Two or Three Events in the Last Days 004
Chapter 4
Fortunately, the natural gas supply in the residential complex had not been cut off. Jing Lin prepared breakfast and let it cool. When he noticed that Le Le was still asleep, he finally felt that something was wrong.
Children generally liked to sleep, but Le Le was a bit of an anomaly. Normally, he would wake up shortly after Jing Lin got out of bed. Yet now, nearly an hour had passed since Jing Lin woke up, and Le Le was still sleeping. Under normal circumstances, Jing Lin would have assumed that Le Le simply wanted to sleep in for once, but given the unusual events of the past two days, his anxiety immediately returned.
He hurried to the bedside and watched Le Le’s little belly rise and fall with each breath. Gently, he nudged him. “Le Le?”
There was no response. Jing Lin immediately increased the force of his push and tried again. “Le Le? Time to get up.”
Le Le’s eyelids twitched slightly, but they did not open. He only weakly called out, “Uncle…”
Jing Lin: “Le Le, get up. Uncle needs to put your ointment on.”
It took quite a while before Le Le finally gave a faint “Mm.” However, judging by the fact that he didn’t even open his eyes, it was clear that he had not really understood what Jing Lin was saying and had merely responded instinctively.
Jing Lin’s heart burned with worry. Le Le’s condition was definitely not ordinary sleepiness. Yet with the hospitals in such chaos and with almost no money left on him, there was no way to get proper medical treatment.
Jing Lin poured some boiled water into a washbasin. He was about to mix in some cold water, but after a moment’s thought, he stopped. Instead, he sat there fanning the hot water until it cooled to a comfortable temperature. Then he dampened a towel and wiped down Le Le’s body. Throughout the process, he called Le Le’s name from time to time. Although Le Le never opened his eyes, he always managed to respond. When Jing Lin asked whether he felt unwell, it took him a long time to answer. In the end, he only said that he was very sleepy and wanted to sleep.
The red bumps covering Le Le’s body still showed no signs of fading. Jing Lin examined them carefully. While they had not improved, at least no new bumps had appeared. Other than his overwhelming drowsiness, everything seemed normal.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
In his current state, there was no way to feed Le Le breakfast. After finishing his own meal, Jing Lin began packing.
Since the apartment was a rental, where all the appliances had already been provided, Jing Lin only needed to gather their clothes and personal belongings. Because his hometown was not far away and he returned once every month to look after the family house, he did not keep many possessions in the city. Between his belongings and Le Le’s clothes, everything fit neatly into two suitcases.
After he finished packing and looked at the two suitcases sitting in the middle of the living room, he suddenly found the situation somewhat absurd. He asked himself whether he was overreacting. After all, he had only listened to a few words from that man and had immediately started thinking about the apocalypse. Then he reassured himself that it was fine. He could simply treat it as one of his normal trips home, except that this time he was bringing a few more things with him.
Pushing aside those wandering thoughts, he packed up the food he had purchased the day before. Finally, his gaze fell on the large stock pot in the corner. Because of the way he had been raised, he was not the type of person who wasted things casually. The pot had only been bought a couple of days earlier, and leaving it behind felt wasteful enough. More importantly, it was still more than half full of water. Pouring all of that out would be an even greater waste.
After thinking it over, Jing Lin walked into the bedroom and nervously reached out to check Le Le’s breathing. Once he felt him breathing, Jing Lin took all the money he had on him and headed out.
Jing Lin did not know where there was a second-hand market nearby. He planned to ask someone at the entrance of the residential complex, and by sheer coincidence, he ran into that slightly chubby young man again. The man was carrying several bags of various sizes, and his family members were carrying bags as well. Through the bags, Jing Lin could see that they had bought a considerable amount of salt.
This was Jing Lin’s third time meeting the man. Before Jing Lin could speak, the man greeted him first. “Heading out, brother?”
Jing Lin nodded. “Actually, I was looking for you.”
