Chapter 398: Daily life 8.

She stopped when she saw Bai Li sitting with her mother.

"You’re both talking already?"

Mother Yan smiled. "We were discussing you."

Yan Cijin immediately became more awake. "Why?"

Bai Li took another sip of tea. "Your mother thinks I’m old."

Yan Cijin looked at her mother, then at Bai Li. "I agree."

Bai Li stared. "Traitor."

Yan Cijin yawned. "Good morning to you too."

Bai Li looked at her for a few seconds.

Then she smiled. "You look tired."

"I just woke up."

"I can tell."

Yan Cijin walked past her and opened a cupboard. "Do I look bad?"

Bai Li said, "No."

Yan Cijin paused.

She turned slightly. "What?"

Bai Li looked completely calm. "You don’t look bad."

Yan Cijin suddenly seemed less interested in the cupboard.

Mother Yan hid another smile behind her tea.

Yan Cijin cleared her throat. "You say strange things in the morning."

Bai Li shrugged. "I was answering your question."

"I did not ask you."

"Your face did."

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"You’re getting worse."

"Maybe you’re getting easier to tease."

"I am going back to sleep."

Bai Li smiled. "You won’t."

"Why?"

"Breakfast."

Yan Cijin stared at her. "You sound exactly like Mother Yan."

Mother Yan nodded proudly. "Good."

Lili appeared in the doorway a few minutes later, dragging her blanket

behind her. She was half asleep, but she immediately walked toward Bai

Li and climbed into the chair beside her.

"Bai Li."

"Hmm?"

"It’s morning."

"It is."

"I don’t like morning."

Bai Li nodded seriously. "Neither do I."

Yan Cijin looked at them. "You woke up before everyone."

"That doesn’t mean I like it."

Lili nodded. "Exactly."

Mother Yan placed breakfast on the table. "You two have already formed

an alliance."

Bai Li looked at Lili. "We are sensible people."

Lili nodded.

Yan Cijin sat down. "I’m surrounded."

"Correct," Bai Li said.

The morning continued like that.

There was a rhythm to the apartment now. Someone cooked. Someone washed.

Someone checked the plants. Someone checked the storage. Someone opened

the curtains. Someone looked at the water levels. Nobody had formally

assigned these duties. They had simply happened often enough that

everyone knew where they fit.

Bai Li always checked the windows and locks first.

Yan Cijin checked the food ledger.

Mother Yan checked the kitchen supplies.

Lili checked everyone else’s work.

She was surprisingly strict.

One morning she found Bai Li leaving a screwdriver on the table.

"Put it away."

Bai Li looked down. "I’m still using it."

"Then don’t forget."

"I won’t."

Lili pointed at her. "You said that yesterday."

Yan Cijin nearly laughed.

Bai Li looked at her. "Your daughter is dangerous."

Yan Cijin smiled. "Now you know how I feel."

Bai Li picked up the screwdriver. "Fine."

Lili smiled victoriously.

The apartment’s self-sustaining system slowly became more efficient

because Bai Li kept improving it. She found small ways to waste less

water. She separated drinking water from cleaning water. She added

collection containers near the balcony. She repaired an old hand pump

and connected it to a reserve container so that power cuts would not

interrupt basic water use. She reinforced the shelves holding dry food.

She even built a small rack for drying washed vegetables so they could

preserve more food without using extra fuel.

Yan Cijin helped with all of it.

She had a notebook now.

Whenever Bai Li changed something, Yan Cijin wrote it down. Whenever

Mother Yan noticed something running low, Yan Cijin recorded it.

Whenever Lili decided that a plant had grown enough to harvest, she

announced it like an official report.

"Tomato has three red ones," Lili said one morning.

Yan Cijin looked at the notebook. "Three?"

"Three."

Bai Li looked over. "That is good."

"Can we eat one?"

Mother Yan smiled. "Soon."

Lili looked at Bai Li. "Can we eat it now?"

"You already asked Grandma."

"Grandma said soon."

"Then wait."

Lili sighed dramatically.

Bai Li laughed.

Yan Cijin looked at her. "You enjoy making her wait."

"It builds patience."

"You are cruel."

"I’m educational."

Yan Cijin smiled. "Sure."

Some days they spent hours doing nothing particularly important.

That was a strange luxury.

One afternoon, Yan Cijin sat near the window repairing a torn piece of

clothing. Bai Li sat on the floor with a small electric fan taken apart

in front of her. Lili was building a tower from empty food containers.

Mother Yan was sorting dried herbs.

The room was quiet.

The river was visible through the window.

The sound of the fan parts being moved around was soft and repetitive.

Lili’s tower fell.

"Oh."

Bai Li looked up. "What happened?"

"It fell."

"Why?"

"Because it was too tall."

Bai Li nodded. "Good lesson."

Lili immediately started again.

Yan Cijin looked over from her sewing. "You’re encouraging construction

experiments."

"She’s learning."

"From you."

"That’s a good thing."

"You are very confident."

Bai Li looked at the fan. "I’m usually right."

Yan Cijin smiled. "Usually?"

"Most of the time."

"Better."

Bai Li glanced at her. "You corrected me again."

"Yes."

"You’re enjoying this."

"Maybe."

Bai Li went back to the fan. "You’re cute when you’re smug."

Yan Cijin froze.

Mother Yan slowly looked up from the herbs.

Bai Li kept working as if she had said nothing.

Yan Cijin stared at her.

"What did you just say?"

Bai Li looked up. "I said the fan is dirty."

"No, you didn’t."

"Maybe you misheard."

"I heard you perfectly."

Bai Li smiled. "Then why are you asking?"

Yan Cijin’s face warmed. "You’re impossible."

Lili looked up from her tower. "What does smug mean?"

Mother Yan answered before either woman could. "It means very pleased

with yourself."

Lili looked at Bai Li.

"That’s Bai Li."

Bai Li nodded. "Correct."

Yan Cijin laughed despite herself.

Bai Li smiled because she had won.

In the evening, the power went out for eleven minutes.

That was not unusual. The building had a combination of stored power,

generators, batteries, and carefully rationed electricity, but the

system was still patched together from whatever the residents had found.

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TO BE CONTINUED.