Chapter 5: Hardware Tools
1163 Words
"Got it. I’ll stock a whole roomful. Just wait until you get here—I'll feed you till you’re as chubby as Pigsy."
"You said it! No take-backs! I’ll eat you broke!"
Yu Duoduo joked as she transferred the payment into Xie Yun’s account without hesitation.
Xie Yun had just received the money when the hospital called, summoning him back urgently for an emergency.
Watching him jog back toward the hospital, Yu Duoduo let out a sigh.
The delivery truck followed her to an underground parking lot near her office, where security cameras were under maintenance. She told the driver to pile the boxes in an empty parking spot, saying someone from the company would come pick them up later.
Yu Duoduo was stunned. She had only written the checklist—she didn’t realize how much space these supplies would take up once stacked together!
There were more than sixty large boxes, plus two high-capacity car fridges for storing vaccines.
A full range of medications were included: antibiotics, cardiovascular drugs, digestive aids, cold medicine, trauma care, hormones, dermatology meds, gynecology meds, antipsychotics, allergy treatments, and multivitamins and tonics.
Top to bottom—comprehensive survival meds for any disaster.
There were also medical supplies: cotton, bandages, swabs, iodine, alcohol, disinfectant, and more.
After unloading, Yu Duoduo watched the truck drive off, then turned and instantly stashed the mountain of boxes into her space.
They filled an entire 30㎡ room.
Ding ding~ A message popped up on her phone—from the big boss.
[Xiao Yu, you're a core designer at the company. Please reconsider your resignation. I’m giving you five days off. Take a break, sort things out, and then let me know your final decision.]
Yu Duoduo snorted. Wasn’t that small-time supervisor always boasting that all the work was done by him, stealing her credit? Fine, let him take it all over then!
She couldn’t even be bothered to waste time submitting a formal resignation.
[No need. Thanks for the offer, boss, but my mind’s made up.]
She drove home, and the moment she stepped inside, she saw Maoku squatting by the front door mat, pitifully staring at her. Beside him, his food bowl was empty.
Ah! She’d rushed out this morning and forgotten to set out his day’s food… Her fault—she hadn’t raised a cat in a long time.
Switching into slippers, Yu Duoduo quickly knelt to pet Maoku’s little head, picked up his bowl, and carried him into the living room.
"Sorry, sorry! I’ll get your food right away!"
After feeding him and refilling his water, she opened the first-floor room.
It had been intended as a yoga room, but with endless overtime at work, she’d never used it. It had stayed empty—a perfect place to store supplies now.
She entered the room and began taking out rice, flour, and oil from her space, stacking the bags from floor to ceiling.
Halfway through, she paused.
There was still a long list of supplies to buy—more than five pages just on paper.
The space only had 70㎡ left in the living room. Even if she used up every empty room in the apartment, it still wouldn’t be enough.
That was a problem.
But—she remembered that in her previous life, the neighboring apartments had remained silent even when floodwaters engulfed the city. Eventually, flooded residents from lower floors had come knocking door to door and ended up prying those doors open and moving in.
If that was the case, why couldn’t she make use of those spaces now?
Her instincts as an architectural designer kicked in, and a plan immediately formed in her mind.
Start by breaking open a person-sized doorway from her living room into the neighboring unit. Then repeat the process from that unit to the next, and so on…
That way, she wouldn’t need to go through the hallways every time she accessed her supplies, avoiding suspicion.
From what she remembered, she could connect at least five adjacent units.
Each unit was about 50㎡ with 6-meter-high ceilings. With mezzanine levels, each could offer 100㎡ of usable space. Five units meant 500㎡ total—plenty of room for her stockpile!
To avoid drawing attention, Yu Duoduo didn’t plan to hire help. It was just wall demolition—using the right tools, it would be quick and easy.
Time to act. She immediately went to knock on the doors of the neighboring apartments one by one. As expected, there was no response, and a thick layer of dust had gathered on every doorknob.
With her assumptions confirmed, she headed out and drove straight to the nearest hardware store.
The shop owner was someone she knew—he’d provided all the fittings when her apartment was being renovated, even offering delivery and installation.
"Boss, I need five sets of wall-cutting machines. The most powerful ones you have."
When Yu Duoduo walked in, the owner was eating. Seeing it was her, he quickly stood to greet her.
"Oh, it's Xiao Yu! Didn’t you just finish renovating? Back for another round?"
Yu Duoduo waved it off. "Not for me. A friend wants to renovate a storefront by herself. I recommended your place because it’s reliable, so she asked me to buy everything for her."
The owner, delighted at the referral, grinned. "Great! I’ll give you the best deal. Five top-tier wall-cutting machines—coming right up. Hang tight!"
Soon, he wheeled out a small cart loaded with five boxes.
He opened one and pointed inside.
"This is the most powerful model on the market right now. It can even cut through reinforced concrete—no sweat at all."
"Perfect. I’ll take them."
"Need anything else?" he asked.
"Yes. Five sets of hammer drills, ten nail guns, two complete hardware toolkits, full sets of sledgehammers, ten door stoppers.
Five hundred pounds of no-glue gypsum powder, fifty buckets of wall repair paint, twenty buckets of eco-friendly white latex paint, five buckets of seam filler, five of waterproof sealant, and ten rolls of windproof film.
Also, do you have pre-assembled metal shelving units?"
"We do! How many?"
Yu Duoduo thought for a moment. "A hundred."
"Those need to be transferred from the warehouse. Soonest I can get them here is tomorrow afternoon. That okay?"
"That’s fine. Please order them in," she said. She had already planned to organize her supplies neatly on racks for easy access later.
If everything was piled up like now, not only would it risk crushing the lower items, but every time she needed something, she’d have to dig around and restack it all. What a pain!
Better to categorize and stack from start.
As soon as she finished speaking, the boss had already hustled to help load everything outside, including the shelves.
Her car was stuffed full—front passenger seat, back seat, trunk.
Once she was out of the boss’s sight, Yu Duoduo quickly pulled over, parked, and transferred everything into her space room.
- Writer
