Lu Qingyuan didn't even know what he was thinking—
Somehow, he'd gone from a guest to a helper.
He helped carry out the leftover cement debris, then passed things like gas tanks, food, and mattresses down from above.
Thanks to his help, the job Chu Yian had expected to finish by nightfall was done several hours early.
The living room had no air conditioning and was stiflingly hot.
Lu Qingyuan was drenched in sweat, water dripping from his hair. His shirt clung to his skin, outlining the contours of his muscles.
That kind of physique? He could totally be a model! He'd be famous in no time!
"Where's the shower?"
He looked toward Chu Yian.
"Upstairs."
Chu Yian pointed and led him up.
The house used municipal tap water. It wasn't until Lu Qingyuan was ready to wash up that he realized—
No water.
No power and no water—
Two problems hitting all at once.
Chu Yian had no idea how her friends in the city were coping.
She immediately went downstairs, pulled up a bucket of cold water from the well, and shouted,
"Teacher Lu, will cold water do?"
"Yes."
Lu Qingyuan nodded.
In this kind of heat, he didn't need to be picky.
But then came another problem—no change of clothes.
There was no way Chu Yian would have anything that fit him.
So after washing, Lu Qingyuan could only put on the same soaked clothes again.
Luckily, it was hot enough that even wet clothes would dry in about an hour.
By then, Chu Yian had already cleaned up the living room.
Stepping outside, she saw him standing under the trees, letting his shirt dry in the breeze like a human clothes rack.
She pulled the last watermelon from the well, split it open, and handed him an enormous piece.
Lu Qingyuan accepted it. "I need to go into the city."
Chu Yian glanced at his now-dry clothes and nodded while munching on her own watermelon.
"Okay!"
Teacher Lu really did need to stock up on some essentials.
"I'll call a car."
Chu Yian opened her ride-hailing app.
But in weather like this, getting a ride was basically impossible.
The entire afternoon passed with no available cars, and the area was too remote for buses.
"Teacher Lu, my trike's still parked on the road to the city."
Assuming no one stole it or it hadn't been wrecked by the sun, it should still be there and could take them into town.
7:40 PM.
The weather was still stifling, but at least the sun wasn't directly overhead anymore.
The two of them decided to head out at night.
Chu Yian had a backpack on, and on her shoulder she carried a rake—the kind farmers used.
It looked exactly like the one Zhu Bajie wielded in old Chinese tales.
She'd found it in the attic and been genuinely shocked.
"What are you bringing that for?"
Lu Qingyuan frowned, eyeing the thing on her shoulder.
"For self-defense. There's a stretch of road around here that's prone to muggings."
If she didn't have company tonight, there's no way she would've dared go out this late.
Actually, this nine-foot rake wasn't even her weapon.
She was bringing it for Teacher Lu.
She remembered vividly how he'd once wielded a Fangtian halberd in an underground parking garage, singlehandedly taking down a group of muggers like a legendary general.
So a rake shouldn't be much different, right?
Zhu Bajie and Lü Bu—they're both high-damage characters.
Lu Qingyuan still had no idea the rake was for him.
He simply followed Chu Yian's directions, heading back toward the site of the crash.
The scene hadn't been cleared yet.
By the glow of the streetlights, fragments of the wrecked vehicle and traces of blood were still visible.
And parked about ten meters from the explosion site, under a few dry, withered trees, was a vehicle.
Her trike.
Chu Yian spotted it from afar and lit up with joy.
She ran toward the Foton Five-Star, but then saw—
All the tires were flat.
The heat had done it.
With no shade, and the temperature hitting record highs, the rubber tires had burst.
There could also be other hazards inside the vehicle.
"Forget it. Don't get in."
Lu Qingyuan stopped her as she was about to open the door.
"Then what do we do?"
Chu Yian looked at him.
Go back?
"We walk to the city."
No hesitation. No doubt.
Nothing seemed capable of stopping Lu Qingyuan's determination to head into town.
He wanted to leave that badly?
Chu Yian froze for a moment, then quickly came to terms with it.
Teacher Lu didn't even recognize her, after all. Wanting to leave was completely reasonable.
If he was that set on going, well, his legs didn't grow from her body.
Still, she could take advantage of the trip to have Teacher Lu act as her personal bodyguard.
Her vehicle was busted, and she needed to head into the city to buy new tires, maybe grab some extra supplies.
With the weather getting worse, this might be her last trip into the city.
From the suburbs to downtown, it took 20+ minutes by car, 40 by trike, and on foot?
Chu Yian figured it'd take at least several hours.
Lu Qingyuan's legs were long and his stride fast.
Chu Yian often had to jog just to keep up.
After half an hour, they reached the construction site.
Chu Yian glanced over instinctively—
The whole place was eerily quiet.
No cranes. No mixers. No workers.
The site was surrounded by yellow caution tape.
What happened?
Was there an accident?
Her expression changed and she rushed toward the site.
Right at the entrance was a notice:
NOTICE:
Due to ongoing extreme heat and a citywide power outage, construction is suspended.
For any inquiries, contact Mr. Zhang at 135XXXXXXX.
Oh.
No accident. Thank god.
Chu Yian let out a sigh of relief.
Lu Qingyuan caught up. "Find something?"
"No. I know some of the workers here. When I saw the caution tape, I thought something happened. Glad it's nothing serious."
Nothing serious?
Lu Qingyuan looked inside.
Though the site had only one or two dim lights on, the scene was clear enough—
The whole area was covered in cement dust and debris, a mess everywhere—
Except for one spot.
Near a metal scaffold on the left, there was a patch of ground that had been meticulously cleaned.
His gaze lifted.
If one looked closely, they'd see the scaffold was bent, and a large scrap of cloth was hanging from a protruding iron bar.
A picture began to form in Lu Qingyuan's mind—
Under the blistering sun, a worker stood on the scaffold, heat and fatigue overtaking him.
He lost his balance and fell.
His body hit multiple beams on the way down—
Clothes ripped, skin torn, organs crushed—
Until he hit the ground with a final thud.
Life: over.
That's why the caution tape had gone up.
Why the worksite had shut down.
Lu Qingyuan looked at the cleaned patch again. Then at Chu Yian.
Seeing she hadn't noticed anything, he said nothing.
Chu Yian had already walked ahead.
Noticing he'd fallen behind, she turned and called out—
"Teacher Lu, hurry up! We've still got a long way to go!"