Melody Summers wandered through the mall. It was the first week after the tornado, so prices were still mostly normal, and goods were relatively plentiful.

As she passed a luxury goods store, Melody saw a customer and a sales associate arguing at the entrance.

The customer was an old man with a child, dressed simply, his clothes stained with mud. He demanded resentfully, "Why won’t you let us in? There’s so much space in there, and it’s so crowded out here we’re being crushed! I want to go in!"

The sales associate said with a complicated expression, "Your behavior is disturbing our customers’ shopping experience. I’m truly sorry, but please leave."

The old man flew into a rage and roared, "What makes you think I’m not a customer?! Are you looking down on me?! Let me in, or I’ll smash up this piece-of-crap store!"

As he spoke, he tried to force his way into the store, but before he could get in, he was stopped by security guards who had rushed over.

"Let me go! What do you think you’re doing?!" the old man yelled, struggling frantically as the guards pinned his hands behind his back.

"Sorry, sir, you can’t cause a scene here. Please leave." Ignoring the old man’s struggles, three or four guards forcibly escorted him to the mall entrance.

The mall had prepared for such situations. All security guards were on standby today, fearing that the large crowds would disrupt normal operations. The mall was willing to provide shelter for disaster victims, but it couldn’t allow them to disturb the businesses on its premises.

Melody watched the farce unfold. ’In a little while,’ she thought, ’when the water and power are cut off and prices skyrocket, there will be even more incidents of looting and rioting.’

Melody then went down to the supermarket in the mall’s basement. She found that basic food and daily necessities were mostly in stock, but the vegetable section was rather empty. The prices of the few vegetables available had shot up nearly tenfold.

A few customers complained, "The tornado was days ago. How come vegetable prices are getting more and more expensive?"

"Exactly! A pound of leafy greens is 100 yuan. Who can afford that?"

A store clerk said apologetically, "The field-grown vegetables haven’t been harvested yet. These are all grown indoors, which has a higher cost, so the selling price is high too."

Hearing this, the customers sighed, put the vegetables down, and left. It seemed the price was indeed beyond what they could afford.

A short while later, a few glamorously dressed women came to the produce section with bags. They chatted and laughed as they casually tossed some bok choy, celtuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers into their cart... pushing a full cart to the checkout counter.

Melody suddenly remembered a question Professor Shepherd had asked in an economics class. "If this year’s grain harvest decreases by 10%, by how much will grain prices rise?"

The students had all answered: They’ll rise by 10%.

The professor had smiled and said, "They won’t just rise by 10%. They’ll rise until 10% of the population can no longer afford to eat."

*

Melody left the mall, brushing past Joanne White. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Joanne White had been having a very difficult time at the Hale family’s home these past few days.

When Joanne and Austin Hale first started dating, Mrs. Hale had been very gentle with her.

But as their interactions became more frequent, Mrs. Hale’s attitude toward Joanne grew much colder.

Then, a few days ago, their school district apartment was destroyed and Austin was injured. Since then, Mrs. Hale found Joanne more and more displeasing, believing that Joanne’s insistence on buying the apartment was what led to their current predicament.

Mrs. Hale felt that Joanne was a jinx.

So, for the past few days, Mrs. Hale had ignored Joanne’s pregnancy and forced her to do all the housework. She even ordered Joanne around, making her serve tea and water, and give her shoulder and leg massages.

Although Austin felt sorry for Joanne, he was bedridden and couldn’t protect her from everything.

Joanne was living under someone else’s roof and didn’t dare say anything. She could only take care of Austin with increasing caution.

She felt like she could barely breathe staying in the Hale family home. If she had known Mrs. Hale would be like this, she would have been better off staying in her school dormitory.

It wasn’t until today, when Mrs. Hale took Austin to the hospital for a follow-up, that things changed. After the examination, the doctor said Austin’s leg was healing very well and that he would be able to walk normally again in a while.

Mrs. Hale was in high spirits after hearing the news and didn’t give Joanne a hard time as she usually did. Joanne took the opportunity to get out for a walk and some fresh air.

Joanne wandered aimlessly through the mall. Looking at the dazzling array of goods, she didn’t dare buy a single thing.

Her parents’ house had been damaged in the tornado, and repairing it and buying new furniture would cost a fortune.

The repairs and renovations for her and Austin’s school district apartment would also require a lot of money.

Joanne didn’t know where she was going to get the money. She also didn’t understand why the wonderful future she had planned had turned out like this.

*

That evening, Joanne returned to the Hale family home.

The moment Mrs. Hale saw her, she asked angrily, "All you know how to do is wander around! You’re no help at all. Is this how a wife is supposed to act? My son is still waiting for you to cook dinner!"

Joanne forced a smile and replied, "I know. I’ll go make dinner right now."

Back in the bedroom, Joanne composed herself for a moment before throwing herself into Austin’s arms. Crying and sobbing, she said, "Austin, I can’t stay here anymore. My mom and dad are still living in the shelter. I’m so worried about them. I have to go back and be with them."

Austin was taken aback. He frowned and said, "But you’re pregnant. That shelter is chaotic. How can you go live there?"

Of course, Joanne had no intention of actually living there, but she said through her tears, "But my parents are living there! My heart aches for them. I’m their daughter. I can’t just live here in comfort while I watch them suffer."

Austin thought for a moment, then said gently, "Alright, why don’t you bring your parents over? We have spare rooms anyway. They can stay here with us."

Joanne’s heart leaped with joy. This was exactly what she’d been waiting for. Still, she feigned hesitation. "I don’t know... I’m afraid your mother will object."

Austin knew what his mother was like, but faced with Joanne’s tear-filled eyes, he said, "I’ll talk to my mom. You just worry about bringing your parents over."

At that, Joanne’s tears turned to a smile. "Thank you, Austin. I knew you were the best to me."

Joanne immediately sent a message to her parents, telling them to come stay at Austin’s house for a while. After sending the message, a slow smile spread across her face. ’With my parents here,’ she thought, ’I doubt Mrs. Hale will be able to give me a hard time anymore.’

*

Melody drove home and found that the power was back on.

Melody turned off the villa’s generator. She looked up at the sky. The sun hung high, without a single cloud in sight. The ground was heating up rapidly.

’It’s time,’ she thought. Melody switched the villa’s power supply from the diesel generator to the solar panels.

The current sunlight was strong enough for the solar panels to run all the house’s usual appliances. In another week, when it got hot enough to need the air conditioning, the solar panels would have enough power to run the central AC as well.

Melody opened her residential community’s group chat and saw that everyone was cheering about the return of the power: