Natural Disaster Hoarding to Survive Daily

Happy 17th Day: We Need to Buy Around Ten Boxes ◎

Several children who grew up in the city have never burned charcoal at home, so they only have theoretical knowledge of such actions.

Zhao Jiahao and Jiang Muyun squat side by side next to a box of smokeless charcoal, studying the instructions printed on the box.

Zhao Jiahao asks her in a low voice, "How much do you think we should buy?"

Jiang Muyun gestures the length, width, and height of a piece of charcoal. "If we want to fill the barbecue grill, it would take half a box for one grill, right?"

Zhao Jiahao thinks for a moment and nods in agreement, "Right. And although it's said to burn for over an hour, that should be under natural conditions. When we use it for barbecue, we'll definitely need to fan it to help with grilling, right? I think if we can get half of the actual burning time, it'll be good enough."

Jiang Muyun appreciates his expertise and says, "So, let's calculate based on the assumption that we'll use up one box of charcoal for half an hour on each of our two grills."

Zhao Jiahao thinks it sounds reasonable and suggests, "Then, should we buy four... five boxes?"

Jiang Muyun feels it's not enough and says, "We'll be leaving in the morning and returning in the afternoon. We might be able to have two or three meals. Besides meat, we bought quite a few vegetables that take longer to cook. Two hours won't be enough for grilling everything, right?"

Zhao Jiahao looks at the bags of barbecue meat and reflects on his own oversight. He raises a new concern, "If that's the case, we'll need to buy around ten boxes. How are we going to bring them back?"

Jiang Muyun takes out her phone and mentions the other two in the group chat.

"Let's buy three boxes for now and ask Wu ge and Wen jie to buy the rest. It'll be convenient to put them in the car together with the water and take it all away on the weekend. That way, we won't have to carry everything up to our apartment again."

The two who couldn't contribute to the big shopping should agree quickly.

Qin Shiwu even offers to buy all the charcoal himself. His SUV has ample space and can fit a lot of things, so Qin Shiwen only needs to take care of buying water.

Li Anxuan, who has always been calm and reliable, agrees, "That's a good plan. Otherwise, we would have to make several trips for over ten boxes of charcoal."

This smokeless charcoal is not heavy, but it takes up space, and transporting it back and forth is indeed troublesome.

With the charcoal issue resolved, the group also bought a box of gas canisters for the portable stoves.

Since the three of them are already carrying a lot of things, they have to open the box of gas canisters and stuff them into their shopping bags. Only then can they bring everything home.

This time, they bought more things than Jiang Muyun and the Qin siblings did at the supermarket before.

They happened to return while the elderly were out for a walk.

The three of them meet Aunt Wang, who is sitting there chatting with someone, at the entrance of the building.

After Aunt Wang learned that they were planning to go camping, the three of them were repeatedly criticized.

What? You already have a good life, and now you want to go to the mountains? Do you know how expensive the pre-cut meat is in the supermarket? Just go to the market, buy the meat, and cut it yourself. In the past, we used to burn charcoal at home. Why are you wasting money by buying it now?

Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan are still new to the building and only know a few neighbors on the 15th floor. They barely exchange a few words with the elderly in the community, so they are completely unprepared. They can’t leave directly, so they can only stand there, nodding and enduring the scolding.

Jiang Muyun, on the other hand, smiles and chats with the elderly, occasionally responding.

“That's right, this meat looks a lot, but in fact, most of it is onions, not filling at all."

"There are only three pieces in a box of biscuits. The packaging makes it look like there are thirty pieces."

"The skewers for the meat are heavier than the meat itself."

"Take a feel of this charcoal. It looks like a big box, but it's so light. It's all hollow inside and doesn't burn at all. They just want us to buy more."

Aunt Wang grabs the box and exclaims that they probably bought fake charcoal, completely unaware that Jiang Muyun is holding her hand underneath the box.

The innocent suffer while the guilty go unpunished.

In the past, at the centralized rescue point where Jiang Muyun was located, soldiers were on duty 24 hours a day to maintain order.

But even so, countless bloody conflicts erupted at the rescue points due to disputes over various supplies and even sleeping positions.

In such circumstances, people couldn't possibly maintain much rationality, and their moral bottom line would steadily decline as the survival conditions worsened.

They carried the boxes of charcoal all the way back home, and they would have to carry the unused charcoal upstairs as well. There was simply no way to hide it from others.

It's not the lack of resources that's the problem, but the unequal distribution.

When extreme cold sets in, with power and gas outages and masses of people facing a survival crisis, anyone who has several boxes of charcoal at home becomes a target.

Moral kidnapping is just the beginning; actual kidnapping is the most common occurrence.

Moreover, the kidnappers usually only choose to help themselves to the ransom and then tear up the ticket directly.

The order of taking the ransom and tearing up the ticket is randomly determined based on the kidnappers’ mood and power.

Jiang Muyun's actions are intended to help everyone survive longer, not to lead them to their demise. Therefore, it is crucial to make adequate preparations in the early stages.

Aunt Wang, the information source in the community, is well-suited to help with this.