The man looked surprised. “Looking for me? What’s the matter?”
Jing Lin explained that he was planning to return home, then added, “I only filled that water the night before last from the tap. It’s drinking water, perfectly clean.”
When the man heard that Jing Lin was going to give him a large amount of water, he was overjoyed and repeatedly thanked him. The man was now completely convinced that the apocalypse was coming. As city residents, their only regular water source was tap water. Once the tap water stopped, they would have to rely on purchased water. But if things got bad enough, there might not even be anywhere left to buy water. As a result, the thing his family had stockpiled the most was water, followed by salt.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The man had also bought several large barrels to store at home. He lived in the neighboring building. After asking Jing Lin to wait for a moment, he quickly returned with his family carrying several containers that could each hold twenty liters. His family looked somewhat helpless. They did not believe his theories about the apocalypse, but they still humored him.
The man also handed Jing Lin two bags of salt. His wife could not help but laugh when she saw it, probably because she had never seen someone give salt as a thank-you gift before. Jing Lin, however, did not laugh. He felt as though he was becoming just as obsessed as the man. If the apocalypse really did arrive, those two unremarkable bags of salt could save lives. So he thanked them very seriously.
After the man’s family carried away all of the water Jing Lin had stored, Jing Lin tilted the stock pot so that the remaining water inside would evaporate more quickly. Then he headed out again.
After asking the man’s family, he now knew the location of the second-hand market. It was fairly far away. Under normal circumstances, it would take about twenty minutes by car and at least an hour on foot. With the sun blazing overhead, Jing Lin took the sun umbrella he had recently bought and carried it with him.
That morning, Jing Lin had only observed the outside world from his apartment window and the entrance of the residential complex. The moment he stepped out of the main gate, he saw that the roads were packed with vehicles, parked at all sorts of odd angles. Many people were pushing carts, and there were others holding signs offering cart-pushing services, with rates listed according to distance. Traffic police officers were directing the chaos. People came and went amid the constant noise, and there were plenty of people carrying supplies just like the man’s family had been.
After watching for two minutes, Jing Lin opened his umbrella and headed toward the second-hand market.
After walking nonstop for more than an hour, Jing Lin finally found the market. He asked for directions to the bicycle section and saw that, in addition to regular bicycles, there were several pedal-powered cargo tricycles that looked almost brand new.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin asked about the prices. The asking prices were all fairly high, over two hundred yuan. He checked several different vendors, and most were charging around the same amount. Jing Lin had less than two hundred yuan on him in total, and after a great deal of bargaining, he finally managed to buy one for one hundred and fifty yuan.
Riding a pedal tricycle was different from riding a regular bicycle. Someone who could not ride a bicycle could often learn to ride a tricycle immediately. On the other hand, many experienced bicyclists found tricycles awkward because they could not get used to controlling the front end and would easily veer off to one side if they were not careful. Jing Lin did not have that problem. When his grandfather was still alive, the family had owned a cargo tricycle for hauling goods, and Jing Lin had always known how to ride one.
After paying, Jing Lin rode the tricycle back. Because of the traffic congestion, the roads were difficult to navigate, and the trip back took even longer than the walk there. He parked the tricycle beside the security booth and asked a guard to keep an eye on it before hurrying upstairs.
Le Le was still asleep in the bedroom. Jing Lin gently shook him and waited. When he heard Le Le murmur “Uncle” with his eyes still closed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had been genuinely afraid that something might have happened to him.
Jing Lin carried the suitcases downstairs, then went back upstairs and placed two buckets inside the stock pot before carrying it down and loading everything into the tricycle. Finally, he went upstairs one last time, carried Le Le on his back, opened his umbrella, and headed downstairs.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 2nd chapter for the week. I did say it was a slow start, right?
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Avid BL reader, editor, and translator with 1 story completed (CLWP) and 1 story in progress (TELD). Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
