◎Happy 106th day: Waiting for the dawn◎
It's not the first time for everyone to stay indoors, and we've all adapted well so far.
Two days later, at eight o'clock in the morning, it was still pitch black outside.
Jiang Muyun went out wearing a mask and a headlamp. The feeling of not seeing the sun was like going back to the polar night.
No, it should be worse than the polar night now.
At least during the polar night, as long as there is enough light, there is no need to worry about visibility.
Now, even if eight flashlights were turned on, the beams could not make the sand layer blocking the air disappear, and the invisible places were still invisible.
There is a sand barrier, so there is not much sand outside the gate and it can be swept away in a few strokes.
Jiang Muyun cleaned up the door a little, took out a mobile phone in a plastic bag, turned on the screen through the bag, turned on the phone's built-in music and started playing it in a loop, then hung the plastic bag containing the phone at the door.
This way you don’t have to worry about not finding your way home.
Jiang Muyun half-groped her way to find the sand barrier at the door. Taking advantage of the extremely low visibility outside, she put her hands into the sand gathered in front of the sand barrier and, as she had done countless times in her previous life, directly stuffed the sand into the space.
It’s efficient and labor-saving, and it’s good in every way except that it doesn’t get your hands dirty.
After clearing the sand at the door, he went to the edge of the woods, found a few snakeskin bags, put the sand in the space into the snakeskin bags, sealed the bags, tied them tightly, and piled them in the woods.
When Jiang Muyun filled the third bag, the cell phone next to him vibrated slightly.
This was the alarm she had set in advance.
There are two minutes left, and it's time to pull the safety rope.
Jiang Muyun followed the direction of the cell phone ringing and successfully found his way to the doorstep. He pulled the bell at exactly 8:10.
Then, the rope bells of other people also rang one after another.
Jiang Muyun waited at home for two minutes until everyone had sent out a signal indicating that everything was safe, and then he went out again to continue loading sand.
They had to go home and pull the bell every few minutes to report their safety, which greatly delayed their efficiency.
Unfortunately, ten minutes is the maximum interval they can accept.
If this time is extended, even if they find that someone has not returned home in time, they will most likely not have time to rescue them. The most they can do is rush to the scene to collect the freshest body.
Except for Jiang Muyun, who carried an extra-large bag and could complete the sand clearing and loading work in half an hour, it took others at least two hours to finish the sand clearing work.
When someone finishes clearing the sand, they will pull the rope bell twice at the next time they report safety, indicating that they will no longer transmit signals.
Jiang Muyun reported the end of the work after Chu Buwen finished clearing the sand, and then counted and sorted the supplies in the space while waiting for other people to report.
The last one to finish was Qin Shiwen. Her house was opposite Qin Shiwu's gate. There were no tall trees at the gate, and the nearby plants had been cleared too cleanly before. Now the wind and sand were everywhere and there was nothing to block the view. She also had to be careful not to take a wrong step and fall down the mountain.
The two men took one step and explored three times, and it took them more than three hours to clear the sand at the door and put it into bags. After that, they vowed to take good care of the plants in the future and to do a good job of greening the doorstep of their home.
In addition to clearing the sand every two days, they also have to feed the rabbits and look after the crops.
We can't just throw away all our belongings when a sandstorm comes.
The procedures for taking care of rabbits and crops were all decided by everyone before the sandstorm arrived.
Rabbits are relatively easy to raise. There's a pile of dry food there, and even in this weather, there's no worry that it'll go bad. They'll definitely not starve to death. Put a basin of water next to them, and if they run out of water after eating the dry food, they'll sip on it themselves. They're very self-sufficient.
Occasionally, you can dig up some fresh plants with soil on them and give them to them as a snack. These rabbits will eat them happily, and at least it can temporarily prevent them from diverting their appetite to their own kind.
Crops are even simpler.
Everyone takes turns going there every ten days, filling the basin with water and checking whether the gauze connecting the basin and the soil, which is responsible for transferring water, is still in good condition. If any plants are ripe, pick them and eat them to avoid waste.
If potatoes and sweet potatoes are ripe in large quantities, they will come back and send a message to call people, and several people who are nearby will go together to process them.
At such times, as long as they left the area near their homes, they would remember to tie a rope around their waists in case they couldn't find their way home.
