Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

The Old Clan Leader’s expression turned grave upon hearing Qi Mo’s words.

“After the power was restored yesterday afternoon, the village received a notice at 4:30 p.m., telling us to prepare for storing water and food. Last night I talked it over with Village Chief Liangtian, and we called the kids outside the village to let them know—if things get worse, they should all come home. Those who don’t farm should buy extra supplies. As for water, our village has water cellars.” The Old Clan Leader spoke while frowning.

The Old Clan Leader’s daughter-in-law spoke up. “Dad, I think the problem might be more serious than we realize.”

“The government messages are probably sugarcoating it—otherwise, people would panic right away. So, we need to buy water, the kind in big barrels, and hoard food—the more, the better,” Wang Miaomiao said.

In the past, it was just her, her husband, and the old man living at home.

Their son and daughter lived in the city and only came back during holidays, so they didn’t use much food.

But if things turn out like they’re saying—no water, no electricity, no food—the kids will definitely come back, and then they’d go through way more food.

Their son’s family of three, plus his wife’s parents…

If their son brings his wife and child back, they can’t just ignore the grandparents on his wife’s side.

The eldest grandson’s maternal grandparents had always been good to their son’s family, and she wouldn’t just leave them out.

Luckily, her daughter was dead set against dating—no amount of nagging worked, and her daughter simply ignored her as a mother.

Annoyingly, she wouldn’t even come home for New Year.

She once went as far as hiring a fake boyfriend to bring home for the holidays—an absurd thing to do.

Now thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t so bad. No partner meant no children. If the world went to hell, there’d be no burdens holding her back—she’d be better off on her own.

The Old Clan Leader sighed. “I held a meeting this evening, telling everyone to buy more barrel water and stock up on food.”

Qi Mo added another reminder, “That’s right. Having too much food might mean some going bad, but not having enough means starvation. And water? Extra might waste a bit of money, but without it, people will die of thirst.”

Baby Yan finished half a bowl of rice and half a piece of braised pork.

Qi Mo polished off his small bowl of rice, ate three pieces of braised pork, and a few pieces of stewed radish.

Luckily, his appetite had been great lately—just right.

After dinner, Qi Mo offered to help clean up, but Wang Miaomiao grabbed him and the old man and headed straight to Huo Jingzhong’s house.

It was sweltering hot, and both Huo Jingzhong and his wife, Zhang Mei, were inside, fanning themselves.

“What’s your problem, Huo Jingzhong? Liangzhou’s wife is back—hurry up and give back the courtyard key. You’re an outsider; Liangzhou gave it to you as a favor, not so you could keep someone else’s place locked up!” The Old Clan Leader struck his cane against the ground and shouted with full force.

Huo Jingzhong, seeing the Old Clan Leader standing at the door, jumped in surprise.

“Elder Clan Leader, what brings you here? Come in and sit down!” Huo Jingzhong quickly stood up.

Wang Miaomiao had no respect for Huo Jingzhong. His family was poor, and he never tried hard—either drinking a little or picking up scraps of work every day, never seriously earning a living.

“Hand over the key now—don’t drag your feet. Are you trying to take control of someone else’s property? No wonder Liangzhou never gave you the keys. If he had, your whole family would’ve taken over the house by now!” Wang Miaomiao fired back.

Zhang Mei saw the Old Clan Leader and Wang Miaomiao berating her husband and immediately tried to defend him. “That key was given to our Lao Zhong by Liangzhou. Of course, we’ll return it to Liangzhou. But this ‘wife’ of his—neither man nor woman.”

“Shut up! Before you insult others, think about your own son. Isn’t your eldest son Jiayun also—” Wang Miaomiao didn’t hold back.

When Qi Mo heard the name Jiayun, he frowned and cut in. “Jiayun? Huo Jiayun is from your family? That explains why you have such a grudge against me. Last year before the New Year, my husband told me about a kid from his hometown who needed money for school fees. Just to help out, my husband arranged a job for him—pruning plants and tidying up around the place.”

"The job was really easy. The housekeeper came to clean every two days, and he only needed to do a quick tidy-up of the living room. But guess what? After just a week at our place, he tried to make a move on my father-in-law..." Qi Mo hadn’t finished speaking when she was interrupted.

Huo Jianian's veins bulged as he roared, "That’s a lie! My brother isn’t like that!"

