“What do you need to buy? Just have the delivery guy bring it over.”

Nancy Stewart’s rented apartment was located in the old city center. Although the neighborhood was old and a bit run-down, life was extremely convenient. If he needed anything, he could just call the small supermarket downstairs, and they’d deliver it to his door in three to five minutes. If the supermarket didn’t have what he wanted, he could use an app to order and have a delivery person bring it to his home.

“It’s not convenient to have them deliver.” Usually carefree, Emily Stewart’s expression suddenly became a bit shy, and her voice was several notches lower than usual. “There are day-use and night-use ones. I can’t explain it clearly to them, I need to buy it myself.”

“Hm? You want to buy sanitary pads, right?” Sharp-eared Nancy Stewart caught his sister’s mosquito-like voice and immediately understood. He’d been out in society for years and wasn’t some bookworm in school, so he naturally understood what his sister meant.

“Then you definitely shouldn’t go out in the rain. I’ll go buy them for you.” Nancy Stewart stood up and said, “It’s not like I haven’t bought them for you before. Alright, you stay home and watch TV, I’ll be back soon.”

Back when Nancy Stewart was in high school in the city and his sister was still in middle school in the countryside, he often brought her these kinds of things from the city supermarket. Not just sanitary pads—even underwear and bras, he’d bought them all. In fact, as a brother, he’d played both dad and mom, while their cheapskate father never once worried about these things.

When the rain eased up a bit, Nancy Stewart grabbed an umbrella and headed downstairs toward the supermarket. The community supermarket wasn’t big, but it was well-stocked. With rain this heavy, Nancy Stewart couldn’t be bothered to go to a large supermarket in the city.

“Uncle Miller, just having your meal?”

Walking into the supermarket, Nancy Stewart shook off his umbrella and greeted the owner. The small supermarket was run by a resident, Uncle Miller. Usually, Uncle Miller manned the store himself, and at mealtimes, his wife would bring over food. Nancy Stewart had lived in this neighborhood for almost three years and was quite familiar with Uncle Miller and his wife.

“Everyone knew it’d rain today, so there were a lot of customers earlier. I haven’t even had time to eat.” Uncle Miller put down his chopsticks and tossed a cigarette to Nancy Stewart, saying, “With rain this heavy, there might be a power outage later. Nancy, you should buy some candles to take home. We’ve filed so many reports, but that damned power company just won’t spend the money to fix things. Wouldn’t it be better to just repair it all at once?”

Although the old community was convenient, it also meant aging infrastructure. The wires in Nancy Stewart’s neighborhood dated back to the 1980s and 90s. Every summer during peak electricity usage, there were frequent outages, and it was the same during thunderstorms. So, everyone in the neighborhood had learned to keep a few candles at home whenever it rained.

“Uncle Miller, I heard the old city is about to be renovated.” While picking out things for his sister, Nancy Stewart smiled and said, “You’ve got two apartments here, Uncle Miller. When the demolition comes, you’ll be a first-generation rich man for sure.”

“They’ve been saying that for ten years, but nothing’s happened.” Uncle Miller curled his lip and said grumpily, “If they rebuild on the original site, that’s fine. But if they give us apartments out in the suburbs, I’d rather they didn’t demolish anything.”

“Urban renewal projects usually rebuild on the original site.” Nancy Stewart put the items on the counter, waited for Uncle Miller to scan them, then took out his phone to pay. “I’m off, Uncle Miller. If the rain keeps up, you should close up early and head home too.”

Nancy Stewart picked up the tied plastic bag, opened his umbrella, and had just reached the door—before he could push it open, the glass door was pulled open from the outside. As Nancy Stewart was about to step out, he unexpectedly bumped right into someone coming in.

Standing over 1.8 meters tall, Nancy Stewart had built up a sturdy physique from years of hard work. The person coming in, on the other hand, wasn’t even 1.7 meters. With the collision, the other person was knocked flat on his back, landing squarely on the concrete outside the supermarket’s awning.

“Ow! Bro, I’m really sorry, I didn’t see you coming in.”

Seeing he’d knocked someone over, Nancy Stewart didn’t even bother with his umbrella. He hurried out into the rain to help the person up. Only after pulling him up did Nancy Stewart notice that, besides the person he’d knocked over, there were four others standing under the supermarket’s awning. But with the heavy rain, Nancy Stewart couldn’t make out their faces.

“Hey, kid, it’s you.” As soon as Nancy Stewart helped the man up, a familiar voice sounded in his ear, and his wrist was tightly grabbed. Under the supermarket lights, Nancy Stewart looked at the man’s face and was instantly stunned. Talk about a narrow escape—wasn’t this the very Brian Cooper who’d come looking for trouble today?

“Kid, why don’t you keep running?” Seeing Nancy Stewart, Brian Cooper was overjoyed.

Earlier at the antique market, Brian Cooper hadn’t managed to catch Nancy Stewart and was a bit unwilling to give up. He wandered around the market, keeping his distance from Nancy Stewart’s stall, smoked a few cigarettes, and while chatting with some other stall owners, casually brought up Nancy Stewart.