Chapter 17 p1
The half-grown dog’s warning bark already had much of its mother’s imposing manner, though its voice was a bit high-pitched, lacking some deterrent force.
Ji Yang immediately went over.
Only then did Xixi calm down a little.
Just then, the person outside knocked on the door again.
Ji Yang frowned. “What is it?”
Outside the door, Jiang Jing immediately said in a loud voice, “Hello, I’m your neighbor from the eleventh floor. My child’s milk powder has run out. I wanted to ask if you have any milk powder at home. Children’s milk powder is fine. My child is only five months old, and I don’t have any breast milk anymore. My husband went out to look but couldn’t find any, and he got frostbite on his leg. Please, I’m begging you, help me!”
Ji Yang didn’t answer immediately.
Jiang Jing, as if seeing a savior, said excitedly, “I’ll pay you. I only have a few thousand in cash at home right now, I brought it all. I’ll give it all to you. I can also write an IOU. Please!”
She had gone through almost the entire building, and only this household hadn’t directly refused her. That meant there was hope!
It had been almost four months since the heavy snow began. When Jiang Jing and her husband realized the situation was not right, they had already tried every means to hoard.
But it still wasn’t enough.
There was a reason they said a child was a money-devouring beast. Her child could finish a can of milk powder in less than seven days, which meant four to five cans a month.
What they had hoarded was far from enough.
Later, she had started mixing it with rice cereal, but the milk powder still ran out. She had no choice. Her husband went out in the wind and snow to look for some. No one would team up with him because everyone else was out collecting firewood. The few who were collecting supplies wouldn’t go to places with baby stores.
He went out alone, and Jiang Jing was on pins and needles at home every day. Finally, yesterday, her husband came back, dragging a broken leg. The reason was that he had finally found some milk powder, but it was stolen. The other party, in order to steal the milk powder, had even beaten him up. During the fight, a cabinet fell and smashed his leg.
There was still food for the adults at home, but there was really nothing for the child. Now, in a family of three, with one child and one injured person, Jiang Jing herself was not a formidable person and didn’t dare to go out. She could only try asking up and down the building.
If that didn’t work, then she would have to wrong her daughter and feed her rice cereal.
Ji Yang’s eyes flickered. “I don’t want money. Do you have any jade?”
“Ah?” Jiang Jing was stunned. “Is gold okay?”
She didn’t like to wear jade, but she had bought a lot of gold.
Ji Yang refused, “No.”
Jiang Jing’s mind raced, thinking about where she might have jade at home. Suddenly, she remembered that her mother-in-law had a jade bracelet, a gift from her own sister for her sixtieth birthday. The quality was excellent.
For a moment, she was a little reluctant.
But thinking of her child, she gritted her teeth. “I’ll trade! My mother-in-law has a jade bracelet, the quality is very good!”
Fortunately, her mother-in-law was not here. She could take it secretly and buy her a new one after the disaster was over.
Ji Yang didn’t open the door. “Go get it first. Only you can come over. And I only have three cans of milk powder here.”
“Okay!” Jiang Jing was overjoyed. She had thought it would only be one can and was worried about how to make it last for half a month. Now, with three cans of milk powder, mixed with rice cereal, it could last for at least a month. After a month, this snow disaster should be over, right?
If, unfortunately, it was still ongoing, the child should have gotten used to eating cereal.
She glanced at the corridor window. Snowflakes were still falling outside.
The cold wind kept pouring in through various cracks, making her shiver. Her down jacket was not enough at this point. She had to layer herself up like a bear to barely go out.
Jiang Jing wiped the corner of her eye and hurried downstairs.
About ten minutes later, a knock sounded on the door again. After confirming it was the same person, Ji Yang opened the door.
Jiang Jing had thought that this family also had a child, just that the child was not with them. She didn’t expect to see a young girl who looked very young, even a little naive.
However, the girl was beautiful, but her face had a coldness that made people dare not approach. Her long hair was casually draped over her shoulders, and the clothes she was wearing were relatively thin. Her cheeks were flushed.
What was even more fatal was that the moment the door opened, a blast of warm air made her want to rush in.
This is too comfortable!
Jiang Jing was envious, but she didn’t forget to express her gratitude. “Thank you, thank you. This is the jade bracelet. Take a look?”
She offered it with both hands.
