◎Happy 29th Day: Anthracite◎

The rapid drop in water levels has become visible to the naked eye, and water shortage has once again become a hot topic.

How long can a bucket of 50L of water be used?

If it was a hundred years ago when there was no running water, this bucket of water might be enough for an average family of three for three or four days, excluding bathing and laundry.

But now, one day may not be enough.

Faced with reality, most people have changed the habit of washing rice and vegetables every day.

Noodles and dumplings do not need to be washed, and a small half pot of water can be used to make a meal. They can also quench thirst. They have replaced rice and stir-fried dishes and have become the mainstream food on residents' tables during this period.

At the same time, people are increasingly eager to know when the water supply system can be repaired.

Especially after news of water stations closing in various places began to spread online.

Although everyone was anxious before, most people were understanding about the water outage.

Firstly, although the water station sells out every day, it restocks quickly. As long as you go early enough the next day, you can always buy water.

Secondly, there are always rivers and lakes around the city. Although it is troublesome to get water, there is still water available.

But now, some water stations have closed, and you can't buy water no matter how early you go.

The water levels of rivers and lakes are also dropping at a speed beyond people's cognition and visible to the naked eye.

Water is no longer inexhaustible as people imagine.

At the same time, some northern cities at lower latitudes are also facing a water shortage crisis.

The few remaining cities that can still maintain water supply have also begun to limit water supply every day.

It was only at this time that people realized that there had been no rainfall for at least a month across the country, and perhaps even around the world.

Where is the snow?

Shouldn't it be ice and snow when it's forty degrees below zero?

What about the snow this year?

As more and more water stations closed and supermarkets ran out of stock, an indescribable panic spread among the crowd.

Originally, due to official suppression, even though drinking water was often out of stock, the price was still reasonable, with only some small businesses quietly raising prices.

But now it is completely out of control.

It is easy to see the King of Hell, but it is difficult to deal with little ghosts.

The government can control large supermarkets, but it is difficult to prevent small vendors from springing up everywhere.

Ordinary drinking water that originally cost two yuan a bottle became ten yuan after the price tag was changed.

Someone once stockpiled a lot of bottled water and is now selling it for one hundred yuan a barrel, and the barrels are not refundable.

It doesn't matter if they don't buy now. As long as the water supply is restored, they will have enough to sell. If they hold off on buying later, they might even make more money.

At the same time, sales of disposable plastic products such as plastic bags also began to soar.

In this weather, you have to use hot water when going to the toilet, otherwise the sewer will freeze solid in three minutes.

But as water prices soar and water levels drop, and as water reserves in homes become less and less, no one will indulge in the luxury of flushing the toilet with water anymore.

Even if it is used water, it must be settled and filtered before being stored for further use.

The authorities have not made a clear statement on the restoration of water supply. As it becomes increasingly difficult to get water, people can only save as much as possible.

Jiang Muyun hasn't gone out much recently.

She was taking advantage of the fact that the power and gas were still there to increase the supply of boiled water and cooked food in her space as much as possible, and also to charge the batteries she had brought back.

Most of the news she knew about the outside world came from Zhao Jiahao.

After the second temperature drop, the day when the subway would resume operations was nowhere in sight, and bicycles became the biggest winners.

The streets of Nanshi are now desolate.

The people you see outside are basically either walking or riding bicycles.

As for private cars, they are no longer seen now. The authorities have directly banned ordinary private cars from taking to the road.

At minus 40 degrees Celsius, the air conditioning in most private cars is not working. Sitting in the car is like sitting in an ice cellar, and the feet are frozen and numb. If you are not careful, a traffic accident may occur, resulting in several lives being lost.

Some special units, such as hospitals, will have official vehicles dispatched to pick up and drop off doctors to and from get off work.

Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan now ride bicycles to and from get off work. After get off work, they go to the market to buy some things to take home and store. Every time they come back, they are full of gossip and knowledge.

From the community to their fire department, no news could be hidden from him.

As soon as Jiang Muyun's phone message notification started buzzing, she knew that Zhao Jiahao was back.

But when Zhao Jiahao came back today, he didn't send a message, but directly knocked on the doors of several neighbors.

Jiang Muyun closed the kitchen door tightly and sprayed air freshener into the living room twice. After making sure that there was no smell, she opened the door for him.

"What happened?" Jiang Muyun was a little curious.

Their families had stockpiled a lot of supplies before, and there shouldn't be any unrest outside now. What could have happened that made Zhao Jiahao come knocking on the door so anxiously?

Zhao Jiahao's eyebrows danced with joy: "There's a place selling liquefied gas over at the East Market. There are several truckloads. Do you want to buy a tank for your family?"

"Liquefied gas?" Jiang Muyun really hadn't thought of this yet.

The main reason is that liquefied gas tanks cannot come into contact with water like coal.

A short period of soaking in water wouldn't cause any harm. She could just wait until a major flood to retrieve the gas tank. No one would notice how much she fished out. There was no need to spend money to buy it now, or risk being discovered by buying it for free.

