Chapter 6: Renovations
It was late at night when Jiang Zao arrived home. Although she had told her grandmother to go to bed early, Jiang Wuni was waiting for her on the small path in front of the house with a flashlight, just as she always had.
The roar of the car engine triggered a chorus of barking dogs throughout the village, and lights turned on in the courtyards of several houses.
Jiang Zao rolled down her window. “Open the courtyard gate. I’m parking the car inside.”
After she parked the car and got out, Jiang Wuni circled the vehicle with her flashlight, clicking her tongue in amazement. “My goodness, why did you get such a big thing? It must have cost hundreds of thousands.”
Jiang Zao smiled. “Several million, actually.”
Jiang Wuni’s jaw nearly dropped. Hearing this, she couldn’t stop grinning. “Then are we going to the market tomorrow? So your Aunt Zhao will stop bragging to me about her son buying a Mercedes in the city…”
Jiang Zao opened the trunk and started moving things inside.
“No. And don’t go around the village showing off about my new car. Once the house is renovated, we’re not going out.”
Jiang Wuni helped her, muttering, “Other people buy a car and immediately set off firecrackers, wanting everyone for miles around to know. You, on the other hand, are hiding it like a wanted criminal.”
After everything was unloaded from the car, Jiang Zao asked, “Where did you put the things I sent back before? And the bicycles?”
“They’re all here, all here!” Jiang Wuni pulled her into the main hall. “Look at the time. Stop unpacking. Dumplings for arrival, noodles for departure. I’ll whip up a quick bite for you so you can eat and sleep!”
“Is there water? I want to take a bath first.”
“Yes, the hot water has been ready for you for a long time.”
In recent years, most rural households had running water and flush toilets, but since she was always in the city and didn’t live at home, they hadn’t installed them. Jiang Wuni was certainly not willing to spend the money.
Therefore, the house still had a dry toilet. Although it stank to high heaven and was crawling with wriggling maggots in the summer, the good thing was that it didn’t need flushing. Unlike in the city, where once the water and power were cut off, there was nowhere to dispose of waste, and no one dared to go out to throw away trash.
In her previous life, Jiang Zao had experienced such an embarrassing situation. She had even considered putting it in a bag and throwing it downstairs, but the thought of the tragic fate of the mother and daughter in the opposite building made her give up the idea, fearing that some ill-intentioned people would find out and come to her door.
Sometimes, tradition has its merits.
Jiang Zao sighed as she sat in the bathtub.
It was just that this bathing method could be improved. The house didn’t have a water heater yet. The bathwater was boiled in the kitchen, poured into a thermos, and then brought in to be poured into the bathtub for washing.
They used to use a large wooden bucket for water, which Jiang Zao had been using since she was in school. Over time, a layer of greasy dirt had built up inside. Jiang Zao had told her to throw it away countless times, but Jiang Wuni wouldn’t listen. In a fit of pique one year when she came back from university, she went to the town and bought a large plastic basin for herself, forbidding anyone else to use it. If it was going to be dirty, she would be the one to get it dirty.
Jiang Zao picked up the towel draped over the side of the basin to wipe her face, muttering, “When did you buy a new towel…”
Although she only came back for a few days each year and found the house dirty and uncomfortable, there was no doubt that as the hot water soothed her skin.
Jiang Zao felt a long-lost warmth.
When the noodles were served, that warmth turned into a sense of security.
Jiang Zao temporarily pushed all thoughts of zombies and the apocalypse to the back of her mind, devouring the food and mumbling, “I’m… going to the town tomorrow… to get us a water heater…”
***
Since they were installing a water heater and solar panels, Jiang Zao thought they might as well replace the wiring in the house. The shop that sold solar water heaters also offered replacement services. After making the arrangements, she found a bricklayer and scheduled him to come to the house at one in the afternoon. As for the doors, windows, and solar panels, she spent half a day in the town but didn’t find anything she liked. She planned to go to the county town to look after lunch.
She rode her bicycle to and from the town, considering it exercise. The workers arrived just as she got home and finished her meal.
Jiang Zao gave her instructions one by one.
“The surrounding wall must be at least three meters high, all built with red bricks. The cellar needs to be leveled with cement and have simple lighting, drainage, and ventilation.”
The workers were all migrant laborers. They looked at each other in confusion at her requests. A man who seemed to be the foreman stepped forward.
“This… does the wall need to be that high? It’s higher than the gate. This… will affect the feng shui…”
Jiang Zao said sternly, “I hired you to work. Can you do it or not? If not, I’ll find someone else.”
The foreman’s eyes darted to the SUV parked in the courtyard, and he smiled sheepishly. “We can do it, we can do it.”
