Chapter 404: Daily life 14.

One strike.

Done.

Then she closed the window.

Yan Cijin inspected the frame.

"Weak again."

Bai Li nodded. "Tomorrow."

"You’re going to fix it tonight."

"No."

Yan Cijin looked surprised. "Really?"

Bai Li nodded. "Tomorrow."

Yan Cijin smiled. "You’re learning."

Bai Li smiled back. "Don’t get used to it."

They returned to the twentieth floor.

Lili was awake, sitting on the sofa with Mother Yan.

She looked worried when Bai Li entered. "Zombie?"

Bai Li nodded. "One."

"Is it gone?"

"Yes."

Lili relaxed immediately.

Mother Yan looked at Bai Li. "You should sleep."

Bai Li nodded. "I will."

Yan Cijin smiled. "That’s an order from Mother Yan."

Bai Li looked at her. "You’re enjoying this too much."

"A little."

Lili pulled the blanket aside. "Sit."

Bai Li sat down. Yan Cijin sat beside her. Lili leaned against both of

them. Mother Yan brought them warm tea.

No one talked about the zombie after that.

The building was quiet again.

The apartment was warm.

The little girl was safe.

The river moved below.

Bai Li looked around the room.

She saw the toolbox.

The plants.

The drawings.

The clean dishes.

The folded blankets.

The stored food.

The people she had begun thinking of as hers to protect.

Not hers in the sense of ownership.

Hers in the sense that their problems mattered to her now.

That realization would once have bothered her.

It did not anymore.

Yan Cijin looked at her. "What are you thinking?"

Bai Li smiled. "Nothing."

Yan Cijin laughed softly. "You really do love that answer."

"Maybe."

"You know I can tell when you’re thinking."

Bai Li looked at her. "Can you?"

"Usually."

"Then what am I thinking?"

Yan Cijin hesitated.

Lili was already half asleep. Mother Yan was reading quietly at the

other end of the room.

Yan Cijin lowered her voice. "That you like it here."

Bai Li was quiet.

Then she nodded. "Yes."

"Even with all the work?"

"Especially with all the work."

Yan Cijin smiled. "Why?"

Bai Li looked around again.

"Because everything here has a place."

"The tools?"

"The tools."

"The plants?"

"The plants."

"Lili?"

Bai Li smiled. "Definitely."

Yan Cijin looked down at the little girl.

Then Bai Li continued quietly. "Your mother too."

Mother Yan looked up and smiled.

Bai Li then looked at Yan Cijin.

There was a pause.

Yan Cijin raised an eyebrow. "And me?"

Bai Li smiled. "You have the worst habit of moving my tools."

Yan Cijin laughed quietly. "That’s not an answer."

"It’s my answer."

"You’re avoiding it."

"Maybe."

Yan Cijin looked at her.

Bai Li held her gaze.

Neither woman looked away for a moment.

Then Lili shifted in her sleep, and both immediately looked down.

The moment disappeared.

It did not need to become anything more.

The apocalypse had taken away enough.

They did not need to rush the things it had left behind.

By the time the clock reached midnight, Lili was fully asleep. Mother

Yan had gone to her room. Bai Li and Yan Cijin remained in the living

room for a while, speaking softly about tomorrow’s chores. They needed

to inspect the roof water collectors, check the seventh-floor window,

harvest two tomatoes, clean the kitchen filter, and maybe make a trip

outside for fuel if the weather stayed clear.

Normal plans.

Almost boring plans.

Bai Li liked them.

Before going to sleep, she walked through the apartment one last time.

She checked the locks, the windows, the water gauge, the stored food,

and the battery indicator. Then she adjusted the curtain near the window

because it had shifted slightly.

Yan Cijin stood in the hallway watching.

"Finished?"

Bai Li looked at the curtain. "Now."

"You really are an old mother."

Bai Li smiled. "And you’re still here."

Yan Cijin smiled back. "Yes."

"Good."

They stood there for a moment.

No confession.

No dramatic promise.

Just two women in a quiet apartment, close enough to hear each other

breathe, both pretending the small warmth between them was easier to

ignore than it really was.

From Lili’s room came a sleepy little sound.

Both women immediately turned toward it.

Yan Cijin whispered, "Good night."

Bai Li nodded. "Good night."

They went to their rooms.

The apartment lights went out one by one.

Outside, the river continued moving through the dark city.

Inside, the water tank was full, the plants were watered, the doors were

locked, the building was quiet, and the people they cared about were

safe.

Almost two weeks into the apocalypse, life had not become easier

outside.

But inside Building 9, on the twentieth floor, it had become familiar.

And for Bai Li and Yan Cijin, that was enough to make another ordinary

day feel like something worth protecting.

The following morning started with Lili declaring that she wanted

pancakes.

There was no special reason. She simply woke up, remembered that Mother

Yan had once made pancakes before the apocalypse, and decided that was

what breakfast should be.

"Can we?" she asked.

Mother Yan smiled. "We can try."

Lili immediately looked at Bai Li. "You help."

Bai Li nodded. "All right."

Yan Cijin looked suspicious. "What are you planning to help with?"

"Everything."

"That’s exactly why I’m asking."

Bai Li smiled. "You don’t trust me."

"Not around cooking."

"I can cook."

Mother Yan quietly said, "Can you?"

Bai Li looked at her. "Probably."

Yan Cijin laughed. "That means no."

"I’ve never burned anything important."

"That’s a strange defense."

"It worked."

Lili laughed.

In the end, Mother Yan handled the batter, Yan Cijin prepared the

vegetables, Lili brought plates, and Bai Li was assigned to watch the

small stove. Bai Li accepted the task with great seriousness.

"Nothing will burn," she promised.

Five minutes later, Yan Cijin came back and found Bai Li staring at the

pan as if it were an enemy.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You look suspicious."

"The pancake is deciding whether to cooperate."

Yan Cijin looked into the pan.

The pancake was fine.

"You’re fighting breakfast."

"Breakfast started it."

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.