usual.
The people who had caught the fish had bright smiles on their faces. They didn’t mind the heavy rain hitting their bodies. They quickly took the fish off and then continued to go to another place to catch the next batch.
Perhaps the heavy rain had brought a clean water source, and these fish had all floated to the surface, making them easier to catch than usual. And this was a rich area. The people here were not short of these points, so naturally, no one was fishing. The smart ones had quickly come over.
Ji Yang watched for a while, then drew the curtains and went to wash up and eat.
While eating, she was also thinking that her estimated one week was indeed accurate. Now she really had to stay here for a few days.
Sure enough, that night, the rain became heavier again, with no sign of stopping.
It wasn’t until the third day.
Ji Yang had made hundreds of jin of fish food. The medicinal herbs in her space had added several more burlap sacks of stock. She had also combed Xixi’s fur once, so that now, as soon as Xixi saw her take out a comb, it would automatically hide.
It was really too boring.
Suddenly, Xixi ran to the door and at the same time looked at Ji Yang to remind her.
Soon, a knock on the door was heard.
Ji Yang’s spirits were lifted. Someone’s here? What’s going on?
For the sake of safety, none of the houses in the base had a peephole, so she couldn’t see the situation outside. She naturally would not open the door at the first moment. She came to the door and asked in a slightly raised voice, “Who is it? What is it?”
“I’m your neighbor from upstairs. I’ve roasted some sweet potatoes at home and wanted to send some over,” a gentle and polite female voice from outside the door.
The curiosity in Ji Yang’s eyes disappeared, and she didn’t say anything for a moment.
And the woman outside the door pursed her lips. After not hearing a response for a long time, her heartbeat also became faster and faster. She had been struggling for these three days. The sudden heavy rain had once again blocked the survivors’ steps to go out and collect supplies.
Their family was doing quite well, and they still had a lot of grain, so they didn’t have to worry. But the others were not necessarily so.
Especially after she had guessed that the girl downstairs might be her daughter, she had been afraid that this child would go hungry because she couldn’t go out.
Qiao Yi’s feelings for this daughter were complicated. The scenes from her first birthday party were a shadow that had haunted her for many years. She had been spoiled since she was a child and had never been so humiliated. So, she rejected everything related to the Ji family.
When she had divorced, she had not wanted the child at all. When she had left, she had only taken the things from before her marriage, as if this could erase all those bad memories. She knew that she was not a qualified mother. She had once thought that since things were like this, she would just let things be and ignore her daughter even more, not thinking about her, not contacting her. They would meet once a year during the New Year. Anyway, she had the Ji family, so her life would not be bad.
Later, after the Ji family’s grandparents had passed away, and without them to help, she and her daughter had never seen each other again.
The mother and daughter’s relationship was distant, so that when the disaster had just begun, Qiao Yi had not thought of contacting Ji Yang.
At first, the conditions on the Xue family’s side were also very difficult. It wasn’t that there were no supplies, but that the supplies couldn’t be delivered. There was a food shortage, and the villa area had been submerged by heavy snow several times. They also had to face problems such as robbery, which had given Qiao Yi a psychological shadow of villas ever since.
Fortunately, at the beginning of the heavy snow, someone had sent a pile of rice, flour, grains, and oil. At that time, she didn’t know how to return it, so she had just left it at home, which had allowed them to get through the most difficult time.
Later, the government had stepped in and sent relief food. Some of her husband’s friends who were formidable in construction were recruited by the government. He had noticed that something was wrong, had handed over most of the common supplies, and had exchanged them for a stable residence. He had also worked hard to collect precious supplies as a trump card, and his life had become better again. All in all, the slightly harder time was only during the most severe period of the blizzard.
In the later stages of the extreme cold, Qiao Yi had received a message from her mother’s family, asking them to go over. She had also thought about whether to contact Ji Yang, but after asking someone to look for her at the old house and the base and not finding her, she had given up. She had estimated that she was with her ex-husband, and she hadn’t thought of sending more people to look for her, or to go to the Ji family to inquire about the situation, so she had felt that there was no need to worry.
Naturally, she had never thought that she would meet the other party here!
After thinking about it, Qiao Yi still decided to meet the other party to confirm the guess in her heart.
So, today, she finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. When the few children at home were roasting sweet potatoes, she had thrown in two more, which had given her a legitimate excuse to go downstairs.
But if it was really her own daughter, at this time, she naturally couldn’t just ignore her.
But she was still holding on to the hope that this girl could not be Ji Yang.
