Torrential rain

The force-17 typhoon lasted two full days and nights before finally stopping.

Only after confirming that the typhoon had really stopped did the family of four pack away their tents and spread their bedding back out in their own rooms.

After putting away the tents and tidying the rooms, Jiang Ci called Si Beichen over to help take down the shade cloth.

The extreme heat had passed, and the temperature would gradually drop. They no longer needed the shade cloth, but they still had to take care when putting it away. What if it came in handy again someday?

They pulled back the curtains and looked outside. Downstairs was a complete mess, with nowhere even to set foot. Rubbish of every kind covered the ground.

Looking around, they could see that some lucky households still had intact windows, their glass unbroken.

Some unlucky households were already using basins to throw water out of their windows, one basinful after another.

Without the glass to keep it out, rainwater had poured into their rooms. Once the typhoon stopped, their first task was to drain the water.

The torrential rain continued unabated, and the wind was still strong, but at least it was no longer as terrifying as it had been over the previous two days. The temperature was no longer so high, and the water problem had been solved too.

They just did not know how long this rain would last.

Everyone felt weighed down, unable to shake the feeling that things were not that simple.

Battered by the extreme heat and the typhoon, they no longer dared to entertain much hope for their lives.

They feared that the greater their hopes, the greater their disappointment would be.

In any case, they had to prepare for the worst.

With the typhoon over, Jiang Ci and Si Beichen decided to go downstairs together and take a look.

They changed into their old clothes, put on masks, and headed out.

When they reached the second floor, they found the corridor packed with people.

Rather than hurry downstairs, they stood at the stairway and listened for a while, soon learning the reason.

Previously, because of the heat, the residents of the eighteenth floor, the top floor, had moved into their cars in the underground parking garage.

When the typhoon arrived, they had thought they had safely escaped disaster. Who would have expected rainwater to pour into the basement soon afterward, flooding the garage?

Left with no choice, they had fled upstairs.

They had intended to return to the eighteenth floor, but halfway up, they happened to see the typhoon tear the roof off a building in the residential complex opposite. Frightened, they no longer dared to go up.

They feared that the roof of their own building might be torn off too, and that if something happened, they would not have time to escape.

After discussing it, they had settled on the second floor.

For one thing, the second floor would not flood so quickly. For another, it would be easier to escape if anything happened to the building.

Their settling on the second floor soon caught the attention of the residents on both the first and second floors.

After asking around, the residents of those two floors learned that the underground garage had already flooded.

If basement level one had flooded so quickly, could the first floor be far behind?

With the torrential rain outside showing no sign of stopping, once the first floor flooded, could the second floor be far behind?

And so, through this combination of circumstances, the residents of three floors-the eighteenth, first, and second-had all gathered in the second-floor corridor to discuss what to do.

After listening from the third-floor stairway and understanding what had happened, Jiang Ci and Si Beichen did not stay to hear more. They abandoned their plan to go downstairs and headed straight back home.

Jiang Ci thought that the roofs in Jiaxing Residential Complex probably had not been torn off, so the eighteenth-floor residents only needed to return to their own homes.

As for the first and second floors, they would certainly find ways to move upstairs.

Whether they stayed with someone else or moved into empty apartments whose occupants had died would depend on their own choices.

Just how high would the water eventually rise, and how many households would need to move upstairs?

Time would naturally give everyone the answer. Jiang Ci could not say for certain how deep the water would get either.

In any case, their eleventh floor would definitely be fine.

As long as these people did not come and bother her.

Wang Xiaohui lived on the second floor.

After learning that the underground garage had flooded, she was not worried.

Her fiancé, Zhou Junming, lived on the ninth floor.

She only needed to move into Zhou Junming's home with her mother.

At this chance to move straight into Zhou Junming's home, she secretly rejoiced.

As soon as the typhoon passed, she and her mother hurried to pack their belongings, preparing to move into Zhou Junming's home on the ninth floor.

Meanwhile, Zhou Junming, whom Wang Xiaohui was longing for, was being lovey-dovey with Zhao Yunqiu.

Ever since Hu Cuihua had agreed to their relationship last time, Zhou Junming had moved straight into Zhao Yunqiu's home.

Hu Cuihua did not go and ask him to come home either. She understood her son, and this was part of her plan.

Her son had carried all the food she had worked so hard to earn over to Zhao Yunqiu's home, so she might as well give Zhao Yunqiu her son too.

She would just let Zhao Yunqiu support her son for her.

Now that she no longer opposed their relationship or asked for food, Zhou Junming would only remember how good his mother was and feel that he had let her down.

She could play the good person and let her son see how good she was, while also letting him eat back the food he had carried over. Given enough time, she could even make Zhao Yunqiu show her true colors.

It achieved several things at once, and she was happy to have an easier time herself.

Zhou Junming was grown up, and she could no longer control him. From now on, she also intended to interfere less in her son's affairs and let him do as he pleased.

Over these past days, she had thought it through. With extreme heat, typhoons, and torrential rain coming one after another, who knew how much longer she would live?

Why worry so much? She might as well enjoy life more. If she suddenly died one day, at least she would have no regrets.

After Zhou Dafu died, she had met Xiang Bo, who lived alone, at the crematorium. He had been hired as a cremation worker at the same time as her.

After learning that her husband had died, Xiang Bo had always been very considerate toward her, and they often traveled to and from work together.

Xiang Bo lived downstairs from her on the eighth floor and had even hinted at his feelings for her. But back then, all her thoughts had been on Zhou Junming, so she had firmly rejected his advances.

After Zhou Junming moved in with Zhao Yunqiu and stopped coming home, she felt lonely at home by herself and got back in touch with Xiang Bo.

Life as a woman on her own was truly too hard. She might as well find someone to remarry.

Xiang Bo was still as good to her as ever, and this time, she did not reject his advances.

After dressing up, Hu Cuihua was just about to head downstairs to see Xiang Bo.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

Puzzled, she wondered whether Xiang Bo had come to see her first.

To her surprise, when she opened the door, she found Wang Xiaohui and her mother.

Looking at the bags of various sizes in their hands, she asked in confusion, "What happened?"

After calmly explaining the whole situation to Hu Cuihua, Wang Xiaohui asked bashfully, "Auntie, where's Junming? Isn't he home?"

She craned her head to look inside but saw nothing.

Hu Cuihua glanced at the luggage Wang Xiaohui and her mother had brought upstairs and could just make out bags of food among it.

She warmly ushered them inside. "Junming went out to take care of something. I'll go get him now. Come in and sit for a while."

Wang Xiaohui and her mother suspected nothing. They followed Hu Cuihua inside and were seated on the sofa.

Now that water was no longer scarce, Hu Cuihua poured each of them a glass.

Instead of going downstairs to see Xiang Bo, she went straight upstairs to Zhao Yunqiu's home to find Zhou Junming.

It was time to put a little pressure on her dear son and Zhao Yunqiu.