In weather this hot, the police were human too, and probably all working from home. Who would brave fifty-degree Celsius heat and risk dying of heatstroke or dehydration to come deal with a theft?
If you couldn't protect your own belongings, you could only accept your bad luck when they were stolen.
Three days later, the power company finally repaired the lines and restored the electricity.
But the government issued orders rationing water and electricity.
Water and electricity would only be supplied for eight hours a day, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
A craze for buying solar panels and storage batteries swept through the city.
Factories couldn't produce any new storage batteries or solar panels at all, so existing stocks sold out very quickly.
In the end, prices were even driven sky-high, and people still needed connections to buy them.
Everyone felt the crisis.
With solar panels and storage batteries, shops gradually began opening at night again.
No one ran street stalls anymore. The businesses still opening were supermarkets of all sizes and pharmacies.
Jiang Ci also went out that evening to browse the supermarket and bought some snacks sold by weight. Cooking oil, rice, and flour had long since been snapped up.
The older men and women who hadn't managed to buy any crowded around the supermarket owner, asking when more stock would arrive.
The owner said he didn't know when he could get more stock. Food was in extremely short supply now, and he couldn't get any at all.
They would close once they cleared their remaining stock, too. The weather was too hot, and nothing kept well.
Ground-floor shops in particular had been overrun by rats and cockroaches from who knew where, and there was simply no way to keep them all out.
Rice and flour soon developed little bugs even just sitting there.
Those who hadn't managed to get food were full of complaints. As soon as they heard the owner say he didn't know when more stock would arrive, the supermarket descended into chaos.
Even those who had grabbed food couldn't get it out. Others snatched it away before they could even pay.
Jiang Ci finally squeezed out of the supermarket, but someone had knocked away the small bag of biscuits she had just had weighed amid the crush.
Still, she didn't care about that little bit.
This was nothing yet. These people would only grow crazier in the future.
After some thought, Jiang Ci decided to visit Fragrant Orchid Cottage.
She had just reached the first basement level to get her little Mini when she saw two grown men prowling around the parking garage suspiciously.
Without giving anything away, Jiang Ci walked over to her car and started it. Finding that the fuel was still there, she ignored the two men and drove straight out.
The two men watched Jiang Ci drive away with pained expressions. After making sure no one else was around, they huddled together and whispered for a while.
Zhang Qiang and Zhang Shuai were brothers who lived on the seventh floor of this building.
They had been casing the parking garage for several days without seeing anyone drive out.
In weather this hot, everyone stayed home, at most coming downstairs for a little activity at night.
This was the first time in days that someone had driven away.
To avoid complications from delaying too long, or having someone else drive away like Jiang Ci had.
The two decided there was no time to lose. They would steal the fuel tonight.
Some time ago, they had stolen a gasoline generator from the ninth floor. It needed gasoline to generate electricity, and they were running low at home, so they had set their sights on the residential complex's garage.
These owners had no use for their cars now anyway. Leaving the fuel in the cars was a waste, so it might as well benefit the brothers.
Jiang Ci neither knew nor cared about any of this. As long as they didn't steal from her, she wouldn't meddle.
Fragrant Orchid Cottage had only thirty villas in total, all occupied by the wealthy or powerful.
The entire villa compound had very comprehensive security equipment.
But after the extreme heat arrived, many security guards had quit and gone home, so things were no longer what they had been.
Still, a few wealthy households retained their housekeepers and bodyguards.
Dad Si was the former mayor and had already retired. He was living out his retirement, so there were no housekeepers or bodyguards at home.
When Jiang Ci arrived, Si Beichen was playing cards with the two elders.
Si Beichen had installed solar panels on the third-floor balcony, so even during the current power outage, they had enough electricity at home.
Jiang Ci was forced to join the card game.
They were playing Bluff, and Si Jianhua was the best. None of the other three could outbluff him. He certainly lived up to his experience as mayor.
Jiang Ci was the second best. Wen Qianyue looked at her in astonishment, never having imagined that her well-behaved, outstanding daughter would be so good at bluffing. She couldn't quite make sense of it.
Actually, the credit mainly went to her good friend Wu Ya.
Wu Ya especially enjoyed playing Bluff and often dragged her boyfriend, Jiang Chengrong, and Jiang Ci into playing with her.
After playing so much, Jiang Ci had picked up a few tricks herself.
Si Jianhua won this round again. Looking smugly at Si Beichen, he mocked, "All's fair in war."
Then he turned to Jiang Ci, who also won often, and praised her generously. "You're good, daughter! You've got the same flair I had back in the day."
Si Beichen gave a quiet "Tch." Seeing his unconvinced expression, Jiang Ci couldn't help bursting out laughing.
Si Beichen stared at her expressionlessly until she felt inexplicably guilty, and her laughter abruptly stopped.
Si Jianhua scolded in displeasure, "You little brat, just try bullying your sister!"
Jiang Ci cleared her throat twice and asked, "Have you checked the food you put in the basement? I heard there have been a lot of cockroaches and rats lately. You really need to keep on top of pest control down there."
Si Beichen said seriously, "I check every day. There really have been a lot more cockroaches and rats, but fortunately, I spotted them early and got rid of them in time. Still, the food won't keep if this goes on."
Wen Qianyue suggested, "Why don't we move all the food upstairs?"
Si Beichen shook his head. "There'll still be rats and cockroaches upstairs. Their sudden increase probably has a lot to do with the weather. They're more adaptable than humans and reproduce quickly, so it's hard to get rid of them completely."
"Ah, humans have done too much damage to the environment. Global warming-now we're getting our just deserts."
Si Jianhua tossed down his cards and stood with his hands behind his back. "I'm done. No more cards."
Si Jianhua and Wen Qianyue went back to their room to rest.
After some thought, Jiang Ci said to Si Beichen, "If you trust me, let me keep all the food in the house for you. I have a good place to store food. It's very safe."
Si Beichen asked in puzzlement, "What place?"
Jiang Ci looked at him without speaking.
Seeing that she didn't want to tell him, Si Beichen didn't press her. He had only asked casually, and it didn't matter whether he knew.
But food was extremely important now. If anyone discovered it, there would inevitably be danger.
So he asked seriously, "Will it put you in danger or cause you any trouble?"
Jiang Ci breathed a sigh of relief and assured him, "There definitely won't be any danger, and it won't be any trouble at all. I'll bring over a set amount of food every week."
Si Beichen eventually agreed. Knowing she didn't want him to know where the place was, he simply carried everything out and loaded it into the car, then let Jiang Ci drive away.
Under cover of darkness, Jiang Ci made several trips back and forth before she finished transporting everything.
She hadn't expected Si Beichen to have prepared so much food, all substantial staples: rice, flour, cured meat, and canned food, all of excellent quality.