Chapter 55 (1/2)

“Yeah.” Xiao sat, with her chin in her hand, watching the rain that kept on falling outside the window. She pouted and complained, “We’re not going to be able to go out and play this whole weekend. It’s so boring having to stay at home.”

“You can go watch TV if you want.” Cheng Zhiyan glanced at her, then lowered his head and continued to read his book.

“My cartoons aren’t on right now. There are only boring shows and news on at this time.” Nevertheless, Xiaotu hopped down from her chair in front of the window and ran toward the living room.

Cheng Zhiyan hesitated for a moment, but he knew he had to prevent Xiaotu from watching the PG-rated romantic TV shows or she’d keep bothering him with weird questions. So, in order to keep track of what she was looking at, he picked up his book and followed Xiaotu down the stairs.

Xiaotu had turned on the TV, which was broadcasting news at the moment.

“Since mid-June, due to the fact that Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake have been overwhelmed by continuous heavy rains, the flow of the Yangtze River has rapidly gained momentum. It has been affected by the overflow of enormous amounts of water upstream. The levels of the river in the Jiangsu Province are now close to the warning levels. The storm we are experiencing at this time is the largest one since the thunderstorm of 1954…” The female announcer on the news was still reading about the flooding, but Xiaotu had already switched the channel.

“Ahhh…news broadcasts are everywhere…”

Xiaotu switched through several channels in succession, and, upon discovering that they were all broadcasting this same news, she threw down the remote control and look up at the ceiling in exasperation.

“It seems as if it’s raining everywhere…” Cheng Zhiyan casually lamented after lifting his head to glance at the news.

“Yep, it’s annoying because I really want to go out and play…” Xiaotu had already lost interest in watching TV. She sprawled lazily across the couch and continued to stare at the pouring rain outside.

The rain continued to pour, all the way until July.

Since it was summer break for Xiaotu’s preschool and Cheng Zhiyan’s elementary school, their daily routine of home to school and vice versa had abruptly come to an end. Now they were stuck at home all day long.