"What am I lying about? The thing is, he failed miserably—he stripped naked and crawled into my husband’s bed, only to be dragged out by our bodyguards and thrown out naked. If I hadn’t felt sorry for him and tossed him some clothes, he’d have been all over the news." Qi Mo sneered.

After all, if he had succeeded, he would’ve made headlines.

Luckily, the story got buried by day three.

Qi Mo suspected Huo Liangzhou did it on purpose. He could’ve quashed the news immediately, but he waited until it spread everywhere, making it too embarrassing for her to marry him.

She glanced at Huo Jingzhong—what kind of trash family is this? The key should’ve been taken back long ago. No wonder someone like Huo Jiayun would get such ideas—they’re all coddled and entitled.

Wang Miaomiao gasped, "Seriously? He pulled a stunt like that? So shameless! Liangzhou is too kind not to report it to the clan. Otherwise, he should’ve been locked in the ancestral hall for at least ten days."

"Dad, such a morally corrupt person should be expelled from the clan. Our Huo Village can’t tolerate this kind of homewrecking snake," Wang Miaomiao said coldly.

Her own husband had once been stalked by some gold-digging floozy—the type you can’t just beat off with a stick, always there to disgust you.

Luckily, they stuck together through it.

Elder Clan Leader Huo Donglu glared at Huo Jingzhong. "Give up the key. If that boy returns to the village and wants to stay, he’ll cool his heels in the ancestral hall for two weeks. No change? Boot him out. Our Huo Village won’t tolerate such vile scheming."

Seeing the elder’s anger, Huo Jingzhong quickly said, "Elder Clan Leader, I’ll return it, I’ll return it right now. Go get the key!"

If expelled, the whole village would freeze him out, and his family would be excluded from any benefits. Even if they couldn’t take his house, his grandson would be stuck with the worst scraps of land.

Huo Jingzhong didn’t dare risk it.

Zhang Mei reluctantly opened the TV cabinet drawer in the living room, then suddenly panicked. "Old man, the key’s missing!"

"How the hell did it disappear? I always kept it in this drawer!" Huo Jingzhong rushed over to check.

The entire drawer had been rummaged through—everything else was there, except the key to Huo Liangzhou’s courtyard.

"What happened?" the Elder Clan Leader demanded.

Huo Jingzhong slumped to the floor. "It’s gone... How? How could it disappear?"

"Elder Clan Leader, it’s gone for good," Huo Jingzhong admitted.

Qi Mo frowned. "When I came home today, I saw Huo Jianian jimmying my lock with the key. You stole it, didn’t you?" She turned to the purple-haired boy beside her.

Huo Jianian stiffened his neck and retorted, "Wasn’t me!"

"Spit it out, brat! That key’s worth a fortune!" Huo Jingzhong lunged at his grandson.

Huo Jianian finally snapped, "I lost it! I borrowed the key to show off the place, but I dropped it on the way. We searched, but the key we found didn’t work!"

Qi Mo turned and left without another word.

The Elder Clan Leader snorted and walked away.

Wang Miaomiao shot Huo Jingzhong a disdainful look. "You can’t even handle something this simple. No wonder you’re broke as a joke."

On the way, the Elder Clan Leader looked at Qi Mo and said, “The key is lost. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I’d guess it’s real. Qi Mo, what do you think we should do about this?”

Qi Mo glanced at the Elder Clan Leader and replied, “We’ll treat it as lost. I’ll change the lock.”

“That works. From now on, don’t associate with Huo Jingzhong’s family. They’re a lost cause—full of talk, no action,” the Elder Clan Leader sighed.

Wang Miaomiao quickly caught up and asked, “Momo, I’m heading out to stock up on food and water buckets this afternoon. Do you want to come along?”

“Aunt Wang, I won’t go this afternoon. I just got back and want to clean the house first, scrub out the water cistern, and fill and seal it with clean water,” Qi Mo answered.

Then he added, “I’ll go to town tomorrow to buy supplies. We can go together then.”

“Alright, I’ll call you tomorrow. You’ve been traveling—get some rest,” Wang Miaomiao said with a smile.

Qi Mo took a few steps, then turned back and asked, “Aunt Wang, does anyone in our village know how to build a kang (heated bed)?”

Wang Miaomiao replied, “Oh, that’s easy. My husband knows how. We’ve got spare cement and bricks left over from building our kitchen. I’ll have him help you when he’s free.”