Ji Yang only needed a glance to know that it was a good jade bracelet. At least compared to the jade bracelets in the jewelry stores she had looted, it was of superior quality.
She accepted it readily. “Okay.”
With her other hand, she passed over a bag.
Jiang Jing was overjoyed. She took it and looked inside. There were also two packs of sanitary napkins!
Now she was really happy.
It had been more than three months since the snow disaster began, and her sanitary napkins had long since run out. If it weren’t for her habit of hoarding toilet paper, it would have been a truly miserable situation.
For a moment, the heartache of the bad deal lessened a lot.
Ji Yang said without any shame, “This is a free gift.”
According to the current situation, she was the one taking advantage. But according to the future situation, Jiang Jing was the one taking advantage. Right now, she could still trade a jade bracelet for some life-saving supplies. In the future, she wouldn’t be able to.
So, she added a little free gift, but that was it.
Anyway, the transaction was confirmed by both parties.
After she finished speaking, she didn’t look at Jiang Jing’s reaction and slammed the door shut.
Jiang Jing’s words of thanks were stuck in her throat. She gave a bitter smile, then hurried home. Seeing her hungry and crying child, she fumbled to prepare the milk powder.
—
Inside the room
After closing the door, Ji Yang had quickly tossed the bracelet into her space.
Hmm…
As expected, no reaction.
It seemed that the next upgrade was still a long way off.
Ji Yang sighed and sat back down to make fried eggs. She continued until all the eggs she had collected in the past few days were used up before putting the small electric pot away. She then happily ate a bowl of fatty soup rice noodles for lunch.
She had added the freshly fried eggs to the rice noodles, soaked them in the soup, and then took a bite of the fried egg. The taste of the rice noodle soup immediately rolled around in her mouth.
It was really delicious!
It was just easy to get tired of.
Ji Yang quickly took out some fruit. When she felt a little greasy, she would take a bite of fruit.
After lunch, she rested for a while. When her stomach had digested a little, she began her daily workout. She had been in good shape recently. Through her persistent efforts, her soft limbs had become firm and powerful, and the lines of her abs were beautiful.
The afternoon was spent in Ji Yang’s huffing and puffing workout. The renovation company must not have slacked off. She exercised with such thumping and bumping every day, but there seemed to be no noise from downstairs.
By four in the afternoon, after the final stretch, she lay down to rest for a while. She lingered until past five, and it was time to prepare dinner again.
With a wave of Ji Yang’s hand, a medium-sized electric pot appeared on the dining table. She plugged it in, and a large bottle of mineral water instantly appeared in her palm. She poured the water in, added half a block of hot pot base, and let the electric pot cook on its own. She then disappeared.
By the time she came out from a hot shower, the water was boiling, and the hot pot base had melted and was bubbling in the pot. The whole room was filled with the spicy aroma.
Ji Yang took a deep breath and quickly took out various vegetables and meats with both hands.
A large bowl of the tender beef she had marinated earlier, plus lamb rolls, beef rolls, pork belly rolls, fried tofu skin rolls, shrimp paste, baby cabbage, lettuce, spinach…
She happily started eating!
***
At this moment, in 0702 downstairs, they were also eating, but the atmosphere was not so pleasant.
The chubby little boy, hearing his mother call him for dinner, ran out happily. When he saw the food on the table, his little face immediately fell, and he said huffily, “Why is it steamed eggs again! I don’t want to eat it! I want to eat fried chicken, barbecue, and the turkey noodles from the school gate—”
The woman, who had lost a lot of weight, quickly coaxed him, “It’s delicious. I added some chili powder. Don’t you love hot pot the most? This tastes just like hot pot!”
“Really?” the boy picked up the spoon, half-convinced.
“Really. See, isn’t it different from the usual steamed egg custard?” the woman continued to coax, her eyes fixed on her son’s movements.
There was still food at home, but there was really no delicious food. It wasn’t that they hadn’t hoarded, but what they had hoarded had all been eaten by their son.
This child had been spoiled by them and only liked to eat what adults loved: fried chicken, coke, hot pot, barbecue, turkey noodles, sausages, and the like.
Normally, he could eat whatever he wanted, but at this time, the temperature was comparable to the poles, and there were often heavy blizzards and strong winds. A few days ago, she and her husband had tried to go out, but they couldn’t stand it after a few hundred meters and ran back.
The others who went out to look for supplies, which one of them didn’t come back with a pale face, looking like they were about to die? Some even had their ears frozen off, which was very scary.
