My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 29: Unusual Weather

Ever since the convenience store closed, Xu’s father had seemed completely out of sorts; he couldn’t get anything done right and would zone out from time to time. Seeing this, Xu Dong quickly gathered some high-quality lumber and a full set of carpentry tools, asking his father to make some small stools and chairs for the grandchildren. After a few days of woodworking, Mr. Xu finally snapped out of it, and a smile returned to his face. On March 7, water and electricity were restored almost simultaneously to the street where the Siheyuan was located, and the water trucks—which had only been around for a few days—disappeared again. As for the internet, it would likely be a while longer before it returned. On March 12, universities across Yanjing announced the resumption of classes one after another. After nearly three months of wild play, the Ke Ke sisters were finally heading back to school with their backpacks. The Siheyuan suddenly became much quieter. Early the next morning, the Square Dance Troupe from Xu Ma’s neighborhood was planning a tea party; Wang Xiujuan came over personally to let us know. After all, everyone had been busy lately, and they hadn’t gotten together for two or three months; this time, they’d also take the opportunity to discuss resuming their square dancing. At 2:00 p. m. , Mrs. Xu took Yang Lina out; Mrs. Xu was holding Da Bao, while Yang Lina held Er Bao. Yang Lina had been practically dragged out by Mrs. Xu this time. Seeing that her daughter-in-law was always staying home and never going out, Mrs. Xu wanted to take her out so she could integrate into the neighborhood as soon as possible. The Camellia Club meeting was held at the senior activity center in the neighboring Champs-Élysées Mansion complex. By the time Mrs. Xu arrived, the room was already nearly full. The room was filled with the buzz of chatter, giving Yang Lina the illusion that she had returned to school. Wang Xiujuan personally came forward to greet her—after all, she still owed her a favor from the formula incident! “Old Zhang, you’re here! Oh, Nana’s here too. If I’m not mistaken, this is your first time over here, right?” Mrs. Xu nodded and said, “Ke Ke and the others are at school, and there’s nothing much to do at home, so I brought her out for some fresh air.” “Hello, Aunt Wang!” Yang Lina greeted her. “Welcome, welcome! Come visit us often whenever you have time!” “We certainly will,” Yang Lina replied politely. Wang Xiujuan quickly turned her attention to the children. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you—the kids have grown so much! Is this Da Bao?” “No, this is Er Bao. The one my mom is holding is Da Bao,” Yang Lina corrected her. “Why didn’t you bring Xiao Bao along too?” Aunt Xu explained, “Xiao Bao just got over a cold a while back, and it’s too hot outside, so we didn’t bring him along.” “That’s true. The weather’s been really strange lately—scorching hot during the day but freezing cold at night. A lot of people have caught colds,” Wang Xiujuan agreed. “You’re absolutely right!” Mrs. Xu exclaimed. “We’re running the air conditioner during the day and the heater at night. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life.” “I’ve actually heard that the climate over in Xinzhou is just like this. All right, I won’t keep you any longer—I still need to attend to the others. Please find a spot and make yourselves at home.” Wang Xiujuan left after saying that; after all, as the dance troupe’s leader and the organizer of the tea party, she had plenty of details to attend to. Mrs. Xu, accompanied by Yang Lina, went straight to three fellow dancers with whom she was usually on good terms; naturally, there were various cliques within the Square Dance Troupe. “Old Zhang, come sit over here. Is this your youngest daughter-in-law?” “That’s right!” Aunt Xu then introduced each of them to Yang Lina: the one in the yellow shirt was Aunt Sun, the one wearing glasses was Aunt Liu, and finally, the one in the floral blouse was Aunt Qian. The group played with the children for a bit, then chatted about everyday matters, and soon the conversation turned to the unusual weather. “Have you heard? This unusual weather is all because of that solar flare from a while back,” Aunt Qian said mysteriously. “Where did you hear that?” Aunt Xu was skeptical—these were