At the same time, everyone's cell phone was turned up to maximum volume, with an alarm going off every ten minutes, and people could turn off the alarm as soon as it sounded while they were still safe.
If someone's alarm clock keeps ringing, people nearby who hear the sound can follow the sound to save the person.
However, among the batch of masks of various specifications that Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen brought back from the Western Suburbs Base, there was a simple gas mask that could be buckled onto the head like a hood.
They all wear this kind of masks when they go out now. It is almost impossible for them to be blown away by the wind, and the possibility of accidentally inhaling sand and blocking the respiratory tract is naturally very small. Under normal circumstances, it is relatively safe.
They insisted on reporting the news and setting the alarm, mainly just in case.
After all, at a time like this, any small accident can directly cost someone's life, and no one dares to guarantee that he or she will not be the unlucky one.
It’s hard to talk about metaphysics.
So, let's just let it be a hassle when it comes to safety. They're not in a rush anyway; on the contrary, they need to find ways to kill time. So what if things are a little slower, or if the procedures are a little more complicated? What could be more important than safety right now?
After experiencing the polar night, everyone was able to control their emotions well this time.
Even though they were trapped in the dust and could not go out every day to have fun like they did during the polar night, they did not show any signs of mental breakdown.
Everyone is almost numb from the troubles of Blue Star.
When there's work to do, do it. When stuck at home with nothing to do, people like Wang Qingqing and the others who live with them play mahjong and Landlord every day. People like Qin Shiwen and others who live nearby visit their neighbors and chat about everything they remember about their ancestors from childhood to adulthood.
If it really doesn't work, they can just chat with themselves at home, which won't prevent them from thinking about life.
Before the end of the world, many people went to the wilderness to seek peace and quiet, saying that they wanted to set aside time to talk to themselves.
People like Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen, who have no one around, just happen to have some spiritual food in their hands. They watch variety shows and TV dramas at home, thinking about what to eat in the morning, noon and dinner, and the day passes quickly.
Jiang Muyun even found a few documentaries about sandstorms, as well as variety shows about desert survival and horror films like Lost in the Desert. While killing time, he could also find inspiration from them and see if there were any life tips in the movies and TV shows.
In the end, I didn't find any life hacks, but I did see a lot of poisonous insects growing in the desert.
Whenever Jiang Muyun went out to clean the sand recently, she was afraid that something would suddenly emerge from the sand and bite her.
Of course, based on Jiang Muyun's years of experience rolling around in the sand, the probability of strange creatures appearing in the sand at this moment is extremely low, about as low as the probability of a heavy rainstorm tomorrow that will directly crush the sandstorm to death.
But Jiang Muyun didn't expect that the strange creature failed to bite her, and the rabbits at home almost regarded her as food.
They now have a total of ten rabbits.
Two old rabbits, all eight of the second generation have left the nest.
Among them, the four born in the first litter have now entered maturity.
In other words, it's time to get mad and start fighting.
Jiang Muyun was the first person to be angered by their bad temper.
It happened to be Jiang Muyun's turn to look after the crops that day.
The sandstorm has buried them for almost a month. Now, except for their home which they carefully protect every day, the entire mountain is covered with sand, and even the woods are not spared.
Many low grasses were completely buried under the yellow sand, and it was unknown whether they could survive until the day when the sandstorm left.
Jiang Muyun was in a good mood when he was clearing the sand in the morning. He collected the sand at the edge of the woods and put it into bags, which just saved a few clumps of grass that were half buried in the sand.
Jiang Muyun took a closer look and realized that this was exactly the kind her rabbits liked best.
Anyway, she had to look after the crops today, so she might as well go see the rabbits and bring the grass as a gift.
So Jiang Muyun pulled out the few clumps of grass that had just broken free from the sand, and they became her gift to the little rabbits.
The first thing Jiang Muyun went to see were the four cubs born in the second litter.
The four half-grown cubs were polite and shy. They lingered at the entrance of the cave for most of the day before finally showing up. They were too embarrassed to eat in front of Jiang Muyun and insisted on dragging the hay back to the nest.
In comparison, their older brothers and sisters are much more enthusiastic.
As soon as Jiang Muyun brought the fodder into the cave, the cubs, which were almost as big as their parents, rushed out impatiently. The leader raised his head and easily gnawed the bundle of fodder that Jiang Muyun was still holding in his hand.