Zhao Jiahao knocked Jiang Muyun out and went to call Qin Shiwen and Li Anxuan. While knocking on the door, he explained to Jiang Muyun, "Natural gas is still available, but just like water and electricity, it might stop at any time. It's always a good idea to have a tank of gas at home as a backup."

Jiang Muyun thought about it and decided to go with Zhao Jiahao.

Like he said, it's always good to have a can on hand.

She still has tens of thousands of dollars in reserves, isn't it just for maintaining a normal life during this period?

Since everyone was scrambling for something, she naturally had to buy some too.

Qin Shiwu went to work, and 1502 was the only one at home.

When she heard about the sale of liquefied gas, she agreed without hesitation.

After the temperature dropped for the second time, Qin Shiwen rushed to buy a mountain bike of the same model as Jiang Muyun and the others, and asked the boss to install a pillion seat.

Every time Li Anxuan and his colleagues go out to work, they always bring some supplies with them when they come back, and they also install the back seat on the mountain bike early.

The only person without a back seat was Jiang Muyun.

A group of four people rode their bikes on the road, and Jiang Muyun looked so cool that he was out of place.

Along the way, they saw many people heading towards the East Market, and some were walking back carrying liquefied gas tanks, so they moved even faster.

Looking at the situation, even if there are several large cars, they won’t be enough to sell.

Fortunately, Zhao Jiahao was smart. He had found out the price early in the morning, and the few of them had the money ready when they went out.

After arriving at the place, Zhao Jiahao directly handed the car to Jiang Muyun and the others, and dodged left and right, and squeezed to the front of the crowd. He held up the banknotes and shouted, "Three cans for me, no need for change!" He shouted with an attitude of swallowing mountains and rivers. Jiang Muyun and the others standing at the outermost edge of the crowd could hear it clearly.

The seller had never seen such a situation before. After he collected the money and moved the item in front of Zhao Jiahao, he remembered that their price here was 500 yuan per can, so there was no such thing as change.

As soon as he got the things, Zhao Jiahao waved to people outside.

Li Anxuan understood what he meant and handed the car to Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen, apologizing all the way. Zhao Jiahao also helped explain that he was just moving things and not buying anything. Only then did Li Anxuan squeeze in and successfully came out with the liquefied gas tank to meet the two of them.

Jiang Muyun's car had no back seat, so the three cans of liquefied gas could only be tied to the back seats of the other three people's cars.

Jiang Muyun, who failed to keep up with the pace of the times, learned his lesson and turned into the store on the way back to add a back seat.

Unfortunately, everything is getting more expensive now, even a bicycle with a pillion seat costs a hundred yuan.

Even though Jiang Muyun knew that the money would be useless in a few months, it couldn't stop her from feeling sad when paying it now.

She has a lot of these accessories in her space.

But then again, why should she consume the inventory in her space when she could use money to exchange for supplies?

After comforting himself in this way, Jiang Muyun felt much better.

Jiang Muyun and his friends brought liquefied gas back and attracted a lot of attention along the way.

Before, when I was riding the bike, people didn’t dare to stop me and ask questions, but after entering the community and pushing the bike, people inevitably surrounded me and asked where I bought it.

Jiang Muyun readily told the place and price.

There is no point in hiding things at a time like this, and it will only make people dislike you.

Just like she had reminded everyone in the community group to store food before.

If everyone has something in hand without harming their own interests, a lot of unnecessary trouble can be avoided.

A can of liquefied gas weighs about 30 kilograms, and the can itself is also quite large. If you tie it to a bicycle and pull it up, the rope will easily loosen.

They tried several times, but finally they had to remove the liquefied gas tank from the back seat of the bicycle, and walked up with the bicycle in one hand and the gas tank in the other.

Zhao Jiahao originally wanted to help Jiang Muyun carry the gas tank up directly, but Jiang Muyun took the gas tank with one hand and leaned the bicycle towards him with the other hand: "I'll carry the gas tank myself. If you feel embarrassed to do it empty-handed, can you help me get the bicycle up?"

Zhao Jiahao didn't insist and said with a smile, "No problem. Sister Wen, do you want your car to be tied together with Jiang Muyun's?"

Qin Shiwen picked up the things and left: "Forget it, I'm afraid that if you carry three, my car will fall over. I can't bear to buy a second one."

When Jiang Muyun and his friends bought the car, the boss gave them a discount because they bought a lot, so the total price of each car was only over 800 yuan.

When Qin Shiwen went there, it was sold for two thousand.

Judging from the way Jiang Muyun added the back seat today, if you buy it now, it will probably cost at least 5,000 yuan.

Spending five thousand dollars on a bicycle for daily commuting would make you look like a fool.

Qin Shiwen's words hurt Zhao Jiahao's heart.

Now many factories have stopped production, transportation is extremely inconvenient, prices outside are skyrocketing, and only wages remain unchanged.

The savings of Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan were the subsidies they received when they were in the army, which added up to tens of thousands of yuan.

It seems like a lot, but looking at the current prices, it simply cannot withstand the consumption.

