Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Cen Yi climbed up the stairs. When he walked past Qiao Lingxiang, he turned and glanced at her. He opened his mouth and tried to greet her.
But Qiao Lingxiang immediately lowered her head.
Cen Yi had no choice but to keep his mouth closed as he strode past her. He pushed open the door of the staircase and went straight home.
After he left, Qiao Lingxiang lifted her luggage and walked down the stairs, huffing and puffing from the strain.
She walked really slowly. She needed to rest after every few steps but fortunately, she persevered. After alternatively resting and walking, she managed to climb to the first floor before her heart exploded.
Qiao Lingxiang started to think. Based on her physical condition, she should only live in the basements of these apartment blocks.
Actually, most of the people who lived in this estate were middle-class or above before the apocalypse. They were quite particular about their living standards so the estate was decorated quite nicely.
Everyone had a basement cellar below their apartment. Some people had renovated their basement cellar into a small warehouse. Aside from using it as a garage, they would use it to store old furniture they didn’t use.
There was a bed and a set of leather sofas in the Qiao family’s cellar. When they bought these, they were very expensive and new. Two years ago, before the apocalypse, the Qiao family was still well-to-do. Thus, Hou Manrong upgraded the used furniture they had been using for many years even though they were still in good condition.
If they had sold the bed and the sofa at that time, they would’ve been able to sell it for around six thousand.
It would’ve been a waste to throw the furniture away just like that so the furniture was brought to the cellar with plans to sell in the future. The furniture had stayed there all the way until the apocalypse.
As Qiao Lingxiang thought about her living space, she lifted her luggage and panted heavily all the way to the basement. She found her family’s cellar and entered the password to open the shutters. She placed her luggage into the cellar.
The cellar was quite spacious; the Qiao family had two cars parked inside. However, they hadn’t been used for a long time. There was a layer of dust on both the cars.
if they had a choice, they would’ve wanted to drive the cars. But resources were lacking. The Qiao family couldn’t even bear to turn on the lights, much less drive cars that required petrol.
The petrol at petrol kiosks needed to be swapped for energy coupons too.
There were a few emergency lights in the cellar. These lights were on year round so it wasn’t extremely dark such that you couldn’t even see your own fingers.
Qiao Lingxiang was alone. She sat in the dimly lit cellar silently for a long time. Her stomach was rumbling in hunger but there was nothing to eat around her. She could only rub her painful stomach. In this quiet cellar, no other sounds could be heard aside from her stomach rumbling.
After the apocalypse, many people’s standard of living dropped drastically. The Qiao family wasn’t the only family that stopped using their cars; many people didn’t have additional energy coupons to use on their private cars.
Most people relied on walking or riding bicycles when they went out. If not, they would take the bus.
Hence, these basement parking cellars were slowly forgotten.
Just like Qiao Lingxiang. Currently, she felt like a fat rat living in the dark. Wherever she went, nobody liked her.
Waves of sorrow entered her heart. She stayed in the quiet cellar with an empty stomach, her body curled up on the sofa. She felt that she was living in hell. She was just an insignificant fat little ghost.
If she died in this deserted place, her body would take a very long time to be discovered.
The next morning, Qiao Lingxiang woke up to the sound of her cell phone alarm. She didn’t know when she fell asleep. She hurriedly climbed off the sofa and picked up her schoolbag. She shook her jiggly body and walked out of the cellar. She went to the bus stop to take a bus to school.
She had gotten up a little early and hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice since yesterday afternoon. She didn’t eat breakfast this morning either. Thus, her stomach was hurting. When she arrived at the bus stop with a pale face, she realized that there was already a very long queue.
Nobody was driving their own cars now so many people had to take public transport. Hence, every single public bus that passed was packed. Many people purposely woke up early to catch the bus.
But everyone was thinking the same thing.
So, the bus stop was usually packed since early in the morning. The urban management authorities tried their best to increase the number of bus trips to maintain stability but every single bus was still packed with people like sardines in a can.
The buses were already like this so you could imagine what the train was like. There was no point in going to the train stations at all; they were jam-packed with people. You could only see waves of heads moving around.
Qiao Lingxiang clutched her stomach and inched her way forward with the crowd. Her limbs were feeling weak. Everyone tried their best to maintain order as they queued to board the buses.
A few buses passed the bus stop because they were already packed. When it was Qiao Lingxiang’s turn to board the bus, someone squashed beside the door shouted at her.
“Don’t get onto the bus! You’re so fat; you won’t be able to squeeze in. Three more people from the back can come in!”
Qiao Lingxiang looked up in shock. She turned and saw the three skinny people behind her dashing forward and jumping onto the bus quickly. They hung close to the entrance of the bus.
Indeed, if she boarded the bus, no one else could board after her. If other people boarded, at least three of them could enter the bus…
She clutched her stomach. Her lips were trembling in anger. She lowered her head and took out her cell phone from the pocket of her school uniform. She looked at the time. She spent too much time waiting for the public bus so if she kept wasting time, she would be late for her lessons.
She glanced at the people at the bus stop. They were all smiling at her with their noses wrinkled. They seemed to be surprised that there was still someone so fat in a world with a food shortage.
This was a miracle.
Qiao Lingxiang had endured such gazes ever since she was young. However, she never seemed to be able to get used to this jeering. She always felt a hint of humiliation and inferiority as she stood amidst the mocking gazes.
Her negative emotions tightened like a string. It got tighter and tighter…
Qiao Lingxiang lowered her gaze and slowly calmed down. She decided that she wouldn’t wait for the next bus anymore. She would walk to the school directly.
The journey from her estate to Xiang City High School normally took around ten minutes by car. If she walked at a speed in which she needed to pant three times for every step she took, she would need an hour to reach school. This was already the best-case scenario.
Also, she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and her stomach started hurting this morning. Hence, before she could walk the distance of one bus stop, she sat down wearily on a long bench along the pavement.
She started feeling resigned to her fate. So what if she was late? Her grades weren’t good anyway. She still persevered in her studies because Xiang City High School still provided three meals a day for their students.
Even though the portion sizes of the meals had shrunk tremendously.
Behind her, a bunch of male students wearing Xiang City High School uniforms was chatting happily as they walked over. Yesterday, they were all asked by the school to go home and they couldn’t squeeze into the public bus this morning. Hence, they decided to walk to Xiang City High School together.
Everyone was full of vigor and energy as they walked with light footsteps. This morning in Xiang City was filled with vitality.