Hearing that she was going to the county town, she couldn’t possibly ride her bicycle. Jiang Wuni sidled up to her mysteriously.
“Hey, you’re going to the city. Take me with you. At least I should have a say in choosing the new doors for our house, right?”
Jiang Zao: “If you go, who will watch them work?”
Furious, Jiang Wuni stormed off with a flick of her hand.
“You can eat in the city by yourself this afternoon!”
Jiang Zao was very efficient. That afternoon, she went to the building materials market in the county town and chose a blast-proof door. She also planned to replace the glass with bulletproof glass. The factory she chose specialized in civil air defense projects, but the price was steep, nearly ten thousand yuan per square meter. She had already arranged for someone to come and take measurements tomorrow, and it would be installed in half a month at the latest.
As for the solar panel installer, he could come tomorrow.
Hearing the price of the bulletproof door, Jiang Wuni clicked her tongue repeatedly. “Why buy something so expensive? It’s just a door. And it’s bulletproof. It’s not like we’re at war…”
Finally, she asked with some unease, “Zao’er, you’re not hiding something from me, are you?”
Jiang Zao was eating in the courtyard. Because of the wall renovations, her grandmother’s chickens were only let out in the evening after the workers had left. They were now clucking around her.
She picked a piece of meat from her bowl and threw it on the ground.
“No, don’t overthink it.”
“Are you done eating? Have the last bit from the pot.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t making my food?”
Jiang Wuni came out of the kitchen and firmly pressed the spoonful of rice into her bowl. “I made too much for the workers.”
Who serves preserved meat and potato rice to workers?
Jiang Zao smiled but didn’t say anything.
When Jiang Wuni turned around, a shadow of worry crossed her brow.
Less than a month left. I have to hurry.
For the next few days, Jiang Zao didn’t go anywhere, supervising the work at home. Fortunately, the workers were fast, and they finished everything in a week. When they were laying the last layer of the wall, Jiang Zao embedded the broken glass from the old windows into the cement. After it dried, anyone who wanted to climb the wall would have to think twice.
After sending the workers off, Jiang Zao was about to take stock of her supplies when there was a knock at the courtyard gate.
The new gate was connected to the wall, two heavy, bulletproof cast aluminum doors. Jiang Zao had also installed a surveillance camera at the entrance.
Before Jiang Zao could get there, Jiang Wuni had already pulled the gate open a crack. Seeing a familiar face, she immediately beamed.
“Oh, Aunt Zhao, you’ve come to visit.”
“Yes, I’ve seen you changing your gate and building your wall these past few days. It looks so impressive. I wanted to come and have a look. Zao’er is so successful now…”
Jiang Zao placed a hand on the half-open gate, her body blocking the visitor’s path.
“Auntie, the house is a mess, we haven’t finished cleaning up. I won’t invite you in to sit.”
While the work was being done these past few days, there were always villagers gathered at the gate, whispering. Fortunately, all the supplies Jiang Zao had bought were piled up in the house and covered with a tarp, so no one had discovered them.
In the apocalypse, keeping a low profile and not revealing one’s strength was a survival lesson she had learned in her previous life.
“Then why don’t you come over to my place for a cup of tea? My son is on leave today and just came back from the city. Come over and sit for a while, let’s chat!”
She vaguely remembered Jiang Wuni mentioning on the phone that this Aunt Zhao’s son was an auxiliary police officer at the town’s police station. He was recently divorced for the second time, in his forties, and still hoping to find a young, unmarried woman. Even with these conditions, many people in the village were eager to set him up.
Jiang Zao felt a wave of nausea.
“No, thank you. We’re busy at home and can’t leave.”
With that, she closed the gate, giving no opportunity for further entanglement.
Outside the gate, Aunt Zhao spat on the ground. “Pah! You even look down on my son’s conditions. You’re truly blind.”
After the person left, Jiang Wuni chased after her. “Why not go?! What’s wrong with visiting and having a cup of tea?!”
“If you want to go, go yourself. I’m not stopping you from having a late-life romance.”
“Hey, what kind of talk is that from a child!”
Jiang Zao went inside to check her supplies. Jiang Wuni followed her in and saw her carefully examining the medicine box by her bed.
“How much of this blood pressure medication do you have left?”
“Just that one box. I was thinking of going to the clinic to get some more in a couple of days when I’m free.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zao’s expression changed instantly. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“You didn’t ask. What’s wrong?”
Jiang Zao pushed her bicycle out of the main hall.
“Give me your ID and medical insurance card. I’ll go to the town to get it.”
“Do you need me to go with you?”
“No need. You stay and watch the house. Don’t open the door for anyone.”
There’s still half a month until the zombie outbreak. It should be enough time.
Jiang Zao thought to herself as she pedaled her mountain bike furiously.