Therefore, when it came to food, they could only wrong their son.
In fact, the ones who were most wronged were the adults. There weren’t many meat dishes left at home, and only their son could eat eggs. The others could at most have a taste.
Today’s chili powder was something she had found at home. It was a small packet of chili powder that came with a takeout order. She added it to make it look the part, hoping her son would eat more.
But the next second, the boy took a bite and slammed the spoon into the bowl. With a “clang,” the chili-flavored egg custard splashed out, accompanied by the boy’s wails, “Liar, liar! It’s not delicious at all!”
The woman’s face darkened. A sense of powerlessness mixed with anger welled up in her heart, and she finally couldn’t help but want to hit the child.
But the next second, the child’s grandfather blocked her and coaxed him in a pleasing tone, “Alright, alright, if you don’t like it, don’t eat it. Grandpa will get you something to eat!”
The little boy’s eyes lit up, and he threw himself into his grandfather’s arms. “Grandpa, where’s the delicious food?!”
The old man chuckled, pointed upstairs, and whispered, “Come on, Grandpa will take you.”
“Dad!” the woman called out anxiously. Of course, she guessed what was going on. When they went to get snow before, they would pass by the upstairs apartment. The other apartments occasionally smelled of food, which was nothing.
The most fragrant was the fifteenth floor!
Although they could only smell a tiny bit, they had been eating bland food for one or two months and were craving these things. That little bit was something they couldn’t ignore.
A long time ago, her father-in-law had wanted to go and ask for some, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it and stopped him.
She didn’t expect that after so long, her father-in-law was still thinking about it.
When the old man was called out like that, he was also unhappy and said in a low voice, “What are you shouting for? If you had the ability to feed my grandson, would I have to go up there and embarrass myself?!”
“But…” the woman wanted to say something.
Her husband pulled her. “Forget it, forget it, let them go. If they can really get something to eat, it’s our son who will benefit.”
The woman was a little swayed. When she looked up again, she had already heard the sound of the door closing. The grandfather and grandson had eagerly gone out, without even wearing their scarves!
The old man looked to be in his fifties or sixties and was dressed bulkily, but his movements were not slow at all. He took his grandson and went up to the fifteenth floor in a few strides, quickly locking onto 1502 and knocking on the door.
Once, twice!
No one?
The old man increased the force of his knocking in dissatisfaction. “Is anyone home?!”
Still no answer.
Wait!
“Woof woof woof!” A burst of barking suddenly rang out, startling both the grandfather and grandson. The ten-year-old boy quickly hid behind his grandfather.
The old man came to his senses and patted him. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s just a half-grown dog, it’s useless.”
As he said that, he suddenly sniffed the air.
At this moment, the boy also said excitedly, “Grandpa! I smell it, it’s the smell of hot pot!”
The old man swallowed. Even through the thick door, the faint smell still allowed them to accurately identify the food. Hot pot! You had to put meat in hot pot, otherwise it wouldn’t be so fragrant. This family really had a lot of stock.
So, he knocked on the door even harder. “Hey, is anyone there?! Answer me!”
Ji Yang, in her room: …
She blew on a piece of hot beef, dipped it in the dipping sauce, and then quickly coated it with dry seasoning. She wrapped it in a piece of tender lettuce and put it in her mouth.
The first thing she tasted was the cool and crisp lettuce, and the next second, she could taste the numbing and spicy fragrance. After a couple more bites, the tender meat was slowly swallowed.
After finishing this piece of meat, she took a big gulp of her happy fat boy water. As for the noise outside? She was in a good mood, so she couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.
Ji Yang beckoned to Xixi. “Xixi, come here.”
The little one tilted its head, hesitated for a moment, but still chose to listen to its owner and trotted over. However, after just two steps, it paused, then quickly rushed over and barked furiously at the door.
“Woof woof woof woof—”
After a short rest, there was another knock on the door from outside.
Then, a slightly familiar female voice said, “Ji Yang? Are you not home?!”
Ji Yang was puzzled. It sounded like Li Yi from across the hall. What was she joining in the fun for?
At this moment, the old man outside suddenly had a thought. “Girl, does a little girl live here alone?!”
Li Yi suddenly felt a chill down her spine and subconsciously shook her head. “No, she has a brother, but her brother is quite fierce, so I don’t dare to call him.”
***