turbulent times, and rumors were flying everywhere—but she had to admit that the weather really had been unusually strange lately. “It’s true. My niece’s husband teaches geography at a university. According to his theory, it seems some layer of the atmosphere has been damaged, and the Earth is about to face the end of the world.” “Pfft… What kind of nonsense is that? ‘The end of the world’? Why don’t you just say the Earth is about to explode?” Mrs. Xu looked utterly dismissive. With several children at home and their good life just beginning, she couldn’t stand hearing such talk. Hearing this, Aunt Sun couldn’t hold back any longer and joined the conversation: “I heard that Sun flares have brought some kind of mysterious power, and the Earth’s spiritual energy is about to be revitalized…” Yang Lina couldn’t help but burst out laughing and teased, “Aunt Liu, your grandson must have told you that—he’s been reading too many novels.” Aunt Liu gave an embarrassed chuckle: “No wonder that little rascal’s eyes have been bloodshot lately—turns out he’s been staying up late reading novels. Just wait till I get home; I’ll give him a good scolding.” Just then, Aunt Sun spoke up, her face grave: “Don’t take these unusual weather patterns lightly. Something big is definitely going to happen.” “What do you mean?” Mrs. Xu asked hurriedly. Aunt Sun instinctively glanced around, then whispered: “I have a relative who’s the director of a grain warehouse. According to him, the higher-ups are conducting strict inspections of grain warehouses nationwide and are tracking all outbound records from the past month.” Once everyone had taken in the news, Aunt Sun continued her analysis: “Think about it—if something major weren’t about to happen, would the higher-ups really need to make such a big deal out of this?” The group at the table finally began to feel a bit anxious, including Yang Lina. “Think about it—has it rained in Yanjing even once since the Lunar New Year?” “Yanjing naturally gets little rain in winter—what’s so strange about that?” Aunt Liu, a lifelong Yanjing native, was best qualified to speak on the matter. Aunt Sun shot her a glance and pressed further, “It’s only March, and today the temperature is almost hitting thirty degrees—how do you explain that?” “Well…” Aunt Liu was at a loss for words. She’d lived in Yanjing for most of her life, but she’d never actually encountered such bizarre weather before. Ma Xu grew anxious and asked nervously, “Could it really be the end of the world?” Aunt Sun shook her head. “It’s not quite that bad, but this year’s harvest is definitely going to be poor—it’ll either be floods or severe drought. Everyone should stock up on some extra grain just in case.” Mrs. Xu let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thankfully, her family ran a store; although the convenience store was temporarily closed, they still had plenty of rice left. “Old Zhang, I remember your family runs a convenience store, right? Do you still have any rice left to sell?” Aunt Sun asked, feigning casual interest. Lately, the big supermarkets in the city had been imposing purchase limits, so buying rice by the whole bag like they used to was basically impossible. “I do have some rice left. If you’d like some, I can get you a couple of bags.” Although she was reluctant, they were acquaintances after all, so Mrs. Xu didn’t feel right turning him down. “That’d be great. I’ll stop by your place later to pick them up.” Aunt Sun smiled with satisfaction—all her effort hadn’t been in vain; she’d finally achieved her goal. Aunt Liu immediately chimed in: “Old Zhang, can you set aside two bags for me, too?” Aunt Qian, of course, made the same request. Mrs. Xu was a bit cautious. “Sure, two bags each—that’s all I have.” Seeing the puzzled looks on the three women’s faces, Mrs. Xu explained, “To be honest with you, my convenience store just received a rectification notice from the Health Bureau a while back. It’s been closed for business, so there isn’t much rice left in the store right now.” “Oh… is that so?” “I didn’t really want to mention it—it’s an embarrassing situation. We didn’t maintain proper hygiene at the store.” Aunt Xu then went on to recount the story of the dead rat in detail. “It might be a competitor who saw how well your business was doing and deliberately set you up.” “What terrible luck!” “You’ll have to be careful next time!