My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 20: Aurora

While Xu’s dad was still hesitating, Xu’s mom made the decision for him: “Honey, Dongzi is right—let’s keep the convenience store closed for now.” “But there’s still some unsold fresh produce in the store. I’m afraid it’ll go bad,” Xu’s dad said, looking troubled. “That’s easy,” Xu Dong interjected. “Dad, let’s go to the store right now and bring all that stuff back. We’ve got three empty jars in the yard—we can turn whatever we don’t eat into pickles.” Mrs. Xu immediately agreed, “Let’s do it.” No sooner said than done, Xu Dong grabbed the keys and headed for the garage, with Xu Dad reluctantly following behind. Just as he stepped out the front gate, Xu Dong suddenly noticed the aurora appearing in the sky. The curtain of light swayed gently, radiating a dazzling glow... The appearance of these auroras was undoubtedly linked to Sun flares. He hadn’t expected the aurora to appear on his very first day in Yanjing—perhaps it was due to the high latitude. In his previous life in Luyang, the aurora didn’t appear until two days later, and then it traveled all the way south, reaching the ends of the earth. “Ke Ke, Le Le, come out quick and see the aurora,” Xu Dong called out hurriedly. The whole family rushed outside—even the triplets were carried out. “So this is the aurora! It’s so romantic!” Yang Lina’s eyes were practically sparkling. “Wow, it’s so beautiful,” Ke Ke cheered, clapping her little hands. Watching lanterns in the first half of the night and the aurora in the second—the little one felt like today was simply her lucky day. “It really is quite a sight!” It was the first time any of them had ever seen the aurora, and they were all more or less awestruck. After spending about ten minutes admiring the aurora with his family, Xu Dong and his dad set off. There were many more traffic police on the streets, and some sections were even closed off. In addition, nearly every building’s exterior screen was broadcasting the news, with the anchor repeating emergency bulletins over and over again. There were far more people out shopping late at night than anyone had imagined, and some impatient customers were banging on the store doors, making a loud “bang, bang” noise. When they arrived at their family’s convenience store, several customers had already gathered at the entrance. As soon as everyone saw Mr. Xu get out of the car, they rushed over to him. A young man said emotionally, “Mr. Xu, you’re just in time. I was just wondering whether I should try my luck somewhere else.” Just as Mr. Xu finished greeting his regular customers, the convenience store door swung open. Xu Dong called out, “Shoppers, hurry inside—we’re only open for half an hour.” Several customers rushed in all at once, grabbed shopping baskets, and headed straight for the shelves. At a time like this, no one cared about the prices; they grabbed whatever they needed without hesitation. Xu’s dad paced back and forth inside the store, mainly worried that someone might take advantage of the chaos to steal or hide items; Xu Dong, meanwhile, had turned into a porter, working tirelessly. A dozen or so minutes later, customers began trickling out after paying. Xu Dong took a look around and noticed that most of the purchases were ready-to-eat foods like instant noodles, cookies, and bread, as well as case after case of bottled water. Mr. Xu still didn’t have the nerve to bring up the price hike—he didn’t mention it once. Half an hour later, the convenience store’s doors were closed once more, and a “Temporarily Closed” notice was posted. Xu Dong started the truck again and drove off with all the fresh produce from the store. Back home, Xu Dong’s first priority wasn’t to help his father and the others unload the goods, but to discharge the batteries of both trucks. In his previous life, he had failed to discharge the car’s battery in time, which had resulted in the vehicle’s entire electronic control system being nearly rendered useless. After unloading the goods, Xu’s mother immediately made a video call to her daughter, Xu Ting. She’d tried calling several times earlier without success, but this time the call connected quickly. “Mom, I was just about to call you guys. Is everything okay over there?” Xu Ting must have been outside at the time; the camera was a bit shaky. “Everything’s fine. We’ve stocked up on plenty of food at home, and there’s no shortage of formula for Da Bao and the others.” After saying this, Mrs. Xu leaned closer to the phone screen, trying to get a better look at where her daughter was. “Where are you? Why isn’t Ma Jie with you?” Afraid her mother would worry, Xu Ting flipped her phone to point the camera at a store sign nearby and explained: “I’m right outside the neighborhood supermarket. We just got a notice saying there’ll be a nationwide water and power outage, so everyone’s rushing out to stock up. The streets are even busier now than they are during the day. Ma Jie drove to RT-Mart—the small supermarkets nearby have almost been completely emptied; you can’t really buy anything there.” “What about Lingling and Ma Xu?” “They’re at home filling up buckets—big and small—but who knows how many days this will last?” Xu Ting complained. Xu’s dad chimed in, “Your brother said it’ll probably last about a week.” “Ugh…” Xu Dong quickly stepped in to correct her: “What I meant was that the solar flare will last a week. As for the water and power outages, I don’t think things will be back to normal for at least a month or so. This solar flare is extremely powerful and incredibly destructive—it won’t be easy to recover from.” Xu Dong deliberately exaggerated the recovery time, hoping his older sister’s family would stock up on more supplies and make more preparations. In reality, Luyang City was, after all, the capital of a province; based on his experience from his previous life, water, electricity, and gas services in the city would be restored in less than half a month. “Is it really that serious?” Xu Ting asked in surprise. “I just checked the news online. It’s that bad over in Europe and the U. S. —even the experts said it would take at least twenty years to restore the entire power grid.” Although the news report was fake, the expert’s statement was true—it was from an article Xu Dong had read in a newspaper in his previous life. This time, even Xu’s father was stunned. “The government cut off the power in advance, and yet we still couldn’t avoid it?” Xu Dong once again took on the role of the “Great Prophet”: “I told you—this solar flare is unprecedented in scale. The larger the electrical equipment, the more vulnerable it is. The power outage is just to minimize the damage; it’s not a permanent solution.” “How does that make sense?” “I’m no expert—I don’t understand the specifics either. Something about charged particles—they’re electrically charged to begin with. Anyway, that’s what scientists in Europe and the U. S. are saying.” In the video, Xu Ting’s expression suddenly grew somber—she had clearly bought into her younger brother’s “nonsense.” Xu Dong seized the opportunity to suggest: “Sis, tell your husband to buy more rice—get the big bags. Eight or ten bags won’t be too many; it’d be best to stockpile a few thousand jin. And as for the Jinhua ham and air-dried chicken you brought back, don’t give them away under any circumstances—keep them for yourselves; they’ll come in handy as side dishes.” “I understand. I’ll call your husband right away,” Xu Ting promised solemnly. Mom Xu gave a few more reminders before hanging up; after that, they wouldn’t be able to get in touch for at least half a month. Immediately afterward, Xu’s mother called her eldest son’s family. This time, Xu Dong didn’t pick up, but the conversation was much the same as the one before. In a nutshell, she told them to stock up on food—it wouldn’t cost much anyway, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. At 3:15, the air-raid siren—which had been blaring for over an hour—finally fell silent, and the whole world grew quiet. Yang Lina quickly sent the Ke Ke sisters to bed; they were so sleepy they could barely keep their eyes open. Xu Dong, however, wasn’t the least bit sleepy; he was making final preparations for the impending blackout.