Chapter 70: Extreme Heat 11
Lu Qingyuan didn’t know what he was thinking, suddenly changing from a tenant to a helper.
He meticulously moved out the cement residue from below and handed down the gas, food, and mattress from above.
Chu Yian’s work, which she had expected to finish by evening, was completed several hours early.
The living room was extremely hot without air conditioning.
Lu Qingyuan was completely drenched, water dripping from his hair, his shirt clinging to his body, subtly outlining the contours of his muscles.
With that physique, if he became a model, wouldn’t he become incredibly famous?
“Where’s the bathroom?”
He looked at Chu Yian.
“Upstairs.”
Chu Yian pointed upwards, then led him upstairs.
The water in the house was connected to the tap water, and it was only when Lu Qingyuan was about to shower that he discovered there was no water.
Power outage, water outage.
Both problems emerged at once.
Chu Yian didn’t know the situation of her friends in the city, but she quickly went downstairs, drew cool water from the well, and asked, “Teacher Lu, is a cold shower okay?”
“It’s fine.”
Lu Qingyuan nodded.
In such high temperatures, he wasn’t overly particular.
However, he encountered an awkward problem—he had no change of clothes.
How could Chu Yian possibly have clothes that would fit him? After his clothes were washed, Lu Qingyuan couldn’t exactly run around naked, so he could only put his damp clothes back on.
Fortunately, the weather was hot enough.
Even the wettest clothes would dry in an hour.
By this time, Chu Yian had already cleaned the living room.
Stepping outside, she saw a human clothes rack standing in the shade of a tree, drying his clothes.
She retrieved a watermelon from the well, sliced it, and handed him a super-sized piece.
Lu Qingyuan took it. “I need to go into the city.”
Chu Yian glanced at his now-dry clothes, nodded while eating her melon, and said, “Alright!”
Teacher Lu really needed to buy some daily necessities.
“Then I’ll call a taxi.”
Chu Yian took out her phone and opened a ride-hailing app.
However, in such weather, getting a taxi was extremely difficult.
Throughout the entire afternoon, no vehicles accepted orders, and this area was somewhat remote, with no regular bus service.
“Teacher Lu, my car is still parked on the road leading to the city.”
If it hadn’t been driven away and hadn’t been damaged by the sun, it should still be parked by the roadside, and it could take them to the city.
7:40 PM
The weather outside was still muggy, but at least the direct sunlight of the day was gone, making it bearable.
The two prepared to set off that night.
Chu Yian carried a backpack and a farmer’s rake on her shoulder.
This rake was practically identical to the weapon used by Zhu Bajie.
When Chu Yian found it in the upstairs storage room, she was utterly shocked.
“What are you carrying?”
Lu Qingyuan looked at the equipment on her shoulder, his brows furrowed.
“For self-defense. This stretch of road nearby is prone to robbers.”
If she hadn’t had a companion today, Chu Yian would never have gone out late at night.
Also, this nine-toothed rake wasn’t really her weapon; she was carrying it for Teacher Lu.
Once, Teacher Lu, wielding a Fangtian Halberd, had beaten a group of robbers in an underground parking lot.
She figured a rake wouldn’t be much worse.
Zhu Bajie and Lü Bu are both very strong in combat.
Lu Qingyuan didn’t know that Chu Yian was carrying the rake for him.
He simply followed Chu Yian’s directions, walking until he reached the location of his car accident.
The area hadn’t been cleaned up yet; under the lamplight, vehicle fragments and some bloodstains were still visible.
As for the road about ten meters from the explosion site, a car was indeed parked there.
This was her car!
Chu Yian spotted her car from afar and was delighted to see it parked intact by the roadside.
She hurried towards the tricycle, only to see that all of its tires were flat.
The weather was too hot; the tricycle had been parked by the roadside with no shelter except for a few withered trees.
The car tires had burst from the heat.
Inside the vehicle, there might also be other potential dangers.
“Forget it, don’t get in.”
Lu Qingyuan stopped Chu Yian, who was about to open the door and get in, telling her to stay away from the tricycle.
“Then what do we do now?”
Chu Yian looked at him. Go back?
“Go to the city center.”
It seemed no difficulty could deter Lu Qingyuan’s determination to go to the city.
Did he want to leave that badly?
Chu Yian paused, then suddenly understood.
Teacher Lu didn’t even know her; it was perfectly normal for him to want to leave.
If he strongly desired to go, his legs weren’t her property.
However, she could hitch a ride with Teacher Lu as a personal bodyguard.
Her car was broken now, so she needed to go to the city to buy some tires for repairs and also add a few things to her home.
With the weather getting hotter and hotter, this might be her last trip to the city.
From the suburbs to the city center, it takes 20 minutes by car and 40 minutes by tricycle.
Chu Yian estimated that walking would take at least several hours.
Lu Qingyuan had a long torso and long legs, and Chu Yian occasionally had to jog to keep up with his pace.
After half an hour, they arrived at the construction site.
Chu Yian subconsciously looked to the side, but today the entire construction site was quiet; there were no cranes, cement mixers, or other workers.
The site was even cordoned off with yellow plastic tape.
What happened?
Was there an accident?
Chu Yian’s expression changed, and she ran towards the construction site.
She saw a notice posted in a prominent position:
[Notice: Due to continuous high temperatures and power outages today, our city is beginning an extended high-temperature holiday.
For inquiries, please contact Mr. Zhang, the person in charge.
Phone: 135XXXXXXX]
Oh, it’s good that nothing happened.
Chu Yian looked at the notice and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Qingyuan had caught up by now. “Any discoveries?”
“No, I know the workers at this site, and when I saw the cordon, I thought someone had been in an accident.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.”
A false alarm?
Lu Qingyuan looked inside upon hearing this.
Although only one or two lights were on at the construction site, it was dim inside.
But he could still see that the area around the site was particularly dirty with dust and cement.
Only the ground near the iron frame on the left side was exceptionally clean.
His gaze went upwards; anyone observant would notice that the iron frame was deformed.
A large piece of fibrous fabric was also hanging from a protruding iron railing above.
A scene instantly appeared in Lu Qingyuan’s mind—
Under the scorching sun, a worker stood on the iron frame, working.
The excessive temperature made him unable to bear it; he lost his footing and fell from the tall iron frame.
His body collided between the iron frames, his clothes were torn, his skin was cut, his internal organs were squeezed between the frames, and finally, his entire body hit the ground with a thud.
Life ended.
That’s why the red tape was put up at the construction site, and why the work suspension announcement followed.
Lu Qingyuan glanced at the empty space, then at Chu Yian.
Seeing that she hadn’t noticed, he didn’t say anything more.
Chu Yian had already walked ahead of him by this time.
Seeing him lagging, she urged, “Teacher Lu, hurry up, there’s still a long way to go.”
