Ch39-Here, I Actually Wanted to Raise Snakes
"Whether you're the mistress's daughter or not, I don't care. But thinking about..."
"If you don't get out of here and stop bothering me, don't blame me for being rude!"
Meng Ci gave both of them a cold stare, but they were like dead pigs fearing no boiling water, stubbornly staying put.
Especially Liu Jie.
Liu Jie was used to bossing Meng Ci around and giving orders.
Even when Meng Ci had given him the cold shoulder before, Liu Jie hadn't shed his arrogance.
"Meng Ci, what are you saying?!"
"Regardless, both you and Yaya have Uncle's blood running through your veins."
"And Yaya is a girl-show her some courtesy."
"Fine. Since you claim Li Xiaoya and I are Li Shanyang's children, go fetch him now. We'll confront him face-to-face." Meng Ci knew full well they couldn't summon him-Li Shanyang was likely long dead.
"Brother!"
"It's not that we don't want to call Dad over, but he's sick." Li Xiaoya began spouting nonsense.
Meng Ci was speechless. His own excessive politeness had only encouraged them to cause trouble time and again.
He grabbed the long knife from the entryway, its gleaming blade catching the light.
Meng Ci pushed open the iron gate angrily, glaring at the pair.
"I'll say it again: Get out!"
Li Xiaoya and Liu Jie backed away in unison.
"Brother, I didn't mean anything by it!"
"I just wanted to buy some snacks from you, or maybe tag along next time you go foraging."
Meng Ci ignored them. "If you knock on my door again, watch your hands!"
"Don't forget how Li Shanyang got that scar on his neck."
"Or maybe you two fancy getting one too?"
The pair instantly recalled Meng Ci's ruthlessness and had no choice but to leave.
Clang!
Meng Ci slammed the door shut, flipped on the lamp on the coffee table, and pulled out a spicy noodle dish from his spatial pocket.
He found a comedy movie and watched it with delight.
With the power out and no entertainment options, entering his spatial pocket wasn't feasible either.
So after finishing his meal, Meng Ci lay down on the bed, watching TV until he drifted off to sleep.
The next day, at the agreed time, the two met at the door.
"These are the things Zhang Mingtian and the others brought for you."
"Since you weren't awake this morning, I kept them for you."
Because Meng Ci had been sleeping, Zhang Mingtian and the others hadn't dared knock too loudly, afraid that an unrested Meng Ci might wake up and chop them up.
In the end, Shen Que came out to retrieve the items and brought them over now.
Meng Ci took them and glanced at the packages. Some were damp, and they didn't look fresh.
But in the apocalypse, there wasn't much room for complaint.
"You pick what you want. The rest is mine."
Shen Que took two packs of instant noodles and didn't ask for anything else.
"I've been thinking. We can hold off on searching for coal for now!
"Right now, protecting what we have at home is the top priority."
"Lots of people in the building know we went out for supplies. What if they try to ram the door while we're gone?"
"Even the strongest security door won't hold up to repeated ramming."
Shen Que agreed with Meng Ci. After all, there was a precedent downstairs where a security door had been breached.
Leading them to his own unit, Meng Ci opened the wall where the window had been bricked over.
The interior was completely bare, but in the corner sat over a dozen bags of cement and sand, along with stacks of rebar and red bricks.
Meng Ci had specifically instructed the contractor to leave these construction materials behind for emergencies.
He couldn't explain it directly, but he'd prepared his story long ago.
"I noticed many people keeping snakes as pets. I happened to spot a golden python, just over a meter long."
"So during renovations, I had the windows sealed shut."
"I planned to build a den for it here."
"But before construction finished, this torrential downpour hit."
"I wonder if that golden python will survive until I can bring it home."
Shen Que didn't quite grasp the regret in Meng Ci's words. And what an unusual hobby-keeping snakes.
"This downpour won't let up anytime soon, so I was thinking maybe we could build a wall outside."
"We could take this door off and install it on the outside."
Shen Que objected, "But your door isn't sturdy enough!"
"We could dismantle the security doors from units 1704 and 1703 and install them instead, then replace the lock cylinder."
When Meng Ci bought his apartment, the agent had mentioned that all five other units on the seventeenth floor had been purchased.One was Shen Que's, another was Li Ping's family. The other two units never had occupants-likely investment properties or still under renovation.
There was one more unit. Meng Ci had never seen anyone there, but lights had been visible inside days before the storm. They'd gone dark afterward.
After being beaten, Li Ping's family must have been scared. They'd moved to another floor last night. Now only two households remained on the seventeenth floor.
They got straight to work, first dismantling the security doors from both units.
One was indeed under renovation-keys to the door were still in the entryway. The other was still a bare shell.
They hauled both doors and their frames over to Meng Ci's place.
Then they started figuring out how to build a wall.
"I've got plenty of cement, sand, and rebar. Why don't we build a brick frame?"
"Then we insert the rebar and pour the cement-sand mix directly inside. That should make it sturdier, right?"
Shen Que accepted Meng Ci's suggestion, and the two began figuring out how to mix the cement.
After blending the cement and sand, they piled it up, dug a hole in the center, and poured water into it.
Back and forth they went, the mixture too runny or too dry, taking half the day to get it right.
Then they hauled out bricks to build the wall. Neither had ever laid bricks before, fearing it would end up crooked.
But where there's a will, there's a way. Shen Que went back and dismantled a table, splitting the tabletop in two to prop up both sides.
They laid cement-coated bricks along the tabletop, eliminating any risk of crooked placement.
Shen Que picked up the technique quickly, while Meng Ci struggled. After laying one layer of bricks, Meng Ci took charge of holding the door frame in place.
Neither had seen how door frames were installed before, and with no access to phones, they wondered if embedding the frame in cement might make it sturdier.
Their solution was simple and direct.
The wall was about fifty centimeters thick, with two doors flanking either side. The rest of the structure would be brick-lined, ready for cement pouring later.
After two hours of bricklaying, Shen Que had only reached a height of one meter.
Meanwhile, Meng Ci had returned from cooking and prepared the meal. Each carried a bowl filled with rice topped with braised eggplant.
The two squatted by the doorway, eating and chatting.
"You've got a knack for this. The wall's straight as an arrow. Once the rain stops, you'll have a new skill to fall back on."
Meng Ci marveled at how different people were-some just had a natural knack for things.