Lan Jin cradled her child in her arms, ready to head out. But as luck would have it, the moment she stepped outside, she ran straight into her ex-husband and his mistress, who were in the middle of moving.
Her mood soured instantly. Without even glancing their way, she walked past them and entered the elevator. She had no time or interest to waste on them. Her indifference, however, left Ren Xing and Meng Ying standing awkwardly in the hallway, both clearly displeased.
"Brother Xing, what was that? Did she seriously not see us?"
"Not possible. She's not blind." Ren Xing was bone-tired from a day of moving and had zero interest in trying to decipher Lan Jin's thoughts. He just wanted to get inside and collapse. Their apartments were right across from each other anyway, so it wasn't like Lan Jin could avoid them. At the moment, he really didn't feel like picking a fight with her.
Still, that didn't mean her reaction wasn't strange. Most ex-wives, if they saw their ex-husband and his mistress moving in across the hall, would probably explode on the spot. But Lan Jin had acted like she didn't see them at all. Wasn't that... weird?
Meng Ying itched to stir the pot, but seeing how exhausted Ren Xing looked and how little he cared to escalate things, she reluctantly dropped the idea. Once the elevator doors closed, she turned and followed him inside.
Lan Jin, of course, didn't care what twisted thoughts those two were having. She had taken one look at the apartment complex across the street and already decided: she was going to move there.
The unit she had in mind was fully wired and plumbed. The walls were painted, the lighting, kitchen cabinets, and sink all installed. When she stepped inside, she finally remembered why it looked so ready. Back then, even though she'd disliked the slow elevator in this building, she'd still had some money to spare and had hired a renovation company to do up the place with the plan to rent it out. Somewhere along the line, she had completely forgotten about it.
Which worked out perfectly. Now she could move in with barely any extra prep.
Even better, the renovation had been completed a year ago. The place had been sitting vacant all that time, which meant any lingering formaldehyde had long dispersed. It was actually safer to live in now.
Still, the doors and windows needed reinforcement. In the apocalypse, flimsy locks could never hold back human desperation. Lan Jin took out her phone and immediately contacted a specialist to replace the existing doors and windows with reinforced glass and double-layer security doors.
The work was straightforward. The contractors came that same afternoon to take measurements, and by the next morning, everything was installed. The whole job didn't even take two full days.
With that settled, she headed to a real estate agency that afternoon and listed her other four apartments. It didn't matter if the price was a little lower, as long as they sold within the month.
All these errands were local, so bringing Qiao Qiao along wasn't too much of a hassle. But once it started raining and snowing and she had to run around even more, having a toddler in tow would slow everything down.
Lan Jin crouched down and said gently, "Qiao Qiao, Mama wants to pack your toys inside the space. You can go in and stay there for a little while, okay? It's warm inside, and you can play alone for just a bit."
Qiao Qiao didn't even need to think. "No! Qiao Qiao stay Mama!"
"It's cold out. If Qiao Qiao gets sick, what do we do?"
"No sick. Qiao Qiao strong!"
Lan Jin sighed. There was no persuading her. So she tightened her coat, wrapped her daughter more securely, and braved the cold wind with Qiao Qiao bundled against her chest. If at any point Qiao Qiao showed signs of getting cold, she'd put her into the space immediately.
She began her stockpiling based on everything she remembered from the first year of the apocalypse.
First came the emergency kits: ten each of earthquake and tsunami kits. Then fifty protective suits for the toxic fog period. These weren't easy to find in stores, so she ordered them online.
Once the orders were placed, she rented a nearby warehouse and made her way to the farmer's market.
In the insect disaster phase, pesticides were essential. She bought three hundred bottles. Then she added several bags of cement. If she found any bug holes in walls or doors, sealing them with cement might buy her precious time.
Next were raincoats and rain boots for the monsoon season. She got fifty adult sets for both men and women. For kids, she only bought five sets per size, since children grow quickly. The gear was durable and not likely to tear, so there was no need to hoard too many.
And then there was food. She had no idea how long the apocalypse would last, so she planned for the worst.
She bought five hundred bags each of rice, millet, sticky rice, black rice, brown rice, and purple rice. With so many varieties, she could rotate flavors over time. Plus, rice would become a hard currency in the apocalypse. Stocking up was never a bad idea.
She followed with five hundred bottles each of different cooking oils: canola, walnut, olive, peanut, soybean, sesame.
Then legumes: two hundred jin each of soybeans, mung beans, red beans, black beans, kidney beans. Not only could they be cooked and eaten like staples, most of them could also be sprouted to substitute for vegetables.
Next came the flours: two hundred bags each of low-gluten, high-gluten, wheat flour, starch, cake flour, bread flour.
She added one hundred jin each of potato starch, sweet potato starch (both wide and round), vermicelli, rice noodles, and pea starch.
For sweeteners: three hundred jin each of white sugar, brown sugar, black sugar, rock sugar, and honey.
Then came sauces: five hundred bottles each of soy sauce, vinegar, light soy, dark soy, beef sauce, Lao Gan Ma, rice-mix sauce, and various zero-calorie sauces.
She added one hundred jin each of chicken powder, MSG, cumin, chili, pepper, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon.
She and Qiao Qiao weren't fond of green onions, but just in case, she still bought fifty jin total of large and small green onions.
Garlic and ginger were essential: five hundred jin each. Garlic for its antibacterial use, ginger to ward off cold. Better to have too much than too little.
Finally, she ordered ten thousand bags of salt. In the apocalypse, salt would be more valuable than gold. It was cheap now, so she stocked up without hesitation.
For dried goods, she bought one hundred jin each of black fungus, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, and seaweed.
For comfort food: fifty boxes each of hot pot base, sour fish stew, golden broth beef, and spicy crayfish seasoning.
Though she had black soil in her space, what if she messed up planting vegetables? Just in case, she also bought a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruit to store for later.
It took her a full day at the market to complete her grocery list.
Naturally, buying such a massive haul caught the shopkeepers' attention.
One of the vendors glanced at her order sheet and joked, "Planning to open a supermarket? You've got just about everything!"
Lan Jin smiled dryly and nodded. "Yeah, I took over a shop and I'm setting up a little grocery at the community entrance. Stocking up now so I can open right after New Year."
Whether they believed her or not didn't matter. It was just a cover story.
The shopkeepers were too thrilled about clearing inventory and making big sales before the holidays to question her. They happily took the warehouse address and arranged delivery.
With the farmer's market done, she moved on to an outdoor supply store.
She bought five life rings, ten life jackets, two inflatable rescue boats, and five rubber dinghies.
Then she added: five tents, three axes, ten small knives, five climbing ropes, five binoculars, two drones, three radios, ten waterproof flashlights, three alcohol stoves, ten portable gas stoves, fifty boxes of gas canisters, ten boxes of alcohol fuel, five induction cookers, and ten walkie-talkies.
Some of it might not end up useful, but the quantities were low and the cost manageable. Better safe than sorry. Since she wasn't buying in bulk, the store owner didn't ask many questions. She left her warehouse address, and the items were arranged for delivery.
After all that, she had only a few hundred thousand yuan left. While waiting for deliveries, she indulged a bit and ordered a mountain of junk food: fried chicken, burgers, pizzas… Hundreds of each combo and single item, spread across several stores. She placed the orders online, then drove to pick them up.
Sure, it was all unhealthy, but once she went without them for a while, she'd start craving them. So she made sure to stash plenty for the long road ahead.