Jiang Muyun watched them chew the bundled hay into pieces in just a few bites, and then they bared their teeth and rushed towards her hand.
Jiang Muyun hissed softly and took a few steps back. The irritable cubs also kicked their legs and tried to jump forward, but the ropes tied to their hind legs restricted their range of movement and they were pulled down halfway through their jump.
"What does this mean? Has the rebellious phase arrived?" Jiang Muyun adjusted his headlamp, but felt the light was not enough. He then found a rechargeable camping lamp from the space, turned it on, and placed it on a raised stone platform.
The 12W LED light illuminated the entire cave, and the bloodstains on the rabbits were visible.
Jiang Muyun stood where the rabbits couldn't reach him, holding a steel pipe and pulling them out one by one for inspection. He found that all of them, male and female, had injuries on their bodies.
The only male rabbit among them was the most seriously injured. Its fur was torn into patches of baldness, its right ear was missing a piece, and there was a wound on its forelimb that looked quite fresh and was bleeding.
Jiang Muyun was stunned.
She had only heard of male rabbits fighting to the death over a disagreement, but had never heard of such a life-and-death feud between male and female rabbits!
Does he want to have his feet on three boats and then be beaten by all three boats at the same time?
Jiang Muyun carefully moved the rope tied to the male rabbit aside, and when the irritable cubs gave up eating meat and started to gnaw on grass, he went around to the iron rod where the rope was tied and untied the rope.
Judging from the situation, these ones definitely can’t live together.
Anyway, adult wild rabbits are easy to raise. Jiang Muyun just needs to find a place to tie a rope, tie it up, and leave some food for it, and it can dig holes to feed itself.
With the maturity time of the first litter of rabbits as a reference, Jiang Muyun calculated with his fingers and estimated that by the time the sandstorm was completely over, the rabbits born in the second litter would not be far from entering the rebellious period.
Rabbits in their rebellious period feel insulted even by breathing the same air as their own kind. It is time for them to control the size of the rabbit population.
Let’s start with those two big guys and then destroy the bridge!
She gave birth to eight puppies a year and worked so hard, it’s time for her to retire!
Braised, stir-fried, or stir-fried, such a big rabbit must have dozens of kilograms of meat, right?
Jiang Muyun held the miserable male rabbit upside down, preparing to take it to a place sheltered from the wind to settle down.
At first, the rabbit in her hand would struggle from time to time, but after Jiang Muyun took just two steps, the guy became completely obedient.
Jiang Muyun was still a little puzzled. She knew that rabbits could not be lifted upside down, but with the vitality of a wild rabbit, it was impossible for it to die after being hung for such a short time, right?
At the beginning, because Zhao Jiahao looked at them for a second longer, its parents chased Zhao Jiahao for three blocks. In the end, when they hung it on the tree, it was still shaking and wanted to bite people.
The rope tied to the male rabbit's hind legs gave Jiang Muyun a sense of security.
With some difficulty, she raised the rabbit a little higher and shone the flashlight on its head.
Then I saw the rabbit's three-petal lips opening and closing, trying hard to spit out sand.
Jiang Muyun was silent for a moment, then said sincerely, "I'm sorry, I forgot about this."
She herself had a mask to block the sand, but after she took the rabbit out, it had to face the cruel life of a rabbit, the kind where every breath was filled with unbearable pain.
Jiang Muyun put it on the ground guiltily and patted the back of its neck a few times to try to help it spit out the sand.
Seeing that it looked like it was about to die, Jiang Muyun gave up the idea of lifting its hind legs and instead grabbed its two long ears.
"Be patient, baby, be patient, we will be at our new home in just two steps." Jiang Muyun had no other choice. The visibility was too low and she couldn't go any faster. She didn't have a mask for rabbits, so she could only let the baby suffer a little longer.
If you think about it in a wicked way, it's better for it to be wilted. Otherwise, when this bastard comes to his senses, the first thing he'll do is probably kick her.
After settling the grumpy rabbit, Jiang Muyun went home and had nothing better to do, so he started playing with the rope bell again and told others about moving the rabbit's nest.
A moment later, news came from Qin Shiwen.
"Wait till dawn, shall we have a good meal?"
Jiang Muyun held a pen and paper and counted as he read out the sentence.
Then the rope bell hanging here started to jingle.
Jiang Muyun read out three unified words from this unified frequency: "I second the motion!"
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