Their family is not well-off, and at a time when everyone is having a hard time, they feel even more embarrassed to ask their family for money.

That's why they always bring something back home after get off work.

Looking at the weather forecast, the temperature is expected to drop to dozens of degrees below zero, and we don’t know how high the prices will soar in the future.

Now when you come across something of similar price, no matter whether it is daily necessities or food, buy as much as you can.

If the company didn't have a cafeteria that could solve their food and drink problems, and if they didn't have stockpiled a lot of things when prices were still normal, they really didn't know what to do in the future.

Jiang Muyun sighed: "While the authorities can still suppress the situation, let's wait and see in the online mall when we have time."

It’s easy for someone like her who doesn’t work to buy things. The worst that can happen is that she can just wait in the supermarket every day.

People like Qin Shiwu who are already tired from work have no time or energy to rush to the supermarket to buy things, so they can only rely on online shopping malls.

Now due to transportation problems, express delivery can no longer be carried out and no one opens a takeout store, but the online shopping malls of large supermarkets have become popular.

In the past, when the temperature was more than 20 degrees below zero, people looked forward to taking a holiday to rest.

Now that the temperature has dropped to minus 40 or 50 degrees Celsius, people are starting to rush to go to work.

There is no way not to go to work. Seeing the prices soaring, who wouldn’t be anxious and angry?

Unfortunately, at this temperature, even if employees want to go to work, the company may not have the conditions to resume work.

With a large number of residents forced to remain unemployed, it is easy for large supermarkets to recruit delivery staff.

When people shop together offline, accidents are more likely to happen when there are too many people. Supermarket shelves have been pushed over several times. Plus, with official supervision, supermarkets don't dare to raise prices too much.

Now that we have switched to online shopping, the prices of goods have not increased, only the delivery fees have increased, and the government can't say anything about it.

Isn't it a mutual agreement that someone runs outside in minus 40 degrees Celsius, climbs stairs to deliver the goods to your door, and charges a few hundred or a few thousand yuan in delivery fees?

As for how much of these delivery fees is taken by the platform, that is a matter between the platform and its employees.

As long as it is not lower than the minimum wage, the government has no control over how much they pay their employees.

Compared to the exorbitant prices charged by private vendors outside, many people are still willing to pay the delivery fee of a few hundred yuan.

Moreover, online shopping malls only rely on hand speed, so there is no need to worry about putting things into the shopping cart and having them taken away by others the next moment.

For a time, people with a little more financial resources were more willing to shop online.

If you buy more at one time, you won’t feel so bad about paying for delivery.

Unfortunately, such days did not last long.

There was another power outage in Nanshi.

Compared with the previous one, this time the power outage was much shorter, and the power was restored in two hours.

But the panic it brought to people was much greater than before.

More and more people are beginning to believe that if the temperature does not rise, power and gas outages are inevitable sooner or later.

If there is no water, they can still get water and ice from rivers and lakes, but what should they do if there is no electricity or gas?

By that time, they couldn't even melt the ice they had retrieved.

For a time, news of seeking to purchase coal was everywhere.

Jiang Muyun originally thought that it was a pipe dream to buy a large amount of coal in a place like the urban area of ​​Nanshi.

But unexpectedly, the day after the power outage, anthracite, small coal stoves, and carbon monoxide alarms appeared for sale in major supermarkets.

Each person is limited to a limited number of purchases each time. There is no limit on the number of offline purchases, but each online real-name account is allowed to purchase up to three times a day.

Fortunately, the total amount of this batch of anthracite is large enough, and there has been no news of out of stock. As long as you are willing to queue up, you can always buy a lot.

The panic caused by the power outage was quickly suppressed by the enthusiasm for buying anthracite.

Some people are immersed in a sense of security, while others become more afraid when faced with this situation.

As soon as the power went out here, the anthracite coal that had been in short supply began to be sold in large quantities.

If you say this is just a coincidence, no one would believe it.

Who else but the Chinese government has the ability to mobilize large amounts of coal resources and make major supermarkets sell them at the same time and according to the same standards?

The armed police standing on duty at the sales window are the best proof.

Jiang Muyun, who was waiting in line, pulled up her scarf.

The official move at this time is tantamount to indicating that the life without power and gas that everyone has speculated about is likely to become a reality in the near future.

There are ten windows selling anthracite and small coal stoves, located next to the supermarket entrance. The square in front of the supermarket is divided by iron fences, marking out queuing lanes.

There was a loud speaker in the square playing in a loop the precautions for burning coal for indoor heating, which became increasingly noisy due to the human voices.

The team moved forward slowly. When it reached Jiang Muyun, she took out cash, bought a bag of anthracite, and left through the nearby exit.

Then, like most people, I went back to the end of the line and continued to queue.

The window selling anthracite is currently open 24 hours a day. Everyone wants to stock up as much supplies as possible. Only a few people buy just one bag and leave. Jiang Muyun doesn't want to be an exception.

After she had waited three rounds, she carried her things back home.

During the few days when anthracite was on sale, Jiang Muyun put on a good show.

For the time being, she doesn't plan to buy any more supplies.