Jiang Muyun estimates that within two days, all the grandpas and grandmas in their community will know that young people these days like to engage in activities. They have a good life, specifically going to the mountains to cook and spending money to buy fake charcoal.

The elevator arrived quickly.

Under the admiring gazes of the two neighbors next door, Jiang Muyun waved goodbye to the elderly women at the entrance. She pondered in her mind how to subtly persuade the old neighbors to store some things without leaving any traces.

It's both for human kindness and to prevent accidents later on.

It's definitely too early now because the elderly neighbors don't have a hobby for barbecuing.

Jiang Muyun wasn't that kind-hearted either. She couldn't risk exposing herself to warn others.

So she could only wait until the temperature dropped before figuring out what to do.

As the elevator ascended, the three of them carried their bags and packages to the fifteenth floor.

Jiang Muyun's fridge was already full, but luckily, the fridges in 1503 were empty.

After putting everything in 1503, Jiang Muyun went back home, closed the windows, turned on the air conditioning, took a shower, and followed her usual routine of checking the progress of downloaded TV shows and movies while holding a glass of cold cola.

After adding a few popular foreign TV series to the download list, Jiang Muyun's phone buzzed a few times.

She opened it and found that her roommates had mentioned her in the dormitory group chat, sharing their results from military training—several pictures of black and white arms. They also asked her when she would be back for classes and if she wanted them to pick up her textbooks for her.

Jiang Muyun chatted in the dormitory group for a while, then checked the local group and freshman group she had joined before. Suddenly, she had a brilliant idea for how to subtly remind her neighbors to stock up.

Jiang Muyun exited the messaging app, logged into Weibo, and found a few humorous bloggers to follow.

After clicking the follow button and reading a few jokes, Jiang Muyun, in a good mood, held her phone and clicked on【So Cold on the 15th Floor, I'm So Scared】

Together with Zhao Jiahao, she vividly recounted their adventurous shopping trip to the Qin siblings. In return, Qin Shiwen sent a picture with the caption: The baby has grown up and knows how to forage for food. The mother is very pleased.JPG

Jiang Muyun angrily sent three rows of question marks.

Before the weekend arrived, Jiang Muyun's life had been in a relaxed state.

She would sleep in until she naturally woke up in the morning, take Little White for a walk if she felt like it, go to the wholesale market a little further away from the neighborhood, and see if there were any vegetables and fruits she was interested in and hadn't stocked up on before.

If she came across delicious breakfast items, she would pack a few portions and use the cover of her backpack to sneakily put them in her space, trying to keep them in the best edible condition.

When she returned home, she would check for any packages, bring them back if there were any, and if not, she would buy a few portions of cheesy baked meat from the small store in the neighboring alley.

This store was recommended by Zhao Jiahao.

After the barbecue shopping trip, the relationship among the five people on the fifteenth floor took off.

Sometimes, when Jiang Muyun felt lazy and didn't want to go downstairs, she would ask the group if anyone was coming back from work and needed to go to the courier point.

And sometimes, when Zhao Jiahao and Qin Shiwen felt lazy, they would ask Jiang Muyun to bring something for them when she went to pick up her packages.

This cheesy baked meat was something Zhao Jiahao would always request.

Later, the love for cheesy baked meat spread throughout the entire fifteenth floor.

It was truly delicious!

It was so delicious that Jiang Muyun was even willing to break her piggy bank. While purchasing dairy products in bulk, she also took the opportunity to stock up on some cheese.

I hope the prices of domestic cheese brands can be more affordable.

Once Jiang Muyun arrived home, she would take a shower first and then check the progress of her downloaded mental nourishment.

She would savor a pudding or pour a glass of iced water, then browse the internet to see if there was any news about abnormal weather.

Although Jiang Muyun often got distracted during her searches and shifted her attention to various strange news stories.

When it was mealtime, Jiang Muyun didn't want to move and didn't want to consume the food in her space, so she mostly ordered takeout from various platforms.

After all, she always carried a backpack whenever she went out, and no one knew what she had in it, let alone that she frequently bought groceries but also ordered takeout.

The takeout orders Jiang Muyun placed were not small in size.

With her space available, she always aimed to meet the requirements for the best discounts and promotions, buying more rather than less.

She would take a bite or two of each dish and store the excess.

Then she would proceed to portion fresh meat at home.

She bought fresh pork, beef, and lamb from the slaughterhouse, which came as whole carcasses.

To make it more convenient for future use, Jiang Muyun took advantage of her free time and spread plastic sheets on the floor. She separated the different parts and packed them in food containers.

Due to the bloody scene, Jiang Muyun had been running all three air conditioners in her home and had also opened the living room windows while working.

Otherwise, the smell would probably spread outside, making the neighbors think something had happened at her place.

Jiang Muyun spent several days at home, just lounging around and doing whatever she felt like, without any goals or plans.

After having enough of being a couch potato, the weekend barbecue finally arrived.

***

1. Moral kidnapping = blackmail

2. "Tearing up the ticket" is an idiomatic expression that refers to the act of rejecting or disregarding a previously agreed-upon plan, deal, or agreement. It implies that the kidnappers refuse to abide by the terms set for the ransom or release of a hostage. In a figurative sense, it signifies a disregard for established rules or agreements.