“How about tonight? During the day, we need to store food and water. Aunt Wang, stock up as much as you can. The weather might turn extreme—very hot or very cold—so lay in extra clothes, blankets, and firewood,” Qi Mo reminded before heading home.

Upon returning, Qi Mo placed the baby in the fancy playpen and went to the storage room, quickly finding the backup lock for the gate.

He then began removing the old lock from the gate and installing the new one.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had installed and picked locks after the apocalypse—and his strength had increased significantly—he’d have struggled with this job.

With the lock changed, the four-meter-high wall, topped with glinting shards of glass, now made the place more secure.

But that wasn’t enough. Qi Mo planned to line the inside of the wall with glass shards and nails so that anyone climbing in would get shredded.

Fortunately, Qi Mo wasn’t particularly afraid. He could handle himself in a fight—as long as he wasn’t ambushed.

The old key and lock were stored away. Qi Mo opened the valve of the water storage cellar and drained the stale rainwater inside.

Then he closed all the doors and windows on the first floor, put on waterproof gear, grabbed a high-pressure water gun and a lantern, and went to the small living room on the second floor before stepping onto the well cover.

The Huo family’s water storage cellar was quite large, located along the right wall—a whole line of them.

Eight meters long, three meters wide, and three and a half meters high.

When full, it could hold roughly eighty tons’ worth of water, enough for Qi Mo to use for a long time.

The cellar was sealed with well covers. Praying one open exposed a ladder below.

The water level was only about half a meter deep, and by the time Qi Mo descended, it was mostly empty.

The high-pressure water gun was connected to the upstairs faucet.

He hooked the lantern on the ladder and used the water gun to wash away the moss and grime from the cellar walls…

After cleaning the walls, he started on the floor.

An hour later, the floor was clean as a whistle. Qi Mo inspected everything once more.

He rinsed the cellar again before climbing out.

Closing the cellar, he peeled off his waterproofs. The air was damp and chilly down there.

He first checked on the baby in the living room. The little guy had worn himself out playing and was now asleep. Qi Mo covered him with a small blanket.

After closing the rainwater collection valve, he started filling the cistern with tap water.

Qi Mo went to check the basement again. It was spacious and stayed cool even in summer. If the weather became unbearably hot, he could bring the baby down there to stay safe.

The purchased grains could also be stored in the basement.

Back in the living room, Qi Mo opened all the windows and doors. A gust of hot wind rushed in, finally bringing that summer heat.

He couldn’t find the right spot for the heated bed.

The study had no chimney and would need wall demolition.

Same problem with the tearoom.

Qi Mo didn’t want to break any walls—without proper tools, he might damage the walls.

Finally, his attention turned to the dining area, which was close to the kitchen and had a reinforced glass door.

Outside the door, there was a flower bed.

He planned to seal off this door with bricks, leaving only a small window. There were spare small windows in the storage room.

Qi Mo carried all the purchased grains to the basement for storage.

Just as he came back upstairs, he heard fussy crying—the baby had woken up. Qi Mo quickly went over.

After giving the baby a diaper change and washing its face and hands, he gave the baby a bottle.

Closing the doors and windows, Qi Mo settled the baby in the stroller.

Outside, the sunset blazed red, painting a pastoral scene...

The neighbor’s house was about ten meters away from Qi Mo’s. They were on good terms with both Wang Miaomiao and Huo Liangzhou.

"Mrs. Liangzhou, welcome back! When will your husband return?" a woman greeted.

Qi Mo recognized her—after all, they were neighbors who had met a few times.

"Auntie Chen, my husband won’t be home for some time," Qi Mo replied with a smile.

Chen Xia nodded. "If you need anything while you’re alone, just call me. Oh, do you have vegetables? If not, help yourself to my garden. Where are you headed now?"

Qi Mo smiled. "Auntie Chen, I’m taking the baby for a walk around the neighborhood. By the way, they're saying we might not get rain for the next year, and water will evaporate quickly. You should stock up on food and water, and make sure your cistern is well-sealed. Without electricity is one thing—but no water would be disastrous."

"I know—we got the government alerts already. Your Uncle Liangyu went to market to sell crops and hasn't returned yet," Chen Xia said with a laugh.

Soon, Qi Mo pushed the stroller with the baby to an organic farm about a kilometer away.

Quails, pheasants, Luhua chickens… there were plenty of varieties.