The two of them completely ignored the scattered mess that was Ren Xing on the ground and exited the space. Once outside, Lan Jin set Ren Siqiao down on the sofa and said, "What does Mama always tell you? He's still a person. You can't just pull like that. What if you're playing with other kids and accidentally tear their arms off too?"
Ren Siqiao looked completely innocent. "No, Mama. Mama teach Qiao Qiao control."
Control meant controlling her strength. It was something Lan Jin made Ren Siqiao practice every single day, like homework assigned by a strict teacher. Every time the lesson came around, Ren Siqiao would get visibly frustrated.
But Lan Jin couldn't skip it. Some powers had to be taught to stay hidden from a young age. Ren Siqiao was still so small. If someone ever used her abilities for the wrong reasons, what then?
"Mama gets scared, Qiao Qiao. So try not to do that again. And also, you mustn't tell anyone what happened today. If someone asks, just say you haven't seen your dad. Understand?"
Lan Jin reminded her again, though she knew Ren Siqiao was clever. The child already understood what could and couldn't be said, so she wouldn't mention it at all.
Ren Siqiao nodded seriously. "Got it, Mama. Qiao Qiao never saw Daddy."
Lan Jin gently corrected her. "Not never saw him. Just say we haven't seen him since we moved here. Understand?"
Ren Siqiao nodded again, just as seriously. "Okay, Mama."
Seeing that Lan Jin was just giving a lesson and not actually angry, Ren Siqiao pounced into her arms and began to act cute again. "Mama, Daddy bad."
"Mama knows Daddy's bad. That's why Mama didn't say you were wrong. But Mama got scared. Didn't Qiao Qiao feel scared too?"
"All bad people," Ren Siqiao shook her head. But when she noticed that Lan Jin seemed genuinely uneasy, she hesitated, then said, "Then Mama, Qiao Qiao try be good, Mama no scared."
Lan Jin hadn't expected to gain anything from this conversation. She kissed Ren Siqiao on the cheek and praised her, "Qiao Qiao is such a good girl. Mama's sweet little dumpling. You don't want Mama to be scared, so you try not to do scary things, right? My Qiao Qiao is the best..."
After being praised so much, Ren Siqiao really started to believe she was the best-behaved child in the whole world. She grinned, completely lost in her own little world.
But that still left one problem: what to do with Ren Xing's body in the space. Lan Jin entered and exited the space so often these days, and Ren Siqiao practically lived in it. Having that disgusting thing lying around was just disturbing.
The question was where to throw him. And that really was a headache.
For now, Lan Jin re-entered the space, grabbed a large black plastic bag, stuffed Ren Xing's body inside, and dumped him in the farthest corner away from where she and her daughter usually stayed. Then she splashed some spirit spring water to wash away the bloodstains. Only then did she consider the matter temporarily settled.
After handling Ren Xing, Lan Jin pulled out a bottle of bug spray and thoroughly sprayed every corner of the house. Then she and her daughter hid back inside the space.
August was not only the hottest month of the year, but also the one with the most bugs. While everyone was out clearing the roads, the city had officially entered the insect disaster phase. But because it was already peak mosquito season, no one really noticed the difference right away.
Still, the bumps and welts covering everyone's skin were solid proof. Lan Jin lived on the 32nd floor and still got bitten by a few mosquitoes. So it wasn't hard to imagine what the people on lower floors or the displaced disaster victims were suffering through.
And for those disaster victims who had been relocated, the situation was even worse. Their lives were truly miserable.
There were too many of them. Beds were out of the question. If a family got even one floor mat to sleep on, they were already considered lucky.
But how thick could a mat be? And this was summer. No fans, no air conditioning, and people were still barely managing. Once the temperature dropped even a little, many wouldn't be able to sleep through the night.
Actually, things were already pretty bad.
With no running water and extreme heat, most people hadn't showered in a long time. Everyone reeked, and the smell only attracted more mosquitoes. Everyone's bodies were covered in swollen, itchy welts.
What made it worse was that, due to strange weather over the past few months, the bugs had undergone slight mutations. They didn't look bizarre, but their bodies had grown two to three times larger. And the damage from a single bite had also increased by two or three times.
Before, people with sensitive skin would already get large swollen bumps from regular mosquito bites, and the itching could last for days.
Now it was far worse.
The red, swollen, itchy areas left behind from a bite were as bad as being burned by poisonous fog. Whole patches of skin would become inflamed, and it looked terrifying.
People still at home could at least apply ointments like medicated oil or floral water. But the relocated victims had nothing. When they were evacuated, it was still cold out, and everyone was wearing thick winter clothes. Now there were no clean clothes to change into, and their current situation was beyond difficult.
Once the roads were mostly cleared, people couldn't take it anymore. They began demanding to go back home.
Home?
The authorities were more eager than anyone to send them back. Once the situation was reported to higher-ups and inspections confirmed the area was clear, they quickly arranged for vehicles to transport everyone back to their original locations.
Of course, some people could return, but others couldn't.
The floods had destroyed many buildings, leaving countless people homeless. But they couldn't just be left on the streets. So the government began allocating homes in batches.
Those who had bought their homes outright naturally returned to their own places. Nobody had the right to touch a privately owned home.
Those who were still paying off mortgages were okay too. After all, they had made a down payment and continued with monthly payments. In a time when housing wasn't in high demand yet, their properties wouldn't be touched either.
The first ones to be reassigned were abandoned properties with no heirs. A single 40 to 50 square meter unit would be stuffed with three or four families. Whether they could actually live there comfortably didn't matter. As long as they had a roof, the problem was considered solved.
Of course, these old properties weren't enough to house all the displaced people. So the authorities contacted landlords who owned multiple homes and bought them with contribution points. Then the homes were redistributed to the homeless. This way, landlords got contribution points in return, and disaster victims got shelter.
Naturally, it wasn't free. How the payments would be deducted was something to be planned later.
As houses were reassigned across the city, the three other households on Lan Jin's floor also returned within a week. Strange layouts or not, at least these were their own homes. Living alone in a weird-shaped apartment was still better than crowding in with strangers. So everyone moved back in.
This wasn't just the case on Lan Jin's floor. The 31st and 33rd floors were the same. All the landlords had returned to their own homes.
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I've just finished translating The Villainess Refuses to Repent up to the latest serialized chapter!
(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
Right now, I have one free slot open. I'm thinking about picking another short novel this time — something with either short chapters or a smaller overall word count. It could be another xianxia or maybe a modern story.
I'll share my final choice later in a little blurb about the novel I pick. Stay tuned! (・ω<)