She should be on the Ji family’s side, continuing to live the life of a young lady. The natural disasters were frequent, but the Ji family was never a small family. It was not to the point where she had to go out and fight on her own.
—
The silence in the room made Qiao Yi’s heart sink. She turned her head to look at her husband. They had been together for more than twenty years, and their relationship was still very good. At this glance, the other party knew her apprehension and showed an encouraging smile.
She took a deep breath and knocked on the door again. “Can you open the door?”
“Click,” the sound of the lock being turned was heard.
The breathing of the three people inside and outside the room all became lighter in unison.
The main door was opened. Ji Yang looked at the couple outside the door. Her turbulent mood was calmed in a short period of time. She showed a faint smile. “Hello.”
Qiao Yi’s eyes widened in disbelief. Seeing her daughter appear in front of her in person, she was shocked and surprised, and then she was angry. “Is Ji Feng’an dead? How could he let you run over here alone?!”
Ji Yang shook her head. “No. I don’t want to live with them. I live alone. I came to Hu City this time for something. I’ll go back after I’m done.”
Qiao Yi frowned. “You’re still going back? It’s so dangerous outside now!”
After confirming that it was her daughter, she was not as polite as before and took the initiative to walk in.
Ji Yang didn’t stop her and took two steps back, stopping Xixi, who was already baring its teeth. During the period of silence, she had already put away everything in the house that shouldn’t be there, leaving only simple daily necessities.
The sofa was gone. She dragged out two plastic stools from the corner. “Sorry, I’m just staying here temporarily, so I haven’t gotten anything. You’ll have to make do.”
Qiao Yi’s expression was complicated. She handed over the roasted sweet potatoes in her hand. “I didn’t know it was you, and I was afraid it was you, so I brought some food over to see. You eat first. Later tonight, come up and eat with me.”
Ji Yang did not refuse, but she shook her head when she heard the latter part. “No need. It was an accident to meet you here. I’m doing fine. I’ll go back to Changnan City after I’m done with my business, so there’s no need for more contact.”
She and Qiao Yi were not strangers, but they were not familiar either. Every year during the New Year, her grandparents would send her over to pay a New Year’s visit to her mother. Qiao Yi never took the initiative to contact her, and she was the same. After her grandparents had passed away, she had lost contact with this mother.
Even though they were mother and daughter, they were still distant without having spent time together.
In her previous life, she had been alone in the villa. Seeing that the villa was about to be submerged by the heavy snow, she had been so scared that she had instinctively sought help from her parents. It was normal for Qiao Yi to refuse her. The heavy snow had trapped everyone at home, and there was a food shortage. With one more person, there would be one more danger to bear. And at that time, no one had expected that the apocalypse would really come, not to mention that in Qiao Yi’s eyes, her guardian was Ji Anfeng.
This time, without her request for help, there was no barrier between them. Now that they all knew that this was a long-term battle, and they had survived the blizzard period, and had reunited with the Qiao family, at this time, she was at her most comfortable. She had plenty of supplies and had the energy to help this rather distant daughter.
But she no longer needed it.
Ji Yang’s refusal made Qiao Yi’s face very ugly. The man next to her, Xue Jianping, also frowned, but he still spoke in a gentle tone, “Yangyang, your mother and I also came here to seek refuge with your maternal grandparents. Knowing that you are here, your maternal grandparents will definitely be very happy. You don’t have to worry about anything. And in the future, there might be a very long period of extreme heat. Life will be very difficult. It’s safer for you to stay here.”
He thought that Ji Yang was just being polite.
But Ji Yang still refused, her expression calm. “I’m not being polite. I’m alone now, and I can live in such a big house temporarily. You can see that I’m not short of supplies and points. Besides, all my things are in Changnan City. Staying here would be a heavy loss. I’m doing fine and I’m not short of anything to eat. I’ll take the sweet potatoes. You can take the plate back.”
With that, she handed over the plate.
Qiao Yi had a headache. She hadn’t expected this daughter to be so stubborn. She knew that so many years of neglect had really created a barrier between the mother and daughter. She forced a smile. “I won’t force you if you don’t want to stay. But since you’re here, the family should at least have a meal together, right? Your maternal grandparents were complaining two days ago that I didn’t bring you over. We’re just upstairs and downstairs. You don’t even want to see them?”
Ji Yang’s expression relaxed a little. “Okay, then I’ll pay a visit tonight.”
Only then was Qiao Yi slightly satisfied. She pulled her husband, took the plate, and went out.
Ji Yang followed behind and, after seeing them out, closed the door.
—